Part 6: Brothers

The bell rang, still on an automated timer, no doubt, despite it not actually being a school day. That was their cue to meet up with the others at the back entrance. Dean spared no time explaining the current situation: make-up snow day, Speech tournament, Meg and Mim being Speech coaches while their brothers are possessing two of their students. Dean conveniently left out that he had added Ellen and Jo as wife and step-daughter to his alias, fearing that the terse look on Ellen's face would quickly grow as homicidal as Jo's.

In reality, things were looking up, but they had a problem. Forgetting for a moment that they also had no idea how much time they had to figure this out, it was not going to be easy to get the boys alone in order to exorcize them.

When Sam mentioned that, Dean couldn't help commenting, "What if I don't want to banish first, ask questions later? We have no reason to believe these kids have done anything wrong. It's almost been a year since the Devil's Gate and nothing weird has been happening in this town. Maybe all they want is the chance to live out the lives that were taken from them."

"By taking somebody else's?" Sam shot back, "Dean, those bodies belong to their real owners not to Matthew Daniels or Benjamin Pasche. And they're not kids. They're 600 years older. I know it's not fair," Sam snapped before Dean could offer dissention, "It's never fair, Dean. But they're demons. I saw them shooting down students in my vision. Them with guns; students falling. I don't know how or when or where in the school it happens, but I know what I saw."

Back at the beginning of all this, before devil deals and hordes of demons to hunt down, Dean had learned fast that Sam's visions were legit. What Sam saw happened, period, unless somehow it was averted. But Dean couldn't give up. "Just let me talk to them," he asked of everyone this time, seeing that same old pity again on most of their faces that they so often tried to hide, "Let me try."

Perhaps only for his desperation, they gave in. Dean would find and watch the boys until he could get them alone to talk. Ellen and Jo would play their parts as mother and Speech competitor to keep an eye on the sisters. Bobby and Sasha would see about finding the boys' lockers and checking any other possible hiding places for firearms. And Sam and Sarah volunteered to 'suggest' to a couple judges that they needed to be replaced. It was a disjointed plan but it would give Dean and the others time to find out for sure what they were dealing with.

Uncertain of what outcome he really wanted, it was easy for Dean to track down the boys again, practicing for Meagan and Miriam in an empty classroom. He hovered nearby while Ellen and Jo pretended to rehearse.

Looking around, Dean started to understand what Miriam had meant when she said something about 'wall-talking' earlier. Almost every bit of space around them was occupied by Speech kids rehearsing their entries to a wall. Jo mimicked this, Ellen looking on as interested mother, and as Dean waited for the boys to eventually go off on their own again, he allowed the many softly mumbled speeches to drift around him.

'He kissed me like, I guess, you imagine how it must've been when they first invented it, like back in the days of myths and shit, when, you know, men were heroes and you could get kissed like that and you'd wait a lifetime for him to return, you would, and you could still taste him on your lips—.'

'And what would I say? On a pay phone. In the hospital. Her lying in a room swollen and blue, face cracked open, knocked out, not responding to anything but the barest reflex, all because—'

'I put little stock in stereotypes, particularly the noble ones. But this one is true—'

'You tried once. You went on one idealistic crusade to save your world and when it came crashing down, all of your faith that you might be the one came crashing down with it, as if it absolved you of the right to do good.'

Dean wondered if Sam ever felt like this, if he ever opened himself up to the minds of those around him and felt overwhelmed by all the conflicting foreign emotions.

As Dean continued to watch the boys from his place outside the classroom, he couldn't deny how normal and happy they looked doing their Doubles speech for their…sisters. It seemed to consist of them being slightly askew from each other but playing it as if they were facing each other directly. They would even pass invisible objects to one another, one of the boys handing nothing to the air and then the other would take it from the empty space in front of him. Dean was transfixed watching them even though he could only hear the speeches close to him, not theirs. They just seemed so much like normal boys.

When it was clear that the brothers and their unknowing sisters were parting finally, the hallways starting to buzz with students rushing to get to their first rounds, Dean moved a little more out of sight. He watched Ellen and Jo discreetly follow after the girls. Then he walked, staying a few feet behind the bodies of Sean and Micah, to see where they would go.

Either they didn't yet have their own round to get to or they had no intention of actually participating today, because Dean followed them back into an empty alcove where he could hear them whispering to each other. He didn't try to listen in. He rounded the corner and they instantly shot upright, silent at the sight of him.

"Hey, boys," he smiled congenially, "Not your turn yet to meet the executioner? Hope you're not getting too nervous about this being the last competition."

Smiles broke out on both boys' faces, "Nah. Just trying to get hyped up, ya know," said the brunette, the one pretending to be Micah.

"Yeah, we're so ready for this one. Been working all year," Sean's imposter said next, "You're a detective, right, that's what Meagan said? How do they know you?"

Dean walked a little closer into the alcove. They couldn't even hear the other students and bustling in the hallways back here. He spoke without reservation; he had the Colt if he needed it. "Because of you, actually. Because of how you died. And what exactly you're doing back in these nice boys' bodies playing at being alive again. Matt. Ben." He looked at each of them directly, not sure which was which, not that it mattered.

They could have attempted any number of denial attempts or tries at subterfuge, could have simply said that Dean was crazy, but to Dean's surprise, they didn't try any of that. The smiles left their faces and they positioned themselves better to flank Dean, on edge but not directly on the attack as their eyes flashed to all-over black.

Dean held up his hands. "Don't mean any harm unless you mean harm here," he said, "I know what you are. Who you are. What I don't know is how or why? Well, I know where the Devil's Gate came in, don't care much else about that. It's if you mean to hurt anyone that'll give us a problem. You want something of your sisters? Don't think I'm a push-over coz you're big bad demons from Hell and I'm just some guy. You know what a hunter is?"

Startled, the boys exchanged panicked looks. The blonde said, "Heard about them. You're here to hunt us?"

"Like I said, only if there's reason."

"And what's reason?" the brunette growled, his small teenage hands clenched tight into fists, "We can't be here, is that it? We can't want to see them? They didn't care when we were just losers. The only ones who never cared, who never treated us like we were less than everybody else. We know we made a mistake, we just wanted to see them again."

The blonde stepped closer to Dean, his eyes fading back to a pale blue. "Please, just a little longer. We know we've taken bodies that aren't ours, but it was the only way. We've been good to them, taken care of them. We just wanted to finish the year, please."

Dean could honestly say that he had never had a demon plead with him. Not like this. Even the easily dispatched ones always had some lofty belief that they could best him, whether they knew to fear the Winchester name or not. But these kids weren't even trying, just asking something of him.

The brunette came forward and shook off his black eyes as well, both of them looking at him with such earnest expressions. They just wanted a few more days, like Dean did—just a little more time. They were like him, like how he would become, he knew. He couldn't take this away from them just for his own selfish gains.

"And when this year is over, and you've had your time with your sisters, you'll leave these bodies and go back?" Dean asked. His hunter training, the instinct ingrained in him since preschool, was screaming at him to treat these boys like any other demons, but they weren't like any other demons, not to him.

"Just a little longer."

"We just want more time with them."

"Please."

"We promise we'll go back."

And Dean stepped aside. He couldn't stand in their way when he knew he would want the same thing. They were willing to give up everything just for a little more time, and even if they didn't, even if they wanted to stay, was that really so bad? No life was worth more than another, Dean knew that, but where did you draw the line? What was fair? All Dean could do was let the boys scamper past him as they muttered hasty thank yous.

He was resigned when he picked up his cell phone to call Sam.

"Sammy…"

"Dean, perfect timing," Sam began as if he couldn't hear the resignation in Dean's voice, "Sarah and I have been talking with the other judges. There are kids from all over the state here. And do you know what they all have in common?"

Dean didn't really care right now.

"At every tournament this year, every one that the Prior Lake Speech Team also attended, one or more students has either ended up dead or gone missing."

That pulled Dean from his wallowing. "What?"

"That's why there isn't any sign of strange occurrences in Savage or Prior Lake. The demons have been using the Speech Tournaments to cover their tracks. Even in the smaller towns, one kid dying or going missing wouldn't raise as much suspicion as a large death toll in one place. Kids joked it was a Speech curse. They almost canceled this last tournament. Dean, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Dean sure as Hell understood what it meant. They had lied to him, right to his face and so easily even though Dean knew they were demons, knew better than to ever trust a demon.

He stepped out of the alcove, back into the throng where a few students were still wall-talking and some were hurrying into classrooms. There was no sign of Sean and Micah—Matt and Ben.

"I hear you, Sammy," Dean said through clenched teeth, "They just gave me the slip."

"What? You lost them?"

"We gotta track these brats down, fast," Dean said without pausing to answer that, "I know it's a shot in the dark, but maybe it'd be better to just tell Meagan and Mim the—"

"Students, visiting students, faculty, and parents, if I could please have your attention," sounded suddenly over the school's intercom. Dean held the phone away from his ear, listening. This couldn't be good. "This is Mrs. Jennings, the Prior Lake Principal speaking. I know everyone is anxious for the day's tournament to begin, and I apologize if I have interrupted any already beginning speeches. But we need everyone to please immediately move to the auditorium for an important announcement. Again…" she repeated her request, calm and direct, though Dean would swear he could hear something like a tremor in her voice.

"What the Hell is going on…?" he said to the air.

"Dean!" shouted Sam.

Dean placed the phone back against his ear.

"We're in the office. That announcement, it's about a bomb threat made to the school."

"What?" That didn't make any sense; Sam's vision hadn't shown anything about a bomb. "Call everyone else," Dean said firmly, "It's gotta be a decoy or something. We'll meet in front of the office." Dean was already moving as he spoke, his eyes darting down hallways in case he somehow managed to catch a glimpse of the boys. He knew that he wouldn't though. They had conned him easily and with the least amount of effort—a bit more tactical than the average teenage boy.

God damn it.

As he was finally stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Dean rounded a turn, wanting to peer down just one more hallway before he ran for the office. He peered left first down a length of lockers—nothing—and then turned to take a few steps towards one of the other entrances to the school. There were people everywhere, trying to keep some sense of order as they moved for the auditorium. Dean was barely paying attention when he ran headlong into a strong male body.

"Sorry," he tried to move past the man.

"Detective Stokes?"

Dean glanced back. The man he had run into was John Wiedenhoeft, Miriam's husband. "What are you doing here?" he asked shortly. The last thing they needed was more potential casualties.

"Mim left her notebook at home," John explained, holding up the large red book, "She likes to keep all her Speech notes in one place. I don't work today so I figured I'd bring it by. Do you know what's going on?"

No time. Dean had continued to move anyway, heading for the office. John was following him closely. "Look, man, you should really just go. Just head right back out the doors you came in and go home, okay?"

John's face held a set and determined frown. He grabbed Dean's arm and forced him to stop, the throng of rushing people pushing and moving around them. "When I came through the doors the security guard locked them behind me. What is going on?" He had gone from curious and concerned to pissed and insistent in seconds. Dean's rushed speech and evasion of John's questions probably hadn't helped.

Sympathetic but knowing their time was short, Dean told John plainly, "There's been a bomb threat to the school. We think something big is going to happen and the death count isn't going to be pretty if we don't stop it. We're armed and we know what we're doing so just stay out of our way." Pulling his arm out of John's strong grip, Dean turned and hurried on towards the office. John was a big guy, Dean's height but sturdier; he could stop Dean again if he wanted.

Instead he continued to follow him.

Rounding another corner, the last before the office, Dean nearly ran into Sasha and Bobby just as he had plowed into John. He grasped Sasha's arms, relieved to see that the incubus was alright. "Did you find anything? Did Sam call you?" he asked frantically.

"Sent a mass text," Sasha nodded, "We got the message. We didn't find any guns," he said more quietly, "Not in the boys' lockers or anywhere else we could think to look, unless they're hiding in plain sight. Maybe Sam was wrong about how this happens. Maybe it really is the bomb."

"What are you talking about, guns?" John jumped in, close enough behind Dean that Sasha hadn't noticed him.

Dean would have sighed if he had the patience for it. He saw Bobby's eyes meet John's face, widening as they noticed just as Dean had how much this John looked and carried himself like a young John Winchester. "We thought some kids were gonna try and shoot up the school," Dean explained. Since John thought he was a detective, a lot of this wouldn't seem immediately out of the ordinary. "But now this bomb threat…"

"Bomb threat…" John repeated slowly, eyes darting as he thought to himself, "Guns…" Then suddenly he grabbed for Dean's arm, tighter than when he had grabbed it to stop Dean from walking away. "Oh god, that's gotta be it. If you had word there was going to be a shooting, guns? Then the bomb threat's the perfect cover. All the students and faculty know the protocol for getting through a bomb threat. They've been having them all year, some kids playing pranks. They gather in the gym and then lead everyone in groups to the church across the street, a set path. Fuck," he said with a pained expression, looking to Bobby and Sasha too, who he must have assumed were fellow police officers, "Mim even told me that a student of hers joked about how easy it would be to just…call in a bomb threat…and then wait on the roof to shoot everybody down."

Bile rose in Dean's throat and his eyes widened. He saw Bobby and Sasha's expressions grow equally nauseous. The roof. The fucking roof. They hadn't had time to think that far. "Do you know how to get to it? Where the access is?" Dean whirled on John, gripping his arm now.

"Sure," John nodded, "This was my high school once too."

"Can you take us there?" Sasha asked.

Then suddenly there was Sam and Sarah, running out of the main office towards them, and Ellen and Jo too from wherever they had been watching the sisters, who it seemed were now following them as they all rushed to meet together. The entirety of the group met at the corner of the hallway.

John turned immediately to his wife, who gaped at his sudden appearance, saying, "John? What are you doing here?" She grimaced as he held up her notebook. "Damn it, why are you so sweet? You have to be sweet when there's another damn bomb threat on the building?"

"We have to get to the auditorium before they start moving everyone," Meagan said to the group, "We don't want the kids to panic if we're not there. Are…these all friends of yours?" she asked Dean. Then noticing Sam amongst the group, she frowned. "Detective Brown, you're here too? What's going on?"

"Mim, it's not a bomb," John was saying to Miriam, "It's gotta be a cover. The cops say they were looking into a possible shooting. These kids might be waiting on the roof."

Miriam's eyes widened and she turned to her friend Meagan. Then they both looked at Dean and the others. It was too much to process with too many inconsistencies, Dean knew. "Is this the real reason you came to our homes? Brought up our brothers?" Miriam asked with a narrowed gaze.

"I thought these women were your family?" Meagan gestured at Jo and Ellen, "Who are these other people? More officers?"

"Not with that hair," Miriam huffed at Sasha, "This isn't right at all. Are you even detectives? Why did you question us about Matt and Ben, some kind of sick joke?"

"You better give us answers right now."

This was going up in flames real fast and they didn't have time for it. Those damn demons had this planned to a T and it was going perfectly; no one knew the wiser except for John who had believed them until about thirty seconds ago. "Look," Dean passed his gaze quickly over his comrades so they would all understand what he was about to do, "Your husband's right. I'm sure of it. The boys that called in that bomb threat are using it as a decoy so they can shoot everyone from the roof while they're crossing to the church. It's Sean and Micah, those kids hanging all over you," he said plainly, "And the reason we asked about your brothers…is because they're the ones in the driver's seat."

The wide eyes on both women turned immediately to fear of Dean and his crew more than fear of any bombs. "What the hell are you talking about?" Miriam snapped, looking like she might jump Dean and start pummeling him right then and there for all her smaller stature.

Sam came forward then, knowing there was nothing else to do but tell the truth. "I'm sorry but we don't have time for this," he said, "The reason your brothers were suddenly popular and more attractive after freshmen year is because they made a deal with a demon. When they died in that snowmobile accident they went to Hell for their part of the bargain. They're possessing those other boys, have been for almost a year, and for whatever reason they're going to kill as many people here today as they can unless we stop them."

"Will you show us how to get to the roof?" Sasha asked John again.

Despite how much Meagan and Miriam were sputtering and staring in horror, assuming Sam and Dean were either insane or terribly cruel, John nodded. "It's back between the choir room and the smaller gym. Stairs lead right up."

"John! How can you listen to them? They're crazy!" Miriam threw up her arms.

John just shrugged. "Maybe, but what's happening is really happening, Mim, and I think they're right about the roof. Whether it's demons or stupid kids or space monkeys, I don't care. Come on." Turning back the way he and Dean had come from before, John started to lead them in the opposite direction of where all the other people were rushing.

"We'll try and stall them if anyone starts heading for the church!" Jo called after them, staying behind with Ellen and Bobby. The rest of them bounded after John, with Dean and Sam right behind him while Meagan and Miriam continued tossing out dissents as they ran alongside.

Dean couldn't help noticing that neither of the girls tried to physically stop them, however, just ran on as if subconsciously they needed to see for themselves whether or not these people were actually psychos. Dean was just glad John had enough sense to care more about a possible school shooting than he did about worrying over the unexplainable hows and whys.

As they ran, students and others thinning out the closer they got to the roof stairs, Dean pulled the Colt from his jacket. Three cheers for small town schools without metal detectors, he thought. Sam, Sasha, and Sarah pulled out weapons as well.

"This is crazy! You're not even police!" Meagan shouted, noticing their hardly standard issue weaponry, "And you think Sean and Micah are the ones behind this?"

"And that they're fucking possessed by our dead brothers!" Miriam growled, sounding as vicious as Dean had ever heard from a woman who didn't have a supernatural excuse. But as understanding as Dean was of how the sisters were feeling right now, he couldn't waste his breath on further explanation.

They reached an ajar door. John stopped and touched it gingerly, pushing it the rest of the way open so they could see the narrow staircase beyond. He turned to the hunters then. "Have any to spare?" he asked Dean of his weapon.

"John!" Miriam shouted again. They were all at the door now but still the girls weren't really trying to stop them. Somehow they had to know that Dean and the others weren't crazy even if they didn't want to believe what they had been told.

Dean retrieved the miniature crossbow Bobby had helped him load with Palo Santo stakes. "Know how to use one of these?" he asked John, armed enough himself with the Colt, "Don't be a hero though. Use it only if you have to. It'll hurt the host too, so be careful, but a shot pretty much anywhere should paralyze a demon." As he handed John the weapon, Dean couldn't be sure if the guy actually believed him, but his smirk was confident and genuine as he accepted it.

Meagan and Miriam had grown silent, too curious and troubled to argue any further as the hunters charged up the stairs ahead of them.

It was Sam who shouldered in beside Dean too close as they climbed, slowing as they reached the top and then grabbing Dean's arm. They both had guns they didn't want to use.

"Dean…"

"I know, okay? If we have to…we have to."

They burst onto the roof, Dean and Sam, and Sasha coming up close behind them, guns drawn to search and scout all visible area within the least amount of time. As a team, the three of them had perfected it, moving and taking positions without having to think or second guess each other. As soon as their quarry was spotted, their aims snapped to one location and held, focused on the figures of two teenage boys bearing wide eyes and rifles.

Dean had never been so upset to be right.

"Just wanna be with your sisters, huh?" he shook his head at the possessed boys, "You really lose yourself that much down there that you can just…gun down a buncha kids?"

The blonde and brunette, controlled by boys who had once been Ben Pasche and Matt Daniels, were frozen, but they did not look at all guilty for being caught like this. They were something else. Something desperate. "Wait," said the blonde.

"You don't understand," said the brunette.

"This is about our sisters."

"We have to do this."

"It's part of the deal."

The brunette was slowly getting to his knees, holding up a free hand as if to show he meant no harm despite the evidence in his other hand to the contrary. Dean was sure now that the brunette was Ben, Miriam's brother, as it seemed the boys had chosen bodies that fell somewhere between who they had been and who they sold their souls to become. "We have to," Ben insisted, "Do you think we'd do this if we didn't?"

The blonde, who had to be Matt then, also rose up, getting to his feet with the same placating gestures. "It's what she wanted, what she ordered us to do. But this is the last time, she promised, and then it's over. We'll leave, go back, just like we said we would."

"But not alone," Ben said evenly.

Now Dean was really confused. What was going on? And who was 'she'? The demon they made their deal with to escape the Devil's Gate, no doubt, but who? And what the hell were the terms? At least Dean was starting to understand what Malak had meant when he said the boys were lonely.

Holding steady, Dean and the others kept their eyes on the demons. He felt it the moment Sarah exited onto the roof behind him with John and the sisters. He had hoped the huntress might be able to keep them all back for a bit longer. But maybe this was better because they had all heard what the demons just said.

"Benji?"

"Matt?"

"Holy fuck," announced John.

There were several ways this could go. Before Dean allowed anyone to make a move against the demons, however, he had to allow for the outcome that wouldn't end well for him.

He held out an arm, indicating for Sam and Sasha to drop their guns. Sarah's was drawn but not yet aimed and she kept it that way. Dean could feel through his periphery his brother and friend's twin stares and hesitancy, but still they obeyed.

"This is…impossible," Meagan said, hands moving to cover her mouth, "Am I looking at Sean and Micah or my brother? Why…why are you doing this?"

"No way," Miriam shook her head, "No, it's…it can't be, this is crazy."

Placating turned to looks of devastation in moments. "No…" Ben said with an expression that spilled his true self onto his host's face, "Why did you let them come up here?"

"You don't understand," Matt said again, "We made a mistake, we did, but we have to do this. We can't go back to Hell alone. You don't know what it's like. You don't…you don't know." The boys were standing side by side only a few yards from those by the door, their rifles pointing down at the roof but gripped tight with resolve.

It always amazed Dean how quickly people could go from thinking he was bat-shit crazy to believing him without question once truth was solid and tangible in front of them.

And people said he had a lack of faith. They just didn't get that it could go both ways.

"Benji," Miriam shook her head again, "How can you do this? To be cool, to be popular? You really sold your soul for that?"

The sisters had come around completely in front of the hunters though John stopped next to Sam, waiting as they were to see what would happen. "All you had to do…was be who you were," Meagan said, "It's hard sometimes, we know that, but you do it. You do it…"

"And what are you doing now?" went on Miriam, "Using Sean and Micah like puppets, good kids, so you can do this awful thing and let them take the fall? And for what? Why? How can you do this?" she said again, "You don't want to go back to Hell alone? So you'll…take these innocent kids back with you?" Her confusion was clear, and it was probably the only thing keeping the two women from actually losing it—human curiosity needing to be satiated.

Dean really wished he wasn't starting to understand what this was really about. "Not them. You don't get it, you don't understand," Ben shook his head, though he didn't advance; neither boy was advancing any closer to the group yet, "We already said it, we know we were stupid for the deal we made. We thought we had time, we didn't. We got ourselves killed. But we know what we're doing now."

"Please understand," Matt broke in, more sympathetic and almost believably too, "We've been there for so long. Longer than you've been without us. But then there was all this buzz about an opening, a way up, and…we knew we didn't stand a chance against the others to get a spot close to the gate and escape. But…but she came and…she said she'd help us. All we had to do was what she told us once we got to the surface. We guarded her for awhile and then she let us go out on our own. That's when we took these bodies. We just…we just had to do a few tasks for her when she asked and—"

"A few tasks?" Sam repeated coldly, "You killed almost ten people, maybe more if all those missing persons were yours too. And now you're going to kill even more, mostly kids because this demon made you a new deal and told you to?"

"A deal for you to take your sisters back to Hell," Dean voiced what Sam couldn't, or maybe Sam hadn't figured it out. It certainly had both sisters whipping around to stare at him. But when they looked back to the brothers there was still no sign of regret or guilt, just resolve and desperation to do what they came here for.

Ben hoisted his gun up to his shoulder. "If we do this for her, she'll give us the power to steal their souls and bring them back with us. It's all we wanted."

"We need you with us," Matt pleaded, "Don't you see? We won't let them do to you what they did to us. We'll protect you. We just…we can't be alone there anymore."

Even though Dean could no longer see the sisters' faces since they had turned back to their brothers, he was certain they had to be horrified. That was no act of love or sacrifice, it wasn't even thinly veiled selfishness like how Dean knew his sacrifice for Sam had been. This was dark and horrible. No one wished Hell upon family out of love.

Dean shook his head at the demons; the sisters were speechless so he moved between them and they allowed him to shelter their bodies behind his. "And who was this demon, huh, who had that kind of power? She give you a name?"

Defiant at first, neither of them said anything, but finally Matt admitted, "She calls herself Lilith. She almost seemed…nice compared to most of the things down there. She is. She's nice as long as you do what she says. We have to do this."

Lilith. Dean knew the name as a pretty strong evil reference, but it was another one of those with fractured lore, too much really to know what was real. Failed wife of Adam, first demonic creature on earth, first vampire, Pandora's Box, you name it, and maybe none of that had any truth to who this Lilith was.

But Dean did know one thing for sure.

"She lied to you," he said, ready with his weapon as soon as he might need it, "No demon has that power, not like she said she did. Free will. Believe me, I know. And so do you. You gave it up for nothing and now you're pissed. Sorry for you. But you can't take someone else's to make things easier on yourselves. Only your sisters can choose. And I doubt they'd ever choose you now." Dean didn't even have to look at the sisters to know he was right. This wasn't about sacrifice, something they could give up to help their brothers. It was something twisted now.

Sam stepped around the sisters too, then Sasha, keeping them safely behind a wall of hunters. Only Sarah stayed back to make sure the civilians didn't try anything heroic.

"Don't do this," Sam beseeched.

"You can still make a choice," said Sasha, "We have to send you back, just you, but then it'll really be over. These aren't your lives to take, you know that, not the students in this building or the boys you're invading. You don't have to do this."

"Thing is," Dean shrugged, feeling his fingers twitch since Matt and Ben were standing too still in front of them, "Even if you give up free will…you can still take it back for yourself." Now, he didn't know if that was true, but he wanted it to be. He couldn't bear that his future might be set in stone, and knowing whether or not it would be started with these boys that were so like him.

Neither of them said anything but there was doubt in their eyes now after having seen their sisters. The two parts of their selves were colliding—human and demon. Sam might have thought he took away the fear that these boys choosing good would mean the end for Dean. But he hadn't. Dean couldn't stomach the thought of sending them back to Hell if they chose good. Sean and Micah, the real ones, deserved to have their lives back, but there were other ways Ben and Matt might stay.

Dean thought of telling them that. Even possessing corpses would be better than Hell. But if he did then the boys' decision would be meaningless. It would leave too many openings for evil down the road. They needed to choose to stop what they were doing not because of any benefits but because it was the right thing. If they did that then Dean knew he could give up salvation for them.

Then suddenly it was the deciding moment because Dean's cell phone started to ring. And Sam's. And Sasha's. The doors below burst open as students spilled out to head to the church. Bobby, Ellen, and Jo hadn't been able to stall them.

For a moment Dean didn't know what would happen next. He could feel where the line was drawn, feel that these demons still so human were trying to decide which side of it to stand on. He wanted to believe they were still human enough to make the right choice. But the sneers that grew on their faces as they turned and dropped, swift as soldiers to position their guns and fire, crushed those hopes.

"No!"

"Sammy, quick!"

Screams erupted on the roof, not just the girls but their own. There were countless students and teachers and parents down there, all innocent. Thankfully, Sam acted fast enough that before the guns could fire, he had used his TK to pull them from the boys' hands out of reach. Dean wanted to run forward then, all instinct in him wanted to just move, but he knew he had to let Sam do his thing.

Problem was, a moment later, Sam's eyes vibrant yellow at first and then turned vivid white, nothing had happened to the demons in teenager's clothing. They just looked pissed, and they were finally moving across the roof.

"Sam!"

"I can't!" Sam shouted, "The signatures are too close! I could blow the hosts' human souls straight to Hell with them!"

Fuck, the demons were too human to exorcise but not human enough to make the right choice. Sometimes Dean really wished Sam's powers were just a little more reliable.

The demons were already upon them, in the bodies of kids, sure, but Dean knew better than to think physical stature actually meant anything where a demon was involved. They had to make sure the boys didn't get their guns back. They also couldn't risk letting them get to their sisters.

While Sarah pulled Miriam and Meagan back towards the door, trying to get them to leave the roof, Sam rushed at Ben with shear strength, Sasha went for the rifles to keep them out of harm's reach, and Dean rolled to escape as Matt grabbed for him, the Colt still in his hand if he needed it.

Damn it, he did need it, but he just couldn't bear to shoot some sixteen-year-old kid's body who didn't even know what the fuck was going on. "Just stop!" he shouted at Matt as he jumped back to his feet and aimed reluctantly, "You think no gun can touch you? This one can. Built just for demons. Now stop a minute and think about what you're doing. You're gonna shoot a buncha kids so some demon bitch will give you the power to force your sisters to Hell with you? Do you really hate them that much? Coz if you say shit about love then you really don't know what the word means anymore."

"You don't know. You don't understand," Matt responded. And no, Dean didn't understand, but he would. If they didn't end this once and for all, he would.

The demon was smart enough to listen to Dean and not try anything that might force Dean to fire. He waited and paced, matching Dean's stride. Dean could see Sam struggling with Ben but he must have been as hesitant to burn an innocent kid with the melting power as Dean was to use the Colt. Sam soon got knocked on his ass.

Meanwhile, Sasha had the rifles. He shoved them at Sarah only to return to the fray, diving in to aid Sam since he seemed to be at the least advantage right now, amazingly enough. On the upside, these kids weren't old or experienced enough to use that nifty force-push power. Ben merely braced himself and took Sasha's tackle, the two of them tumbling to the roof floor.

This was getting them nowhere fast. If they couldn't exorcise the demons then Dean was going to have to shoot them, period. Both of them.

He was too distracted by his thoughts to anticipate when Matt suddenly dropped to the ground in a lunge feet-first at his ankles. Dean was down, head smacking into the cement and Colt skittering across the roof a moment later. Matt reared up from Dean's left immediately, looking feral like he meant to tear Dean apart with his bare hands. He dove at Dean, but then suddenly jolted to the side as his shoulder was knocked back, struck by something that looked like a spike.

No, not a spike. A stake. A Palo Santo stake from the crossbow Dean had given John.

Matt crumbled, his borrowed body shaking and trembling as it fell straight back and then remained still. It was a wound to the real kid's shoulder, but it had stopped the demon cold. Dean pushed up from the ground only to be greeted by a hand reaching down to help him up.

"I win the crossbow shooting contest at the Renaissance Festival every year," John shrugged as he hoisted Dean up, handing back the weapon since Dean's gun had been lost. Dean grinned, had only enough time to notice that the girls were all still back by the door, that Sasha had been thrown by the demon—something Dean knew could only happen if Sasha, like all of them, was hesitant to hurt an innocent kid—and that Sam was diving in to grapple yet again when Sam shouted a warning.

"Sasha, get back!" he called. The incubus listened, scooting enough out of the way to leave Sam and the demon a wide radius. Then suddenly a red Devil's trap was glowing all around Sam and the demon he was still holding fast.

"You!" Ben snarled, fighting tooth and nail in Sam's hold, "You hunters could never understand! You don't know what monsters are, what they really are!" And as he fought, for the first time since showing Dean his true self downstairs, Ben let his eyes go all-over black. He roared and railed against Sam. "We'll show you! We'll show you monsters! We'll show you demons!"

It was empty threats—the kid wasn't going anywhere—but it was vicious nonetheless. Maybe Matt would be the same if he could move, but frozen as he was by the Palo Santo stake, he could barely talk. "We don't…care what it costs," he mumbled just enough that they could hear him, "We're taking our...sisters. We won't…go back…alone."

"Dean," Sam said, white eyes blazing so unnatural, "I can feel them now. Demons. I can feel them. They made their choice, I can feel the difference. Dean, we have to do this now." He was asking permission, Dean realized, to finish it and send the boys to Hell or to kill them. Sam could sense where demon was separate from the real human souls finally and he was waiting for Dean's order.

Dean couldn't give this order. "We kill them or we send them back," he said to Miriam and Meagan who had moved away from Sarah slowly but still several feet away from their brothers. John was next to Dean, watching his wife with anguish that marred the smirk he had been wearing before. "It's all we can do," Dean said.

The sisters were staring at their brothers, not at Dean, but they had heard him because both of them nodded. "Send them back to Hell…or kill them?" Meagan repeated.

"You could kill the…demon…and still save Sean and Micah?" Miriam pressed.

Matt remained still from the stake, but Ben might as well have had one stuck in his shoulder too because he fell limp in Sam's arms. "Mim…" he called to his sister.

"P-Please…" stuttered Matt.

Sam nodded to say that he could feel the demon side strong enough that he could easily exorcize or kill the demons now, just as he had killed Meg—the demon Meg, not this poor young woman and her friend dealing with ghosts they had long ago buried.

Dean supposed it was like asking someone about the death penalty, and really what was worse? Death? Or life in prison? With Hell as the prison it made that decision a little harder. Dean wasn't sure if it was weak or brave on his part that he would rather go to Hell.

"Send them back," Miriam said with an empty, blank expression. She turned away then and walked to her husband, right into his arms next to Dean.

Their were tears in Meagan's eyes as she nodded in kind, hands up covering her mouth again, but still Dean heard when she said, "They're not…they're not them anymore…"

Sam's eyes flashed and it was instant, black smoke pouring from the two young bodies to rise up and then plummet downwards. The boys didn't even get the chance to protest or make any final pleas. They weren't strong enough to resist Sam's powers now that they had made their true natures strong enough for him to lock on. They had made their choice.

The hosts, alive but beaten and shaking, started to come to, and the girls fell beside them right away, Miriam to Sean who had held Meagan's brother, and Meagan to Micah who had held Miriam's. They probably needed it to be that way right now.

It actually broke Dean's heart a little that the boys truly did seem in good shape for having had demons in them for almost a year, so Ben and Matt hadn't lied about that. Only poor Sean with that stake in his shoulder would need real medical attention. Micah would just have a lot of bruises.

With John's help, Miriam got Sean to his feet. The boy looked spooked, might or might not even know where he was at the moment or what had happened, though the startled look in his eyes had Dean thinking that the hosts in this case had seen everything.

On the other side of the roof, Micah stumbled out of Sam's hold and out of the Devil's trap into Meagan's arms where he clung like a five-year-old waking from a nightmare. Sasha guided all of them to the door. Only when they had cleared out of the way did Dean realize Sam was still standing inside the runic spell with a sheepish expression.

"Are you…stuck in there?" Dean snorted.

Sam scowled. "I didn't really…think this one through," he admitted, "I can't dismiss it if I'm in it."

Meagan looked over her shoulder at Sam. "If that thing holds a demon…then…"

"Don't ask," Sasha smiled, "You probably don't want to know."

Dean made way over to Sam and put his foot over one of the lines of the trap. It flickered and faded away as Sam was then able to release it. Sam's thanks came in a sad smile that didn't quite reach his eyes as he looked past Dean at the retreating casualties, because really there still had been casualties and it was probably Meagan and Miriam's last peace of mind regarding their brothers. "I'm sorry," Sam called after them. Kid never could resist with that stuff.

At the door, it was Miriam who spoke when they all turned back. "No," she said, "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"Thanks," John added before they continued through the door and down the stairs, probably already thinking up what excuse they would give for why a student had a wooden stake in his shoulder. They would probably try and quickly forget any of this had ever happened. It's what most normal people did. And good for them, Dean thought. He wished he could forget sometimes.

He could see how much Sarah and Sasha were debating whether or not there was anything more they could say or do, whether they should follow after those poor people for something, anything to make this sting a little less, but since there wasn't anything else to be done both of them just turned back to stare at Sam and Dean.

Sam's grip on Dean's arm was so startling and sudden that Dean nearly yelped. He whipped his head back to his brother and grimaced, "Shit, Sammy, what's the deal?" But then Dean quickly became worried rather than pained or annoyed. Sam's eyes were hazel again but they were wide, deer-in-headlights wide, like maybe the kid had seen a ghost if that wasn't such a common occurrence for them.

"Dean…" Sam breathed, staring off into nothing.

"What?" Dean asked, truly concerned now. He could hear Sasha and Sarah's feet rushing over to them, "And stop it with the 'I suddenly went blind' expression, it's creeping me out."

As if to appease Dean that he had not grown suddenly blind, Sam finally made eye contact. And then he did something far creepier than suddenly grab Dean's arm with a faraway look. He smiled like a kid at Christmas. "I don't sense anything. Anywhere. I can't…sense anymore demons from the Devil's Gate."

There was a sharp gasp from Sasha. "Then it's over?" the incubus asked breathlessly. There was a little less than a week, mere days until their time would be up.

It seemed too easy for this to be the end. "Can't be," Dean shook his head. Today didn't feel like victory. Far from it. But then if Sam couldn't sense anymore demons…

"Lovely day, isn't it?"

Well that certainly put a damper on their potentially and briefly joyous moment. Malak's voice had a tendency to do that.

They all turned back towards the edge of the roof where Sean and Micah had originally been poised for their shooting. They would still need to get rid of those rifles, Dean thought. Or possibly keep them. Malak was standing with her back to them—her, female again so back to alternating like he was used to—in that simpler black dress and gold belt instead of the Jessica Rabbit one Dean had seen last. She was looking down at the students still filing over to the church, none of them knowing how close things had come to turning ugly.

"Don't celebrate yet, Sammy dear," she went on, "I'm afraid your powers, though peaked for now, are not yet all they can be. But I'll make things a little easier for you, say…as a friendly gesture." She peered over her shoulder, her yellow on black eyes glittering with the backdrop of golden tinted clouds since it was still early. Her red hair hung about her shoulder in loose, beautiful curls as always. "There is one demon from the Devil's Gate left on Earth. I assume you can guess who after this recent encounter with those boys. Oh, and don't worry, I'll take good care of them now that they're home."

Instinct had Dean ready to stomp forward, but Sasha held him back, smarter than Dean could be at that moment with her taunting them like that.

Malak grinned out of the side of her mouth, all coy and cruelly beautiful. She turned around fully, leaning her hands back on the ledge of the roof and silhouetted now with the low hanging sun behind her. "Lilith is something else, take my word for it. Let's just say…some of her abilities harken very closely to yours, Sam. She can summon other demons with her power. She can't control them as you can, but oh, they follow her anyway, believe me. Don't worry about any loopholes involving her minions though. Any demons surrounding her are exempt, not being from the escape at the Devil's Gate. But they will be a nuisance while trying to get rid of Lilith, so do take caution. You're all such…lovely creatures," she said, pushing from the ledge and walking languidly towards them, "It'd be such a pity to see any of you…torn apart."

As Malak approached, Sam grabbed Sarah by the shoulders and held her behind him, this being the first time anyone other than the trio had been in the Big Bad's presence. Sam's folly, Dean thought, as this motion goaded Malak into taking extra interest in Sarah.

She circled them, coming around to get at Sarah despite Sam's best efforts. She stopped only a foot from being able to reach out and do who knows what, and gave Sarah's body a once over. "Hmmm," she hummed approvingly, "Such lovely creatures indeed. And you, my dear, are something else, I've noticed. You take dear Sam's abilities and…less than virtuous bloodline quite in stride. With the incubus," she passed her gaze over Sasha briefly, "It is understandable, he being an 'other' himself, but what about you? You've chosen all this. I hope you recognize that. Don't think it doesn't come with…certain consequences from time to time," she leaned in close to Sarah's face.

"Leave her alone," Sam came to her rescue, turning so that he was closer to Malak again and Sarah safe behind him, not that Sarah had looked at all like she needed a white knight. The girl was nothing if not brave.

"Stick with torturing me, huh?" Dean broke in, "And on a side note, I don't particularly like you calling Sasha 'the incubus' all the time like he's some sorta thing. Okay?" Saying something that…well, as white knight as Sam had just been, had Sasha's brilliant blue eyes locking on Dean's face in shocked gratitude. It wasn't as if Sasha needed Dean's protection from silly things like what their demon stalker chose to call him, but it had really been starting to get on Dean's nerves.

Malak seemed to find it all extremely amusing. She smirked, hand on her hip, "Well, my apologies, Sasha. I wouldn't want to give the impression that I think anything less of you for what you are. On the contrary, I think you are and will be most useful in the future in part because of those delicious particulars to your kind. And you are so dear to Dean, after all," she reached for Sasha's face, the redhead frozen in place at being this close to her when they had no way to defend themselves against her power.

Dean moved just fast enough to pull Sasha back against him and away from Malak's touch. "Yeah, he is dear to me. So keep your mitts off," Dean growled, "Now, you're saying we have one left. Lilith and that's it?"

Narrowed as her eyes were for a moment due to Dean disrupting her fun, Malak soon shrugged and smiled coyly again. "As I said, one demon left on Earth from the Devil's Gate. And you needn't worry about demons on Earth for other reasons, they're not part of the deal. Time is running out though, isn't it? And with Sam unable to sense Lilith, her being the…first human demon and so much stronger than him at present, you have no idea where she is." It didn't have to be stated that Malak obviously had no intention of telling them.

But she had given something away. On purpose, but she had given it away. Lilith was the first human demon, whatever that meant. They might be able to use that.

Before any of them could ask further questions, Malak returned her attentions to Sam and Sarah. "I had thought after the first loss you would be less cavalier to give yourself over so fully again. Humans do find it difficult to survive such wars, you know, Sam. Like Jessica, poor dear," she said almost as if she cared, "If it is any consolation, that whole business was more Azazel's doing than mine." She flicked her eyes up to meet his, smiled. "I would have been much more creative than to use a repeat performance."

Sam's eyes flashed full white, skipping yellow completely, something Dean had never seen. He held Sarah closer but he didn't say anything, just glared at Malak with all his power, power he knew couldn't match hers, couldn't match this Lilith's apparently either.

"How you're growing," Malak said with praise, "So impressive. You're almost ripe enough now. Almost."

"Unless what? Unless you're enemy gets to me first?" Sam dared shoot back at her, "Who is it? The person who revived me that night, who is it? Is it this Lilith? Is that why you went to all this trouble of making a second deal, so we'd take care of her for you?"

Malak genuinely laughed, no sign of the brief fear and panic Dean had seen the night he told Malak there was someone else in the mix. "Oh, dear boy. So little faith? And from you, Sam. How wonderful." Then she was gone, swift as she ever came and went, having left them not really too much better off than they had been before. All they had was a name. Maybe a few ideas. Most of it was still riddles.

And time was almost up.

Downstairs several minutes later, they caught up with Meagan and Miriam and the others, as well as Jo and Bobby and Ellen who were pretty much beside themselves for having missed all of the action, and since their cell phone calls had never been answered. They were of course relieved to discover things had ended well. If that kind of ending could be considered well.

Real police were arriving, stories needed to be made up to protect Sean and Micah as best as possible, and the hunters needed to make scarce. Dean got that, had even been the first to scoop up the rifles that they would dispose of later. But he still found himself wanting to wander the hallways and help make sure there weren't any students still hiding in the building. Any stragglers were safe now of course; there was no bomb, no potential school shooting either, but there might be some freaked out kid hiding in a classroom somewhere and Dean just didn't feel right about leaving.

He had said he just wanted to give the school one final once over before they left. The others agreed, most of them heading for their cars while Sam and Sasha helped Dean look, each in a different direction. Dean was certain he was just being paranoid, finding nothing but empty hallways and rooms, most with their lights off. He took a moment to sit on the back stairs that led up to the science rooms he had already checked and row after row of more lockers. It was kind of nice just sitting alone.

Then suddenly he realized he wasn't alone.

Dean's hunter senses picked up movement, the presence of someone behind him up the stairs, and he turned. Sitting up on the top step was a little girl, maybe seven or eight, definitely too young to be at a high school Speech tournament. "Hey there," Dean said carefully, not wanting to spook her, "You someone's little sister tagging along for the day? You know everyone was supposed to have gone to the gym earlier."

The little girl, with strawberry blonde hair slightly curled and tied back into a half pony-tail, was very pretty and delicate looking in a Sunday best white dress. She even had the Shirley Temple buckled black shoes. She scooted down a step. "I know. I was watching," she said.

"Well you should have been monkey see, monkey doing," Dean replied, "Sure your parents are worried. Most everyone's over at the church now."

"You're here," she shrugged, scooting down another step.

Dean had to smile; this was a strange little girl, very stoic sounding despite her smile, like she was wise beyond her years. "Yeah, I'm here. But I was gonna go too. Maybe you'd like to…come with me." He didn't make a move just yet, in case she might still be spooked.

She scooted down another step. "I thought it was bad to go off alone with strangers."

Smart kid; Dean grinned again. "Well…"

"But you're not a stranger. Are you, Dean?"

The smile fell from Dean's face. He hadn't said his name.

The girl slid down another step, now only a few feet from where Dean was sitting. "You didn't let them play like I wanted. It would have been so much more fun than all this," she glanced around at the empty school, "It's more fun with me. Much more fun. Those teenagers don't have any fun at all." She giggled, scooted happily down the last few steps to join Dean and suddenly clung onto his arm, hugging him.

Dean felt the cold chill of fear climb up his arm where she was touching him.

"But I know how much fun you can be, Dean. We'll have so much fun. You can find me, can't you?" Her eyes, suddenly and horrible in the face of that little girl, flicked to white. Just like Sam's. "Oh, I know you can. You're such a good hunter. Like Daddy taught you. Won't you come and play with me, Dean?" She smiled wide, giggled again, her white eyes blank and without reflection, and then she was gone, leaving Dean alone with that awful chill and a sense of dread he couldn't seem to escape no matter how close they teetered on a happy ending. There was still one more obstacle standing in their way.

Lilith.

tbc...

A/N: One chapter left for the arc and the deal! Finally! I think I like this chapter, but I know I'm going to love the next one. And oh to finally get to the rest of the story beyond the deal, I'm so excited. The real purpose of it all. I shall tell you all what I have told a few. As of right now I have 11 arcs planned, as well as an extra epilogue arc that will deal with loose ends I just can't fit in with some of the others things that will happen, and maybe I'll do a for fun arc and oneshots for as long as people enjoy them. :-) But there is an end for this fic some day. I just hope it will all have been worth it for my readers. Thank you all who reviewed with special thoughtfullness this last round.

Several notes. All those speech blurbs are from speeches I did in high school. I was Dramatic Interpretation and kicked butt...but never made it to State. Sigh. The whole school shooting, bomb threat thing is kind of true. My senior year of high school some idiot freshman girl, I think it was, kept writing bomb threats on the bathroom stalls. We lost so much school time from going into the gym and prepping for it to be real, that they were almost going to make us add days and graduate late. Like we'd have graduation and then have to go back for two more days of school. Oh we wanted to kill her. Anyway, I'm horrible, but a friend of mine and I came up with the whole bomb threat, wait on the roof to shoot everybody thing. Just using our brains, not meaning it seriously. Yeah, we're disturbingly devious. Good thing no one overheard us...

One of you is about to become reviewer 1000! I can't express my excitement. You will have to get a special prize.

Entries still being accepted for the Drabble contest, 100 words or less, 'presents'. Please, please, please!

These last couple chapters have been FILLED with hints. I wonder if anyone will have picked up on them. Maybe subconsciously, which would be pretty cool. Much love!

Crim