Chapter 33

Sam looked around the room frantically, hoping Clay left some clue as to where he was off to. He looked out the open window, and then looked down at the sill. His breath caught in his throat when he saw a light yellow powdery substance that smelled like rotten eggs. It was sulfur.

"Damnit!" Sam yelled angrily as he stormed out of Clay's room, and back into the living room where Dean, Abigail, and Bobby looked at him suspiciously.

"He's gone!" Sam cried.

"Gone?" Dean asked urgently.

"Yea," Sam confirmed, "at first I thought he ran away, but there was sulfur on the windowsill."

"You think a demon took him?" Dean asked as he stood from the couch.

"Definitely," Sam replied with a nod, "he was mad, but I don't think he was that mad."

"Was it Lilith?" Abigail asked sadly.

"I don't know," Sam admitted, "but I'm gonna get him back, I swear."

xXx

They got no sleep that night. They were up the entire night calling people and putting the word out about Clay. No one seemed to have seen a child fitting Clay's description.

The sun was now up, and it was almost noon. Sam was walking around the block to get breakfast, Dean offered to drive, but Sam said he needed some fresh air to clear his head for a bit.

Now, Sam was on his way back from the diner with two large brown bags in his hands. His face looked distant as he thought of where Clay might be. If it turned out Clay was with Lilith, that would only add fuel to the fire, Sam thought. It would just make killing her all the more pleasurable.

As those dark thoughts crossed his mind, he noticed a smaller woman with dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes staring at him intently from across the street.

Sam stopped walking and stared back at her. He cocked his head as he looked at her, hoping she would either go over and talk to him, or turn and walk away.

She did neither; she simply crossed her arms over her chest and continued staring.

Sam finally gave up with an eye roll. He didn't have time for stupid games. He then turned and continued walking when suddenly, the girl was in front of him standing in the same stance she was before, only this time her eyes were black.

"What do you want?" Sam spat as he came to a halt, he had no weapons on him, so he hope this demon didn't come for a fight. Her eyes flashed back to the human's natural brown.

"To help you," She replied with an eye roll, "now let's get back to the house. We don't have much time."

"Who the hell are you?" Sam demanded.

"Who do you think, jackass? Now let's get going! We need to find Clay fast!" She replied urgently.

Sam's eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

"Ruby?" He asked with shock.

"Yes! Now let's get the hell out of here. I'm being watched!" Ruby whispered harshly as she grabbed Sam's arm and hustled in the direction of the house.

"Do you know what happened to Clay?" Sam asked worriedly as he looked down at the jittery demon.

"Yes…Lilith has him, I just don't know where or why." Ruby said with a shrug.

"What's she doing with him?" Sam snapped angrily.

"She's trying to convince him to use his abilities for her purposes…like a slave." Ruby said quickly as her eyes darted in all directions.

"I'm going to kill that bitch." Sam whispered darkly.

Ruby's attention averted back to Sam at the tone of his voice, "Whoa, I can't lose you now. You're who's gonna get Clay back, we need you, Sam."

"I'm not going anywhere." Sam replied with a tiny shrug.

"Sure." Ruby said with disbelief.

Finally they made it back to the house. The second they stepped foot on the front lawn, Ruby looked a little more at ease.

Sam opened the door for Ruby, and then walked in after her. He kicked the door shut behind himself and then walked into the kitchen with Ruby at his heel, where he was met with stares from Dean and Bobby.

"Who's this?" Dean asked teasingly as he nodded to Ruby.

She gave a wary eye roll, and then flashed her black eyes at him cockily, "Take a guess, short-bus."

Dean's eyes widened as he looked at Sam for confirmation as Sam set the two brown bags on the counter. Dean then looked back at the demon as her eyes changed back to brown.

"What happened to you?" Dean demanded.

"I just clawed my way from Hell…again." Ruby replied with an eye-roll.

"Lilith sent you to Hell?" Dean asked curiously.

Ruby chuckled mirthlessly, "If that's what you wanna call it, yea. I thought where I was stuck before was bad…where I just came out of was just plain nasty."

No one answered; they all just looked at Dean solemnly. Dean on the other hand looked down at his feet.

"When Lilith gets pissed, she gets creative." Ruby continued.

"Where's Abigail?" Sam asked, trying to change the subject.

Dean's head snapped back up as he accepted this conversation, "she went to go lay down for a bit…I guess with her eight year blackout, and now her son that she's never met getting kidnapped she's just a bit overwhelmed."

"Understandable." Sam muttered with a shrug.

They then changed the subject to Clay, and Ruby told Bobby and Dean what she told Sam before; about how she knew that Lilith had Clay.

"This bitch is gonna get it." Dean muttered.

"I don't know what Lilith's exact plan is," Ruby admitted, "but I do think that she'll try to throw him in your face either tonight or tomorrow night when she comes for Dean."

Dean and Sam exchanged soulful looks, while Bobby continued to stare at Ruby expectantly.

"In the meantime, I say we train Sam up as much as we can." Ruby continued in a small voice.

"No, definitely not. Sam, we talked about this!" Dean shouted.

"Look!" Ruby yelled at Dean crossly, "She's teaching Clay how to use his abilities, and he is much stronger than Sam on his own, but combined with Lilith, Sam will be obliterated."

Dean looked down at Ruby, but didn't say anything.

"This isn't about killing Lilith, this is about his survival." Ruby continued.

"I already know how to use my abilities." Sam chimed in with a shrug.

"And I know how to tone you up." Ruby replied simply.

"How?" Dean demanded.

"Don't worry about it," Ruby snapped, "but it'll work."

"Sam don't listen to her." Dean pleaded, "You don't need your abilities! You have the knife; you'll be fine…please."

Sam sighed, and then looked at Ruby blankly.

"No…" Sam choked out, he then opened up a link to Ruby's mind with little hesitation.

"Tonight…me and you." Sam sent to Ruby silently, giving her the okay for her to do whatever she planned to do with him.

"Stubborn sons of bitches!" Ruby muttered as she tried to keep the smile from her face.

Dean smirked at her, "It's a gift."

I've decided that the next chapter will skip along and keep whatever Sam and Ruby did to tone Sam up a secret, but if you've seen the 4th season you actually know what they were doing.

But this story isn't about that, so I'm skipping over it. :D

More to come soon!