A/N: Sorry for the delay on this. I've been having some RL issues, which means I might be posting a little slower for the next few weeks. Thank you for all the sweet reviews! Definitely helps me stay motivated and excited to write more. :)

Oh, BTW, I found out I was spelling Ellasbeth's family name wrong, it's supposed to be spelled "Withon" instead of how I was spelling it in the first couple chapters (LOL, that's what I get for being an audio book listener). So from now on I'll spell it correctly.

Also, I apologize, I seem incapable of non-cliffhanger chapter endings lately. Maybe next chapter... maybe. 0:)

CHAPTER 13 - "Flight"

Trent hopped up on the cot beneath the gaping hole in the ceiling and laced his fingers into a stirrup, holding them out. I understood the plan and quickly joined him on the bed. Swinging one foot into his hand, I braced myself and pushed upward as he half boosted, half threw me up to the ceiling. It wasn't that high and I was able to catch hold of the ragged lip of the hole. I quickly dragged myself up and out onto the roof. I stripped out of the over-large flannel shirt I was wearing. Bracing my knees, I leaned back into the hole as far as I could, holding onto one sleeve and dropping the rest of the shirt down towards Trent. Trent used the cot's springs as a launching board, jumping up and catching hold of the proffered shirt. I slithered forward under his weight, then caught myself on the lip and hauled backwards. Trent was already climbing hand-over hand, and I slid backwards when he caught hold of the edge of the hole and his weight disappeared. I slid back into the over-shirt as Trent hauled himself out onto the roof and then we were running across the tilted surface, slithering over the edge and dropping to the ground.

Trent didn't look like that latest bought of magic had done him any favors, but he seemed to be pushing through whatever he was feeling all right for the moment. I wasn't sure how long that would last though. Thus far, there had always seemed to be a bit of a delay between when Trent used magic and when the effects hit him.

I heard shouts from inside. My heart was pounding in my ears. Trent and I quickly fled into the maze of the junk yard, staying low and dashing between the hulking bodies of the partially dismantled cars. Trying to run out of here on foot would be useless. We needed to jack one of the working cars and we needed to do it quick.

"I don't suppose you know how to hotwire a car," I asked Trent as we wove our way quickly towards a couple of the vehicles that looked to be in running order. I was only half joking.

"Don't need to," he said smugly, pulling a set of beat up keys from his pocket and dangling them on his finger.

I goggled at him. "Where'd you get those?!"

"The pegboard, in the kitchen," Trent said simply. I realized he must have swiped them earlier, after lunch. Another contingency plan, I supposed. Geez, the man's back up plans had back up plans. It would just be nice if he bothered to share them every once in a while! Although ... to be fair, maybe he'd tried and I hadn't been listening. Not that that let him off the hook for the bone-head stunt he'd just pulled, but I was doing my best to not make assumptions and to try to see his side of things before I gave into the impulse to kick him into next week. Of course, there was nothing to say I couldn't do both.

The car's make and model were written on a masking tape strip on the cardboard key fob and we made our way quickly towards the one indicated. I snatched the keys from him and yanked open the driver's door, glaring at Trent and daring him to argue. Wisely, he did not.

Proving that every once in a while, things could actually go our way, the old junker of a car started easily. The engine sounded rough and throaty, but it worked just fine as I floored the accelerator and we pealed out of the lot.

The road we found ourselves on was small and deserted. Hopefully it got bigger or had some turn-offs further ahead. If it didn't, we wouldn't be hard to find or follow. I kept the gas pedal to the floor, trying to make the most of our head start.

I glanced in the rearview mirror, then over at Trent. The elf had started coughing again. Blood was trickling from his nose and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. He may be trying to pretend he was okay, but I knew better. I felt torn between being mad at him for doing this to himself and being worried sick. I finally settled on both.

"Damn it to hell, Trent!" I shouted at him, slapping the steering wheel with the heel of my palm in pure frustration. "We didn't have to do it this way! We could have tried to work things out with them!"

"Maybe," Trent allowed, gripping the dash with one hand as we bumped and rocketed along, the other pressed to his chest. "Or maybe not. The only thing we can be certain of is that the odds only get worse the longer we wait. Right now they're injured, distracted and can't afford to kill us." Trent let his head drop, eyes pressed shut as if in pain. "This is the best shot we're going to get."

I grit my teeth and shook my head, focusing on the road. I couldn't answer without starting another argument, and now was not the time.

Trent tipped his head back against the seat. I could see him in my periphery vision. He kept surreptitiously wiping his face and I knew his nose was still bleeding. Damn it.

"I know you think this was rash. Maybe it was," Trent said very quietly after a few long, tense moments of silence. "Rachel ... you don't understand. I'm not just being an impatient ass because I enjoy it. I need to get home as fast as we can find a way. You have no idea what's probably happening there as we speak."

I bit back an unpleasant retort because there was a raw thread of fear in Trent's words, an honest desperation that he had probably been feeling this whole time and was simply no longer able to hide. The problem with Trent was that by the time he got around to wanting to actually share something with me, he'd ticked me off so badly my first instinct was just to bite his head off ... which probably didn't encourage him to be more forthcoming in the future. With an effort, I attempted to thwart that cycle.

"I'd understand if you'd tell me," I said instead, honestly striving for a patience I didn't feel. "What are you so afraid of?"

"War," he said quietly. "Killing me turns the elves' balance of power on its ear. I wouldn't be so concerned if I thought the Withons were truly the masterminds behind the whole affair. If this was their scheme they would have thought things through and everything would be in position for a clean sweep which means the transition would not be too terrible or costly. They would know that the savviest thing to do would be to absorb and convert those formerly loyal to me, not eliminate them. But Ellasbeth was a pawn in this game, not the schemer. I believe she thinks she was benefiting her family, but I do not think they were actually behind it. Reginald is too minor a player for him to be doing something this large for them or for himself. That means someone else is making a bid for power, someone who was just using Reginald, Ellasbeth and the rest," he explained. "But it doesn't make sense. No one else has a serious chance of taking over unless there is some other, catastrophic change such as a sweeping round of assassinations and almost certainly outright war. We are poised for a comeback, but there are still too few of us, Rachel. A war among our own kind would be devastating, not to mention opening us up to the predation of other enemies. Not everyone is pleased that the elf genome has been fixed and that we are about to start growing exponentially in strength and number. There are more than a few vampires in particular who would jump at the chance to help us wipe ourselves out," he added with a note of steel in his voice. "An internal war between the elves would make everyone vulnerable."

What Trent said made an unpleasant kind of sense. I did sort of wonder how he could care so much for his race as a whole after what they had done to us, but I supposed a few bad apples didn't necessarily spoil the lot. I hadn't exactly gotten a very fair shake from the witches or demons most of the time, but I certainly didn't want to see them all dead. In any case, I kept my thoughts to myself. We'd finally found a cross-street and I turned down it. I had no idea where we were or where we were going, but I felt better for being able to make us at least a little bit more difficult to follow. Everything was still pretty rural and deserted. No signs of civilization yet.

"If Ellasbeth has wittingly or not allied herself with some faction outside her family, she and Lucy could be in danger," Trent continued, staring fixedly out the window. "And without her mother's influence she will ... she will not ... " Trent's lips pressed into a tight line. "She will not allow Quen to simply shift loyalties now that I'm gone. She'll act like she will, but only to betray him. She knows he'll never forgive her and she will not trust him to live. Quen on his own would be fine, but the last I know, the girls were both with her and she knows, Rachel. She knows Ray is his daughter, not mine." He clearly hadn't wanted to say any of those words.

The bottom of my stomach dropped out and my hands clenched on the wheel. I still thought we were going about this all wrong, but Trent's driving urgency no longer seemed so unwarranted. He was afraid for those he loved, especially Quen and Ray. Afraid that Ray would be nothing but leverage to get rid of Quen and once that was done, she would also be disposable.

"Ellasbeth wouldn't ... I mean, Ray's just a baby," I stuttered in shock. Ellasbeth was a lot of things, but nobody could be that heartless, right? I'd feared neglect and indifference for Ray, but Trent obviously feared something a lot darker.

"Not personally, of course. She hasn't the stomach," Trent said with a forgivable amount of bitterness in his voice. "But the world thinks Ray is mine. That could make her a possible threat to Lucy in Ellasbeth's eyes. I just don't know," he said honestly. "When I stole Lucy, Ellasbeth had given their guards orders to take me out even if it meant the child perished with me. You tell me what I should think."

I hadn't know that. Anger swelled inside me and I struggled to breath around the rage in my chest. I honestly had no idea how Trent had been able to even play act a relationship with the woman, given all this. "I think that Quen's smart and strong. He's not going down easy, and no way is he letting anything happen to Ray or Lucy," I said firmly. I had plenty of doubts and fears, but those weren't what Trent needed to hear right now. "And if he thinks to let Ivy and Jenks know what's going on, he won't be alone. I know they'll help if they can, Trent. We're going to find a way back and set things right. But we can't borrow trouble. We need to focus on our situation here and now so we can get back to them."

"I know," Trent whispered, still staring out the window. "I know that. I'm trying, Rachel. I never intended to burden you with all this, but if I don't make it back, I need you to -"

"No," I cut him off sharply. "You are making it back if I have to drag your stupid elf ass the whole way, are we clear? And while we're at it, you're not burdening me for God's sake. I'm a big girl, Trent, I can handle the truth a whole lot better than running around blindly not knowing what you're doing or when to expect the next 90 degree turn. You don't have to manage me and I sure as hell wish you'd stop trying."

Trent frowned. "Rachel ..."

"And yes, okay? You don't need to ask. I'd do anything for Lucy and Ray, all right? Anything." I meant it. My god children had become intensely precious to me over the past year or so.

Trent's body relaxed just slightly and I guessed he believed me. A moment later it tensed back up again, however, his attention suddenly fixed out the windshield. "Rachel!"

I didn't need his shout of warning, I'd seen it too. There was a man standing in the middle of the road directly ahead of us. I swear he hadn't been there a moment ago. We were too close and going too fast to stop in time. I reflexively jerked the wheel to the side, pumping the breaks and sending us careening off the road. I knew something was wrong about this, I knew that man had stood much too still and appeared much too fast, but I couldn't stop the instinct to avoid hitting him. Thankfully the road wasn't on much of an incline here and we simply ploughed into the rough, fallow farm field on our right.

The car lurched and bumped wildly over the earth before finally jolting to a halt some thirty yards from the road. Apparently the strain had been too much for the ancient and barely functional vehicle because the engine sputtered and cut out as we stopped. I turned the car off and then turned it back on again, hoping to get it restarted. The engine did cough back to life, but at the same moment the window beside me exploded into a thousand glittering fragments.

I yelped, jerking in surprise as the shower of safety glass flew into my face and a strong hand grabbed me by the hair. Before I could register what was happening, my seatbelt had been ripped away and I was being forcefully dragged out of the car through the window by a painfully rough grip on my hair and arm. The person responsible was inhumanly strong and fast.

My body slid free of the car and hit the ground with a thud. My scalp screamed as my hair was nearly torn out by the tight grip and rough handling. "Ow, ow, ow!" I half yelped, half growled. I twisted sharply, kicking blindly at person holding me. Somewhat to my surprise the blow actually landed and the hand in my hair released, perhaps more in surprise than actual pain.

I threw myself away from him. Stumbling and rolling on the rough, overturned earth, I found myself looking up at an entirely unfamiliar face as I rapidly crab-crawled backwards, the ploughed, frozen earth cutting into my palms. The sleeves of the oversized shirt I was wearing slid all the way back to my elbows, tangling and slowing my progress. Somewhere behind me, I heard the car door opening and shutting, Trent scrambling to get out.

"Don't fight and we won't have to hurt you," the stranger looking down at me threatened. "We just want to talk."

I saw at least three other unfamiliar men surrounding us. I may not recognize any of them, but something about the person speaking to me was familiar. His eyes weren't black right now, but it only took a moment for it to click. "You're one of the demons from the basement," I accused, trying to decide if they'd all jump me if I got up off the ground and if I could take them if they did. Probably not.

"You got back out of hell awful fast, and you brought more friends, how nice," I added sarcastically, buying time to try and order my thoughts and options.

"Trust me, that's not nearly as hard as it used to be and we have our ways. We're not the only ones ... dissatisfied with the current management," the man said with a sneering smile, as if I had any idea what he was talking about. He flicked his hand casually to the side. I heard a thunk and a soft, strangled sound. My gaze jerked back towards the car to find Trent pinned against it, struggling against the invisible force of the demon's will and looking incredibly pissed.

"Let him go!" I growled angrily.

The demon looked amused. "Hmmm... no. You need to hear us out. We can be good for each other, sister."

"Will you cut that out? I am not your sister!" I informed him hotly.

"Oh come now, the Winchesters are out of the way, it's just us here, let's cut the games, shall we?" the demon smiled tightly at me. He crouched down, regarding me curiously. "Although ... I'll grant that you may truly not understand what you are yet. The hunters certainly didn't or you'd be dead. Poor thing, raised like a human, were you? But you're rather special, my dear. We can teach you things, teach you how to become more powerful than you can imagine," he promised, switching honey for vinegar now.

I gave him a flat look, wondering what exactly his game was. "I don't think so. Already got a mentor, and he doesn't exactly like to share. So thanks, but no thanks."

I started to get up, but he stopped me, hand clamping onto my bared forearm. I felt the prickle of magic against my skin. "I don't think you understand," he said smoothly. "I'm asking nicely because this will be so much simpler if you cooperate willingly. Do the smart thing, and you could benefit immeasurably. If you don't ..." His smile was lascivious and cruel, reminding me of the horror's I'd seen in Aindrea's mind. "It won't change the outcome. You'll break eventually and we'll get what we want either way, but you don't want to take that road, my dear, trust me, you don't."

My heart was racing, but I scowled at him. "Well aren't you terribly sure of yourself. You all seem plenty powerful on your own, so, for the sake of argument ... what exactly is it that you're so all fired up to get little old me to do for you?"

I couched the question in such a way that he'd hopefully think I was considering his offer and be inclined to keep talking. I really did want to know why in the blazes they were after me, but I was even more interested in keeping him right where he was for as long as possible. He was still gripping my arm and had yet to realize that I was slowly, carefully siphoning power from him. From Aindrea, I'd learned that I could leach their energy through contact and now I was finding that apparently, even just contact with their host was enough. Probably because the human host bodies were not physically capable of absorbing the energy flowing through them and therefore it all ran along the surface.

"A good question, but perhaps, one for another time," the demon told me. "Suffice it to say that there's a locked door none of us can open, and I think maybe you can. If you are what I think you are. We still haven't entirely established that, darling," he added as if not wanting me to get the idea that I held any kind of real power in this situation. He leaned close, his lips brushing my ear in a decidedly menacing fashion. "You better pray you are ... I don't like to be disappointed, and I can think of many other, lovely uses for you."

"Oh yeah?" I reached up with my free hand, letting it tangle in his hair as I pressed my cheek and neck against his. The action surprised the demon, but also predictably appealed to his ego and amusement. He nuzzled closer into me instead of pulling away, just as I'd hoped. He pressed his mouth to my neck and I fought the instinctive revulsion crawling through me, focusing instead on the multiple points of contact through which I was now drawing his power. In a moment I was sure he'd notice, so the time for action had come.

"Well, I can think of a few for you too, buddy," I murmured viciously. Digging in with my fingers, I dropped all pretense of subtly and drew hard upon his connection, power rushing into me.

The demon was much physically stronger than I was and he immediately jerked backwards with a cry of surprise and rage, breaking the connection violently, but that didn't matter. I'd gotten what I needed.

I rolled sharply sideways, towards the car. In his moment of shock, the demon's grip on Trent faltered. The elf lurched forward unsteadily when his struggles suddenly met with no resistance. He tried to catch himself, but I grabbed his ankle brought him down to his knees even as I scrambled up onto mine, pressing against him so we were in as small an area as possible.

"Rhombus!" I cried, yanking an undrawn circle up around us both.

I was a little surprised that the demons didn't seem to understand what I'd done any more than the ghouls or Winchesters had, but they figured out pretty quickly that they couldn't get to us through the bubble and boy were they pissed. As entertaining as that may be, we were more than a little screwed and I knew it.

"Okay, what now?" Trent murmured to me, frowning grimly as the demons exerted their powers trying to knock out the bubble. They seemed to think that cracking or disturbing the ground around us might break the circle, but of course it wouldn't, not with this spell.

"Working on it," I mumbled tersely, attempting to do just that. The problem was, while a circle could keep us safe in the short term and buy us some time, it also trapped us right where we were. I couldn't hold it indefinitely, especially when I was only working off that one jolt of juice I'd gotten from the demon and I was definitely not pulling anything from Trent. This close to him, I was becoming increasingly aware of just how labored his breathing was. "You got any ideas?"

Trent smiled wanly at me. "None that have a very high possibility of success, or that you're going to like," he said honestly.

I frowned, pretty sure that the "ones I wouldn't like" involved him having to use magic to create a diversion while we made a break for it. Even he seemed to realize that it would be a wasted effort, though. We were in no condition or position to either fight or outrun these demons.

"Yeaaah, let's keep those on the shelf then," I said dryly. "And don't you dare go pulling any more little surprises on me."

Trent smiled apologetically this time, his body shuddering slightly with the effort of breathing. "Sorry, I don't think I can," he admitted quietly.

On his knees facing me, Trent was unconsciously hugging his middle as if it hurt and there was blood trickling from both his nose and mouth again. Either the effects of what he'd done earlier were finally sinking in fully, or the demon had done additional damage when he'd pinned Trent. Maybe both.

I didn't like the way he was favoring his ribs. When he grimaced involuntarily and curled a little further forward, my concern won out. I reached down, pulling Trent's shirt up a bit to be sure he didn't have any actual injuries he was hiding. I froze, sucking in a harsh, horrified breath. Trent's flesh was unbroken, but the normally tanned skin of his abdomen was darkening to purple with the horrible, tell-tale signs of severe internal bleeding. Oh my God. This was beyond bad.

Trent pushed his shirt back down, gently pushing my hands away. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand again and wouldn't meet my eyes. "I'm all right," he whispered.

I shook my head, swallowing hard. "No, you're not."

His shoulders slumped slightly, silently admitting the truth. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I really thought I could do this."

I gripped his hands and squeezed them tightly. "You can," I assured firmly. "We are not out of this fight yet, not by a long shot." Desperately, I tried to come up with something that would make my words more than empty promises.

Outside, the demons seem to be coming to the conclusion that they may just need to wait us out or come up with some kind of other plan, although they were still raging at us and threatening, in graphic detail, all the very nasty things they were going to do to us when they got us out if we didn't drop the bubble right away. Right, because that's an incentive to let you get your hands on us, sure.

Trent squeezed my hands back, meeting and holding my gaze. "Rachel," he whispered seriously. "Try not to take this the wrong way, all right?" There was something soft and strong and frightening in his eyes. "You wanted me to speak truth to you, well here's the truth I see right now: only one of us has a real chance of getting out of this, and it isn't me. I'm not okay with that, believe me, I'm not. But my own choices got me here and it's simply the way things are. If it turns out I'm not going to walk away from this, then I damn well want it to mean something. You are smart, and strong and very hard to kill, Rachel Morgan. I know you can make it, and I know you'll do the right thing by my family."

My throat closed off and I felt like I was choking. "Trent, no. No way." My chi was emptying slowly. The circle was small, but undrawn and the demons were throwing a lot against it. I could hold it for a while yet, but I knew an end would come, and probably sooner than I liked.

"I know. You're not ready yet," Trent murmured. "I'm not either. I'm not giving up, Rachel. That's what I meant about not taking this the wrong way. If there's an opportunity to fight I will fight like hell. There's time yet, we can wait. Maybe there will be some new development we can use. I very much hope so. But ... I'm just saying that if that doesn't happen, then before the bubble falls, I want you to take as much as you can." He squeezed my hands tighter, his eyes both determined and haunted. "I'll provide as much of a diversion as I'm able, and you run like hell." He clearly didn't want to die, but his logical brain was telling him there were no other feasible conclusions to this situation unless something changed.

I was damn well determined that something was just going to have to change before I went down that path but I realized that Trent was trying to do what I'd asked of him earlier. He was making his fall back plan and was trying to include me in his thought and decision process, even if he thought it was literally the last thing he might do.

"Okay, I understand," I whispered back. "But I need you to understand that leaving you behind is not on my to do list today, okay? We will find another way, you'll see."

Trent smiled at me. He reached up and caressed my cheek, brushing my tangled hair back behind my ear. "You always hope, Rachel. I love that about you," he admitted. "Even more so because somehow you make me believe you, even when it's completely irrational." Trent leaned forward and kissed me very softly on the lips.

I was too surprised to move for a moment, then I didn't want to move. Against reason, I let myself kiss him back. Trent's lips were warm and soft. He tasted like blood and cinnamon wine and desperate determination. The demons were jeering at us and making nasty remarks, but I ignored them. Who gave a crap what they thought? The kiss was gentle and light, almost chaste ... but not quite. I knew Trent was saying goodbye, but I wasn't. I most definitely wasn't.

"That's because I'm usually right," I murmured back when we broke apart. "And I am this time too. I'd say the situation is just about to change." I smiled at Trent and squeezed his hands again, with more confidence this time.

He looked at me quizzically. "How do you ..." then he stopped because he'd heard the same thing I had. The faint, but deep purr of a familiar engine. The elf grinned wryly and shook his head. "I suppose sometimes I don't mind you being right."

We weren't that far off the road. The casual passerby might assume there'd been an accident and we were all just huddled around, looking at the car or something, but someone looking for us would have no trouble spotting us. Sure enough, a familiar long black car skidded to a halt not far away a moment later, quickly disgorging its occupants.

To say that the demons were not pleased was an understatement. One of them stayed to watch Trent and I while the other three turned to face the incoming hunters.

God bless the Winchesters for being a whole lot faster and smarter than we'd credited them. They were nowhere near as far behind us as we'd thought and our little direction change didn't seem to have thrown them at all. Since I only saw the two brothers and not their older companion, I guessed that they had simply split up at the crossroads in order to cover more ground. While that would have been a very bad thing if we'd still been on the run, at the moment it was exactly the opposite.

The hunters may very well want to kill us as much as the demons did by now, but at the moment they couldn't and they would almost certainly go after the other demons first. Things could still go very wrong, but at least the stalemate was broken. There was hope in chaos.

I looked around quickly, scouting for a plan of action. There was a nice, fist sized rock a few feet away, just outside the bubble. It would do nicely.

Wary of the demon still watching us and waiting to pounce, I couldn't risk dropping the bubble yet. Across the field, I saw the hunters and demons tangle in a furious, snarling knot of combat. It hardly seemed fair. The demons were so much stronger. Even so, Dean and Sam were remarkably good at holding their own. The odds weren't with them though. As Trent had said earlier, they were both still injured from the earlier fight and it showed. I probably had no business worrying about them, but I did. Despite all the mistrust and suspicion earlier, I realized it would pierce me down to my core if those men died because of us.

"We should make our move soon," Trent whispered in my ear. I nodded, turning to him. He must have seen something in my face because his expression turned incredulous, then simply weary. "... and you're not going to just run, are you?" he murmured in resignation.

I bit my lower lip. Dragging Trent into the battles I chose to fight was well on its way to getting him killed. I couldn't do that to him again, but neither could I walk away from my own conscience.

"I can't, Trent," I whispered softly, feeling truly torn. "They're beat to hell, and only here because of us. I can't just do nothing ... I -"

Trent stopped me with two fingers on my lips. He shook his head. "I know," he murmured. "I know you can't. I understand now." He gave me a soft smile that was strangely as warm as it was resigned. "That's just not who you are."

I swallowed, stunned by the unexpected acceptance and lack of resistance. "Oh. Well ... good. But just because I'm gonna be an idiot doesn't mean you get to be. So you are going to get out of here, okay?"

His eyes narrowed and I shook my head urgently. "I'm serious, Trent," I nodded down at where his shirt hid the frightening evidence of how poorly he was faring. "You're all about the practical, right? Well logic this - you're going to die if you exert yourself again." I wasn't so sure he wasn't already past the point of safe return, but I was trying hard not to think about that. "You need medical attention, bad. So here's what we're going to do," my whisper was low, keeping it from the ears of our distracted guard who was dividing his attention between us and the ongoing fight. "I'm going to drop the circle and tackle that guy. I want you to grab that rock," I nodded towards the stone in question. "And keep hitting him in the head with it until I've sucked enough juice out of him to put him down more permanently. Then you are going to get in the car and get the hell out of here. Get to a hospital Trent, I don't care if they find out what you are, it's better than you being dead. I'll come find you, I promise."

Trent looked quite unhappy with this plan, but we were running out of time. Taking a page from his playbook, I simply put it into motion before he had time to object. Dropping the circle, I lunged the distracted demon and we both tumbled to the ground. To his credit, Trent got with the program fast. Despite his injuries, he had the rock in hand and was pounding the man's skull viciously barely instants after we hit the ground.

As I'd hoped, the assault kept the demon from regrouping fast enough to physically or mentally throw me off as I knelt on his arms and grabbed the sides of his neck, drawing power from him as fast and as hard as I could. Despite all that, he bucked and struggled powerfully, finally managing to throw me backwards, off of him. He reared up to his knees. Reacting quickly, I hit him square in the chest with a curse, kindled from his own magic. I used the same curse that Aindrea had thrown at Sam earlier, finally understanding why she'd intended it for me, a fellow demon, in the first place. Because it destroyed aura, the curse was particularly nasty against beings who were pretty much nothing but aura. I didn't think it would kill the demon, but it did seem to disrupt his ability to control his host, at least temporarily. The man thrashed and floundered on the ground in sluggish disorientation. I hit him with it again, and he fell still. I had just a moment to kneel down and pull one last draught of energy from him before a shout alerted me that the other demons had realized what we'd done.

"Go, go now!" I shouted at Trent, hoping he would obey as I jumped up and ran towards the others, wanting both to get closer to the hunters and to keep the fighting as far away from Trent as possible. Half a dozen yards away, one of the demons clipped Dean viciously in the stomach, taking him down. My suspicion that the hunter had sustained broken ribs earlier was more or less confirmed by the way he rolled onto his side, struggling urgently to get around the pain but physically unable to push through it fast enough to keep from being vulnerable. Sam was too far away to do anything, locked in struggle with the other two demons.

"Edo essum!" I shouted, conjuring the same curse that had had good results a few moments ago and flinging it at the demon about to crush Dean's skull in with his boot. The demon stumbled back with a cry. Moving faster than I thought he should have been able to under the circumstances, Dean dragged himself up and was on the convulsing demon before he could recover, nailing him with that demon-killing knife of his. His shoulders heaving either with effort or a need for air, the hunter's gaze flicked up to me as he pushed himself up. I saw a hint of surprise or confusion in his eyes at my actions, then his gaze focused just behind me and his body tensed. "Rachel, behind you!"

The warning in his eyes had already been enough to have me spinning around even before he got the words out. Crap on toast. The demon I'd spelled before was up again and right behind me. Why the hell did they have to be so hard to take out of commission?! This sucked. He didn't look good though. His motions were jerky and violent, like a malfunctioning automaton. I ducked away from his awkward lunge and jammed my elbow hard into his back as he stumbled past. He spun and before I knew what hit me I was flying through the air. It was clearly no natural blow since I must have sailed a good forty yards at the least. Feeling like I was somehow falling horizontally, I crashed backwards through a small windbreak of trees that cut across the field before finally slamming into the earth with a breath stealing crunch.

For a moment all I could do was breathe. My body ached fiercely and as I rolled groggily to my hands and knees I was truly surprised that nothing was broken. The thin tree branches had cut through my shirt and jeans and blood seeped sluggishly from half a dozen lacerations on my arms and legs. Now on the other side of the tree break from the others, I couldn't see the Winchesters or the other demons from here, but I wasn't about to assume that that meant I was at all safe. Feeling like absolute crap, I staggered upright only to find my assumption correct. My attacker was already on me again. The demon caught my arm in a vice-like grip, squeezing so hard that he was sure to break my bones in a minute. He was snarling ugly, hateful things that my brain was moving to slow to even process.

Yelling in pain, I thrust another curse at him and he fell away, fire racing over his body. Apparently it was finally too much because the demon fled the burning flesh in a rush of smoke and disappeared. I quickly ran the counter curse to stop the damage, but I knew it was too late. The body left behind was already dead. Because of me? Because of the demon? I didn't know. I felt deeply sick about the innocent host who had been caught in the middle of all this, but there was simply nothing I could think of that I could have done to save him. It was terrible of me, but I hoped for his sake that whoever this man had been, he'd not been aware of anything that had happened once he was possessed and that he had now gone peacefully to his rest. I felt a new swell of fury for these monsters who indiscriminately used and destroyed lives with so little care.

Behind me, from the other side of the trees I heard a short, blood curdling scream that cut off abruptly. Then another. Still reeling from my recent tumble I blinked to try to clear my head as I whipped around, intending to head back and find out what was happening.

I turned straight into the body of a man who I was certain hadn't been there a moment ago. I nearly collided with him. My boots slipped and fumbled on the uneven ground as I tried to back away without losing my balance. I immediately threw a quick fist – elbow combo jab at the newcomer in an effort to buy a little space and time, but he deflected me easily. I didn't recognize him. He wasn't one of the demons who had stopped us and my heart sank at the thought of more reinforcements showing up. He made a move and I side-stepped only to feel his hand close around the collar of my shirt, jerking me towards him. Damn, he was fast! I could feel a distinct hum of power in the man's movements and proximity that belied his normal looking outward appearance. Something was off, though, he didn't smell of sulfur. He smelled like frankincense and crisp autumn air and felt different from the other demons. He felt more dangerous.

I brought my hand up, dripping with the last of the magic I had spindled. Shoving it square into his chest, I wrenched myself sideways at the same time. I nearly lost my footing when he did not let go as I'd expected. Granted, it hadn't been the most powerful attack, but it should have at least knocked him backwards. Instead, it seemed to have no effect at all as the dark haired stranger absorbed both my blast of magic and my struggles without a flinch. I felt myself go cold.

The man inclined his head to the side, glancing down between my hand, still on his chest, and my face as if he found something about me or my attack curious. His hand on my collar shifted to my shoulder. His grip was very strong. I was too close to him to have enough room to get a good swing going, but that didn't stop me from trying. I thrashed in the tight space, punching and hitting at him in an effort to push him away. My fingers clawed ineffectually at the thick, tan fabric of the trench coat under my hand and I made a grab for the loose tie he was wearing as his free hand came up towards me.

I braced myself for the expected blow, but he didn't strike me. Instead, he pressed his palm almost gently against my forehead ... and the world exploded. I gasped in agony as energy flooded my mind. It was like the first time Al had shoved a line into me, only worse. I fell to my knees, screaming in pain as I madly, desperately tried to contain and control the energy flowing into me. I sucked it into my empty chi, spindling it as fast as I could to keep it from burning out my synapses and shredding my mind. This man was probably the cause of the cries from a moment ago, but I didn't have much time to think about that or worry for the others because it was all I could do to not pass out.

Al couldn't hurt me this badly anymore, because once trained, female demons could handle more energy than male demons could - in my world anyway. That ability was currently enabling me to survive, but I wasn't sure for how long. I did not know who or what the man in the trench coat was, but he wasn't a demon and he could apparently hold a whole hell of a lot more energy than I could.

I wanted to fight, to break away, but I was paralyzed by the energy streaming into me. I wasn't going to walk away from this. Oh God, I wasn't going to walk away from this. Through streaming eyes, I saw the man who would be my killer regarding me with piercingly blue eyes and an intent expression that was quickly becoming colored by a hint of either surprise or confusion. It looked like he hadn't expected me to be able to spindle his energy like this. He gripped my forehead a little tighter and I screamed again as the flow increased.