Chapter 10

Part 2

Sam's mind was not processing what his eyes were showing him. In fact the two found themselves at odds with each other. His eyes were convinced that what they saw was true, yet his mind could not rationalise it.

So in all the circumstances, with all the other work it had to do, his mind decided to accept the eyes as they told it without question; for the time being.

"Jess" he finally said. "What are you doing here?"

"Sam, what the hell are you doing?" she asked. There was pain in her voice.

"Jess I…" he started but couldn't finish it.

"You promised me Sam, you promised me that you were done acting out" she said almost in tears.

It was good to see Jess, his heart leaped at the sight of her. But it also broke at her words and the thought of the pain he had put her through. He wanted so much to reach out to her and comfort her and tell her everything was going to be all right. But he found himself unable to leave the island.

"Sam please, at least now stop all this and come home with us. We can help you. All of us, we just want to help you."

Sam took a step forward, towards the edge of the island and then stopped again.

Something was not right.

Something troubled him about everything.

Somewhere deep down in the recesses of his mind, the brain was still processing what the eyes were telling it. But at a slower speed. Maybe it was the hunter instincts finally finding their way back to him. But for whatever reason Sam's brain was having a trouble believing everything it was seeing.

"Sam please, don't you want to come back with us. Don't you want to live a normal life with us."

"What happens if I come with you?"

"Nothing Sam, nothing will happen. Just like nothing has happened to you so far. Sam please, stop acting like this. You have nothing to worry about."

"What about the dreams?"

"What dreams?"

"The dreams about Jesse, about me!"

"They're just dreams Sam" she said, but there was no conviction in her words. There was also doubt in her mind, as if she didn't believe him. "Sam please!"

Sam looked away from her and towards the waterfall again. Then after a while he realised what it was that was wrong.

So he turned towards Jess and then towards the water.

"All right!" He finally said and he saw Jess visibly relax.

"I'll come with you, but first there is something I want to show you" Sam said and confusion filled Jess' face.

"Come on" he said extending his hand towards her and calling her.

However, Jess didn't move. In fact she didn't take even a step towards him or the water. Instead she stared at him and then at the water, a look of terror on her face.

At first, it was just a suspicion that he had. Seeing Jess stand so far away to talk to him; having to shout just to be heard. All she needed was to come to the water's edge and they would have had a better opportunity of talking. Now as he watched her staring down at the water, the look of fear in her eyes, he was sure.

She was afraid of the Elysium falls…or at least the water for some reason.

Maybe it wasn't that they chose to leave the falls untouched. Maybe there was something about the falls that made it impossible for them to change; to control. And whatever that force was, Jess was afraid of it too.

"Come on Jess," Sam said. "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little water. Besides it's nice and cool. You'll love it. It'll be just like our college days. Remember!"

"Sam please, stop this and just come with me. Everybody is worried sick about you."

"I will. First come here so I can show you something."

"You can show it to me later. Just come home with me now."

"Why waste a second trip. It wont take more than a few minutes. Come on Jess, how long has it been since we did something crazy; something impulsive."

"Sam!"

"Jess" Sam responded. "Don't tell me, you're suddenly afraid of water?"

"If you don't remember Sam, I died. Lot of things have changed."

"But I died too, remember, you told me yourself" Sam said and Jess' face changed. Her grey eyes turned black and a sneer appeared on her face.

"What gave me away?" she asked.

"Well, apart from your fear of the water. Someone had to call the dogs. I doubt they respond well to Angels."

"Angels" Jess said and sneered.

"Now that you know, how about you quit the games and come over. We have some unfinished business, you and I" she said, the sneer still on her face.

Sam's hand went to the knife but he stopped himself midway.

"Come on Hunter. What have you got to lose? If you die they bring you back and wipe your memory so you can have your happy family. But if you live…well then you get demon blood to make you stronger. As far as I can see, its win-win for you."

"I'm tempted! But I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass. If you like you can swim over and we can chat here."

The sneer on Jess' face disappeared and the familiar mask of hate filled it. It was strange seeing the demon's visage on Jess' face and it made him mad to think that filthy thing was inside of her.

The demon must have sensed it because the sneer returned.

"The longer I stay in this body, Hunter, the more damage that's going to be caused to your girl."

Sam knew he was right. Everything inside of him screamed him to go fight the demon. But then he couldn't risk fighting the demon and hurting Jess. Then again, he wasn't so sure whether this was in fact his Jess.

Sam closed his eyes for a few seconds.

Then when he opened his eyes he stretched out his hand and started the latin prayer.

He trie to remember every single word.

However, he had not gone halfway through the exorcism when he heard Jess' laughter. But this was not the beautiful thing he remembered but a perverse version. Sam turned to find the demon in Jess' body laughing, throwing her head back.

"Oh please don't stop" the demon said. "I'm quite enjoying watching you try."

"Exorcism, darling hubby, is to exorcise demons who have escaped hell. Not ones who are here on invite. You can't exorcise me. I am meant to be here, in this world and in this body. Its mine until I choose to leave or you kill me. So what will it be darling. You're going to stand there and watch this pretty body rot from the inside or you going to come and do something more than sing a few fairy tunes."

Sam listened with horror and despair and then made his decision.

He leaned over and leaped into the water.

Sam didn't know what the demon did next.

He just swam as hard as he could away from the shore and towards the waterfall. The closer he got the stronger the current got. As if the waterfall itself was trying to keep him away.

His arms and legs started to tire but he pushed on.

When he reached the other bank he let himself fall down on the soft grass and just lay there.

How long he was like that he didn't know but when he got back to his feet he looked back the way he had come.

The demon was gone as far as he could see and the other bank was empty. Probably gone to warn the others.

He remembered seeing this side of the sea when he had been with Alice. It had been something that had not caught his attention then. But its memory had stuck with him. Fortunately, as it turned out.

He had acted on impulse, on an untested theory that, for whatever reasons, the demon was not going to follow him. Fortunately it worked.

He looked around him. Again, he found a forest a few feet away from him. But it was smaller than its cousin across the waters. The forest extended a few meters inland and then came to a stop at a sheer cliff that ran parallel to the waters until it reached the falls themselves.

Sam considered scaling the cliff. But even from this distance he could tell that it would be quite the feat. The face of the cliff was nearly as smooth as it can be, and it rose forever towards the sky.

So instead he stuck to his initial plan and started to follow the bank, in the hopes that the waters would take him somewhere away from all this.

Sam didn't know how long he had been walking. But then he had not had any concept of time since he came here.

All he knew was that he seemed to be walking on forever.

Already the sun was starting to set away from the falls; throwing its light against him and the forest beyond.

He was still following the river which was showing no sign of stopping or reaching its destination. He had hoped it would take him out of this place but now he was not sure it even had an eventual end.

'Maybe just like everything else this too went on forever.'

He soon came to a forest.

Sam froze at the sight of it.

It looked exactly like the forest on the other bank. Same trees, same thickness and the same sinister feel.

'Had he somehow walked in a full circle?'

Sam hesitated.

He stood at the edge staring at it for a while with fear. He thought he heard the hounds barking from somewhere deep inside.

Then finally he decided he had no choice and he stepped in.

There was so many things he should be afraid of but getting lost was not one of them. The trees grew thick all around him but like the trusty companion it has been so far the river flowed by next to him; clear as day.

He continued to walk, his eyes darting glances all around him. Watching every shadow; every movement of a branch. Listening to every sound he thought he heard.

Finally though he reached the other end, and there, he could see a whole world stretching away. A world not so perfect.

He ran towards it.

Ran with relief in his heart and hope; the weariness and tiredness forgotten.

And then when he reached a point he stopped.

Something was wrong.

The image ahead of him was blurred.

He stretched a hand out slowly and carefully. Inching further away from his body until he felt something cool.

Then the image beyond broke, like the reflection in the water shattering because of a ripple caused on its surface.

Sam took a step back in disbelief.

"It's to keep the unwanted out" said Anna behind him.

Sam turned to come face to face with Anna.

She showed no signs of the blow. In fact, the sneer that had been on her face at the demon's house was back on her face.

"Did you enjoy your walk Sam?"

"Where am I?"

"Sam, Sam, why does it matter where you are. Can't you get it, your never leaving here. This is your prison for the rest of your miserable existence."

Anna was now not just sneering she was smiling; almost laughing.

"You were just a dog on a leash" she continued. "All this was just us giving you your exercise before we put you back in your cage."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You still don't get it do you. All your questions, they don't matter. You…don't matter, Sam. The sooner you get that the sooner we can go back to the way things should be."

"I'm not done yet" Sam said and pulled out Ruby's knife.

"Oh Sam, your hopeless" said Anna and shook her head, the smile still visible. "That thing won't do anything to me."

"What about this" said a familiar voice, and both Sam and Anna turned towards it.

Dean was standing at the far end of the bridge that Anna was on. The long bridge that ran over the river. Gargoyles watched from their perch on ether side of the bridge the standoff was taking place.

"Dean Winchester, swooping in to protect his little brother. How predictable." said Anna turning her back to Sam.

"How about you let my brother go like he asks?"

"I can't do that. But I can kill him and put him out of his misery if you like?" she said. "Only if you promise to be a good little boy and do everything mommy asks you?"

"How about if I kill you and then leave with Sam?" asked Dean and Anna laughed.

"Oh Dean, you're such a redneck. Always looking to shoot someone. But you do get what you're holding can only kill demons, right?"

"Yes"

"Then I presume you get its useless against me."

"Oh I wouldn't go so far as to say its useless. It can punch a neat little hole in that beautiful body of yours. I am also going to bet that it can also cause you some serious pain." Dean said but Anna didn't respond.

"So how about we don't make things too difficult and go our separate ways." Dean continued.

"I can't let Sam go…alive" she said and turned and stretched her hand towards Sam. She clenched it and Sam could feel himself chocking.

"Sam" Dean shouted and fired the colt.

Sam saw the bullet, flying in slow motion through the air. But only because Anna was no longer there to block his view. He was no longer chocking. But instead he was frozen in place, watching the bullet flying towards him.

He soon lost sight of it and instead felt a searing pain in his chest.

As he felt something warm flowing down his body he felt a sense of liberation as he fell to the ground.

Sam could see the blue sky above him. Now dark and colourful with the setting sun. He could see the vibrant colours, like the palette of a master artist. He saw the many shades seem to blur and shift as if something translucent was slowly creeping across it.

The pain in his chest was there. There was something in his throat; something that was slowly filling him inside, just as something else was flowing out. But his focus was on the sky. Watching the colours become blurred as the translucent cover fell over the entirety of his vision.

He watched as it seemed to fall.

The End