A/N: The time frame is still post 'Chosen' on Buffy, during 'No Rest for the Wicked' on Supernatural, and a few months after 'Hex' on Smallville. Most of the dialogue for Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Ruby is the same though there are a few changes made to go along with the events of the last two stories.
Bobby's house
"Here's where we'll find Lilith," Bobby said after completing the spell.
"Metropolis. Why there of all places?" Sam said.
"Why are you so worried about it? I'm the one people are going to most likely call the cops on," Dean said to his brother.
"I got arrested there remember? And given how I broke out of jail my face probably got plastered all over the news," Sam replied. Truth be told, Sam never did tell Dean about how he killed several people during his escape.
"Well even if Lilith is the one who holds my contract, which I'm not fully convinced given how we learned that from Bela, we have no way to gank her. Not to mention that this is the same Lilith that wants your head on a platter," Dean said.
"Well aren't you just bringing down the room," Bobby muttered.
"It's a gift," Dean replied to that comment.
"Well what do you suggest we do? Sam answered. They were wasting time; literally wasting time.
"Just cause I have to go down doesn't mean you have to go down with me. Either we go in smart or we don't go in at all," Dean stubbornly replied.
"Well if that's the case I have a way to confirm it's Lilith and a way to get us a bona fide demon-killing weapon."
"Absolutely not, Sam," Dean said to him. There was no way they were going to ask that demon slut for help.
"Damn it Dean I am summoning Ruby!" Sam yelled at his brother.
"We are not going to make the same mistake all over again!" Dean yelled back at him.
"You have a better idea!"
"No! Damn it!" Dean cursed. "Just no," he finished. "You want to save me find some way else," and he walked away from Bobby and Sam.
About five minutes passed before Sam thought, "Screw this," and headed for the basement and did the summoning.
"Took you long enough to call me," Ruby said. Sam saw her leaning against the wall with a small smirk. "You guys sure like to put things off until the last second."
"You knew didn't you? That Lilith holds Dean's contract?" Sam asked not too pleased.
"Yes I did," she answered truthfully.
"Any particular reason why you didn't bother to mention that?" He asked arms crossed.
"You weren't ready. If I told you that, you and Dean would've rushed after her half cocked and it would've ended very badly."
"Well were ready now. I want your knife," Sam said and he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"You're right about one thing," Ruby said. "You are ready and now's the perfect time too. Lilith's guard's down," she revealed while circling Sam.
"Is that so?" Sam asked; eyes following her.
"She's on shore leave. A little R and R; she won't be expecting you guys. You still have those hex bags I gave you?"
"Yes."
"Good; she won't sense you coming."
"So you'll give us the knife," he asked hoping she'd say yes.
"No," she answered as if reading his thoughts.
"But you just said-!" Sam started.
"You want to charge in with one little pig sticker? The knife's not gonna cut it, Sam."
"Okay, then how?" he asked getting increasingly impatient.
"I can't save your brother Sam. But you can."
"What?" he asked going from impatient to confused.
"You've got some God-given talent… sort of."
"You mean that psychic crap?"
"You saw what you did back in Los Angeles. If you wanted to you could wipe Lilith out without even lifting a finger. You can hate me all you want for not telling you about this sooner, but this is the only way. You can save Dean and I can show you."
"So that's you huh. Our slutty little Yoda," Dean interrupted stepping out from the shadows.
"Dean," Ruby said turning to him.
"I knew you'd show up because I knew Sam wouldn't listen," he said directing his gaze at Sam and then back at Ruby. "But you aren't teaching him anything. Over my dead body. So why don't you just give us your knife and crawl back to wherever you came from," he ordered stopping in front of her.
"Your brother is carrying a bomb inside him and we'd be stupid not to use it," Ruby stated. Now was not the time for this.
"Damn right he's carrying a bomb inside him!" Dean snapped. "You saw what went down in Los Angeles!"
"I haven't forgotten! I know what happened, but that's because Sam has no control over his powers. When it happens again, and believe me it WILL happen again, there's no guarantee that Sam will come back to the good side."
"Dean," Sam tried to intervene.
"Sam, don't. Can't you see that this is all a trick!"
"I am so sick and tired of proving myself to you, you dumb spineless dick!" Ruby shouted in Dean's face. Dean rolled his eyes and punched Ruby hard in the mouth. Ruby's head snapped to the right and her mouth started to bleed.
"You should see the look on your face. It's price…" Ruby cut Dean off with a punch of her own and proceeded to beat the crap out of him. Sam tried to stop her, but Ruby kicked Sam in the chest and sent him into the wall.
"Stay out of this Sam," she said and went back on the attack. She ducked Dean's right hook and hit him in the eye. She delivered another kick knocking him back by about two feet. Dean started to chuckle while he was on the floor.
"Loose something?" He asked holding up her knife.
"I'll kill you," Ruby said to him, but couldn't move any further. Ruby cursed to herself and looked over head to see a devil's trap.
"Like I said; I knew you were coming. Let's go Sam," he said to his brother while ascending the stairs.
"You're gonna leave me here?" Ruby asked and received no answer. "Then fine. You deserve Hell and boy I wish I could be there to see the flesh sizzle of your bones. I wish I could be there to hear you scream!" She shouted at him.
"And I wish you'd shut your pie-hole, but we don't always get what we want," Dean responded not looking back. After giving Sam a speech about how there was a pattern with each member of the family begging to sell their souls when the other is up the creek, the two headed for the Impala.
"One question," Dean said to his brother as he started to load up the Impala. "What the Hell does a demon do for fun?"
Metropolis
"Lilith. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever make it," the doorman to the building that led to the Ace of Clubs said to her.
"Long story," Lilith said walking past him. She was in the body of a twenty something female with blonde hair and a slender figure. She was dressed in a black tank top and a black skirt. "Make sure you don't let any hunters inside," she ordered him.
"You have nothing to worry about Lilith," he replied; eyes turning black.
"Good," Lilith said with a smile. She stepped into the building and took the elevator all the way to the top floor. As she neared the top she heard a song playing.
There's only two types of people in the world
The ones that entertain and the ones that observe
Well baby, I'm a put-on-a-show kind of girl
Don't like the backseat, gotta be first
I'm a like the ringleader, I call the shots
(Call the shots)
I'm like a firecracker I make it hot
When I put on a show
Lilith smirked as the elevator stopped; this was her favorite song.
I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins
Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break
I'm like a performer, the dancefloor is my stage
Better be ready, hope that you feel the same
She walked to the center of the club and everyone stopped what they were doing. Everyone's eyes were on her; just like it should be. Lilith then began to dance.
All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus
When I crack that whip, everybody gon' trip just like a circus
Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do
Everybody let go, we can make a dancefloor just like a circus
Xander and Cordelia stared intently at each other. One way or another one of them was going to walk away a loser. It all came down to one final question.
"Got any three's?" Xander asked.
"Go fish," Cordelia said with a smirk. "Got any six's?" Xander rolled his eyes and tossed down his last card. "I win again." She had a satisfied smile on her face and leaned back in her chair. "Want a rematch?" She asked him.
"No," Xander sighed placing his head in his hands.
"What's wrong? Don't like that we got partnered up for the same guard duty shift?" She asked him.
"No I don't have a problem with it. After all we did randomly draw our partners out of a hat. Who knew we'd get paired up though? What are the odds?"
"Willow went before us remember? You do the math." Xander rolled his eyes, stood up, and began pacing.
"I just wish something exciting would happen you know. I haven't had any real action since Los Angeles."
"You got more action than from just fighting vampires from what I heard," Cordelia teased.
"Wait. What? Who told you- Buffy," he groaned. "What did she tell you?"
"Everything. How you and the other girl got caught in the broom closet, how you two got caught making out in the Impala later on, and how Dean flipped out on you two. He sounds like a heck of a guy. Wish I could've been there to see it," she laughed.
"Hardy har," Xander mumbled, but his attention was diverted by the sound of shattering glass. He and Cordelia grabbed their crossbows and ran to where they heard the noise. They found the broken glass, but no sign of what broke it. They split up and searched through AI with no luck.
"Find anything?" Cordelia asked.
"Nothing so far," Xander informed her as they approached each other in the hallway.
"Crud," she muttered advancing down the other way. Her eyes wandered up to the mirror at the end and she spotted something behind Xander. "Xander, get down!" She yelled spinning around and firing an arrow from her crossbow. Xander threw himself to the floor as the arrow soared over his head and into Angelus' hands.
"Nice try, Cordelia," Angelus said. He sniffed the arrow head and raised an eyebrow.
"Dead man's blood," he said tossing the arrow aside. He noticed Xander trying to crawl away and slammed his foot into his back eliciting a pained yell from him.
"Leave him alone, Angelus!" Cordelia yelled.
"Now where's the fun in that?" He asked. "And I wouldn't try going for more arrows," he advised noticing her moving her hand towards her back. "I could break this guy's spine before you ever re loaded it."
"You should know Angelus, that by breaking in here you set off a special alarm," Cordelia bluffed to divert his attention. "Angel's entire team is on their way right now," she finished while pressing a button on her crossbow that automatically reloaded it without him Angelus seeing.
"Even if you are telling the truth, which I doubt you are, I can take care of that pathetic bunch of losers that Angel calls his back up."
"Perhaps you've forgotten," she began. "I'm part of that 'pathetic bunch of losers!" She yelled and fired another arrow from her bow. Caught off guard Angelus managed to dive to the side just barely avoiding the arrow. Xander shot up crossbow raised, but Angelus grabbed his hand and shoved it into the wall breaking his wrist in the process. Angelus destroyed Xander's weapon and chucked him into the next room. Cordelia charged Angelus, but he threw out a kick knocking her weapon away and kicked her into the main office.
"Trying to crawl away Cordelia? I would've expected you to go down fighting; not making a vain attempt at reaching safety," Angelus said as she made her way towards Angel's desk. Cordelia reached for a knife on Angel's desk and took a huge swipe at Angelus' chest. He groaned and stumbled backward. "More dead man's blood," he said starting to get very annoyed with her. He looked up and forced himself not to laugh.
"A cage," he said acknowledging the cage just to the right of the desk. "Did you really think you could catch me?" He then noticed a wide smile on Cordelia's face, but before he could do anything he felt something impale his chest. He looked down and saw an arrow sticking right throw it.
"Damn it." Angelus began to feel faint and then he heard Xander yelling from behind him. Xander charged the vampire and shoved him full force into the cage. Cordelia sprang up and slammed the cage shut.
"Nice one, Xander. How's your wrist?" She asked.
"It'll be fine. I suffered worse injuries," he replied as Angelus got to his feet; though injured Angelus punched at the cage bars in an attempt to free himself.
"Give it up fang face. This cage has been magically reinforced by our favorite mistress of magic," Xander said.
"I thought Willow did this," Cordelia said.
"She did. Who'd you think I was talking about?"
"Zatanna."
"Why her?"
"She calls herself the mistress of magic."
"Come on Cord. It's not like she has any real claim to that title."
"It's written on her card."
"Hahahaha," Angelus lightly chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Xander asked him. Angelus smiled and one of the windows smashed open. Two demons smoked inside the main office and possessed Xander and Cordelia.
"Nice of you two to drop by. Now get me out of here," He ordered.
"Hey, it's not our fault you got captured. You said you had the whole thing under control," Meg said as she opened up his cage. "Gotta say; I like this body," Meg said admiring Cordelia's body. "I may actually stay in this one for a while."
"Shut up," Angelus commanded her. "Let's just find what we came for and get the Hell out of this place. It's gotta be around here somewhere." Angelus, Meg, and the third demon began to ransack Angel Investigations. Angelus yanked a drawer out of the desk and its contents spilled over the floor. A satanic smile formed on his face. "I found it!" He yelled to the others. He knelt down and picked up Willow's book of spells. "Excellent."
"This is what we came for? A dirty old book?" Meg asked with some disdain.
"This isn't some dirty old book," Angelus replied while flipping through the pages.
"Well whatever it is it better be worth us going behind Lilith's back. She doesn't like being double-crossed," The demon in Xander's body said. "And we're missing a good party because of this too," he added under his breath.
"You needn't worry Nick. Everything's taken care of." Angelus assured him.