The Equalizer: You Better Watch Out

Part 9 - when what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Small bodies underneath the snow.

They were cut up, slashed to pieces, and that looked pretty damn familiar.

The body of what used to be a little girl lay nearby. Her face was dusted with snow. She had a long slash across her eyes.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at her. I'd slashed Goat Boy across the eyes, hadn't I?

One of the snow covered lumps looked like a ball. I cast out my mojo and blew the snow away. It wasn't a ball. It was the upside down head of a little boy. Above the mouth I saw the severed stump of a neck. Below that a mouth, open and slack. Then a nose. Below that dead eyes wide open and staring.

Damn.

"You used them," I muttered out loud.

Krampus lunged at me. I 'ported out and came back behind him. He scrambled around to face me. No smooth moves here. He looked shaky.

Good.

We stared at each other.

"You used them. Everyone you ever took. You made them your bitch and you used them, You took their life force when you needed it. All the damage I did to you went to them. That's why you healed up so fast. That's why I couldn't kill your sorry ass before." I nodded at the bodies laying all around. "Now you don't have anyone left, do you? They're all gone."

Krampus bared his teeth. "It doesn't matter. None of this does."

His robe rippled and moved.

Sixty of the damn snake head chains pushed their way out into the open again. They raised up in the air on either side of Krampus. Bastards looked pretty lively.

"I tasted your power when my lovelies bit you inside, Knight. It's enough. More than enough. You should feel grateful, Dean. Saint Nicholas wanted to kill you and your brother. What you are today you owe it all to me."

Goat Boy drew himself up to his full height. "You will not escape me." He jerked his head at the house. "And neither will they."

I raised my right hand. The First Blade came to me. I smiled at him. "This is the part of the story where I keep my promise about that threesome. And if nothing else I'm a man of my word."

Krampus howled. His chains hissed and rattled.

We charged at each other.

The snakes lashed out at me. Deja vu all over again. I didn't back off.

The Mark of Cain glowed. The air around me flared red. The chains shrank back. They were afraid of us

Damn right they should be.

The killing energy of the Mark of Cain exploded around me. The snake chains turned to ash just like the minions did.

Time to go to work.

I scaled Krampus like a cliff face. I took a step off his knee and another off his hip. I dropped my right arm and plunged the First Blade deep into his belly. When I swung the Blade up I unzipped him from his belly button to his throat.

Goat Boy screamed. Red light streamed out of his nose, eyes and mouth. He fell backwards. I was on top. We hit so hard the ground shook and a cloud of snow rose up all around us.

The light faded as I pulled the First Blade out.

Krampus was dead. Burned out eyes, mouth stretched open in mid-scream. Whatever power he took from me wasn't enough.

I stepped down. Just as I did the front door of Marty's house opened. Marty ran out onto the front porch. "Dean! Hey, Dean!"

Right then and there I realized that I was commando in front of the kid. Not good. Krampus lay on the ground between me and the house. I opened my mouth to tell Marty to stay there. Then I stopped.

The hair at the back of my neck stood up straight and painful. Something was happening.

I looked down.

Goat Boy's body jittered and jerked. He was dead. Eyes wide and staring. No breath. No life. He was dead.

You will not escape me...

But he had one last move to make.

...and neither will they...

He'd poisoned whatever mojo he took from me. Poisoned it so he could use it against me. The build-up of power in the air stung my skin.

Krampus blew apart. Yellow light scorched the ground. Snow melted.

The shock wave rolled out of him and past me. The killing energy headed for the house. I couldn't let that happen. Marty and his family weren't going to die.

Dammit, not tonight.

I blinked black. I threw up a shield over and around us. I held it. My bones rattled as my skin burned, but I held it. I had to.

I couldn't see anything but dark yellow light. I don't know how long I stood like that, but after a while I could see again.

There was a large hole in the ground. Another, smaller hole right in front of me It was dark. Oily.

Krampus.

I felt tired. Weak. My skin cooled. Couldn't keep the shield up anymore. It was heavy, so I dropped it. I stood there swaying on my feet back and forth. The ground looked soft. It was so far away. All I had to do was let go.

Then:

"Son? Dean?"

I blinked green. I couldn't see at first. Everything looked so cloudy.

Then I saw Dad.

He was here. He came back. He came back to have the holiday with us. Sammy stood next to him. He was seven years old and I didn't understand that. He was freakishly tall and pissed off the last time I saw him.

The kid grinned at me all goofy.

I tried to smile back but my muscles weren't working. So I nodded instead.

Dad's voice sounded funny. Like it was him, but it wasn't. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I heard myself say. " 'm...I'm..."

My knees buckled. The ground rushed up at me and everything went black.