Okay, I'm not too happy with this chapter mostly because I'm having trouble with Alyson now that she's changing, but she can't stay the same with everything going on, so . . . I'm trying to transition my mind set into her mind set so I can write better.

Enjoy!

Malleus Maleficarum

We stayed with Bobby until after New Years but then we found a case where a seemingly healthy young woman's teeth fell out and she'd died a mysterious death. The coroner didn't know the cause. So we were in Sturbridge, Massachusetts now talking to the man who had been with her at the time. His name was Paul.

"She was so scared. I couldn't help; I couldn't do anything to stop it. And I've talked to the police and I've talked to the medical examiner. No one can explain it."

"Well, that's why they put the call in to us, Mr. Dutton," Dean said.

"But the CDC, that's disease control, right? What, do you think it's some kind of virus?"

"We're not ruling out anything yet, Mr. Dutton. Did Janet have any enemies?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Anyone that might have a reason to hurt her?"

"Wait. What - what are you saying, that somebody poisoned her?"

"We have to cover every base here."

"Yes, people's teeth don't just start falling out on their own like that," I said.

"But, I mean, what kind of poison? You think a person could've done this?"

"Would anyone want to?"

"No. No, there's no one that could've . . ." Paul trailed off like he'd just remembered something, but he didn't start talking again.

"Mr. Dutton?"

"Uh, everyone loved Janet."

"Okay," Dean said, but I could tell he didn't believe the guy. "I think we have everything we need. We'll get out of your way now."

Sam, who had been in the bathroom checking things out, came out when Dean said we were leaving. The reason Sam had been in there was because that had been where the girl had died. She and Paul had been at a party, they'd come home, and then when Janet had went to brush her teeth the terror had begun.

"Did that guy seem evasive to you?" Dean asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"I don't know. I was under a sink pulling this out." Sam showed us an orange-ish brown bag. "Hex bag."

"Hex bag?" I asked. "Witches?"

"Yeah."

"Bird bones, rabbit teeth, this cloth was probably cut from something Janet Dutton owned. This is old world black magic. I mean, warts and all."

We made it to the car as it started to rain and Dean said, "I hate witches. They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere. It's creepy. You know, it's downright unsanitary."

"Yeah, well, someone definitely had it out for Janet Dutton."

"Yeah, someone who snuck into that house and planted that bag."

"So someone she knew? Or someone she thought she knew?" I asked.

"Could be. But it's gonna be hard finding them because it could be anybody," Dean said.

"So . . . We should start looking for a motive," Sam said. "We find the motive, we find the killer."

"And we have to keep watch over Paul. He's hiding something."

Watching this Paul guy was almost as fun as watching paint dry. A few people came by, probably to see if the poor guy was okay. He left the house around six that night, stopped for gas, went to the store, and stopped at a drive through to get food. Paul didn't go home, but he did stop in the same neighborhood. He probably just didn't want to be alone in his house.

Everything was going smoothly until we saw Paul jump out of his car and start choking. We checked the car and found a puke inducing, maggot infested burger . . . And another hex bag.

Sam destroyed it with fire while Dean tried to calm Paul down so the man could breathe.

"A'right . . . Number one: Ew! Number Two: Who the hell did you and your wife piss off?" I knew I sounded harsh, but I couldn't understand what was going on. Demons I understood to an extent, but people who did spells to hurt people? No, I couldn't understand that.

"What the hell is happening to me?" Paul asked.

"Someone murdered your wife and now they're trying to kill you," Dean explained bluntly. "That's what's happening. If we hadn't been following you, you'd be a doornail right now. Now, who wants you dead?"

Paul explained that he'd had an affair with an unbalanced woman who had been blackmailing him. It had been an accident and he'd broken it off a week before.

"An accident?" I scoffed. "Running off the road into a ditch is an accident. Having an affair is a choice. Never a good one."

Dean nudged me in the back and muttered, "I hardly think now is the time for a lecture. Stop being judgmental."

Judgmental? I was not judgmental. I just wasn't open to certain things. Like cheating. It was a serious no-no in my book.

Paul gave us the woman's name and address and we were there within ten minutes. All the lights were out and we picked the lock. Obviously the guys thought no one was home. We had our guns out, though, just in case. I was not in the mood to kill anyone, so I hoped the witch wasn't here, or at the very least had had her fun and now was done.

But the witch was here, only she wasn't a problem anymore because she was already dead. We found her in a study type room. Her wrists had been cut three times each, vertically.

"That's a curveball," Dean said.

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

I was half expecting the woman to jump up and not be dead because in horror movies that always happened, but she didn't.

Sam suddenly looked like he was going to hurl and, because I was obviously wondering what had made him look like that, I glanced at whatever he was looking at. It was . . . some kind of food, but for the life of me I couldn't say what kind. But it was rotten and full of bugs. Obviously part of the maggot burger spell.

"Ew!" Then I grinned half-heartedly. "Who wants to go for pizza after this?"

Sam rolled his eyes and Dean swatted me playfully on the back of the head.

"It looks like she was working some heavyweight evil here," Sam said.

"Yup."

Suddenly I heard an 'Oh, God!' come from Dean, and my head shot in his direction. He had almost run directly into a rabbit, which looked like it had been hung upside down with a slit throat. The better to drain the poor animal of its blood, I supposed.

"I guess we know where she got the rabbit's teeth from."

"Paul sure knows how to pick, 'em, huh? It's like Fatal Attraction all over again. And why does a rabbit always get screwed in the deal?"

Dean sounded like he was actually affronted, and I hid my face so they wouldn't see me smile. Really my sense of humor had really become morbid lately and had the bad habit of popping up in the most inappropriate times.

"Poor little guy."

"You'll be okay," I said, patting Dean on the arm affectionately - and maybe a little sarcastically.

"You know what I don't get, Dean?" Sam asked, ignoring our other-than-work talk. "If she was so bent on revenge, why do this?"

If he was referring to her killing herself . . . I was wondering that myself.

"Well, she got Janet Dutton; thought she finished off Paul . . . Decided to cap herself, make it a spurned lover's hat trick."

"I would never kill myself over a guy, I'm just sayin'. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of."

Dean grinned. "Well, you're not completely unhinged. And you're being judgmental again."

"I'm suddenly not caring if I'm judgmental as long as I'm right." I put a hand on my hip and made a show of looking snooty. "And in this case I am right."

"Uh . . . Actually . . ."

Dean and I looked at Sam, who was holding another hex bag. So this woman hadn't killed herself. Apparently I was wrong and judgmental. I still didn't care much one way or the other.

"Looks like we got a hit, huh? A little witch-on-witch violence. Why are witches gankin' each other?"

"I don't know, but I think maybe we got a coven on our hands."

"A coven, as in a group of witches that have no problem casting horrible spells on people? Great."

Dean called the death in to the cops but didn't leave his information, obviously. There was nothing else we could do until we found the coven so we went back to the hotel. The rooms had a Spanish feel to them and it was hokey, but whatever. We needed a place to sleep.

I still hadn't told Sam or Dean about the book I'd gotten from the Trickster. I knew they wouldn't understand. Dean would probably take it from me and I wanted to go through it first. On the off chance that it was true, I wanted to know myself.

As was our routine, Dean walked me to my door and made sure all the protection stuff was in place. I knew it was because he cared and it worried him since I wasn't sleeping in his and Sam's room anymore. Him checking over things was his way of saying that even though we weren't together he still cared. Sometimes we even kissed each other on the cheek to say goodnight. It wasn't a lot, but it was better than nothing.

"So Sam's gonna look up a few things tonight about witchcraft and then we'll go back to that woman's place tomorrow and ask around, okay?"

"Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

Dean hovered near the door like he was wondering whether to leave or not. Then he just sort of blurted, "Are you okay? I mean, it's like you change every day."

"Oh." I hadn't expected for him to bring it up so soon. "Well, I can't always be sweet, innocent Alyson. That's not who I am anymore. I wouldn't be able to survive if I were. I mean . . . you're the one who takes care of me and Sam and you're not gonna be here in a few months, so . . . I don't have a choice but to be different than I was."

"Sam will take care of you; you don't have to change."

"Yes, I do," I replied softly. "Please understand."

Dean didn't say anything; he just shook his head and sadly left the room. What I had said was true. For me to survive I would have to leave the old me behind. I'd promised not to use my powers unless I had to, but that didn't mean I couldn't train in other ways. Dean and I already sparred and worked out together. Sometimes we would have to stop in the middle because the tension from fighting quickly became a different tension altogether.

Needing a distraction, I got my book out and began reading.

The next day, over a very greasy breakfast, Sam explained some of the things he'd researched. Basically anyone could be a witch if they were willing to get their hands dirty. If someone had a Book of Shadows that would be a clue. Those books were rumored to be written in human blood and bound in human flesh.

"Gross."

"Yeah."

It didn't seem to ruin Dean's appetite, though. I didn't think there was anything that could do that.

After breakfast we wound up back in the same neighborhood we'd been in the night before. Like Dean had said, we were going to talk to the neighbors. Speaking of, there was one right next door. She was out planting flowers or pulling weeds or something like that. I had never had much patience for gardening, but her yard was beautiful.

"You much have a green thumb," Sam said as we walked over to the woman. "Getting these plants to grow out of season like this. It's quite impressive."

The woman, who we knew was named Elizabeth from the research Sam had done, didn't seemed happy with the compliment; she just looked at us. Sam introduced himself as Detective Bachman and Dean as Detective Turner. If I hadn't been used to them using names like that, I'd have rolled my eyes. As always I was job shadowing.

"We're following up on Amanda Burns' death. Going around talkin' to the neighbors and stuff like that."

"But didn't she - I mean, she killed herself, right?"

"Maybe," Sam answered vaguely.

"Were you friends with the deceased?"

"Yeah, I guess so. We knew each other well enough to be in the same book club."

"Did you have any idea about her practices?"

"I'm sorry, what kind of practices?"

"Well, her house was littered with Satanic paraphernalia," Sam explained.

"No, that - but she was an Episcopalian."

My radar suddenly went off and I tuned the other three out; I wanted to see what was giving off those vibes. Two women were coming from across the street. One was blond, the other brunette. Obviously it was one of these two. The blond got on my nerves almost instantly; she was just so insincere.

Elizabeth explained who we were and why we were there and the blond one just said, "I'm sorry, but as you can see, Elizabeth is a little upset."

We found out the blond was Mrs. Renee Van Allen. I had never wanted to hit somebody so much in my life. I just wanted to see the shocked expression that would be on her face as my hand made contact with her face.

"Would you like me spell it for you?" she snarked.

"Nope, I think we can figure it out on our own," I said. "We have brains, that's what they're for."

Bitch, I added silently.

"This Amanda business has been hard for Liz, for all of us."

"Yeah, I mean, you think you know a person."

"Well, I guess we all have secrets, don't we?" Dean said.

We excused ourselves and went back to the car.

Later that day on a back road, after having spent the majority of our time at the library, we talked about the three women. I had already told them one of them was evil, possibly possessed, and I voted for the blond one.

We were sure those three were the coven because of Elizabeth's garden and the way the other two had come to the rescue.

"Well, if they killed a nut job should we thank them or what?" Dean asked.

"They're workin' black magic, too, Dean. They need to be stopped."

"Stopped like stopped?" Dean asked. "They're humans, Sam."

"They're murderers."

There was moment where I was sure Dean was going to mention that Sam never agreed with killing people, but it passed and instead Dean said, "Burn, witch, burn."

Sam went on to tell us about how Elizabeth and Renee had had a good run of luck lately. It was like magic. So they were using magic to win awards and raffles? Seemed kind of petty to me.

Suddenly the car died . . . There was a rattling sound and then nothing. And there was someone in the middle of the road.

Ruby.

When the car stopped rolling we three got out and Ruby started talking.

"You need to listen, there's no time. You have to get out of town."

"So this is Ruby, huh?" Dean hadn't seen her until now. And he wasn't happy about her appearing out of nowhere. And killing his car? Probably not the best way to introduce one's self. "Never had the pleasure. I was hopin' you'd show up again."

Dean aimed the Colt at Ruby and I had to stop myself from grabbing his arm; I did not defend demons. Speaking of, why hadn't I felt her until now?

"Point that thing somewhere else."

Dean gave a fake laugh. "Right."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Sam, please. Go. Get in the car. Don't look back."

"Why? I don't understand."

"Hey, hot stuff, we can take care of a few kitchen witches, thanks."

"I'm not talking about witches, you jackass. Witches are whores. I'm talking about who they serve."

Sam and I came to the same conclusion. "Demons."

"They get their power from demons," Sam added.

"Yeah. And there's one here. Now." Ruby looked at me. "But you already knew that."

Apparently Dean didn't like that Ruby - a demon - was talking to me because he shielded me with his body.

"Sam, it knows you're in town. It's gonna come after you, and it's way more than you can handle."

"Please tell me you're not listening to this crap," Dean said.

"Put a leash on your brother, Sam, if you wanna keep him!"

"Dean -"

"No. She's messin' with your head. God knows why, that's who they are."

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"And I'm telling you to shut up, bitch!"

"I'm sorry, why're you even a part of this conversation?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because he's my brother, you black-eyed skank."

"Oh, right, right. You care about your brother so much, that's why you're checkin' out in a few months, leavin' him all alone? At least let me try to save him since you won't be here to do it anymore."

Just like that Dean shot at her but she'd already disappeared. Dean would've missed anyway because Sam had quickly pushed Dean's arm up so he'd fired into the air.

"What the hell, Sam!" Dean yelled. "She's a demon; we kill her before she kills us."

I didn't say anything about it; I literally couldn't because I'd have many chances myself to kill Ruby and I hadn't. She'd saved my life; she'd helped with the Colt; she knew about things that we didn't. She could be very useful.

"Dean, if she wanted us dead all she would have to do is stop saving our lives."

"She's a demon, Sam. Period. A'right? They want us dead; we want them dead."

"Oh, that's funny. Remember that demon chick in Ohio? Casey? You didn't want her dead."

"Well, she wasn't stringing me along like a fish on a hook."

"No one's stringin' me along," Sam said. He seemed to be trying to hold onto his last thread of patience. "Look, I know it's dangerous, that's she's dangerous. But like it or not, she's useful."

I nodded my head so they would know I agreed with that statement. I had just thought it myself.

"Look, we have to start looking at the bigger picture. We have to start thinking in strategies and moves ahead. It's not so simple; we're not just hunting anymore."

"We're at war," I said softly, showing Sam that I knew where he was coming from. I knew feeling alone was not a good thing and Sam did have a valid point.

Dean looked like he was listening, much like he had with me the night before. Also like the night before, he didn't seem to like it.

By this time we had already gotten the car restarted and were heading back to the motel. I hadn't noticed the name until now. The Conquistador - no wonder it had a Spanish feel to it. Once inside the guys room, Dean went to the sink and ran some water over his face, probably just the give him something to do.

When he was done he turned back around and looked at Sam. "Are you feelin' okay?"

"Ugh, why're are you always asking me that?" Sam sat on the bed.

"Because you're takin' advice from a demon, for starters. And by the way you seem less and less worried about offing people. Y'know, it used to eat you up inside."

"And what has that gotten me?"

"Nothin'. It's just what you're supposed to do, okay? We're supposed to drive in the friggin' car and friggin' argue about this stuff. You go on about the sanctity of life and all that crap."

Sam had seemed to think Dean's rant - for lack of a better word - had been funny because he was smiling.

"Wait. You're mad because I'm starting to agree with you?"

Dean sat on the bed opposite Sam and I seated myself at the table. Sometimes I felt guilty for intruding on their brother moments, but, on the other hand, I hated to miss them too.

"No, I'm not mad. I'm worried, Sam. I'm worried because you're not acting like yourself."

Dean sounded tired all of a sudden, like maybe the worry was too much.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm not," Sam agreed. "I don't have a choice."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, Dean, you're leaving, right? And I gotta stay in this crap-hole of a world. Alone."

I didn't mention the fact that he wouldn't be alone because he'd have me and Bobby because I wasn't sure Sam would want us around after Dean was gone. Another reason I didn't speak was because my eyes were suddenly on Dean because he kind of looked like he'd gotten a sudden case of the stomach flu.

"So they way I see it . . . If I'm gonna make it, if I'm gonna fight this war after you're gone then I gotta change. Into you. I gotta be more like you."

Dean's expression was neutral for a few seconds and then he was groaning and holding his stomach.

"What's wrong?" I asked, standing up and moving to him.

"I don't know. It feels like there's a bunch of knives inside of me."

I looked at Sam and his expression told me the same thing I was thinking. This obviously wasn't normal; something was definitely wrong.

"The witches?" I asked, sitting by Dean.

"It's gotta be," he said.

Dean grabbed my arms and I could tell how much pain he was in by how hard he squeezed. He was hurting me but I didn't try to tug away. He needed something to ground himself.

"It's okay, don't worry. We just have to find the hex bag," Sam said urgently.

It was while Sam was searching the cabinets where the pillows were that Dean started screaming. And then he started bleeding, coughing up blood, and I knew we were in trouble.

"Sam, hurry up!"

Sam looked everywhere - he even cut into the mattresses. Zero joy.

"I can't find it!"

"Well . . . I'll stay here with Dean. You go . . . Do what you have to do."

I held onto Dean, who was now on the floor trying to cough up a lung, and watched as Sam got the Colt out of Dean's bag.

"Sam, what're you doing?" Dean asked weakly.

It was pretty obvious what Sam was doing and he didn't have time to answer anyway, so he just left.

"Dean, what d'you want me to do? Do you want me to try and heal you? I don't know if I can, but . . ."

"No. You could hurt yourself."

"And you could die!" I almost yelled. "Let me help you."

"I'm gonna die anyway," he yelled back. "Just look for the hex bag."

Sam had torn the room apart and hadn't found it, what was I supposed to do? But I listened. Dean would've fought me off had I tried to do anything to him. Sometimes Dean's self-sacrificing crap got on my nerves.

As I was looking, Ruby burst into the room and I moved closer to Dean instinctively. He was vulnerable right now and I wasn't going to let him get hurt further. I realized I'd actually felt her this time and I'd known it was her. I guess since I actually knew her she had her own feeling or something.

"You wanna kill me?" Dean asked from his spot on the floor. "Get in line, bitch."

I forced myself not to roll my eyes. Even when he was two inches from death he was still snarky.

Then suddenly Ruby was grabbing Dean and tossing him on the bed.

"Hey!" I shouted, grabbing her arm. "What're you doing?"

"Helping your boyfriend," she said.

I hesitated because I didn't know if she was telling the truth. If I let her do this and Dean got hurt or worse, it would be my fault. But if I didn't let her do this . . . It would still be my fault.

"If this is a scam, I'm gonna kill you," I said honestly.

Ruby had a leather pouch at her side, the kind cowboys had to carry water in. There was some kind of greed liquid in it and she squirted some in Dean's mouth. He choked on it and I knew he was trying not to swallow it.

"I'm sorry," I said. I didn't want Dean to think I'd betrayed him in some way. I was not choosing Ruby's side, but she'd had a way to save him, so . . .

"Stop calling me bitch," Ruby said after Dean had finally given in and was breathing normally, without coughing.

I helped Dean up and was relieved when he let me without complaint.

"Next time you point that gun at me, I'm not gonna just disappear, understand?" Ruby said softly but firmly.

"You . . . saved my life." Dean looked like he couldn't believe it. He sounded like he couldn't believe it either.

"I told Alyson that not all demons are the same."

"What was that stuff you gave him? How did you even know he needed it?"

"God, it was ass," Dean said. "It tasted like ass."

I let a few laughs out, glad to know he was okay enough to be thinking about the taste of what had saved him. I didn't think to ask how Dean knew what ass tasted like.

"It's called witchcraft, short bus," Ruby said. "Now do you want to save your brother or not?"

Dean and I didn't waste anytime grabbing a few weapons and following Ruby.

"So . . . Demon airlines or a stolen car?" I asked.

"I am not mass transportation," Ruby said. "And you can't handle the ride, remember?"

"Oh, I can handle it. Just get us there, yeah?"

Dean did not look like he wanted anything to do with this way of traveling, but it was the quickest way there was, so he agreed. Reluctantly.

We ended up at Renee Van Allen's house and I immediately felt the demon inside. Like the last time Ruby had transported me somewhere, I felt sick from it. I didn't vomit this time, though, so that was a plus.

Dean went in first because he was Dean, but I wasn't far behind. As soon as we walked in - ran in - Dean was tossed aside. He landed okay but was soon held against the wall by the brunette from earlier. So the demon wasn't Renee - Renee was dead on the floor. I couldn't say I wasn't surprised. Renee had definitely been bitchy enough, but Tammi, the brunette, had been the only one who hadn't gotten anything out of this witch thing. So . . . Looking back, it made sense.

I noticed Sam was being held against another wall. Only he was a few feet off the ground. And where the hell was Ruby? She hadn't come in with us.

Oh, God. This was a trap! I thought angrily. And I fell for it.

Well, that was okay. I could get rid of a demon on my own. Not with an exorcism, but the result would be the same. The demon would be gone.

But before I could do anything I was on my knees, choking, and Tammi had her hand raised and clenched into a fist. I couldn't breathe and it felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest. I was screaming silently and I was aware of Dean and Sam yelling in the background. Then there was a bluish light coming out of my mouth.

"Look, isn't it pretty?" Tammi asked. "That's you're soul, by the way. It's all whole and nice. It won't be when I'm done with it."

I wanted to tell her to put it back - it was mine, after all - but without my soul I really couldn't breathe. I was going to die. I was going to . . .

When I came to I realized I was still in the same place I'd been in before. Obviously I hadn't been out long - just long enough for my soul to go back where it was supposed to be.

There were sounds of a struggle and I heard a crash. It was Ruby and Tammi. Sam and Dean were still being held against their will.

"You're really telling me you threw in your chips with Abbott and Costello here?" Tammi asked.

It occurred to me that I'd been wrong about Ruby; this wasn't a trap. The blond was getting her ass kicked. Tammi was hitting her with a fire poker.

As Tammi picked Ruby up by her jacket collar I scooted back and my hand slid over something sharp and pointy. Ruby's knife. The demon killing knife.

"We've been here before, haven't we?" Tammi asked. "Hm." Tammi looked at Sam and Dean; she didn't seem worried about me. "Pretty mortifying, I guess. She was one of mine. I turned her out a long, long time ago. Ruby here was a witch. Of course that was when you were human."

Ruby had been . . . human? And a witch? And she had served this demon? No wonder she'd known so much about it when she'd warned us.

"Didn't want your friends to know? That all those centuries back you sold yourself to me? Embarrassing, I guess. But don't worry, love. No secrets where you're heading, remember?"

I was continuing to move back and I brought the knife with me. I wasn't strong enough to stand yet so I was hoping Tammi would get distracted and let the guys go. As of now, she seemed to be doing to Ruby what she'd done to me, only there wasn't any blue light coming from her. It was all black demon smoke. Then Tammi was choking and spitting up blood and my wish came true. She was distracted.

The next events happened in quick succession. Elizabeth was killed - I was pretty sure Tammi had made her ribs puncture her heart because I heard bones crunching and then the poor girl was clenching her chest; she'd been casting a spell to stop Tammi - Ruby no longer had demon smoke coming out of her mouth, then Dean was grabbing the knife from me and Tammi was quickly disposed of.

I became aware of Sam groaning and I realized I was leaning against him. He'd fallen on his ass right behind me.

"You okay?" we asked in unison. Then we both said no.

Dean came and helped us up. I grabbed onto his arm to steady myself; I was really dizzy.

"Go," I heard. "I'll clean up this mess."

It was Ruby. Her nose was bleeding from the beating she'd taken. And she was right; this place was a mess. Broken shelves, broken TV, three dead bodies. And I had no problem leaving her to deal with it. I couldn't have helped if I'd wanted to.

It didn't matter anyway. No matter how much Ruby cleaned up, Renee's husband was going to need a year's worth of therapy when he came home.

"Ow!"

"Stop being a baby," I reprimanded softly.

"I'm sorry, you're not the one who has glass in your skull," Dean said.

"Well, if you would hold still . . .!"

Sam, Dean and I were back at the motel and I was playing nurse. Sam had bruises but no open wounds. Dean, however, had hit a picture frame with the back of his head. Hence the glass. Every time I touched his wounds with tweezers, though, he ducked away.

"Sam, make him be still," I said.

"Work it out yourself. It's good for you."

Sam had already made himself comfortable on the bed - they'd had to get a new room seeing as their other one was destroyed.

"Sam! Help!" I was mostly joking. I could handle Dean on my own. If only he would behave. "I will leave it in there if you don't stop."

If he was going to act like a child, I was going to treat him like one. That seemed to do the trick; he didn't like people treating him like a kid no matter how immature he was being. So when the glass was finally out I healed the wound and gathered my things to get ready to go.

"Hey, aren't we even gonna talk about what happened?" Sam asked. "You almost had your soul sucked out."

"No, she did have her soul sucked out," Dean corrected. "The only reason she's alive is -"

"Ruby," I said. "I know; I don't want to talk about it."

In fact, I'd tried not to even think about it. It had been terrifying because I hadn't only been going to die; I'd been close to being sent to Hell. That was what Tammi had meant when she'd been talking about how whole and nice my soul was and how it wouldn't be when she was through with it.

And then what we'd learned that night. Ruby had been human at one point. That meant that Dean, who was human now, could become a demon when he died. Hell, he might be demon I got rid of one day.

"I'm goin' to bed."

Dean walked me to my room but we didn't talk. I couldn't; my throat was tight now and I knew if I tried to talk, my voice would crack.

Alright, this is my latest offering after a LONG break - I guess you could call it? Hope you enjoyed.

Love you guys