Fight Fire With Fire

3. Sole Survivor

[Soul Survivor]

In a hospital, a priest said a blessing. "Hunc sanguinem sacro, et donatibus sanguinem, debita demitto. Dolorem remitteat et voluntati de serviat." He put the crucifix to his lips, then nodded to Sam who was wearing a white coat, who nodded back. The priest walked out of the room. "Doctor."

"Father," Sam said.

Sam walked over and picked a cooler and he filled it with donated blood. He drove from the hospital back to the bunker. He went down to the dungeon where Dean and Natalia were both strapped to a chair in the middle of a Devil's Trap on the floor.

"Really?" Dean and Natalia scoffed.

Sam shrugged. "For whatever it's worth, I got both your blood types."

"Sam, I know you think you're gonna try and fix us, but... did it ever occur to you that maybe we don't want to be fixed? Just let us go live our lives. We won't bother you. What do you care?"

"What do I care?"

Sam got the holy water and splashed it on the floor as he started chanting in Latin.

Dean and Natalia looked at him as she said, "You think we're just gonna sit here like Crowley? Getting all weepy while you shoot us up? Well, screw that. We don't want this!"

"Yeah, I figured that out pretty quick."

"You don't even know if this is gonna work, do you?" Dean shot back. "You know, we got a hell of a lot more running through us than just demon juice."

"Mark of Cain, got it."

"That's right."

Sam had a syringe of blood in his hand as he walked closer to Dean and Natalia. "Buckle up."

"Sammy... You know we hate shots."

"I do too, but I hate demons more."

Dean and Natalia's eyes went black for a second before Sam hit them with holy water. Sam plunged the needles into Dean and Natalia's arms and Dean and Natalia groaned as the syringe contents were emptied into their arms.

"Look, I got a whole bunch more of these to go," Sam said. "You two could make it a lot easier on yourselves."

Dean and Natalia's eyes widened as they grunted and groaned, the blood already affecting them.

---

Hannah watched as Castiel drove. They smiled at each other. Castiel was pale, and didn't look up to par. Azrael was also pale and resting in the back.

"How are you two holding up?" Hannah asked.

"Fine," Castiel and Azrael answered.

"You both say you're fine, but you two don't... look fine."

"It's what the humans do," Castiel said. "They say they're fine. And even if we -- we don't look it, you say we look well, and that way, we avoid talking about something we can do nothing about."

"I'm sorry. I just can't see how Sam Winchester could ask you two to drive all this way to help with his brother and sister, knowing your conditions." Castiel and Azrael glanced at Hannah, then turned back to the road. "He doesn't know... about how badly your borrowed graces are fading, does he?"

"He knows some. And he didn't have to ask. Sam is alone in this. He's attempting to change from demon to human with a cure of sanctified blood, but... There's no guarantee that will work. If it doesn't, then Dean and Natalia are gone and the demons must be dealt with."