Authors note: Thanks to everyone who has followed and added this bad boy to their favourites. It's truly encouraging. Please comment as well if you can, it always keeps me motivated and adds that little push to do a new chapter as well. (massive thanks to SaiyukiLover232 for all the comments!)

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 7

By the time Zoe's foot had hit the ground Dean was already standing in front of her protectively, his eyes never once leaving Crowley.

"Come on now Squirrel," Crowley scoffed, "I wouldn't want your angel reject any more than I would want to lick horse poo off the bottom of my shoe."

"Why are you here Crowley?" Dean barked.

"Hitched a ride with the little pit-bull here," he inclined his head toward Daryl who shot him a glare over his shoulder, "had a nice little chat actually."

"Why are you here?" Dean's voice rose, his question more deliberate.

"I'm here to give you a little proposition," the demon said with a smug look, "I'm willing to lay down arms and help you if you are willing to help me. Ah Moose, there you are."

Dean looked over to see his little brother come to stand beside him in front of Zoe, his eyes wild with shock and anger.

"What are you doing here?" Sam growled in way of a greeting.

"Oh you Winchester's, no manners," Crowley shook his head a little and took a step forwards further into the clearing. Dean unsheathed his knife from his belt as he stepped forwards to match the demons movement.

"Just stay where you are scumbag," Dean hissed.

"What is goin' on out here?" Rick appeared at the top of the steps his eyes falling to Daryl, "where's Carol?"

Daryl took a breath and shook his head slightly, his entire body sagging at the mention of Carol's name, "I don't know."

Rick watched him for a second before nodding and holding the door to the church open, "how about everyone comes inside and we talk about this further."

"Gladly," Crowley gave the three a shit eating grin.

Dean's indignant green eyes met Crowley's across the opening, "come on then jackass, come right into the Lord's house, onto hallowed ground, we'll have a nice long chat."

Crowley's lip twitched up into a thin smirk, the sarcasm in the oldest Winchester's voice clearly trying to bait him. He sauntered forwards stopping directly in front of the brother's a shimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"It's not hallowed ground anymore Squirrel," he stepped passed them, up the stairs and over the threshold of the church calling over his shoulder, "it's just four walls and a roof."

A chill ran through Zoe as Crowley repeated Maggie's words from earlier, her face going ghostly white as the two boys turned to face her.

"Stay here," Dean handed her the knife and nodded to Sam, "we'll sort this out and be back in a second."

She watched as the two brother's ducked up the stairs after Crowley, disappearing inside leaving her standing in the surprisingly cool Georgia breeze.

"He told me what y'are y'know," she glanced up to see Daryl looking down at her, "about the angel blood and stuff."

Zoe held his gaze for a long moment desperately trying to read what was in his hooded blue eyes, "Did he tell you what he is?"

Daryl adjusted his crossbow on his back and shrugged a little, his back cracking softly under his clothes, "he told me he's done some pretty terrible things, but in spite of all of that he can help us."

Zoe shook her head slightly, her eyes going to the ground as she sucked in a deep breath, "of course he did."

"Don't you wanna get out of this Hell?" Daryl asked softly.

"This isn't Hell," she whispered, "this is just a crappy situation that can't be fixed. Hell is worse than this."

"And you know of Hell do you?" the man's voice held a bitterness to it that snapped Zoe's head up to meet his gaze.

"Yeah, I do. Better than anyone else, and probably better than I should," she remarked blue eyes ablaze.

He watched her for a moment, something in his eyes that almost looked like he was having an internal struggle before finally saying, "You ain't the only one that has a crappy past y'know."

"This isn't about having a crappy past. This is so much more than parents that didn't love you, or copping the wrong side of an argument, or having to lie about falling down the stairs," she replied, her hands trembling slightly. Though she seemed to have completely missed the sincerity in his tone.

"I wasn't saying…"

She cut him off, stepping forwards as she spoke, "this is about a very literal Hell, this is about losing absolutely every single thing that you ever loved. About dedicating a life time to something that you can never ever win against. It's about the inevitable death that follows you around, that stalks you no matter where you go. Hell isn't some hungry dead corpse shambling after you when you walk down the street, or not knowing if you'll have a bed to sleep in. Hell is a horrible place, a horrific manifestation of everything that you dread," tears were welling behind her eyes as she spoke, her voice trembling with anger and fear and pent up emotions she hadn't had the chance, or the courage, to feel.

"It rips you apart, tears at everything you ever loved until you're totally raw, crawling along a bed of shattered glass to try and hold on to the last shred of hope you have. Then those sick freaks put you back together, and the mental torture starts, they make you watch your loved ones die, turn you into the demon that killed them. They rip you apart until you finally cave and become the very thing that you swore you never would. Then you get off that rack and get to inflict that same terror on some other poor undeserving soul, and if you're really lucky it'll be on someone you loved once upon a time," her eyes shone wild as Daryl watched her intently her words pressing against his chest like a lead weight.

"And that guy in there, that sick, twisted, ghoulish freak that you willingly let into your group, is the mastermind behind it all. He's the sadistic overlord that comes up with new ways of torturing people, new ways of making you wish you could feel anything else, die all over again just to be away from it, and you just let him walk right in here."

The two of them were standing so close together at that point that with every inhale Zoe's chest nearly touched against Daryl's her eyes even as she stared up at him. For some reason in that moment, seeing the fire blazing behind her eyelids, the determination in her stance made him want to lean down and press his lips to hers, breathe in her scent, taste the sweetness of her tongue against his. As if breaking out of some sort of trans Zoe sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back, her eyes going back to the tip of the blade in her hand, a haziness floating across her vision as she turned and walked back over to the steps. Daryl took a deep breath, as if he were sucking in air for the first time, his skin burning with a strange heat, and headed inside, pushing passed Zoe and half running up into the church. The further away from her the better, whatever it was that overcame him was nothing more than a knee jerk reaction, he tried to convince himself, the girl was pretty and that was all he was reacting to. He paused in the doorway turning to look at her over his shoulder for a moment before almost physically shaking off the unsettling feeling in his stomach and joining the rest of the group.

Zoe sank down onto the bottom step trying to regain a little composure before she had to speak with anyone. Her hands kept turning Ruby's knife over and over, the cool metal of the blade grounding her a little, though her thoughts were still back on the time she spent in Hell. Seeing Crowley again had dredged up memories she had managed to suppress for a long time. The memories of the debilitating pain as she had flesh torn from her bones, the abhorrent, soul crushing torture that she was forced to live through, kept just on the brink of consciousness and awareness the entire time. But worst of all it was the memories that she was forced to endure, the memories of losing the Winchester brothers in the most heinous ways possible. The recollection of watching them be tortured and not being able to do a single thing to stop it, never really knowing if it was real or all some sort of sick ploy to drive her insane. Whatever it was, it had stayed with her every single day since she was pulled out of the pit. Every time she looked at the brothers she heard the soul crushing screams as enormous meat hooks were threaded through their skin, she saw the hatred and betrayal in their eyes as they realised she was the one waiting in line for her turn to torture them senseless. Worst of all though, she remembered the feeling of her blade sinking into their flesh, peeling it back agonising inch by inch, remembered the pain and fear in their eyes as they begged her to stop, begged her to remember how much they loved her and how much she didn't seem to care. Enjoyed it even.

"Zoe!" Dean's voice dragged her screaming back to reality, he was kneeling in front of her his eyes wide as he grabbed at her hands. She looked down to where his hands were over hers thin streams of blood were trickling from the edge of the blade and pooling on the floor near her feet. She had been gripping the blade so hard it had cut a deep line through both of her palms, blood free flowing along the length of the blade staining it a garish red.

"Come on Zo, let it go kid," Dean's voice was so soft, his eyes gentle as he carefully removed the blade from her hands just as Sam came down the stairs holding two lengths of white material. Dean took them from his brother and tenderly wound the material around her hands, tying it off securely at the ends. His eyes trailed up to where Sam was standing behind Zoe on the stairs, his hazel eyes enormous and a look of pure distress on his features.
"Dean?" Zoe's watery blue eyes met the oldest Winchester's, recognition followed closely by sheer anguish crossing her face before she fell forwards her arms wrapping around his neck and her face buried into his shoulder.

"It's okay, everything is okay, we're here," he wrapped his arms around her, surprised by how small she felt against his body and pulled her forwards until her body was against his. His hand came to rest on the back of her head as his troubled green eyes rose to meet Sam's hazel ones above him. They knew that this whole thing was taking a toll on her but neither of them had realised how bad it was.

"I don't want to go back to torturing you guys again," she mumbled against his neck, tears flowing from her eyes as she gripped at his t-shirt harder splitting her wounds apart even more.

"You never tortured us kiddo, never," Dean replied softly, his hand trailing up and down her back absently.

"I can't Dean," she sobbed, "I can't do this."

Sam took a seat on the step in front of his brother, his hands practically aching to reach out and comfort their friend. He knew the fear, the horror and the utter despair she was feeling. He understood the obligation she felt she had to make things right and worst of all he knew the price she would have to pay. Sam and Dean loved her like a sister and that was why they would go with her to the ends of the earth, they would protect her and do everything they could to make sure she knew they were there.

He watched his older brother fight back his own tears as he held Zoe steady, a heaviness weighing on his heart as he watched her descend into almost total hysteria. Wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve Sam stood, a cold steeliness taking over his gaze as he stormed back inside of the church, passing the group standing at the back corner of the room and stalked straight towards where Crowley sat in the high backed chair right underneath the enormous cross at the front of the room.

"Moose," demonic eyes watched the younger Winchester intently, his fingers laced in his lap.

Sam took a shuddering breath forcing his shoulders back and meeting Crowley's even gaze, "you have a deal."