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“You need to shoot me, please.”
“Are you insane? There’s no way I’m going to do that.”
“But-”
“No, it’s okay. I was bit too. We can just wait it out… together.”
~
The end, it was coming faster than anyone had ever expected it to.No one was quite sure how the disease started though there were two popular theories floating around. One was that it was just a freak of nature. The second was that it was a lab experiment gone wrong – Area 51 and all that garbage. Whether they were true or not, these ideas made for good stories.In the year of 2017, there were reports of homeless individuals falling ill in the outskirts of Los Angeles. The government assured everyone that the situation was under control and that the last thing they should do was panic. Typical. This advice came from a man who thought climate change was a hoax.People who lived nowhere near LA liked to pretend that everything was fine. Things were always fine, weren’t they? A vaccine would be created and anyone who was sick would be cured and could just live their lives in peace. Honestly, things seemed to be heading in that direction for a solid few weeks; goodness only knows how the government had managed to contain the infection for that long.Again, no one knew how the sickness started, but everyone sure as hell knew how it reached the rest of the world considering that it was broadcasted over every news stations. One man managed to mess everything up but maybe it was just a matter of time before it happened. This one man, a U.S. official, was working inside a quarantined zone in Los Angeles. He wasn’t following the safety protocols and, long story short, he was bitten by one of the infected. Too scared to tell his superiors, he left his work early without an explanation. He claimed he was heading home. He never made it there.Soon enough, 36 more people were infected… then 59… then 89, all in the course of a few hours. That’s the problem with living in a big city. By the time the government knew what was happening, it was too late. Too many had been infected, there was no time for evacuation, and all of LA had to be put under lockdown. No one was allowed in and no one was allowed out.That was successful for about 24 hours.Despite the U.S. officials’ best attempts to counteract the illness, it continued to spread until it hit every state in the United States. Well, it didn’t stop there. The president started receiving calls from other countries but he had no way to explain the problem. It was too late to fix anything or get help…The year is 2065 and there isn’t a single continent that isn’t swarmed by the disease.What was the disease? What did it do?It caused people to do the unimaginable. If a person was bitten by one of the infected, the sickness caused a fungus to grow over the person’s brain. The carrier of the disease would rapidly go into a state of madness until they acted like they had rabies. They were like zombies. The deterioration process could take about ten minutes to several hours - the disease lasted until the person was killed.Any and every form of government that was once in power was now in shambles; they were nonexistent. Most of the population is sick and it’s rather rare to see an actual human being.There were a few communities, nothing significant… but then there were the Angels; they were the most powerful community known in the world. They were stationed everywhere from Africa to Asia to the deepest areas of South America. They had the most food, ammo, medical supplies, lab equipment, and any other resources one could possibly think of. This was another mystery: How had they become so powerful?As strong as the Angels were, they needed help from two smaller groups they called the Demons and the Men of Letters (or MoL). Stupid names, really, but how else where they to keep track of the groups around the world? Communities seemed to adopt their names just fine.The leader of the Angels, a strict woman named Naomi Novak, contacted the man running the Men of Letters to ask him for a favor that she claimed would ‘save this god-forsaken world’. The man, Bobby Singer, was interested though he never did trust the Angels…The only way they could communicate was by letter. The Angels were in charge of getting both parties’ letters to and from their main base down in Washington. They had multiple messengers who would meet up at certain points and pass the messages on.He sent a letter with only two words.
I’m Listening
Weeks later, Bobby received a letter back. We need you to find us a man named Lucifer Shurley.The letter continued, He should be with a group we call the Demons – they seem to have adopted that name as well. They’re a group of about ten to fifteen people and they’re located somewhere in North America. Rumors say they’re in Florida, probably Miami. That’s all the information we have on them. Is it possible your men might be able to find them? We can discuss payments soon. It will be worth it.
- Naomi Novak
By the time Bobby sent a letter back to say he accepted the job, him and his group were on the move. Fortunately, they weren’t very far from Florida, but, they did have some time before they would reach Miami. Sam Winchester estimated that it would take about two, maybe three, weeks before they would hit the city they wanted to be in.The Men of Letters left Georgia (by foot) at the break of dawn and reached the border of Florida by the time the sun was going down. Here they had to start clicking on their lanterns and flashlights. The only issue was that no one, other than the two leaders, knew where they were going; the rest just blindly followed.“What are we even doing here?”The group had been mostly quiet up until this point. One of the only people who ever questioned Bobby was Dean.“I mean,” Dean continued though almost everyone ignored him, “you didn’t tell us why we suddenly left our camp back in Georgia. You know, things were going pretty damn well over there. We just left most of our supplies without an explanation.”Bobby shrugged his shoulders and adjusted the rifle in his hands. “Didn’t I tell you not to get comfortable there? We didn’t have a lot of supplies anyways; we took what was important.”“Still… there were things back there…”Bobby sighed, “If we’re lucky, we can get this job done in a month, get back to Georgia, and the things will still be there.”Dean shook his head, clearly not buying it. He absent-mindedly fiddled with the safety on his hand gun before speaking again, “Doesn’t answer my question. What are we doing here? All you said was that we’re headed to Miami. Why?”The world went silent briefly, not even the crickets could be heard.“We were given a job.” Bobby replied, cautiously peering around.“By who?” Dean narrowed his eyes, “You never take jobs.”“This one pays well, I would imagine.” Jo questioned, stepping into the conversation without invitation.Bobby huffed, “Not so sure about the pay yet, but I imagine it won’t be too shabby. It was the Angels. They wanted a favor.”“The Angels!?” Dean exclaimed in disbelief. “You’ve got to be joking.” He stifled a laugh, “You hate them.”“You don’t say?” Bobby responded, mimicking Dean’s tone, “They’re a spineless group, that’s for sure-”“What did they want from you?” Jo asked, “Are they in Miami? I mean, is their main base in Miami? I thought they were in DC.”“Does Ellen know?” Dean threw in.“They need help from a group. No, they’re not in Miami and,” Bobby paused, “yes, Ellen knows. In fact, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to help out this one time. We need whatever payment we can get. So don’t go around attacking me and me alone.”Jo fell back out of the conversation. They could see her walking to the east end of the group to find her mom; no doubt she was going to try to get more answers from her.Dean rolled his eyes and looked back to his adopted father, “You should’ve just told us what was going on in the first place. I’m sure no one would care.” He murmured, “However, I won’t disrespect your wishes. Do you still want no one to know about what we’re doing?”“Makes no difference to me, do what you want.” Bobby replied gruffly, starting to walk at a faster pace.Sighing, Dean made no attempts to keep up with him. He fell back into the center of the group, walking side by side with his younger brother.Sam glanced at him and gave him a sheepish look.“You heard?” Dean asked.Sam nodded, “Well, you guys weren’t exactly being quiet about it.” He snorted, “So, the Angels, huh? We’re working with the hot shots now?”Dean shrugged, “I guess so. I want to believe that they’ll pay us well but-”“but there won’t be any consequences for them if they don’t.” Sam concluded.The Angels really weren’t a trustworthy lot. They were the highest on the food chain and had proved on multiple occasions that their promises were normally empty. Quite a few times, they had told smaller groups they would give them food, ammo, and guns if they did a mission for them… well, ever since the smaller groups finished the given mission, they’d been missing.“Bobby knows about that too, so why would he accept their request?” Dean asked himself, clearly irritated. “He could’ve at least told us first. And what was Ellen thinking, letting him do this.” He scoffed, absent-mindedly fiddling with his handgun.“I don’t think Bobby’s an idiot, Dean.” Sam said calmly, “Maybe we just have to trust him on this one. When has he ever led us in the wrong direction?” He instantly regretted finishing that sentence. He looked back down at his map, hoping his brother had ignored that last bit.Dean cast him a knowing look and rolled his eyes, “Right. Well, I can recall a time about six months ago where he did just that.”“Dad knew what he was getting into.” Sam replied softly. “No one is safe here; we were dumb to think that dad was.”Dean said nothing as they kept walking. He couldn’t argue with that. He slowly drifted from his brother to go to the west side of the group. He acknowledged the people there but didn’t converse with them; he was simply floating around to make sure everything was in order.His ‘younger sister’, Charlie, appeared beside him in an instant, “Hey, why ya lookin’ so blue?” She asked in a cheery whisper.“It’s not important.” He replied quickly. He decided he wasn’t going to tell everyone how they were working for the Angels - he would wait for Bobby to do that.Fortunately, Charlie didn’t ask again.“It’s pretty quiet out here.” She commented, looking around in the dark, “It makes me uneasy.”Dean nodded in agreement, “I figured this place would have, like, tons of these freaks but we haven’t even seen one.”“Maybe we should just appreciate the quiet and-”A loud bang and a flash of light interrupted their conversation.Someone had shot their gun. The world went silent for a whole five seconds before growling was heard in the distance.“Who shot their gun?” Bobby hissed, looking around frantically. None of his group looked like they had their weapons in the correct position to be shooting them. Either way, there was no time to try and put the blame on somebody.“Move quietly.” Ellen ordered, leading them in the opposite direction of where the growling had been coming from. “If we’re lucky,” she took a sharp breath, “we won’t have to fight.”It was a nice idea but it was unlikely to happen.Everyone moved at a smooth and steady pace, tried to be light on their feet, and all had their guns drawn in case something was to pop out.The growls grew closer.“Turn off the lanterns.” A series of clicks filled the air.Dozens of gunshots went off in an instant but none were coming from the Men of Letters, who had begun running once the commotion started.There was no point in trying to hide from whoever or whatever was there, therefore, lanterns came on again and the Men of Letters started shooting at the mass of people they saw. They had their suspicions that some of these people were infected. Even if they weren’t, they still seemed to be posing a threat.More gunshots were heard and Charlie collapsed on to the ground suddenly. Cursing, Dean dashed over to her, fearing the worst. When he reached her, he saw her clutching a leg that was bleeding quickly. Without any words, Dean grabbed her arm, helped her behind a rolled over car, and handed her his flannel to try and stop the bleeding.There was a steady flow of gunshots by this point. Both the Men of Letters and the other group that had shown up were shooting; they shot at each other and the sick ones. From the looks of it, there were more people than there were of the infected.“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Dean said to Charlie before pulling out his handgun and joining the rest of his group – he only shot at the figures he was sure wasn’t a part of his team. He reminded himself to try and get as many headshots as to not waste bullets.From behind, something grabbed his collar, yanked him backwards, and began trying to take a bite out of him. He quickly smacked it with the back of his handgun, causing it to fall to the ground. He shot it once.This went back and forth for a while. Sometimes, above the crossfire, he could hear Ellen and Bobby shouting orders. Dean doubted that many people could hear the two leaders. After some time, the growling stopped, signaling that the infected had been defeated. However, the other humans still remained.Dean ran over to Sam and quickly instructed him to go check on Charlie since there were enough people to scare off the humans that were left.
As the older Winchester was coming back into the gunfight, he was jumped by a man – or was he one of the infected? It was hard to tell. The man’s clothes were ripped and there was what looked like rotting flesh on his face and arms. The only thing that made Dean doubt whether this was a person or not was the fact that he was carrying a rifle… the ones with the illness didn’t usually carry guns.The man-zombie-whatever pinned him to the ground for a split second before Dean kicked the rifle out of his hand. In the moment of the zombie-man’s surprise, the Winchester wrestled him to the ground.Dean could hear muffled voices among the gunshots shouting ‘Luc’ and ‘Luci’. He ignored them as he held his hand gun up to the other’s face, “Lucy’s an awfully odd name for a man, isn’t it?” He sneered. Hand on the trigger, he was ready to shoot. “Oh, and thanks for help with the infected ones,” he added, “looks you weren’t so lucky.” He gestured to the marks on the man’s face – he could only assume that this ‘Lucy’ has gotten bitten amidst the fighting and that the sickness was already affecting him.He was just about to pull the trigger when things suddenly fell silent again. One voice rose above the quiet.“Stop shooting!”Too late, Dean pulled the trigger on his gun. At the exact moment, ‘Lucy’ managed to grab the slide of the gun and redirect the shot. The bullet nearly missed him, only resulting in a small graze at the edge of his ear.Bobby dashed up to Dean and yanked him to his feet. “What part of stop shooting did you not understand?” Singer barked.‘Lucy’ stood up quickly and stalked over to be with his team, scowling at Dean and all the other Men of Letters. Along the way, he picked his rifle up and slung it over his back.“He’s infected!” Dean argued.Bobby shook his head, “He isn’t.”“Can’t you see that he-”“He isn’t infected.” Bobby finished.“It’s called scars, you bitch.” Lucy finally spoke, his eyes narrowed in both irritation and confusion, “Why didn’t you let him kill me?”“Two reasons.” Bobby began, “You have a symbol on your backpack.” He said flatly, gesturing to a patch with a star inside of a circle, “You’re part of the Demons, no?”Their silence urged him to continue.“And your name… Lucy… or Lucifer?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Who the hell are you?” Lucy – Lucifer sneered, taking a step closer, his right hand going to the pistol he had in a holster on his hip. One of his teammates, a woman with shoulder length brown curls, grabbed his arm and held him back.He glanced at her and made eye contact for a few seconds before he took a step back and tried again. “How do you know my name?” He asked in a calmer tone. “No one should know who I am.”“Sorry, son,” Bobby chuckled, “when you get involved with the Angels, everyone is bound to know your name.”“Fortunately, I have no business with them.” Lucifer said in a haughty tone that made it seem like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. The Angels made him nervous because whoever was involved with them had to be trouble.The same woman who had held him back spoke again, “Maybe this is about your arm, dumbass.”“Meg, please.” Lucifer muttered as he subconsciously tugged at the sleeves of his faded, navy colored flannel. He glanced at Dean who stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.” He said quickly.“Seems like you do.” Dean huffed in reply, crossing his arms.A woman with cascading, curly black hair slung her arm around Lucifer’s shoulders, causing him to waver slightly. She pushed a pair of round, yellow tinted glasses out of her eyes and on to the top of her head, “Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t,” she shrugged, “what’s it to you, pretty boy?” She purred. “I say we just go our separate ways and pretend this little encounter never happened. Yeah? Great.” She pulled her arm away and turned around to walk back towards two men that shared some of her same features – they each had pairs of yellow tinted glasses as well.“Can’t do that.” Bobby replied in a gruff voice. “The Angels want you.” He nodded to Lucifer.Lucifer let out a half-hearted laugh, “Lots of people want me, old man, but very few get to have me.” He smiled sweetly, “Now, I have to agree with my dear Dagon. Let us part here.” He gave a small wave, linked his arm with Meg’s, turned around, and started to walk away.Did he really believe it would be that simple?He only got a few feet away when a hand grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around. He came face to face with Dean.“Don’t touch me.” Lucifer hissed, shoving his hand away, he was still very salty about almost being shot in the face not even ten minutes ago. “I’m not going with you guys. Run back to the old guy and tell him that.” He gestured to Bobby.Dean narrowed his eyes, searching for some kind of sign in Lucifer’s eyes that would prove he wasn’t a complete douchebag, “I don’t why the hell The Angels would waste their time on someone like you but you must be pretty freaking important. You know what’s going on here, I can tell. Would you at least stay long enough to try and talk things out with Bobby?”Lucifer huffed, “Why? It would be a waste of my time.”Meg let out an exaggerated groan, rolling her eyes, “Lucifer, they’re not asking you to sign the Declaration of Independence. Just talk to them for goodness’ sake.” She looked to Dean and forced a smile, “Don’t get me wrong, I hate your team already, I just want to get this over with because I know we’ll waste more time talking about talking about it.”“Uh, thanks, I guess.” Dean said, looking back over to Lucifer, “So?”Lucifer opened his mouth to say ‘no’ but paused for a moment. “Fine, but he takes longer than ten minutes of our time and we’re done.”Dean nodded and returned to Bobby’s side.When Lucifer’s team was close enough, Bobby gestured for everyone to take a seat. The people who didn’t take a seat were Ellen and Sam as they were the ones struggling to tend to Charlie and her battle wound.The Demons kept a safe distance from the Men of Letters. The tension between the two groups was obvious. Everyone kept their guards up and a gun in their hand. The only person who put his gun away was Bobby as his goal was to make the people feel welcome.Lucifer crossed his arms and waited for someone to speak.Bobby cleared his throat, “I think I owe everyone an explanation.” He sighed, “I haven’t been completely honest with all of you.” He glanced over at his own people. He started off by telling the Men of Letters why they left their camp back in Georgia and about the mission assigned to them. “The Angels believe that Lucifer can help find a cure or vaccine or something that will help this messed up world.” He explained. “I don’t know why they think so but I didn’t think to ask. All I know is that we have to get him to them.”The Demons exchanged uncomfortable glances.“Do you guys know why they need you?” Jo asked.“Sorry, that’s confidential, darlin’.” Meg replied sweetly, “Only people in our team get to know that.”Jo scowled in response.“I don’t trust The Angels,” Lucifer said, ignoring Jo and Meg.“Who does?” Dean scoffed.Lucifer continued, “and I don’t want to get mixed up with them.”Bobby sighed, “Listen, I understand that, I really do. I’ve hated them for the longest but they’re a determined group. If they want you, they’ll get you with or without our help. I’m scared to say that they’ll get you in a much more violent way if you don’t just come with us.”“Is that a threat?” Dagon questioned, “Is that just supposed to scare us into going with you?”“We’re not scared of you or them.” One of the men who shared Dagon’s features added.“Look, he’s just telling you your options.” Dean butted in, “You come with us and have a safe journey or have your friend here be literally stolen from you. It’s your choice and I think it’s pretty easy to tell which the right one is.”Lucifer quirked an eyebrow, “Maybe you underestimate us. There’s this little thing called ‘fighting back’. Maybe you’ve never heard of it, maybe you always just give in to the opposing side.” He snapped.“I think you underestimate them. There are hundreds of them and less than a dozen of you!” Dean clapped back, “Maybe I know when to use my brain and not just run headfirst into an unnecessary fight.”Lucifer turned his attention back to Bobby, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can go with you if it means I’ll have to see this imbecile for the next few weeks.” He stood up and offered Meg a hand to help her stand up. She didn’t take it. In fact, she didn’t even budge.Lucifer glanced back to two blonde women who hadn’t spoken the entire time. They also didn’t bother moving.The only people who made an effort to stand were Dagon and the two men who looked like her. As they went to stand up, Lucifer simply shook his head and muttered for them to sit back down.“Clearly my entire team is against me.” He grumbled.“Idiot, we’re not against you.” Meg shot him a glare, “We care and don’t want you to be ‘literally stolen’ from us.”Lucifer didn’t respond, sitting down once again. He did everything in his power to ignore the smug look on Dean’s face. “I suppose this is it then. My team is stuck with yours. Congratulations.” He said, speaking very monotone.As the negotiations finished up, Ellen and Sam returned with Charlie in between them. The redhead held on to them tightly to keep from falling as she hobbled over. She squint her eyes, taking a few moments to realize that there were way too many people in her group. She didn’t recognize half of them.“You were the bitches who shot at us, weren’t you?” She said quietly.Meg glanced at her up and down, spotting her wrapped up ankle. “Ah, that was probably me. You’re lucky; I was aiming for the heart or brain.” She chuckled.Ellen sighed and sat Charlie down in an empty spot before going over to Bobby. “Sam and I will take first watch tonight.” She whispered, “We want to keep an eye on Charlie. She’s going to be okay, just a little out of it. I’m just glad we still had some of the medical supplies from our old camp.” She unclipped the flask of whiskey Bobby had attached to his belt, “Gonna need this to clean the wound though.” She paused and glanced around at the two teams talking among themselves, “Did everything get cleared up?” She whispered and he nodded.Ellen stood and cleared her throat to get their attention, “Excuse me, everybody.” She began, “I’m glad to see that we could have to come to an agreement.” She smiled warmly, “Now, it’s late and I think we should be getting some rest. We have a long road ahead of us. Sam,” she gestured to the younger Winchester, “and I will be taking first watch. We usually have about two shifts each night. One group for four hours and the second group for four hours as well.”“We want one or two of our people to stay up as well.” One of the blondes, who hadn’t spoken until now, said.Ellen shrugged, “That’s up to you, we don’t care either way.”All the people besides Ellen, Sam, and Meg started to make themselves comfortable to go to sleep. Many of the individuals in The Men of Letters group would sleep close together to stay warm as the night grew cooler.When almost everyone was laying down, a Men of Letters named Eileen stood up and stalked over to be beside Sam. Lucifer noticed that she made a few quick hand gestures and Sam did the same. Sign language? He thought to himself. He would’ve been more interested if he hadn’t been so tired.Eileen laid her head down on Sam’s lap (where he began running a hand through her hair), murmured a soft goodnight, and fell asleep soon after.The world was quiet again other than the soft breathing and snoring of the people.However, as tired as Lucifer was, sleep wasn’t an option. He stared up at the silent night sky, feeling far from peaceful himself. He was worried, what if they hadn’t made the right decision? He had this horrible feeling that they made a mistake. Why couldn’t his group just listen to him for once? He tossed and turned with these thoughts in his mind, taking an hour or two to finally fall asleep.Meanwhile, Sam, Ellen, and Meg kept watch over things. They had actually managed to strike up a nice conversation.“How long have you all been together?” Sam asked Meg curiously.“Well, I’ve known Lucifer my entire life. We’re related somehow.” She shrugged, “I’m not sure how, that’s just what my dad told me before he disappeared. We met the sisters, Ruby and Lilith,” she looked over to the two blonde women, “about ten years ago, I think. We met Dagon, Ramiel, and Azazel right after.” She giggled, “And for the record, they’re fucking crazy. They’re triplets, technically quadruplets but the fourth one died, along with their mom, during childbirth, dad died of grief. It’s tragic, but so is everything in this world.” She said flatly.She glanced at Ellen and Sam, snorting softly, “Sorry. I tend to overshare. Lucifer hates that.” She gave them a small nod, “What about you guys. What’s your story?”“We’re all related in one way or another.” Sam shrugged, “Dean and Adam are my brother and half-brother. Jo is Ellen’s daughter; Ellen and Bobby are, um… yeah. Anyways, Bobby practically raised me and my brothers and Charlie, as well as Eileen, is just someone we picked up along the way. They’re family now. We have more people in different locations but this is just the group we have right now.”Meg nodded, understanding. “Must be nice.” She hummed, “Does Charlie forgive people easily?” She asked offhandedly.Sam snorted and shook his head, “No way.” He tilted his head, “Why do you ask?”Meg smiled mischievously, “Oh, nothing. I would just hate for someone as pretty as her to stay mad at me.” She quickly glanced at her cracked watch and groaned,“Damn! We still have two hours ‘til the next shift.”~When the first shift ended, Jo, Ruby, and Lilith volunteered to work the next shift until the sun had risen in the morning.Ruby and Lilith took it upon themselves to shoot one bullet into the air each to serve as a wake-up call.The Men of Letters did wake up and they woke up in a panic while The Demons simply groaned and complained; they were used to this. “Stop wasting the bullets, you two.” Lucifer muttered sleepily, rubbing his face as he sat up. His body felt sore as it usually did after falling asleep on the concrete. He regretted not moving on to the grass and dirt to sleep. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been aching as much.Ellen was heard saying something along the lines of ‘never letting those two Demons have second watch again’.“Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen, time for us to get moving. Give it three hours and we’ll stop to find something to eat.” She ordered as The Demons and Men of Letters were waking and standing up. “C’mon, sleeping beauties, we don’t have all day.” She barked.Lucifer stood up and cringed when he heard her calling his name. “Lady, don’t get into the habit of ordering me around. What do you want?” He huffed, picking up his bag.“Well, first of all, I’d say you need to respect your elders, kid.” Ellen said, not being entirely serious, “All I was going to say is that I want you up here with Bobby and I so you can help lead.”“Oh…”Dean went to his side, whispering angrily, “Watch how you treat her, alright? You should act a little more respectful. She deserves it.”Five minutes later, they were on the move.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sam and Eileen stuck to the back of the group for the sake of Charlie, who needed help walking along at a slow pace. While she had enough strength to walk in twenty minute intervals, there were multiple occasions where Sam or Eileen would have to full-on carry her. It was a tiring process but the two didn’t complain about helping their injured friend.Meg also hung around them, mostly because she wanted to try to strike up a conversation with Charlie. She tried speaking with her multiple times but every time she did, the only response she got was a quiet grunt or a sleepy glare. After being turned down over a dozen times, she slowly drifted away and begrudgingly dragged her feet as she walked over to be beside the people of her group.“Nice job trying to flirt with the lady you shot.” Ruby sneered teasingly, nudging Meg with her hip.Meg huffed softly and crossed her arms, “I only wanted to talk to her but she’s probably too tired.”“Or maybe she just doesn’t want to talk to the person who nearly killed her.” Lilith threw in, earning a glare.“Geez,” Meg pouted, “It wasn’t that bad. Plus, it’s not like I was trying to shoot her. I just saw a figure and I shot at it.”“Really?” Ruby quirked an eyebrow, “I could’ve sworn that I heard you say ‘hey, see that a redhead over there? I’ll shoot her’.” She said jokingly, shaking her head, “We know you weren’t trying to, you’ll just have to convince her of that. Good luck, by the way.”“Thanks,” Meg sighed, “I’ll try again later.”Ruby smiled and shrugged, “Hit me up if you need a hype man-”“Heads up, there’s a group headed our way!” Ellen shouted, grabbing the shotgun that was being handed to her by Bobby.“So early?” Lilith groaned.Ellen continued speaking, “Lots of runners and a few clickers.” She cocked her gun and turned to Lucifer. “You ready?”“More than you are, trust me.” With that, Lucifer sprinted to Ruby, Meg, and Lilith, calling Azazel, Dagon, and Ramiel over as well. “Listen, guys, don’t waste your bullets on them, okay?” Lucifer began, “Just kill the infected ones if they get too close to you or anyone else in our team.”Everyone nodded.“Alright, stick together.” Lucifer stalked back over to the front (Ruby and Lilith followed while Meg stayed back) where several shots were already fired. He pulled his pistol from its holster and began firing at any of the runners coming his way. He didn’t bother trying to take down a clicker as that would truly be a waste of bullets; he left that job to Ellen.The two main categories of the infected ones were clickers and runners. The clickers were the ones that had been infected for a long time; fungus grew on their arms, legs, and face, protecting them but also blocking their vision. Their only sense of direction was echolocation. They could and would react to the smallest of sounds and, when aggravated, they were hard to kill. Runners, on the other hand, moved faster but were significantly easier to kill. One shot to the head would take care of them.The head is exactly where Lucifer was aiming with each of his shots. He had enough practice in his lifetime to hit his target almost each time he pulled that trigger. “How many does it look like to you?” he shouted over to Ellen.She shook her head, squinting as she shot the heavy gun. “Not sure. Too many. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get rid of all of them.”Lucifer snorted, “I don’t think we have much of a choice now.” He shot a runner right in between the eyes while it stumbled towards him. “Such a fucking waste of bullets.” He muttered to himself. He put multiple rounds into a clicker before Ellen finished it off.“If we’re lucky, we can keep them at that distance away from us so none of us get hurt.” Ellen stated, starting to shoot at a faster pace.In a split second, Dean showed up beside her, pumping bullets into a few of the infected ones. “Ellen, we have a problem.” He grunted, “There are more showing up near the back of the group. Like, a lot more. I need back up.”“Take whoever you need.”Dean wrinkled his nose and glanced at the options in front of him: Ruby, Lilith, and Lucifer. He groaned quietly and nodded at them, “You three, come with me.” He returned to the back of the group, helping Sam and Eileen to kill a few more.“Don’t waste the bullets,” Lucifer reminded his people in a quiet voice, following the older Winchester.Dean wasn’t lying when he said there was a lot more of the infected near the back. The clickers and runners were slowly surrounding them and everyone was clearly struggling to fight them off.Meanwhile, The Demons mostly pretended to be helping. When they felt as though too many eyes were on them, they would shoot their guns; otherwise, they weren’t doing much to participate in the fight.Little by little, it seemed like the hoard was growing thin. Things slowed down and Dean took a split second to catch his breath – that was just enough time for a runner to grab a hold of him, trying to wrap its arms around his neck. The older Winchester did his best to keep from being bitten but the angle he was at made it difficult.Lucifer took a step away from the situation, reminding himself not to waste bullets. If he died, that was his problem and he should’ve been more careful.
But what if I don’t need to waste any bullets for this?
Not thinking straight, Lucifer clutched the back of the runner’s torn shirt and pulled it, forcing it onto the ground. Dean was knocked down as well but at least the infected one wasn’t holding on to him anymore. Now what? Lucifer dropped on to the ground; partially on purpose and partially by force. The runner had taken a hold of his ankle and pulled him to the ground. Whatever. He wanted to be on the ground anyways.Lucifer moved quickly and jumped on top of the infected person, knees on either side of it to pin it to the ground. He got a few good punches in before the sick individual overthrew him again. It began to savagely bite his arm as well as scratch at his flesh. In the next few seconds, a bullet was in its head, causing it to slowly release.Lucifer rolled over on to his back once he was free, crying out in pain as he gripped his bleeding arm and rocked back and forth.Dean scrambled to get to his feet, collecting his own gun from the ground. He immediately pointed it at the blonde man. “Fucking shoot him and you won’t see another day!” Meg shouted at him, grabbing his wrist and redirecting his aim towards the sky.“Are you insane?” Dean shrieked, pushing past her and putting his gun to Lucifer’s face once again, “He’s been bitten,” he growled, “he’s infected and you’ll thank me later when you won’t have to deal with a rabid animal.”Lucifer, shaking violently, tried to sit up. Tears were streaming down his face, smudging away some of the dirt and blood that had dried there quite a while ago. He looked Dean right in the eyes then shifted his gaze over to the gun that was inches away from his face. As he was in too much pain, he made no attempts to move.He sneered quietly, “S-Screw you.” His voice faltered, “I thought I knew better than to t-t-try helping people,” he spat.“I’m doing this for the sake of everybody.” Dean whispered in response. Before he was about to pull the trigger, he felt the warm muzzle of a recently used gun against the back of his head.“What did I say?” Meg hissed into his ear, “I don’t play when it comes to my family.”Slowly, Dean pulled his finger away from the trigger and clicked the safety back into place.“Now, put it in the holster where it can’t hurt anyone.”Dean complied.“Now get the fuck away from him.” Meg shoved Dean away and knelt down by Lucifer’s side. “Hey, Luc,” she said quietly, “c’mon you’re gonna be okay. Let me help you.” She stretched his arm out to get a better view of the wound; it went deep and the blood was coming out fast. “Alcohol.” She whispered softly to herself, standing up and facing Ellen (who had come to see what all the commotion was about). “I need alcohol to keep it from getting infected.” She said quickly.Ellen opened her mouth to protest only to be cut off by Meg:“I don’t have time to explain, just give me the damn alcohol!”Ellen glanced at Bobby skeptically before handing her the flask of whiskey that rested on her hip. Once Meg snatched the flask away from her, she dropped back down to her knees and pulled off her faded leather jacket, “Here, hold this in your mouth.”Without question, as he already knew what was about to happen, Lucifer shoved the sleeve of the jacket into his mouth and shut his eyes tightly.Meg took a deep breath, opened the flask of whiskey, and began to slowly pour it over the deep wound in his arm.Lucifer let out a sharp cry and buried his face deeper into the jacket. He was having a hard time holding his arm in place and tried pulling away from Meg’s grip a few times.“C’mon, Luci, you’re alright.” She muttered, shaking her head, “Not like you haven’t done this before.”The pain was unbearable and Lucifer was practically convulsing by the time she finished pouring about half of the whiskey in the flask over his arm. Meg released his arm and began to ease his flannel shirt off of him.“I need this to stop the blood,” Meg explained though, chances were, he probably couldn’t focus on what she was saying. Once she managed to slip the flannel off of him, she began to tightly wrap it around his arm. When she turned away from Lucifer, she was met face to face with dozens of the Men of Letters. She stood up, crossed her arms, and straightened out her back in order to reach her full height. “What do you want?” She demanded to know. She noticed that they were restraining Lilith, Ruby, and all the other Demons from seeing what was going on. “You all seriously couldn’t wait for three whole minutes for us to explain, could you?”“Three whole minutes is all a person needs to change into one of them.” Dean responded with a snarl, pointing to all of the infected they had just finished killing.Meg scoffed, “You’re disgusting. You really think he would’ve risked becoming one of those things to save your sorry ass?” She chuckled, “You think too highly of yourself. Trust me; he won’t be turning anytime soon. If he was going to, I would’ve shot him myself.”Dean stared at her. He didn’t know whether to believe her or not… she didn’t look like she was lying but, then again, looks could be deceiving. “You better have an explanation for us in fifteen minutes.”“Make it an hour.” Meg said casually, “He should explain it himself and isn’t in any shape to do so right now,” She paused, “or in fifteen minutes.”Dean clenched his jaw, stealing a glance at the shaking man. A tight feeling grew in his chest. Was he really feeling guilty? He cursed under his breath; why did Lucifer try and save him? Taking a sharp breath, he nodded at Meg, “Fine, one hour. He turns into one of those things and he’s dead.”Now that Lucifer’s flannel was off and his arms were exposed, Dean could see that his arms were also riddled with the same burns he had on his face. Along with that were multiple scars that loosely looked like dog bites. Dean had no doubt that those scars and burns would be in the explanation.Lucifer held on to Meg’s jacket tighter than before, so tight that his knuckles turned white. He sat with his knees tucked up to his chest, rocking back and forth. Meg sat beside him.An hour finally passed but time seemed to be moving slow for Lucifer. The only thing he found himself being able to focus on was the throbbing pain in his arm; the dramatic part of him was convinced that this was the end and that he was going to finally die. However, Meg being at his side made him feel significantly better.While the people waited, they decided it would be a good time to search nearby buildings for food and ration out the cans of food they already had in their bags. Ten minutes after the one hour mark, Dean began heading in Lucifer’s direction, a small portion of bread in his hand. Despite his protests, many of The Men of Letters had convinced him to go take some food to Lucifer considering he had just saved his life. So he did… With a heavy sigh, Dean sat down in front of him under the careful watch of Meg.The Winchester, without saying anything, stretched out his hand and offered the bread to him.Lucifer wrinkled his nose and inched back, “Aren’t you scared I’m going to try and bite you?” He huffed, turning his head away.Dean rolled his eyes, his arm still extended, “We’re passed that.” He paused for about ten seconds, “Why did you do it?” He said in a quiet voice, almost scared to ask. “I fucking hate you and you fucking hate me.” He said flatly.“A thank you would be nice.” Lucifer hissed in response, suddenly snatching the piece of bread from Dean’s hand. He winced and silently cursed himself for moving his injured arm in such a quick motion.Dean put his hands together, “Right, well, you seem fine now. Care to start explaining as to why you shouldn’t be dead by now?”Lucifer gave a sarcastic smile, “Gladly. Doesn’t the rest of your group want to hear the gossip? At least the old man and his wife, no?”Once Ellen and Bobby gathered around, Lucifer was somewhat ready to begin. “So, try not to flip your shit when I tell you this but,” he paused, glanced around, and lowered his voice, “I’m a wizard.”Dean, Bobby, and Ellen exchanged glances, none of them looking amused. “Okay, anyways,” Lucifer cleared his throat, “I have better genes than anyone here.” He shrugged, “That’s it. Something’s wrong with me.” He pointed to the different bite scars he had, “All of these are the spots where I’ve been bitten, which now adds up to about… four.”“How did you first find out you were immune?” Jo, who was now listening, called out.Lucifer laughed, “Obviously I just went up to the nearest clicker and asked it to bite me. Y’know, in the name of science. As it turns out, I can’t be changed! Wild, am I right?” He dropped the fake smiles along with the laughter and rolled his eyes. “So if you haven’t pieced it together,” he inhaled sharply, “that’s probably why The Angels want me. Those bastards want a cure.”“Don’t you?” Dean quirked an eyebrow.Lucifer coughed, “Oh, yeah, sure… No, not really. I really don’t, um, care.” He gave another short, fake smile, “The world would probably be better if we all just blew away.”Dean snorted and let out a laugh, a genuine laugh, “Okay, calm down, you little ray of sunshine.” He said sarcastically. “Great, so you’re immune to the virus.” He started to stand up.Lucifer nodded, “Yup, I’m pretty sure that’s what I said.”“It still doesn’t explain why you jumped in front of the infected one to save Dean.” Jo said.“Maybe because sometimes I like to show just a little bit of humanity but maybe I just won’t next time.” Lucifer snapped, looking over to Ellen, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to start moving now.” Still holding his arm, he tried to stand up; however, he got tangled up in Meg’s jacket and managed to trip. Fortunately, he didn’t land face first on the ground like he thought he would. Instead, a pair of strong hands caught him by his arms. He howled in pain as the hands dug into his wound. He tried pulling away but when he felt himself beginning to lose his balance again, he snatched a hold of the person’s shirt, pulled them closer, and held on tight as if they were an anchor. He stared down at his feet and breathed heavily. When he looked up, he was met face to face with Dean.“Oh how intimate.” Lucifer purred, shoving Dean away and wobbling slightly. He snatched the jacket up from the ground and handed it to Meg. “Like I said, can we get moving?” He asked Ellen again, ignoring everyone else at this point.They hit the road again, being careful this time around as to avoid bumping into another hoard. Along with Charlie, Sam, and Eileen, Lucifer took to the back of the group. The pain pulsing through his arm made him want to move at a very slow pace, but hey, at least it wasn’t his leg that was bitten.Every so often, Meg would come around to take a look at his wounded arm and, when she saw it fit to do so, she would pour more whiskey over it to keep it from infection. Every chance she got, she would look through the medicine cabinets in abandoned homes in hopes of finding some antibiotics. She had no luck in that aspect.Anyways, Lucifer seemed to be doing okay; in fact, he was actually happier in the back of the group. The night before, he had been wondering why Eileen and Sam were communicating by sign language. Today, he found out that Eileen was deaf and, though she was an excellent lip-reader, felt more comfortable speaking in sign language.If Lucifer remembered correctly, he once read a book about ASL for beginners. He used his minimal knowledge in the art to talk to and understand Eileen. He was surprised to see how much he still remembered and she appreciated the effort.Their conversation would switch from ASL to english every time Lucifer could no longer understand what was happening or whenever his cut up arm hurt too much to move around.“You’re actually pretty good at signing.” Sam told him encouragingly, Lucifer shrugged, “Do you know any other languages?”What looked like a small smile played at the corner of Lucifer’s mouth, “Um… yeah, actually. There’s this old, dead language used in ancient times. It was called the ‘language of God and his angels’.”“Latin?” Sam questioned.Lucifer shook his head quickly, “Goodness, no. In my opinion, that’s considered to be the language from hell.” He huffed, “It’s called Enochian. I, uh, remember my father teaching it to me as I was growing up. I think the language was passed down throughout my family.”Sam opened his mouth to ask another question before Dean interjected.“How are things holding up back here?” The older Winchester asked.Lucifer gave an unenthusiastic thumbs up.“Ellen is thinking of calling it a night a little earlier than usual since it’s been a pretty busy day. What do you think?” Dean asked his brother.Sam shook his head slightly, glancing at the small, folded map he had in his hand, “I think we should at least travel for another one or two, Charlie should hold up ‘til then since she’s doing much better than earlier.”“Oh, and what am I, chopped liver? Goodness, just kill me.” Lucifer uttered, applying a small amount of pressure to his arm.“I’m sorry?” Dean asked, watching him skeptically.Lucifer blinked a few times and looked over at Dean, “Did I say that out loud?”“ ‘fraid you did.” Sam snorted, “I only figured because you hadn’t been shot in the leg…”“Well you figured wrong.” Lucifer retorted. “I’m exhausted, lightheaded, and feel like shit, but it’s fine, let’s just keep going. The sooner we get to the Angels, the better.” He let out a long, shaky breath, “Where are their headquarters anyways?”“… Washington DC.” Sam coughed quietly.“What!?” Lucifer stopped dead in his tracks, “That’s ridiculous! Do they really expect us to walk that distance?”“I doubt it. Once we get word to them that we found you, they’ll probably send us a faster form of transportation.”“The amount of faith you have in them is wild.” Lucifer shook his head and continued walking again. “In that case, we should keep moving for another two hours. Hell, make it three.”After speaking with Ellen, the plan was to keep moving for two more hours. Some time passed and Lucifer’s pride didn’t allow him to tell anyone how lightheaded he felt but Meg could tell how he was barely holding on. She weaved her way past the handful of people in her way to talk to Bobby.“Look, man, we gotta stop. I can tell Luc is ready to pass out. You think we can stop for the night already?” She asked though it wasn’t much of a question as she had no intentions of taking no for an answer.Bobby nodded, “I’ll talk to Ellen about it.”Soon after, the announcement was made and everyone began setting up camp.Lucifer sent Meg an appreciative look and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her before he slowly sat down on the dying grass underneath him. He slid his backpack off and leaned against it, shivering as a short gust of wind blew against him; he had a feeling that this night was going to be colder than the last one.Apparently another person, Adam, had the same feeling. He crawled over to be in the center of the group with some twigs, rocks, and box of matches. In no time, he had a medium sized fire going and it radiated enough heat to warm anyone close enough.Lucifer, on the other hand, was not close enough to it. He chose to stay separate from the group though mostly everyone that was a part of his own team neared the fire. He carefully unraveled the shirt from around his sleeve, cursing softly as some dried blood got peeled away as well. He was surprised to see that, so far, the wound wasn’t infected. Wanting to keep it that way, he grabbed the flask of whiskey Meg had earlier and poured the last bit of it over his arm. It didn’t sting as much. Afterwards, he dug through his bag to find another piece of cloth that wasn’t soaked in his blood. When he found a roll of bandages (which he had completely forgotten about), he patched his arm up and hoped for the best.A large amount of chatter was coming from the group by the fire. The Demons and Men of Letters were all talking and laughing with each other.It’s nice, Lucifer thought, that they don’t hate the Men of Letters as much as I do.The chatting didn’t last long since everyone began to wind down and fall asleep. Lucifer dozed off before he could hear who was taking first watch.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“N- No! No! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
His heart pounded in his ears as his gun slipped from his hands and fell onto the cold, stone floor. The sound of its landing echoed off of the tunnel walls.
“P- Please,” He whispered, “please say something. Don’t go. Please don’t go.”
The air surrounding him felt thin and, in the next few moments, he was gasping for air.
“Please don’t go.”
~
Lucifer awoke with a sudden jolt when he heard Ellen’s voice. He sat up immediately and watched her shadow as she spoke with Dean.“You need to find someone who’ll take the second watch with you.” She said.“I’ll do it.” Lucifer said breathlessly. Ellen looked at him, surprised; she thought he was still asleep.“You sure, Lucifer?” She asked, “Your arm isn’t still bothering you.”Lucifer shook his head and slowly stood up, “I’m fine,” he claimed. Lies. The second he bent down and picked up his backpack, a sharp pain shot up his arm and rested itself into his shoulder. “I feel a lot better, actually.” He glanced away and noticed the fire was still burning. “Could I maybe sit by the fire if I’m going to be keeping watch?” He questioned in a quiet voice.Ellen nodded, “Of course. Be my guest.” Lucifer gave a small nod in return and walked towards the fire; Dean followed. The two set down their bags by the flames and sat around it.“It’s a bit chilly tonight, huh?”“Please don’t talk about the weather.” Lucifer said absentmindedly, staring into the flames, “It makes me feel like an old man. You know, maybe you just shouldn’t talk to me at all.”Dean snorted quietly, “Sorry, Gramps.” He paused, “But am I wrong?”Lucifer sighed and leaned his head back to stare up into the night sky, “It’s freezing,” he admitted, inching a little closer to the source of the heat.Dean nodded, looking over Lucifer for a brief moment. Part of him was dying to ask him what all those burn scars on his face and arms while the other part of him was telling him to keep his mouth shut and not be rude… He had a hard time of holding his tongue, however, and let his curiosity get the best of him.“It’s really none of my business but how’d you get those burns on your skin?”“I jumped into a vat of chemicals.” Lucifer said in an all too serious tone.“What?” Dean looked at him, confused. Why did that sound familiar? Like he had read someone actually doing that before…“Gosh, you guys really are no fun. Ever heard of a comic book?” Lucifer looked back at Dean, maintaining eye contact for a few moments before looking back into the flames. “If you must know, my ‘home’ or camp, for the lack of a better word, was burned down. Set on fire by some crazy people. I got burned while trying to… well, yeah, I just got burned.” He lay down on his back. He could hear Dean say a quiet ‘Oh’. “Please don’t pity me.” Lucifer muttered, “I mean, I’m alive, and I guess that’s what matters.”Dean lay down as well before speaking again, “I guess I can relate, though. I had a ‘home’ once too. It burnt to the ground in the middle of the night. Never really found out why. I figure my dad must’ve left a candle running. I managed to get out without any serious injuries but my mom wasn’t so lucky.”“Oh.” Lucifer took a deep breath, “I’m sorry.”Dean snorted quietly, “Hey now, you better not start pitying me – I don’t want your pity. I barely knew her anyways. I have my brothers and those are the people that are important to me.”Lucifer fell silent, chewing on his bottom lip.“So, uh,” Dean spoke to fill in the awkward silence, “it’s pretty sick that you’re immune to the infection.”“Wow, okay, fuck you too.”Dean stifled a laugh, “No, no, I meant sick as in it’s cool.”“Nice save.” Lucifer smirked, glancing over at Dean.Dean took no notice and continued staring up at the sky. “I still want to know why you saved me. Why didn’t you just let me die?”“I honestly couldn’t answer that.”“Why not?”“I just can’t.”“Sure you can.”“I can’t because I don’t know why I did it!” Lucifer exclaimed, “I don’t know why I saved your sorry ass. Like you said earlier, I hate you. I mean, you tried killing me… twice.” He said, finally realizing how bitter he actually felt. “You’re a complete jerk for that, by the way.”“So I’ve been told.”Lucifer sighed, propping himself up on his elbows, “Maybe I should start making up a reason for why I did it. How about, ‘you, Dean Whatever-The-Hell-Your-Last-Name-Is, are the chosen one’ or ‘I was possessed and couldn’t stop myself from jumping in front of that freak’. Oh, what about, ‘I thought you were cute and thought it would be a shame if the infected ruined your pretty face’.”Dean laughed for a few moments before what Lucifer had said actually clicked. “Wait, what? Do you think I’m attractive?”“Did you hear that?” Lucifer sat up suddenly, ignoring the question; he began to glance around.“Hear what?” Dean also sat up.“Oh, never mind, it’s just the sound of you being a complete airhead.” The blonde man snickered and lied back down. “Didn’t you hear the part where I said I was making up a reason as to why I saved you?”“You son of a bitch,” said Dean as he sent a glare his way.Lucifer shrugged and closed his eyes, a smug look on his face. Their conversation ended there. At that moment, neither of them had any questions to ask each other. An hour passed and nothing happened. Maybe they would exchange the occasional word to make sure they were both awake, other than that, they hadn’t dealt with any of the infected ones trying to attack. “I couldn’t sleep,” a voice broke in, “can I stay up and keep watch with you two?” It was Jo.“That’s fine.” Dean mumbled with a sigh while he sat up once again with a grunt. He beckoned for her to come over and sit down and she complied. “Any reason as to why you can’t sleep?”Jo shrugged and tucked her knees underneath her chin, “ ‘m too anxious to sleep.” She let out, “I’m scared of being eaten alive or bitten or shot.” She lowered her head, “I’m also scared of the people I care about getting hurt.” She swallowed thickly, sounding as though it was hard to get the words out. “I mean, you almost got killed today and- and, if you didn’t notice, so did Bobby.”Dean nodded, listening to her rant.Jo glanced at Lucifer then looked back over to Dean, “No offense, but I think it’s ridiculous that Bobby accepted this mission. I mean, we’re going to travel to Washington? Really? That seems like an impossible journey and I-” she cleared her throat in attempts to keep it from cracking, “I’m scared we’re going to lose some people along the way,” her voice shook. She stared at the ground though Dean could clearly see that her eyes were beginning to water. “And what if we get to Washington safe and sound? Who’s to say that the Angels won’t just kill us off?” She whispered“I really can’t say why Bobby took this mission,” Dean began softly, “but maybe if everyone bands together, we can talk him out of it.”“I certainly hope so.” Lucifer muttered.Jo furrowed her eyebrows in distress, “He can’t be convinced of anything, you know that.” She told Dean.Lucifer crossed his arms, “Then maybe I can make my group abandon ship.” He suggested, “You guys can’t go to the Angels if you don’t even have the cargo.”Just as Dean was about to say something, another woman’s voice interrupted,“This conversation seems rather interesting; I hope you don’t mind that I was eavesdropping.”Jo was the first to stand. She turned around to face whoever was speaking to them. “Who the hell are yo-?” She stopped, breath hitching and eyes widening when she saw who was standing before her them. “Bela?” She let out in a soft voice followed by an equally soft laugh; she felt a sudden rush of relief flush through her as if a heavy load had been taken off of her back.A small smile flickered across this Bela woman’s face, “Oh, so you do still recognize me?” She hummed, her smile soon fading, “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” She glanced at Dean, “I see you’re still with these clowns. What was it? The Men of Mail.” She mocked. Lucifer stood up and Bela immediately locked eyes with him. She smiled again. “Don’t you look awfully familiar? Still a clown, nonetheless. Hello, Lucifer.”“Bela,” Lucifer scoffed with a small nod of acknowledgment, “I thought you were dead.”“I’m not so easy to kill.” Bela snapped.“How do you know her?” Jo asked Lucifer, taking a step away from him.Lucifer replied a little too honestly and a little too bluntly, “I tried killing her.”“Oh,” Jo coughed, blinking a few times.Bela shrugged, “Anyways, I’m happy to see of you.” She looked back to Jo, giving what looked like a sincere smile.Jo bit her lip and looked away.Dean shifted his eyes between the two women before furrowing his eyebrows. Was it just him or was Jo blushing?“While I’d hate to intrude,” Bela began, “I would love to speak to Jo privately.”“U-um, go right ahead.” Dean said, quickly stepping away.Lucifer raised his eyebrows at Dean in surprise, “You trust that backstabbing little-”“Lucifer,” said Bela in a stern tone, cocking her head as though she were ready to kill him, “our issues have nothing to do with mine and Jo’s relationship. Now, if you would please give us some privacy.” She rested her hand on the holster of her gun.Lucifer narrowed his eyes and sniffed, “You’re going to kiss her.”Dean slapped his hand against his forehead, groaned, and pulled Lucifer away from the others, “You’re an idiot. You don’t say things like that.”Lucifer shrugged, “Sorry, but I’d have to be dead to not notice the way they look at each other. And the way she said privacy? Either she wants to kiss her or kill her.”“Just stop talking.” Dean muttered.“Do you even know who that chick is?” Lucifer questioned, “And if you do know who she is, how can you trust her so easily? She a lying demon, that’s what she is.”“Says the guy who has a group named the ‘Demons’.” Dean snorted, “Anyways, I do know who she is. I met her around the same time Jo did. I was twenty-ish, they were around eighteen. Bela hitched a ride for us with a while. I never took much notice to their friendship but… I guess they must’ve been more than that. Jo was heartbroken when she suddenly vanished one night. We looked for her but figured she must’ve been killed.”“Wow.” Lucifer mumbled, “I wonder if that was around the time I almost killed her.”Dean shifted to be in a more comfortable position, “Well, tell your side of the story. How do you know her and how did you almost kill her?”Lucifer lay down on his back, “Uh, well, she sort of joined my group too… for a day. We soon found that she couldn’t be trusted when she pulled a gun out on Dagon. I shot her in the side. I don’t know how she managed to make it.”“Wow.” Dean said. “She’s pretty strong, I guess.”Lucifer nodded in agreement.Dean continued, “While I don’t necessarily trust her, I know that Jo can take care of herself. If Bela turns out to be a backstabber like you claim, Jo will be able to fight back.”~“I missed you so much, Bel.” Jo said quietly.Bela smiled softly, “I know, I know. I’m so sorry for leaving, darling.” She murmured, “I was young, stupid, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just thought I could go off on my own and didn’t want to be under the rule of Bobby and Ellen anymore. I regretted it for the longest. I tried looking for you all again.”Jo let out a laugh, her voice cracking, “Well, it worked after about ten years.”Bela gave a half-hearted smile and looked down at their hands.“A- Are you going to stay with us?” Jo asked hopefully.“If you’re not angry with me, and your parents let me, I would love to.” Bela said honestly.“Consider yourself a Men of Mail then.” Jo purred. She stood up and offered Bela a hand to help her stand up. They looked at each other for a long while before Jo turned another bright shade of red and looked away.With a quiet laugh, Bela held Jo’s hand a little tighter and lead her over to where Lucifer and Dean were. “Well, Luci,” Bela chuckled, “we didn’t kiss, though I plan on changing that. Did anything go on over here?” She asked teasingly, putting her hand on her hip. “I can see that you two are just swarming with sexual tension.”Lucifer shook his head, “No way. I mean, I’d kiss Dean but he’s probably too scared I’d give him some weird zombie STD.”Dean scowled, “Um, first of all, gross, I just got a terrible mental image-”“Of us kissing?” Lucifer interrupted.“No, of a zombie STD.” Dean shuddered before going on, “Second of all, I wouldn’t let you touch me,” he paused and looked offended, “and third of all, why do you keep making passes at me!?” He sputtered.“That was a lot of words to take in but you lost me after zombie STDs anyways.” Lucifer said casually, stretching out. Bela and Jo burst into a quiet fit of laughter.Dean rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, clearly irritated.“Anyways,” Jo cleared her throat, “do you think mom and dad would let Bela join us again?” She asked.“Probably.” Dean said a little too quickly. Probably not. “But, uh, just let me talk to them if they have any problems with her sticking around.”Jo and Bela exchanged glances, smiled, and each responded with quiet thank you.“You’re the best, really, Dean.” Jo said excitedly, facing Bela and taking her hands.“Oh my Zues, you guys are adorable, we get it, but please stop being so mushy.” Lucifer groaned jokingly.“There’s no need to be salty, Lucifer. I mean,” Bela laughed, “you’ll never get lucky if you act like that.” She teased.Lucifer shrugged and winked in response, leaving her a little confused. Bela shook her head slightly and sat down, “So, Lucifer, what brought you here to this group?” She asked as she put her duffel bag on top of her lap and leaned her elbows against it; Jo sat down comfortably beside her.“I had no choice.” Lucifer scoffed, crossing his arms and stealing a quick glance at the Winchester, “The fucking Angels wanted me and these ‘Men of Letters’ decided to bring me to them.” He sighed softly and lowered his head some. For one of the first time, Dean noticed how sad the other man really felt about the situation at hand.“What’s so important about you?” Bela questioned him with a nod.“Literally nothing.”Dean rolled his eyes, grabbed Lucifer’s arm, and pulled his sleeve up to reveal all the bite scars, “Yeah, nothing at all except for the fact that he’s immune to the virus.”Bela’s eyes widened, “How long have you known?” She turned her attention from Lucifer to Dean and then to Jo, “They must be paying you well for him…”Lucifer narrowed his eyes to a glare, “Of course you would care about that.” He grumbled, “It’s their prize to be won anyways, so don’t go thinking you can take me from them and sell me to the Angels. These guys are lucky enough that I’ve stayed with them so far.” He snapped.“I would never dream of doing that.” Bela hissed.“Oh, please, I could see the gears in your mind going.” Lucifer huffed, his nose twitching.“Leave her alone,” Dean and Jo said in unison.Lucifer clenched his jaw, looked away, and didn’t say another word; Bela did the same.Dean and Jo exchanged glances and Jo let out a quiet sigh, “You know, things were going really well.” She said softly, “Could you two try not to argue?”“Perhaps it’s just best that we keep our interactions to a minimum.” Bela replied, giving one her signature, overly sweet smiles.“Maybe.” Jo muttered, yawning quietly, “I think it’s time we call it a night, Bela. Dean and Luc are keeping watch tonight.”Bela nodded and began to stand up before Dean signaled for her to remain seated.“We’ll move.” He said, “I think we should start keeping watch on the other end of the group.” He stood up with a grunt, picked up his bag, and started walking around to the east end of the group. Lucifer followed him, walking right beside.While Dean walked, he rested his hand on his hip so he could pull his gun out quickly if necessary. So far, things were looking good; there was no sign of any other unwanted life forms.Soon, the two guys got comfortable in a new spot away from the fire. That was Lucifer’s only issue and now he could really feel the cool breeze against his skin. He shivered and began digging through his bag in hopes of finding a sweater. When he found nothing, and when the other man wasn’t paying attention, he snatched away Dean’s bag and rummaged through it briefly. He was fortunate enough to find a sweatshirt before throwing the bag back at Dean.“Oh, thanks, it’s not like I wanted to use that or anything.” Dean snorted.Lucifer shrugged, pulling the sweater on over his head, “If I have to be stuck here with you, I think I have every right to steal your shit.”“Fair enough.” Dean agreed, “It fits you better, I guess.”Lucifer looked down and laughed; the sleeves of the sweatshirt were covering his hands, “Yeah, I can’t think of a better size.” He murmured, blinking a few times, “I regret asking to stay awake with you.”“Ouch, that was rude.” Dean chuckled quietly, leaning back, “You can go to sleep, I guess. I can keep watch by myself, it’s not like I haven’t done it before.”Lucifer chewed his bottom lip for a few moments in thought before nodding, “Only if you’re sure.” He hesitantly went to lie down, putting his backpack under his head to use as a pillow.“I’m positive.”In no time, Lucifer was asleep. The only problem was that so was Dean.