Demon Blood

Chapter Nine: Influence

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind Dean made him spin around at once, crowbar in hand once again. It was another girl, but she had dark hair and green eyes to Marian's blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Dean Winchester, right?" the girl asked in a voice that seemed pleasant enough, but with a smile on her face that was just wrong somehow.

"Yeah, that's me," Dean said, lowering the crowbar slightly. "And you are?"

"A messenger," the girl said, and her eyes flashed black. Dean backed away at once.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he ground out harshly and the girl laughed.

"Chill out," she said, "I'm not here to kill you or anyone else. I'm only delivering two things today."

"And those are?"

The demon smiled. "First off," she said, pulling out a CD jewel case from her jacket and tossing it to Dean, "there's some lovely footage on that. The other is this body here. So long." That was the only warning Dean got before the demon was pouring from the girl's mouth, streaking away into the fading light. The girl's body crumpled to the ground at once and Dean rushed forward, pulling her into his arms and feeling frantically for a pulse.

There was none.

"Dammit," Dean muttered, laying the girl back down before staring at the jewel case in his other hand. Part of him wanted to rush straight to Sam's laptop to see what the disc contained, but he was scared of what it might show him about his brother.

"Dean?" It was Bobby. "What the hell's goin' on out here? I thought I saw a demon zoomin' off into the sunset."

"You did," Dean answered shortly, standing and staring down at the dead girl at his feet. He held up the disc. "It delivered this disc and left the body behind."

"Damn," Bobby swore, taking in the sight of the dead body before him. "Okay, leave this to me, son. I'll take care of it."

Dean nodded and headed inside to find his dad. John was in Bobby's study again, researching hex bags or something; Dean didn't much care what his dad found that couldn't help Sam. "Dad?"

"Yeah?" John looked up and took in the jewel case in Dean's hand. "What's that?"

"Demon dropped it off," Dean answered, heading over to Sam's laptop and booting it up. "Said there was some footage on it we needed to see. I'm guessing it's a video of Sam being forced to use his powers."

John nodded silently as he sat down next to Dean. "The demon left its body behind after it gave me the disc," Dean added, "but Bobby already said he'd take care of it — her."

John closed his eyes for a long moment before nodding and gesturing at the disc in Dean's hand. Trying to swallow down his trepidation, Dean inserted the disc and waited for it to begin playing.

What he and John saw was not to either man's liking.

Sam was clearly in a warehouse, and he was being thrown around by another demon possessing the body of the dead girl outside. Dean frowned when he realized Sam wasn't fighting back and wondered if his brother was still putting up a fight over being fed demon blood.

"Would you like to experience a level of Hell, Sammy?" the demon asked Sam as she held him pinned to a wall.

"It's Sam, bitch," Sam bit out and Dean couldn't help but smile at his little brother's stubborn will.

"Well, there's the Sam Winchester I've heard so much about," the demon said with a laugh. "You'd still rather not fight me, though, right?"

Sam didn't answer the demon, and the camera zoomed in on his face from whatever higher level it was being held at. Dean stared at him for a moment before swearing under his breath.

"What?" John asked.

"It's his 'Dean wants me to be strong but it'd be better if I just let the bitch kill me' look," Dean answered. John stared at Dean for a moment.

"How d'you know that?" he asked softly.

Dean couldn't help but snort "What don't I know about that kid?" and completely missed the sorrowful look that crossed his father's face.

The demon leaned in closer to Sam and Dean could barely make out what she was saying. "You ready for this, Sammy? It's gonna hurt worse than anything you've ever experienced." She reached out to place her fingers on Sam's temples.

And Sam screamed.

Dean had heard his brother in pain before. Broken arms, strangulation, beatings, some torture, but this… This was the scream of the damned. Sam's back arched off the wall, his eyes screwed shut and his head thrown back. It went one for what felt like forever before Sam gasped and went limp, appearing to be unconscious.

Dean felt as though his heart had stopped and proceeded to fall into the acid of his stomach and intestines. He vaguely noticed his father didn't look much better, but his attention was still on his younger brother. He watched every little detail of his brother's face, so when the barest of twitches ran across it, Dean noticed and leaned forward. The twitches slowly began to get worse and more noticeable until Sam's head suddenly jerked back against the wall and he gasped in pain, his eyes still shut tight. Dean wondered what the demon was doing to his brother.

And then Sam screamed again.

"NO! NO, JESS!"

"Jesus Christ," Dean whispered, "she's making him relive the night Jess died."

John sucked in a harsh breath. "Sam…" he murmured after another moment, his eyes shining with unshed tears as Sam continued to scream.

The camera was still zoomed in on Sam's face, so when his eyes popped open and flashed black, Dean was taken aback. Suddenly, some force threw the demon off of Sam, and he was on his feet, eyes normal again as he glared in the demon's direction. The camera zoomed out back to its original view of the warehouse's main floor.

"How did you get out?" the demon gasped out. "The dream-memory merge I did isn't supposed to end until I say it does."

"Fuck. You," Sam bit out, his chest heaving and his hands clenched at his sides. "I lost everything that night, you bitch. You had no right, showing me that." He raised one hand and the demon began to scream, writhing on the ground and clutching at her abdomen. Sam's expression was scary in its blankness, but even from a distance Dean could see the anger in his hazel eyes.

"There was only one good thing to come out of what you just made me see," Sam told the demon as he dropped his hand and watched her gasp for breath. "Now I know Azazel only put out the order to have Jess killed. Someone else did it, and when I find him, he'll suffer just as much as I'm gonna make you suffer."

And now Dean was feeling confused. Azazel had practically admitted to killing Jess back in that ramshackle cabin nearly three weeks ago, so why was Sam saying that another demon had acted on his orders?

The demon shoved her hand out and Sam was suddenly propelled back against the wall. Dean winced as he heard his brother's head crack against the wall before he slumped to the floor on his knees.

"Bring it on, Sammy," the demon told Sam as she stood, and Sam's face twisted with rage for the first time.

"He really hates it when anyone else calls him that," Dean commented aloud, watching as Sam and the demon stalked each other in a wide circle. The demon suddenly caused Sam to be knocked off his feet, but Sam retaliated and flung her off her feet, too. She quickly rolled back up and started running at Sam.

But then Sam raised his hand and the demon slammed to the ground on her knees, gasping desperately for air, hands scrabbling at her neck, her chest. Sam had an intense look of concentration on his face, but then a flash of something that was distinctly Sam flashed across his face and he dropped his hand in horror. Dean realized that Sam had remembered that there was a human trapped inside, and from the looks of things, he had come pretty damn close to killing her.

The demon took advantage and tackled Sam to the ground; Dean heard him grunt as the air was most likely forced from his lungs. "You're gonna pay for damaging this body, Sammy," she said breathlessly, gripping his throat with both hands.

Sam struggled, but for some reason he couldn't seem to get the demon to release him. Dean watched in fear as Sam's face reddened from the lack of air, as he scraped desperately at the demon's hands, but he was growing weaker, his struggles lessening —

Even though Dean and John were watching a recording, they both felt it when something seemed to completely snap inside Sam. He prised the demon's hands off his throat with little effort and gave her a massive head-butt, sending her flying off him and onto her backside. Sam clutched at his head before lunging forward and knocking the demon flat on her back.

Watching Sam exorcize a demon with his mind was vastly different from being told about it, Dean decided, staring in horrified fascination as the demon was coughed up and out before being swallowed by Hell and leaving the ground beneath Sam and the girl cracked and black. Sam all but collapsed off the girl and to the ground and the camera abruptly zoomed in closer as the girl began to cough wetly, blood splattering her lips. Sam watched her and Dean could see the remorse in his eyes as blood dripped from his nose.

Suddenly, Sam was pulled to his feet by two large men and held up right as another man, tall and skinny, entered the frame with his back to the camera. "Inhuman strength," he said as though he was observing the weather or something. "Still getting headaches with that nosebleed there?"

Sam nodded, staring resolutely at the ground.

"Well, by now I think that'll go away the more you practice," the man said with a shrug. Then he turned and faced the camera, his yellow eyes flashing. "Did you catch all that?" he asked aloud, and Dean grit his teeth in anger.

"Azazel," John muttered darkly, watching as Sam lifted his head and stared into the camera, shock as plain as day on his face.

"I did," said a female voice from somewhere very close the camera's microphone. "Think they'll get a kick outta this?"

"Of course," Azazel answered. "Send the girl with it as soon as she's dead." The girl's coughing was much weaker now and Dean knew she had been dead long before the disc had been handed to him. The camera followed Sam as the two men, no, they were demons, led him completely out of sight, and then screen went black.

There was a long moment of silence before John muttered, "Fuck."

Dean nodded his agreement silently, still staring at the screen of Sam's laptop. They were definitely running out of time.

"Are we going to let him get strong enough to kill?" Tara asked softly as she and Azazel watched Sam sleep.

Azazel considered this question carefully. He figured Sam had probably realized that killing demons with his brain was a possibility now, but getting the boy strong enough to do that would take months more. The fact of the matter was that Sam had to become powerful enough to stop having the headaches and nosebleeds. Until then, it wasn't happening, especially given that the other two Winchesters were slowly closing in on their current location.

"No," he finally answered. "Just knowing the possibility is there will tempt him long after we sell him back to his family. Just facing a demon will remind him of the addiction. It's never going to go away completely, no matter what he does."

Tara grinned. "Seems fitting," she said softly, and Azazel nodded silently. "I still don't see where this is going to end, though."

"And you know I can't tell you," Azazel said calmly. He thought for a moment. "I wonder how Sammy would take seeing his Prom date again?"

"Should I summon her?" Tara asked.

Azazel considered. "Why not?" he finally said.

Tara gave him a broad grin this time and left the room. Azazel returned his attention to the sleeping boy before him. "Time to start showing you just how much influence I've had over your life, Sammy," he whispered with a smile.

Sam drifted into the land of the conscious. His headache from the previous day hadn't completely faded, and the bruises from being thrown around hurt like hell. He yawned, carefully stretched, and finally sat up…

Only to come face-to-face with someone he hadn't ever expected to see again.

"Rachel?" he said, jumping back slightly in surprise in wincing in pain.

She didn't look very different, Sam thought idly. A few years older, obviously, but her haircut was still the same, as was her smile. "Hi, Sam," she said warmly. "Long time, no see, right?"

"I don't understand," Sam said. There was something about her that suddenly didn't feel right, but he couldn't place his finger on it. "What are you doing here?"

"Azazel had Tara summon me," Rachel answered, and her eyes were black. Sam immediately backed away until he hit the wall behind his mattress. "I always thought it was kinda stupid, having to pretend to be perfectly normal and everything you'd like in a girl so you'd ask me out to Prom all those years ago." The smile was now a cold smirk. "I can't tell you how pleased Azazel was that it worked."

"You've been possessed since Prom?" Sam asked, and Rachel laughed.

"Honey, I was in control this pretty packaging for a good month before you showed up at that school, making sure I completely believable."

"What?"

"Azazel set up that hunt that drew your dad and brother," Rachel said after a moment, and in that tone of voice that meant she thought he was explaining something very simple to someone very stupid. Sam couldn't help but bristle slightly at the thought. "Do you know how awkward you were in your skin at that age? If I remember correctly, you'd only just finally managed your first growth spurt two months before showing up at that school." She smiled in a misty-eyed way. "All arms and legs, and so tall. You really earned that Sasquatch title there, Sam."

Sam rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I'm really not interested in another exorcism so soon after yesterday."

"Oh, I'm not here to try and kill you," Rachel said softly as she inched closer to Sam. "I'm just here to show you how much interest Azazel's had in you for your entire life."

Sam stared at Rachel for a long moment. "There are others, aren't there?"

Rachel nodded brightly. "Bingo! We all had things Azazel wanted us to teach you," she told Sam, scooting right into his personal space and placing her hands on his bent knees. "You wanna know what my lesson was?"

"Get out of here," Sam bit out, not wanting to deal with any of this.

"It was easy to see how much you resented the life you lived," Rachel said softly. "John the Hunter and Dean, your big brother who was the perfect son and always did what Daddy told him. 'Watch out for Sam, follow my lead, do all the research, clean all the guns.' Every order was followed to the letter, but you? 'Listen to your brother, always stay close, don't wander off, help with the research, help clean the guns, and never disobey.' I played the normal teenage girl with just enough of an independent streak to pique your interest at the time. And do you know what I saw by the time you left?" Rachel leaned in even closer and whispered into his ear, "I saw you standing up to your father in ways you'd never done before you met me. I taught you to fight back twice as hard when you didn't agree. I taught you to demand to be seen as someone who could make his own decisions and didn't need to be protected all the time."

"Stop it," Sam said, pushing Rachel away and shoving to his feet. He moved to the other side of the room, warily eyeing the girl before him as she slowly stood up with an out-of-place smirk on her pretty face.

"You turned out so handsome and strong," she said. "Incredibly smart, too. It really is a shame you never took advantage of this pretty body here." She smoothed her hands down her sides and Sam felt sick. "Poor Rachel wanted it just as much as I did," she told Sam before tilting her head to the side. "Still does, actually. My, you left quite the impression."

"Get out of here," Sam ground out, raising a hand in warning when Rachel took a step toward him.

"What's the matter, Sam? Am I coming on too strong?" Rachel put on a pouty face and Sam grit his teeth in anger.

"What's the point of all this?" Sam demanded. "Why the fuck do I matter so damn much?"

Rachel smiled. "I don't know the end game any more than you do, Sam," she said quietly. "All I know is that I wasn't the first demon pulled from the Pit to guide you, and I'm sure I won't be the last, either." She headed to the door, knocking on it to be released. "You should know," she said after a moment, "that with what I do know about the future and Azazel's plans, that I'm rooting for you. I'm not the only one, either." She smiled before knocking. A moment later the door opened and Sam watched as she sauntered out, the door slamming shut behind her.

Sam felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Hard. Some Hunter I am, he thought dully as he eased back onto his mattress. How many other people had Sam known that were actually possessed by demons? How many had pushed him in the direction Azazel wanted him to go? Was it their fault he had run away for two weeks to escape his "overbearing" family in Flagstaff, Arizona? Was it their fault he had always felt so out of place in his own family?

"All those times you ran away, you weren't running from them. You were running towards me."

"Gah!" Sam squeezed his eyes shut and clutched at his head. He had never heard those words before, but he knew the voice, and through the newest haze of pain he felt fear.

That voice had been his.

The door to Sam's room suddenly opened and Derrick sauntered through. "Breakfast time," he said in an oddly jovial tone. Sam just stared at him.

"Slept like a rock after taking on Vashta," Derrick added after a moment, setting the tray of steaming hot food down and sprawling comfortably on the mattress beside Sam. "You've got some strength goin' there, kid, but it's probably gonna keep wiping you out for a while longer."

"Thanks for telling me," Sam sighed as he tucked into his food. He ate in silence for a few minutes before asking a question that had been plaguing him since the exorcism he had performed the day before. "Derrick?"

"Yeah?"

"The 'dream-memory' merge thing Vashta did yesterday," Sam said, "why did she call it a level of Hell?"

Derrick sighed and dropped his head back against the wall. "That's because it is a level of Hell," he said. "There are all kinds of different torture, and not all of them involve physical pain. What I think you experienced was an upper level, but most everyone gets thrown on the rack and tortured day after day." Sam was surprised to see Derrick shudder. "I'd sooner die than go back there," he admitted, "and not just me. It pretty much goes without saying that any demon would sooner get shot with that gun your dad found than return to the Pit."

Sam nodded and resumed eating. If he could go the rest of his life without experiencing any of that ever again, it would be too damn soon.

When he finished eating, Derrick took his dirty dishes and headed for the door. When it was opened, however, he paused before turning back to Sam.

"Have you ever experienced any sort of withdrawal?" he asked casually.

"No," Sam said after a moment. "Why?"

Tara suddenly stuck her head through the door and caught sight of Sam. "Your daddy and big brother are getting close," she said with a gleeful smile. "Too close, really. Hell, I'm expecting them to show up in a few days, all set to save you." Her smile got bigger. "No more go-juice for you, Sammy. I'm guessing the basic symptoms will start kicking in within a few hours, but it's gonna take days for you to get over it. Have fun."

Derrick followed her through the door, and when it shut with an ominous "BOOM", Sam felt his insides drop out.

TBC...