The Monster at the End of This Book Part 2

"You… you're Castiel… aren't you?" Chuck asked.

"It's an honor to meet you, Chuck. I… admire your work." Castiel picked up one of the books and started paging through it.

"Whoa, whoa, what?" Dean asked. "This guy, a prophet? Come on, he's, he's… he's practically a Penthouse Forum writer." He said.

"Did you know about this?" Angela asked Chuck.

Chuck had stumbled over to his armchair; he cracked open a fresh bottle of whiskey and poured himself some. "I, uh, I might have dreamt about it." He said. He glanced at Angela. "Oh, you don't look happy, uh, please… don't hurt me…"

"And you didn't tell us?!" Angela yelled.

"It was too preposterous." Chuck defended. "Not to mention arrogant. I mean, writing yourself into the story is one thing, but as a prophet? That's like M. Night-level douchiness."

He finished this tirade and desperately gulped down the whiskey.

"This is the guy who decides our fate?" Dean asked Castiel quietly.

"He isn't deciding anything. He's a mouthpiece, a conduit for the inspired word."

"The word?" Angela asked. "The word of god? What, like the new new testament?"

"One day, these books, they'll be known as the Winchester and Morgan gospel." Castiel said.

"You got to be kidding me." Chuck, Dean and Angela said in unison.

"I am not… kidding you." Castiel replied.

"If you'll excuse me for one minute." Chuck stood, still clutching the bottle, and disappeared upstairs.

"Him? Really?" Angela asked.

Castiel looked at Angela. "You should've seen Luke."

"Why'd he get tapped?" Dean asked.

"I don't know how prophets are chosen. The order comes from high up on the celestial chain of command."

"How high?" Angela asked.

"Very."

"Well, whatever." Dean said. "How do we get around this?"

"Around what?"

"The Sam-Lilith love connection. How do we stop it from happening?"

"What the prophet has written can't be unwritten. As he has seen it, so it shall come to pass."

~/~\~

Dean and Angela drove to the motel, parked, and got out of the car. They noticed that the altered sign now read as Chuck's manuscript predicted. Angela shook her head and they went to the room.

~/~\~

"Come on. We're getting out of here." Angela said.

"What? Where?" Sam frowned.

"Anywhere, okay?" she replied. "Out of this motel, out of this town. I don't care if we got to swim, we are getting out." She looked around, confused. "Sam, where the hell are all the hex bags?"

"I burned them."

"You… you what?" Angela asked.

"Look, if Lilith is coming, which is a big 'if'—

"No, no, no." Dean said. "It's more than an 'if'. Chuck is not a psychic. He's a prophet."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Cas showed up, and apparently Chuck is writing the gospel of us." Angela replied.

"Okay." Sam nodded.

"Okay. Let's get the hell out of here." Dean replied.

"No." Sam said.

"Lilith is gonna slaughter you." Dean said.

"Maybe she will, maybe she won't." Sam shrugged.

"So what?" Angela asked. "You think you can take her?"

"Only one way to find out, and I say bring her on." Sam said.

"Sam…" Dean started.

"You think I'll do it, don't you?" Sam asked. "You think I'll go dark side."

"Yes!" Angela yelled. "Okay? Yes." She said. "The way you've been acting lately? The things you've been doing?"

Sam looked up, startled.

"Oh, I know. I saw how you ripped Alastair apart like it was nothing, like you were swatting a fly." Angela said. "And Cas and I told Dean, okay?"

"What else did he tell you?" Sam asked. "And since when are you so buddy, buddy with Cas?" Sam looked at Angela.

"Nothing we don't already know." Angela replied. "That you've been using your psychic crap, and you've been getting stronger." She said. She had a pretty good idea of how he was getting stronger. "And you know what, why the hell do you care who I'm 'buddy, buddy' with?" she glared. "What? Can you not handle that maybe I pulled my head out of my ass and moved on a bit?"

Sam blinked at her, a bit shocked. "No, no Angie… that's not what I meant…" he whispered. "And it's not what you think, really."

"Then what is it, Sam?" Dean asked. "'Cause I'm at a total loss."

He and Angie grabbed their bags and headed for the door. Dean stopped and looked back.

"You coming or not?"

"No." Sam replied.

Dean turned back to the door, paused again, the dropped the bag forcefully on a chair by the door as did Angie before they left.

~/~\~

Angela sighed. She couldn't lie to Dean. She had to tell him what she thought, no what she knew what was making Sam stronger.

"Dean." She said.

He looked back at her. "Yeah?" he asked.

"I… I think, well I'm 99.9% sure I know what's making Sam stronger…" she whispered.

Dean frowned. "What the hell is it Angie?" he asked. "I'll keep it between us, but you gotta tell me."

She swallowed thickly. "D-Demon blood. He's sucking down demon blood…"

Dean went wide eyed and clenched jaw. "Dammit." He said. "God dammit!" he yelled.

~/~\~

Dean dropped coins into a soda machine, fuming. He took a step back and looked around.

"Well, I feel stupid doing this." He started. "But… I am fresh out of options. So please. We need some help. I'm praying, okay? Come on. Please."

"Prayer is a sign of faith." Castiel said. "This is a good thing, Dean."

"So does that mean you'll help us?" Dean asked.

"I'm not sure what I can do."

"Drag Sam out of here, now. Before Lilith shows up." Dean said.

"It's a prophecy. I can't interfere."

"You have tested Angie and I and thrown us every which way. And I have never asked for anything. Not a damn thing. But now I'm asking. We need your help. Please."

"What you're asking, it's… not within my power to do."

"Why? 'Cause it's 'divine prophecy'?" Dean asked.

"Yes."

"So, what, we're just supposed to sit around and, and wait for it to happen?" Angela asked.

"I'm sorry." Castiel replied.

"Screw you." Dean said. "You and your mission. Your God. If you don't help us now, then when the time comes and you need us… don't bother knocking."

Dean brushed past Castiel and began to walk away. Angela sighed and walked after him, but they stopped at Castiel's voice.

"Dean. Angela."

"What?!" Dean asked.

"You must understand why I can't intercede. Prophets are very special. They're protected."

"I get that." Dean nodded.

"If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce. They're absolute. They're heaven's most terrifying weapon."

"And these archangels, they're tied to prophets?" Angela walked over to Cas.

"Yes." He nodded.

"So if a prophet was in the same room as a demon—she started.

"Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon." Castiel replied. "Just so you understand… why I can't help."

Angela smiled. "Thanks, Cas."

"Good luck." He replied.

~/~\~

Chuck was sprawled on his couch when Dean and Angela entered; this time, Chuck did look surprised to see them.

"What are you doing here? I didn't write this."

"Come on. We need you to come with us." Angela replied, manhandling him.

"What? Where?" Chuck asked.

"To the motel where Sam is." She replied.

"That's where Lilith is."

"Yeah, exactly. We need you to stop her." Angela said.

"Are you insane?" Chuck asked. "Lilith? I know what she's capable of, Angela. I wrote her."

"All right, listen to us." Dean said. "You have an archangel tethered to you, okay? All you got to do is show up and boom! Lilith gets smoked."

"But I, I haven't seen that yet. Th-the story—

"Chuck, you're the only shot that we've got left." Dean said.

"But… I'm just a writer."

"This isn't a story anymore, Chuck." Angela said. "This is real! And you're in it! Now, we need you to get off your ass and fight. Come on, Chuck."

"No friggin' way."

"Okay, well, then, how about this, I've got a gun in my pocket and if you don't come with us, I'll blow your brains out." She replied.

"I thought… I thought you said I was protected by an archangel." He stammered.

"Well, interesting exercise." She said. "Let's see who the quicker draw is, hmm?"

~/~\~

Sam heard a knock at the door and approached it slowly. He turned the handle carefully, then flung the door open. The doorway was empty. He closed the door, turned around and saw Lilith.

"Hello, Sam." She said.

"I've been waiting for you." He replied.

Her eyes turned white.

~/~\~

"Where's the knife, Sam?" she asked.

"On the nightstand. By the bed."

Lilith began walking toward the bed, then stopped. She stooped down and lifted the rug: beneath it was a Devil's Trap. She rolled her eyes and touched the edge of it with a finger; the mark flared and burned away. She stood to face Sam.

"You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that." She said.

"How 'bout this?" Sam asked.

He reached out a hand and concentrated; a wind rose and blew her hair back but he had no other effect on her.

"You're strong." She smiled. "But you're not that strong. Not yet."

"So why don't you throw me around then?"

"Because I can't, and you know it. You're immune to my charms. Seems we're at a stalemate."

"Why are you here?"

"To talk." She shrugged.

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, well, I'm not interested."

"Hmm… even if I'm offering to stand down? From the seals… the apocalypse… all of it?"

"You expect me to believe that?" Sam raised a brow.

"Honestly?" she asked. "No. you were always the smart one. But it's the truth. You can end it, Sam. Right here, right now. I'll stop breaking seals, Lucifer keeps rotting in his cage. All you have to do is agree to my terms."

"Why would you back down? Why now?"

"Turns out, I don't survive this war. Killed off, right before the good part starts."

"What do you want?" Sam asked.

"For it to go back to the way it was. Before I had angels to deal with 24/7. The good old days, when it was all baby blood all the time."

"And what do you want in return?"

"Your head on a stick. Dean and Angela's, too." Lilith said. "Call it a consolation prize. So what do you say, Sam? Self-sacrifice is the Winchester and Morgan way, isn't it?"

"You really think I'm stupid enough to fall for this?" Sam asked.

"I make a deal, I have to follow through. Those are the rules, and you know it." Lilith replied. "Are you really so arrogant that you would put your life before the lives of six billion innocent people?" she asked. "Maybe it's all that demon blood pumping through your pipes. Man after my own heart."

"You think I'm like you? I am nothing like you."

"Then prove it. Going once." She turned and walked to the bed. "Going twice."

"Find." Sam said.

She turned back. "Swell. By the way, a contract with me will take more than a kiss." She sat on the bed. "A lot more. Don't worry. The dental hygienist in here? She wants it bad." She patted the bed.

Sam approached; Lilith ran a hand up his leg as her eyes turned white. She took him by the collar and pulled him down on top of her. When he got close enough, he grabbed the knife and tried to stab her with it. She countered his attack and flipped him over, grabbing the knife. Before she could attack, the door burst open and Dean, Chuck and Angela entered.

"I am the prophet Chuck!" he exclaimed.

"You've got to be joking." Lilith left Sam and approached Chuck.

"Oh, this is no joke." Dean smirked.

The room began to tremble, and a great white light poured in through the windows.

"You see, Chuck here's got an archangel on his shoulder." Angela said. "You've got about 10 seconds before this room is full of wrath and you're a piece of charcoal. You sure you want to tangle with that?"

Lilith gave Sam one last look, then poured screaming out of her vessel's mouth.

~/~\~

Dean was driving, Sam was upfront and Angela was in the back seat. The rear window was still busted, still clumsily covered in a tarp flapping in the wind.

"So a deal, huh?" Dean asked.

"That's what she said."

"To call the whole thing off, angels, seals, Lucifer rising, the whole nine?" Angela asked.

"That was the gist of it."

"Huh." Dean said.

"What?" Sam asked.

"You didn't think once about taking it?" Dean asked.

"You kidding me?" Sam scoffed. "Dude, you and Angie spent all say trying to talk me off the Lilith track."

"I'm just saying…" Dean said.

"She would have found some way to weasel out of it. And all it would have cost us was our lives."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Angela said.

"Anyway, that's not the point." Sam said.

"What's the point?" Dean asked.

"The point is, she's scared. I could see it. Lilith is running."

"Running from what?" Angela asked.

"Don't know. But she was telling the truth about one thing."

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"She's not gonna survive the apocalypse. I'll make sure of that." Sam said.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter. Angie had a small blow up there, which makes me real excited for 4x21. She loves Sam, but she's taking action to try and achieve some sort of happiness. Anyway, hope ya liked it!

Don't forget to review, review, review! Love ya!

~Emily