Bonds Tested

Malleus Maleficarum -- The Coven

~*****~

"What the hell were you thinking, Sam?" I ask angrily as we enter the hotel room.

"What? What was I thinking?" Sam asked wildly.

"She's a demon, Sam, period. All right? They want us dead, we want them dead!" I explain. "And you-- don't think you're getting out of this either. We don't have a lot of ammo with that colt, and you don't need to be wasting it on every single demon we come across-- if you've forgotten, I can kill them just fine!" I hiss.

"Oh, that's funny, I remember that demon chick in Ohio-- you two didn't want her dead!" Sam exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, she wasn't stringing us along like a fish on a hook." I retort.

"No one's stringing me along!" Sam stated. "Look, I know it's dangerous-- that she is dangerous-- but like it or not, she's useful."

"No! We kill her before she kills us!" Dean butts in.

"Kill her with what? The gun she fixed for us? Lottie, who can't kill demons for a few weeks afterwards?" Sam asked.

Dean threw his arms out. "Whatever works."

"Dean, if she wants us dead, all she has to do is stop saving our lives." Sam explains. "Look, we have to start looking at the big picture, Dean! Start thinking in strategies and-- and moves ahead! It's not so simple. We're not just hunting anymore. We're at war." Sam says as Dean goes to wash his face in the sink.

Dean turns back to us. "Are you feeling okay?"

Sam groaned. "Why are you always asking me that?"

"Because you're taking advice from a demon, for starters." Dean explains. "And by the way, you seem less and less worried about offing people. You know, it used to eat you up inside."

"Yeah? And what has that gotten me?" Sam asks.

"Nothing, but it's just want you're supposed to do, okay?" Dean says. "We're supposed to drive in the freakin' car and freakin' argue about this stuff! You know, you go on about the sanctity of life and all that crap!"

"Wait, so you're mad because I'm starting to agree with you?" Sam asks.

"No, I'm not mad, I'm-- I'm-- I'm worried!" Dean expresses. "Sam, I'm worried because you're not acting like yourself."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm not. I don't have a choice." Sam says in a calmer tone. I take a seat on one of the tables and remain silent.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dean asks.

"Look, Dean, you're leaving, right?" Sam says. And Lottie and I have to stay in this crap hole of a world... alone. So, the way I see it, if I'm gonna make it, if I'm gonna fight this war after you're gone, then I got to change."

"Change into what?"

Sam hesitated for a moment. "Into you." Sam answers. "I got to be more like you."

My gaze flickered over to Dean as I hear him groaning in pain. "Dean?" I ask softly as I stand up. "What's wrong?" I reach for his face, cupping his cheeks tenderly.

"I don't know," Dean shook his head. "Guys--" He gasps. "Something's wrong. It feels like-- a bunch of knives inside of me."

"Sam--" I gasp.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean groaned.

"We gotta look for the hex bag, now!" I exclaim to Sam. "It's gotta be the coven--"

Dean grasps at my shirt, his body curling into mine as it shakes with pain. "I'll find it--" Sam snapped as he starts tearing through the room. Something wet splatters onto my shirt and I gaze down. Dean's gasping for breath as blood spurts from his lips. "SAM, HURRY!" I shout loudly.