At Hell's Gates

by mrsemmettcullen12

What if Sam had a twin sister? This is the story of Dean and Sam with a sister, Alex.

47. Illusion

This is my first story, so please be nice. Tell me what you think.

I do not own any of the characters (except for Alex) and I do not own any of the storylines. I am SO sorry that it has taken me forever to update.

Anyway, this story is getting a little long, so I may begin writing the sequel/continuation soon! Thanks for sticking with me and still reading! It is very much appreciated!

Chapter 47

Previously in At Hell's Gates:

As her lone tear trailed down her face, Lisa watched as Dean walked away from her life once again. She stood on her front porch, looking very dejected, let down, and depressed as Dean climbed into his Impala and drove off down her neighborhood street, his heart with her and Ben and her heart with him in his Impala.

Dean poured himself another glass of whiskey as he threw his brown leather jacket, a set of keys, and his favorite handgun into a medium-sized cardboard box. He threw back the whiskey and then began drinking straight from the bottle as he looked at himself in the mirror above the dresser. As he brought the glass to his lips, he paused, seeing Sam and Alex staring at him from the doorway.

"Sending someone a candy gram?" asked Alex, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dean turned to face his siblings, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"How'd you guys find me?" he asked them.

"Well, you were gonna kill yourself, right? It's really not too hard to figure out the stops on your farewell tour," answered Sam, shoving the motel room key into his pocket.

"How's Lisa doing, anyway?" asked Alex, raising her eyebrows.

"I wasn't going to kill myself."

"Oh, you weren't? So Michael's not about to make you his little bitch?"

Dean rolled his eyes and threw back the rest of the whiskey in his glass. Sam sighed.

"What the hell, man? This is how it ends? You just… walk out?" asked Sam.

Dean grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured himself another glass.

"Yeah. I guess so."

"How could you just do that?"

"How could I? All you've ever done is just run away, Sam!"

"And I was wrong! Every single time that I did it. Just… please. Not right now. Bobby is working on something for us."

"Oh, really? What?" asked Dean, walking over to the bed in the motel room.

Sam and Alex both looked down at the floor, shaking their heads.

"You've both got nothing and you know it."

Sam sighed deeply. Alex simply stared at her oldest brother as he took another drink from his glass of whiskey.

"You know that we have to stop you," said Alex.

Dean set down his glass.

"Yeah, well, you can certainly try. Just remember, Sam's not all hopped up on demon blood this time."

Sam sighed.

"Yeah, I know."

"But we brought help," finished Alex.

Dean's eyes widened as he heard the fluttering of angel wings. He whirled around and saw Castiel now in front of him. Before Dean could even blink, Castiel had touched two fingers to his forehead, knocking him out cold.

The train's horn sounded loudly as Dean paced the floor of Bobby's study. Castiel was leaning against the kitchen doorway as he watched Dean pace the floor. Sam, Alex, and Bobby sat around Bobby's desk, looking through lots of papers.

"Yeah, this is just great, really great, guys. Eight months of turned pages, but tonight. Tonight's when the magic happens," smirked Dean.

He finally stopped pacing and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, you ain't helpin'," remarked Bobby.

"Why don't you let me get out of your hair then?"

Alex rolled her eyes while Sam gave Dean a death glare. Bobby looked over at the oldest Winchester sibling.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Reality happened. Nuclear is the only option we have left. Michael can finish the devil and save a boatload of people!" yelled Dean.

"But not all of them. We've got to think of something else!" yelled back Bobby.

"Well, that's easy for you to say. But if Lucifer burns this mother down and I find out that I could've done something about it, guess what? That's all on me!"

"Dean, you can't give up, son," said Bobby, his face softening as he looked over at Dean.

Dean scoffed and smirked sarcastically. He shook his head slowly before he looked back over at Bobby.

"You're not my father. And you ain't in my shoes."

Bobby's face fell while Alex felt her blood boiling with anger and rage. Sam looked over at Dean, his expression one of severe disappointment as he shook his head at his brother. Alex pushed her chair away from the desk and walked over to Dean. As she stood in front of him, she brought her hand back, slapping his left cheek. Sam's mouth fell open as Dean grabbed his now stinging left cheek.

"How dare you, Dean Winchester."

She stormed off into the front hallway and they all heard one of the doors slam closed. As Dean held his cheek in his hands, Bobby pulled open the first desk drawer and pulled out a pistol. He then reached into the front pocket of his shirt and pulled out a silver bullet.

"What's that?" asked Dean.

"The round I mean to put through my skull."

Bobby placed the silver bullet down beside the pistol on his desk.

"Every morning I look at it and I think… Maybe today's the day to flip my lights off. But I don't do it. I never do it. And you want to know why?"

Bobby looked over at Dean then.

"Because I promised you! I wouldn't give up!"

Dean looked ashamed as he glanced down at the floor. Suddenly, Castiel held his hands to his forehead and cried out with pain. Dean unfolded his arms from over his chest.

"Cas, are you alright?" asked Sam, looking very concerned.

"No," responded Castiel.

His eyes opened again and he stood up straight.

"Something's happening."

"Where?" asked Dean.

Castiel looked over at him. In the blink of an eye, Castiel was gone, the fluttering of papers around the room the only indication that he had left. Sam sighed as he looked over at Bobby.

Later on, with Castiel still not back, Sam stood in front of the fridge, staring down at the book in his hands. Dean walked over to him, but Sam stood motionless.

"I'm going to get a beer, do you mind?"

With a deep sigh, Sam closed the book, keeping his fingers in it to mark his page. He shuffled to the side a few steps and then re-opened the book as Dean opened the fridge. As Dean reached in to grab a beer, the papers on Bobby's desk were swept up as Castiel returned suddenly.

"Help!" yelled Castiel, holding a person over one of his shoulders.

He set the person down on Bobby's loveseat in his study as Sam and Dean came rushing into the room.

"Alex!" yelled Bobby.

Alex came running into the room then and watched as Castiel stepped away from the loveseat. Sam and Dean stopped abruptly when they saw who it was lying there.

"Who is it?" asked Bobby, wheeling himself over to the loveseat.

"That's our brother," whispered Alex, her face pale as she looked down at Adam.

Adam was covered with dried mud, his clothes indistinguishable beneath all of the mud covering his body. His eyes were still closed, but his chest was slowly moving up and down. Bobby looked at the three siblings, very confused.

"Wait a second. Your brother? Adam?" he asked.

"Cas, what the hell?" asked Dean, turning around to look at the angel.

Castiel placed two sharp looking items onto Bobby's desk.

"Angels," he answered.

"Angels? Why?" asked Sam.

Castiel shook his head, but walked over to stand beside Dean.

"I only know one thing for sure. We need to hide him, now."

Castiel placed his open palm onto Adam's chest and a yellowish light erupted from it. Adam's eyes flew open and he groaned in pain as Castiel kept his hand on Adam's chest. After a few seconds, Castiel let go of Adam's chest and Adam sat up quickly, breathing very heavily and trying to scoot away from all of them.

"Where am I?" asked Adam, looking around the room at all of their faces.

"It's alright. Just relax, you're safe," answered Sam.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Adam, looking over at Sam.

"Well, you're going to find this a little… actually, a lot crazy, but… we're actually your siblings," answered Dean.

"It's the truth. John Winchester is our father, too. See, I'm Alex-"

"Yeah, and I'm sure that's Sam and that's Dean."

Everyone's eyebrows rose at Adam's proclamation.

"Yeah, I know who you all are."

"Um, how?" asked Sam.

"They warned me about you."

"Who did?" demanded Dean.

"The angels."

Dean's head cocked to the side as Alex rubbed a hand over her face with frustration.

"Now, where the hell is Zachariah?" yelled Adam.

About an hour later, Adam was cleaned up and in a fresh set of clothes as he sat on the loveseat. Everyone else sat in front of him.

"So, why don't you just tell us everything? And start from the very beginning," said Dean.

Adam tapped his foot nervously as he held a small glass of water in his left hand. He sighed deeply.

"Well, I was dead and in Heaven. Except it, um, kind of looked like my high school prom. And I was making out with this girl, her name was Kristen McGee."

Adam smiled to himself and Dean nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds a lot like Heaven. Did you get to third base?"

Sam cleared his throat and Dean looked over at him. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Just keep going," said Sam, nodding over to Adam.

"Well, these angels, they suddenly popped up out of nowhere and they tell me that I'm chosen."

"For what?" asked Alex, looking very confused.

"To save the world."

Dean exchanged glances with Sam, but Alex refused to look over at him.

"And how are you planning on doing that?" asked Dean.

"Oh, me and some archangel are going to kill the devil," answered Adam.

"What archangel?" asked Dean.

"Michael. I'm his, um, sword or vessel or something like that, I'm not really sure."

Dean scoffed.

"Well, that's insane."

"Not necessarily," piped up Castiel from behind Dean.

Dean turned back around to look at him.

"How do you mean?" he asked Castiel.

"Maybe they're moving on from you, Dean."

Dean looked from Sam to Bobby.

"But that doesn't make any sense."

"He is John Winchester's bloodline. Sam's brother. It's not perfect, but it's possible," explained Castiel.

"Oh, you've seriously got to be kidding me," said Alex, rubbing her forehead with her fingers.

"How could they do this?" asked Sam, looking at Castiel now.

"They're obviously desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed that Dean would withstand them."

"Okay, you know what? Blow me, Cas," shot back Dean.

Castiel looked very confused at Dean's remark.

"Okay, look. No way. After everything that's happened? All that crap about destiny and suddenly the angels have a plan B? Does that smell right to anyone here right now?" yelled Sam, throwing his hands up with frustration.

"Alright, you know what? This has been a really moving family reunion and all, but, um, I've got a thing, so…"

Adam trailed off and began to stand up, but Sam stood up as well.

"Whoa, no, no, no. Just… sit down. Listen, alright? Please," pleaded Sam.

Adam shook his head with disbelief and scoffed. He sat back down on the loveseat.

"This is unbelievable."

"Just sit your ass down and shut the hell up, kid," snapped Alex.

Sam stared at his twin sister, his eyebrows raised. Adam glared over at her and Alex simply shrugged.

"Now, Adam. The angels are lying to you. They're full of bullshit," said Sam.

He sat back down on the corner of Bobby's desk and watched Adam's expression. Adam smirked sarcastically and shook his head.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"Really? Why not?"

"Um, maybe because they're angels?"

Sam licked his lips.

"Right. And did they tell you that they're planning on killing half of the planet?"

"They said that the fight might get pretty hairy, but it is the devil, right? And we've got to stop him," responded Adam.

"Right, but there's another way," shot back Sam.

Dean rolled his eyes and stared over at Sam.

"Great. What is it?" asked Adam.

"Well, we're working on the power of love," quipped Dean.

Sam glared over at Dean and Alex rolled her eyes.

"And how's that going?" asked Adam, his face serious.

"Mmm, not too great," shot back Dean.

Sam sighed.

"Look, Adam, you don't know me from a hole in the wall, I know. But I'm begging you, please. Just trust all of us. Give me some time," asked Sam.

"Give me one good reason," shot back Adam.

Sam looked down at the floor for a few seconds before responding. He looked Adam straight in the eyes.

"Because we're blood."

Adam stared at Sam.

"You've got absolutely no right to say that to me."

Sam's eyebrows pulled together with confusion at Adam's response.

"You're still John's boy," said Bobby.

Adam looked down at him.

"John Winchester was some man who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a father. So we may be blood, but we are not family. My mom is my family and if I do my job, I'll get to see her again. So no offense, but she's the one I give a rat's ass about, not any of you," said Adam.

Sam nodded.

"Fair enough. But if you have at least one good memory of Dad, just one, then you'll give us a little bit more time. Please," said Sam.

Adam looked him in the face and finally nodded slightly.

As Adam sat at the kitchen table eating a sandwich that night, Bobby sat in his study. When Bobby turned his back on Adam, Adam stood up, heading for the back door as his escape. Just as he reached the doorknob, he stopped, a voice sounding out from directly behind him.

"You planning on going somewhere, kiddo?" asked Alex.

Adam whirled around and thumbed towards the back door.

"Out for a… beer," he answered lamely.

"Oh, great. But we have beer in the fridge right here. So, have a seat," responded Alex.

Adam sighed and went to sit back down at his seat at the kitchen table while Alex grabbed two beers from the fridge.

"So, I'm on some sort of lockdown, aren't I?" asked Adam.

Alex sighed as she placed a bottle down in front of Adam. She pulled out the chair directly across from him.

"Adam, you may not believe this, but Dad was trying to protect you by keeping you from all of this."

"Yeah, well, I guess the monster that ate me just didn't get that memo, huh?"

"So you remember that, huh?"

Adam nodded.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely."

"Yeah, well, trust me anyway. The only thing worse than seeing Dad once a year was seeing him all year."

Alex popped open the lid on her bottle and took a swig from it.

"Do you know how full of shit you are?" asked Adam, staring her down.

"What?" she asked, looking appalled.

"Really. You see, it was me and it was my mom, that's all. She worked the graveyard shift at the hospital and I cooked my own dinners and put myself to sleep. So you can say whatever you want about our father, but the truth is, I would've taken anything that he had to offer. Alright?"

Alex nodded.

"Look, if any of us had known that we had a brother-"

"Well, you didn't, so…"

"We would've found you."

Alex watched as Adam shook his head and smirked sarcastically.

"I can't change the past. I wish I could, I really do. But from here on out…"

"What? We gonna hop in the family station wagon and pop on over to Wally World?"

Alex scoffed and smirked. She sat back in her kitchen chair.

"Look, I'll tell you one thing here, Adam. With an attitude like that, you'd fit right in around here."

Alex held up her beer bottle and nodded towards Adam before she took a drink from it. Adam stared at her the whole time.

Down in the basement, Castiel and Sam opened the vault door to find Dean standing in the middle of the vault. Sam stepped inside to stand beside Dean while Castiel stared at Dean from outside of the vault.

"You know, Cas, the last person who stared at me like that, I got laid," said Dean.

"Uh, why don't you go keep an eye on Adam?" said Sam, looking over at Castiel.

Castiel turned and headed for the stairs, giving Dean one last steely glare before slamming the door closed. Dean winked at him before the door was fully closed.

"Is this really necessary?" asked Dean, motioning towards the vault.

"Well, we've got our hands full here, Dean. A house full of flight risks," responded Sam.

Dean shook his head slightly.

"I'm not letting him do it."

"Who? Adam? Nah, I'm not either."

"No, you're not getting me."

Dean turned away from his brother.

"No, I get you. Perfectly. But I'm not letting you do it, either."

Dean sighed as he leaned against the only table in the corner of the room.

"That kid's not taking a bullet for me, Sam."

"Dean."

"I'm serious. I mean, think about how many people we've gotten killed, Sam. Mom. Dad. Jess. Joe. Ellen. Should I keep going?" asked Dean.

Sam placed his hands on his hips and sighed.

"It's not like we pulled the trigger, Dean."

"We might as well have."

Dean shook his head.

"I'm tired, man. I'm tired of fighting who I'm supposed to be."

"Well, do you think that you could take like, a half second and start sacrificing yourself for a change maybe? Maybe we could actually stick together? I mean, Dean, Alex won't even look at you right now!"

"I know, Sammy. But I don't think so."

"And why not? Dean, seriously, tell me because I would like to know why."

"Because I just… I don't believe," replied Dean, shaking his head sadly.

"In what?" asked Sam, sounding completely exasperated now.

Dean looked up at him.

"In you."

Sam looked away from Dean's gaze.

"I mean, I don't know whether it's going to be demon blood or some other demon chick or what, but I do know that they're going to find some way to turn you against all of us."

"So you're saying that I'm not strong enough."

"You're angry. You're self-righteous. Lucifer's going to wear you to the prom, man, it's just a matter of time."

"Don't you dare say that to me. Not you, Dean. Of all people."

Sam's eyes were welling up with tears as he took a deep breath.

"I don't want to have to say it. But it's the truth. And when Satan takes you over, there's got to be somebody there to fight him. And it isn't going to be that kid or Alex. I will not put them in harm's way."

Dean smirked sarcastically and scoffed.

"So it's got to be me."

Dean watched as Sam sniffed and then opened the vault door, walking out of the room.

Adam was sleeping soundly on the loveseat as Castiel watched over him. Bobby and Alex heard the basement door close and then they saw Sam enter the dark study.

"How's he doing?" asked Bobby.

Sam scoffed and shook his head. Bobby swallowed.

"And how are you doing?" he asked Sam.

Sam didn't answer and Alex bit her lip nervously.

Castiel nodded and went downstairs to check on Dean. As he approached the vault door, he neither heard nor saw any sign of Dean. Castiel hurriedly unlocked the vault's heavy metal door and stepped inside.

"Dean?" he called out.

There was a broken lamp thrown onto the cold concrete floor.

"Cas," called out Dean.

Castiel looked over and saw that Dean had drawn a sigil on one of the walls using his blood. Castiel yelled as Dean placed his hand in the center of the sigil. Castiel disappeared in a bright flash of white light and Dean stepped out of the vault. He listened for noises upstairs and when he heard none, he swiftly grabbed his leather jacket and threw it over his shoulders, escaping the basement through the doors on the side of the house.

A few minutes later, Sam came upstairs from the basement, quickly grabbing his jacket and shrugging it on.

"Where's Castiel?" asked Alex, looking worried.

"Blown to Oz. Look, I'll go grab Dean, he can't have gotten very far. You and Bobby stay here and watch Adam," instructed Sam.

"How? In case you haven't noticed, Sam, he's got a slight height advantage!" said Bobby, slightly yelling.

"Um, hello, I can handle myself, Bobby," said Alex, scoffing.

"Guys, please, just watch him," pleaded Sam.

Bobby sighed, but nodded. Sam grabbed Alex's arm and pulled her into him, embracing her. She wrapped her arms around his back and Sam kissed her forehead before pulling away, heading out the front door to go and find Dean.

Dean approached the man in the navy blue suit who was standing in front of a local bar, holding up a Holy Bible and yelling about the apocalypse and angels.

"Hey," said Dean.

The man turned to look at Dean as he approached him.

"I'm Dean Winchester. Do you know who I am?" asked Dean.

"Dear God," said the man, his eyes widening.

"So I will take that as a yes. Listen, I need you to pray to your angel buddies and let them know that I'm here," replied Dean.

The man sank down to his knees and clasped his hands together in prayer. He closed his eyes and titled his head up towards the sky as he began to pray the "Our Father."

"You pray too loud," ground out a voice from beside the man.

Dean's eyes widened as Castiel suddenly appeared, placing two fingers on the man's head and knocking him over to the ground, unconscious. Castiel then grabbed Dean by the lapels of his leather jacket and threw him up against the wall.

"What are you, crazy?" ground out Dean, his teeth clenched together.

"I rebelled for this?" yelled Castiel.

He punched Dean straight in the face twice and then leaned in towards him.

"So that you could surrender to them?"

He threw Dean up against another wall and punched him in the stomach. Blood was coming from Dean's mouth.

"Cas, please," begged Dean.

"I gave up everything for you. And this is what you give to me!"

Castiel grabbed Dean, punched him in the face once more, and then kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying through the air. Dean landed along a chain-link fence and as Castiel stalked towards him once more, he spit up a mouthful of his blood. Dean looked up and saw Castiel glaring at him.

"Do it. Just do it already!" yelled Dean, looking from Castiel's face to his clenched fists.

As Castiel looked down at Dean, he unclenched his fists and reached out, placing two fingers onto Dean's left shoulder. Dean's head lolled to the ground along with his whole body as he fell unconscious.

Sam paced the floor as Bobby and Alex sat in front of him.

"What do you mean, Adam is gone?" asked Sam.

Alex bit her lip nervously.

"Should we say it in Spanish, Sam?" asked Bobby, scoffing.

"He's gone how?"

Sam ran his hands through his hair with frustration.

"What the hell, Alex?" yelled Sam.

"Hey! Watch your tone with her, son," warned Bobby.

Sam sighed and placed his hands at his sides once more.

"Look, Sammy. He was right in front of us and then he straight up disappeared into thin air," explained Alex.

A gust of strong air hit all of them as Castiel reappeared in the study, Dean still unconscious. Dean's arm was draped over Castiel's shoulders.

"He's gone because the angels took him."

Alex gasped as she took in Dean's appearance.

"What the hell happened to him?" asked Sam.

"Me," answered Castiel.

He shuffled over to the loveseat and Alex moved over so that Castiel could lay Dean down on the small loveseat.

"What do you mean, the angels took Adam?" asked Bobby, wheeling himself closer to Castiel.

"You branded his ribs, didn't you?" asked Alex, biting her lip.

"Yes, but Adam must have tipped them off."

"How?" asked Sam.

"I don't know. Maybe in a dream or something," answered Castiel.

"Well, where would they have taken him?" asked Alex.

Castiel looked off as if deep in thought and then he looked back over to Sam, Bobby, and Alex.

"I know exactly where they would've taken him."

As Dean awoke, he began moving around, but after a few seconds, he realized that his hand was chained to the bed in Bobby's basement safe room. He took in his surroundings slowly.

"How are you feeling?" asked Sam.

Dean groaned as he sat up.

"Word to the wise. Never piss off the nerd angels."

He looked over to his brother.

"So how's it going?"

Sam took in a deep breath and then looked over to face Dean.

"Adam's gone. The angels have him."

Dean's eyes widened.

"Where?" he asked Sam.

"The room where they took you and Alex."

"Are you completely sure?" asked Dean.

Sam nodded.

"Cas did a recon mission."

"And?"

"And the place is crawling with them. Basically there's no way in or out."

"So, the usual," remarked Dean, wincing as he moved his jaw too much.

Dean sighed.

"What are we gonna do?"

"For starters, we're bringing you with us."

Sam stood up from his seat on an overturned crate and walked over to Dean, who had his eyebrows raised.

"Excuse me?" asked Dean.

"There are too many of them. We can't do it alone and, um, you're pretty much the only one who's game in town."

Sam unlocked Dean's hand from the handcuff and once it was free, Dean rubbed his hand gently.

"Isn't that a pretty awful idea?"

"Cas and Bobby think so. But I'm not so sure," answered Sam.

"Well, they're right. Because either it's a trap to get me there to make me say yes or it's not a trap and I'm going to say yes anyway. And I will. I will do it, fair warning."

Sam shook his head, frowning.

"No, you won't. When push becomes shove, you'll make the right call."

Dean sighed.

"You know, if the tables were turned, I'd let you rot in here. Hell, I have let you rot in here."

Sam scoffed and then took in a large, deep breath.

"Yeah, well. I guess I'm not that smart."

"I-I don't understand. Sam, why are you doing this? Does Alex agree with this?"

Sam simply shrugged.

"Because. You're still my big brother. And Alex is waiting right outside this door for us, so come on."

Sam stood up and headed for the door, pulling it open. Dean followed directly behind him and Alex looked up as she heard the door creak open. She glared as she spotted Dean.

"Lex," said Dean, looking at her.

"You're still an asshole. And I can't believe you would just give up on us like this. I am so unbelievably angry with you right now, Dean. But we need your help. So I will put aside my anger so that we can win this fight, alright?"

Alex stomped up the basement stairs to meet Castiel in the study, Sam and Dean following behind her. Sam whistled and raised his eyebrows. Dean scowled.

A few minutes later, Castiel had transported all of them to a sunny city. Dean looked around, confused.

"Where are we, exactly?" asked Dean, squinting in the sunlight.

"Van Nuys, California," answered Castiel, his gaze never wavering.

"Where's the beautiful room?" asked Alex, also looking confused.

"In there."

Castiel nodded towards an abandoned building on his right.

"The beautiful room is in an abandoned muffler building in Van Nuys, California?" asked Dean.

"Where'd you think it was?" asked Castiel.

"I-I don't know, Jupiter? A blade of grass? Certainly not Van Nuys."

"So tell me again why you haven't just grabbed Adam and shazamed yourself out of there already?" asked Sam.

"Because there are at least five angels in there."

"So? You're super fast," shot back Dean.

"They're a whole lot faster."

Dean looked alarmed while Castiel removed his blue tie from around his neck.

"I'll clear them out. You three grab the boy. This is our only chance," explained Castiel, turning towards the door.

"Wait. You're going to take on five angels all by yourself?" asked Dean.

Castiel turned back towards him to answer.

"Yes."

Dean scoffed.

"But isn't that suicide?"

"Maybe it is. But then I won't have to watch you fail. I'm sorry, Dean. But I don't have the same faith in you that your siblings do."

Dean's face hardened as Castiel reached into a pocket of his tan trench coat and pulled out what appeared to be a box cutter. Alex looked confused.

"What the hell are you going to do with that, Cas?"

Castiel looked over to her, but never answered. Instead, he sighed and headed into the abandoned building.

Back outside, Dean, Alex, and Sam heard the screams of angels as Castiel fought them. Seconds later, all was silent. Sam nodded silently and Dean opened the creaky wooden door, heading inside the building. As Dean reached the middle of the floor, he saw a dead angel lying in front of what appeared to be a medium-sized shack. Dean looked around, saw no more angels, and opened the door to the shack. As he stepped inside the shack, he recognized the room where he and Alex had once been held prisoner. As he took in his surroundings, he saw Adam slumped in a corner. Dean ran over to him.

"Adam, hey," called out Dean.

Adam gasped for breath as Dean knelt down in front of him. Adam had light red blood stained on his chin. He looked up at Dean beside him.

"You came for me."

"Yeah. You're family, kid."

Dean grabbed Adam's arm and threw it over his shoulders, helping him to stand up.

"Dean, it's a trap!" said Adam.

"I figured," replied Dean.

Before they could even move two steps, Zachariah was standing in front of Dean and Adam.

"Dean, please. Did you really think that it would be that simple, that easy?" smirked Zachariah.

Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Did you?" he asked Zachariah.

As Zachariah whirled around, Sam and Alex were already running towards the angel, ready to stab him with the angel-killing weapons that Castiel had loaned out for them to use. Zachariah grabbed Sam's arm and then threw him into a corner. Before Alex could blink, Zachariah grabbed her by the throat and threw her on top of Sam.

"Alex! Sam!" yelled Dean.

"You know what I've learned through this experience, Dean? Patience."

Zachariah smirked and then threw up a palm. Adam's arm fell limp across Dean's shoulders as he fell over onto the floor, clutching his stomach with pain as blood began pouring from his mouth. Every time Adam coughed or opened his mouth to take in a breath of air, blood poured from his lips.

"Adam!" yelled Dean.

He looked over and glared at Zachariah.

"Let him go, you son of a bitch."

"Now, I thought that I was downsizing for sure, but Adam? He was great, quite useful. But I should've trusted the boss man. It's all playing out like he said it would. You, me. Your hemorrhaging siblings."

Zachariah held out a hand towards Sam and Alex, who also began to cough up blood onto the floor. Dean looked pained as he heard all three of his siblings gagging.

"And you're finally ready, right? You know there's no other choice, there's never been a choice," said Zachariah.

"Stop it. Stop it right now," cried Dean.

"In exchange for what?"

Dean closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head as a smirk played on his lips.

"Damn it, Zachariah."

His lips quivered as his voice changed to a pleading tone, his face very pained.

"Stop it, please."

Dean looked over and saw Alex curled up into a ball, holding her stomach as blood poured from her mouth. He looked back over at Zachariah.

"I'll do it."

Zachariah held a hand up behind his ear.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" he asked.

Alex looked pained as she looked at Dean.

"Okay, yes. The answer is yes, alright?" repeated Dean.

"Dean, no, please," begged Alex.

Zachariah glanced over at her.

"Do you hear me? Call Michael down here, you bastard!"

Dean looked from Sam to Alex and then back over to Adam.

"How do I know that you're not lying straight to my face right now?"

"Do I look like I'm lying?" asked Dean.

With a smirk on his face, Zachariah whirled around and began chanting in Latin. Dean looked simply frightened and pained as Zachariah continued chanting in Latin. He glanced over at Sam, who looked sad beneath his pain. Dean winked at him then as a rumbling took over the building and Sam looked very confused.

"He's coming," whispered Zachariah.

"Of course, I have a few conditions," remarked Dean.

Zachariah whirled around, his face falling as the rumbling still shook the building.

"What?"

"The few people whose safety you have to guarantee before I say yes," said Dean.

"Sure, fine. Make a list," quipped Zachariah.

"But most of all, Michael can't have me until he disintegrates you."

Zachariah stared at Dean for a few tense moments.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me. Before Michael gets one single piece of this sweet ass, he has to turn you into a piece of charcoal."

Zachariah's lip curled up on the corner of his mouth as he let out a giant chuckle of laughter.

"Do you really think that Michael's going to go for that?"

"Well, who's more important to him now? You? Or me?" asked Dean, his lip quirking up with a hint of a smile.

Zachariah reached out and grabbed the collar of Dean's jacket, dragging Dean closer to him.

"You listen to me. You are nothing but a tiny little maggot inside of a worm's ass. Do you know who I am? After I deliver you to Michael?"

"Expendable," replied Dean.

Zachariah let out another chuckle of laughter. He shook his head.

"Michael's not going to kill me."

"Maybe not."

Dean let the weapon he had been hiding in his shirtsleeve fall into his hands.

"But I am."

He pulled out his weapon and stabbed Zachariah directly in the middle of the throat. A bright white light erupted from Zachariah's eyes, nose, and mouth and then both he and Dean fell down onto the floor. Blood poured from Zachariah's throat wound and his black wings were fully visible as he was now on the hardwood floor, dead. A high-pitched whistling could now be heard as the room continued rumbling. Sam, Alex, and Adam had stopped coughing up blood and Dean helped Adam stand up first since he was the closest to him.

"Can you walk?" asked Dean, yelling over the loud whistling.

"Yes," said Adam, looking up towards the ceiling.

Dean rushed over to help both Sam and Alex stand up and they headed for the door, Alex being held up by both Dean and Sam.

"Come on! Move it!" yelled Dean.

As he and Sam cleared the door with Alex in between the two of them, Adam ran after them. Just as he reached the doorway, the doors slammed closed before Adam made it out. Adam began banging on the door.

"No! Dean, help!" yelled Adam, continuously banging on the door.

Outside of the room that Adam was now stuck inside, Dean handed Alex completely over to Sam and ran back over to help Adam. He reached for the doorknob, but pulled his hand back after the doorknob shocked him.

"It won't open! Dean, help!" yelled Adam.

The bright white light from inside the room began emitting brighter and lighter, spilling out to where the Winchester siblings were standing. Dean stepped back, shielding his eyes from the bright white light pouring from inside the room where Adam was trapped.

"Just hold on! Adam! We're going to get you out of there!" yelled back Dean.

After a few seconds with no reply, Dean yelled once again.

"Adam! Can you hear me?"

Suddenly, the bright white light faded from inside of the room. The whole building returned to darkness and Dean rushed over, trying the doorknob tentatively. It was no longer hot to the touch, so Dean pulled on it, pushing the door open slowly. As the door opened, it revealed a very rundown office space. The blinds were grimy and hanging off of the lone window in the small office area room and a set of file cabinets was pushed along one wall. Dean looked back to Sam and Alex sadly, shaking his head.

Driving back to Bobby's, Sam sighed from the passenger seat as Dean drove and Alex was stationed in the backseat.

"So, do you think Adam's alright?" asked Sam, glancing over at his older brother.

"I seriously doubt it. Cas, either. But we'll get them back, I promise," replied Dean.

Sam licked his lips as Alex looked between her brothers.

"So," stated Sam.

Dean glanced over at him when he never continued his sentence.

"So, what?" asked Dean.

Sam looked over at him, scoffing and rolling his eyes briefly.

"I saw your eyes. You were totally rocking the 'yes' back there. So, what changed your mind?"

Dean scoffed briefly.

"Honestly? It was the damnedest thing, I swear. I mean, the world's ending, the walls are coming down on all of us. I look over to you and all I can think about is this stupid son of a bitch brought me here. I just didn't want to let either you or Alex down."

Sam smirked and Alex smiled gently.

"You didn't, big brother," she replied from the backseat.

"You almost did," said Sam, holding up one finger to interject.

Dean chuckled.

"But you didn't," finished Sam.

Dean's face turned serious then.

"Sam, I owe you an apology."

"No, man. No, you don't."

"Just… let me say this."

Sam sighed, but let Dean continue on with his speech.

"I don't know whether it's being a big brother or what, but to me, you've always been this… snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we now both know that that's not you anymore. I mean, hell. If you're grown up enough to find faith in me… then the least I can do is return the favor."

Dean looked over at Sam, who slightly nodded. After a few seconds, he turned his attention back onto the dark asphalt road in front of them.

"So screw destiny. Right in the face. I say, let's take the fight to them and do it our own damn way."

Sam smirked and Alex did as well.

"Sounds like a plan," remarked Alex.

"Yeah, sounds great," said Sam.

Dean nodded once, a short but stern nod. He then looked back to the road in front of him and stepped on the gas pedal to get them back to Bobby's much faster than usual.

A few days later, Dean, Alex, and Sam burst into the front lobby of the motel they were going to book a room at. The rain was pouring down in sheets outside and they were all dripping water onto the tile floor of the motel's main lobby. The motel had a nice, crisp look to it. The furniture was all white and the neon lights displaying the motel's name behind the front counter were a bright blue color. There were a few couples milling around in the lobby, an elderly couple standing directly in front of the very warm fireplace.

"Nice digs for once," remarked Dean, taking in the place.

Alex and Sam both nodded and then they walked over to the front counter to make their reservation. The skinny man behind the counter smiled at them as they all approached. He began typing profusely on his keyboard. Once he was finished, he slid a yellow piece of paper and a pan across the counter to Dean.

"If you could just fill this out, please."

Dean nodded and began writing on the yellow piece of paper.

"So, you wouldn't happen to have a coffee shop around here, would you?" asked Alex.

The man looked over at her, smiling warmly. He pointed to his right, where a small hallway was nestled into the lobby.

"Down that hallway. There's a whole buffet. And the best pie in the tri-state area," he replied.

Dean looked up, smirking.

"You don't say."

Alex headed down the hallway for the buffet as soon as the concierge handed Dean the keys to their room. Sam followed his siblings, sighing tiredly. He selected a table for all three of them to sit down at while Alex and Dean gathered food at the buffet.

"Sammy, you've got to try this food. And this coffee, oh my Lord," said Alex, sitting down beside Sam.

Dean sat across from Sam, digging into his piece of French Silk pie.

"We should hit the road," said Sam, not looking away from his cell phone.

Both Dean and Alex looked over at him.

"In this storm? This is-"

"It's Biblical, exactly. It's like freaking Noah's Ark out there and we're sitting here eating pie and drinking coffee," argued Sam.

Alex rolled her eyes.

"Man, Bobby has his feelers out, alright?" said Dean.

"Well, I'm not giving up," argued Sam.

"No one's giving up! Especially me," shot back Dean.

Alex looked from one brother to the next.

"Look, we're going to find a way to beat the devil. I can feel it, alright? We'll find Cas, we'll find Adam, but you are no good to either me or Alex if you're all burnt out."

Dean looked over at Sam, who finally shook his head softly.

"Yeah. Yeah," agreed Sam.

Alex grinned.

"Yes! We actually have the night off for once, Sammy. Let's try and enjoy it, alright?"

Alex nudged Sam's elbow and Sam nudged her right back. She stuck her tongue out at him and Sam reciprocated the action, both of them smiling energetically.

"There are chocolates on the pillow!" exclaimed Alex, walking inside their room first as Dean unlocked and pushed open the door.

Alex flopped down onto her bed and grabbed the small square of chocolate, eating it quickly. She tossed the other one from her bed to Sam and then Dean grabbed his. Sam placed the chocolate square down onto one of the side tables.

"This place is kind of in the middle of nowhere," said Sam.

"So?" asked Alex, looking confused.

"So, what's a four-star motel doing on a lonely country highway?"

Alex and Dean both shrugged. The sounds of moaning came from the room next door. Dean chuckled, but then the wall suddenly came crashing in, the TV falling off of its hanging hooks. The three Winchester siblings quickly opened their door and made their way into the room next door, only to find it dark and completely empty.

"Hello?" called out Dean.

The bed sheets were all crumpled, but there was not a soul in sight. Alex cocked her head to the side as she saw something sparkly glint off of the overhead lights. She bent down and picked up a wedding ring from off of the white shag rug placed at the foot of the bed.

"What the hell is going on here?" whispered Alex.

She stood up, the wedding ring clutched in between two of her fingers. Dean and Sam saw what she was holding and they both sighed.

"One night off was all I asked for. Just one freaking night!" yelled Dean.

He threw up his hands with frustration and then headed out of the room, Alex and Sam following his lead.

After an hour of scoping out the place, the three siblings met back up in the main lobby. They noticed that the lobby was eerily empty and silent.

"Where the hell is everyone?" asked Alex.

Sam went over to the front doors, pulling on the door handles. They were locked. He continued trying to pull on them.

"Let me guess, it's locked," scoffed Dean.

He began looking around for any clues as Alex nervously bit her lip. Sam stepped away from the doors and walked back over towards his siblings.

"Think of how we got here. That detour from off of I-90? A freaking hurricane?"

"Are you saying that we were led here?" asked Dean, raising his eyebrows.

"Like rats in a maze," answered Sam.

"You know, I frequently wish that we were raised in a normal lifestyle," scoffed Alex.

She headed off down the hallway towards the buffet where they had eaten earlier. Sam and Dean followed her as she walked all the way to the back of the buffet, pushing open the double doors that led into the large, industrial kitchen. It was eerily silent and dark in the kitchen as the three siblings walked through it. A pot was boiling and simmering on the large industrial stove.

"Please be tomato soup, please be tomato soup," chanted Dean.

He pulled up on the silver ladle that was immersed in the large silver pot full of boiling red water. All three of them cringed and closed their eyes when a pair of eyeballs was visible on the ladle. Dean dropped it back into the boiling red mixture.

"That's freaking disgusting," whispered Alex.

Sam sighed and nodded with agreement.

"Welcome to Motel Hell," remarked Dean.

As Sam headed towards the industrial freezer, Dean and Alex began scoping out the rest of the extra-large kitchen. As Sam's face neared the small window in the freezer door, a hand suddenly slammed onto the window and then a man's glassed-clad face popped up instead of his hand.

"Help us! Please!" he yelled.

Dean and Alex quickly rushed over to help Sam, standing behind him as he pulled on the freezer's handle. Once that wouldn't budge, Sam quickly pulled out his lock picking kit from his jacket pocket and unzipped it.

"Hurry up!" urged Dean.

"I'm going as fast as I… can."

Sam trailed off as he took in the three large, bald-headed men who were standing directly behind his siblings.

"There's somebody behind me, isn't there?" asked Dean.

Without saying anything, the three men each grabbed a Winchester sibling and dragged them all, kicking and screaming, into the Grand Ballroom of the mysterious motel. Once there, the men let go of the three siblings and the doors closed ominously behind them. The siblings stood there, taking in all of the occupants of the room besides them. The concierge wheeled in a silver cart with a large silver platter resting on the very top.

"Dinner is served!"

With a flourish, the concierge lifted the lid off of the silver platter, revealing a dead, male human head. The siblings quickly looked away with disgust. An annoyingly bright spotlight illuminated the three siblings as the applause from the other guests died down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our guest of honor have arrived!" rang out a male British accent.

The three siblings looked stunned as the man indicated that everyone should take their seats. The siblings were each given a hard backed chair to sit in. They all sat down as the man with the British accent knocked gently on a wine glass with his fork.

"In all my centuries, I never thought that I'd see this. This many gods under one roof."

The three siblings exchanged wary glances as the British man continued talking.

"Gods?" whispered Sam, his mouth hardly moving as he whispered the word very carefully.

"Before we move on to official business, there are a few ground rules. First, no slaughtering each other."

Alex's eyebrows rose at the man's first ground rule.

"Curb your wrath. Oh, and keep your hands off of the local virgins. We're trying to keep a very low profile."

"Oh, we are so fucked," whispered Sam.

"Now, we all know why we're here. The Judean-Christian apocalypse looms over our heads. And I know that we've all had our little… skirmishes, but the time has now come where we put those aside and take a look toward the future. If we don't, then we won't one have."

The British man looked out at his fellow gods.

"Now, we do have three very valuable bargaining chips here with us tonight. Two are Michael and Lucifer's vessels. The other is simply a Winchester, valuable in her own right."

The British man pointed to the three Winchester siblings, causing all eyes to be upon them now.

"The question is, what do we do now? If anyone has any bright ideas, go ahead and speak up. This is a safe room here."

After a small silence, a large, bald Asian man stood up, speaking in his native language. He began yelling and Dean spoke from out of the corner of his mouth.

"Oh, I don't like his tone."

"Kill 'em? Why? So the angels can bring them back again?" responded a big, bald, African-American man.

The Asian man sat back down as another man spoke.

"I have no clue what everyone's getting so worked up over. This is just a couple of angels fighting profusely! There's no Armageddon. Everyone knows that when the world comes to an end, the great serpent rises up and I myself will be eaten by a rather large wolf."

The old man chuckled to himself, the younger god next to him also chuckling slightly. The Asian man shook his head, spouting off some smart remark. The old man scoffed. As they continued arguing, the old man getting up and brandishing his knife, the three siblings slowly and discreetly stood up from their chairs. As they all took one step towards the double doors, the large chandelier came crashing down, blocking their escape. The woman at the very head of the table stood up.

"Stay," she demanded, eyeing the three siblings.

The three Winchester siblings turned around, watching her as she spoke to her fellow gods.

"We have to fight. The only thing that those archangels understand is violence. This ends in blood. There's absolutely no other way. It's them or us."

The concierge lifted up two of his fingers, speaking up then.

"With all due respect, ma'am, we haven't even tried talking to them."

With a death glare, she looked over at him and he suddenly began to choke up blood. After a few ruthless seconds of this, the British man sighed.

"Kali," he warned her.

She finally stopped with her death glare, allowing the concierge to breathe. He gasped for breath.

"Who asked you?" she asked, her voice a threatening sort of calm.

The double doors behind the siblings swung inward then, Gabriel walking into the room.

"Can't we all just get along?" he asked.

"Gabri-," whispered Sam.

Gabriel moved his finger and the siblings found that they could no longer speak. Gabriel walked into the Grand Ballroom, the double doors closing behind him.

"It's always wrong place, worst timing for you three, isn't it?"

"Loki. Why are you here?" asked the British man, glaring over at Gabriel.

"To talk about the apocalypse. We can't stop it, gang."

He then held up a finger.

"But first things first."

Gabriel turned around, facing the Winchester siblings once more.

"The adults need to have a little conversation. Check you later."

Gabriel snapped his fingers and the three Winchester siblings were gone from the Grand Ballroom and found themselves back in their original motel room, new chocolates already on their pillows.

"By the way, next time I say, 'Let's keep driving,' let's keep driving," said Sam.

Dean nodded his head.

"Okay, next time," said Dean.

"So, what's our next move?" asked Alex, running a hand through her long, blonde hair.

"I-I-I… I don't even know. We grab those poor people from the freezer and bust them out? Kill a few freaks along the way if we're lucky?" offered Dean.

"And when are you three ever lucky?" asked Gabriel.

The three siblings whirled around to see him perched on the small leather loveseat in their motel room.

"You know what, bite me, Gabriel," shot back Dean, his face angry.

"Maybe later," quipped back Gabriel.

"I should've known. This had your scent all over it from the get-go."

"You think I'm behind all of this? Please. I'm here to save all of your asses."

Gabriel stood up from his seat on the loveseat.

"You want to pull us from out of the fire?"

"Bingo! Look, those guys are either going to kill you or use you as bait. Either way, you're royally screwed," explained Gabriel.

"Wow, a couple of months ago, you were telling us that we needed to play our roles. You were screwing us over, remember?"

"Oh, the end is still near. But not tonight. And definitely not here."

"And why do you care?"

Gabriel paused for a split second too long.

"I don't… care."

Dean raised his eyebrows at Gabriel.

"But, um, me and Kali, we, um, had a thing a while back. That chick was all hands."

Dean rolled his eyes.

"What can I say? I'm sentimental."

"Do they have a chance? Against Satan?" asked Sam.

"Really, Sam?"

"You got a better idea, Dean?" shot back Sam.

"It's a really awful idea. Lucifer's going to kill them all without a second glance. So, let's get going while the going still looks good, hmm?"

"Why don't you just zap us out of here?" asked Alex, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrows as she looked over at Gabriel.

"Well, I wish that I could, but Kali's got you all wrapped around her little finger."

The three siblings looked very confused. Gabriel sighed loudly.

"It's a freaking blood spell. You all are on a very tight leash."

"What does that mean?" asked Alex.

"That means that it's time for a little bit of black magic."

Gabriel produced a fresh breath spray from his jacket pocket and he sprayed two squirts into his open mouth.

"Okay. Well, we're going to take the hors d'oeuvres from the fridge with us," said Dean.

"Forget it. It's already going to be hard enough sneaking all three of you out of here."

"They called you Loki, right? Which means that they have no clue who you really are?" asked Dean.

"I told you. I'm in witness protection."

"Alright, well, how about you do what we say or we tell the, um, legion of gods about your secret identity," threatened Dean, stepping ever closer to Gabriel.

"I'll take your voices away."

"We'll write it down."

"I'll cut off your hands."

"Well, then, people are going to be asking, why are you all running around with no hands?"

Gabriel looked from Dean, to Sam, and then over to Alex. He took in a deep, calming breath.

"Fine."

As Gabriel distracted Kali, Sam, Dean, and Alex walked out from their motel room and were in the front lobby when they heard yelling from only a few feet down the hall. They quickly ran to hide around the corner as four of the gods held down the man who had yelled for help from the freezer. Alex closed her eyes as she heard the man's cries for help from only a few feet away. She turned into Sam, who pulled her into his chest, protecting her from the man's cries as best he could. Dean lurched forward to help the man, but Sam used an arm to block his older brother's path.

"Don't, Dean. It's already too late," whispered Sam.

He shoved Dean back into the wall where they were hiding and they both cringed as the gods threw the yelling and screaming man onto the front counter, taking an ax and chopping off his head. Once the coast was clear only a few short minutes later, the three siblings headed for the industrial kitchen. As Sam bent down to pick the lock that was holding the freezer shut, Dean and Alex stood behind him. The large Asian man came up behind Dean, grabbing him and throwing him into a shelf that was holding multiple sizes of pots and pans. Alex yelled and ducked as the man headed for her next. She rolled into a somersault and ended up behind the large man. He grabbed Sam by the throat and was holding him up against the cold freezer door as Dean struggled to get up amongst the pots and pans. Alex stood up and saw a large piece of wood that had splintered off as Dean had fallen into the shelf. She picked it up and using all of her strength, she stabbed the large Asian god. He let go of Sam's throat, causing Sam to fall to his feet on the floor as the god disappeared.

"Where the hell is Gabriel?" asked Dean, yelling.

As Sam and Alex both shrugged, more gods appeared in the kitchen. They grabbed the three siblings and headed for the Grand Ballroom once more. Gabriel was sitting in a chair directly beside Kali.

"How long have you known?" he asked her.

"Long enough," she answered.

The three Winchester siblings were roughly thrown into their chairs.

"So, how's the rescue coming along?" asked Dean, his tone full of sarcasm.

Gabriel gave him a very sarcastic smirk as an answer.

"Well, surprise, surprise. The trickster has tricked us," began Kali.

"Kali. Don't," warned Gabriel.

"You're mine now."

Kali leaned in closer to Gabriel, perching herself on the free armrest of his hard backed chair.

"And you have something that I want."

She ran her palm down Gabriel's chest. As she did this, she reached around, pulling out a blade from somewhere on Gabriel's person.

"An archangel's blade," she said, holding the silver blade up for everyone to see.

"From the archangel. Gabriel."

She glared at Gabriel as she announced his identity to the rest of the room. She then stood up from her perch on his armrest.

"Alright, alright. So I've got wings. But that doesn't make me any less right about Lucifer," argued Gabriel.

"He's lying. He's a spy," whispered Kali.

"I'm not a spy. I'm a runaway. I'm trying to save all of you. Trust me, I know my brother, Kali. And he should scare the living crap out of you. Because you can't beat him. You know, I've skipped ahead and I've already seen how this particular story ends."

"How your story ends. Not ours. Westerner, I swear. The sheer arrogance. Do you think that you're the only ones on this earth? You pillage and you butcher in your God's name. But you're not the only religion. And He's not the only God. So now, you think that you can just rip this whole planet apart? You're wrong. There are millions of us and we were here first. If anyone gets to end this world, it's going to be me."

She placed an almost loving hand on Gabriel's face. She looked into his eyes, hers full of sorrow and regret.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

She then brought Gabriel's archangel blade forward, stabbing him directly in the stomach with it. Her eyes were full of tears as she literally watched the white light leave his eyes. When it was over, a lifeless vessel's body sat in the chair in front of Kali. She slowly stepped away from the lifeless vessel.

"They can die. We can kill Lucifer," said Kali, her eyes never leaving Gabriel's dead form.

Dean took in a deep, calming breath and stood up.

"Alright, you primitive screwheads, listen here."

"Dean, are you crazy?" asked Alex, her eyes wide as she stared at her older brother.

"I'm out of options here," whispered back Dean.

"Now, on any other given day, I'd be doing my absolute damnedest to, um, kill you all. You filthy, murdering psychos."

Dean chuckled as he walked over to stand directly beside Gabriel's now lifeless vessel.

"But desperate times call for desperate measures. So, even though I would absolutely love nothing better than to slit all of your throats, you assholes…"

Dean turned to the small bar located directly behind him. He pulled open a handle of whiskey.

"I'm going to help you. I'm going to help you all kill the devil."

Dean poured himself a glass of whiskey. Sam and Alex stared at him.

"And then we can all get back to killing each other like normal. I mean, if you want Lucifer, you're going to have to really look for him. The dude's not on Facebook. But me and my siblings, yeah, we can get him here."

"How?" asked Kali.

"First, you let all of those innocent people go. Then we'll talk."

Kali stared at him, her eyebrows raised.

"You can all take on the devil with us or you lame ass bitches can kiss my ass."

Alex and Sam took in a deep sigh.

"Literally," finished Dean, throwing back his glass full of whiskey.

As Dean helped all of the innocent people leave, Sam and Alex stood in the Grand Ballroom with the gods.

"So. You're going to summon Lucifer," stated Kali, looking at Sam.

"Sort of. I just need you to, um, squeegee some stuff from my ribs and then he'll come."

"Well, breaking them would be a whole hell of a lot easier."

As Sam and Alex struggled to respond, Dean finally re-entered the room.

"Show's over. That sword's a fake. And Gabriel, he's still alive and well. Yeah, I hate to break it to you, sister, but you've been tricked."

Kali's face fell as she took in Dean's words. As her face fell, the lights suddenly began flickering ominously.

"What's happening?" whispered the British god, speaking into Kali's shoulder as she stood behind her.

Screams erupted from the hallway and they all turned to look at the still closed double doors.

"It's him," whispered Sam.

"How?" asked Kali.

"Does it matter? Get us out of here, would you?" asked Dean, looking around the room.

"We can't," said the British god.

He stepped forward towards the double doors just as Lucifer appeared in front of them.

"Of course you can't. Sam, Dean, Alex. Good to see you all again."

The doors closed behind Lucifer.

"Balder. Don't," warned Kali, looking over towards the British god.

"Think you own the planet. What gives you the right?" yelled Balder, walking purposefully towards Lucifer.

As soon as he was within reach, Lucifer thrust his hand directly into the middle of Balder's chest.

"No one gives us the right. We simply just take it."

Lucifer removed his hand and Balder's lifeless body fell to the floor in front of Lucifer. The room began shaking and quaking as Lucifer looked over to Kali. Her arms were now immersed in bright orange and yellow flames. She held up a palm to Lucifer, engulfing him in the flames. The three Winchester siblings jumped behind the large, long tables, taking cover from the ensuing fight and the flames. Once Kali's flames burnt out, Lucifer was still standing there, smirking. She walked towards him, but Lucifer punched her in the chin, sending her flying across the room.

"Are you all alright?" asked Sam, looking over at his siblings.

"Not really."

The three Winchester siblings looked over at Gabriel, who was perched on his knees beside Dean. He simply shrugged.

"Better late than never."

He threw a DVD onto Dean's chest, Dean grunting from Gabriel's forceful throw.

"Guard this with your life."

He then took off from around the table, his blade in his right hand as he headed straight for his evil brother, Lucifer. The siblings peeked their heads up over the table that they were hiding underneath to see what was ensuing. Gabriel held his blade out to Lucifer, helping Kali up with his free left hand.

"Get her out of here," he called out.

The Winchester siblings quickly rushed forward. Dean and Sam each grabbed on of Kali's arms and began leading her from the room, Alex directly behind them.

"Over a girl. Gabriel, really?" asked Lucifer.

Gabriel watched as they led Kali safely from the Grand Ballroom. With his back to the now open double doors, Gabriel held his archangel sword out towards his brother, defending himself.

"I'm not getting in that thing," stated Kali, looking towards the Impala in the now deserted parking lot.

"Just get in the car, princess," remarked Dean.

Sam opened the passenger side door for both Alex and Kali, who climbed in first. Dean climbed into the driver's seat and Sam was in the passenger seat. Dean started the car and then reversed out of his front row parking spot, heading away from the mysterious motel.

"Gabriel wanted you to guard this with your life?" asked Alex, scoffing at the computer screen.

It was early in the morning and they were all watching the horrible opening of the porn movie that Gabriel had given Dean the night before. Dean simply shrugged his shoulders.

"He must know I'm a fan. It is a good one," replied Dean.

Sam and Alex both rolled their eyes. They all looked very confused as Gabriel himself appeared in the porn film. He began heavily making out with girl in the movie.

"What the hell's going on here?" asked Sam, sounding and looking extremely confused.

Suddenly, Gabriel pulled away from the girl and looked out towards the screen, almost as if he was looking directly at the three of them.

"Sam. Alex. Dean. You three are probably wondering what the hell's going on."

Gabriel removed his fake mustache, throwing it off to the side, somewhere off of the screen. The girl clad in only lingerie behind him gently ran her palms up and down Gabriel's arms.

"Well, if you're currently watching this, I'm dead."

The three siblings' eyebrows rose.

"Oh, please! Stop sobbing over me. It's really embarrassing for all of us. Without me, you've got zero shot at killing Lucifer. Sorry! But… you can trap him. The cage that you sprung Lucifer from? It's still down there. And maybe, just maybe, you can shove all of his ass back in there. Not that it will be easy. You've got to get the cage open, trick my brother back into it, and, oh, yeah, avoid Michael and the almighty God squad. But hey. Those are nothing but details."

Gabriel smirked on the screen and then leaned his face in ever closer as he sat down on the edge of the bed, the lingerie clad girl flipping through a magazine as she laid back on her many pillows.

"Here's the real secret that Lucifer himself doesn't even realize, but the key for this cage? It's out there. Actually, it's keys. As in plural. Four keys. Well, four rings. From each one of the Four Horsemen. If you can get them all, you all've got the cage. Well, can't say that I'm betting on you three, but, um, hey! I've been plenty wrong once before."

The three siblings exchanged glances.

"And, Dean. You were absolutely right. I was afraid to stand up to my older brother. But not anymore. So this is me, standing up."

Gabriel stood up from his perch on the end of the rather large, circular bed.

"And this is me lying down."

He whirled around and grabbed onto the lingerie-clad girl's waist, throwing her down onto the bed. He climbed on top of her, pinning her underneath him.

"Oh," said Sam, his eyes still transfixed on the porn movie as Gabriel began undressing himself.

"Ugh, man," said Sam, finally slamming the laptop's lid closed and turning off the porn film.

"So, the Four Horseman, huh?" asked Alex.

Sam nodded.

"Well, we've got War's," said Dean.

"And we stole Famine's," replied Alex.

"So that's two rings down. And we need all four. Now all we need is Pestilence and Death," said Dean.

"Oh, is that all?" said Sam, very sarcastically.

"It's a plan," said Dean, nodding.

Sam and Alex nodded with agreement and Sam picked his laptop up from off of the Impala's hood where it had been placed earlier. He walked around to the passenger side of the old, classic car, letting Alex slide into the backseat first before climbing inside himself. Dean entered the driver's side of the Impala and they took off down the asphalt road and into the bright, sunshine filled day.

A few days later, the three Winchester siblings were all dressed in their best attire as they followed a nurse in a white lab coat down a small hallway and into a waiting room full of sneezing and coughing sick patients. They all had surgical masks that were covering their mouths. After walking into the waiting room, the nurse finally turned around, facing the three of them.

"Don't me wrong because I'm very glad that the CDC is here. But what we really need is vaccine," she said.

"Yeah, you sure got that right," said Dean, scanning the patients.

"Well, tell me. Have you noticed anything unusual about the strain? Any signs of behavioral changes like aggression, maybe?" asked Sam.

The nurse's eyebrows rose with confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"Have the flu victims shown any sign of, um, homicidal tendencies?" asked Alex.

The nurse looked at each one of the siblings' faces. She then chuckled nervously and shrugged her shoulders.

"Um, well, symptomatically speaking, all we're looking at is a relatively small case of the swine flu. It'll probably add up to a miserable week off of work, but that's about all."

"So there's nothing unusual, then?" asked Dean.

"Well, a day and a half ago, we didn't have a single case."

The nurse looked away from the three of them to sign a clipboard full of papers as another nurse handed it to her.

"And now we're looking at over seventy cases, so, yes, I might call this a little unusual."

"A day and a half," whispered Alex, turning to her brothers.

"That's about the same time that those statues started crying," whispered back Dean, Sam nodding as well.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" asked the nurse, looking back to them and handing the clipboard back over to the other nurse.

"Did you just say that a bunch of statues started crying?"

"What? No, no. Who would say that?" asked Sam, laughing nervously.

Alex and Dean joined in with his laughter, looking from nurse to nurse.

"Just… get us some vaccine," said the original nurse.

She gave the three siblings one last, long glare before walking away with the second nurse. The siblings exchanged relieved looks.

"Let me guess. Another swine flu?" asked Bobby.

Dean had him on speakerphone as he drove through the dark night, Alex in the backseat and Sam in the passenger seat.

"Yep."

"But this doesn't make any sense, Bobby. Pestilence touched down here, I'm absolutely sure of it," argued Sam.

"Yeah, and why's he only dealing out the swine flu when he's got the freaking Croatoan virus up his fucking sleeve?" chimed in Alex.

"I don't get it," said Dean.

"It doesn't matter what the sick son of a bitch is doing. What matters is that this is the fourth town he's hit, at least, that we know of, and we're still eating his dust. Did you all get anything? Like even a snowball of what his next target will be?" asked Bobby, sounding incredibly frustrated on the other end of the call.

"Um, no pattern. That we can see, at least," answered Alex.

Bobby sighed on the other end of the call.

"Alright. Hold on."

Bobby put the phone down in his lap and then wheeled himself over somewhere, the siblings listening as he did all of this. He grabbed something and then returned to the line.

"Well, as far as I can tell, he's still heading east. So, head east, I guess."

The siblings exchanged confused glances.

"East?" exclaimed all of the siblings at the same exact time.

"Bobby, we're in West Nevada. That's practically all there is," continued Dean.

"Well, you better get to driving," answered Bobby.

Sam sighed and hung up the call. Alex briefly looked out her window and when she looked back, she yelped in surprise. Now sitting in the backseat of the Impala was the demon Crowley. He smirked over at her.

"It's always a pleasure, darling," he crooned, his smooth British accent thick as he spoke.

Both Sam and Dean turned around, Dean quickly pulling the car over and Sam pulling out his demon-killing knife. As Sam whirled around and lurched forward to stab Crowley, he was already gone, having disappeared suddenly.

"He's gone," said Sam, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, there was a rap on Sam's passenger side window. All three Winchester siblings looked over to see Crowley smiling as he waved.

"Fancy a little chat?" he asked from his place outside.

The three siblings climbed out of the car, glaring at Crowley.

"You're upset. And we should discuss this. Not here-"

"You want to talk? After what you did to us?" yelled Sam, walking swiftly towards Crowley.

"What I did to you? I gave you the Colt!"

"Yeah, and you knew that it wouldn't work against the damn devil!"

"I never!"

"You set us up! We lost lots of people on that freaking suicide run. Great people!" yelled Sam.

"Who you take on a run is your own business!"

Crowley sighed.

"Look, everything is still the same. We're all still in this together."

"Sure we are."

Sam pulled out the demon-killing knife and ran forward, trying to stab Crowley. However, Crowley was too fast and he had disappeared and reappeared already. He held out his hands, palms up, in a placating manner.

"Cool your jets, please," asked Crowley.

As Sam moved forward once more, both Dean and Alex reached out, grabbing his arms to stop him from moving towards Crowley.

"Give us one good reason," said Dean.

"I can give you Pestilence."

"What do you know about Pestilence?" asked Alex, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I know how to get him."

Dean looked over at Crowley, who smirked.

"That's got your interest, doesn't it?"

Sam rolled his eyes and looked at Dean, his face falling as he took in his older brother's facial expression.

"You're actually listening to this?"

Dean held up one finger.

"Sam."

"Are you freaking nuts?"

"Just shut up for a split second, Sam!"

"Shut up, all of you!" yelled Crowley.

The siblings all glared over at him.

"Look, I promise that I thought that the Colt would work. It was an honest mistake. All part of the learning process. But I still want the devil dead. Well, now he knows that I want him dead, which makes me the most-"

"Holy crap, we don't care. Honestly," said Alex, cutting off Crowley's rant.

"They burnt down my house!"

The siblings' expressions stayed the same, all glares over at Crowley.

"They ate my tailor!"

Dean rolled his eyes. Crowley still continued.

"I've spent the last two months under a rock. Every demon on this planet's got his eyes out for me! And yet, here I am, the last place that I should be. In the middle of a freaking road, talking to the damn Winchester siblings under a freaking spotlight!"

Crowley raised one palm and blew the streetlight out, glass falling onto the asphalt road.

"So come with me. Please," finished Crowley, his tone much calmer.

The three siblings simply said nothing as they stared at him. Crowley sighed.

"Look, do you want the Four Horseman rings or not?"

All three of their heads snapped up with surprise as Crowley simply nodded.

"Yes, I know all about that. So, shall we?" asked Crowley.

Alex sighed, knowing that her brothers would agree. She headed for the Impala, the three men following her lead.

After about an hour of driving, Dean had finally parked the Impala and they all followed Crowley into an old, uninhabitable house.

"Ah, here we are," said Crowley, walking inside first.

Sam shut the door behind him as he was the last one to enter the creepy old place.

"My life on the lam. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Single paned glass and used contraception in the fireplace."

Crowley raised up a palm and the fire suddenly burst into light, flames erupting from it.

"Yeah, my heart's bleeding for you," said Dean, his face extremely serious.

"Now, how do you know about the rings?" asked Alex.

"Well, I've been keeping a close eye on you three," answered Crowley.

Alex scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Crowley looked over, winking over at her.

"I want in on your little scheme."

He looked to Dean and Sam.

"You said that you could get us Pestilence," said Dean.

Crowley sighed.

"Well, I don't know exactly where Pestilence is, per say. But I do know the demon who does. He's what you might call the Horsemen's… stable boy. He handles their… personal needs. He's who you want, believe me. He'll tell us where Sneezy's at."

"How do we get him to spill?" asked Sam.

"Rip out his toenails?" offered Dean, smirking sarcastically over at Crowley.

"No. Nuts of his pay grade don't simply crack. We'll bring him here and then I'll sell him."

"Sell him?"

"Please. I've sold sin to saints for centuries. Do you think that I can't close on one little demon?"

"Alright, so, where's this demon of yours?" asked Alex, raising one eyebrow as she looked over at Crowley.

"We need to be ready first," said Crowley with an almost evil smirk.

He walked off further into the house, the siblings staying put.

"Well, you all can deal with his slimy ass. I'm going to sleep for a little while in the Impala," said Alex.

She held her hand out for the keys and Dean obliged. He kissed her forehead as he pulled her in close and then Alex headed for the Impala to get some sleep.

"Alex, wake up."

Alex rolled over, groaning as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see Dean's face directly in front of her.

"Babe, you gotta wake up and go inside. Crowley and I are going to go find Pestilence's handler."

Alex sat up then, confused.

"Sam's not coming? Why? And why do I have to stay here?"

Dean sighed as Crowley stood, waiting, behind him.

"Because I need you to look after Sam for me," replied Dean.

"But why the hell isn't Sam going with you? I know that he didn't agree to this," argued Alex.

She pulled herself out of the car and stood in front of her older brother. Dean sighed heavily.

"Just please go inside, Alex."

"Move along, princess," chimed in Crowley.

Alex scoffed and flipped him her middle finger.

"Fuck you, Crowley."

"Any time, any place, darling."

He chuckled as Alex looked disgusted. She gave one last, long glare at both Crowley and Dean and watched as they climbed inside the Impala, the tires spinning wildly as Dean stepped on the gas pedal. She sighed and walked inside the house to see Sam sitting in an old kitchen chair. She pulled one up beside him and they sat together as Sam called Bobby. They talked for a few minutes and when Sam hung up, he sighed, looking over at his twin sister.

"Hey, Alex?" he asked.

"What's up, Sammy?" she asked back, looking over at him.

"Do you remember that time when Bobby was possessed? But then he took his body back?"

Alex sat up, staring at Sam intently.

"Yes. But why are you asking, Sam?"

Sam sighed, knowing that what he was going to say would not go over well.

"Well, what if I did that with Lucifer? We lead him to the cage and then I jump in."

"Absolutely not, no way," argued Alex.

She shook her head vehemently. Sam sighed.

"Alex, listen-"

"Sam, no! Are you serious? We seriously just got done talking Dean from killing himself and now you want to?"

"Look, it's not like that, I'm not going to do it unless we all agree. But I think that we need to look at all of our options."

Alex flew out of her chair, standing directly in front of Sam.

"This isn't an option! At all!"

"Why not?"

"What Bobby did was almost impossible, alright? And that was just another lowly demon. You're talking about Lucifer, alright? The motherfucking devil himself. You're talking about taking back control from Satan himself!"

Sam nodded as he looked over at his twin sister.

"Yes, yes, I am."

Alex groaned and pulled her hands roughly through her long, blonde hair.

"Sam, it's called possession for a reason. And you of all people should know about things like this."

"But I'm strong enough!" yelled Sam.

"But I'm not!" yelled Alex.

She turned to face her twin brother. Sam's expression was one of sympathy now as he saw the tears rolling down his twin sister's face.

"Sam, I can't handle losing you or Dean ever again. You have no idea what it was like when you were gone. Even when Dean was gone, you left me all alone. Do you know how many times Kellan had to take me to the hospital because I tried to kill myself?"

"Alex, please," whispered Sam, closing his eyes briefly at her horrible statement.

"After Dean died and then you left me, I tried to kill myself nine times. Nine times, Sam! They sent me to the freaking mental hospital! Kellan cried himself to sleep every night because he was losing me! And when you were gone and it was just Dean and me, he had to hold me every night and day while I cried over your dead body. But you wouldn't have any idea what that's like, would you?"

Sam stepped forward towards his sister, reaching out for her. She stepped forward as well and Sam pulled her in close, hugging her to his chest and stroking her hair.

"Sammy, I can't lose you. You or Dean. Please, just listen to me. Please don't leave me ever again," pleaded Alex.

"I won't, Alex. I won't, I promise."

Sam kissed the top of her head as he held her in his arms.

"Dean Winchester."

Dean looked up from the now dead body of the demon that he had just killed. The large office doors of Pestilence's handler were now wide open and the man sat behind his shiny desk, smirking over at Dean. Dean slowly walked inside, his demon-killing knife still clutched in his hands.

"Well, you're just on time. Have a seat, sir," said the demon.

He swung a chair around for Dean to sit in while also closing his office doors.

"How are your siblings?"

The man was looking at his laptop screen and only looked up as Dean approached his desk and the chair offered directly in front of it. Dean stuck his demon-killing knife into his jacket pocket. Dean glared at him as he took his seat, so the man smirked and closed the lid of his laptop.

"Well, down to business, then. What can I do for you, Dean Winchester?"

"Actually, it's about what I can do for you," replied Dean, looking the handler directly in the eyes.

The demon looked slightly surprised.

"Really?"

"Well, me, Sam, and Alex dropped two of your friends, so I think you already knew that."

"Yes, I received the memo."

"Well, we kept their, um, secret power rings, which is why I'm here. I heard some folks saying that you would like them back and that you were also willing to pay."

The man sat back in his large leather chair, smirking.

"And where are they?"

"Not here. But if you really want them, then you'll come with me, nice and civil, and then we'll discuss our transaction."

The man drummed his fingers on his shiny wooden desk as he looked over at Dean.

"And who says that I really want them?" he asked Dean.

"What?" asked Dean, looking slightly confused now.

"Who. Says. That. I. Want. Them."

Dean gulped rather audibly.

"You know… folks."

The man smirked and Den chuckled very nervously.

"See, War and Famine, even if I could cram their rings back onto their old fingers, I seriously doubt that it would do anyone much good. They're withered and crying in the fetal position on the floor, all thanks to you and your twin siblings. So, I don't want the rings. What I want is retribution."

The man smirked as he now stood directly in front of Dean. He then punched him in the face, sending Dean flying back through his now once again open office doors. As Dean began crawling away, he walked up to him and kicked Dean directly in the stomach. Dean tried to get back up, but the handler kicked him in the stomach once more. Blood was now trailing from Dean's temple and his mouth as the handler continued to beat and kick him down. Dean winced as he rolled over onto his back then. As the nicely dressed demon ran a hand through his perfectly coiffed hair and then cracked his neck, Dean stood up and ran for the silver elevator. The man chuckled and called after him.

"Dean, where are you going? We're just getting started!"

Dean hit the floor for the lobby and watched as the doors quickly closed, shutting him inside the elevator. After a short trip, Dean was back on the ground floor, the elevator doors sliding open to reveal the gleaming front lobby. Dean carefully peeked his head out first. Once he saw that the coast was clear, he slowly stepped out from the elevator. When he was almost out of the elevator, the handler hit him directly in the back of the head with his fist. Dean went flying across the lobby floor. The man headed towards him, buttoning up his suit jacket along the way.

"This was a good meeting, Dean. I'm very excited."

As he walked closer to Dean, a brown burlap bag was placed over his head by Crowley. There was a Devil's Trap drawn onto the burlap and Crowley began hitting the handler repeatedly over the head with a metal crowbar until blood was seeping out from a corner of the burlap sack. Dean looked over at Crowley, standing up slowly as the other demon's body fell to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" asked Dean.

"That was absolutely perfect," answered Crowley.

"Perfect? He didn't want the damn rings, he wanted me!"

"And imagine all of the surprise on your face."

"What?" asked Dean, looking very confused now as he stared over at Crowley.

"You're ignorant!"

Dean stared at him and Crowley simply shrugged, throwing up his hands.

"What? It went like clockwork!" he yelled.

"Not for me, you sick son of a bitch!"

Crowley pointed his crowbar over at Dean.

"Well, that's you get for working with a demon."

Dean sighed and headed outside as Crowley threw the unconscious form over his shoulder and followed after Dean.

Alex and Sam both sat up as they heard the Impala pull up outside of the old, decrepit house. They both heard two doors slam closed and they stood and waited for Dean and Crowley to enter the old house. After a few more seconds, Crowley walked in, shutting the front door closed behind him.

"Where's Dean?" asked Sam.

"Listen. For the record, I am highly against this plan," explained Crowley.

"What the hell are you talking about, Crowley?" asked Alex, rolling her eyes.

"I practically begged Dean not to come back here. Honestly, we should be miles away. From you, Sam. So, go ahead. Go ahead and run our last, and best, hope of survival."

Sam gave Crowley one last, long look over, glaring as he did so. Alex simply followed her twin brother out of the old house's front door.

"It's only the end of the world," said Crowley, who was still standing in the middle of the living room.

Sam and Alex both scoffed and turned a corner, heading down a darkened hallway. They walked into a large empty room where Dean was finishing typing up the handler.

"Sam," said Dean, looking to his brother.

Alex stood behind Sam, looking from brother to brother.

"What's going on, Dean?" asked Sam.

"I need you to stay on point, alright? Focused."

"I don't understand, what's all of this about?" asked Sam once more.

"I'm doing this because I trust you," explained Dean.

The demon behind Dean began to wake up, groaning as he came to.

"Trust me to what?"

"Sam? Sam, is that you?" asked the demon from his place in the chair, the burlap sack still pulled over his head.

All eyes looked over to the demon as he suddenly spoke. With one last look at Sam, Dean walked over to him. Alex reached over and grabbed Sam's wrist, holding it tightly and nervously. Sam looked nervous and confused as Dean began removing the burlap sack from the demon's head. As he pulled it off, Sam looked shocked, his eyes wide.

"Brady?" asked Sam.

Brady grinned evilly.

"Brady hasn't been Brady in years. Not since, well, the middle of our sophomore year?"

"What?" asked Sam, completely shocked.

"That's right. You had a devil on your shoulder, even back then."

Sam looked away from Brady, trying to gain back some control.

"Alright, now, let it all sink in," said Brady.

"You sick son of a bitch. You son of a bitch, you introduced me to Jess!" yelled Sam.

Brady smirked, cackling evilly as Sam made to rush towards him. Dean held Sam back as Alex looked on in complete horror.

"Ding, ding, ding! I think that he's finally got it!" yelled Brady.

"Damn it, Sam!" yelled Dean, pushing Sam backwards as Sam rushed forward.

"I'm going to kill you!" yelled Sam.

Brady laughed even louder as Dean pushed Sam from the room. Alex followed after the two of them. Dean pushed Sam into the empty living room and Alex maneuvered around the two of them. Sam tried to head back into the room where Brady was being held, but Dean pushed him back once more.

"Hey! That's enough, alright?" yelled Dean.

"Get out of my way," said Sam.

"No!"

"Get out of my way, Dean."

"Sam, there is only one way to win and it ain't by killing that man in there."

Crowley stepped into the room then, walking so that he stood directly beside Dean.

"Well. Sounds like you've got him all nice and fluffed. Thanks so much," said Crowley.

He walked down the hallway and once he was around the corner, Dean looked back into his younger brother's face.

"Listen to me, Sam. We need Pestilence to get the devil and we need Brady to get to Pestilence," explained Dean.

"But why? Because Crowley said so? Because we trust him now? Like I trusted Ruby? Or like I trusted Brady back at school?" yelled Sam.

Dean simply sighed and ran a hand over his scruffy face. He plopped himself down in an armchair as Alex sat down in a kitchen chair and Sam continued breathing heavily as he stood in the middle of the living room.

"So, how'd it go?" asked Dean, watching as Crowley slowly walked into the room.

Crowley sighed.

"Not so well."

He looked around the room for Sam. Alex was asleep on the small couch, a blanket from the Impala's trunk covering her petite form. Dean took in a deep breath.

"He's cooling off," replied Dean.

"Alright then. Well, he won't budge, so now, I'm going to stick my neck out."

Dean leaned forward in his seat.

"What are you going to do?"

"Exactly the kind of desperate swashbuckling that I've been trying to avoid. Now, I go and kick open a large hive of demons."

Crowley turned on his heel, but he turned around suddenly. Dean looked over.

"This bloody ring business better work."

Dean shook his head slightly, looking down for a split second. By the time he looked up once more, Crowley was gone, having disappeared into thin air.

"Well, here we go," said Brady, listening as Sam walked into the room where he was still tied up.

Sam had locked Dean in the bathroom by pushing a chair under the door. He had his demon-killing knife clutched in his hand. Alex was still sound asleep on the small couch in the now empty living room.

"We doing last words or no?" asked Brady.

Sam finally walked all the way into the room, standing in front of his old friend Brady.

"Sophomore year, huh?" whispered Sam, his tone deadly.

"Brady was a great kid, really, he was. A straight arrow. I mean, your best friend, really. He was the perfect access point, honestly."

"Thanksgiving?" asked Sam.

Brady chuckled, smirking.

"Yes, sir. Remember when I came back from break all messed up, dropped out of pre-med, and started the drugs?"

Sam nodded slowly, a sarcastic smile on his face.

"That was the new Brady. That was me."

Sam looked back into the demon Brady's face.

"Remember how much time you spent, Sam, trying to get me back on the right track? You really were a great friend."

Sam looked down at the floor.

"Old yellow eyes didn't send me back to be your friend, no. We knew that we were losing you. And we couldn't have that. Because you were our favorite."

Sam took in a deep, angry breath as he looked over at Brady once more.

"So, I hooked you up with a pure, sweet, innocent piece of ass. And then I killed her and toasted her on the ceiling."

Brady grinned, his very white teeth gleaming in the darkness of the room. Sam shook his head slowly.

"That's right, Sammy. Azazel might have put that hit out on little Jessica, but, man, I got to have all of the fun!"

He chuckled loudly once more.

"You know, she thought that we were close friends, too. She even let me right into your apartment. She was baking cookies for you, Sam."

Sam began breathing heavier, his anger becoming almost uncontrollable.

"She was so surprised. So hurt when I started in on her!"

Sam lunged forward, bringing the special demon-killing knife right up to Brady's throat. Brady leaned back, glancing down at the knife and then over to Sam.

"Come on, Sam! Do it if it'll make you feel better!"

Sam sliced a small cut into Brady's throat.

"Do it, Sammy! Do it! Come on! C'mon!"

Sam glanced into Brady's face and pulled the knife away from his already bloody throat. Brady chuckled profusely as Sam stared at him before walking out of the room.

"Dean? Sam?" called out Alex.

She stood up from her spot on the couch as she awoke. Neither one of her brothers replied to her, but she heard a strange banging coming from farther into the house. She stretched her arms over her head, yawning as she did so. She headed for the banging noise, only to see Sam standing by the bathroom door, pulling a chair away from the doorknob. Dean burst from the bathroom, glaring at his brother. She stood in the entryway between the living room and the bathroom.

"What happened?" asked Dean and Alex at the very same time.

Both Sam and Dean turned to look at her as she stood in the entryway. She gave each of them a pointed look.

"Nothing," answered Sam.

"My ass," said Dean.

"Dean, I'm fine."

"Yeah? And what about Brady?"

Dean pushed past Sam and headed into the room where Brady was being held. He stopped short as he saw that Brady was still tied up in the room.

"Like you said. We need him," answered Sam.

As they stared at Brady and Brady stared back at them, Crowley appeared directly behind Alex.

"God. The day I've had."

The three Winchester siblings whirled around to look at him. Crowley brushed past all three of them and headed into the room to see Brady. Brady looked up as he spotted Crowley.

"Good news. You're going to live forever."

Crowley chuckled and Brady's face fell.

"What did you do?"

"Well, I went over to a little demons' nest. Had myself a little massacre. I must be losing my old touch, though because I let one of those little bastards live."

Crowley smirked as he stared down at Brady.

"Whoops. I also might have given said bastard the impression that you left your post last night because you and I are, just wait for it, lovers in league against the devil."

Crowley let out a small chuckle while Brady sighed deeply.

"So, now you get to be on the boss's eternal torment list. With little old me."

"Oh, no, no, no," muttered Brady, glaring at Crowley.

"Now, why don't you tell me where Pestilence is?"

As Brady opened his mouth to speak, a loud barking rang out from outside. The barking was fairly close and everyone looked around for the barking.

"Oh, God, Crowley," whispered Brady.

"Was that a hellhound?" asked Alex, looking over to Crowley.

Along with the barking, snarling also began.

"I'd say yes," answered Crowley.

"And why was that a hellhound?" asked Dean.

Crowley groaned as he pulled a small coin from his elbow.

"What's that?" asked Sam.

"It's a tracking device. The demons must have planted one on me," answered Crowley.

"So, you're saying that a hellhound followed you here?" asked Alex.

"Well, technically, he followed this," replied Crowley, holding up the metal coin.

"Get me out of here and I'll tell you all anything that you want," yelled Brady, sounding extremely desperate now.

"Shut up," said Sam, pointing over to Brady.

"Okay, well, we should go," said Dean.

"Sorry, but no one knows more about hellhounds than me. We're long past the point of 'go.'"

Crowley flipped the coin up in the air and as it flew through the air, Crowley immediately disappeared. Dean caught the coin and Sam cursed as he saw that Crowley was now long gone.

"I told you!" yelled Sam, looking pointedly at Dean.

"Oh, well, good for you," said Dean, very mockingly.

"Luckily, we have salt in the kitchen," said Alex, leaving the room and heading for the kitchen.

Dean followed after her.

"I'll just… watch Brady!" yelled Sam, turning his eyes onto his old friend.

Brady chuckled coolly.

"Watch me? Get me the hell out of here!" he yelled.

As Alex headed for the kitchen, a shattering of glass sounded from the only window in the kitchen. The table salt was sitting on the corner of the counter and she cursed as she realized that she couldn't get to it before the hellhound.

"Alex, run!" yelled Dean, who was standing directly behind her.

He grabbed a shotgun from off of the lone table in the living room and got it ready, pumping it once. He shot at the hellhound as Alex ran from the kitchen, standing behind him now. The hellhound yelped, but it kept coming after them.

"Sammy!" yelled Alex.

As Dean and Alex walked backwards into the room where Sam was now untying Brady from his chair, Sam's eyes widened.

"Salt?" he asked them.

Both Dean and Alex gave him a pointed look. The hellhound growled as it stalked towards them, even though it was invisible to all of them,

"Damn it, get me out of here!" yelled Brady.

"Shut up! Shut up!" yelled Alex.

"This is perfect, great. Just great," whined Brady, breathing heavily as he looked over towards where the hellhound should be.

As the hellhound growled once more, Dean cocked his shotgun once more.

"Hey!" yelled Crowley from behind the hellhound.

The hellhound whirled around to face Crowley and both Alex and Dean looked at Crowley with wide eyes.

"You're back?" asked Dean, his surprise clearly evident in his tone of voice.

"Well, I'm currently invested."

Crowley looked down at the hellhound.

"Stay!" he yelled.

"You can control them?" yelled Alex, in disbelief.

"Well, not that one. I have this one, one of my own. And mine's much bigger."

Crowley reached over and patted the head on an invisible animal. He smirked.

"Sic him, boy!" he yelled.

Dean and Alex quickly lunged out of the way as Crowley's invisible hellhound attached the other invisible hellhound. Blood was going everywhere and tables and chairs were flying across the room. As windows began to break and walls were crashing down, Dean undid part of the Devil's Trap to free Brady from it.

"Let's go, let's go!" yelled Dean.

He quickly ushered his siblings and Brady out of the old, decrepit house and into his beloved Impala. Crowley was already standing outside waiting for them as they rushed Brady into car first. Crowley chuckled as he saw all of them and he climbed into the backseat with Brady. Alex squeezed into the middle front seat between her two brothers and then Dean started the car, the engine turning over and revving as Dean quickly drove away from Crowley's old house.

"Yeah. I'm sure Pestilence will be there."

Brady handed a small piece of paper over to Crowley.

"Thanks," said Brady.

Crowley nodded and headed over to converse with Dean.

"So, what do you think?" asked Dean.

"It's good. It's really good, actually."

Crowley handed the piece of paper over to Dean, who glanced at it, reading it quickly. Crowley turned back to face his fellow demon.

"You've got no reason to lie, right?"

"You've screwed me, Crowley. For all of eternity!" yelled Brady.

"Nah, it won't last that long. Trust me."

Crowley and Dean began to walk away from Brady, leaving Sam staring him down. Alex was leaning against the Impala, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Brady, sounding alarmed.

"I'm going to do you a favor," answered Crowley.

He looked from Brady over to Sam.

"I expect that we'll be in touch," said Crowley to Sam.

He then walked forward after Dean. He moved forward as Dean stepped up beside Sam. Alex began pouring out salt to create a salt line. Crowley disappeared as Alex placed the salt canister down on the ground. She then stepped over the salt line to stand directly beside her older brothers.

"What is this?" asked Brady, smirking as he placed his hands in the pockets of his black dress pants.

"All those angels, all those demons, all those sons of bitches, they just don't understand, do they, Sammy?" asked Dean, staring down Brady.

"No, they don't, Dean," answered Sam, shaking his head once and curtly.

"You see, Brady, we're the ones that you should be afraid of," said Dean.

Brady scoffed and looked at the ground. Sam then moved forward, holding his demon-killing knife in his hands. Brady chuckled as he saw Sam moving towards him, his eyebrows raised.

"I bet that this is a real big moment for you, Sammy. It's going to make you feel all better, huh?"

"It's certainly a start," replied Sam, moving ever closer.

"You think that this will make up for all of those times that we yanked your chain around? Yellow eyes, Ruby, me? But it wasn't all our fault, was it? No, no, no. You're the one who trusted us, you're the one who let us all into your life. You let us whisper into your ear over and over and over again. Do you ever wonder why that is, Sammy? Huh? Maybe it's because we've all got the same stuff running through our veins. And deep down, you know that you're just like all of us."

Brady smirked as he finished talking. He found himself literally backed into a wall. His face fell as he lunged forward with a grunt. Sam was too fast for him and he ducked out of Brady's way, nicking him in the elbow. He then grabbed Brady's arm and held it very forcefully behind Brady's back, pushing Brady up against the wall. Dean and Alex watched the fight unfold from the end of the dark alley.

"Maybe you hate us so much, Sam, because you hate what you see every single time that you look into the mirror every morning! Did you ever think of that, huh, Sam?"

Brady whirled around to face his former friend, chuckling as he took in Sam's expression of anger.

"Maybe the only difference between you and a demon is that your hell is actually right here."

Brady's smile faded as Sam lunged forward, stabbing him directly in the stomach. Sam had an evil smirk on his face as he watched the life leave his old and former friend's eyes. Sam finally removed the now bloody knife from Brady's body and watched as Brady's lifeless form crumpled to the alley floor. Sam cocked his head to the side as he stared at the dead body directly in front of him.

"That's certainly an interesting theory."

He sighed heavily and then turned around on his boot-clad heel, walking back towards his two siblings. He walked right past them, heading straight for the Impala.

Author's Note: I am so incredibly sorry that it has taken me this long to update! I appreciate everyone who has stuck around and I promise to work harder on updating. I will probably have one more chapter of this particular story and then I will start a sequel. Yay!