AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm not a beer girl. I prefer peach schnapps. But Land Shark is a real beer and a current favorite of my dad's which happens to be available in MI. Who knew?

Chapter 10

Lucifer Rising

Driving as fast as possible from North Dakota to Maryland, Fiona knew she didn't have much time before the others caught up to her. At least a couple hours—a day if she was lucky. Despite the warning she gave Ruby, she knew the demon would have warned Dean and Bobby. Possibly Sam if he was over his detoxing.

It was a suicide mission. She knew that. But Sam and Dean were the last family she had—not including Gibbs—and she would keep them out of harm's way by any means necessary.

"So let me get this straight," Ellen said, as she ran down through what she'd been told by the Winchesters and Bobby as they made tracks for Maryland. "After Dean went to Hell, he broke the first of the 66 seals needed to free Lucifer. Meanwhile Sam's been drinking demon blood on the advice of a demon. Now Fiona's gone off on her own for a showdown with one of the worst demons you've ever come across to save Sam and/or Dean from doing the deed."

"Pretty much sums it up," Bobby replied from behind the wheel.

Ellen just nodded briefly before smacking Dean, Sam, and Bobby in turn.

"What was that for?" Sam said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Trusting a demon?" Ellen snapped, letting her temper loose. "Come on, Sam! I thought you were smarter than that!"

"Hey, it's not his fault," Dean said, defensively from his seat next to Ellen, although he was careful not to get her too riled, being in easy arm reach and all.

"I'm not saying it is," Ellen replied. "And it's not yours, either, Dean. Obviously this is something that's been in play since before you boys were born."

"But if that's the case, how does Fiona fit in?" Bobby asked, voicing the question that had been on all of their minds.

"Maybe she doesn't," Sam mused.

"Say again?" Bobby asked, giving Sam a look before turning his attention back to the road.

Sam straightened up as best he could and sighed. "Look, if Fi hadn't come with Dean and me… I don't know, maybe it would be Ruby and me going to hunt down Lilith."

"That's a disturbing thought," Dean said, quietly.

St. Mary's Convent was abandoned and Fiona tried not to let that creep her out too much. Looking around, she dropped her bag on the floor in the main room and immediately got to work. Lilith was due to show up the following morning, and given the traffic jam Fi had gotten stuck in on the way here, she knew Sam and Dean were likely only a few hours away.

She used the strongest binding spells she could find in her father's journal and Bobby's books and finally used a special glow-in-the-dark paint to draw an elaborate Devil's Trap on the floor which would be visible only under a black light.

Looking about the room, Fiona felt as prepared as she could possibly be for what was to come. The plan was to trap Lilith, get some answers and then stab the bitch.

Did she have a chance of surviving this? Who knew?

But Fiona knew that whatever happened, she would go down swinging.

After checking and double checking that everything was ready, Fiona decided that she could afford to get a couple hours sleep before Lilith arrived.

At first, Dean thought he must have fallen asleep in the Impala because the last thing he remembered was sitting in the car next to Ellen.

Now, he suddenly found himself in an elegant sitting room and no idea of where he was and no a clue of how he'd gotten there.

"Hello, Dean," said a smug voice behind him.

Turning, Dean found himself face to face with Zachariah who looked both pleased and pissed. "What the hell is this?"

"Thought we should have a little chat," Zachariah explained, and while he was smiling, there was a look in the angel's eyes that clearly stated that he wanted to rip Dean limb from limb.

"Yeah?" Dean asked, looking around the room. "What about?"

"Your friend, Fiona, has thrown quite a wrench in the works," Zachariah explained, watching the hunter's every move. "You see, tomorrow night—midnight—Lilith is due to break the final seal. Of course, it's not so much about timing as it is… location, location, location."

"Oh," Dean replied with more bravado than he felt. "Well, I can help you there. I know where it's going down."

"Really?" Zachariah said, seeming genuinely surprised by that.

"Abandoned convent in Ilchester, Maryland," Dean went on. "Turns out the place is where Fi's parents got married."

"Interesting," Zachariah muttered, thinking. Snapping his fingers, he conjured a platter of burgers, a tub of perfectly chilled beers, and the best looking pie Dean had ever seen. "Well, have a seat. Grab a bite. We'll come find you when we need you."

Before Dean could say anything else, the angel was gone. Going to the beers, Dean pulled out a bottle, studying the label. He and Sam had had Land Shark only once while down in Key West on a case, but both of them had fallen in love with this particular beer. Popping the top, Dean took a long drink before looking around the room again. He wished he knew what he was really doing here.

"Dean's not answering his phone," Sam reported as he, Ellen, and Bobby continued driving. After Dean's vanishing act, they realized that whatever else was going on, stopping Lilith had to be priority one.

As Ellen hit the gas on the Impala harder, she wondered if this was some sort of ruse orchestrated by the angels. Nothing about this whole this was sitting right with her. Had the angels really been unsuccessful in preventing the seals from breaking or had they been allowed to break?

While Bobby looked over the map so they knew where they were going, Sam was in the backseat, hunched over his laptop, going through the information he'd saved before they'd left South Dakota. Pulling up what he'd found about St. Mary's Convent, Sam didn't like the look of where this was going. In 1972, a priest had disemboweled 8 nuns, although later he had claimed not to remember doing it. But reading the name of the demon who had possessed the priest, Sam felt his stomach sink.

"You doing okay there, Sam?" Bobby asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

"Check this out," Sam said, handing the laptop up to Bobby.

"Azazel?" Bobby said, after reading the article and glancing again in the rearview mirror, although this time there was fear in the older hunter's eyes.

"Who's Azazel?" Ellen asked, frowning as she looked from the rearview mirror and Sam to Bobby.

"Yellow Eyes," Sam replied, darkly, as a sudden thought started creeping up on him.

"You don't think-?" Bobby started, catching the younger hunter's look.

Ellen didn't need any pressing, she hit the gas pedal harder, making the Impala go as fast as it could.

Lilith had been surprised to hear that Fiona Brendon was looking for her and even more surprising was that the Marine/hunter wanted a one-on-one meeting.

Fiona seemed to be a lot of things, but suicidally reckless wasn't one of them. She had some sort of plan and remembering their last tête-à-tête, Lilith was going to go into this meeting far more prepared than she had been last time.

That meant that before Fiona had set foot in Ilchester, Lilith had set demon sentries in a one mile radius surrounding the convent and had placed anti-angel sigils on the walls of the convent itself. Of course, there were things the demons couldn't plan for, including if Fiona had violated her own rules and brought back-up.

But unlike the other demons in her entourage, Lilith knew that Fiona would show up alone. The girl had that look that made it clear that she was willing to go headlong into danger, if it meant saving those she cared about.

And it didn't hurt that Fiona had chosen the very spot where the final seal needed to be broken. Ideally, the timing was off by about 17 hours, but that was of little importance.

"Surprised you decided to show up," Fiona said as the demon appeared in the small chamber.

"You called me, remember?" Lilith replied with a smile as though the two were old friends meeting over coffee. Subtly looking around as she approached Fiona, she asked, "So what can I do for you?" After a moment, she stopped dead, looking at the ground before looking up at Fiona, her eyes rolling over white.

"Trapped like filthy rat," Fiona said, her eyes narrowed as she backed away from the Devil's Trap. "Oh, and I know about your sentries. You can thank Ruby for that."

But instead of showing fear, Lilith laughed. "You honestly thought you could trust Ruby? Please!"

"I bet you thought you could trust her, too," Fiona replied, coldly. "See, she's the one who knew—the only one you told—where the final seal was." Looking around the chamber as she withdrew her knife, her eyes were hard as she turned back to the demon. "And it just so happens to be the place where my parents were married… where my mother was laid to rest."

"So this is all about revenge?" Lilith asked, still not scared as her eyes went back to normal.

"This is about ending it once and for all," Fiona swore, pointing the knife at Lilith. "You took my parents… and now I'm going to take your life. It's over."

Lilith's smile widened as she realized why Fiona had called her here. Silly little girl, she thought, arms outstretched. "You're not wrong about that, honey."

Dean had never felt comfortable standing by while others did the dirty work. Sure, exceptions were made for injuries, but the idea of sitting out a fight never really appealed to him.

Which is why he hated just sitting around this room waiting for something to happen. Why couldn't the angels at least put a TV up or something?

Unbeknownst to Dean, Castiel stood in a corner, watching the young man pacing the room, no doubt looking for an exit. He knew why Zachariah had sequestered Dean here, but what he didn't know was who would ultimately kill Lilith.

Fiona had thrown things into disarray and now it was unclear whether it would be her or Sam who would break the final seal.

There were so many things Castiel didn't agree with and he certainly didn't believe that God would want to see this world be destroyed. But how to stop it?

With a sudden resolve, Castiel appeared before Dean just as the young hunter grabbed one of the burgers from the platter on the table. Without a word, he pushed Dean against the wall, clapping a hand over the hunter's mouth to silence him. Pulling out the demon-killing knife belonging to Ruby, Castiel met Dean's eyes and after a moment, Dean gave a nod of understanding.

Cas withdrew and pulled the knife across his arm and handed the knife to Dean before quickly drawing a sigil on the wall in blood.

"Castiel!" Zachariah said, angrily. "Do you mind explaining just what the hell you're doing?"

But even as the senior angel spoke, Castiel had finished the sigil and pressed a bloody hand against it, vaporizing his superior. Turning to Dean, he said, "You have to get to Sam and Fiona now."

"What, at the convent?" Dean said, still surprised by the angel's actions.

Castiel nodded. "I can't go. Lilith has hidden the location. I can't enter to help you. You must stop Fiona from confronting Lilith."

"So she ganks Lilith before the bitch can break the final seal," Dean said, breathlessly.

"Lilith is the final seal!" Castiel replied. "She dies, the end begins."

A look of horror spread over Dean's face and he said, "Then what are you waiting for?"

Castiel touched Dean's forehead with two fingers and once the young hunter was gone, he waited for the wrath of heaven to descend upon him.

Somehow, Bobby, Sam, and Ellen managed to get to St. Mary's by 9:18 that morning. All three drew their selected weapons, although none of them knew what to expect inside. Entering the convent, Ellen raised her shotgun at the figure in the entrance hall, lowering it quickly when she realized it was Dean. "Where the Hell have you been?" she demanded.

Dean didn't bother answering, instead, he said, quickly. "We've got to stop Fi! Come on!"

The others didn't ask questions and didn't argue as the headed down the hallways, feeling more and more anxious as they encountered no other demons.

When they finally came to a locked chamber, Dean and Sam started pounding and calling Fiona's name.

x

Inside the room, Fi ignored her friends' voices as she stared at Lilith. "Just tell me why you killed my mother."

"Oh, don't you remember?" Lilith said in a mocking tone. "You were in the car, too. Both of you were supposed to die."

Lowering her knife, Fiona frowned as she said, "Why would you get my mother pregnant just to kill her and me?"

"Because after you were born," Lilith replied, watching Fi's every move, waiting for the right moment to escape and teach the young hunter a lesson she wouldn't soon forget. "—we found out that you would be the wrench in our plans. So you had to go."

Fi glanced briefly at the door as it thudded loudly. Turning back to the demon, she noticed that Lilith was perfectly calm. Too calm… "You're not smoking out this time?"

"What, and miss all the fun?" Lilith replied, smiling as the door burst open and the Winchesters came in, flanked by Bobby and Ellen.

"Fi, get back," Dean barked, cautiously approaching his best friend and the demon who'd once killed him.

"Oh, Fiona, please do," Lilith said with an evil grin before throwing her head back, black smoke pouring from her mouth and going into Fiona.

Lilith/Fi raised a hand and Ellen and Bobby went flying back out into the hallway, the chamber doors slamming shut behind them. With another gesture, Dean was pinned against the wall, the knife dropping to the floor. "Get out of her, you bitch!"

"Aww," Lilith said, walking up to Dean and slowly tracing the outline of his face with one hand. "What's the matter, Dean? Don't you like me anymore?" Sensing Sam moving to attack her from behind, with a flick of her wrist, he, too, was pinned to the wall. "You know, Fiona's really disappointed you two came here," she went on, looking from Dean to Sam. "I mean, she knows Dean's too weak and broken to kill me and Sam, well… Fiona would do anything to keep your precious soul intact."

"Fiver, fight her!" Sam said, trying to reach Fiona somewhere.

"You know," Lilith replied, thoughtfully, flinging Sam so he was pinned next to his brother. "You two don't even know why Fiona hates that nickname, do you?" Walking around the altar, she smiled. "It's because of little Kelly Gibbs. Kelly gave Fi the nickname and every time Fiona hears it, it's a reminder of one more person she couldn't save."

Dean closed his eyes as he struggled against the invisible forces holding him. He'd never really known what Fi had against the nickname. "Fi, I'm sorry," he said as he opened his eyes.

"It's not important," Lilith said, shrugging. With a smile, she picked up the demon-killing knife that had belonged to Ruby. "What is important is that you two get to decide who stabs your old friend Fiona, therefore killing me."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, neither of them relishing the idea. Lilith was the final seal and if she died, Lucifer was freed. But more than that, the idea of killing Fiona made both Winchesters feel sick.

"Come on, now!" Lilith encouraged, brandishing the knife. "I mean, Dean… Fiona lied to you about Adam. She didn't tell you about the ghouls and almost got Sam killed. Some sister, right?"

Dean struggled harder, wanting nothing more than to kill the hell bitch possessing Fiona.

Turning to Sam, Lilith went on. "And Sam… Hate to tell you, but you're not the best Fi's ever had. But let's face it—you're freakishly tall, and the whole demon blood thing makes you a really aggressive lover." Walking up to Sam, Lilith whispered in his ear, "It took weeks for those bite marks on Fiona to heal."

As Lilith backed away from Sam, watching with delight the anger in his face, she accidentally crossed the boundary of the Devil's Trap, trapping herself.

Sam and Dean found themselves suddenly released and Sam made to charge towards Lilith, but found himself held back by Dean. "Let me go!" Sam roared. "I'm going to tear that bitch apart!"

"Sam, no!" Dean insisted, restraining his brother. "It's Fi in there!"

"And Lilith!" Sam pressed, still trying to get to the trapped demon.

"What are you waiting for, Sammy?" Lilith asked, tossing the knife towards him. "Finish it. Kill me and let Lucifer roam free." Holding up one finger, she added, "Maybe this will make it easier for you."

Sam momentarily stopped struggling against Dean and stared as Lilith gave control back to Fiona.

"Sam, kill her!" Fiona said, quickly. "Lucifer you can deal with. Just do it!"

"Fi, no," Dean said, cursing the choke in his voice. "Damnit, I'm not losing you!"

"How touching," Lilith replied, taking the reins back from Fi. Pulling out Fiona's knife, she again smiled sinisterly. "Of course, even if you two won't do the deed, I can always do it myself." Catching the horrified look exchanged between Dean and Sam, she put the tip of the knife to her stomach. "Fiona promised to kill me. And you know how she is about keeping promises."

Sam and Dean froze as Lilith raised the knife but suddenly she stiffened as Fiona suddenly took control again.

"Fi, no!" Dean shouted, rushing towards Fiona.

But it was too late.

Fiona plunged the knife into her gut and felt Lilith's existence fade from her own as she fell to the ground, blood pooling out of her from the knife wound.

Dean couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Beside him, Sam was crying, silent tears falling down his cheeks.

"Sam! Dean!" Bobby said as he and Ellen burst into the room. They looked at the still form of Fiona and then at the Winchesters.

It was then that Ellen noticed the blood from Fiona twisting and winding in a circle. "We gotta get out of here, now!" she said, quickly.

Bobby made for the door and Sam picked up Fiona in his arms while Dean grabbed the poor girl Lilith had been possessing. When Sam stopped dead, Dean gave his brother an urgent look. "Sammy, come on!"

But Sam looked down at Fiona with a mixture of relief and disbelief. "She's alive."

"What?" Dean said, almost dropping the other girl out of shock.

"Fi's still alive!" Sam said, excited.

"Then let's make sure she stays that way," Bobby said, urgently, leading the others out of the convent.

But as everyone got in the car, Ellen turned back to see a blindingly white light filling up the convent. "Bobby, punch it!" she shouted.

Bobby didn't need telling twice. He floored the gas, barreling down the road even as the light seemed to envelope the car and its passengers.

A/N: Next chapter, Ruby and Meg turn up, the angels are pissed, and someone else gets grievously injured.