Four
Sacrificial Blood cont'd
"ADAM!!"
Sam looked everywhere he could without moving more than a few feet in either direction. It had only taken him a few minutes to get to where Adam had been, but when he got there, all he'd found was Adam's cell phone and his flashlight. His younger brother was nowhere to be found. And on top of that, the compass was lying on the ground spinning so fast it was burning like it had been on fire. Something or someone had gotten to Adam, and now, Sam was really worried.
He'd been hoping that he and Adam could find Dean and Mary without any help from anyone, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. And Sam didn't want to call Bobby, or worse, Cas, just to find where his brother had been taken.
Fortunately for Sam, he didn't have to ask.
"The Lilin have Adam," Cas said, suddenly behind Sam.
He turned to face Cas, glaring harshly. "Obviously," he spat. "How in the hell am I supposed to find them now?"
"You already have," Cas said obviously, lowering his eyes to the ground where the spinning arrow of the compass was still going crazy.
"But this is solid earth," Sam exclaimed. "What am I supposed to? Start burrowing?"
"Perhaps I can help with that," Sam heard and turned to see someone he thought he would never see again as Crowley stood less than ten feet from the two of them.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam demanded, watching Crowley close the space between them slowly.
"Well, I am a Demon. And you are looking for Demons. Plus, your little Angel on your shoulder made me aware of your situation. About Lilith. And the girl. I understand the location where your brothers are being kept is Angel-proof. It seems you need a way down."
Sam huffed, looking at Cas as he still stared at the compass. After a minute, Cas knelt to the ground, allowing his hand to hover over the compass, and it began to glow red-hot. Sam watched Cas pick up the compass, surprised the air wasn't polluted with the smell of burning flesh. Crowley made it to Sam's side as Cas approached them with the compass.
"They're approximately three hundred feet down," Cas revealed. "In an enclosed chamber filled with Holy Oil and Enochian sigils. I can't penetrate it." Cas paused, staring at the compass. "You should also know that Michael is down there. And he's circling Adam."
Sam sighed heavily, clenching his fists and glancing at Crowley. "How am I supposed to get passed him without Dean or Adam?" Sam pleaded angrily. "And how is he down there in the first place? I thought you said the whole place was Angel-proof."
"I said the chamber your brother and Mary is in is covered in Enochian sigils. Michael entered through a chamber away from there. And it's clear his desire for Mary is even more prominent than he led on. I can't say for certain what his plans are. But Adam's fighting him. That's a good thing."
"I don't see how," Sam bellowed. "I'm running out of time!"
"Gents, if you please," Crowley said calmly, moving closer to Cas and reaching for the compass. "I think I can do something about this."
Sam turned to him. "Exactly what can you do about this?" he demanded.
Crowley took the compass, grimacing softly and then looking at Sam before he stepped forward and took Sam by the arm.
Almost instantly the cold, open air of the woods of Minnesota were replaced by the cold, dank space of an enclosed cave. The air was damp and stale, with a strong metallic taste tinged with it, and immediately, Crowley placed the cold compass in Sam's hand. It was still again, gently easing to the left as they now stood in a corridor that was barely seven feet by three feet. Sam looked at the compass, glancing at Crowley as he grinned.
"Looks like we go left," Crowley said with a chuckle.
With a heavy sigh, Sam turned left with Crowley on his heels.
Two things became obvious to Sam as he walked along the corridor followed the compass needle. The corridor began to get smaller less than fifty feet in, and the Demons knew he was getting closer. Sam knew this because about fifty feet into the corridor, they both hit a dead end. Or at least, they came up to a solid stone wall that didn't appear to move when Sam pushed on it, hoping it was a false wall or something.
The needle on the compass still pointed toward the wall, through it, but Sam didn't have a shovel or dynamite, so the possibility of getting through dwindled quickly. He was seriously considering going back and looking for another way to go around when Crowley stopped him.
"If I may," Crowley allowed, taking Sam's arm again and appearing in another dark part of the cave. Sam was disoriented, opening his eyes to see a small, enclosed cave with two chambers on either side. "The Lion's Den," Crowley suggested. "Good luck."
Sam glanced away from Crowley, aiming the compass in front of him and then looking to his side to discover the Demon gone. Sam sighed heavily, following the compass forward.
There was no way of knowing how much time had passed as Sam pressed on through the chamber. It was too dark for him to see his watch, and the walls of the cave all looked the same no matter which direction Sam turned. The compass seemed to glow the further Sam walked, warming up the way it had before and almost burning Sam's hand as the needle began spinning so fast it disappeared.
When Sam looked up, he found himself inside a small chamber with bars covering an opening to the outer chamber. Just beyond the bars, he could see shapes in dim light, and as his eyes adjusted, he realized he was looking at two sacrificial altars — one was holding Dean and there was blood all over his chest, and the other was holding Mary as she laid out in a pure white blessing gown.
"Dean," Sam called as loud as he could. But neither Dean nor Mary acknowledged him. Sam didn't understand. They were less than twenty away.
"It's about time you showed up," he heard and turned to see a tall, slender brown-haired woman less than three feet from him. "I was honestly beginning to feel stood up."
Her face was so familiar, even with her brown hair and her glittering green eyes, but there was something else about her he couldn't quite pin down. She stepped closer to him, her full lips curving into a devious smile, a lot like —
"Lilith," Sam said, confused and angry and worried all at the same time. "But how? You're dead! I killed you myself. Your blood was all over that church floor."
"Correction, Sam," she pressed. "The blood in that dental hygienist was all over the church floor. Nothing stays dead forever. You should be well-versed in that truth. And I've been working for this day for many years now. You didn't honestly think I wouldn't have a back-up plan, did you?"
Sam looked over her body, noticing how she was dressed in a white, eyelet lace dress off her shoulders and she was barefoot. "Where did you get that body? Your face — "
She turned from him toward the opposite side of the chamber. "Turns out this dental hygienist had a twin. Seems everyone's got a doppelganger. My children found her only too easily, and once Mary was found, they began preparing her for me."
"I thought all this was about Mary?" Sam demanded. "Why her parents were killed. Why she was taken. Why she's on a sacrificial altar in there right now!"
Lilith smiled again. "Oh, this is all about her. And you and Dean and Adam. The whole Winchester family, right at my fingertips. Can't imagine anything more cosmic than that. But I've got a new partner in crime this time around, and he's going to pack a much bigger punch than Lucifer ever did."
Sam looked back at the Altar room, seeing a new shape and recognizing Adam as he stood between Dean and Mary. But there was something strange about him. Usually when someone was possessed, they gave off a certain kind of aura, but most people weren't supposed to be able to see the visage of a Demon or an Angel while inside a human's body. But Sam had been doing what he did for a very long time, and when he looked at Adam, he knew exactly who he was looking at.
"Michael."
The moment Dean saw Adam standing at the head of Mary's altar, he thought for a split second that they were going to be okay.
"Adam," he pleaded. "You have to get her out of here. Please."
His brother said nothing, moving closer to Mary slowly with a slight grin on his face.
"Adam, come on," Dean said. "What's wrong with you? You gotta get her outta here now."
Still, Adam said nothing, and when his brother looked at him with a serene, patronizing look on his face, Dean knew what was wrong.
"You're not Adam," he said, to which Adam inhaled deeply and promptly moved to Dean's side.
"What tipped you off to that?" he asked.
Dean sighed angrily. "Michael," he acknowledged.
"I told you to let it go," Michael told Dean. "I told you she was lost. But you just had to come rescue her. You just had to get involved in something that has nothing to do with you. And now I'm gonna have to save all four of you."
Slowly, Dean came to an astonishing realization. "Sammy?"
"Of course he's here," Michael confirmed. "He's more stubborn than you are. Adam is the only smart one between the three of you. Told him I could save Mary, and he said yes without even thinking about it. Funny how he's never shared your name and yet he exhibits all the faults of a true Winchester. Guess John passed down all the same self-sacrificing genes to all three of you."
"Get out of my brother, you dick!" Dean screamed, wincing softly as the movement caused the open cuts on his chest to explode in tiny prickles of pain all over again.
Michael grinned, stepping away from Dean and toward Mary. "You know the rules, Dean," he reiterated. "Once I've got him, he's mine until I'm done with him. Besides, I told him it would only be for a short while. After that, you can have him back, and he'll be as good as new."
With three small steps, Michael was standing above Mary again, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand and waking her gently.
"Why do you care so much," Dean asked, "about a child of Lilith? Didn't you say she was gonna grow up to be a paranoid, over-defensive, manipulative minion?"
Michael chuckled, keeping his eyes on Mary's. "I care about her for the same reason God cares about you. She is unique and beautiful, and for that, she deserves every chance to flourish. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Just get away from her," Dean pleaded. "Haven't you done enough damage to my family already?"
Gently, Mary's eyes fluttered open, and Dean cried out. "Mary, that's not Adam," he exclaimed. "No matter what he says, don't believe him. Please."
Michael took Mary's hand in his, kissing the back of her fingers and whispering to her where Dean couldn't hear him. But Dean didn't have to. He was pretty sure what the Archangel was saying, and he yelled again.
"Stop!" he commanded. "You can't do this to her! She's a little girl, for God's sake!"
Michael grinned again, moving back to Dean's side and gazing at him annoyingly. "Dean. You don't understand anything. I guess that's why you've lived so long. In thirty-six hours, the process to have Lilith's spirit inserted into Mary's body will begin. And you better hope it's enough time for me to do what I have to do to get the four of you out of here."
Dean was confused, shaking his head as Michael lifted his fingers to his lips. "Shh."
In the few seconds it took for Michael to lower his index and middle finger to Dean's forehead, three things became abundantly clear. Adam had not explicitly given his consent for Michael's possession — not initially, proving he'd been manipulated into agreeing to Michael's terms. Michael was clearly attracted to Mary, which was sick and gross all by itself. And Michael was dressed completely in white, and he was barefoot — kind of ironic for what was about to happen.
The inside of the chamber disappeared, replaced by a bright, white room with a floor and a ceiling but no walls as it stretched as far as Dean could see.
"Hello?" His voice echoed into the distance, and Dean sighed heavily. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?
Sacrificial Blood cont'd
"ADAM!!"
Sam looked everywhere he could without moving more than a few feet in either direction. It had only taken him a few minutes to get to where Adam had been, but when he got there, all he'd found was Adam's cell phone and his flashlight. His younger brother was nowhere to be found. And on top of that, the compass was lying on the ground spinning so fast it was burning like it had been on fire. Something or someone had gotten to Adam, and now, Sam was really worried.
He'd been hoping that he and Adam could find Dean and Mary without any help from anyone, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. And Sam didn't want to call Bobby, or worse, Cas, just to find where his brother had been taken.
Fortunately for Sam, he didn't have to ask.
"The Lilin have Adam," Cas said, suddenly behind Sam.
He turned to face Cas, glaring harshly. "Obviously," he spat. "How in the hell am I supposed to find them now?"
"You already have," Cas said obviously, lowering his eyes to the ground where the spinning arrow of the compass was still going crazy.
"But this is solid earth," Sam exclaimed. "What am I supposed to? Start burrowing?"
"Perhaps I can help with that," Sam heard and turned to see someone he thought he would never see again as Crowley stood less than ten feet from the two of them.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam demanded, watching Crowley close the space between them slowly.
"Well, I am a Demon. And you are looking for Demons. Plus, your little Angel on your shoulder made me aware of your situation. About Lilith. And the girl. I understand the location where your brothers are being kept is Angel-proof. It seems you need a way down."
Sam huffed, looking at Cas as he still stared at the compass. After a minute, Cas knelt to the ground, allowing his hand to hover over the compass, and it began to glow red-hot. Sam watched Cas pick up the compass, surprised the air wasn't polluted with the smell of burning flesh. Crowley made it to Sam's side as Cas approached them with the compass.
"They're approximately three hundred feet down," Cas revealed. "In an enclosed chamber filled with Holy Oil and Enochian sigils. I can't penetrate it." Cas paused, staring at the compass. "You should also know that Michael is down there. And he's circling Adam."
Sam sighed heavily, clenching his fists and glancing at Crowley. "How am I supposed to get passed him without Dean or Adam?" Sam pleaded angrily. "And how is he down there in the first place? I thought you said the whole place was Angel-proof."
"I said the chamber your brother and Mary is in is covered in Enochian sigils. Michael entered through a chamber away from there. And it's clear his desire for Mary is even more prominent than he led on. I can't say for certain what his plans are. But Adam's fighting him. That's a good thing."
"I don't see how," Sam bellowed. "I'm running out of time!"
"Gents, if you please," Crowley said calmly, moving closer to Cas and reaching for the compass. "I think I can do something about this."
Sam turned to him. "Exactly what can you do about this?" he demanded.
Crowley took the compass, grimacing softly and then looking at Sam before he stepped forward and took Sam by the arm.
Almost instantly the cold, open air of the woods of Minnesota were replaced by the cold, dank space of an enclosed cave. The air was damp and stale, with a strong metallic taste tinged with it, and immediately, Crowley placed the cold compass in Sam's hand. It was still again, gently easing to the left as they now stood in a corridor that was barely seven feet by three feet. Sam looked at the compass, glancing at Crowley as he grinned.
"Looks like we go left," Crowley said with a chuckle.
With a heavy sigh, Sam turned left with Crowley on his heels.
Two things became obvious to Sam as he walked along the corridor followed the compass needle. The corridor began to get smaller less than fifty feet in, and the Demons knew he was getting closer. Sam knew this because about fifty feet into the corridor, they both hit a dead end. Or at least, they came up to a solid stone wall that didn't appear to move when Sam pushed on it, hoping it was a false wall or something.
The needle on the compass still pointed toward the wall, through it, but Sam didn't have a shovel or dynamite, so the possibility of getting through dwindled quickly. He was seriously considering going back and looking for another way to go around when Crowley stopped him.
"If I may," Crowley allowed, taking Sam's arm again and appearing in another dark part of the cave. Sam was disoriented, opening his eyes to see a small, enclosed cave with two chambers on either side. "The Lion's Den," Crowley suggested. "Good luck."
Sam glanced away from Crowley, aiming the compass in front of him and then looking to his side to discover the Demon gone. Sam sighed heavily, following the compass forward.
There was no way of knowing how much time had passed as Sam pressed on through the chamber. It was too dark for him to see his watch, and the walls of the cave all looked the same no matter which direction Sam turned. The compass seemed to glow the further Sam walked, warming up the way it had before and almost burning Sam's hand as the needle began spinning so fast it disappeared.
When Sam looked up, he found himself inside a small chamber with bars covering an opening to the outer chamber. Just beyond the bars, he could see shapes in dim light, and as his eyes adjusted, he realized he was looking at two sacrificial altars — one was holding Dean and there was blood all over his chest, and the other was holding Mary as she laid out in a pure white blessing gown.
"Dean," Sam called as loud as he could. But neither Dean nor Mary acknowledged him. Sam didn't understand. They were less than twenty away.
"It's about time you showed up," he heard and turned to see a tall, slender brown-haired woman less than three feet from him. "I was honestly beginning to feel stood up."
Her face was so familiar, even with her brown hair and her glittering green eyes, but there was something else about her he couldn't quite pin down. She stepped closer to him, her full lips curving into a devious smile, a lot like —
"Lilith," Sam said, confused and angry and worried all at the same time. "But how? You're dead! I killed you myself. Your blood was all over that church floor."
"Correction, Sam," she pressed. "The blood in that dental hygienist was all over the church floor. Nothing stays dead forever. You should be well-versed in that truth. And I've been working for this day for many years now. You didn't honestly think I wouldn't have a back-up plan, did you?"
Sam looked over her body, noticing how she was dressed in a white, eyelet lace dress off her shoulders and she was barefoot. "Where did you get that body? Your face — "
She turned from him toward the opposite side of the chamber. "Turns out this dental hygienist had a twin. Seems everyone's got a doppelganger. My children found her only too easily, and once Mary was found, they began preparing her for me."
"I thought all this was about Mary?" Sam demanded. "Why her parents were killed. Why she was taken. Why she's on a sacrificial altar in there right now!"
Lilith smiled again. "Oh, this is all about her. And you and Dean and Adam. The whole Winchester family, right at my fingertips. Can't imagine anything more cosmic than that. But I've got a new partner in crime this time around, and he's going to pack a much bigger punch than Lucifer ever did."
Sam looked back at the Altar room, seeing a new shape and recognizing Adam as he stood between Dean and Mary. But there was something strange about him. Usually when someone was possessed, they gave off a certain kind of aura, but most people weren't supposed to be able to see the visage of a Demon or an Angel while inside a human's body. But Sam had been doing what he did for a very long time, and when he looked at Adam, he knew exactly who he was looking at.
"Michael."
The moment Dean saw Adam standing at the head of Mary's altar, he thought for a split second that they were going to be okay.
"Adam," he pleaded. "You have to get her out of here. Please."
His brother said nothing, moving closer to Mary slowly with a slight grin on his face.
"Adam, come on," Dean said. "What's wrong with you? You gotta get her outta here now."
Still, Adam said nothing, and when his brother looked at him with a serene, patronizing look on his face, Dean knew what was wrong.
"You're not Adam," he said, to which Adam inhaled deeply and promptly moved to Dean's side.
"What tipped you off to that?" he asked.
Dean sighed angrily. "Michael," he acknowledged.
"I told you to let it go," Michael told Dean. "I told you she was lost. But you just had to come rescue her. You just had to get involved in something that has nothing to do with you. And now I'm gonna have to save all four of you."
Slowly, Dean came to an astonishing realization. "Sammy?"
"Of course he's here," Michael confirmed. "He's more stubborn than you are. Adam is the only smart one between the three of you. Told him I could save Mary, and he said yes without even thinking about it. Funny how he's never shared your name and yet he exhibits all the faults of a true Winchester. Guess John passed down all the same self-sacrificing genes to all three of you."
"Get out of my brother, you dick!" Dean screamed, wincing softly as the movement caused the open cuts on his chest to explode in tiny prickles of pain all over again.
Michael grinned, stepping away from Dean and toward Mary. "You know the rules, Dean," he reiterated. "Once I've got him, he's mine until I'm done with him. Besides, I told him it would only be for a short while. After that, you can have him back, and he'll be as good as new."
With three small steps, Michael was standing above Mary again, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand and waking her gently.
"Why do you care so much," Dean asked, "about a child of Lilith? Didn't you say she was gonna grow up to be a paranoid, over-defensive, manipulative minion?"
Michael chuckled, keeping his eyes on Mary's. "I care about her for the same reason God cares about you. She is unique and beautiful, and for that, she deserves every chance to flourish. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Just get away from her," Dean pleaded. "Haven't you done enough damage to my family already?"
Gently, Mary's eyes fluttered open, and Dean cried out. "Mary, that's not Adam," he exclaimed. "No matter what he says, don't believe him. Please."
Michael took Mary's hand in his, kissing the back of her fingers and whispering to her where Dean couldn't hear him. But Dean didn't have to. He was pretty sure what the Archangel was saying, and he yelled again.
"Stop!" he commanded. "You can't do this to her! She's a little girl, for God's sake!"
Michael grinned again, moving back to Dean's side and gazing at him annoyingly. "Dean. You don't understand anything. I guess that's why you've lived so long. In thirty-six hours, the process to have Lilith's spirit inserted into Mary's body will begin. And you better hope it's enough time for me to do what I have to do to get the four of you out of here."
Dean was confused, shaking his head as Michael lifted his fingers to his lips. "Shh."
In the few seconds it took for Michael to lower his index and middle finger to Dean's forehead, three things became abundantly clear. Adam had not explicitly given his consent for Michael's possession — not initially, proving he'd been manipulated into agreeing to Michael's terms. Michael was clearly attracted to Mary, which was sick and gross all by itself. And Michael was dressed completely in white, and he was barefoot — kind of ironic for what was about to happen.
The inside of the chamber disappeared, replaced by a bright, white room with a floor and a ceiling but no walls as it stretched as far as Dean could see.
"Hello?" His voice echoed into the distance, and Dean sighed heavily. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?
