A/N: Thank you Loreley for reviewing again! I would say the spell from the Book would warp the grace enough to make it containable for the Stynes, though that's a good question if it might corrupt their soul like using Enochian magic did for Lily Sunder. Although, I think the argument could be made that the Stynes' souls are already twisted malformations from all the years they used the Book of the Damned.

Chapter 7

Sam maintained a tight grip on the Impala's steering wheel as it revved down the highway. Charlie was in the passenger seat, still monitoring Eldon's cell phone for his GPS signal, which had in fact returned to the Stynes' hometown. The douchebags only had a couple hours' lead on them, and Sam hoped it wasn't enough to get Dean and Cas in even worse trouble.

Wind thwacked the side of the car where Sam had cracked the windows, but the cabin still smelled like burnt ozone from Ryn doing her fire thing in the backseat. She'd grabbed a long dagger for Charlie and a machete for Sam, and was currently etching runes into the blades with a smoldering finger.

Charlie kept glancing over her shoulder at the work. "That is wicked cool. What do those symbols mean, anyway?"

"They reinforce the tensile strength in the metal," Ryn replied. "This one I'm marking now makes it resistant to magic."

Sam flicked his gaze to the rearview mirror. "But the Stynes will still be tough to take down," he checked. Cas had more or less said so when they'd gone to try and rescue Dean.

Ryn's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Yes. But these will help."

Sam nodded. He'd take everything he could get.

When they finally arrived at the Styne house, Sam's stomach knotted with apprehension. It was a mansion. And based on what the Stynes had said about them being legion, he wondered if the entire place was teeming with Frankenstein soldiers.

The three of them climbed out of the car, and Sam went around to open the trunk. He grabbed two guns from the stash, checking their chambers and then handing one to Charlie.

"So," she said nervously, tucking the gun in her waistband. "What's the plan?"

Ryn passed her the dagger, then handed Sam the machete. The runes were still glowing with slight heat from the forging.

Ryn unsheathed her katana. "I plan to break down the front door."

With that, she set off across the lawn. Sam clenched his jaw and hurried after her.

"Oh, okay," Charlie said on his heels. "Good plan."

Fortunately, there was a lot of sculpted shrubbery around the large yard, which gave them cover as they approached the door. Sam spotted a guard out front, but before he could devise a plan of attack, Ryn had leaped over the balustrade and clamped her hands around the guy's head. With one deft twist, she snapped his neck.

Sam raised his brows incredulously.

Ryn shrugged. "When in doubt, sever the spinal cord."

Yeah…yeah, that was a good approach.

She stepped up to the front door and tested the handle. Unlocked. These guys seemed pretty confident in their fortress. Maybe they had every reason to be. But they'd never messed with a Winchester before. And as far as Sam was concerned, they wouldn't live long enough to regret it.

Ryn pushed the door open carefully and ventured into the foyer. As soon as Sam and Charlie also stepped inside, two more guards came charging out from an adjoining parlor. Ryn surged forward to meet the first head-on, and Sam swung his machete at the second. The magic-infused blade cut through flesh and bone like it was butter, and the goon's head went flying. Ryn skewered the other through the heart, which was apparently just as effective.

Movement above caught Sam's attention, and he whipped his head up as a third thug appeared on the landing at the top of the stairs—carrying a P-90 sub machine gun. Sam's heart flew into his throat, but just as the Styne raised his weapon to riddle them full of holes, Ryn's hand ignited with a whomp, and she shot a fire ball through the air. It struck the guard dead center, instantly lighting him up like a torch. He screamed and thrashed, tripping over the top step and tumbling down to the first floor. Ryn stepped in and ended his agony with a swift guillotine slice, and then waved her hands over the flames to extinguish them.

Sam glanced at Charlie and noticed her face scrunched up in horror. He quickly put himself on her right to shield her from the view of the half burned dead guy, and ushered her past the stairs and after Ryn, who was moving through the house like an avenging assassin on a mission. The problem was, the place was huge, and they had no idea where Dean and Cas were being kept…if they were even here at all.

Sam stormed past a hallway just as a figure darted out of it. He whirled and lashed out to grab the guy's shirt before he could escape, and swung him around to slam his back against the wall. Sam had his machete up and at the kid's throat before he registered that it was a kid.

"Please don't hurt me!" he bleated.

Sam jolted, and loosened his grip just a smidgen as he took in the young man's mop of brown hair and nerdy glasses. "You a Styne?" he demanded.

The kid winced, either from Sam's tone of voice, his harsh grip, or something else. "N-no," he stuttered. "I'm not one of them. Okay, I hate my family! See, look!" He frantically tugged up the bottom of his shirt, careful not to knick his hand on the machete still hovering across his chest. "No stitches! I'm not like them, I promise."

Sam hesitated, and then pressed his blade closer to the kid's throat. "Where's my brother?"

He squeezed his eyes close, tears practically leaking from the corners. "Basement. First door around the corner. The lab's down there. That's- that's where they take their specimens." He cringed at the word, and Sam was inclined to believe that this poor, wretched dweeb really did wish he hadn't been born to his hideous family.

Sam released him and stepped back. "Run," was all he said.

The kid gasped and sputtered, casting a frightened look at each of them before he stumbled away from the wall and took off down the corridor.

Ryn was already heading around the corner, and Sam and Charlie jogged to catch up. At the first door like the kid had said, Ryn barged in, only to pull up short at the scene before them. It was a lab alright, and Dean and Cas were laying on metal autopsy slabs. Both were gagged, but Dean made a garbled noise when his wide eyes met Sam's.

Cas, on the other hand, had his eyes squeezed shut as blue light trickled up from his throat and over to a man dressed in a doctor's coat. He was holding the Book of the Damned.

Sam didn't need to know what they were doing to know that it was bad, and he and Ryn charged forward instantly while Charlie made a beeline for Dean. The other Stynes, whom Sam recognized, looked stunned for a split second longer before they swarmed around the table to intercept them.

Ryn dodged left, spinning around the one and delivering a roundhouse kick to the doctor that sent him flying away from Cas. Then she whirled back to take on the other guy.

Eldon lunged at Sam, and he swung his machete, but the souped-up Styne ducked under the blade and drove a fist into Sam's stomach. He nearly doubled over choking. A karate chop to his back drove the last of the oxygen from his lungs, and then Eldon was wrenching the blade from Sam's grip. Hands wrapped around his throat next, and Sam clawed at Eldon's fingers in an effort to break free. But the guy was too strong.

There was a flash of red hair, and Charlie swooped in from behind to stab Eldon with her dagger. He arched his back and let out an enraged bellow, but released Sam, who nearly dropped to his knees as he gasped raggedly for air.

Eldon took a lumbering step toward Charlie as she retreated back near Dean. She'd apparently gotten one of Dean's hands free just before, because he quickly loosed the other strap and was then lurching off the slab, snatching a scalpel off a nearby medical tray in one fluid movement and stabbing Eldon in the throat with it. A gargled gasp issued from his mouth, but he wasn't going down yet. Sam grabbed his machete and rammed it all the way through Eldon's back and out his chest. He yanked the blade out with a squelch, and the Frankenstein monster finally crumpled. Dean ripped the gag out of his mouth and spun around.

Sam followed his gaze, and found that Ryn had killed the other Styne, leaving her facing down the one in the lab coat. He had a bloody gash across his chest that Sam was guessing was courtesy of Ryn, but then blue wisps of light fizzled over the laceration, healing it. Sam's heart stuttered, and he shot his gaze to Cas, who was still tied down on the slab and had grace seeping out from a cut in his neck.

The last Styne standing glowered at them with blazing fury. "You killed my sons."

Before Sam could react, the doctor launched himself at Ryn, grabbing her wrist mid-swing and torquing it until she cried out and dropped her katana. Sam and Dean both rushed forward, but Styne twisted and backhanded Sam so hard he went flying backward until the empty slab broke his fall. Dean hit the wall a few feet away.

Styne turned back to Ryn and grabbed her throat, lifting her feet clear off the floor. His eyes glowed blue.

Sam pulled out his gun and fired repeatedly. His bullets were good old-fashioned lead, so they shouldn't hurt Ryn too bad if he accidentally hit her—though it didn't look like they'd hurt Styne hopped up on angel grace, either. His body jerked from the impacts, but he didn't even scream, or drop Ryn.

Her face was screwed up as she kicked futilely against him, but then her eyes snapped open, blazing with fire, and she let go of clawing at his hands in order to clap hers on the sides of his face. Fire burst from her palms and swallowed his head whole.

Styne finally shrieked and let go of her throat, but she didn't let go of him. Flames surged down and up, engulfing them both in a surging inferno. Sam threw his arms up to shield his face as blistering heat seared through his shirt and jacket sleeves. When a wash of cold air buffeted his fingers, he chanced a look again, and gaped at the burned out husk smoking on the floor. Ryn stood over him, chest heaving as she worked to calm the fire still slithering up and down her arms.

Dean moved first, dislodging Sam from his stupor, and rushed to Cas's side. Ryn followed. Each of them flanked the angel on either side and unclasped the leather restraints. Then Dean hastily pulled his sleeve down over his palm and rubbed furiously at the rune on Cas's forehead until he'd gotten it all off.

Cas lolled his head lethargically, eyes trying to track them but seeming unable to focus. The slit in his neck was still weeping grace.

"Cas?" Dean's hands hovered over the wound. "Why isn't he healing?"

Sam frowned. Shit, what had the Stynes done to him?

"Um, guys," Charlie's voice spoke up tremulously.

They all turned to see her standing a few feet away from the Book of the Damned, which was laying open on the floor where it'd been dropped. The edges of the dried skin pages were beginning to take on a slightly blue aura…not unlike an angel's grace. Sam shot a panicked look back at Cas.

"But we killed Monroe!" Dean sputtered. "He's not absorbing Cas's grace anymore."

Ryn moved away and cautiously approached the Book, coming to a stop a couple feet from it, just like Charlie. Her expression blanched. "The Book is taking his grace for itself."

Sam's brows shot upward. "What? How? It's just a book!"

"A book with unspeakable power confined within its pages." Ryn flicked a terrified look toward them.

"How do we stop it?" Dean demanded.

Ryn clenched her fists. "Destroy it."

"But then we'll unleash the 'Darkness,'" Charlie said.

"I don't care," Dean retorted. "It's killing Cas."

"I'm not saying we don't," Charlie protested. "I'm just saying we have no idea what's going to happen."

"And what the hell do we think this thing is gonna do if it absorbs an angel's grace?" Dean countered. He shook his head, and lifted his gaze to Sam's. They'd been here before, caught between two bad decisions and no way out except through hell. Because either the Book was destroyed and the 'Darkness' was unleashed, or the Book finished draining Cas and took on a new, terrifying life of its own. In any case, it won, and they lost.

But one thing was for certain, though—the Winchesters protected family.

Sam turned to Ryn and nodded sharply. "Do it."

She didn't need to be told twice. Sam suspected even if the rest of them were against it, she'd have disregarded everything to save Cas.

Ryn inhaled sharply and closed the distance to the Book, holding her hand out over it. Her palm glowed orange before bursting into flame, and the Book's pages ruffled as though gearing up for a fight. The air prickled with static and the lights flickered. Charlie darted over to Sam, and he tucked her protectively under one arm as Dean hovered over Cas.

Ryn's fire crackled and popped, and then plunged down like a gushing torrent, striking the Book dead center. The cover jerked and flapped, knocking against the tiled floor as it seemed to swallow the flaming gusher. A high-pitched scream rent the air as the Book vibrated more violently. Ryn's eyes glowed amber.

There was a concussive whomp, and suddenly the fire surged upward in streaks of black flames. Ryn stumbled back; the ground shook. Sam winced as something hellish shrieked again, and everything made of glass shattered. Black smoke spewed up from the Book and whooshed out the now broken windows, slurping out into the sky.

Sam stared dumbly, but a sudden gasp from Cas had him whipping around. The angel's eyes were wide and panicked as Dean gripped his shoulders and blathered calming phrases at him. The incision on Cas's throat stopped glowing and slowly melded back together.

"Easy, easy, man," Dean coaxed. "We got you."

Ryn hurried over and reached for Cas's hand, searching his face earnestly as he continued to blink dazedly at them all, but already his eyes were clear and lucid. Sam's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Guys," Charlie squeaked.

Sam glanced at her pale complexion, and then followed her gaze to the window where a cloud of darkness was receding into the distance.

"What did we just do?" she breathed.

Sam looked to his brother, whose face fell with the realization that they might have just unleashed an ancient terror on the world. Again.

Dean glanced back at Cas, and squeezed the angel's shoulder. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out."

The purr of the Impala's engine was the only sound in the car as they made their way back to the Men of Letters bunker. Dean was behind the wheel again, with Sam riding shotgun and Charlie wedged between them. Ryn was in the back, Castiel's head and shoulders pillowed in her lap as she carded fingers through his hair. He'd fallen asleep to the Impala's lullaby not long after getting on the road. His grace had taken a beating. It was lower than normal to begin with, and Styne had managed to siphon some off completely. Ryn could feel Castiel's spark sputtering deep down in the core of his sternum like a tiny candle flame.

Her chest constricted. She'd almost lost him again. And in a bid to save him, she'd willingly participated in unleashing an unknown evil upon the world. Ryn nearly shook her head at herself. How she had changed. How Castiel had changed her.

She stroked her fingers through his hair, listening to the faint echo of his vessel's heartbeat. A vessel that was as much a part of his true form now as the celestial wavelength she'd first met. Ryn lifted her other hand to trace the line of his jaw, and his eyes opened to slits. She didn't say anything as he gazed up at her, still halfway caught in the lull of sleep. But Ryn could see past the dazzling blue and down to the blunted silver and dull sage of what had once been a brilliantly vibrant aurora of color and luminescence.

She hadn't mentioned it to the others when they'd first carried Castiel away from that horrid lab and the slaughter in the rest of the house. He wasn't dying. But he'd been dealt a grievous blow, and Ryn didn't know if he could recover on his own.

And so she bent over his head, lowering her mouth to his and gently enfolding him in a kiss. Ryn summoned up a spark, a splinter of her inner fire, and let it pass between them. Warmth tingled across her lips, and she pulled back as the ember faded in the back of his throat, traveling down to settle within Castiel's grace and infuse it with the warmth and fuel it needed to fan the flame.

His eyes had already closed as sleep had tugged him under again, and Ryn went back to absently stroking his hair. She gazed out the window at the clear blue sky. There was no sign of the noxious brume that had spewed from the Book of the Damned. Its binding had been cracked and crumbling afterward, and they'd left it to disintegrate into chaff.

Ryn felt eyes on her, and turned her head to meet Dean's worried gaze in the rearview mirror. He'd been casting glances over his shoulder at Castiel every several minutes, but hadn't spoken; she'd assured them he would live. There was a grim hush over them all at the knowledge and contrition of what they had done.

Ryn had no idea what they would be facing. Never in all her long years had she sought out a battle that could evolve into epic proportions. In fact, she'd fled from such events.

But she'd chosen this, chosen to save Castiel. Chosen to ally herself with an angel and a pair of human hunters who saved the world day in and day out.

And she wasn't going anywhere.

A/N: That closes out this "episode." Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! We'll go straight into "Fan the Flames" next and see what this version of the Darkness has in store. :D

Also, I know I've had a one shot for every Wednesday pretty much the whole month of March, which was crazy, but I'm afraid I don't have one this week. Sorry!