*September 22nd 2009 22:50*

"And to think Sammy, Ruby's host must have felt just as sick when Ruby slept with you. Can you even imagine her screams?"

Sam held back his emotions, the urge to throw up. He could barely hold back from strangling the bitch. That's what she wanted. For him to get angry, to try something, anything, knowing it'd be useless.

She'd already killed one of the feds, he couldn't let her kill the remaining three.

He could hear Reid breathing harshly in the background, Hotch, Hotchner was unconscious, and Johnny was bleeding all over his hands.

"Her body, it belonged to a coma victim. She was braindead."

"What? You thought that made a difference. Really Sammy? How stupid can you be?"

Was she lying, or was this one of those cases where the truth hurt worse than the lie?

"Can you feel it, Sammy? My father is coming."

"I thought you said Azazel was your father?" It was more of an attempt at distraction than anything else. "Or is this one of those, out of sight out of mind kinda things."

"I killed for you." The guy, Vinnie, started up again. He still hadn't got the message. Sam couldn't help thinking he'd killed demons for Ruby, killed that nurse for Ruby. Part of it had been to kill Lilith, but he'd… come to like her, trusted her.

"And you did it so nicely. Will you do it for me again Vinnie? I might let you kiss Marissa again, if you will." The man looked so desperate. "Pick any of the feds Vinnie, and kill him." Harsher, "kill him!"

Sam stared at the man, he couldn't be serious. "She's not Marissa you moron. Didn't you listen?"

"I'm sorry." Vinnie ignored him, "But it's the only way to make her love me again." Like a kid, apologizing that it was taking a flower out of mom's favorite bouquet.

Sam got up, ready to stop him. "No, don't!"

Vinnie pulled out a gun and started aiming it at the fed on the ground.

"Ow Vinnie, you can do better than that, that one's half dead already." She sounded so sugary sweet that it might as well bore holes through Sam's teeth. But this was serious as Vinnie changed the direction of his gun and aimed at Reid.

"For you, Marissa."

Sam managed to jump on him. A shot still got away. "Oh God, no." he looked up, expecting to see drops of blood flooding the floor. Instead he could feel the bullet ricocheting, back to the door, towards Meg. It kicked the demon right into the door and off her feet.

Reid fell to the floor, joined by Hotch and Sam ran over to help him up. Reid was already trying his phone again. "Federal officers down, federal officers down. Garber Airfield, officer down!"Then both he and Sam were smacked against the wall. Sam fought it, but ever since Lucifer had risen, he had no power left to fight with. He hated himself for wanting it back.

*September 22nd 2009 23:00*

Prentiss came running up to him, Derek barely managing to sit up before a paramedic pushed him back down. "It's Hotch and Reid, they're in trouble." Derek tried to get up again.

"Don't even think about it." The medic stated. "You've got a concussion. If you try and get up now, you'll just fall down before you get to your car."

Derek tried to protest, but no one was listening. Prentiss was already ordering the police towards the station. There was no one left but her, not since they'd somehow been knocked out and Winchester had gotten away from them.

By the time they'd come too, Miller had been muttering something about an archangel and absolution. None of it made the least bit of sense.

Winchester was gone, their unsub was dead, killed by Winchester, and from the looks of it, the local police would be finding corpses for days. He pet the small terrier that had joined him in the ambulance, wondering where it came from, before he was finally driven off to the hospital.

How much worse could things possibly go wrong?

*September 22nd 2009 23:00*

Dean drove more desperately than even he was used to. They needed to get to Sammy and all Cas could say was that he was supposed to have arrived at the airfield hours ago. Cas had suggested just bringing them there, and for a moment, Dean had been tempted. But no, if they did that, they'd have to leave the weapons behind and march unprepared into an unknown situation. Bobby would beat the crap out of him if he even considered doing something that stupid.

He parked the car and moved on through the darkness. He almost stepped on one of the bodies. The man's entire chest was covered in blood, his brains blown out. The crucifix around his neck was covered in blood. Another body was holding on to a bible. He didn't dare count the bodies. He heard a gunshot and pulled out his gun. It wasn't easy to stay in the dark, when you were dressed in bright orange, but somehow, he managed it. iHe was just that awesome. /i

"One of them was touched by an angel, and recently at that."

Dean pulled back in shock when Cas appeared right in front of that. iGee Cas, give a man a heart attack, why don't you./i

Then Castiel's words settled and Dean recalled his conversation with Zachariah: one of his angels had been in touch with the group, probably through their leader.

"March on Christian soldiers." Dean whispered. "Until your fricking angels get you killed." Dean wondered if it was the angel who'd told them to kill the cops who's uniforms some of them were wearing. An angel or something else.

"There is a demon inside the building."Castiel managed to sound urgent, well more so than he usually did. He really needed to get the guy to relax one of these days, preferably without pharmaceuticals. A nice long drinking game maybe?

"And you couldn't say that first?" iPriorities, Cas, please./i "So what about Sam?"

"He is there as well."

"Then let's get to it. I tell you Cas, I can't leave that kid alone for a minute, without him getting into trouble."

"I thought that it was your actions with the vampires that got you both into trouble." The angel said, somewhat confused.

"Tomato, tomatho."

Then Cas blinked out of sight. Dean just followed him in, hoping he'd still get there in time.

*September 22nd 2009 23:00*

What happened next made him pray, really pray, not just pretend pray, for the first time in years. Doctor Spencer Reid, skeptic, scientist, sane, iplease let me be sane, /iprayed.

It was a bright light, somewhat shaped in the form of a man, but a twisted man, dark and light and a song, a beautiful song rupturing the air around him. Reid felt himself stare at the 'being' as if he was looking at salvation. Then it stepped truly into the room and a man appeared, dressed in a cheap suit and a trench coat that had seen better days.

"Let them go now."

"Why, are you going to make me? Try, please"

The newcomer faced off with the girl when the door burst open and Winchester came through, holding a shotgun. He didn't even wait to start shooting, hitting the girl in the stomach.

"My oh my, if it isn't Dean Winchester. Come to the rescue?" The girl wiped the blood off of her mouth. She didn't sound quite as certain as she was trying to sound.

The guy in the trench coat was kneeling next to Sam and before Reid could even blink, Sam's shackles dropped to the floor. The next both the guy in the trench coat and Agent Martins were gone. He could barely remember Sam saying something about getting him out first.

The stranger was back before Dean had even managed to reload his shotgun. This time he appeared right next to the girl, his hand on her head. The girl screamed and Reid figured, that ino, he really was insane/i, when a black smoke erupted from the girl's mouth and her body fell limp.

Sam and Dean looked at one another, they didn't say a word, just stood there staring. Then Dean put his hand on Sam's shoulder and pointed at the door.

They were gone before he came too.

Epilogue 1

"Sam." Sam was sitting on the hood of the Impala. He hadn't even dared look at Dean. Dean in return didn't know how to face his brother. He'd planned to call him sooner. He had. But then Sam hadn't picked up his phone anymore. And the situation with the vampires had come up.

It was his fault. If only he hadn't been a fool and cast Sam out with that last phone call.

And now they were both wanted again, with the cops at their heels and Lucifer after Sam's ass.

He swallowed and faced his brother. Sam closed his eyes and got up. Dean pulled out Ruby's knife and held it in his hands. Sam almost flinched, but he didn't move. Hadn't he taught the boy better than that?

"If you're serious," Dean said, " if you want back in. You should hang on this. I'm sure you're rusty." The look of relief on Sam's face sat in front of him and Dean hated himself that he had ever made Sam doubt him like this. Things might never be the same again, but this was Sam, his Sam, still. He handed over Ruby's knife. But even that wouldn't be enough. "I'm sorry, I don't know, whatever I need to be, because I was wrong." iFor sending you out, for not keeping on to you, for making you think I'd ever hurt you. /i "I should have known better."

"What made you change your mind."Sam sat back down, the knife still in his hands. Dean could see the fear that if Dean changed his mind once, he might change it again. Dean was set to prove him wrong, set for anything.

"Long story."Dean humphed and shrugged. "The point is, maybe we are each other's Achilles heels, maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other. I don't know. I just know, we're all we've got. More than that, we keep each other human." And maybe with Sam here, he might have found a way to save more of those girls.

"Thank you, really, thank you. I won't let you down."

But it wasn't Sam who had let him down. Not that he could say that. So instead, "I know, you are the second best hunter on the planet."

"So what do we do now?" iLive?/i

"We make our own future." iNo matter how shitty it might be/i

"I guess we don't have a choice."

Epilogue 2

September 23rd 14:45*

By the time Reid came too, he was lying in the hospital. The doctors were mostly concerned about the strain on his leg and the bruised ribs he had. They said it looked as if he'd been forced into something.

He wanted to tell them he'd been kicked into the ceiling without ever being touched, but didn't feel like getting himself an invitation to the psych unit. Hotch barely remembered what had happened to get him knocked out. Reid figured he was lucky. They'd put him and Morgan in the same room and the guy might be one of his best friends, but if he wasn't going to shut up about the food, Reid would… he would… Sometimes he wished he had an older brother to teach him about pranks to play on annoying coworkers.

Of course that probably would have meant being the victim of those pranks during most of childhood… It was worth considering.

Morgan was on the phone, talking to the Rockford police station. Something about a missing boy, and sending through his file. Derek had sat there, staring at the laptop until the file came through. When he saw the picture, it looked like… Derek didn't say a word, not right away. He just there, staring at the picture before he closed down his laptop. His eyes teared up, but he didn't make a sound. He dabbed away the tears and laid down, probably still hurting from the concussion, and being woken up every hour or so. Reid wasn't sure if he heard him right. "We got him Daniel, we got him."

Reid lay in his own bed, trying not to think. He'd tried to ask about the case, but all he'd got out of Hotch was that it was a full scale disaster. The Winchesters and Novak had escaped. Clarissa Burns and her boyfriend were both dead, killed by Winchester and the local police was still digging up bodies out of the woods behind Burns' home.

Sheriff Miller had resigned his office, before anyone had been able to ask it of him. He said he needed time to look after his daughter. She was in therapy, no one dared to even mention a possible trial. As far as they could see, Burns and her boyfriend had pretty much drugged and brainwashed the girls into going along with them. They were victims, pure and simple. Simple for everyone, but the girl who was still torn apart with guilt.

Hotch had been called in by Strauss. Reid didn't think it sounded good.

Reid sat there, staring at something impossible that Rossi had given him to keep his mind occupied until he was released. Something…

It was two pictures, of the same skull. One taken a week ago, one today. Both were pictures of the teeth and specifically the gums of one Alicia Johnson. The newest picture was… normal. For that of a body that had lay in the freezer for a week. But the first one… Reid couldn't stop staring at the spare teeth, no fangs, that came out of the gums, as the coroner pushed his fingers against the flesh.

The man had planned to build his career on this. He'd documented every second of his investigation. Then all of a sudden the girl's gums had returned to normal and the only proof he had left was the pictures he'd taken and one tooth, one fang that Reid was holding now, that he'd removed for inspection.

Reid stared at it.

"No way."

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.
~John Milton, Paradise Lost

The End