Devils Due

Soundtrack:

George Michael – Faith
Letters to Cleo – I want you to want me
Madonna – Crazy for you

Lacey opened a portal and stepped through onto her Aunt's porch. She raised her hand and knocked on the door. Seconds later her Aunt Rose opened it.
"Oh, Lacey! You're here! We weren't sure if you were coming."
"You look nice." Lacey noted the dress her Aunt was wearing.
"Oh, thank you. I…" Rose paused and began to sneeze.
"You ok?" Lacey asked, looking at her with concern.
"She's fine." Dorothy walked through to the living room from the hallway. "We've all got the flu, but we're soldiering on."
"Well, not all of us." Sophia appeared, along with Blanche. "Some of us managed to escape unscathed." Dorothy rolled her eyes at her mother.
"Listen, we're all going to the Volunteer of the year awards, why don't you come with us?" Blanche suggested.
"Oh, no, it's fine, I'm pretty tired, had a long day. You guys go have a good time, tell me all about it when you get back." Lacey waved them off.
"Well, if you're sure." Dorothy nodded at her as they headed for the front door.
"I'm just gonna curl up on the sofa and read a book." Lacey told them.
"You realise we're the old ladies here, right?" Sophia asked, jokingly. Lacey laughed and shook her head.
"Have a good time!" She called after them. When the door was closed behind them, Lacey sat down on the couch and pulled her book from her bag. She flipped through it for a moment before leaning back into the couch cushions and closing her eyes.

Lacey felt a chill go through her as she opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a dark road. The Impala was parked a short distance away in the car park of a seedy looking bar. As Lacey walked towards it, Sam and Dean exited the bar. It was still so weird, they looked so young, she almost did a double take every time she saw them. She headed in their direction and Dean spotted her. He said something to Sam before walking in her direction.
"Hey." He gave her one of his trademark grins. "Nice dress." Lacey glanced down at the pink, purple and white tie dye maxi dress she was wearing.
"I was in Miami." She explained.
"All right for some." Dean joked.
"My Aunt's live there, I was visiting." Dean glanced over at the car, Sam was looking impatient. "So what's the sitch?"
"We're on a vampire hunt, ran into another hunter, thought we'd see if he needs some back up."
"Ok to come with?"
"Sure." They headed towards the car.
"She's here?" Sam asked, looking around.
"Lower you're eye level gigantor, I'm down here." Dean began to chuckle at Lacey's comment and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Down here, Sam."
"Has she heard of Gordon?" Dean sighed.
"Lacey have…"
"I'm invisible, Dean, I can hear him. No, I've never heard of Gordon."
"She's never heard of him." Sam sighed and got in the car.
"There is a gap though."
"What?" Dean frowned at her.
"Well, it's 2006 right? I don't meet you until late 2009. There's a large space of time I don't know about, so…" Lacey shrugged.
"Right…" Dean shook his head and got in the car, Lacey followed suit.

They drove out to an old Mill, a few miles down the road. Dean parked the car and they walked out to the site from there. As they approached the Mill itself, they could clearly hear the signs of a struggle. As they rounded the corner of the building they found a vampire holding a guy down, an electric saw about to come down and take his head off. Dean went for the vamp while Sam pulled the guy to safety. As soon as the guy was clear Dean pushed the vamp onto its back and brought the saw down, decapitating it. Lacey watched on, a little stunned, as blood spattered Dean's face.
"So, I guess I gotta buy you that drink." The guy noted, as Sam stared at him in shock.

"You ok?" Lacey asked, as the four of them walked towards their cars.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Dean grunted, trying to get the blood off his face. Lacey pulled a tissue from her bag and handed it to him. "Thanks." He began to wipe himself down. "Not too freaked out then?"
"Why would I be freaked out?"
"Sam's looking at me like I just jumped off a cliff or something." Dean shrugged.
"Well, don't tell Sam, in fact, don't tell anyone, but you and me took out this enormous vamp nest all by our selves not too long ago. So no, I'm not freaked." Dean gave her an appreciative look up and down.
"I wouldn't mind seeing those powers of yours myself."
"I tried using them back in the fun house, they didn't seem to want to cooperate but I'll keep trying." Lacy told him.

When they reached the bar the three of them sat round a table while Lacey stood, leaning on the back of Sam's chair. The waitress brought their drinks over and Dean went to grab his wallet.
"No, no, I got it." Gordon assured him.
"Come on."
"I insist." The waitress placed the glasses on the table and Gordon handed her the money. "Thank you, sweetie." Gordon and Dean lifter their glasses. "Another one bites the dust."
"That's right." They clinked glasses, while Sam looked on sullenly, his arms folded across his chest.
"Dean, you gave that big-ass fang one hell of a haircut my friend."
"Thank you." Dean smirked.
"That was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful."
"Yep. You all right, Sammy?" Dean asked, noticing Sam's demeanour.
"I'm fine."
"Well, lighten up a little, Sammy."
"He's the only one who gets to call me that." Sam told him. Lacey smirked at him before remembering he couldn't see her.
"Okay. No offense meant. Just celebrating a little. Job well done." Gordon shrugged.
"Right. Well, decapitations aren't my idea of a good time, I guess."
"Oh, come on, man, it's not like it was human. You've gotta have a little more fun with your job."
"See? That's what I've been trying to tell him. You could learn a thing or two from this guy." Lacey frowned and began to walk around the table. Dean followed her with his eyes.
"What's up?" Gordon looked around, trying to work out who he was talking to and finding no-one.
"There's something about this guy, I'm getting bad vibes."
"Really?" Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I am a telepath… normally. I do get a sense of people."
"Who's he talking to?" Gordon frowned at Sam.
"Just his imaginary friend." Sam replied, glibly.
"She's not imaginary, just invisible." Dean interrupted, glaring at Sam.
"Uhh, ok…" Gordon looked unsure.
"I wouldn't let your guard down around him." Lacey advised as Sam go to his feet.
"Look, I'm not gonna bring you guys down. I'm just gonna go back to the motel."
"You sure?" Dean asked, frowning.
"Yeah."
"Sammy? Remind me to beat that buzzkill out of you later, all right?" Dean said as he tossed him the keys. Lacey frowned at him but he ignored her.
"Something I said?" Gordon asked.
"Nah, nah, he just gets that way sometimes. Tell you what. Match you quarters for the next round." Dean suggested.

Lacey was sat in the chair Sam had vacated, leaning back nonchalantly, listening intently to the story Dean was telling.
"…So I pick up this crossbow. And I hit that ugly sucker with a silver tipped arrow right in his heart. Sammy's waiting in the car, and me and my dad take the thing into the woods, burn it to a crisp. I'm sitting there and looking into the fire and I'm thinking to myself, I'm sixteen years old. Most kids my age are worried about pimples, prom dates. I'm seeing things that they'll never even know. Never even dream of. So, right then, I just sort of…"
"Embraced the life?" Gordon interrupted.
"Yeah."
"Yeah." They paused for a moment.
"Yeah. How'd you get started?"
"First time I saw a vampire I was barely eighteen. Home alone with my sister. I hear the window break in her room. I grab my dad's gun, run in, try to get it off her. Too late. So I shoot the damn thing. Which of course is about as useful as snapping it with a rubber band. It rushes me, picks me up, flings me across the room, knocks me out cold. When I wake up, the vampire's gone, my sisters gone."

"And then?" Dean asked, clearly engrossed.
"Then… try explaining that one to your family. So I left home. And then bummed around looking for information: how you track 'em, how you kill 'em. And I found that fang, it was my first kill."
"Sorry about your sister."

"Yeah. She was beautiful. I can still see her, you know? The way she was. But hey, that was a long time ago. I mean, your dad. It's gotta be rough." Dean gave him a small wistful smile.
"Yeah. Yeah, you know. He was just one of those guys. Took some terrible beatings, just kept coming. So you're always thinking to yourself, he's indestructible. He'll always be around, nothing can kill my dad. Then just like that…" Dean snapped his fingers. "he's gone. I can't talk about this to Sammy. You know, I gotta keep my game face on." He cleared his throat, glancing at Lacey. "But, uh, the truth is I'm not handling it very well. Feel like I have this…."
"Hole inside you? And it just gets bigger and bigger and darker and darker? Good. You can use it. Keeps you hungry. Trust me. There's plenty out there needs killing, and this'll help you do it. Dean, it's not a crime to need your job." Lacey glared at Gordon. That was not the message Dean needed to hear right now. "You know why I love this life?"
"Hmm?"
"It's all black and white. There's no maybe. You find the bad thing, kill it. See, most people spend their lives in shades of grey. Is this right? Is that wrong? Not us."
"Not sure Sammy would agree with you, but…" Dean shrugged.
"Doesn't seem like your brother's much like us." Dean looked up, frowning slightly. "I'm not saying he's wrong. Just different. But you and me? We were born to do this. It's in our blood."

As Gordon disappeared to the bathroom, before they headed back to the motel, Lacey leant forward in her chair and levelled Dean with an unimpressed scowl.
"Don't listen to him."
"What?"
"Everything he just said. Ignore it. Yes, you're good at what you do, in fact your awesome at it, but that doesn't mean you shut yourself off to the rest of the world. Sometimes Sam is right, things aren't always black and white. Losing your dad, I can't even imagine what that feels like, but you can talk to Sam, he's feeling exactly the same as you. Now go ahead and be you and ignore half of what I just said, but don't trust Gordon's judgement. It's askew to say the least." She gave him a small smile. Dean stared back at her for a moment before speaking.
"I get why I'm dating you in the future." Lacey laughed.
"Oh yeah, I'm awesome too."

They arrived back at the motel and Gordon went straight into talking about the case, trying to work out where the vamps were holed up.
"This is the best pattern I can establish. It's sketchy at best." Gordon said as they pored over a map of the area.
"Looks like it's all coming from this side of town. Which means the nest would be around here someplace, right?"
"Yep, that's what I'm thinking. Problem is, there's thirty five, forty farms out there. I've searched about half of them already, but nothing yet. They're covering their tracks real good."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to search the other half." He glanced down at his watch and frowned. "What time is it? Where is Sam?"
"An excellent point." Lacey said, giving him a look.
"Car's parked outside. Probably went for a walk. Seems like the take a walk type." Gordon shrugged.
"Yeah, he is, but…" Before Dean could say any more, the door opened and Sam walked in. "Where you been?"
"Can I talk to you alone?" Sam asked, pointedly.
"You mind chilling out for a couple of minutes?" Dean asked Gordon as he got to his feet and followed Sam outside. Lacey followed him out and he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.
"What, he's creepy, I'm not staying in there with him alone, even if he can't see me." Lacey told him.
"Suit yourself."
"What?" Sam asked.
"Lacey's here."
"Oh, that's fine." Sam dismissed. "Dean, maybe we've got to rethink this hunt."
"What are you talking about? Where were you?"
"In the nest." Lacey looked surprised.
"You found it?"
"They found me, man."
"How'd you get out? How many'd you kill?" Dean questioned.
"None."
"Well, Sam, they didn't just let you go."
"That's exactly what they did."
"All right, well, where is it?"
"I was blindfolded, I don't know."
"Well, you've got to know something." Dean replied, sounding exasperated.
"We went over that bridge outside of town, but Dean, listen. Maybe we shouldn't go after them."
"Why not?" Dean's frown deepened.
"I don't think they're like other vampires. I don't think they're killing people."
"You're joking. Then how do they stay alive? Or undead, or whatever the hell they are."
"The cattle mutilations. They said they live off of animal blood."
"And you believed them?"
"Look at me Dean. They let me go without a scratch." Sam shrugged.
"Wait, so you're saying…. No, man, no way. I don't know why they let you go. I don't really care. We find 'em, we waste 'em."
"Why?"
"What part of vampires don't you understand, Sam? If it's supernatural, we kill it, end of story. That's our job."
"No, Dean, that's not our job. Our job is hunting evil. And if these things aren't killing people they're not evil!" Sam reasoned.
"Of course they're killing people, that's what they do. They're all the same, Sam. They're not human, okay? We have to exterminate every last one of them."
"No, Dean, I don't think so, all right? Not this time."
"Gordon's been on those vamps for a year, man, he knows." Lacey scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Gordon?"
"yes."
"You're taking his word for it?"
"That's right." Sam and Lacey unknowingly rolled their eyes in unison.
"Ellen say's he's bad news." Sam informed him.
"You called Ellen? And I'm supposed to listen to her? We barely know her, Sam, no thanks, I'll go with Gordon."
"Right, cause Gordon's such an old friend. You don't think I can see what this is?"
"What are you talking about?"
"He's a substitute for Dad, isn't he? A poor one."
"Shut up, Sam." Dean said in a warning tone.
"He's not even close, Dean. Not on his best day."
"You know what? I'm not even going to talk about this." Dean turned to leave.
"You know, you slap on this big fake smile but I can see right through it. Because I know how you feel, Dean. Dad's dead. And he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it, but you can't just fill up that hole with whoever you want to. It's an insult to his memory." Sam's tone softened.
"Okay." Dean turned back around and punched Sam in the face. Lacey let out a gasp, taking a step back.
"I'm going to that nest. You don't want to tell me where it is, fine. I'll find it myself." He opened the door and walked back in.
"Dean?" Sam went after him.
"Gordon?" They followed him inside and found the room empty.
"You think he went after them?"
"Probably."
"Dean, we have to stop him."
"Really, Sam? Because I say we lend a hand."
"Just give me the benefit of the doubt, would you? You owe me that."
"Yeah, we'll see. I'll drive. Give me the keys." Dean grumbled. Sam nodded at where he'd dropped the keys on the table, which was now bare.
"He snaked the keys."

"I can't believe this. I just fixed her up, too." Dean muttered as he attempted to hot wire the impala. Moments later the engine sprang to life. "So the bridge, is that all you got?"
"The bridge was four and a half minutes from their farm."
"How do you know?"
"I counted." Sam shrugged. Dean and Lacey exchanged impressed looks as Sam traced a path on the map he was studying. "They took a left out of the farm then turned right onto a dirt road, followed that for two minutes slightly up a hill, then took another quick right and we hit the bridge."
"You're good. You're a monster pain in the ass, but you're good." Dean told him as they pulled out of the car park.

After following Sam's directions they finally reached the farm. They parked the impala and warily made their way inside. They walked into what had once been a dining room and found Gordon, knife in hand, while a female vampire was tied to a chair.
"Sam, Dean. Come on in."
"Hey, Gordon. What's going on?"
"Just poisoning Lenore here with some dead mans blood. She's going to tell us where all her little friends are, aren't you? Wanna help?" Lacey cringed at the sight before her.
"Look, man…." Dean started, unsure as to how he should approach the situation.
"Grab a knife. I was just about to start in on the fingers." Gordon dragged the knife across Lenore's arm, making a shallow cut.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, let's all just chill." Dean held up his hands.
"I'm completely chill." Gordon said. The scary part was, Lacey believed him. This was nothing to him.
"Gordon, put the knife down." Sam took a step towards him but Dean put a hand out to stop him.
"Sounds like it's Sam here needs to chill." Gordon watched them carefully.
"Just step away from her, all right?" Sam asked, trying to remain calm.
"You're right. I'm wasting my time here. This bitch will never talk. Might as well put her out of her misery." He pulled a larger knife from his belt. "I just sharpened it, so it's completely humane." He assured them. Sam stepped between him.
"Gordon, I'm letting her go." Gordon pointed the knife at him.
"You're not doing a damn thing."
"Hey, hey, hey, Gordon, let's talk about this." Dean interjected.
"What's there to talk about? It's like I said, Dean. No shades of grey."
"Yeah. I hear ya. And I know how you feel."
"Do you?" Gordon no longer looked convinced.
"That vampire that killed your sister deserved to die, but this one…" Dean stopped as Gordon began to laugh.
"Killed my sister? That filthy fang didn't kill my sister. It turned her. It made her one of them. So I hunted her down, and I killed her myself." The three of them stared at him in shock.
"You did what?" Dean asked.
"It wasn't my sister anymore, it wasn't human. I didn't blink. And neither would you."
"So you knew all along, then? You knew about the vampires, you knew they weren't killing anyone. You knew about the cattle. And you just didn't care." Sam realised.
"Care about what? A nest of vampires suddenly acting nice? Taking a little time out from sucking innocent people? And we're supposed to buy that? Trust me. Doesn't change what they are. And I can prove it." Gordon grabbed Sam's arm and cut into it with the knife, before pulling him towards him, transferring the knife to Sam's neck.
"Let him go. Now!" Dean instructed, pointing his gun at Gordon.
"Relax. If I wanted to kill him he'd already be on the floor. Just making a little point." Gordon held Sam's arm over Lenore's face so that the blood from his wound began to drip down on her. Lenore let out a his and her fangs began to emerge.
"Hey!" Dean barked at him.
"You think she's so different? Still want to save her? Look at her. They're all the same. Evil, bloodthirsty." Lenore got her self under control and retracted her fangs.
"No, no." She began to mutter.
"You hear her, Gordon?"
"No! No!" Lenore was getting louder. Sam untangled himself from Gordon, pushing him away.
"We're done here."
"Sam, get her out of here." Dean instructed.
"Yeah." Sam untied her from the chair and picked her up. Gordon made a move to stop him but Dean waved his gun at him.
"Uhuh, uhuh! Gordon, I think you and I've got some things to talk about."
"Get out of my way." Gordon told him as Sam walked out the door with Lenore.
"Sorry.," Dean said, sounding anything but.
"You're not serious."
"I'm having a hard time believing it too, but I know what I saw. If you want those vampires, you gotta go through me." Gordon embedded his knife in the table.
"Fine." Dean ejected the clip from his gun and put it down too. Before he could do anything else Gordon punched him. Lacey stepped back letting them duke it out until Gordon grabbed the knife again.
"What are you doing, man? You doing this for a fang? Come on, Dean, we're on the same side here."
"I don't think so you sadistic bastard."
"You're not like your brother. You're a killer. Like me." As Gordon threw Dean across the room, Lacey let out a growl and threw her weight into knocking Gordon off his feet. Although her powers weren't working she still caught him off guard enough to knock him to the ground. As he tried to get back to his feet Dean kicked him back down, before grabbing him by the collar and shoving him into the wall and elbowing him in the face, knocking him out. He kept Gordon pinned under his elbow and walked him into the wall.
"Oh, sorry." He said, sarcastically. He dumped Gordon into the chair Lenore had been in and tightened the bonds around him. "You know, I might be like you and I might not. But you're the one tied up right now." Dean told him. "You ok?" He asked, as Lacey walked into the room, holding her hand to her arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught me with the knife."
"Let me see?" Dean straightened up and walked over to her.
"It's fine, really. It'll just heal when I get back." Lacey shrugged, before wincing in pain. "Well this is fun, back in my time I have this wolverine-esque healing ability." She told him, as he examined the cut.
"You know you saved my hide back there."
"What little old me?" Lacey teased. "Nice to know I can be of some use."
"You sure you don't want me to bandage that?" Dean offered.
"No it's cool, I…" Lacey felt something pulling at the back of her mind. "I think I have to go." Before he could protest she wrapped him in a hug.
"Take care of yourself, Dean. Talk to Sam, don't be too hard on him, but most importantly don't be too hard on yourself." She told him before closing her eyes and disappearing.
Dean stood there, staring at the spot where she'd been, his mind reeling.

"Lacey." She was being shaken awake as she re-entered her body. She opened her eyes to find Dorothy standing over her.
"Oh, hey, is the award show over already?"
"It sure is, and I won!" Sophia held up her award.
"Oh, wow, that's awesome." She sat up.
"Looks like you had an eventful night." Blanche teased.
"Oh yeah, I'm a real party animal." Lacey smiled. "You guys sound terrible by the way."
"Oh, I know. We're taking ourselves off to bed right now." Rose told her.
"You ok sharing with Ma?" Dorothy asked.
"Of course. Come on Sophia, lets have some cheesecake and you can tell me all about your evening." Lacey suggested as she and Sophia walked through the swing door into the kitchen. The other three exchanged a look.
"Well, one slice of cheesecake wouldn't hurt." Blanche reasoned, Rose and Dorothy shrugged and the three of them followed Lacey and Sophia into the kitchen.