𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO , MALLEUS MALEFICRIUM

━━━━━━━━━━

"I hate witches."

Sam softly laughs from his brother's comment. Athena frowns and slowly nods her head.

"They're always spewing their bodily fluids everywhere." Dean shudders.

"Pretty much."

"It's creepy."

"And they always somehow have maggots involved." Athena's skin crawls. "Like what the hell? They're gross! Why do you even want to be involved with those things?"

Dean points at Athena, his point being furthermore proven. "It's downright unsanitary."

"Yeah, well, someone definitely had it out for Janet Dutton." Sam voices.

Dean nods, "Yeah, someone who snuck into that house and planted the bag. So, what are we thinking? We're looking for some crappy old Blair bitch in the woods?"

"All of that except woods." Athena holds up her pointer finger. "Might just be in one of these suburban households."

"Athena's right. It could be anyone. A neighbor, coworker, man, woman."

Dean holds his hands up, "A Blair bitch in the woods."

Sam rolls his eyes, "They could be in the woods too, yeah."

"Point is, This witch is just like everyone else." Athena leans forward, poking her head into the front of the car. "It's not going to easy finding them."

"So then, how are we gonna find them?" Dean inquires.

"This wasn't random." Sam voices. "Someone in Janet Dutton's life had an ugly ax to grind."

"We find the motive..."

"...we find the murderer."

...

"Gross. Every fucking time." Athena grimaces and looks away from the maggots in the burger.

"You okay?" Dean asks the man.

"What the hell's happening to me?" He gasps.

"Someone murdered your wife. Now they're trying to kill you. That's what's happening." Dean quickly explains.

The man shakes his head, "That's impossible. There's no way—"

"Paul, if we hadn't been following you, you'd be a door nail, right now. Now, who wants you dead?"

Paul swallows nervously.

"Come on, think."

"Uh, there's a woman." Paul stammers.

"Okay, a woman..." Athena slowly rolls her wrist trying to get him to keep going.

"A woman. An affair—A-A mistake." Paul explains. "She was unbalanced. She was blackmailing me. I put an end to it a week ago."

Athena shakes her head, "I say stuff the burger down his throat."

"Athena, please." Sam softly speaks. The girl rolls her eyes and holds her hands up.

"What's her name?"

Paul exhales a sharp breath. "Wh-what could she have to do with what—"

"Paul, what is her name?" Dean asks with more force.

As soon as Paul told the siblings the woman's name and address, they drove to her house.

The siblings walk up to the house. Dean pulls his lock pick out of his pocket and holds it out to the girl. "Showtime, kiddo."

Athena grabs the lock pick and crouches in front of the door. She sticks the lock pick into the lock and begins to twist it.

"Okay, so all you do is twists it a little to the—"

"I got it." Athena softly whispers. She sticks her the pick into the lock and twists it slightly to the left. She then twists it in the opposite direction and it clicks. Athena softly chuckles, "Hell yeah." She pushes the door open. "Voila."

Dean nods his head with a smirk. "Not bad, kid." He pulls his gun from his waistband and Sam does the same. They walk into the house and Athena follows close behind them.

Dean makes it to the living room and flicks the light on. A lady was laying on the coffee table with blood spilling from her body. Athena slightly opens her mouth, "No fucking way..."

"That's a curveball."

Sam softly scoffs, "Yeah."

Each siblings takes their time to look around the living room.

"Three per wrist—vertical." Dean examines the slits. "She wasn't fooling around."

Athena's eyes land on the plate of food covered in worms and maggots. Her skin crawls and she shudders, "Duuude!" She groans. "I'm gonna have nightmares about this shit."

Athena turns around and her face meets a bleeding rabbit hanging from the ceiling. A shriek ones from her lips but she quickly slaps her hand over her mouth. Dean wrinkles his nose from the dead rabbit. "Freakin witches! Seriously, man! Come on!"

"Guess we know where she got the rabbits teeth from." Sam frowns.

"Well, Paul sure knows how to pick 'em." Dean exhales. "It's like 'Fatal Attraction' all over again."

"Why'd the rabbit always get screwed in the deal?" Dean looks back at the rabbit with a pout of his lower lip. "Poor little guy."

Sam shakes his head, "You know what I don't get, you guys? If she was so bent on revenge, why do this?"

"Well, she got Janet Dutton, thought she finished off Paul, decided to cap herself and make it a spurned lover's hat trick." Dean explains.

Athena gnaws on her lower lip. "Maybe..." she tilts her head at the woman's lifeless body. She rounds the coffee table as Sam and Dean continue to throw theories back and forth at each other. Athena crouches down at the table and places a hand under her table. Her hand comes into contact with something and she raises her brows.

"Well, would you look at this..." Athena pulls the hex bag from the coffee table. She tosses it to Sam. Sam catches it and winces. He then quickly tosses it to Dean.

Dean catches the hex bag and his jaw tightens. "Another hex bag? Come on." He looks away from his siblings. He tosses the hex bag into the coffee table. "Looks like we got a hit, huh? A little witch-on-witch violence."

Athena softly smirks as Dean grumbles to himself. Dean flips his phone open and dials 9-1-1. "I'd like to report a dead body at 309 Mayfair Circle."

"My name? Yeah, sure, my name is—" Dean hangs up the phone. He stuffs his phone back into to his pocket and he looks at the woman's dead body. "Why are witches ganking each other?"

"I don't know, but I think maybe we got a coven on our hands."

And just like that, Sam watches as his siblings throw their hands up and let out the loudest groans of disappointment and disgust.

☆

"Well, I'm already sold on that Elizabeth chick,"

Athena was sitting in the back seat with Gil in her lap. Sam was lost in thought, but he would occasionally acknowledge what Dean would say.

"did you see that victory garden of hers? Belladonna, wolfsbane, mandrake." Dean lists. "Yeah, not to mention that little flinch she threw when we mentioned the occult."

"Well, she's definitely had a good run lately." Sam looks through the different news clippings. "Gone up a few tax brackets, won almost too many raffles—the kind of thing a little black magic always helps with."

"There's no way she's alone, either." Athena voices.

"Yeah, you're right. It looks like Mrs. Renee Van Allen has won every craft contest she's entered in the last three months." Sam informs his siblings.

"A regular Martha Stewart, huh?"

Athena softly scoffs, "Yeah, except for the devil worship..."

"I'm thinking that was the coven we met back there, minus one member." Dean states.

"Amanda was clearly going off the reservation." Athena states. "They probably killed her to keep up appearances."

"Seems like an appearance kind of crowd, don't you think?" Dean questions. "If they killed a nut job, should we thank them or what?"

"They work in black magic, too, Dean. They need to be stopped."

Athena and Dean simultaneously look at Sam.

"Stopped, like stopped?" Dean questions.

Sam shrugs. Athena pulls her brows together from the simple shrug Sam sent them. As if he didn't care much to think about it anymore. "They're human, Sam." She states.

"They're murderers." Sam retorts.

Athena looks at Dean, waiting for his input. Dean frowns, "Burn, witch, burn."

The girl opens her mouth, "Nice, Dean." She scoffs and sinks into her seat. "So, we're killing humans now, that's just great."

"Athena, this job's got a lot of blurred lines." Sam says. "They're witches. They may be humans but they're still participating in Supernatural activities and killing people."

Athena runs her tongue over her teeth. "Whatever. I'm not gonna be the one murdering them...that's all you guys."

Suddenly the car's engine begin to sputter which causes the car to slow down. Dean's heart jumps, "The hell?"

The impalas's headlights begin to blink while it comes to a full stop in front of a blonde girl. Athena tilts her head, "Congrats, you guys might be killing another human today like you wanted."

Sam quickly gets out of the car while Athena and Dean follow suit. The siblings got out in time to hear Sam speak the name "Ruby".

"Sam, listen to me. There's no time."

Sam pulls his brows together, "What are you talking about?"

"You have to get out of town." Ruby warns.

Athena keeps her squinted eyes on the blonde.

"So, this is Ruby?"

Dean quickly pulls the colt from his pocket and pulls the hammer back. "Never had the pleasure."

Sam tenses, "Dean."

"I was hoping you'd show up again." Dean sneers.

"Point that thing somewhere else." Ruby snaps.

Dean forces out a fake laugh, "Right."

"Sam, please. Go." Ruby looks back at the middle Winchester. "Get in the car and don't look back."

"Why? I don't understand."

"It doesn't matter." Athena voices. "We're not leaving. We have a case and we're here to finish it. Like always."

"This isn't just any case." Ruby looks at the girl. Athena stomach clenches from the demon turning her full attention on her. The girl didn't trust Ruby. It wasn't because she was demon. She couldn't place her finger on it. There was something not only familiar about her, but there was something welcoming about her that made Athena want to stay clear of her.

"Hey, hot stuff, we can take care of a few kitchen witches—thanks." Dean voices.

Athena rolls her eyes, "Just cause she's a demon, doesn't mean you should call her that stupid nickname."

"I'm not talking about witches, you jackass." Ruby snaps. "Witches are whores."

"I'm talking about who they serve." Ruby then shifts her eyes to Sam, hoping he would understand what she was getting at.

"Demons." Sam easily speaks. "They get their power from demons."

Ruby nods her head, "And there's one here now."

"Oh, what, you mean besides you?"

"Sam, it knows you're in town, and it's gonna come after you, and it's way more than you can handle." Ruby warns.

"Oh, come on. What is this, huh?" Dean looks at Sam. "Please tell me you're not listening to this crap."

"Put a leash on your brother, Sam, if you want to keep him." Ruby says.

Athena scoffs.

"Dean, just chill out—"

"Give me a fucking break, Sam." Athena looks at Sam. "Isn't she supposed to be helping you find a way to save Dean, not threatening him?" She looks back at Ruby. "How's that going by the way?"

"I am telling you guys the truth." Ruby pleads.

"And I'm telling you to shut up, bitch!" Dean barks.

"I'm sorry. Why are you even a part of this conversation?" Ruby looks at Dean.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because he's my brother, you black-eyed skank!"

Athena rubs her eyes, "Did my lessons just disappear from your mind?"

"Oh, right, right. And you care about your siblings so much." Ruby antagonizes Dean. "That's why you're checking out, leaving them all alone."

"Shut up."

"At least let me try and save them since you won't be here to do it anymore—"

"I said shut up!" Dean raises the gun at the demon. Sam's eyes widen and he pushes Dean's arm up to the sky and he fires the colt into the air. Athena covers her ears. She looks back at where the demon was, but she was gone. Athena then scoffs, "Great. Not only did you not kill her, but you also wasted a bullet."

She throws her arms up and walks back to the car.

As soon as the siblings got back to the motel room, Dean spoke.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"What? What the hell was I thinking?" Sam looks at Dean with an incredulous expression.

"She's a demon, Sam, period. All right?" Dean says. "They want us dead. We want them dead."

"Oh, that's funny." Sam scoffs. "I remember that demon chick in Ohio—Casey—you didn't want her dead."

"What?!" Athena squeaks. "Were you in love with her or something?"

"No!" Dean exclaims. "And she wasn't stringing me a long like a fish on a hook."

Sam's frustration rises, "No one's stringing me along!"

Dean deadpans.

"Look, I know it's dangerous—that she is dangerous—but like it or not, she's useful."

Dean shakes his head, "No! We kill her before she kills us."

"Kill her with what? The gun she fixed for us?"

Dean throws his arms up, "Whatever works."

"Dean, if she wants us dead, all she has to do is stop saving our lives." Sam simply states. "Look, we have to start looking at the big picture. Start thinking in strategies and move ahead."

Dean walks into the bathroom and rinses his face off.

"It's not so simple. We're not just hunting anymore." Sam continues. "We're at war."

Dena dries his face. He points at Athena, "Does he look okay?"

Athena blinks and looks at Sam. "He looks...fine." She shrugs. "He's got a booger—"

"No, I don't!"

Athena raises her brows and Sam's expression drops. The girl holds some tissue out to him and he grabs it with a small 'thank you'.

"Are you feeling okay?" Dean asks Sam himself.

Sam rolls his eyes, he finishes wiping his nose and tosses the tissue into the trash can. "Why are you guys always asking me that?"

"You've been making dumb decisions lately." Athena says with no remorse. "Like trusting a demon."

"Yeah, you're taking advice from a demon. And you seem less and less worried about offing people."

Athena holds her hands up, "I knew it was a problem! And you guys made me feel like I was crazy!"

"It used to eat you up inside—"

"And what has that gotten me?" Sam snaps.

Dean opens and closes his mouth. "Nothing, but it's just what you're supposed to do, okay? We're supposed to drive in the freaking car and freaking argue about this stuff while we ask Athena what she thinks and make her uncomfortable!"

Athena presses her lips together. She's always hated being asked for her opinion. But lately, it hasn't happened. She's been the one arguing. Athena had to admit, she missed those days.

"You go on about the sanctity of life and all that crap." Dean rubs his stomach.

"Wait, so you're mad because I'm staring to agree with you?" Sam scrunches his face.

"No, I'm not mad!" Dean sits on the other bed. "I'm worried."

"Sam, I'm worried because you're not acting like yourself." Dean admits.

Sam lets out a small breath. "Yeah, you're right. I'm not. I don't have a choice."

Athena pulls her brows together when Dean rubs his stomach again.

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

Sam's voice gets caught in his throat. "Look, Dean, you're leaving, right?" His voice was soft. "And Athena and I got to stay here in this crap hole of a world...alone."

Athena unfolds her arms and her spine straightens. Something's not right. Her eyes shift to Gil. His green eyes glued to Dean.

"So, the way I see it, if I'm gonna make it—if I'm gonna protect our little sister and fight this war after you're gone, then I got to change."

Dean shifts, "Change into what?"

Sam swallows and looks to the side. "Into you." He finally speaks. "I got me be more like you."

Athena pulls her brows together. "What's wrong?"

Sam pulls his brows together. He then looks at Athena. What was she talking about?

Athena walks closer to Dean, noticing him clutch his stomach. Dean groans, "I don't know." He slightly leans over. "Something's wrong."

"It's like a bunch of knives inside of me." Dean lets out a more pain induced groan. Athena's breathing quickens. And without thinking she runs toward her brother and falls to her knees. "Dean?" She grabs his hand.

Dean sucks in a weak breath, "The coven..." he lets out. "I-it's got to be the coven."

Athena's jaw tightens. "Look for a hex bag." She stands up.

Sam and Athena split the room in half and turn the entire motel room upside down. Dean's screams of agony drowned out Athena's distressed thoughts. Sam pulls the sheet off of one of the beds and thrusts his knife into the bed. He forces his blade through the mattress, ripping it open. Athena swallows—anxiously waiting for Sam to find the bag within the mattress. Sam stops and turns to his siblings.

"I can't find it!"

Athena's eyes widen and she runs a hand over her hair. Dean falls to the ground and blood spills from his mouth. "No, Dean!" Athena crouches down and grabs his arm. Sam grabs the colt from the bag.

"Sam, what are you doing?" Dean wheezes through gurgles. Athena turns and watches Sam stuff the colt into the back of his waistband. A crease forms between her brows. "Sam? What the hell are you doing?"

Sam stands up and stalks toward the door and Athena's heart drops. "Sammy, don't!—" As quickly as Sam pulled the door open is how fast he slammed it shut.

"Shit..." Athena looks down at Dean, who was practically coughing up his lungs. She couldn't stop her panic, which meant she couldn't stop her tears. "I-I don't know what to do..." her voice shakes. "I don't know what to do, I don't—"

A knock at the door halts Athena's voice. She turns to the door. "What the fu—"

The door kicks open and Athena flinches. She holds her arm over Dean. Athena's face scrunches with confusion but she also felt fear wash over her when she saw Ruby standing in the doorway.

"You want to kill me?" Dean gasps out. "Well, get in line, bitch."

Ruby's upper lip curls and Athena's stomach clenches. She stalks over to them and Athena's breathing quickens. "No, get away from us!"

Ruby lightly pushes Athena to the side. She grabs a fistful of Dean's jacket and tosses him on the bed. Athena's eyes widen, "Dean!"

Ruby pins Dean to the bed and pours a black liquid into his mouth. Dean gargles and thrashes around as the liquid runs down his throat. Athena snaps her eyes over to the demon then back to Dean. Ruby pulls her hands off of Dean and steps back. "Stop...calling me bitch."

Athena pulls her brows together and runs over to Dean. She inspects Dean's face closely. "What did she do to you? Are you okay?"

Dean swallows and lets out a gasp. "I'm...okay." He sits up and Athena tenses. "Better, actually."

Athena pulls her brows together. Simultaneously, the siblings turn to the demon. Ruby's arms were crossed and her expression was unreadable. Athena didn't know what to expect next.

"Next time you point that gun at me, I'm not gonna just disappear, understand?" Ruby finally speaks. She tosses a shotgun at Dean and he catches it.

"You...saved my life." Dean uncertainly speaks.

"Don't mention it."

Athena keeps her eyes on the demon, a pointed look still masking her. "What was that stuff?"She asks.

"God, it was ass." Dean exhales. He then pulls his brows together. "It tasted like ass."

"It's called witchcraft, short bus."

Athena shakes her head, "I don't like that. Don't say that."

Ruby feels eyes burning into her side. She looks to her side and connects her eyes with two emerald beams. Ruby knits her brows together at the cat. She then looks at Athena, who wasn't paying any attention to Ruby. She was holding her pointer finger out to Dean and making him follow it. Ruby looks back at the cat and her blood runs cold. She turns away from the cat and walks out the door in a hurry.

As soon as the door closed, Dean scoffs. "She's the...the..." he pulls his brows together. "Athena come up with an insult for me."

"Cunt."

Dean snaps his eyes over to the girl. Athena frowns and shrugs a shoulder. "What? You said—"

"Look, I know Sam and I have our fair share of...potty mouthery—"

"Potty mouthery?" She wrinkles her nose at the term.

"—but we have never said that."

Athena shrugs, "I read."

"Read what?—"

"We don't have time for this." Athena cuts Dean off. "Sam's made a stupid decision and we have to go help him."

Dean raises his brows, "Shit, how could I forget that?"

"You were busy choking on your own blood." Athena says as she grabs her bag.

Dean grabs his duffel with a huff. "We're gonna have to Hotwire a car."

Athena chuckles, "Sam really is starting to turn into you."

"What do you mean?" Dean pulls his brows together.

Athena looks at him with an incredulous expression. "With the shoot first and ask questions later." She frowns. "And he stole your car, which was a stupid decision. A decision you would make."

Dean holds up a pointer finger. "I'll have you know, Sam has the 'dumb' bracelet. So, he's prone to making dumb decisions. Like this one."

Athena frowns, "Sure, I just figured it was a Dean-like decision."

☆

"Sammy Winchester, wow."

The demon makes her way over to Sam, who was pinned against the wall by a phantom force. "Right here in our little town."

"You know, my friends and I—we've been looking for you."

Sam scoffs, "Why? Oh, right, because I'm supposed to lead some piss-poor demon army."

The demon lets out a hum. "No, not at all. You're not our Messiah. We don't believe in you."

"But...there's a new leader rising in the west—a real leader." The demon adds. "That's the horse to bet on, Sam, the one who's gonna tear this world apart."

The demon smirks, "That is until Athena comes of age."

Sam's blood runs cold. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The demon clicks her tongue and moves her head to the side. "You're seriously going to act like you don't know?" She looks across Sam's shaken expression and the demon raises her brows. "Unless, you don't really know..."

A small fit of laughter escapes her lips. "Wow—do you know anything about your sister? About her potential? Her future?"

Sam's jaw clenches and his anger grows. "Whatever plans you assholes have for my sister—they're not going to happen."

The demon rolls her eyes, "Yeah, we know. Your brother made sure of that."

Sam felt his body tense farther than before. He didn't know what to make of with any of this information. The demon watched as Sam tried to decipher the information that was just fed to him.

"This demon doesn't seem to like you very much. Doesn't want the competition." The demon held its hand up which forced Sam to rise higher against the wall.

"Nothing personal. It's a P.R. thing." The demon pushes her hand forward. "So, bye bye."

The wall behind Sam begins to crack as he's pushed further against the wall, his bones felt as if they were ready to snap.

Before Sam could he crushed, the front door is kicked open and Dean runs into the house with Athena behind him. Dean raises his gun at the demon, but the demon swipes her hand with ease. Athena and Dean are sent flying into the wall on the other side of Sam—they're backs pinned against the wall as well.

Athena lets out an audible gasp and inhales a deep breath. "Seriously?" She looks at Dean.

Dean grunts, "There was nothing left to do but barge in and shoot."

"Three for one. Lovely." The demon softly hums.

"Wait."

Everyone's attention focuses on the blonde demon stepping through the door. Ruby had her hands held up in a surrendering position. She slowly made her way over to the other demon.

"Please. I just...came to talk."

The demon raises her brows. "You made it out of the gate. Impressive. It was a bitch of a fight, wasn't it?"

"Doors out of Hell only open for so long." Ruby says.

"What do you want, Ruby?"

Ruby takes a step forward. "I've been lost without you."

Athena pulls her brows together.

"Take me back. That's why I led the Winchesters here." Ruby motions her head to the three.

Dean's jaw clenches. He looks at Sam and mouths the words "I told you so".

"They're for you...as a gift."

The demon quirks a brow, "Really?"

Ruby stands toe to toe with the demon across from her. "Let me serve you again. I've wanted it—I've wanted you for so long."

The demon contemplates it. "You were one of my best."

Ruby smiles. Suddenly, she raises her blade and brings it down towards the demon. The demon wraps her palm around the blade, keeping it in the air. "But then again, you always were a lying whore." She throws the blade to the side.

Ruby knees the demon in the abdomen. She punches the demon in the face, she continues to do so until the demon grabs hold of her hand. The demon uppercuts Ruby in the face and throws her into the tv. Ruby scrambles away from the tv and kicks the demon in the abdomen.

The demon stumbles back. Ruby runs toward the demon, but the demon holds their arm out and knocks Ruby into her back. She grabs Ruby and throws her into a shelf. The demon grabs an iron poker and stalks over to Ruby. "You're really telling me you threw in your chips with the three stooges here?"

Ruby slowly lifts herself up, but the demon hits Ruby over the face; knocking her back down to the ground.

"Damn." Athena winces. "Why'd she come if she wasn't going to fucking help?"

"Come on. Get up."

When Ruby doesn't move, the demon gets even more annoyed. "I said get up!" She crouches in front of Ruby. She grabs a fistful of her jacket and pulls her toward her. "We've been here before, haven't we?"

The demon looks over at Sam noticing his confused expression. "Oh, she didn't tell you?" She clicks her tongue. "Pretty mortifying, I guess. She was one of mine. I turned her out a long, long time ago."

She grabs a fistful of the blonde's hair. "Ruby here was a witch. Of course, that was when you were human." The demon shoves Ruby back to the floor. "Oh, didn't want your friends to know that all those centuries back, you sold yourself to me?"

"Embarrassing, I guess. But don't worry, love. No secrets where you're heading, remember?" The demon stands tall and begins the exorcism incantation. Ruby gasps for air and her body jerks forward.

Athena huffs, "Screw this--I'm more worried about us than I am Ruby."

The demon's words are caught in her throat when she starts coughing. The demon covers her mouth as her coughing increases. Suddenly, the black smoke retreats back into Ruby's body. The Winchesters drop off the wall. Athena pressed her palms against the floor, making sure she didn't hit the floor hard. The girl lets out a chuckle of triumph.

Athena turns and sees the girl lying dead on the table. Her eyes widen and a gasp escapes her mouth. She quickly slaps a hand over her mouth.

Within all the chaos, Dean managed to grab Ruby's blade and thrusts it into the Demon's side. He pulls the blade it of the demon and continues to stab it into her side, despite her already being dead. Dean drops the demon's body to the ground, and it hits the ground with a thud. His eyes shift to the Ruby stirring on the ground before he makes his way over to his siblings.

Dean stops in his tracks when he notices Athena's eyes on the woman's body at the table. He lightly touches the top of her head. Athena inhales a deep breath and looks away from the woman's body. Dean then helps Sam off the ground

The three siblings walk back over to Ruby, who was now standing. "Go." She urges them. "I'll clean up this mess."

Dean leads Athena and Sam toward the door. Sam feels his feet stop once again and he looks back at Ruby. The blonde feels eyes on her and she turns to the siblings. Her eyes flit to black and she seethes. "Go."

Athena grabs her brother's wrists and tugs them both out of the house.

...

Dean had just finished talking to Ruby outside of the motel when he came back into his shared room with Sam. His mind was flooded with more information he didn't wish were true. There was a possibility of him becoming a demon himself when he goes to Hell. He would become the same thing he vowed to kill. The same evil that killed his mother. The thought made Dean's stomach hurt.

Then Sam's bedside light flicks on. Dean blinks and looks at his brother, who had a trouble look across his face. "What's wrong?"

Sam rubs the back of his neck. "Before you and Athena got to the house. That demon...said some weird things to me."

Dean frowns and takes his jacket off. "Weird...weird like kinky?"

Sam groans and looks to the side, "Dude..."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Dean laughs at his own joke and tosses his jacket onto the back of the chair. He sits on the edge of his bed across from Sam. When he saw the hesitance in Sam's eyes, Dean could tell that this was a more serious conversation. So, he straightens his back and exhales. "What's going on with you, man?"

Sam looks down at his hands. "Dean, did you...have more stipulations to your deal?"

Dean blinks, "What?"

Sam sighs, "Did you make a deal for Athena when you made a deal for me?"

Dean's throat tightens and his skin began to feel cold. "What?"

This time his response was a lot more firm, but there was a slight shakiness to it. Any other person wouldn't have spotted it, but Sam knew Dean's voice got like that when he felt guilty about something. "You did, didn't you?"

"What'd the demon tell you?"

Sam softly scoffs and shakes his head. Dean's shoulders sag, "Sammy. What'd the demon tell you?"

Sam swallows his lump of anger. "Athena was supposed to tear this world apart when she came of age." He murmurs. Sam then clears his throat, "Then she said 'you took care of that's." He looks at Dean with tears. "That's why you have one year, right? Because you came up with a deal for me and Athena?"

"Sam—"

"How could you do that?" Sam cuts him off. "When Athena finds out—"

"She's not going to find out." Dean quickly cuts in. "You can't tell her."

"Dean—"

"Sammy, you just can't, all right?" Dean snaps.

Sam closes his mouth when he notices Dean's tears of desperation welling his eyes. "I have put that girl through so much and if she found out I did that..." Dean glances away for a moment. He intakes a small breath and looks back at Sam. "I just...don't want to see her hurt again and it be because of me."

"I just can't."

━━━━━━━━━━

author's note.

I can't wait until Athena's full story comes to light

words : 5305