"What if Ruby's right? What if I can take out Lilith?"

Sam's voice is quiet...not hopeful. Afraid. Concerned.

Katherine slowly looks up from her gun and she raises an eyebrow at him.

"Stop looking at me like that." She holds up her fingers apologetically and nods. Reaches for some more trail mix to chew on as she thinks. "She said you have abilities? I mean, maybe she was referring to your magic."

She laughs a little. "Yeah, me and my two little spells. What, you think you're gonna give her the Carrie stare and Lilith goes poof?"

"I don't know. That's my point. Maybe we should just go ask her." Sam shifts his weight. "We just gonna let her rot in the workshop?"

"That might be the best idea we've had in a little while, Sam," Katherine chirps. "That bitch hasn't stopped screaming since I locked her ass in there."

Sam frowns, looking towards the workshop from the kitchen window. "I haven't heard her."

"I have." Katherine taps her temple. "I put a spell on the barn while you were snoozing. Didn't want her to attract attention and all, so I put a silencer over the whole thing." She shrugs. "Like a bubble. She'll wear her meat suit's vocal cords out and by then, the spell will be over."

Sam looks her up and down. "So you've just been quietly learning magic, then?"

"Nothing terribly helpful like a demon vaporizing spell," she murmurs, locking her slide into place.

"Thanks for the progress reports, Nerd."

Katherine smiles. "I just didn't want to freak you guys out."

"You didn't want Dean looking at you the way he looks at me."

She cuts her eyes at him. "He doesn't look at you any kind of way, Sam. Anyway, as for Ruby...There's a pattern with you Winchesters. Sellin' your souls every time one of you gets close to death. Ruby knows it. She's just jerkin' your chain...or there's something in it for her. And I don't like either of those ideas."

"What are you afraid's gonna happen?"

She sets her gun down and looks carefully at him, flattening her palms on the table. Her eyes used to have so much warmth in them. Happiness, humor. Innocence and so much confidence. She was so sure of herself...maybe it was that touch of arrogance that made her a little dangerous. But she looks afraid now. Cold, removed. Terrified.

"You mean in general, or...if we let Ruby help?"

"Both."

"You want it straight?" Sam's eyebrows twitch, and he nods. "Anything demonic is bad, Sam. And you've got volatile demon juju in you." His heart sinks so low. "Visions were fine. Whatever. But whatever the hell she wants to do?" Katherine shakes her head. "That kind of power comes with a price, Sam. I've seen it time and time again. One little spark is enough to get someone hooked and spiral down the wrong path. A path none of us are gonna be able to pull you from. I think we should ignore that part of you."

Sam looks down at his shoes. "Even if it could help now?"

After a moment, Katherine nods. "Quick fixes aren't good for anything but the now. Maybe this causes a whole slew of problems down the road, maybe it doesn't. And we don't even know if you can control it, all right? I mean, you haven't used your abilities in a year." Katherine shakes her head. "Even if it saves Dean, I don't think we should flirt with the idea of using a demonic-given thing. He doesn't want that either." She sits up on the table with him and sighs.

Dean walks into the kitchen with the rest of the shotgun shells. "What's this, a union coffee break?" He asks. Katherine kicks him in the rear, and he flings an empty shell at her.

"And generally?" Sam asks.

"Hmm?"

"You gave me your concerns with Ruby. What about your concerns with going after Lilith?"

Katherine looks to Dean. Dean looks to Sam. "Well I'll say it," he finally says. "She snapped her fingers and sent a million demons after us, first of all." Katherine nods her head to Dean, giving him the point.

"It's just...at this point, every one of those evil sons of bitches knows where to hit us where it hurts the most." She looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"If they get to one of us, they get to all of us," Dean murmurs. "What we'd do for each other, how far we'd go..."

Katherine shrugs. "Dean sold his soul to save you. What would you do for him?"

"So what?" Sam scoffs. "We just stop looking out for each other?"

"No," Dean chirps. "No, just...stop being martyrs. I'm not saying we're not gonna fight. Of course we're gonna fight, we're gonna fight like the crazy assholes we are. We're gonna take that damn knife and go after Lilith the way we were taught. And if we go down, then...we go down swinging." He glances to Katherine. "But KD, I think—" She holds a hand up, and he frowns at her. "Katherine—"

"Shut up, Dean," she snarls. "You're not gonna leave me here. I'm fucking going. Swinging, yeah?"

"You want to bench her?" Sam asks.

"Way out of line," Katherine mutters.

"It's not a bad idea," Sam says. She gawks at him, betrayed.

"Sam!" She squawks.

"Okay, Katherine, you have a husband who's waiting for you to come home," he reminds her. "If Dean and I go down, we can't take you with us. You can't act like that's an outrageous statement."

"Leaving the demon expert behind sounds a little outrageous to me," she says.

Dean holds up Ruby's knife. "Stick demon with pointy end. No expertise needed." She gives him a cold, flat look. His eyes dart to her belly, and she groans, shaking her head.

"No. No, I'm not staying here while you two run up to Indiana after her! I'm coming with you because I'm a grown woman and I can make my own decisions." She curls her fingers over the edge of the chair in front of her. Her voice is lowered to a murmur. "I'd rather die fighting with you two tonight than in a fucking hospital bed when I'm seventy-eight. You guys are my family. End of."

There's a long beat of silence. "That's a very specific number," Sam murmurs.

"Did your grandma die when she was seventy-eight?" Dean chirps.

Katherine frowns. "I—I don't know. That's not the point, anyway! And you know what? If Dean didn't break up with me, then no one would be waiting for me at home!"

"Oh, this again," Dean groans. "It's just all my fault."

"Yes, Dean this is all your fault. I'm not. Staying behind. You freaking assholes."

Sam sighs, looking to his older brother. "You shouldn't have broken up with her."

"Oh," Dean scoffs. "Woulda coulda shoulda. Start packing salt rounds, you two." He pulls up a chair and rips open another box of salt. Katherine plops down in her chair again and goes to work. "So, KD. Tell me. What does a demon do for fun?"

And it bugged him. It bugged him so bad to agree to let her come. There's so much that could go wrong! And now she's pregnant?

He doesn't have a good feeling about any of it.

✕

"Where do you think you're goin'?"

Everyone stops in their tracks. Katherine is the first to turn on her heel to look at Bobby, all of their fathers, for all intents and purposes. He's standing up on the porch, looking positively disappointed.

The last time he looked at all of them like that, in that very spot, he was scolding them too. She doesn't remember what about...maybe someone was excluded from whatever game they were playing. Dean was probably being a little asshole.

"We got the knife," Katherine weakly cheers.

"And you intend to use it without me."

"Oh come on, Bobby, you're old and I'm a girl with little arms, and these two yahoos are stronger than the both of us combined—they've got it." It's entirely self-deprecating, and Bobby hates that.

"Do I look like a ditchable prom date to you?"

Katherine's expression falls flat. "I, uh...no?"

"This is about me," Dean says. "This isn't your fight."

"The hell it isn't," Bobby snarls, taking a few steps towards the three. "Family don't end with blood, boy! Besides—you need me. I've got more experience than KD, and I'm hotter."

Katherine shakes her head and clears her throat. "Physically impossible. I'm super hot."

"As if."

"No, really, it's hot out here." She starts fanning her face. "Isn't it sixty-five right now? Why's it so hot?"

"He's playing wounded," Bobby accuses, gesturing to Dean.

Katherine frowns, glancing to her left. "Dean's fine. He's Dean."

"Tell me—how many hallucinations have you had?" Bobby asks, and they all look to Dean.

He shifts uncomfortably. "How'd you know?"

"Because that's what happens when you get Hellhounds on your ass. And because I'm smart."

"You've been hallucinating and you haven't told me?" Katherine quietly asks.

Dean shrugs. "What is there to tell?"

"You kids go on," Bobby says after a moment. "I'll follow." Then he starts towards his car. "And don't be stopping to pee every ten minutes, either!"

Katherine turns on her heel and starts for the Impala. Dean takes the bag from her shoulder and drops it into the trunk. She's too busy staring across the lot to say thanks.

"Bobby, I didn't know you got another dog."

Bobby turns away from the front door and follows her line of sight with the other two. It looks like some kind of shepherd, from a distance. But it's leaner than a shepherd, tail higher and curled.

"I didn't," Bobby says.

Katherine crouches down. "Hey," Dean cautions, watching the dog lower its nose, eyes pinned right on Katherine.

"I think it's a lab," she murmurs.

"That's great, KD, get in the car."

Sam and Dean watch the dog trot right up to her. Smaller than a german shepherd in height and weight, medium-length dark fur, probably brown. Pointed ears like a shepherd. "Hey, buddy." She reaches her fingertips forward, letting his wet nose sweep across her knuckles. Then he bows into a stretch before plopping down in front of her. "He's a stray," she observes. "No collar. He's some kind of dutch shepherd mix."

"That's great, KD, but we gotta get going."

"But he's pretty."

"Yes, he's pretty. Time's a wastin', darlin'. In the car." He sweeps his arms towards the sleek, black body of the Impala. "In." She huffs, staring after the dog as she begrudgingly climbs into the back seat.

They're all awake for a while, playing road trip games and reading. Katherine practices little things, like randomly silencing Sam or Dean in the middle of one of their sentences. It's a fun little game to her, but neither of them like it.

Then she's passed out in the back seat with Dean's jacket pulled over her shoulders.

"Hey, Dean?" Sam murmurs.

"Yeah?"

"You know, if this doesn't...if this doesn't go the way we want, I want you to know that—"

"Oh, no," Dean shakes his head. "No, no, no, no, no. You're not gonna bust out the misty goodbye speech, all right? I mean, if this is my last day on earth, I do not want it to be socially awkward." Sam sighs, and Dean has a thought. "You know what I do want?" He fumbles around for a moment before shoving a cassette into the stereo.

Sam glowers. "You hate Bon Jovi."

Dean shrugs, reaching for the volume knob. "Bon Jovi rocks...on occasion."

From the back seat, Zombie Katherine has awoken from the sudden burst of the radio. "If you two start singing, so help me God, I will pistol whip you both and drive this train myself."

Sam chuckles, but Dean antagonizes her. "And I walk these streets!"

"Deeeaaan."

"A loaded six string on my back! I play for keeps! C'mon."

"Shut up."

"Cause I might not make it back!"

"Sam," Katherine edgily groans. "If you start—"

"I've been everywhere! But I'm standing tall!"

"Samantha!"

Now they're both obnoxiously shouting. "I've seen a million faces, and I've rocked 'em all! 'Cause I'm a cowboy. On a steel horse, I ride! I'm wanted!"

"Waaanteed!"

"Dead or Alive!"

Katherine laughs from the back seat and shakes her head.

Then the sirens start going, and obnoxious blue light fills the car. She sits up straight and turns to look. "Aw, man."

"Are we seriously getting pulled over?" Sam mutters.

"I told you to get that tail light fixed," Katherine mutters.

"It's not like we're in a hurry or nothin'," Dean grumbles, coming to a stop on the side of the road. Katherine turns her head to look at the officer as he comes into her peripheral. The hair on the back of her neck stands on end, and her left ear pressurizes.

Be careful.

She almost jumps. It's that voice. She hasn't heard it in...

The way it resonates with her...it reminds her of something. Of what?

The officer's face is ugly; twisted and black, rotten. Its old face, from when it was alive. Most of the demons she's encountered—99%—were human at some point. Their faces are remnants of their twisted souls. Pulled lips and rotten skin, yellowing teeth and sunken, hollow black eyes.

"Problem, officer?" Dean asks. Katherine is still, cold with panic. Fuck why am I seeing this? Don't panic. It's a demon—you know demons. Wait until it's gone to tell them—if it goes back to the car. But why the fuck am I seeing a demon's face?

"License and registration," the demon asks, and Dean promptly hands it over. "Did you realize you have a tail light out, Mr...Hagar?" Dean sighs, looking up to the officer, and starts so minutely.

But unknowingly, he's seeing the same thing she is.

"Yes," Dean says. "Yes sir. Uh...I've been meaning to take care of that. As a matter of fact—" Dean throws his door open, hitting the man right in his junk.

"It's a demon!" Katherine cries, swinging her door open.

Sam jumps out of the car, but Dean has already jammed the knife into the officer's throat, just as Bobby pulls up.

"What the hell happened?!"

"It was a demon," Katherine says, shutting the door behind her. "Dean just killed a demon!" It's more of an awe-statement.

"How did you know?" Sam asks.

"I saw its real face," Dean says, sounding the most panicked out of all of them.

"That's normal?" Sam scoffs.

"For him, yeah."

"How is that normal?" Dean demands.

"Walk and talk, boys," Bobby says. "We gotta get this thing off the road, fast. You're seeing the B side of things, Dean. Piercing the veil."

Katherine's stomach is in her ass. Why am I seeing a demon's face? Why are we both seeing a demon's face?

Anxiety fills her gut. Fucking demon lied to me.

Her deal is on. It has to be.

"How did you know?" Sam asks, throwing long branches of leaves onto the cruiser. Everyone stops, and Katherine can feel their eyes on her. She swallows around her dry tongue. Don't make them panic.

"I, uh...get this ringing in my ear," she murmurs, holding perfectly still. If she holds still, she can't throw up, right? She can't feel her fingers. "I always have." Sam and Dean look down at the body. "I heard that voice again." Their eyes snap right back to her.

"Jiminy Cricket?" Dean asks.

"What, the Tampa thing?" Sam asks.

Katherine nods.

"Lilith's probably got demons stashed all over town," Bobby says as they throw a match onto the car. They moved the officer's body to the front seat and buckled the seat belt before they pushed the car down the hill, letting it hit the tree. Start the fire from the hood, burn everything else. Make it look like a bad accident. "You two will come in handy. Kill 'em before they sound the alarm. If she knows we're here, we're dead before we started. Now we've got what, five hours left?"

"This is a terrific plan," Dean mutters. "I'm excited to be a part of it."

✕

"It's the little girl." Dean grimaces. "God, her face is...awful."

Dean can't help but think about his own.

"All right, then," Sam says. "Let's go—we're wasting time."

"Wait!" Katherine hisses, gripping his jacket as he passes her.

"What?"

"She's gonna kill us if we're not careful. We can't just charge in there, Sam. You're not looking. What the hell is a mailman doing out at 9 PM?" She asks, gesturing down the cul-de-sac.

"And Mr. Rogers over there," Dean adds, gesturing to the old man sitting in an ottoman facing the window, a book in hand and pipe in his mouth.

"Demons?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah."

"Okay, fine," Sam says. "We ninja past those guys, we sneak in."

"And what, give a Columbian necktie to a ten year old?" Dean quips.

"Look, I know it's awful—"

"Yeah, no shit, honey," Katherine mutters, taking the binoculars from Bobby, and stares into the house across the street. That little blonde girl is devouring cake and ice cream. Sweets are all around the table.

"But this isn't just about saving you, Dean, it's about saving everyone. There's a powerful demon in that little girl. She's got to be stopped."

"We need to take out the watchdog first," Katherine says, looking to the mailman. "If I let him see me, he'll follow me. Big fish, ya know?" Dean rolls his eyes.

"Then what?" He asks.

"Then someone with a knife comes around and ganks the son of a bitch." She looks him up and down with raised eyebrows. "Then we move to Mr. Rogers. Bobby, after the mail man's dead, run on over to the house across the street, get some holy water brewing."

"You read my mind," Bobby hums.

Dean knew Katherine Louise was fast. He's seen her run plenty of times. But her running at him is entirely different. It's intimidating, and he knows her. He can only imagine how it feels to see her careen towards someone who doesn't.

She alerted the mail man and took off, slid around the corner, and hurdled Sam—he was entirely too close to the corner of the house. When the mail man came around the corner, Sam stabbed him, turned around, and Dean clamped a hand underneath his jaw and snapped it shut to muffle his screaming. When the icky face fades from the body, he drops it, shaking his hands out, and shivers.

"What the fuck was that?" Katherine asks, panting lightly.

"It was gross," Dean defends. "You don't shiver when you want to yak?" She smiles, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Let's go," Sam whispers, and jogs for the bushes.

"You need to go to the car, Katherine," Dean murmurs, pressing his keys into her palm. Her stomach drops and her smile fades.

"What?"

"Wait in the car." He turns to look at her, jaw set, green eyes like stones. She looks up at him with watery blue eyes, her expression entirely one of betrayal. Panic.

"No," she whispers, shaking her head.

"Yes." He grips her elbow, then loosens up a little. "I, uh...I made somethin' for you and the baby. It's in my red shirt at the top of my bag."

"God, I knew I shouldn't have told you," she hisses. "This isn't fair."

"If I don't make it back—"

"Don't say that—"

"Hey, listen." He smoothes her hair back and grasps her cheeks in either of his hands. He stares into those deep blue eyes until Katherine is sure there are tears in his. But he's seeing so much more than her. She's light. Golden, magnetic, pure. She's good. "You're beautiful," he whispers. "I wish you could see what I do right now."

She sniffs, tearing her gaze from him. "Dean, please—"

"And I love you." That's a quick way to get her attention. But she's stunned. Of course she knew, but it's different when you hear it. "I love you. And I love this baby...and it...it hurts that I can't ever touch you two again—"

"Yeah you can—"

"Let me finish," he whispers. He wonders what that lump in his throat is and why it hurts so damn much. He just wishes he had more time. More control. More time. "I wish...this worked differently. I wish I could do more. I wish I could meet her." He offers her a sad smile. "But I know you're gonna make up for me not being there...and hopefully Charlie works out...you're a mother, Katherine. Keep lookin' out for you and you only, you got me? Do whatever you can to protect this baby, or...I'm gonna haunt your ass. All right?" After a moment, she nods. "Now I want you to go to the first motel in the book. You're Julia Fleming—that's how Sam's gonna find you."

"Dean, I can't—"

"Yes you can," he affirms. "You can. You're the strongest person I know. This, you can do. I've seen you get beatings from demons and Wendigos and vampires—you've done it all, kid. Now it's time to retire. You need to get to a room and salt the doors until Sam and Bobby come to find you. All right? This you can do."

"Dean, I'm not leaving," she whispers. "We're wasting time."

"Why can't you just do what you're told?" Katherine pulls out of his grip and darts into the bushes. Dean trails close behind her, rage and worry simmering in the same pot.

"Thanks for the help," Sam hisses, pulling the knife from Mr. Rodgers' chest. "He made me, I had to get him."

Katherine grabs one ankle, Dean grabs the other, and they pull the body behind the bushes that line the patio. "Kat," he snarls.

"Shut up," she hisses, and starts after Sam. Her left ear starts ringing, and out of nowhere, she's tackled and pushed into the dirt.

"I'd like my knife back, please," Ruby purrs in her ear. "Or your neck snaps like a chicken bone." Dean throws two hands on her and yanks.

"She doesn't have it," Sam snarls, holding the serrated edge to Ruby's throat. "Take it easy."

Dean pulls Katherine to her feet. "How'd you get out?" She growls, staring at Ruby's face. Ruby's ugly...ugly face.

"What you don't know about me could fill a book."

"Reassuring," Dean chirps, turning to glower at her. Then he rears back. "Oh."

Ruby frowns. "What?"

Dean blinks, eyes darting to her, face directed down. "N-nothing," he stammers. "I just couldn't see you before, but you are one ugly broad."

Ruby huffs and looks the other way. "Sam? Give me the knife before you hurt yourself."

"You'll get it when this is over," Sam says.

"It's already over!" Ruby hisses. "I gave you a way to save Dean and you shot me down. Now it's too late. He's dead, and I'm not gonna let you die, too."

"Someone write a romance novel," Katherine sourly quips.

"Okay, guys, have your catfight later," Dean snaps. "Look."

Everyone turns.

Every single neighbor in this joint is our on their porch and looking their direction.

"So much for the element of surprise," Dean murmurs.

"Fucking loud ass bitch," Katherine snarls, glaring at Ruby, and takes off behind Dean. They sprint for the house Lilith is in.

"Where the hell's Bobby?" Dean growls.

Sam digs into his pocket for his lock pick. Everyone starts looking at him impatiently, anxiously. "I'm trying!"

And then the sprinklers cut on. Demons start sizzling.

"Awesome," Dean chuckles. Sam gets the door open, and Dean is the last to get inside, too busy gloating at the pack of snarling demons who can't pass the front lawn.

"Lilith probably already knows we're here, huh?" Sam pants.

"Probably," Ruby agrees.

Katherine stares down at the body of an old woman in the foyer. She's covered in flies. And the smell... She pulls her shirt over her nose and closes her eyes, breathing through her mouth to quell her unsettled stomach.

"You okay?" Dean whispers. She makes a small noise, opens her eyes, and starts to move. Dean's hand rests at the small of her back, and that warmth is quickly noticed when he whirls around and presses his hand to the mouth of a man who rushed at him. He can see is face. Human. It's the man who sat at the table with Lilith...probably the little girl's father. "Shh, shh, shh. We're here to help, okay?" The man quickly nods, breathing heavily against Dean's hand. "I'm gonna move my hand, and we're gonna talk nice and quiet, okay?" He nods again, and Dean eases his hand from his mouth. The man looks wildly between the four.

"Where's your daughter?" Katherine asks.

"It's not..." He shakes his head. "It's not her anymore."

Her temper flares. "Where is she?"

"Upstairs, in her bedroom."

"Okay, here's what I want you to do," Dean whispers. "You have a basement?" He nods. "Go into the basement, pour a line of salt at the door behind you, do you understand me?"

He's already shaking his head. "Not without my wife."

"Yes, without your wife."

"No, not without—" Dean rams his elbow into the man's face, knocking him out, and catches him before he can fall. He throws the man over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and taps Katherine's hip. You're with me. He nods Sam and Ruby upstairs. Katherine swipes all the salt she can find in the kitchen and follows Dean to the basement. He sets him down, salt line, boom.

They both stand up and look at each other. Eyes caress each curve, reminisce whatever they do. No time. It seems to occur to them simultaneously. Dean moves for the stairs as Katherine starts to step up them in near-silence.

They move through the same cracked door upstairs, on the left of the hallway. The little girl starts shrieking. She's in her bed with her mother, and Sam is standing over her with the knife raised.

"Wait!" Dean cries. "It's not her!" Sam looks to Dean unsurely. "It's not in her anymore!"

Sam releases a groan of relief, dropping his arm, and slouches against the wall.

Katherine corrals the mother and daughter into the basement with their waking patriarch, closes the door behind her, and walks into a Sam panic fest in the entryway.

"There's gotta be something we can do," he says, voice teetering on the edge of hysterics. Ruby is staring on in disbelief, Dean's nostrils are flared in anger. "Whatever it is, I'll do it." Dean grabs his arm. "Don't—I'm not gonna let you go to Hell, Dean. I'm not gonna let you go!"

"Yes you are!" Dean roars, grabbing his brother by the collar. They huff in each other's faces for a few long moments. That never-ending feeling on anxiety pools in Katherine's stomach all the heavier. How may souls are the Hellhounds taking tonight? She feels cold, numb...nauseas. She leans against the wall and closes her eyes, ignores the intensifying ringing in her ears. "This is really all my fault," Dean whispers. "I'm so sorry, Sammy...but what you're doing isn't going to save me. It's only going to kill you."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Sam asks, voice low, throat filled with tears making their way to the surface.

Dean points to Katherine bracing herself against the wall. "You stick with her," Dean whispers. "You keep fighting. And you take care of my wheels." There's so much more he wants to say, but...Sam will know what to do. If Charlie isn't in the picture when that child is born, he'll know what to do.

For a brief moment, Dean wonders if Sam and Katherine would ever be happy together. Then he grimaces at the thought.

"Sammy, remember what Dad taught you," Dean murmurs. "And remember what I taught you."

A grandfather clock somewhere in the house chimes, signaling midnight. Katherine heaves.

"Kat?" Dean asks, and clears his throat. She sobs. "Katherine, come here, darlin'."

She doesn't know how she finds the strength to push herself from the wall, but she's walking over to him.

"I'm sorry, Dean," Ruby says. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

Dean pulls Katherine into his arms, and another sob racks her chest as she tries to breathe, face nestled into his neck. "Easy does it, old girl," he murmurs into her hair.

She can hear the Hellhounds.

"I love you," Dean whispers, and presses a kiss to her temple. He doesn't want to let her go, but...will those hounds get a hold of her if she's too close?

Katherine looks towards the same window he does, and alarm shoots down his spine, weighs in his stomach like metal.

"No," Dean murmurs, shaking his head. She glances up at the ceiling, lips rolled into her mouth, and runs her hands over her ponytail. "No, Katherine..."

"You can hear them?" Ruby whispers.

Katherine, now staring down at the floor, gently nods. A sob racks her chest. "Oh, God," she whispers, pressing her sleeve into her nose, and turns to look at the foyer.

A black dog, eyes lit with Hellfire, curls its lip at her and snarls. Its paws are huge, claws projecting from its toes like knives. Dean glances from it to Katherine.

"Ruby, save her!" He snaps.

Ruby shakes her head. "I can't do anything."

"Ruby!" Dean cries. The hound barks and lunges. Katherine shoves Dean into the hallway. A push and pull to get away from the hound. He doesn't let her go until they get into the study. Sam slides in last, and they all shove up against the doors.

"Goofer dust!" Katherine snaps. Dean pats down his jacket to find the satchel and lays a line down by the door. The rattling stops. The barking is silenced. "Get the windows," she whispers, and Dean lunges for them.

"Your deal went through!" Dean snaps, turning to face Katherine once the windows have been dusted. Tears fill her eyes again. Sam looks to Katherine in horror.

"What deal?" He whispers.

"They said it didn't," Katherine whispers, shaking her head. "They said it didn't."

"Who?" Dean roars.

"I don't know." Her voice is quiet still as she keeps shaking her head. "I don't know."

"So now it's both of us," Dean says, his voice cracking. "It's both of us!" Katherine looks up at him, unable to see much through her blurry vision. He's panicking, sick to his stomach, and rakes a hand through his hair. "Jesus Christ, Katherine."

"What deal?" Sam asks again.

"It was January," Katherine says. She wipes her nose and inhales a deep shaky breath. "Not that it...fuckin' matters anymore." She flings her hand to the door and sobs. "Jesus."

"She's right," Ruby says. "Sam, maybe I can fight these things off. Give me the knife."

Katherine wipes her eyes and pushes herself up straight. "I'm sorry," she whispers. She doesn't know who she's saying it to.

"Sam!" Ruby demands.

"Wait!" Dean cries. "Sam, that's not Ruby!" Katherine, wired with white hot panic, lunges. Ruby, or whoever the hell, waves her hand through the air and throws Katherine into the wall on her left. Sam goes flying the other way, and Dean is pinned on his back on the floor. "How long have you been in her?"

"Not long," Ruby hums, voice higher than usual. "But I like it. It's all grown up and pretty."

"And where's Ruby?" Sam snarls.

"She was a very bad girl," she says. "So I sent her far, far away."

Lilith.

The demon whirls around to look at Katherine like she said her name aloud. White eyes bore into Katherine's soul, broken, twisted face and all. Different from before.

She starts towards Katherine. Dean thrashes against an invisible tether. Lilith trails her finger along Katherine's wet cheekbone. "I remember loving someone this much," she whispers, lifting her finger to her lips, and licks it. Lilith closes her eyes and lets out a deep, contented sigh. "The others won't be happy with me," she says, opening her eyes again. "For letting you go...and I'm so close." Fingers, claws, scratch around Katherine's throat. "But I don't care whose daughter you are...I'm here for one thing tonight." She turns around and looks at Dean.

"No," Katherine croaks, pulling her hand from the wall. It's slammed right back. Zero to one hundred. Panic mode. "No!"

"Hello, Sam," Lilith sighs, turning to her left. "I've wanted to meet you for a very long time." She leans close to him. "Your lips are soft."

Sam pulls his chin from her, hooked fingers still on his chin. "All right," he snarls. "So you have me. Let Dean and Katherine go."

"Silly goose," Lilith chuckles. "You want to bargain, you have to have something I want." She tuts, shaking her head. "You don't."

"I do," Katherine says. Lilith whirls.

"No!" The brothers roar.

"They want me for something!" Katherine cries.

"Don't you dare!" Dean shouts. "Don't you dare!"

Lilith grins and backs up to the office door before opening it. "Sic 'em, boy."

That big black dog rockets past Katherine. She can feel the wind from it on her face, smell the cinders in its wake.

And then it's all white.