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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE- DEVIL'S GATE

We opened the cemetery gate quietly, silently watching Sam's attacker enter, moving towards a crypt.

Dean stood behind a tomb, clutching a gun tightly.

"Howdy, Jake," Sam greeted him pleasantly.

We emerged from the shadows, and the gun did not waver in my grip.

"Wait…." Jake blinked. "You were dead. I killed you."

"Yeah?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Well next time, finish the job."

"I did!" Jake insisted, backing away slowly.

"I cut clean through your spinal cord, man."

"You can't be alive. You can't be."

"Okay," Bobby cocked his gun. "Just take it real easy there, son."

Jake chuckled.

"And if I don't?"

"Wait and see," Sam set his jaw.

"What, you a tough guy all of a sudden?" Jake challenged.

"What are you gonna do-kill me?"

"It's a thought," Sam admitted.

"You had your chance," He grinned. "You couldn't."

Castiel stepped out in front of me.

"You think Azazel will give you what you want?" Castiel's eyes flashed.

"He's a demon, Jake. He'll kill you. This is your last chance."

Jake started laughing.

"What are you smiling at, you little bitch?" Dean growled.

"Hey lady," Jake looked over to Ellen.

"Do me a favor. Put that gun to your head."

Ellen's hand jerked up, pointing the gun at her temple.

"See," Jake shrugged.

"That Ava girl was right. Once you give in to it, there's all sorts of Jedi mind tricks you can learn."

Sam's eyes flared.

"Let her go."

"Shoot him," Ellen's voice trembled.

Jake scoffed.

"You'll be mopping up skull before you get a shot off."

He paused.

"Everybody put your guns down. Except you, sweetheart."

I tried to hold on to mine, but Jake was stronger than Andy.

Three guns clattered to the ground.

"Okay. Thank you."

Jake turned around and pulled the Colt out of his pocket, inserting it into the crypt.

Dean and Bobby grabbed Ellen before she could shoot herself.

Once again, since Castiel had been unarmed from the beginning, Jake didn't consider him a threat.

Cas sent him flying into a headstone, and Sam shot Jake four times in the back.

Jake fell to the ground with a sickening thump, and Sam positioned himself over him.

"Please…." Jake spat out blood. "Don't. Please."

Sam shot him three times in the chest.

We watched as two separate engravings on the crypt spun in different directions, stopping with an ominous click.

Castiel pushed us behind him.

"This is not good."

Ellen looked sharply at him.

"What is it?"

"It's hell," Cas said grimly.

Dean pulled the Colt out of the crypt.

"Take cover—now!" Cas yelled, and we ran behind the tombstones.

The doors to the crypt burst open.

A large black mass of demons erupted from the other side, shooting outward.

"What the hell just happened?" Dean shouted.

"That's a devil's gate," Castiel replied, still inexplicably calm.

"A door to hell."

"Come on!" Ellen pulled Bobby ahead. "We gotta shut that gate!"

Dean checked the Colt for bullets.

"If the demon gave this to Jake…. then maybe…"

Thunder crashed, and Azazel appeared behind Dean, flinging the gun out of his hands and into his own.

"A boy shouldn't play with daddy's guns."

Cas, preoccupied with trying to shut the gate, snapped his head around, trying to block him.

"Well, well, well," Azazel sneered.

"It's dear little Castiel. You know, if you wanted to stop me, you shouldn't have tried to shut that gate. Very taxing on angels, I'm told."

"Cas!" I screamed, as Azazel sent him crashing against the door.

The demon turned around, sending Dean and me careening through the air.

"Dean! Odette!"

Sam let go of the gate door, running towards us.

Azazel threw Sam into a nearby tree.

"I'll get to you in a minute, champ. But I'm proud of you—knew you had it in you."

He flexed a hand, paralyzing the four of us.

"Sit a spell. So, Dean….." Azazel glanced at him.

"I got to thank you. You see, demons can't resurrect people unless a deal is made."

"I know, red tape," He waved a hand casually. "It'll make you nuts. But thanks to you, Sammy's back in rotation."

He laughed.

"Now, I wasn't counting on that, but I'm glad. I liked him better than Jake, anyhow. Tell me—have you heard the expression: 'if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is?'"

Dean snarled incoherently.

"You call that deal good?"

Azazel shrugged.

"Well, it's a better shake than your dad ever got. And you never wondered why? I'm surprised at you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Castiel slowly get to his feet.

Azazel didn't notice.

"I mean… you saw what your brother just did to Jake, right? That was pretty cold, wasn't it?"

He chuckled.

"How certain are you that what you brought back is hundred percent pure Sam?"

Azazel laughed loudly.

"You of all people should know, that's what dead should stay dead. Anyway… thanks a bunch. I knew I kept you alive for some reason. Until now, anyway. I couldn't have done it without your pathetic, self-loathing, self-destructive desire to sacrifice yourself for your family."

He jerked back to me, and I shrieked in pain as my mouth filled with blood.

"I've gotten rather tired of you," Azazel said ruefully.

"You're getting too strong for your own good, and in light of recent evidence…."

My breaths came harsher now, and Dean and Sam's shouts were dwindling.

Azazel cocked his head to one side.

"A bullet would be to much of a mundane way to die for you, wouldn't it?"

My scream ratcheted up higher.

Azazel clucked his tongue thoughtfully.

"How about I kill you the way I slaughtered your pretty little mother?"

I froze.

No.

If what he said was true…

And suddenly, Castiel grabbed Azazel from behind, flooding the cemetery with white light.

The demon shot out of the body, and suddenly it was John Winchester wrestling him to the ground.

Azazel pushed him to the ground, re-entering the body.

When he finally stood up, Dean shot him in the forehead with the Colt.

Azazel sank to the cement floor, dead.

Cas finally closed the gate, turning to see John.

John put a hand on Dean's shoulder.

Both their eyes glistened with tears.

Sam stood on the side, picking me up gently, and nodded at his father.

With one last look at Dean, John stepped back and disappeared.

~Supernatural~

We stood over the demon's smoking body, dazed.

I shook slightly, and Sam wrapped an arm around me.

Dean patted my cheek once.

"Well, check that off the to-do list."

"You did it," Sam whispered.

"I didn't do it alone," Dean said softly.

"Do you think Dad really…" Sam stuttered.

"Do you really think he climbed outta hell?"

"The door was open," Dean said quietly.

"If anyone's stubborn enough to do it… it would be him."

"Where do you think he is now?"

"I don't know."

"I kind of can't believe it, Dean," Sam laughed shakily.

"I mean… our whole lives, everything… has been prepping for this, and now I… I kind of don't know what to say."

"I do."

Dean looked back at me once, leaning closer to the body.

"That was for both our moms, you son of a bitch."

~Supernatural~

We walked towards the Impala in silence.

"You know, when Jake saw me…. it was like he saw a ghost."

Sam scoffed.

"I mean, hell, you heard him, Dean. He said he killed me."

Dean kept his eyes averted.

"I'm glad he was wrong."

"I don't think he was, Dean," Sam said softly.

"What happened…. after I was stabbed?"

"I already told you," Dean said shortly.

"Not everything."

"Sam, we just killed the demon," Dean sighed.

"Can we celebrate for a minute?"

Sam's eyes tightened.

"Did I die?"

"Oh, come on," Dean refused to look at him.

"Did you sell your soul for me?" Sam's voice shook.

"Oh, come on! No!"

"Tell me the truth."

Dean sniffed.

"Dean, tell me the truth."

"Sam….."

"How long do you get?" Sam's voice broke, and the tears pricked at my eyes again.

"One year." Dean swallowed.

"I got one year."

Sam rounded on me.

"Did you know about this?"

"Only after you came to Bobby's," I whispered.

"You shouldn't have done that," Sam's eyes filled with tears.

"How could you do that?"

"Don't get mad at me," Dean pleaded.

"Don't you do that. I had to. I had to look out for you. That's my job."

"And what do you think my job is?" Sam demanded.

"What?"

"You've saved my life over and over. I mean, you sacrifice everything for me. Don't you think I'd do the same for you? You're my big brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I don't care what it takes, I'm gonna get you out of this."

I grabbed Dean's arm.

"We're not gonna let you die, Dean," I squeezed tightly.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Yeah," Dean said thickly.

Castiel came up behind us, and I reached for his hand.

"You all right, Cas?"

He blinked at me, surprised.

"Yes."

He looked back at the cemetery.

"Azazel may be dead, but he's unleashed an army."

He fixed us with a steely look.

"I hope you're ready. The war's begun."

"Well, then," Dean tossed the Colt into the trunk.

"We've got work to do."