AN: For disclaimer, please see chapter 1.

Apologies fr the late posting this week. Much love to all readers (and especially reviewers 😚 😚 😚) I hope you enjoy.

Losing My Religion

Previously:

Sam: "It's a lava monster, right? So we just need to cool it down."

John: "I guess we'll just have to make a way."

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Dean: "Where are you taking me?"

Hank: "You will be tested. If the evil is drawn to you, the truth of your soul will be revealed. If you are God's chosen, you will be spared."

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Wanda: "Enough stalling. Call your demon. After it's taken its sacrifice, it will do our bidding." She had Mari held securely before her, a gun pressed to the girl's waist.

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Chapter 6: Hurt, Lost, and Blinded

It wasn't fair! Sam thought, sliding into the driver's seat of the Impala.

He had tried, he'd really tried to stay awake, but during his father's assembly of the liquid nitrogen dispersal device, he'd drifted off. Dad had woken him some time later and told him to help load up. Sam wasn't sure how Dad had narrowed down where, among the miles of caves, the cherufe was likely to be but he had. Sam hadn't asked because his dad had seemed furious when he'd said he knew where to go.

He'd loaded the car eagerly, more than ready for them both to go and get his brother.

But that wasn't Dad's plan. Instead, here he was, left in the car just like when he was four.

His dad had left him the keys and instructions to get to Uncle Bobby's if he didn't return. He hadn't been allowed to learn to drive. But, although he was fairly confident he could drive the Impala if he had to, the eleven-year-old had no intention of leaving. Dean had been taught much younger but no, not Sam, not the baby, little Sammy. Sam hit the steering wheel with the unfairness of it.

It was bad enough being left in the car, but he knew his father had no confidence in him as a hunter. Dean was the warrior, the one John bragged about to his hunter friends, the one who made his father's eyes fill with pride every time he walked into the room. Sam on the other hand was just a geeky embarrassment.

He had tried to argue it was his weapon so he should be there. Ok, so it had been Dad that had built it, Dad who had drawn up and executed the plans for both portability and dispersal – but still it had all been based on Sam's original idea. Fine, so maybe he'd got the idea from a movie, but he had been the one that realised that it might work for the cherufe, that should count for something.

But no, he had to sit in the car like a toddler. He was nearly twelve damnit, practically full grown! Well, next year he would be, by which time he was hoping he'd have caught up with his brother in height. Everyone knew you had a growth-spurt once you were in seventh grade. Sam frowned down at his feet which wouldn't reach the pedals unless he moved the seat forward then shifted his thoughts back to more pressing issues.

Even now, when he had helped find the monster and come up with a weapon that could stop it, he was not allowed to go on the actual hunt. Just because he'd said in the past he didn't want to hunt, that he'd rather go to school and have a normal life. But it was different this time. This time it was Dean that needed saving. For the first time he really felt it, truly understood why, for his father and brother, hunting didn't feel like an option.

Sam looked at the expanse between where he was and where his father had gone; where his brother had to be. His eyes flicked to the lock in the car door.

Sometimes it was something you had to do, no matter what anyone said.

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Wanda moved into the light. She had Mari held securely before her, a gun pressed to the girl's waist. "Go ahead, ring the dinner bell."

"What?" Hank was startled by his daughter's presence. His eyes went wide. It seemed he was trying very hard not to glance in Dean's direction.

Hank looked desperately at his captive daughter, then back to Wanda. She pushed her gun harder against the girl and Hank held his hands up in surrender. "Look, you're right, okay. I admit it. I summoned the demon. But listen to me. I had to. Mathers was a good man when I first came here. This was a safe place and a kind community. But then he started making comments, suggesting ideas. He'd review old texts and say the Lord was talking to him, telling him that it was not enough."

"So to defy the Lord, you summoned a demon?" Wanda's horror was apparent, she had known he was bad but she had not thought him against God.

"No. I swear, Mathers was not listening to God. At worst he was listening to evil but really I think he was just listening to his base desires, which amounts to the same thing in the end."

"What are you talking about?"

"I did not do this lightly. I only did it because I had to, because of what Mathers was becoming after his wife ran off with his brother. I destroyed his manifesto, his 'new way' that he was about to lead us all into. But I read his notes. He planned to take all the female children. They would be kept, separate and isolated, with just a handful of carefully chosen carers. They would remain that way until 'The Lord declared them women.' And we all know what he meant by that, how young they would still be." Hank looked nauseated for a moment then pressed on. "Once they 'became women' they would become his wives. They would remain isolated but for him until they produced the 'First Generation of the Pure', then they would be passed to new husbands. Don't you see. He was going to bed the girls, all of them, force them to have his babies when they were still children themselves, then pass them on to his henchmen. I couldn't allow it. Mari was just a girl, so young."

"You could have just left," Wanda said, clearly not believing him.

"But what of the others? I never lied when I said all I wanted was to create a safe haven here. Yes I had to deal with these demons, but I did it to protect my daughter and all the girls like her. But I had to show everyone this power so they would stop following Mathers. To make this place one where the innocence of our children would be protected no matter what."

"So for this …" she shook Mari. "You will kill our own."

"It's only temporary. As soon as I find a way to banish it again, I will. Be angry with me if you must but please let her go. Of all of us, she is the most innocent here."

"You think I believe you? You who are in league with the devil. I don't think so." Wanda pulled Mari close to her, holding the gun to her side. "You who feed Hell victims, like my brother –"

Hank lifted his hands in dispute. "I swear, I have nothing to do with Curtis' leaving."

"We'll see. Call your pet, now. And we will see who really has power."

Both of them seem to have forgotten Dean, who was still chained by the entrance to the deeper caves. Hank looked torn. Wanda pushed the gun hard into Mari's ribs, invoking an involuntary noise from the girl.

"Okay, just don't hurt her. The demon is here, but it does not have your brother, I swear."

He turned to face the end of the cave where Dean was shackled. His voice became deeper, and formal. "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil."

Dean briefly considered pointing out to the crazy fucker that he could just as easily have yelled 'oi you' to get the thing to come out, but for once he stopped his mouth getting him into more trouble. The thing, whatever it was, would appear soon enough and he had not been able to get himself free.

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John edged around the rock carefully, watching his footing so loose stones didn't give him away. He could hear a strong voice, calling across the space but the echoes made it hard to catch the words.

"When the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. Stand firm, with the breastplate of righteousness."

Finally he was able to get a view of the cavern. Hank was there, with two others. One, John recognised from a picture on the man's desk, it was Hank's daughter. She was crying and struggling to escape the vice-like grip of a woman. The woman John hadn't seen before.

"Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flames of the evil one. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

As Hank completed his exhortation, the whole cave seemed to tremble and a warm gust of air washed over them. John looked around. At the far end was a jagged opening through which a growing light could be seen brightening from within the fissure. As the light brightened, it illuminated a figure just before the opening, chained to a stake in the ground. Dean!

Before John could recover from the sight, a creature, humanoid in shape but seemingly made of black crusted lava, slipped through the opening and headed straight for the sacrifice left for it. Honing in without hesitation, like Dean when pie was on offer.

Dean had been sitting, leaning back against the post like he was chilling in a park, but all bravado left him at the sight of the monster. He scrambled up and backed away as far as the chains would let him but it wasn't far and the creature didn't hesitate. Even from a distance and in the dim light, John could see the terror and panic. It was rare for Dean's emotions to be so raw and exposed.

John had seen horrors, more horrors than should allow a person to remain sane. But even the sight of his wife on the ceiling, didn't compare in that moment to that sight in the dark pit of a cave. Lit by the monstrous spotlight of an unnatural fire, Dean, with all faith stripped away as surely as his skin was about to be. The father in John hulked out, overriding the methodical warrior.

A large molten hand reached out, pressing against Dean's chest. A scream, more terrible than anything John had ever heard, rent the air. It had ripped from his son's throat, echoing off the walls. The boy was dropped to his knees, the creature looming over him,

Unnoticed by the others who were too busy watching with a rapt, morbid curiosity, John jumped down from his hiding place. But before he could take two steps, the atmosphere changed. The cherufe lifted its head and roared in displeasure. Dean collapsed and was forgotten as the cherufe turned blazing eyes on the man at the other end of the cave.

Hank stared into those blazing eyes and the length of the cavern suddenly seemed much shorter than it had. He stumbled back a few steps. "I don't understand?"

Nearby his daughter was struggling against Wanda's hold, risk from the gun forgotten as she stared with desperation and horror towards the other end of the cave. But her eyes were not on the molten hell-spewed figure. It was her call that drew Hank's attention.

"DEAN!"

Hank saw the way her eyes were locked on the young drifter who had mostly fallen but for the chains holding his arms up. He looked between them, a sickening realisation that they knew each other, widening his eyes. But how?

A further roar from the monster drew his attention back to more pressing matters. Why had it rejected his offering? The boy was perfect, his trap only caught those suitable and the drifter had been locked up since. Hank glanced around, not sure if he was looking for an answer, a weapon, or help.

His eyes fell on Wanda. She didn't seem surprised by the turn of events. In fact she seemed to be almost enjoying it. His mind started down the path. She had been following him. She had known about the drifter. She had known about the holding cage. She had taken his daughter. His gaze was dragged against his will to the dust and dirt on his daughter's clothes and with sickening clarity he realised what had gone wrong.

"You put them together!"

"What's good for the goose," Wanda shrugged, her hungry eyes not leaving the advancing monster.

"You have no idea what you have done." They were all in danger. Controlling the demon had always been precarious but now it was perilous. Wanda seemed oblivious however. To Hank's horror the danger of the situation only seemed to fuel her zeal.

"But it seems the bum's goose was not cooked." She laughed cruelly at her own joke. "Perhaps this pretty little thing will be more to its taste." Rather than backing away, she dragged the struggling Mari even closer to the hell-beast.

There was an almost overpowering waft of hot air as the cherufe moved forward, eyeing them all.

"Wanda please, don't," Hank called desperately, but he was backing away from the approaching monster.

"Tell it! Tell it to give my brother back and I will release her."

"I can't, don't you see? It doesn't have your brother, and even if it did, everything has gone wrong, it will not do as I ask. We need to get out of here."

"Liar!" Wanda was manic, beyond reason. "You think I'm bluffing? I will show you." Wanda thrust Mari towards the cherufe, but the girl tripped going down on one knee. The cherufe came closer and Wanda's triumphant grin fell as she realised how close it now was. It ignored the fallen girl and in a swift movement, grasped Wanda's head between its molten lava hands.

Released from Wanda's grasp, Mari scrambled away and Hank darted forward to pull her up, backing them both quickly away from the sickening sight.

Wanda screamed, blood gargled in her throat, then she went silent as her head was both melted and crushed at once.

John had leapt to one side, skirting around the cherufe and its prey, running to Dean.

Dean flinched when John approached, drawing mixed feelings of regret and relief from the father. His son hung limply and he didn't even want to think about how much damage might have been done but the boy was alive. His eyes ran over the chains holding his son in place. They were solid and a quick test confirmed they would not be separated from the post easily. He could pick the locks but time wasn't on their side.

"Eyes," he commanded. Dean closed his eyes tight and turned his face away as John fired his pistol at the point where the chains were fixed to the wood. The blast echoed through the cave as splinters blew from the post.

"Dad, look out," Dean croaked, looking up after the blast. John turned to see the cherufe bearing down on him. He swung the canister from his back and sprayed the creature with a quick blast of liquid nitrogen. It screamed and backed off.

Behind him he could hear Dean wheezing as he struggled to free himself. John fired another quick blast from the canister to keep the cherufe back, then turned to yank the chains free. No longer held up by his bindings, Dean dropped to the floor.

The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air, clouding John's senses. Something twisted inside him, fury and desperation nearly unmanning him. But with extreme force of will, he caged his inner beast and channelled its energy into a cold efficiency. He was an expert at ruthlessly pushing aside associations, they came every time he burnt a corpse. Turning his back on his struggling son, he fired nitrogen once more at the cherufe.

He needed to get Dean out of the combat zone and the civilians gathered in one place where he could defend them if needed, before going on the offensive.

"Dean, sit-rep," he barked, keeping his eyes on the monster. During the brief clanking of the chains, as Dean forced himself up enough to move, John was vaguely aware of a heated conversation at the other end of the cave, where Hank and his daughter were.

"Super," Dean croaked. He tried to clear his throat but that just seemed to set off a fit of coughing followed by a hiss of pain. Then there was a more determined, "I'm good."

John heard Dean take a wheezing breath and start moving. Walking backwards, he shadowed his son without turning his gaze from the cherufe.

As they backed away, he adjusted the settings on the canister. The creature was glaring at him as it followed, its steps distinctly stalking, convinced of its superiority, especially as John seemed to be retreating.

Just as the molten creature moved in for another attack, John turned the tables on it. Spraying the liquid nitrogen, he walked in firm confident strides directly at it. Fog filled the air around them. The cherufe howled and backed away. It roared its displeasure, molten mouth opening wide to scream, a blast of almost unbearable heat pouring forth. Behind John, Dean started coughing again and fell down. A furious snarl distorted John's face and he stepped closer to the monster. He turned his weapon full blast, aiming into the open mouth. As soon as it started to hit, he moved closer, not letting up for a moment. The hissing, spitting sounds of hot and cold at war filled the air. The cherufe tried to retreat but John followed, not allowing it a second of mercy or reprieve.

It fell to the floor. Its movements became slower, sluggish. As it tried to crawl back to the depths it had come from, Black goo seemed to seep from the cracks in its outer shell. Still John persisted, his own eyes blazing almost as surely as the creature's. When it finally stopped screaming and moving, John approached. Dropping the canister beside it, he forced the nozzle into one of the gooey cracks and locked the valve open. He rushed back from the tunnel it had crawled into just as it blasted into pieces.

Taking a moment to compose himself, John turned to look at his son. He knew Dean had been hurt but it was not so bad that the boy couldn't move. He wanted to bask in the relief of seeing him alive, of being certain, whatever the damage, he would be ok. He wasn't prepared for what he found when he turned.

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AN: Full disclosure, some fictional characters were hurt in the making of this chapter

Thank you for reading and if you have a mo, please do drop me a line. All feedback helps me improve and even a quick thumbs up can really make my day xx Love and hugs to all.