The Stronghold 3: Mikachi

Sam? Open Up!

By the time I got inside the Stronghold hotel my legs felt like lead. A sudden bout of tiredness had overcome me and I wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep. But sleep meant nightmares so first I had to find Sam.

"S'mmy," I murmured when I finally reached the top of the staircase. Dean sighed as I fell flat on my face.

"Ow."

"Sam!" the Hunter called. "Or Fred, or whatever. Your pet's gone mad."

"'M not a pet," I yawned. "'M tired."

"Yeah, we can all see that," Nova said dryly from somewhere in front of me. Using some considerable effort I rolled over onto my back and looked across at her, upside down.

"Nova," I noted.

"Shaade," she mimicked. 

"Sam?" I said hopefully.

"There," Nova said, pointing through an open doorway. I moaned weakly and then remembered that it was a public floor that we were on, we only occupied three rooms on it. Anyone could come along at any second and see a very odd little company; a man built like an athlete, covered in little scars and swinging keys around his finger humming Metallica, a girl that looked like a boy with unnaturally red hair and snazzy style, and me, impersonating a deflating balloon on the floor. 

"Why hasn't Sam appeared yet?" Dean questioned, stepping over me. 

"I don't know," Nova shrugged. "The door's shut, so I have no idea what voodoo stuff he's doing in there."

"Could you not, y'know, kick the door down?" I said, waking up a little more as my demon registered Sam might be in danger.

"I tried. There was yelling," Nova responded.

"Sam?" Dean shouted, knocking sharply on the door. "Are you okay?"

There was no response and as much as I wanted to charge at the door my demon was reluctant (I thought we were calling it Benedict? @ me concentrate more). There was an aura surrounding the door that frightened it and that fear slowly seeped into my veins to affect me.

"Dean, don't," I said as Dean prepared to kick the door down. He froze with one leg half-raised, looking at me expectantly.

"Something isn't right," I said slowly.

"I'd worked that out for myself," Dean replied. 

"No, not locked-door-no-answer sort of not right. Like dark-magic-where-it-shouldn't-be sort of not right."

"Dark magic?" Nova repeated, shivering. "I did wonder..."

"Wondered what?" I questioned but she shook her head in reply. 

"So there's some creepy-ass voodoo stuff going on and we can't get in," Dean said flatly, folding his arms and lowering his leg. I nodded and he and Nova sighed in sync. 

"Couldn't you get in?" Dean asked suddenly, pointing at me. I nodded while Benedict shook its head furiously. 

"I can but I don't want to," I replied.

"Why not?"

"Demon senses are telling me something's up."

"Something?" Nova said, eyebrows raised. "How very specific." 

"No, something spooky," I said in irritation. "Spooky-scary-skeletons kind of spooky. But spookier. Dark magic sort of spooky. Powerful magic kind of spooky."

"Stop saying spooky," Dean and Nova said in the same breath. I frowned and tried to think of another adjective.

"Okay," I said at last, "think of it this way. My extremely powerful demon is afraid to let me, its vessel, go into that room for reasons unknown. There's an aura around the door that's making me feel ill and a pulsing magic behind it. I don't want to go in because I might die but I do want to go in because Sam's probably in danger. Do you follow?"

Two nods were the response.

"Good. So what I'm going to do is separate my demon from my mind and send it off like a scout. My body stays here and the demon can't be killed if I'm not there with it." I twitched my nose and rubbed my eyes. "Unfortunately the demon doesn't want to co-operate so if someone could hit me hard in the stomach things might go smoothly."

Dean didn't hesitate to move, swinging a sharp undercut into my gut. I doubled over and as I wheezed out a black shape detached from my body, expelled through my mouth. Immediately my vision changed so that I was seeing through Benedict's eyes. 

Benedict drifted through the door and touched down on the other side, glancing around the room. It tilted its head in confusion at the scene in front of it. Sam was being pinned against the wall by some invisible force and yet, as Benedict focused, it could see the blurry outline of a person. That person wasn't especially strong but they had power and that power was what had frightened Benedict in the first place. It turned to leave the room but the figure noticed its presence, dropping Sam to the ground and forcefully kicking the Hunter away. Sam lay still and Benedict felt a twinge of fear run down its spine.

The figure ghosted towards Benedict, one hand outstretched. Its face was still out of focus and Benedict narrowed its eyes, squinting to try and distinguish features. The face that formed was an unexpected one; a blue-eyed, sharp faced man that the demon faintly recognised. 

However it wasn't the time for putting names to faces. As soon as Benedict began to visualise the face and put things together it was slammed against a wall, much like how Sam had been. Unable to cry out or even speak the demon just struggled uselessly, helplessly wondering what sort of a creature could hurt a demon.

The answer came to Benedict a second before the door was kicked down.

"An angel," I breathed, croaking out my words as Dean knocked the door of its hinges. Benedict immediately flew back to me and I stumbled a few feet due to the impact. It was a powerful demon and I couldn't quite handle it and so I toppled backwards down the stairs, shrieking as I fell.