Chapter 8

The backhand was powerful enough to send her flying. Angela collided with a colonnade and it crumbled behind her in a crumbled mixture of plaster or whatever. She grabbed her jaw and massaged it before spitting out a mouthful of blood as she slowly stood up. Her eyes were narrowed as she eyed her opponent to size him up.

"You always did enjoy a good fight."

Angela wiped the blood off her lip and licked her lip. The split stung even though it wasn't real. She took a couple of breaths before speaking, "I like a good fight. A good way to show the true nature of someone. Like you Azazel."

Azazel grinned as he rubbed his hands and knuckles. He paced a little and stopped when he was right in front of her. He chuckled a little and replied, "So you think you know me?"

"I know that you are nothing more than Lucifer's underling."

"Too obvious."

Angela took a breath as she studied the illusion of the demon that was smirking at her. She looked over at Morpheus who was trapped in the warding circle that Azazel cast him into. She knew that she had to defeat him in some way if she was to free the god of dreams. She was going to have to confront what she learned a long time ago and possibly go through what she went through the previous times all over again.

Straightening up, she strengthened her resolve. She looked at the demon and said, "I remember when we first met. I set you free."

"Yes you did. And a perfect job. I have never seen a spell executed so perfectly." Azazel paced around as he recalled everything. "You brought everything needed to break the seal. Laid it out as was given to you from your 'voice' from heaven."

"I was tricked."

"But you still did it," Azazel pointed out. He pointed at her to emphasize his point and grinned as he said it. "You put everything together, said the spell and poof. And I was freed." He grinned at her as he took a step forward, "And then the look on your face when you realized what had happened… It was much like Sammy now, was it?"

Angela stiffened at that. She had seen the look on Sam's face when he realized that he had been tricked. It was always easier to see you had been duped when the consequences happened. Even when you had people pointing out the truth it was never easy to see. She truly thought she had found a means to keep him sealed in his hole but it was… She pursed her lips as she sought the words to say. Finally she replied, "You're right. I did let you out and since then… I ran."

"What?"

Angela looked at the demon with a slight shrug and a wide look despite the fact that her lip was cut and she had a cut on her forehead. "I ran away. Instead of putting you back in, I ran and you did what you did." She gestured at the demon like it was nothing. "I let you wander free and you created the special children."

"It had to be done."

"Did it really?" Angela started pacing while keeping her eye on the demon. "I mean, yes there is destiny of a sort. We all have some path that we end up following but is it really so black and white?"

"What are you talking about?"

Angela looked at the demon and stood there. She managed to spare a glance at Morpheus. He was just standing there like he was waiting. He did say that he couldn't interfere but he could be a guide of sorts. That she expected of him and was grateful for. She looked back at Azazel and continued, "I mean… yes Lucifer was let out but what was written… it never happened."

"Of course it happened. It was always Sam and he was set on the path because of you."

"No it didn't."

It was like arguing with yourself since this was all in her head but it was so real that it might as well be like it is actually happening. It was working though and Angela kept at it, "Yes, I set you free and you did what you did but in the end… it didn't go out as it was written. I mean… the world didn't burn."

"But Sam still said yes and you did nothing to stop it."

That was true but Angela was not going to let that stand. She knew exactly what happened and why things ended up the way they did. She countered, "Sam said yes but that was his choice." She swallowed slightly since it was painful to admit to. "And I respect that."

"Letting Sam be Lucifer's vessel? You respect that?"

"I don't let people do what they do. They make that choice. I respected Sam's choice."

"No," Azazel replied with a knowing look as he shook his finger at her. He started pacing a little as he said that. "You had something up your sleeve when you did that."

"I knew it didn't work when Sam said yes," Angela admitted. It was the first time she admitted that she knew that things weren't right after Sam said yes to Lucifer. She knew it was Lucifer in control. "I could tell that it wasn't Sam in control and played along with the ruse. I was the back up to getting them both in the cage. That was my plan."

"No it wasn't," Azazel countered. He turned sharply and glared at her. "You had a plan all along."

"No I didn't," she replied with a slight shake of her head. "I was going to let Sam say yes and fight his damnedest to take control."

"But you left yourself a back door." Azazel paused as he watched Angela's reaction. He grinned at her and continued, "You know what I am talking about. Something about trusting you."

Sam looked at her with a look of surprise and hurt after he nearly choked and spat out the vial of blood that she had given him. Some of it had dribbled onto his lip but most of it was in his mouth and he ended up swallowing it. She knew that look and why.

"Trust me," she said…

Angela knew that Sam looked at her that way because he remembered the way her blood had tasted to him. She remembered the way he looked at her in that predatory and seductive manner. It didn't scare her in the least with regards to herself and her life. She was scared for Sam since he had little control at the time but it did put a spark of wonder in her mind as to how he really saw her. To her credit and out of respect for his feelings, she never brought it up. Despite everything, she was there with him when he went through his detox.

When she had prepped her blood, she had used a spell. It was an old spell that she had found in one of her books that she had collected over the years. Even though she had made Sam a promise that she wasn't going to poke at the cage to get him out, he didn't make her promise that she wouldn't do anything like follow him in or 'monitor' things as it were. The spell was a blood spell that allowed her already strong connection to be stronger in that she didn't need to be in too close a proximity and didn't need to be unconscious to do it. It was why she was able to talk to Lucifer while he was talking to Sam and why the fallen angel could see her in the mirror.

Looking at Azazel, Angela replied, "I know what you mean but that was never the ruse."

"Please. You made it so you could get into Sam's head and interfere."

"And that is where you are wrong," Angela pointed out. She couldn't stop now. She pushed forward, "I didn't interfere with Sam's ability to fight back. He did that on his own. All he had to know was that me and Dean were never going to leave him; that he wouldn't be alone." She looked at the demon in the eye with a firm look. "That was why Sam was able to take back the wheel. It had nothing to do with me."

"You lie. Everything you touch involves you."

"No. That was all Sam."

It was like a really long standoff as Angela stared at the demon. She didn't know why but it felt important to get that out. She could do a lot of things but she knew deep down that it was Sam that beat the devil at his own game; he was the one that got the devil back in the box. She had nothing to do with it in terms of getting the wheel back. Sam was the one that jumped in and brought Michael down with him. She just followed him in.

"No. You have a direct hand in everything. No matter how hard you try, you always brought those closer to what they were supposed to do."

"I tried but in the end, I did everything. It was their choice to take the path they did. Those that chose the hunt, I gave them the skills to survive. What they did with it… it was all up to them." Angela took a breath and shrugged slightly at Azazel. She looked at the demon as she let the burden of past deaths and people she remembered go.

It was then that the image of Azazel started to fade. He looked at himself and then at her. There was a look of shock on his face that turned into a snarl as he demanded, "What are you doing?"

Angela took a couple of panting breaths as she looked at the demon. She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths as she relaxed herself. She remembered those she had met and those that struck her profoundly. They all left an impact on her but some more than others and some that she couldn't truly free herself from blame but this was a start. She knew that in the end they all made their choices. She opened her eyes at Azazel and said, "They made their choices. I gave them what they needed to make the choices and those affected by my choices… it was the best I had at the time."

That was all that was needed as Azazel began to fade away. Angela looked up and saw the images from the past that he had used to torment her with looking at her. They were staring at her with blank looks. Some still had looks of anger as they looked at her but they were starting to fade away. She looked back at Azazel and he was still snarling and glaring at her. She didn't expect him to be so close though and the punch that came across her face.

Angela straightened up after the punch and looked at Azazel with a firm look even though her features trembled slightly. It was more from the sting since that punch hurt. She braced herself as the demon grabbed her and slammed her into a wall. She felt his hand on her throat. It wasn't too hard to remember since the demon did the same thing to her but he used his powers in that cemetery. Now it was physical. It wasn't any proof that it was hell since he was just as physical when she first met him. She gritted her teeth slightly from the pressure.

"Are you saying that given the circumstance with what you know now, you would make the same choices? You would have let Sam jump into the pit?"

Angela's throat convulsed as she looked down at the demon since he had raised her off his feet. There were a lot of times she would recount her experiences before and go over all the scenarios. The most recent was with Jo and Ellen. For months afterwards she avoided the Roadhouse leaving Kenny and Mel to run the place and she beat the hell out of Crowley for it. Ellen was more of a mother and Jo was like a little sister and she wanted to protect them and in the end…

You do what you have to do ya hear me? You do what you have to do but not at the expense of yourself.

Angela knew that she could tear herself apart trying to come up with how she could do better so that Ellen and Jo were still there. Hell, she had suggested what she hinted at to Dean when his deal was almost due. And it was rejected even though it meant that they would live and she sensed Ellen would have told her to do it but… She closed her eyes and took controlled breaths as she felt Azazel's hands tighten on her neck. They were slowly squeezing the life out of her since there was less and less air filtering into her lungs. She listened to the voices that she remembered from the past, of everyone she knew and loved.

I got hunting stories and they were better than those sorry assed fairytales.

And you'll be here Mama Ellen?

I'll always be with you.

Angela opened her eyes and looked at the demon, unaware that they were flaring glittering orbs. She narrowed her eyes and gave her answer loud and clear, "Yes."

That was enough to weaken the demon's grip even though he snarled at her. She took her chance and broke the arms away and delivered a hard strike to the chest area. The hands completely released her and the demon fell back. She launched her attack and struck hard to the body and punctuated each strike with a word as she said, "I would do it again."

The last strike sent the demon flying back. She watched as he disappeared before he hit the ground. She looked around and saw her past strays, acquaintances and friends still looking at her. They started fading away. She started breathing normal but it was like she had just run a marathon. She looked around and saw that the last thing to disappear was the younger version of herself.

The girl was staring at her with a bland expression. She stared back and took a couple of steps forward. "Tell him that I said that I am coming for him."

The little girl nodded before disappearing. Angela took a deep breath of relief and rubbed her forehead. She winced from all the sore spots on her face and snorted slightly when she heard Morpheus said, "Now that seems familiar. The whole experience."

Angela merely hummed at that as she looked around and breathed calmly to still the tension. She looked around at the place. The scenery didn't change but the pathway was clear. She didn't like that she had to follow it but if she was to wake up and then get closer to Sam… she was going to have to follow. The unknown this time had her worried and nervous and she didn't like it.

Sam spat out the blood that was in his mouth. He had never had that much blood in his mouth. It was like when Zachariah made him cough up blood when they tried to rescue Adam and he thought that Dean was going to say yes to be Michael's vessel. He looked at his hands that were placed on the ground and saw the dried blood. It wasn't from anything that he was going through now; he had looked that way since he first woke up here. He saw the injuries that were made to look like scars. He recognized the marking from the meat hooks, the punches to his body and face and the claw marks… it made him wince.

"Sammy!"

Sam looked up and saw the lifeless body of Angela lying not too far away. He felt the choking feeling return in his lungs seeing her like that. Her little eyes were wide open and she was looking at him. He was certain that she was looking at him like how Jess used to look at him when he had his nightmares of her burning on the ceiling after she died. The question was so clear in her eyes.

Why Sam?

"Please don't tell me that's all you got."

Sam looked away and up to see Lucifer, looking just like him but with a bored expression. It made him feel disgusted that he was looking at himself. He knew that it wasn't really him but Lucifer but it didn't make it hurt any less since there were times that he had been disgusted with himself and had him wondering why a beautiful creature like Angela would dare to stick by him, especially what he had done to her. It was as Lucifer had taunted him previously; that it was like staring in a mirror.

Sam looked back at the lifeless body of Angela. She looked so innocent in her four year old body and she was. He glanced over and saw the older one just standing there. He didn't understand why she wasn't doing anything unless it was that crap that went that they couldn't interfere or something like this. He remembered Angela telling him when she was teaching him more about dream walking that the chances of them seeing Morpheus in the flesh so to speak were near to zero; that it was an observed rule to never interfere with the mortals. Other beings did that too or went about doing their jobs and to recruit their help was a bitch to undertake. Maybe that was the case here or it was some sort of crappy ass test.

"Now I've know you got more in you Sam," Lucifer taunted, "That display when I killed her… tells me quite a bit." He then kneeled in front of Sam and added, "Or was that all for show? How long did it take for you to realize how special she was? That sweet piece of tail…"

Sam's face twisted in anger as he reached over and grabbed Lucifer by the collar. With a hard yank, he had his doppelganger on the ground and got to his feet. He huffed as he tried to catch his breath. Glaring down at the devil, he spat, "Do… not… talk… about… her… like that." He was so angry he was taking heaving breaths and in danger of hyperventilating.

Lucifer started chuckling as he pushed himself up. "Now there is the fire that I was missing. Ever since you came down here, you've been a weak pile of piss." He slowly stood up and gave that cocky expression that also gave the impression that he was uninterested and didn't bother to change back to his usual persona. "I mean, Azazel and his gang, they brought you back every time but it was always her that got you going."

Sam looked at the devil, feeling his anger and hatred of the being rise up. He narrowed his eyes and his shoulders were huffing from the breathing he was doing trying to keep himself from going postal. He gritted his teeth before replying, "It was you that tormented her."

"I did nothing," Lucifer replied gesturing towards himself in mocking and innocent fashion. He pointed at Sam, "It was you that caused her to be tormented."

Sam stepped back a little at that but his face didn't change its expression. He could deny it as much as he wanted but he knew that Lucifer had details that he had kept to himself. Like the whole fact that he was seeing himself and it was himself that killed Angela in his nightmares… he never told Angela or Dean about that. He did believe that he had caused her enough suffering with the way he treated her and that she deserved better. She still chose him though.

"I've been in your noggin, Sam," Lucifer taunted. He pointed to his temple and gave the area a tap with his forefinger. "I know that you've had this nightmare for years since before you met her. Of course it had never been the same exact one. It was a different thing every time."

Sam swallowed slightly as he stared at the devil. To deny it would invite ridicule. Acceptance could do the same but it was a little less painful. He replied, "I didn't know who she was when I started having them."

"But you knew that she was important."

"I thought it was another vision," Sam admitted. He looked away slightly as he took a couple of breaths. "It popped up every now and then until the one with the vampire. Then we met."

"And that's where it all started. Or rather it started before that."

Sam looked at the devil looking at him. It was disturbing to see himself looking at him with that knowing look and it was much like the introspective conversations that he had with himself about everything. He was not going to go into all that before they formally teamed up. Besides, everything he knew was a prompting from Angela onto his memories. And it wasn't like he saw her per se anyway. If he did it was always that of a figure or some sort. He did remember one instance and it fed his liking for dogs. He looked at the devil and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me Sam," Lucifer warned. He took a couple of steps forward and started to circle Sam. "I never did that to you and I expect the same courtesy."

"I'm not lying," Sam countered, "I don't remember meeting her…"

Sam rarely jumped with the sound of loud noises. Mostly it was when Angela snuck up on him to tease him. This time Lucifer stamped his foot and a loud rumble filled the area. It felt like it resonated within his body as Lucifer shouted at him not to lie to him. He took a couple of quick breaths to steady himself and swallowed slightly. "I don't remember," he retorted firmly as he narrowed his eyes at the devil.

"You're lying."

"I'm not. I don't remember seeing her until that first time we met."

Sam glared at Lucifer even when the devil made his memory appear. It was the one where he could remember her since she had shown her face. It was when she rescued him and Dean from that pedophile clown. He remembered when he spent more time with Xander one day. He studied the dog and then it occurred to him. It was random and he dismissed it, hiding it but he accepted it when she brought up memories or Dean did since he had more interaction with her.

"Now is this a memory or just… a vision," Lucifer replied, grinning at Sam. He raised his finger in warning and continued, "Now be careful how you answer that."

Sam paused at that. He knew that in a place that was like the dream realm, within the mind, the rules shifted slightly. Dreams were the result of memories that sifted through the brain. It was how a person negotiated the events of the day. Active dream walking required going through those memories and the best practice was on your own.

Lucifer saw the pause and grinned, "Ah. So you know that everything in your noggin and anyone else's can manifest right here." He gestured everywhere and chuckled at that, "And can be very real." He gestured at the scene that warped. "I mean what would have happened if she hadn't been watching you both?"

That was a question that plagued Sam with that moment. He learned later that it was a pedophile that did terrible things to little boys. It also revealed that Angela was more than just a hunter of the supernatural. She hunted the monsters that were just plain human. That was one of the things that made her beautiful. He looked at Lucifer as he altered the memory to show the pedophile clown and what he would have done. It sent a chill down Sam's spine and he protested, "Stop."

"Or what, Sam?" Lucifer peered at Sam with an inquiring look. "What are you going to do? You like it when I play with you." He advanced towards Sam in the same manner that he had done previously.

Sam tensed and backed up. This was not going to happen again. He held his hands up in protest, "No. Don't."

"Too late Sam," Lucifer replied like it was nothing. "You can't do anything about it."

"Not if I can help it."

A/N: Looks like Sam and Angie are battling demons and it appears the be the worst fears imaginable. Stay tuned for more Over the Edge...