I sat, staring at the clock. I'd been doing it since six this evening, after we'd finished dinner. It was now a little after eleven. Will had come check on me every hour on the hour since dinner. I appreciated the fact he cared for me, but it wasn't like I was going to off myself. Crowley would just bring me back to sic his hounds on me, so there was really no point.

I looked down at my cell phone, rolling it over in my hands. I must've stared at it for ten minutes before I gathered enough courage to hit the second speed dial button.

"Yeah?" I heard from the other end.

"Hey Dean. It's me." I said, smiling at his voice.

"Hey. Karsen. It's good to hear from you." He said, sounding relieved.

"Yeah, you too. I was just calling to check in." I told him.

"Oh, that's good. How are things?" He asked and I could hear the catch in his voice.

"Things are… they're not bad, actually. Henry asked me out." I said, biting my lip at how he'd handle the information.

He gave a little laugh. "Bout damn time. I was getting worried."

I laughed in relief. "Yeah, yeah. He takes his sweet time, that's for sure."

"He treating you good?" Dean asked and I could hear the concern.

"Yeah. He's the sweetest." I said with a smile.

There was a rustling and I heard Sam and Dean arguing. "Hey." Sam said.

"Hey Sam. How's it going?" I asked.

"Good, it's going good. Hey, I uh. I wanted to apologize. You know I never meant any of that stuff I said, right?" He said.

I smiled. "Yeah, Sam. I know. It's all okay, brother."

I could hear Sam's relief. "Good, that's good. I'm glad."

I glanced at the clock and my stomach dropped to my knees. Almost half past eleven. I had another half an hour before the shit hit the fan. "Sammy, you know I love you right? Like a brother." I said.

He paused, silence from the other end. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. Are you alright, Karsen?"

I laughed. I was so far from alright. "Yeah, Sammy. I just miss you guys. Hand me back to Dean for a sec?" I asked.

"Yeah, here." Sam said and more rustling.

"You alright, kid?" Dean asked, using the big brother voice.

I smiled and felt my eyes well up. "Yeah, I'm alright." I told him, clearing my throat. "I love you, Dean."

"I know. You too." He said, still sounding worried. "You want us to come back there?"

"No, I'm good. Just feeling a little home sick, I guess." I said, with a little chuckle. "Well, hey. I gotta go. Say hi to Bobby for me." I said, knowing I'd start crying if I was on the phone any longer.

"Sure thing. You take care of yourself." Dean told me.

"Yeah, alright." I said, before closing the phone and taking a deep breath. I stood up, putting the phone in the duffle bag that laid on the bed.

I shook out my shoulders and squared off. I left the room and quickly found Will in his office. "Hey, you about ready?" I asked him.

He looked up from his papers and his face morphed into this mess of worry and fear. "Yeah, I guess so." He said, setting his pen down and coming to stand next to me. "I know we never really got along well. But I don't see why you have to die."

I smiled up at him. "Don't get all mushy on me now, doc."

He nodded. "Magnus will probably be in her office. I'll get Ash and Biggie and change the codes, if you get Henry."

"Not a problem." I said, glancing at the clock. "Don't take too long."

He nodded again and we were off in our separate directions. I easily found Henry at his desk in the lab, messing with some wiring.

"Hey handsome man." I said, coming up behind him and running my hands over his shoulders.

"Hey pretty girl." He smiled up at me, stretching to kiss me.

"Come with me." I said, gently taking the wiring out of his fingers and pulling him to his feet.

"Where are we going?" He asked, effortlessly following me.

"Magnus wanted to talk to all of us, I guess." I told him, leading him to the elevator. I pushed the button and we ascended the building.

I headed down the hall when Henry pushed me against the wall. I was surprised, looking up at him. But he kissed me deeply, pressing his body against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to my kiss.

"You're amazing." Henry murmured into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

"Nah baby. You take the cake." I said with a smile, kissing him once more before leading him to Magnus's office. Thankfully, Will was already there with Ash and Biggie.

"Will informs us you wish to talk to all of us." Magnus said, with a stoic expression.

Way to throw me under the bus, I thought.

Henry looked down at me, confused. "You said Magnus wanted to talk to us."

I nodded, squeezing his hand and shuffling my feet. "Yes, I uh. I did say that." I said, glancing at the clock. We only had ten minutes left. I sighed. "I needed you all together."

"Why?" Ashley asked, looking confused.

I cleared my throat, not sure I could go through with this.

Henry let go of my hand, making me turn to him. "What are you doing?"

I opened and closed my mouth. "There's a threat to the Sanctuary and because of that, I need to protect all of you."

"I'm not aware of any threat. Our new lawn decoration was found to be some delinquent children from Old City." Magnus informed me.

I nodded, trying to figure out how I was going to manage that. "Will and I were talking it over and we think it'd be best if we move ourselves to one of the secure holding chambers in the Shoe. Just for tonight, until this thing goes away."

"What thing?" Biggie asked.

I shrugged. Playing dumb again. "I had a dream that something bad is coming and with the thing in the lawn…" I trailed off. "I've seen this kind of thing. It's a fighter demon." I said, pulling something out of a hat.

"What is that?" Magnus asked and I looked at the clock again. Damn we were getting close.

"It's a demon that kills everything in its path. But it gives up easily. The EM fields won't phase it at all; it'll blast right through them. But if we lock ourselves and all the other abnormals up, we should be safe." I told them.

Magnus nodded. "If it's best for the Sanctuary and you're sure this demon will give up easily, then I believe we best listen to Karsen."

So with the walk down to the shoe, it was 11:59 when we rounded the corner.

"Are you sure about this?" Henry asked, looking concerned. "This doesn't have to do with your dream with the Scottish guy?"

"Of course I'm sure. I'm the hunter, remember? And no, this is totally another thing." I told him, kissing him.

Will held the gate open and gestured for everyone to get in. When Henry passed him, he dashed in and slammed the gate closed.

"Will, open the gate." Henry said, seeing me on the other side of the bars.

Henry went to the console and entered the code to open the gate, but was denied. He looked at us in fear. "Will, open the damn gate and let her in."

"I changed the codes. I needed you all down here where you'd be safe." I told them.

"No. No! Karsen, don't do this." Henry said, holding onto the cell bars.

I could feel my eyes blur as they filled with tears. I quickly wiped them away. "I have to. I can't stand any of you getting hurt." I said, looking at each of them. "Will, remember the goofer dust and the salt under the bench. Cover the door and the window. Don't leave any holes."

"No, come in here. We'll fix it. Together. Open the gate." Henry said, starting to get frantic.

I took his hand, holding onto it tightly. "This is what it means to love someone. Putting them before yourself. Because I don't care what happens to me as long you're safe."

"Don't do this!" Henry roared, his eyes morphing yellow and his teeth growing out.

"Baby, don't waste your strength. You'll just end up hurting yourself." I told him, running my hand along his cheek. I made sure this was a werewolf-proof cage. "You were always the Prince in the story."

"The servant girl never died." Henry told me.

"You can't do this! You'll die!" Ashley shouted.

"I know." I said, quickly kissing Henry before running off down the hallway. I could feel them, as soon as they hit the barrier and I heard the people behind me screaming my name, telling me to come back. I paused, not too far from the cell and slowly let the fear seep into my chest. My arms caught fire and the sprinkler system kicked on.

I ran until I reached the main foyer. I reached for my pocket knife and flicked it open. I could hear them coming across the courtyard, like a stampede of wild animals. I drew the knife across the skin on my arm and let it bleed onto the floor for a minute.

When they hit the main door, I was about knocked off my feet with fright. I only stood there another second before I took off running again, up the stairs. I figured the higher I got before they caught up to me, the better everyone else was.

By the time I got to the fourth floor, I heard them breach the front door. I could almost feel the hinges break off it. I still ran franticly up the stairs. I knew I was going to die, but that didn't mean I had to make it easy for them. I dashed to the end of the hall, hearing them thunder up the stairs behind me. I found an empty office and quickly shut the door behind me. My eyes scanned the room, finding a desk near the wall of the door.

With all my might and adrenaline, I pushed the desk in front of the door, hoping to hold them off for a few extra minutes. Standing there, heart pounding, I finally felt the pain of the cut on my arm and looked down to see my clothes splattered with my own blood. My head began to swim and I wondered briefly if I could pass out before they got to me.

I jumped as one of the hounds broke away a piece of the door, above the desk. Maybe that's why they were working so hard at the door. They wanted me to feel the pain that was coming. I moved over to the wall and slid down until I was sitting firmly on my butt.

They broke away another piece of the door and they only had a small piece left before they'd be at me. It came quicker than I thought it would. I had heard stories of the beasts, but of course, never seen them. You could only see them if they were coming for you.

There were two of them, although it sounded like more. Big and black, with glaring red eyes that could see into my soul and teeth as big as baseball bats. The first bite they tore into me was the only one I felt, making me scream out loud. After that, I knew they were tearing into me, ripping me to shreds, but I wouldn't let my body feel it.

Crowley wanted me to suffer and even as I could feel the muscles in my stomach and arm rip off the bone, I knew Henry was safe and that was all that mattered to me.

I felt the ground shake and wondered if more were coming after me. I could barely open my eyes, they felt so heavy. I could hear talking, but it was as if it was from another room in the house. I could hear it, just not clearly.

Someone lifted my head, and I saw their lips move as if they were screaming in my face, but the only word I could actually hear was "don't". Don't what, though? Don't die? I had assumed I was dead already, so I couldn't undo that.

My eyes searched for something familiar, roving the room. I paused when I saw Henry's face. He had such a handsome face. He was the one in front of me, screaming. I could nearly feel the skin and muscle torn from my throat.

I wanted to tell him how I loved him.

How much I enjoyed the time I'd been here.

How sorry I was that they had to see me like this.

But my vision was fading and everything had a kind of red haze to it.

The last thing I saw was Henry with tears running down his face.

Red.

Everything was red or black.

The walls. The eyes of the monsters. The blood that seemed to never stop pouring out of my open wounds.

I remembered the hell hounds tearing me apart. I could feel the skin peel away and the muscle ripped from the bone. I could feel every incision they made with their teeth.

That was the easiest part though.

Because after Crowley had collected my soul from his dogs, he strung me up me and tortured me. Whenever I thought I was at my breaking point, Crowley came up with a new item to stab me with, or burn me with, or hit me with.

I didn't know how long I'd been on the rack.

If I had to have guessed, I would have said twenty years.

The ache of being beaten and bloody faded away a long time ago though.

Now all I felt was the exhausting fresh pain of being stabbed or cut or hit.

And my lungs. God, my lungs burned like someone poured hell fire down my throat and forced my mouth closed.

My pain tolerance increased over time though. It made Crowley mad that he had to keep coming up with new things to do to me to get me to scream.

That was the only reason he kept torturing me.

He said he liked me to scream.

And I tried so hard to resist. I'd bite my lip until it was bleeding before the sound broke out of my lungs like it was escaping this prison.

It made Crowley laugh how I tried to hold out on him.

But he was persistent.

He offered me many times to relieve me of my pain; to rid me of the burning from my screaming lungs and to stop the torture.

But the price was too high. He wanted me to do what he did; poke and prod some poor soul, the same way he did to me.

He got the same answer every time.

"Screw you." I spat out the words, receiving a hell fire covered whip across the face, or the back, or the stomach.

The whip was the least painful thing now, even covered in hell fire that nearly melted my skin.

I could deal with the hell fire and the whip. The stabbing, the bleeding I hate the worst.

Fifty years must've passed.

Everything was still red and black.

I still felt the pain of being here, in the pit on the rack.

I barely felt the pain of the hooks through my arms or legs anymore. It was almost a pleasant numbness until the bleeding came again.

And then one minute, everything was dark…

[There it is my lovelies. What I'm deeming as the end for the moment. I'm considering a sequel. Any thoughts? Ideas? Plot bunnies I could sneak in? I only have two chapter of the second part of this and I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with it, so if you'd like to read more, please, I beg of you, message me telling me what you thought.

I much appreciate it. 3 ]