Disclaimer: Nothing new. Don't own Supernatural.

Short chapter, I know, but I thought this was a good place to stop.

Sam reluctantly took the silver flask out of Ruby's hand. He took off the lid and held it up to his nose; it smelled really good.

Sam eyed Ruby suspiciously. "I thought you said right after I drank this I would start my training. Shouldn't we get there before I down this?"

"Just drink the drink." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Look, you will be trying your first exorcism here. Azazel wants to see how far you've progressed. The volunteer will be here any moment, so unless you want a crowd watching you, I'd hurry up."

Fuck it. Sam lifted the flask and downed the liquid. The delicious, throat quenching liquid.

Sam looked over at Ruby, eyebrows raised. "That stuff is amazing. What is... agh!"

Sam closed his eyes, holding his head, as a surge of power courses through his veins. Vaguely, Sam registered Azazel calling the 'volunteer' in. As he became more accustomed to the constant buzz, the young Winchester lowered his hand and opened his eyes. Disappointment shone on Azazel's face.

"That's an unfortunate side effect." Azazel locked eyes with Ruby. "I thought you said he was strong enough."

Ignoring her 'superior,' Ruby nodded at Sam. "Go ahead Sam. Just focus the new energy you feel running through you on pushing Randy over there out of his meatsuit." She motioned at the demon standing to his right.

As Sam turned to face the demon, it sneered. "You don't have what it takes to exorcise me, Winchester. Might as well give up now and save yourself the embarrass-"

Randy's words were cut off as Sam raised his hand and focused on the demonic energies inside the meatsuit. Black smoke slowly floated out of Randy's mouth and into the floor as he fell to his knees, hands clawing vainly at his throat.

The last of the smoke dissipated into the floor and Sam lowered his hand. Sadly, the buzz also wore off. Sam had no time to miss it as Ruby hugged him.

"That was great, Sam!" Sam stared down at the blonde-haired demon before hugging back. "Before you know it, you'll actually be able to rip the demon out without killing the person!"

Save the person? Oh, right. Sam had killed to poor meatsuit, er, person, Randy was occupying. Why didn't he feel bad about the guy's death? Does wondering why he doesn't care count as caring?

Sam was pulled out of his thoughts as Ruby pulled away. She looked so smug as she turned to face Azazel. "So, what did ya think? Is Sam's training paying off?"

Azazel plastered on a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Sam. You always were a quick one."

Sam. Azazel called him Sam. As much as he appreciated not being called 'Sammy' by a demon anymore, it unsettled Sam that Azazel suddenly stopped using his nickname, especially after overhearing his conversation with Ruby about him getting too strong too fast.

"C'mon Sam, let's go. We have more training to do." Ruby grabbed Sam's arm and teleported them back into his room. "Sam!"

Sam snapped out of his thoughts, surprised to see the familiar walls of his room. "Huh? What are we doing in my room?"

Ruby sighed, rolling her eyes. "Snap out of la-la land. I brought us here because you were staring at Azazel like he was hiding something. Get a better poker face."

Sam sat down on the chair by his desk, slumped down. "That obvious, huh?"

Ruby sat on the edge of Sam's bed. "Not to everyone. Don't worry; I was watching you to make sure there were no unwelcome side effects. Only side effect I saw was a lack of a poker face and spacing out. Did I miss anything?"

Smiling sheepishly, Sam replied, "Sorry about that. It's just-" What was he thinking? He shouldn't tell the demon he's suspicious of her boss!

"Sam?" Ruby leaned forward, seemingly concerned.

Sam rubbed a hand over his face. Today was as good a day to die as any. "It's just that Azazel didn't seem too happy with my progress. I think he wanted me to fail, wanted me to be weaker."

Ruby sat up, looking way too happy. "Good, stay wary of Azazel. Don't trust him." She leaned closer again, her eyes lighting up. "How do you feel about him?"

"Are you asking me if I want to become his best friend or if I want to kill him?"

Ruby's smile grew. "I'm a demon; use that big brain of yours." She patted Sam's knee and stood up. "We'll chat later. Right now, you've got a call to take."

Ruby disappeared right as Sam's phone started to ring. "Hello? Yes, this is Edgar Casey. Yeah, sorry about my other phone, it, uh, was dropped in a toilet." Sam listened to the other guy in the phone, pulling out a pen and paper from his desk. "Thanks. Listen, could you, uh, give me the address to the storage locker? I don't have my address book with me and I want to come right away. Thanks, I'll be over as soon as I can."

I'm so bad; I still haven't told you what's in the flask. Don't worry, you'll find out when Sam does. *evil laughter*