A/N I will accept all bad words that come my way! *hides behind cushion*

The preparations were finished and Dean was alone now. Cas had taken Bobby to be with Sam and the older Winchester was sitting on the porch of Bobby's place, a final beer in hand and a little smile on his face. Somehow to him, this felt right. It felt like it was going to work. He needed it to work. Regardless of what happened to him.

Finishing the beer he walked back into the house and lit the candles. Then he stood and started the recital of the ritual that would bring the devil to him. He didn't have to wait long.

"Well, not the Winchester brother I was expecting to call but, what can I do for you Dean?" The angel smiled serenely at him.

The hunter took in the mess of the skin on Lucifer's vessel and smiled back at his foe. This just might have a chance of working.

"I've called you to offer you your vessel."

"You are giving me your brother?" Lucifer looked shocked and a little taken aback.

"As if." Dean enlightened him. "No. I'm offering you another one." He pointed to his chest with one finger. "Me."

The creature before him threw back it's head and laughed. "You? You refuse to let my brother in, yet now I am suppose to believe that you are willing to let me ride you?" It sneered the last part at him, closing the gap and coming to stand beside him. "What makes you think that I'd want to wear your meat suit when I can have Sam's?"

"We're both vessels because of our bloodline. Our Winchester bloodline. Azazel's blood was only so that Sam would have the power to kill Lillith and break the seal. You don't need that in the vessel that you take. You just need one that is strong enough to hold you, and since Michael is more powerful than you, I should suit your needs perfectly." The smirk was designed to infuriate.

Lucifer rose to the bait, gripping his neck. "Michael is not stronger than I am. Your brother is my rightful vessel."

"But he isn't here, and you can't find him." Dean pulled at a loose piece of flesh. "That and you're running out of time."

"That's as maybe, but why would you offer yourself to me?"

"I want to save my brother. If you agree that you'll let him be, let him live out a normal life then I'll give myself up to you."

"I intend to destroy mankind, you know that right?" Lucifer chuckled. "That'll include your darling little Sammy at some point."

"I know that. At least though he'll get to die as a human and not be turned into something evil and abhorrent. Like you."

The devil ran his hand through Dean's short hair, pulling him closer still, whispering his next words in his ear. "You will though, you will weld the sword that destroys mankind if you let me in. Then I suppose, after what you did in Hell, you might actually have a taste for it." Lucifer took Dean's face in his hands. "Did you get a taste for it Dean? Are you going to get off on destroying the world?" Lucifer caressed the hunter's cheek. "Alastair was so complimentary about you. You were his rising star, until the angels pulled you free. Tell me what did you enjoy most Dean? It's alright. I won't let anyone else know your deep, dark secret."

Dean hesitated. He had to play him but the memories made him feel sick to his stomach as he dredged the emotions back up from deep inside. "I liked it when they screamed my name." He leant forward towards the devil. "I liked it when they begged, and then I still tortured them anyway."

"Ah the begging. That's always the best part Dean. The part when you know that you are the one with all the power." Lucifer stepped back. "Beg me Dean."

"What?"

"Beg me to let you be my vessel. Beg me for the honour of it." Lucifer pushed him down onto his knees and tilted his head up to face him, hand gripped tightly in Dean's hair. "Such a beautiful face." A finger brushed over his lips and across his cheek and Dean shivered at the thought of what he was agreeing to here.

Digging deep, Dean pulled up the words that Lucifer had spoken to him in the future and used them to stroke the ego of the being before him. "Please. I beg you, chose me to be your vessel. We can't defeat you, I know that now, so please," he looked up pleadingly with those green eyes, and the devil was captivated by him, "let me be the one that you use to rid this planet of it's plague of mankind. Let it once again be a place of beauty and of peace. I kneel down before you and I beg you. Please?"

Lucifer knelt down and gently kissed Dean's head, smiling as the hunter shrunk back from the touch. "That was beautiful Dean, if a little false, but still so worthy of its prize. Do you want to be my vessel?"

"Yes." Dean closed his eyes and waited.

"Then I accept your gracious offer." Dean's body jerked as Lucifer gripped his arms and pulled him nearer. "But you didn't get me to agree to your other terms Dean. You really need to work on your negotiating skills." Lips brushed his ear and the low chuckle rang round inside Dean's head. "I'm still going to hunt down your brother Dean, only it'll be you that he'll see, your image that will make him say yes to me. So much harder for him to resist his brother's pleading than that of my own. I will still have your brother, rest assured of that, even as you die knowing that you failed him again. And as an added bonus I get to ride my brother's vessel into the ground. These are truly the days of miracles and wonder."

Dean screamed Sam's name as he felt the invasion, not able to fight it having already freely surrender his body to the beast that even now he could feel rising up inside him. A final prayer for his plan to work or that God might yet keep his brother safe escaped his lips and then he knew no more, was no more.

TBC