The Impala cut its headlights, rolling to a stop on the gravel path outside St. Mary's Convent. The midnight air was cold, thick with the smell of coming thunder and something heavier underneath it.
Dean stepped out, gripping the loaded Colt in his right hand, his left hand wrapped around Ruby's hex bag inside his jacket. He looked up at the dark stained-glass windows.
"Well," he muttered, breath fogging. "Is the bitch inside?"
Ruby stepped out from the shadows near the iron gate, staring at the heavy wooden doors. "She's already in there."
Sam racked a fresh shell into his shotgun. "Then let's finish this."
Dean didn't bother with the lock. He kicked the chapel doors open, hinges groaning into the silence. They walked down the center aisle, weapons raised, Ruby trailing a few steps behind.
Moonlight poured through the shattered roof, lighting up the ruined altar.
Standing perfectly still in the light was the blonde dental hygienist. Lilith. Her eyes glowed white.
"Sam and Dean." A cruel smile crossed her stolen face. "Time to kill you. You boys have been a pain in my ass for far too long."
Her eyes shifted past them, landing on Ruby. The smile sharpened. "And Ruby. You traitorous little bitch. I'm going to enjoy this."
Before either brother could pull a trigger, Lilith raised a hand. An invisible force ripped them off their feet and threw them into the stone walls. Sam hit the floor, his shotgun clattering off into the dark, gasping.
Dean landed hard but pushed himself back up onto one knee, ignoring the pain shooting down his spine. He raised the Colt at her chest.
Lilith closed the distance in a blur and kicked him square in the chest. He flew backward, coughing blood, the Colt spinning out of his grip.
Ruby snatched the hex bag off the floor where it had fallen and lunged, drawing her arm back to throw it.
Lilith didn't even turn around. She flicked her fingers, and Ruby was launched backward over the crushed pews and into a wooden crucifix on the far wall. She crumpled to the stone floor, incapacitated.
Lilith turned back to the brothers, mocking.
"Did you really think I didn't know your little plan?" Her eyes settled on Ruby again. She raised a hand and dragged her off the floor, suspended in the air.
"Did you actually believe some weeds in a burlap sack could stop me?" She slammed Ruby face-first into the stone floor with a downward swipe. The crack echoed through the chapel. Ruby went still.
A few yards away, Dean rolled onto his stomach, scanning the floor. The hex bag and the Colt had both landed near Sam, who was struggling up onto his hands and knees.
Dean caught his eye and gave a sharp nod toward the weapons.
Sam understood. He scrambled forward, grabbed the Colt with one hand and the hex bag with the other, and threw the bag across the floor.
Dean caught it cleanly, pushed himself up despite the pain in his ribs, and hurled it at Lilith's chest.
At the same moment Sam dropped to one knee, thumbed back the hammer, and leveled the barrel at her head.
The bag struck Lilith square in the chest. The moment it made contact, a crackle ripped through the chapel. Her eyes flickered white to blue to white again. The pressure in the room dropped instantly. Her arms locked at her sides, paralyzed.
One.
Sam didn't hesitate.
Two.
He pulled the trigger. The shot roared through the church, muzzle flash lighting the walls.
Three.
The round hit her dead center in the forehead.
Her head snapped back. For a second, everything stood still.
Then orange light burst from the wound, spidering across her skin, tracing veins, illuminating the screaming shape trapped underneath the flesh. With one final shriek that rattled the remaining stained glass, the fire burned out.
The first demon Lucifer ever made went limp and hit the floor.
"So... is that it? Is it over?" Dean voice came out. He looked at his brother. "No more seals breaking? No apocalypse?"
"Should be." Sam pushed himself up off the stone floor, still gripping the revolver. "We got her before midnight. We did it."
A sharp sound cut through the quiet.
"Hahahahaha... finally."
They both turned. Ruby was pushing herself up from the shattered crucifix, wiping blood from her mouth.
"Finally. It's done." Her eyes were wide with something close to ecstasy.
"What the hell is so funny?"
Before she could answer, a wet sound drew their attention back to the altar. The blood pooling beneath Lilith's body wasn't just soaking into the stone. It was moving. Crawling across the floor, branching into geometric lines, drawing a massive cage right beneath their feet.
The final line connected. The sigil ignited, glowing with a white light so pure it shook the foundations of the building.
"Finally, our father will be free." Ruby stepped toward the light, reverent, dropping the friendly mask she'd worn for months. "No one knew the real plan. Not the angels, not the demons. No one but us."
"Ruby, what did you do?" Sam's stomach dropped as the ground trembled beneath them.
"I didn't do anything, Sam. You did." Her voice dripped with pride. "You thought you were stopping her? Lilith wasn't just breaking the seals. She was the final seal. The first demon Lucifer ever twisted. Killing her was the only way to break his cage."
The realization hit Sam like a physical blow. He looked down at the smoking Colt in his hand. They hadn't stopped the apocalypse. They'd started it.
"He's free!" Ruby yelled over the roar of the trembling church, arms thrown wide. "Our father is free, and you handed him the keys—"
She didn't finish.
Dean crossed the distance in a fraction of a second, grabbed her by the collar, and drove his knife through her stomach to the hilt.
Ruby gasped, eyes snapping wide.
"You bitch!" He twisted the blade. "How dare you double-cross us! Didn't I tell you you'd die if you pulled anything?!"
Orange light burst from her chest, spidering up her neck, lighting up the screaming shape trapped beneath her skin. One last choked shriek and it burned out. Dean shoved her body to the floor.
But as Ruby died, the white light pouring from the sigil only grew brighter, and a deafening, high-pitched ringing signaled that the cage was open.
*****
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