Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original character.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get up guys! Hope you like it!
Part 29:
Kae rejoined them a half hour later, having showered and changed into a sky blue top under a jean jacket, dark jeans and boots. Her hair, now blood free, was pulled back in a tight bun at the back of her head.
"Okay so I'm gonna go see 'bout getting Pestilence's location out of the dead meat in there," she said shortly as she stalked past Sam and Dean. "What?" she said, catching Sam's eye. "He hasn't been the Brady you knew in years, Sam. That Brady is dead."
"Yeah. I know."
She sighed and walked back over to him.
"Look I'm sorry - I wish I could just let you go in there and knife him - but we need the information, okay?"
He nodded and she pulled out her knife before heading into the room where Brady had been taken.
Crowley was waiting for her when she walked in.
"Shall we?" he said.
Kae gave Brady a cold smile.
"Let's get started."
Brady remained silent as he watched Kae approach him, knife in hand.
"Where's Pestilence at?" she asked.
He cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowed.
"You didn't say the magic word, Princess." he retorted, but let out a groan as Kae slashed at his shoulder with the knife.
"First things first - you call me that again, and I won't exorcise you - I'll kill you flat out. You know I can do it," she added at seeing the skeptical look on his face. "Do the math yourself. If Lucifer wins, he'll turn this place into his kingdom. When the morningstar cleans house, we all get the mop."
Brady rolled his eyes.
"He created us. Why would he destroy us? That makes no sense."
It was Kae's turn to roll her eyes. She moved forward and straddled his lap, bringing the knife up so its blade came to rest at Brady's throat.
"Look at who - at what he is." she said quietly. "Then take a look at what you are."
Brady leaned forward - or tried to. Crowley hadn't taken any chances when binding him. He smiled coldly up at her before looking down at her belly.
"Maybe you should be a little less worried about me, and be a little more worried about yourself." his smile widened as he looked back up to see her frowning at him. "If you only knew the plans he has for you, Kae..."
"Sweetheart, I'm a means to an end, just like you." she replied.
"He's not going to kill you, Kae." Brady's tone became malicious. "You know that, don't you? Instead of going the same way as Daddy, you're going to watch what's left of everything you love go up in flames after Lucifer has his way with you."
Kae had frozen at the mention of her father. How the hell did Brady know about that?
"What do you know about my father?" she managed to ask after a moment.
"Kae stay on target!" Crowley barked.
Brady laughed.
"I know all about it, Kae. All about the demon who killed him."
"Who was it?" her grip on the knife tightened to the point where she could have broken it. "Who?!"
"Kae!"
Suddenly she was yanked backward by an invisible force, a scream leaving her mouth as she crashed into the opposite wall.
"What were you thinking?!"
"How was I supposed to know he knew who killed her dad?!"
"Oh like you didn't already know!"
"Both of you shut up!" Kae glared at Dean, Sam and Crowley as she pressed the ice pack in her hand against her throbbing head. She and the brothers had gone outside with Crowley to discuss what to do next. "Look...I was stupid. I let him get under my skin, and I shouldn't have." she slumped sideways against the banister on the front steps of the house. "So what now?"
Crowley rolled his eyes. "Well he won't budge, so now I go stick my neck out."
"What are you gonna do?" asked Dean.
Crowley sighed and turned to look at him.
"Exactly the kind of desperate swashbuckle I've been trying to avoid. Now I go kick open a hive of demons." he glared at Kae. "This whole bloody ring business better work."
And he disappeared.
"How're you doing?"
"My head's killing me." Kae sighed and switched the ice pack over to the other side of her head. "Sam?" He turned to look at her. The two were parked on the front porch. Dean had gone inside for a beer while they waited for Crowley to return.
"Yeah?" Sam replied.
Kae didn't speak for a moment, but then she sighed and said,
"You know that even if we get the key completed, there's no chance in Hell of trapping him back in it."
"What do you mean?" Sam frowned.
"Look, for all we know, Gabriel was wrong and he does know about the rings. Hell I'm sure Pestilence was in the know about what we're doing from the time you and Dean took War's ring." she looked over at him. "I'm - I think I'm going to say it."
Sam's expression became incredulous.
"What? Kae, do you realize what -"
"I know you're thinking about it too." she said. Sam shifted uncomfortably next to her. "What if you did?"
Sam didn't answer.
Just then, Crowley reappeared in the yard.
"I suggest we take this little party inside," he said abruptly, as Kae opened her mouth to speak. "Now."
"What'd you do?!" Kae demanded.
"Just what I said, Princess," Crowley said impatiently as he strode toward them, ignoring the way Kae tensed at the nickname. "Knocked over a demon's nest - had a little massacre. That's the good news."
"What's the bad news?" Sam asked uneasily.
Crowley smirked. "Why don't we save that little bulletin for our tied up friend, hmm? Bad news for him, great for us."
He disappeared again, and when Kae heard Dean swearing loudly, she knew he'd reappeared in the house.
"Come on." Sam said wearily, and the two hurried back inside.
When they got back inside, Kae found Dean sitting on the staircase, waiting for them. She could faintly hear Crowley's voice coming from the other room where Brady was imprisoned.
"...now death is off the table. Now you get to be on the boss's eternal torment list with little old me."
"What the hell did he do?"
Dean shrugged.
"No idea."
Suddenly the distant sound of howling broke the brief silence that followed Dean's answer. Kae was surprised to see his face turn white and cried out in surprise when he jumped up off the steps.
"What?" she asked, reaching into her jacket for her knife. "Dean?"
"Hellhound," he said.
"Fucking hell." Kae breathed. She only briefly heard of the beasts, but the little she knew about them still terrified her. Why did Dean look so..."Dean are you okay?"
"I'm fine." The color returned to his face and he sounded more like his old self.
"Liar."
"Kae we don't have time for this!" When she didn't budge, he groaned in frustration. "Long story short, a hellhound ripped me to shreds two years ago and dragged me to Hell."
Kae stared at him in horror.
"What? Why?"
"Later!" he barked, grabbing her arm. C'mon!" he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the room where Crowley and Brady were. "Hellhound?" Dean said, eyes locking onto Crowley. "Why a hellhound?"
Crowley shrugged.
"Followed me."
"Damn it." Brady breathed, and for the first time he actually looked scared. "Get me out of here. I'll tell you anything you want."
"Shut up," Sam snapped at him as he walked into the room. He looked at his brother. "What now?"
The howls sounded again, and this time they were much closer and louder.
"Fuck." Dean's arm settled around Kae's waist and pulled her close. "What now?"
"Leave?" Sam suggested.
"Sorry. No one knows more about the hounds than I." Crowley said exasperatedly. 'You're long past the point of 'go'." he winked at Kae and disappeared - again.
Sam and Dean swore loudly.
"What now?!" Dean asked.
"Salt?" Kae suggested.
"Check the kitchen," Sam responded. "I'll watch Brady."
The captive demon rolled his eyes at that. Kae, however, nodded and shrugged Dean's arm off of her before hurrying off.
It didn't take her long to find the salt. However, before she could get it open and make it to the window, the window itself shattered and the sound of snarling filled the room.
Son of a bitch. Something knocked her backwards and the putrid smell of what had to be the animal's breath and something wet splashed across her front. Slobber - just gross. Now I remember why I hate dogs. she thought bitterly as she tried to throw the hound off.
She managed to get to her knife with her free hand, the other having managed to find its throat while avoiding the teeth, and slashed the air wildly, hoping to connect with flesh. A strangled yelp and a wet, sticky, black ooze flowed over her hand.
There was suddenly another yelp as something knocked the hound off of her, and more growling and yelping filled the room.
"Alright?" she looked up to see Crowley standing over her.
"I'm fine." she looked at the space of the room the yelling and yelping was coming from. "Yours, I presume?"
"Correct." he grinned at her. "I'll wager $1000 my pup wins."
She laughed breathlessly and got to her feet slowly.
"No thanks."
She looked down at the mess on her hand with disgust and wiped it on her jeans. It didn't help much but it was all she could do at the moment. She groaned quietly and left the room.
The group managed to make it to an alley in town where Brady finally gave up Pestilence's location.
"What do you think?" Dean asked Crowley as he read the paper he'd been given.
"It's good." he smirked at Brady. "You've got no reason to lie, have you? Like I said before, you're in my boat now."
Brady stared coldly at Crowley.
"You've screwed me - for eternity," he said resentfully.
"Nah. Won't last that long. Trust me." Crowley turned to walk away and Dean followed, taking a salt canister and creating a line of the substance behind Sam, who still stood facing Brady. Kae looked at Sam for a moment, before following suit and taking care to step over the line Dean was making.
"Where are you going?" she heard Brady say.
Dean closed the line behind Crowley, letting him disappear for a final time (at least until the next time they had a run-in).
Brady stared at them incredulously.
"What is this?"
Dean looked to Sam, who still had his back turned toward him and Kae.
"All those angels, all those demons, all those sons of bitches -They just don't get it, do they, Sammy?" he said.
Sam shook his head. "No they don't, Dean."
The younger Winchester began walking toward Brady, and Kae noticed that he had the old demon-killing knife in his hand. Dean's gaze shifted from Sam to Brady.
"You see, Brady...We're the ones you should be afraid of." he told the demon.
Brady scoffed and looked at Sam. "I bet this is a real moment for you, big boy. Gonna make you feel all better?"
"It's a start," Sam responded.
Brady laughed at that.
"Gonna make up for all the times that we yanked your chain -Yellow eyes, Ruby, me?" he said. "But it wasn't all our fault, was it? No, no, no, no. You're the one who trusted us. You're the one who let us into your life, let us whisper in your ear over and over and over again. Ever wonder why that is, Sammy? Ever wonder why we were so in your blind spot? Maybe it's because we got the same stuff in our veins and, deep down, you know you're just like us." Brady paused long enough to lunge at Sam, only for Sam to catch him with the tip of the blade. "Aaah!" he gasped in pain but still smiled derisively up at Sam. "Maybe you hate us so much because you hate what you see every time you look in the mirror." he panted. "You ever think of that?!" he started to laugh. "Maybe the only difference between you and a demon...is your hell is right here."
Sam's response to Brady's tirade was to stab him repeatedly in the stomach.
"Interesting theory," he said calmly as Brady's body fell to the ground, only for Sam to continue to stab him.
When he was done, he turned around, leaving Brady where he lay, and walked past Dean and Kae back down the alley. The two followed him back to the Impala and once again hit the road.
A few hours later, they had stopped at another motel en route to Sioux Falls. Bobby had called to tell them he had managed to get Death's location, but he'd also asked them to stop by to discuss something. Whatever that 'something' was, he hadn't said. Kae had gone on a food run, and returned to find Sam waiting for her at the bus stop.
"Hey," she said, surprised as she stepped off the bus (She knew very well that Hell was likely to freeze over before he let her drive his car). "You okay?"
"I uh, I wanted to talk to you." he said nervously, "about what you said...back at that house. About saying it."
"Saying yes?" she said, eyebrow raised. One of the bags of food in her arms slipped and fell and he moved quickly to catch it before it hit the ground. "Thanks. I thought you weren't sure about that."
Sam was quiet for a few moments as they made their way down the sidewalk back toward the motel.
"I thought about it some more...and I talked to Bobby."
"Can't imagine he was thrilled to hear that you're thinking about it."
Sam laughed.
"You'd be right about that." he replied. "Look, are you sure you want to let him do that to you?"
"I think so." she said slowly. "Are you sure you can handle Lucifer being inside your body?"
He shrugged.
"I've been possessed before. Demon." he added, seeing her confused expression. "I think I can handle the Devil...and that way, I can get him to jump in the cage. You don't need -"
"He's going to want to do it after he takes control of your body, Sam," she pointed out, "and let's not forget, he basically wants Dean roasting on a spit. Hell when he checked if I was pregnant last time, he told me he was glad he didn't have to kill him. I'm...protecting him."
They walked through the motel parking lot and headed for their rooms.
"He wants your consent, right?" Sam said.
"Chivalrous of him, I know." Kae said dryly.
"No, I mean...I could get him to let me be in control...to let me...you know." he finished lamely.
Kae burst into laughter at his uncomfortable expression.
"Have sex with me, you mean?" she said, "Come on Sam, we're not awkward teenagers anymore, you can say it."
"Do you think it would work though?" he asked earnestly. "I don't...If you're going to..."
She smiled and patted his arm.
"I get it." she said quietly. "So...we're agreed? You let him in, I let him...in," she looked disgusted, but hurried on. "and I convince him I actually do want to stay by his side and help destroy the planet. And that's before we somehow figure a way for you to get him into the Cage." she sighed. "Dean's gonna love that."
"We don't do it if he, Bobby and Cas don't agree...or if there's a better option." Sam said. "Okay?"
She nodded.
"Agreed." she said before reaching for her room key. "Let's get inside - I'm starving."
Thoughts? Reviews are welcome. No flames please!