Saving Grace

Death Takes a Holiday -- Pamela

~*****~

Dean's thankfully uninjured-- save for the massive headache he'd sustained from cracking against that tombstone. He's sprawled out on my lap, face pressed in my chest as if I were helping his headache. I glance up as the door opens, my smile slipping almost immediately. "How you doing?" Sam asks.

"I'm in pain, that's how I'm doing." Dean says in a muffled tone. "I think I have a concussion."

"You didn't heal it for him?" Sam asks as he gazes at me.

"I tried, but he insisted this was a better way. Besides, I spent most of my energy calming Mary down enough to get her to sleep." I say as I gesture to the crib. "So... Demons, huh?"

"Yeah, so much for miracles..." Sam sighs.

"And what the hell happened to Alastair again?" Dean asks.

I glared at Sam for a few moments before sniffing loudly and began scratching at Dean's back. "I told you, he tried to fling me, or whatever, and it didn't work, so he bailed."

Dean grunted and flopped onto his back, now completely lounging on me as if I were a set of pillows. "Well, how come he couldn't fling you? He chucked you pretty good last time. Hell, Lottie said he flung her."

Sam shrugged. "Got no idea."

Dean huffed and sat up, perching on the edge of the bed. "Sam, do me a favor. If you're gonna keep your little secrets, I can't really stop you, but just don't treat me like an idiot, okay?"

"What? Dean, I'm not keeping secrets." Sam retorted defensively.

Dean hummed. "Whatever. So, did you go back and Q-and-A the dead kid?"

"Didn't have to." Sam shrugged. "Bobby called. He did some digging."

"And?"

"He thinks Lottie's right. Local Reapers gone. Not just gone-- kidnapped." Sam explains.

"By demons? Why?" Dean asked.

"Listen to this," Sam says as he cracks open the book he'd been carrying. "And he bloodied death under the newborn sky-- sweet to taste, but bitter when once devoured."

"Swanky. What the hell does that mean?"

"Well, it's from a very obscure, very arcane version of Revelations." Sam explains.

"Which means this is another damn seal, isn't it?" I groan. "So- So what, you kill a reaper under the solstice moon-- which should be tomorrow night, because our luck is just completely fucked-- and another seal breaks."

"How do you ice a reaper? You can't kill death." Dean comments.

"I don't know. Maybe demons can. Where the hell are the angels is what I want to know." Sam sighs. "We could use their help for once."

"Yeah, I'm kinda juiced out." I huff irritably as I palm at my face for a moment. "Looks like we gotta take care of this ourselves."

"What are we gonna do? Just wing in and save the friendly neighborhood reaper?" Sam asks.

"You gotta better idea, we're all ears." Dean defends me.

"Guys, reapers are invisible, the only people that can see them are the dead and the dying." Sam states.

"That's not a bad idea," I hum. "If ghosts are the only ones who can see them-- and seeing as how death and I are kinda on bad terms, you two boys get to be ghosts for an evening."

"I thought Dean had the concussion." Sam comments.

"I know it's all kinds of bat shit crazy,"

"It is... how are we gonna do it?" Sam asks.