Two Months Earlier

She knew she was being followed, had been for a few days now. She didn't see the person but she could definitely feel someone watching her. But as far as Lucy could tell it wasn't Dean, Sam or Bobby. She could tell it wasn't anyone she already knew, which made things that much worse. She'd tried to stay low, especially since Lucy was having more time where she didn't really know what happened. Part of her was afraid that another hunter was stalking her, that maybe she'd done something so bad that someone was after her to kill her. Living wasn't really what she was doing anymore. Lucy was just trying to survive each day although as each day passed she felt a little bit of herself disappearing. It was hard to fight, especially at night when she could feel the flames licking at her ankles but as long as she still felt a bit of herself inside of her then she was going to keep fighting.

She'd been in Wisconsin for a few weeks, able to scrounge up enough money to stay in a motel that actually wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. The money came from odd jobs she managed to pick up when she felt somewhat normal but even Lucy knew it wouldn't last and she couldn't stay there forever anyway. After that money ran out she wasn't sure what she was going to do. The still-rational part of her brain told her to go to Bobby because he would at least be able to keep an eye on her. But the other part of her brain, the one that wasn't so rational anymore, told her to just stay on her own. Plus since she was being followed Lucy wasn't so sure she wanted to lead anyone right to Bobby; that could be a very bad thing.

She was coming back to her motel room one evening when she finally found out who was following her. She was walking quickly after grabbing a bite to eat in a diner not too far from the motel. Her stomach had been growling incessantly most of the afternoon but she really just hadn't felt like going out before that. Reaching the door, Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin with a shriek as a hand covered hers. She pulled back like she'd been burned, surprised to find a blonde girl standing next to her not the male hunter she'd been expecting. The blonde gave her a smirk as she took a step backwards, "Hi Lucy. I think we need to talk."

Lucy frowned, wondering momentarily how the blonde that wasn't that much shorter than her but she put some more distance between them. She hated that she could feel something creeping up her spine, poking and prodding a bit like needles. It was usually when everything began and she lost time again. "Who are you?" She managed to get out even though she felt like she was going to pass out at any moment.

"I'm here to help you." The other woman took the hotel key from Lucy and unlocked it swiftly before nearly pushing her inside. "You don't want to give into this Lucy."

She stumbled forward into the room, looking around to make sure nothing was amiss. How the hell did this woman know who she was? It wasn't often that Lucy even used her real name, especially when she was on her own. "I'm not. Now who are you and what the hell do you want?"

The blonde grinned as she walked around the room, glancing at the meager belongings Lucy had. "My name's Ruby. I know your friends-"

"What friends?" Lucy interrupted her quickly.

"Sam and Dean. Duh." She let out an almost-irritated sigh before dropping down onto the edge of the hotel bed. "I'm here to help you, like I said."

Lucy put another couple of steps in between her and Ruby, crossing her arms in front of her. "What do you want in return?"

"I want you to not go all dark side on us all because that could be very, very bad." She smiled up at her for a moment before it dropped off her face, "look I know it's hard. And I know what's got you in its hooks. We're going to find out a way to get it away from you and then things can go back to normal. Well, semi-normal I guess. Plus it means Dean can quit being all mopey about not being able to find you. I need him."

"Need him for what?"

"Need him to help me get Sam ready for when he's not around anymore. You and Sam are going to be ones that stop the whole demon army thing," Ruby said with a wave of her hand.

Lucy shook her head as she took a few steps forward. The room was beginning to spin, the edges of her sight blurred with black. The feeling of needles in her back was getting worse and she knew she was about to lose more time again. She closed her eyes tightly and kept them like that for a good, long moment before opening them again. She was hoping to find that Ruby had been a figment of her imagination but it wasn't. The blonde was still sitting on her bed, watching her curiously before she asked, "Are you okay?"

Lucy dropped down onto the bed heavily, covering her face with her hands and pressing her palms against her eyes. "No. I have a headache."

"Is that how it starts?"

Really, she just wanted Ruby to shut up. There was too much information flying at her for her to be able to comprehend what she was even saying, add in the fact that Lucy was having a hard time focusing on one thought inside her own head and she was beginning to get really irritated. "Look," Lucy said as she straightened up to look at Ruby. "I appreciate you wanting to help but I don't think you can. I don't even know you! No one can help me and it's better that I just stay away from Sam and Dean."

"That's not you talking. You know you should go to them for help." Ruby stood up and moved until she was standing right in front of Lucy. "I can help you."

"How! It's digging inside of me and pretty soon I'm not going to be able to fight it, okay!?" She finally exclaimed.

"No. It's not okay." Ruby blinked and when she opened her eyes, they were coal black.

It was enough to startle Lucy and she gasped, scrambling back away from her. "You're a demon?"

"Unfortunately," She replied with a smile before her eyes changed back to a normal green color. "And I can help you. If you let me."

Lucy's head swam suddenly and she stumbled a bit as she crawled off the bed to stand. Ruby was watching her and Lucy could see that her mouth was moving but for some reason she couldn't hear her. It was hard to concentrate, especially as everything started to go dark all at once. She fell to her knees and could vaguely hear Ruby's voice from somewhere that sounded far away when in actuality she was probably right beside her. But all Lucy could hear and all she could concentrate on was the deeper voice that was whispering for her to let go.

He rubbed a hand over his face before he sat up straighter in a chair, feeling the muscles in his back and shoulders stretch and pull. It seemed like they'd looked for her for so long and it took Ruby less than a day to find her. That just wasn't right, not in Dean's mind. But they'd found her and that's what mattered. He heard footsteps and glanced over his shoulder even though he knew who it was. Sam had heavy feet, always had, so it wasn't a surprise to see him trying to be quiet as he walked up behind Dean. He gave a glance towards the other chair in the room before looking down at Dean. "She still out?"

Dean nodded as he turned his head away from Sam. "Yeah. Where's Ruby?"

"Outside calling Bobby." Sam sighed softly and started towards the other chair but something made him stop a few feet from it.

"She say what's wrong with Lucy?"

"Said she knew what it was but didn't tell me." Sam turned then and made his way back towards his brother, "has she moved or anything?"

"No. I'm just waiting for her to wake up and freak out." He had a feeling that it wasn't necessarily Lucy inside her own body, at least not at the moment. Perfectly healthy, normal people didn't tend to black out for no reason. When Ruby had called saying she'd found Lucy, he hadn't believed her. He hadn't wanted to believe her. But Sam and Dean had still packed up and driven to Wisconsin, finding Ruby and an unconscious Lucy in a motel room. From there they'd moved quickly, setting up a devil's trap and tying Lucy up, just in case. But even Dean could admit that he had a hard time doing all of that. It was hard to see her looking too-thin and beaten up. The dark circles under her eyes told him she hadn't slept right in months probably and he hated that. Hated knowing she'd been fighting for so long but wasn't able to get rid of whatever it was that was trying to ravage her. For the first time in awhile Dean wasn't worrying about the deal he'd made; now he was just worried that something was going to turn Lucy into something evil they couldn't stop.

"She's going to wake up and whatever's inside of her isn't going to be too happy." Sam let out a sigh, glancing over at Lucy. "Ruby's going to get in touch with Bobby and get him here. He should be able to help."

Dean rubbed a hand over his face again, feeling more tired than he had in weeks. "I hope so." He just hoped that they could help her in time.