Seven Devils ━━ Sam Winchester

𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯

"No...No, you were right — I am a monster. And this — this is my chance to repent. To fix it," Sam was saying frantically, "You're an abomination, Marlene. You — you and your father, you started all of it. And for that, you must die." Marlene stumbled back, "Don't move!" Sam yelled.

She raised her hands in the air, "A-alright, alright! See? I'm not moving," Marley let out a measured breath, her eyes glued to the gun, "Sam, this isn't you talking — it's the venom. Remember? The snake bite, the murders, the madness? That's the madness part."

"And how do I know you're not lying, huh? You're so good at it," Sam snarled.

The irony of this situation didn't escape Marlene. This entire trip she'd been trying to rile him up and now that she'd succeeded — sort of — and all the anger he'd been suppressing was finally beginning to resurface, she wished Sam was still his silent, brooding self.

"Because you're aiming a gun at my head," Marley replied plainly, "Look, I know I'm a devious little abomination that had you fooled. But — " she broke off when Sam's face darkened at her words, "— but you do trust yourself, don't you? You feel that something's wrong, that your mind is not your own?"

Sam frowned, his hand wavering a little. Yes, Marley thought, fight it. "I know you're angry, Sam. You have every right to be. I...I'm so, so sorry for lying and for everything my father did. To you, to the millions of people who're very possibly going to die because he wanted to save me," her vision became blurred from the veil of tears that were clouding her eyes, "You're right, I'm a monster. You're a monster — but we didn't choose it. We had no control over the cards we were dealt. The game, though? The game is ours to play, Sam. And how we decide to play it — that's what matters." His face was contorted with tormenting indecision, "If you just listen to me, we can beat this. Together," Marlene implored, "Fight it, Sam."

Sam grimaced from pain, his hand trembling violently. In the silver light of the moon, Marley could see a shimmer of sweat on his forehead — it took everything in him to fight the venom. Sam let out an animalistic growl, mouth curling into a snarl, and dropped the hand. His body instantly went slack.

"Sam?" Marlene called tentatively. His head was bowed in shame.

After a beat of silent, Sam looked up at her, eyes filled with remorse, "Marlene, I..."

"Alright, you're good," she breathed with relief, "We can apologise and sing odes to each other when we're out of this Sleepy Hollow. Do you still have the keys to the pastor's car?" Sam nodded, still disoriented from the violent, venom-induced daze, "Give them to me."

He pulled the car keys out of his jacket and tossed them to Marlene.

𖤐𖤐𖤐𖤐𖤐𖤐

"Where are you driving?" Sam asked from the passenger seat.

Marley glanced in the rear-view mirror to make sure Apollo wasn't giving the sisters a lift, "Away from the piggy farm. Are you feeling better?"

"I don't know..."

"Do you still want to kill me?" Sam gave her a side-eye, "What? I, for one, would still very much like to do something violent with you. Can I slap you?"

He sucked in an annoyed breath, "Marlene — "

"We have to stay honest with each other, Sam," Marley glanced over at him, "That's the only way to know if things get bad."

"No, I don't want to kill you," Sam answered demonstratively, "But how do we kill them?"

"They're vulnerable to brass. Something about their weapon being used against them," Marley said, "And, uh...well. It kind of has to be "soaked in the nectar of pain"?" she quoted with a healthy dose of scepticism, "Whatever that means."