40. The Cure

"Simon, we're filming," says a voice.

After we get the film set up in the projector and everyone in the same room, we start rolling the video. Prior to this, for some unknown reason, I made us a thing of popcorn. Move night indeed.

"Um, hello, world." A man is on the screen.

"So this new ritual we're going to see. This new type of exorcism, h-how does it work?" A woman is in the picture now, but she looks somehow familiar. I can't imagine why.

"I don't know. It's my first time."

"Wait," Dean says. "Is that Abaddon?"

Holy shit, he's right. It makes total sense now. The face looks different, not menacing in any way. She looks apprehensive, afraid. A total one-eighty from what I remember Abaddon as.

On film, we can hear a woman whimpering.

"It's not killy enough," I say slowly.

"It's got to be the, uh, the chick she possessed," Sam concludes.

Chills run through my body as a woman screams and grunts.

"Hurry," says a new voice. "We must do it now." There's another man in the picture, and judging by his attire, he's a priest.

The film pans to a woman chained down. She looks wild from her appearance to the look in her eyes. I feel like I should leave the room, but something about this keeps me in the chair.

"Dead!" the chained woman screams. "They're all dead! Everyone you ever loved..."

"Hey, those chains look exactly like the ones in our dungeon," Sam points out.

"In your what?" Cas asks, bewildered.

"Demon on a leash," Dean murmurs. "Cool."

The chained woman-demon-continues to scream as though she's being tortured from the inside. Or it's possible that she's screaming in outrage.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus...hanc animam redintegra..." the priest and Simon chant unanimously. "Lustra!"

The screen goes white for a long second, and when the picture comes back, the woman's body is on the floor, unmoving. There's a huge hole where her heart should be.

"She's dead," says pre-Abaddon.

Both men on tape are coughing, we can hear it.

"Where's the demon?" she asks.

"Stop filming," the priest demands.

"What happened?"

"Will you just stop?!"

The projector clicks and ends our film.

I cough. "Well, that was weird...With three exclamation points."

"That wasn't a normal exorcism," says Sam. "They changed the words."

"I believe 'lustra' is Latin for wash or cleanse," Cas adds.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause the most freaky thing was the vocabulary," says Dean. "What about the bloody high five or the chest burster? Anything else on the film, like director's commentary, sequel, maybe?"

"Yeah, listen to this," Sam tells us. "The older priest, Max Thompson, bit the dust in fifty-eight, but the younger one is still alive and still in St. Louis."

"Think this kind of weird is worth the drive?"

"Dean, everything in those folders-the possessions, the deals, all of it-we've seen that before, but that-that was all new. Yeah, it's worth the drive."

"All right. Let's roll." We all stand. "Not you."

"Sam is more damaged than I am," Cas protests. "And Max lacks the years of experience."

"Mind leaving me out of it, Cas?" I snap a bit pointedly.

"Yeah, well," Dean ignores my spat with the angel, "you know, even banged up, Sammy comes through. And Max is more than capable of coming along."

"Dean, I just want to help," says the angel quietly.

"We don't need your help. Just stay here and-and get better."

I give Cas a sorrowful look before I follow the Winchesters out of the room.

* * *

"Father Thompson had some unorthodox ideas," says Father Simon, "which is why the Men of Letters were interested."

"Unorthodox how?" I ask.

"What exactly do you mean, 'saved'?" adds Sam.

Thankfully, we'd found Father Simon at the place we expected to find him. Now we're just digging for answers, and hoping that the father has the ones we're looking for.

"A demon is a human soul, twisted and corrupted by its time in Hell," Father Simon explains gravely. "Father Thompson believed that you could wash that taint away and restore their humanity."

"So, what, they just stay in whatever schmuck they're possessing and-and get a ticket upstairs?" asks Dean.

"I wish I knew."

"Okay," I say carefully, "But this-this ritual...can cure a demon?"

"I suppose, if it worked, but that night, something went horribly wrong. The demon escaped into the world, and that poor old woman...It was horrible. I know Father Thompson kept trying. There were other possessions, experiments, but I couldn't face that-not again. And then, a few months later...He was dead."

"How'd that happen?"

"Something tore him apart."

Sam gives my voice a rest. "Did he keep any, uh"-a cough-"Did he keep records or"-another cough-"Uh." He clears his throat. "Do you have a-a bathroom, maybe?"

Father Simon points towards the back of the church and Sam heads in that direction.

"Is he all right?" the father asks Dean and me.

"Uh, no, padre," says Dean. "He's...pretty damn far from all right. That's why we're here."

"I don't understand."

"Well, short story is, uh, Sammy there is gonna take whatever shredded your friend and every other black-eyed bitch out there, and he's gonna get rid of them for good."

"He is? In his condition?"

"Father, over the past couple of months, we've both seen him do crap that we didn't think was possible. I mean, sure, he's miserable and he's hurting, but you know what? There's not a doubt in my mind that he's gonna cross that finish line-not one."

"So, will you help us?" I ask Father Simon.

"I'll get Father Thompson's things for you."

"Thank you." I smile sincerely.

* * *

"I can't find Cas," says Sam after we return from St. Louis. "You think he blew town?"

"Sounds like him," says Dean. We're situated at the bunker library. "So it turns out that, uh, Father Thompson recorded all of his demon-cure tests. This one here, this was the last one-two days before he died." He starts the recording.

"The date is August third, nineteen-fifty eight," says the padre's voice. "This is trial nineteen, hour one. My subject is Peter Kent. Mr. Kent is the father of two young sons, and three weeks ago, he was possessed by a demon. I'm going to ask you a question now. When you crawled into Mr. Kent and ate his children, how did it feel?"

I hold down my bile at hearing "ate his children."

"Orgasmic," snarls the demon.

We hear a scream.

"The first dose has been administered."

"Do we know what padre was dosing Number-One Dad up with?" I ask.

"Uh, yeah," says Sam. "His own purified blood."

"Purified how?" asks Dean.

"Before he started, Father Thompson went to confession."

"This is trial nineteen, hour two. When you ate his children, how did it feel?"

"Stringy!" Another yell from Demon-Peter.

My mind puts pieces together. I picture Peter, whatever he looks like, in a dungeon similar to ours, shackled, at the padre's mercy. I picture Father Thompson injecting the demon with his purified blood. I can picture the black demon eyes.

"The second dose has been administered." There's a brief pause. "Hour four. When you ate his children-"

"Kiss my ass!" Another momentary silence. "Soft!" Another yell from the demon.

"The sixth dose has been administered."

"Stop."

My ears perk at hearing the new word. There's no growl to it. It sounds pleading, like there's been a breakthrough. That Father Thompson's method is working.

"How-"

"Please." Another scream.

"...did it-"

More screaming from the demon.

"...feel?"

"Stop!" Now we all hear the heavy breathing. It's a significant change from what we heard in the beginning.

"Hour eight. The subject is prepped."

There's more strangled screaming from the demon, and more heavy breathing.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus. Hanc animam redintergra, lustra! Lustra!" A temporary silence falls in the recording, and I begin to think this is another failed test. "When you ate his children, how did it feel?"

"They were screaming...and I laughed," rasps Demon-Peter. "Why did I laugh? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. God, I was a monster."

"But now you are a man again. And you have been saved."

I don't realize I'm gripping Dean's arm until I feel his fingers over mine.

"Did he just...cure a demon?" I whisper, looking at the brothers.

"Maybe," says Dean. "Could we take this hoodoo on a test drive?"

"Um, I mean, I have the exorcism right here," says Sam. "All we need is the blood, consecrated ground, and a demon."

"So, what?" I ask. "We summon a demon, trap it-"

"Or," Dean cuts me off, "or we use one that we've already tagged. Do we still have Dad's old army field surgeon's kit?"

"It's in the trunk," Sam tells him. "Why?"

"Yeah, I think it's time we put Humpty Dumpty back together again."