chapter eight, act one
i know the end

Freya felt like an idiot sitting in that motel room bed in a small town in Missouri. Ophelia had insisted on getting off the bus after hours of travel on claiming that the vehicle smelled terrible and was super uncomfortable. Now the demon was sitting on the couch, watching TV while Freya could only think and worry about her little brother.

"You should eat something, I don't want you to die of inanition." Ophelia spoke.

"Why do you care?" Freya asked with frustration. "You just want the book. I honestly don't know why you're keeping me alive."

"You're right, I don't care." Ophelia said, but the lack of answers to her last question left Freya wondering.

"Why are you keeping me alive anyway?" Freya frowned.

"It's none of your business."

"It's my life, I think it is."

Ophelia sighed in frustration. She didn't have much to lose by telling the truth, but that wasn't her style either. "Eat, or I'll tell my friend to start cutting off your friend's fingers." She smiled. "Deal?"

Seeing her serious expression on her face, Freya could only accept her situation and open the pizza box they had ordered, grabbing a slice of it to take a bite. Ophelia smiled victoriously.

"I think I'll go take a bath." Freya spoke after a few minutes. "You think I can do that?"

"Do whatever you want." She said without bothering to look at her. "But if you go out the window and try to escape, say goodbye to little Peter and sweet Maddie."

"Don't worry, I have no intention of leaving. And I can't call anyone either, you have my phone." She pointed, grabbing the bag with the book and a fresh change of clothes before heading for the bathroom. Ophelia rolled her eyes as she watched her disappear behind the door.

Meanwhile, back at the Holloway house, Peter had managed to hide, force open the door to his father's office and hide in the small hiding place behind one of the bookshelves. It was one of the small hiding places his father had prepared after the 1994 incident, although that was something Peter didn't know about. The boy just thought that those hiding places were due to the antiquity of his house.

In the living room, a demon that had possessed the body of a young man kept Maddie tied to a chair while he searched the house for the young Holloway boy and waited for Ophelia's instructions.

Peter knew what he needed in order to fight a demon, but at that moment he didn't have his weapons with him. He only had a pocketknife and his almost dead phone. So he decided to use the latter to dial his sister's number, but it was quickly sent to the voice mail button, making him curse. He didn't know any other number by memory, and hers was the only one on his contact list. But then he remembered the call he'd had with Dean back in October to remind him of his sister's birthday. The number was registered, he just had to press the call button.

And so he did, waiting a few tones before the older Winchester brother voice came from the other end of the line "What?" Peter caught the angry tone in his voice with ease, causing him to be slightly startled.

Dean heard his nervous breathing as his only response. Peter meant to say something, but the loud sound of one of his father's office doors being forced open caused him to remain silent.

Sam looked at his brother with confusion as he saw the frown on his face and the worried look in his eyes.

"Peter?" Dean spoke again, this time much calmer. But either way, no one answered on the other end of the line. And after a few seconds where all he could hear was the boy's breathing, the call was suddenly cut off due to the lack of battery in Peter's phone.

Dean frowned, looking at his phone with confusion.

"What's wrong?" His brother's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, forcing him to look up at him.

"We have to go to San Francisco."

"What? Why?" Sam frowned as he watched his brother starting to pack up his things.

"Something's wrong."

"Don't you think we should call Freya? Maybe he was just playing some kind of joke on you." Sam asked a few minutes later as they left the room and walked across the parking lot to the car.

"You didn't hear his breathing, Sam. That wasn't a joke." Dean answered him.

"Okay, fine. But still... Freya was on her way back to her house, wasn't she?"

"She was worried about her brother, yeah." Dean nodded.

"In the time it took us to pack up and get in the car, Freya could have already gotten there and sorted it all out." Sam noted as he sat in the passenger seat.

Dean sighed, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket to dial the girl's number. Sam looked at him with expectation as he tried to ignore the bad feeling that had settled in his chest.

"She's not answering." Dean informed him after several rings.

"Fine." Sam agreed then. "Let's go."

Dean didn't need to hear anything else before he started up the Impala and drove off from that motel.

Back in Missouri, as the bathtub filled with hot water for her bath, Freya pulled the book out of her bag and nervously turned the pages.

She remembered Carter had claimed to have seen that book and Maddie in his dreams. At first when he had admitted to having powers, Freya figured it was some sort of visions, maybe premonitory dreams. But of all the spells and symbols written in that book there was one she was able to recognize as soon as she saw it. A communication spell.

Now, there were already two people, well, one person and one demon who had assured her that she was the descendant of a witch and therefore she had to be one too, so what did she have to lose by trying?

However, that spell only worked to communicate between witches, so her only option was Carter. She only hoped that if she succeeded he wouldn't ignore her and talk to their father once Henry arrived in Salem.

But as she turned the pages of that book, Freya seemed to realize one thing for the first time. That book had multiple handwritings in it. Ophelia's name was written on the back cover, in the first handwriting of all, but it was clear that book had belonged to multiple witches over the years.

Ophelia was lying to her. Which was no surprise coming from a demon. But, why?

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

When he arrived at the mental institution and learned that Carter was no longer there, Henry knew things were much worse than he first thought. He tried calling his daughter, Peter and even tried his home phone, but they were all out of service.

With nowhere else to go, Henry decided to head to Christine's house, where he began searching for the only weapon he knew could do something against a demon.

"Come on, Christine. Where the hell did you put it?"

"I'm sure that what you're looking for isn't in hell. But out of curiosity, what is it exactly that you're looking for?" The distinguishable voice of his son spoke from behind him, paralyzing him. "Oh, Henry, Henry. I thought we'd been through this years ago. We were on such a good place with that deal, but you decided to screw it up." Carter approached him, placing a knife against his back in a threatening way.

"You're not Carter." Henry then assumed as he listened to the tone of his voice.

"Carter escaped on his own from that place, I was just waiting for him outside." The demon possessing his son explained. "Come on, I know you're glad to see me again."

"Go to hell." Henry said, clenching his jaw.

"With pleasure." The demon smiled as he faced him. "But first I've got some things to do and we've got some things to talk about."

The fact that Carter was possessed meant not only that Henry was in danger, but also that Freya's efforts to communicate with him were completely pointless. It meant that the Holloway girl was completely alone and that any plans she might have had to get rid of Ophelia would be useless without help. The only weapon and defense she had was that strange knife that demon hadn't even asked about.

"I was thinking you'd drowned in there." Ophelia commented as she saw Freya come out of the bathroom. "Come on, we must keep going on our journey."

Freya frowned. "But we haven't even slept."

"I don't need sleep. I don't care what you do during the trip. I rented a car while you took that relaxing bath. I'll drive."

"Right, because it would be very convenient if I fell asleep so you could steal the book, kill my brother and my friend and disappear." Freya crossed her arms.

"Yes, it would." She admitted. "But it's all up to you. You just have to stay awake. I'll buy you a coffee and everything if you behave yourself."

"Great." Freya sighed in frustration, grabbing her things.

Ophelia smiled, following her steps out of the motel room.

While they left Missouri, Maddie felt useless, stupid and completely helpless sitting tied up in that chair in the middle of the main hall of the Holloway's house. There was no sign of Peter and she didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried about it, but at that moment the only thing she could do was to follow that demon with her eyes. After five years he had not changed his body, he was still possessing the guy with whom he had killed her mother.

"I shouldn't be here." The demon muttered as he paced back and forth. His gaze watching every door and every window, as if he was waiting for someone to burst in. "She's going to kill me."

Maddie didn't want to ask anything. She preferred to remain silent. If he forgot about her presence there it would help with her survival. But Maddie had the soul of a cat, and curiosity was always her weakness.

"Who's going to kill you?"

Her question drew the demon's attention back to her.

"Did I say you could talk?"

"No, I..."

"The shut up." He ordered.

With a slight nod, Maddie looked back down to the floor. Her breathing getting heavier and heavier as she felt the weight of his gaze on her.

After a few seconds, which for her felt like an eternity, the demon finally left the room to continue his search for Peter. It was then that Maddie felt two small hands touch hers.

"Peter, what are you doing?" Turning her head slightly, Maddie saw the blond curls of the boy, who was crouched behind her, cutting the ropes on her wrists with a pocketknife.

"Shh." The boy shushed her, placing a finger over his lips and moving to stand in front of her to cut the ropes on her ankles.

After his failed call to Dean, the boy had found what little courage he had left to face the situation and leave that secret place to rescue Maddie.

Staying silent, Peter pointed to the bookshelf next to the television, walked over to it and somehow activated a small mechanism, opening it as if it were a door. Maddie frowned, but after a quick glance around the room, making sure the demon hadn't seen them, she followed him to what appeared to be a secret hiding place.

"What is this?" Maddie whispered, descending a small ladder until she reached the small, secret room.

"My father built it years ago. There are places like this all over the house. Well, smaller ones. This is the main one." Peter explained, crouching down in front of a small wooden storage case. "This is where we keep our backup weapons. Here." He turned to her, handing her a water pistol. "It has holy water in it."

"It doesn't matter. We can't kill him, he'll come after us." Maddie answered. Peter shook his head.

"I don't know which door he used to enter the house, but it wasn't the front one. The trap is still there, intact, I've seen it. If we lead him into it he will not be able to get out and we will be safe. Then we just have to exorcise it." He explained, taking a Bible out of the case.

Maddie looked at him in amazement. "When did you learn all this?"

"When I was 5 years old I saw The Exorcist for the first time. The next day Freya made me memorize the page where the passage we need can be found."

"She made you?" Maddie raised her eyebrows.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Peter assured her. "I've had a normal childhood for the most part, really."

"This isn't normal." Maddie assured him.

"Maybe not this, but I took swimming lessons, played baseball and went to school like a normal kid. My dad and Freya never missed one of my games. I had my first kiss when I was 11, and I made Christmas ornaments in kindergarten." He explained. "My sister just wanted me to be prepared for something like this. And believe me, I'm glad I know what I have to do."

Maddie listened to him carefully. Peter's hadn't been the most normal childhood, but it was as normal of a childhood that a kid like him could get.

"Wait." Maddie grabbed Peter's arm as she saw him about to leave the secret room. "It's almost dawn. We spoke to your sister a few hours ago. Maybe we should wait for her to get here."

"She may be on the other side of the country. She won't be here until tonight."

"I know. But I've never fought a demon before, and neither have you, no matter how many things you know about fighting them. This can go wrong in so many possible ways. And if anything were to happen to you... Freya would kill me." She assured.

Looking into her eyes, Peter remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about her words. A part of him wanted to fight this demon, to show him that he wasn't a helpless, scared little boy who could be messed with. But on the other hand, Peter was a scared little boy. He was so scared that he hadn't even been able to explain to Dean what was going on. He was so scared that he had frozen and had suffered a panic attack before he went to Maddie's rescue. Peter just wanted his father and sister back, to hug them and feel safe again. He wanted his house to not be invaded by a demon, for it to go back to being the safe place it had always been.

"Okay." He said after a few seconds. "We wait for Freya."

Maddie sighed in relief as she gave him a slight nod.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Dorian, the demon that was possessing Carter's body seemed to be wasting time despite having claimed to have things to do and things to talk about with Henry. The man didn't know what he was supposed to do, the demon had taken his phone and his only gun. Henry was no fighter and he knew that in a matter of seconds Dorian could kill him, but he didn't understand why they had been at Christine's house all night without doing anything.

"I'm happy to report that Freya is on her way to San Francisco." Dorian smiled, sitting down on the couch next to him. Hearing that, Henry couldn't help but close his eyes in frustration and worry.  "Ophelia is with her right now. I'd say in about two hours she'll let us know about the death of your two kids. After that, I will get into your body and you will have the pleasure of killing Carter with your bare hands. I know you've been looking forward to it all this time."

Henry looked up at him, confused by his words.

"The one I want to kill is you." Henry corrected him.

"I'm sorry, that won't be possible."

"I thought you only wanted to kill Peter. That's what you said last time."

"Plans change, Henry. And we've learned new information. After tonight, Ophelia will have the powers of your three children, and we will finally be able to defeat Lilith and rule hell. After that, we will destroy all of God's creation and it will all be ours."

"A fantastic plan. Very ambitious." Henry muttered, sarcastically.

"I see where your kids got their sense of humor." Dorian commented with amusement, getting to his feet. "Listen, Henry, this isn't personal. It was a long-term plan. There was a plan to free Lucifer and it was necessary for your wife's family lineage to continue for years to come to Carter, Freya and Peter. With the birth of the three of them the plan was set to begin. Ophelia and I want something very different. Screw Lucifer. We will raise the Apocalypse on Earth. We will rule Hell."

"You two or just her?" Henry raised his eyebrows.

"She'll get the power from your kids, but we'll do it together."

"Sure, you will." He scoffed.

"You knew they were special." Dorian said.

"They're my children, that's all I had to know." Henry declared, raising to his feet. "They're special to me because I love them. They didn't ask for any of this, Laurel didn't ask for any of this, and I certainly didn't ask for any of this"

"It's their destiny, it's written."

"Screw your scriptures."

"They're not mine, Henry, and you know it."

The sunny California sky had been covered by a gray, almost black mantle of clouds, announcing a big storm. That image sent a shiver down Freya's spine as she and Ophelia entered the state. She had spent the car ride awake, struggling with exhaustion and trying to come up with a plan to get out of what seemed to be the end of her and Peter's life. Hopes of being saved by her father had vanished when Ophelia had let her know that Henry was trapped in Salem in the company of a possessed Carter. The only ones who could help her now were Dean and Sam, but neither of them had any knowledge of what was happening. Freya was alone, and as much of a hunter as she was, she had never come across anything like this.

Rain started pouring as soon as they got out of the vehicle. The Holloway house in front of them no longer had that homey aura. Everything was dark, cold and desolate. Freya wanted to run away, to scream, to cry. But as they walked up the porch steps, she just prayed that someone would help her.

"Calum! Open the door!" Ophelia shouted beside her. But no one answered and no one opened the door.

A loud bang was heard a few seconds later, accompanied by the sound of glass shattering. Freya's senses were instantly alert as Ophelia held her arm tightly and spun her towards the back door of the house.

"Calum!"

"Die, you son of a bitch!" Peter's voice was heard from the kitchen of the big house accompanied by screams of pain from a person completely unknown to Freya.

"That little runt." Ophelia complained next to her, letting go of her arm and kicking the door open.

A baseball bat hit her head the second her heels hit the wooden floor of the house, knocking her to the ground from the unexpected hit.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met." Maddie stood before her. "My name is Maddie Lockhart. You killed my mother. Prepare to die."

"Isn't that from a movie?" Ophelia frowned, standing up with an angry look in her eyes.

"The Princess Bride, you bitch." Peter shouted from behind before blasting her with his holy water pistol.

At some point during the day Peter and Maddie had grown tired of waiting. That demon kept calling their names as he searched the house for them. Describing the ways he was going to kill them and remembering how he had killed Maddie's mother. That had been enough to make the girl angry and give her the courage to come out of hiding. It was two against one and they had turned the house into a shooting range, setting up traps and shooting the demon with the holy water guns, torturing him until they led him to the demon trap at the entrance of the house.

"All right, that's enough." Ophelia reached out her hand, throwing Peter and Maddie against different walls in the kitchen, keeping them pinned to them as Freya entered the house. "The book. Now." The woman demanded, turning to the Holloway girl.

"Sorry, change of plans." Freya declared, pulling out the strange knife Maddie had given her along with the book. Ophelia smiled, looking at the weapon in her hand.

"And what do you plan to do with that, huh?" Ophelia raised her eyebrows. "It's over, Freya. Give me the book and I'll spare the three of you."

"You're lying!" Peter exclaimed. "Her friend has been planting explosives all over the house."

Freya looked at him in confusion.

"You said killing one was enough. You said you would kill Carter." She recalled, turning her gaze back to Ophelia.

"You said it yourself, Freya, plans change." Ophelia shrugged. "Now, give me the book."

"What book? This one?" Freya took it out of her bag, showing it to her before throwing it on the floor and kicking it with her foot towards the living room.

"I see you want to die fighting." She observed. "All right, I like it. I'll give you what you want."

Releasing Peter and Maddie, Ophelia walked straight to Freya, who quickly ran out of the kitchen through the door that led directly to the entrance of the house. Ophelia thought about going for the book first, but she was so tired of dealing with the Holloway girl that finishing her off had become her priority.

With the knife in her right hand, Freya tried to fight Ophelia when she grabbed her arm and pulled her back stopping her from going up the stairs.

The other demon, who they now knew was named Calum, walked past them after Ophelia broke the demon trap with her powers and walked straight for the kitchen.

"Take the book, you idiot." Ophelia yelled at him.

"But the boy..."

"Forget about him, I'll find him after I kill her."

Following her orders, Calum did not hesitate to go to the living room in search of the book, but when he got there he soon discovered it was no longer there.

"Sorry dude, the book is mine." Peter spoke, hitting him over the head with it. However, this hit did nothing to the demon, who turned to the boy with a blank expression on his face. "Come on, man, I'm sure we can discuss this. Just don't do anything you'll regret." Peter said taking several steps back.

By the time Dean and Sam arrived at the house the first thing they encountered was a demon holding Peter by the neck against a wall. The boy could barely breathe anymore as he continued to struggle to get free. Before either could do anything, Freya appeared in front of them, with her back to them, and lunged at the demon to separate him from his brother.

Holding the Colt in his hand, Dean aimed at the demon, but before he could fire it, the demon was already dead and the body of the boy it had possessed fell over Freya, completely dead.

Breathing rapidly, Freya pushed him away from her, pulling the knife blade out of his chest and looking at him in confusion. Her eyes then rose to Dean, but clouded by her fear and adrenaline she couldn't recognize him. Her body acting automatically, ready to kill him too.

"Wow, wow, wow." Dean blocked her hand, taking the knife from her in one swift motion, turning her around and wrapping her into his arms to stop her from fighting. "Sweetheart, I'm not a demon."

Freya felt her back hit against his chest and as she recognized his scent of leather mixed beer, her breathing began to calm while her eyes fell on her little brother.

The room fell silence, leaving only the quickened breaths of Freya, Dean and Peter to be heard in the room. But then a distant cry broke it.

"Maddie." Peter muttered, rising to his feet to go in her rescue. But Sam acted quickly, grabbing him by the shoulders to stop him from leaving the room and walking away from them. "Get off me." Peter shoved him hard and slipped out of his grip, running to the back yard of his house, where Ophelia was beating the girl he'd been living with for the last month.

As soon as she saw him, Ophelia let go of Maddie.

"I was waiting for you." She said, walking towards the kid.

Maddie crawled across the floor, grabbing her ankle and knocking her to the ground.

"Hey, you bitch." Freya called out from the doorway. Ophelia looked up at her from the ground. "Say goodbye to your precious book."

Freya didn't know if her plan would work and the book would be destroyed, but to her luck it did. As soon as she drove the knife blade into it, the book burst into flames.

"No!" Ophelia cried out in despair as she watched the book turn to ashes in front of her eyes.

A large beam of bright light came out from inside the book, blinding everyone present. It lasted only a few seconds, but when they finally were able to open their eyes, Ophelia had disappeared and Freya and Peter had fallen to the ground, unconscious.

Dean ran to the girl while Sam passed by their side to get to Peter and Maddie.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked Maddie.

"Yeah, a little sore. Is he okay?" She asked, trying to ignore the pain in her body to get closer to the boy.

"He's breathing." Sam replied after placing two fingers on Peter's neck.

"Let's take them to their rooms." Dean said, holding Freya in his arms. Sam nodded, doing the same with Peter.

"Wait." Maddie spoke, making the two brothers turn to her with expectation. "There are... explosives in the house."

"Yeah, well, we'll take care of it. You're not going in until we make sure you're not one of them."

"She was beating the crap out of me." She reminded him in disbelief.

"I don't care. You're not going anywhere near them." Dean declared.

Letting out a snort, Maddie accepted his orders, watching them enter the house with Freya and Peter. Being left alone in the yard, Maddie got to her feet as best she could, walking over to the remains of the book to look at them closely. Freya's knife was still there, covered in ash but completely intact. Still, when Maddie pretended to grab it, its handle burned her skin, causing her to let out a wince.

"Freya killed a demon with that knife." Sam spoke from the doorway of the house. Maddie looked up at him. "Do you have any idea where she got it?"

"I gave it to her." She revealed. "But it was her mother's, Laurel. My mother had it safely tucked away in a safe box at home, with the book."

"Would you mind telling us who you are?" Dean asked, crossing his arms as he stood next to his brother.

"Maddie Lockhart." She answered, resting her gaze on him. "Freya asked me to stay with Peter during the holidays until her father came back."

"Her father. Do you know where he is?"

Maddie shook her head.

"He was already gone when I got here." She explained.

"Here." Dean handed her a bottle of water. Maddie looked at it with confusion but still grabbed it. "I'm Dean by the way. And this is Sam."

"Winchester. I know." She nodded, taking a drink of water under the watchful eyes of both, but especially Deans. "It's holy water, isn't it?" Their silence was enough of an answer for her. "I guess I passed the test. Your turn." She declared, handing the bottle back to Dean.

"Yeah, right." He scoffed.

"I'm not joking." She assured. "How else am I supposed to know you guys aren't demons?"

Dean sighed, sharing a look with his brother.

"She's kind of right." Sam admitted.

"Fine." Dean sighed, taking a swig from the bottle before handing it to Sam, who did the same.

Maddie sighed with relief when she saw that the water didn't cause them any pain, which meant they were all human and no one was possessed.

"We're all clean."

"We should pick up the explosives." Maddie spoke, walking into the house.

"Yeah." Dean nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sam walked after Maddie, worried about the bruises and the cut on her forehead.

"Yeah, it's nothing." Maddie assured him. "Are Peter and Freya all right?"

"I hope so. I'm going to try and call Henry while we wait for them to wake up." Dean said, receiving a nod from both of them.

Just like that, as Dean tried to contact Freya and Peter's father, Sam and Maddie began to clean up and search for the explosives that Calum had placed in the house.