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Free Supernatural Fanfiction – Chapter Summary:

 Dean learns to block energies and attempts his first exorcism—with snark, soulwork, and stolen groceries.

Rating: PG-13
Contains:   Mild language, supernatural themes, and demon-related intensity

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:  
More Lessons

WITH LESSON ONE COMPLETED, we took a break and ate. Afterwards, I wanted to tell Dean how to block energies when he’s out—because it could get overwhelming. We couldn’t test it at Bobby’s, but the next time we were in a crowd, we could try it.

“So how do you block it?” Dean asked.

We sat alone in the kitchen while Bobby and Sam watched television in the other room.

“You sort of just… pull yourself in.” It sounded like I was asking a question. I smiled at myself. “Um, instead of projecting your energy out to reach me, you’d pull yourself back in.”

“Okay,” he said, sounding a little hesitant.

“I’m not sure what it feels like for you, but for me, when I push my energy out to feel something, it’s like it’s… elastic?”

He nodded.

“So when you bring your energy back, you make it more solid. Sturdier—so it blocks other things from coming in at you.”

“Is that how you blocked demons?” he asked.

“N-no, I’m not exactly sure how I do that,” I said with a sigh. Dean leaned forward on the table. “The few times I’ve done it, I guess I sort of pushed their energy back at them.”

I thought back to the demons. “It’s like a buildup of this huge ball of their own energy, and I fling it back at them? I don’t know. It feels different each time, but overall that’s what I do. Or at least, I think that’s what I do.”

I looked back up at him. He was staring at me intently.

“Same with the angels?”

“No, I don’t usually have to do anything when Cas tries something… Zachariah, well—I think I couldn’t do anything with him because we were separated when I was first learning about all this. I wonder how that would’ve gone if you were there.”

“If I was there, I would stab him in the face,” Dean said, taking a swig from his beer.

“Well, there goes that experiment,” I said lightly.

He smiled.

“So do I have another lesson tomorrow, Obi-Wan?” he asked.

I studied him for a moment. “I was thinking about trying a demon out on you.”

He blinked in surprise. “And how are we going to do that?”

“We’ll just have to… borrow someone who’s possessed. Then you can un-possess him—or her.”

“B-borrow?” He did a double take.

“Well, ‘kidnapping’ sounds inaccurate,” I said in defense.

“You want to kidnap a possessed person?”

“Borrow,” I said slowly. “Just until we fix ’em. Then they can go home. It can be a low-level demon. Nothing difficult.”

He just stared at me for a moment, and I stared back. He started to say something, then stopped himself. He tried again. “I have definitely been a bad influence on you. Soul mate or not.”

I smiled and leaned into him. “Yep.”

“Not sorry about it at all, are you?”

“Nope.”

He chuckled and slid his arms around me, pulling me closer. We were quiet for a few moments.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you,” Dean started, “about the other day and what you said.”

I thought back. I wasn’t sure what he was referring to. He didn’t continue right away.

“You’re going to have to give me a few more clues than that. Apparently, I say a lot of things.”

He shifted a little. “On the way back from the convention… what you said about us trusting you.”

“Oh.” Yes, I remembered that.

“It’s not that we don’t trust—”

“It’s okay, Dean,” I interrupted. I glanced up at him. “I’m human, and I was a little frustrated at the time when I said it. I know you guys trust me. And I trust you.”

“You sure? Because—”

Before he could finish his sentence, I kissed him. I surprised him at first, but he quickly recovered. He kissed me back, then pulled away for a moment.

“No arguments here,” he said with a smile. He kissed me again, pulling me even closer.

Loud footsteps and Bobby’s voice—“Not in the kitchen. You’ll dry out the cheese”—made us pull back. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and walked back into the other room without another word.

I sighed quietly. “One day, we’ll be able to do this without getting interrupted.”

Dean thought for a second. “I could probably arrange that.”

He smirked and placed a light kiss on my lips before heading into the other room.

THE NEXT DAY WAS OUR DEMON LESSON. First, we had to find a demon before we could learn how to exorcise it. Bobby would get everything ready at the house. Sam and Dean would come with me to find one—hopefully. A lot of very low-level demons seemed to be out in the world. I didn’t think most of them were a problem; people could usually get them out themselves. Priests can even handle an upper low-level demon without too much difficulty.

Before we set out, I explained a little about how it worked from my experience. “As long as a person is still alive, we should be able to do an exorcism like this. What I do is separate the demon from the soul. You can feel the difference between the two. When that happens, the demon usually tries to fight back, but a barrier around the soul stops it. Then it leaves.”

“And if the person is technically dead?” Dean asked.

“Then you might as well just stab it with that little knife of yours,” I said bluntly. “Or, I guess the regular exorcism would work too. Either way, there’s no soul to separate from the demon because it’s gone.”

“Like the first demon you saw back at the hotel? That one you wouldn’t have been able to exorcise?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, more than likely. I could only block and repel him. But I don’t remember feeling a soul with him.”

“Sounds like we’re in for a fun day,” Bobby muttered. “You idjits best be off if you’re going to catch a demon before dinner. I’ll be ready here for ya.”

“So we’re going to kidnap a possessed person?” Sam asked as we headed for the Impala. They were brothers. I gave them that.

“Borrow,” Dean corrected with a smirk. “She says we’re borrowing a possessed person.”

Sam glanced back at me, and I shrugged with a small smile.

Earlier, Dean had run out and gotten some version of a diazepam injection for when we found someone. This would—hopefully—knock the person out so we could get him or her back to Bobby’s. I wasn’t sure if the demon would cause any side effects. They don’t usually include those on the labels.

We got in the car and started out. I opened myself up. I hoped it wouldn’t take too long to find a demon. As we pulled down the street, I felt something.

“Slow down,” I said to Dean, then rolled down the window.

“What? You got something already?” Dean asked. He pulled over to the side. The houses were spaced out here, so we were in between two properties.

“There’s something nearby,” I answered quietly.

“So close to Bobby’s?” Sam asked.

“Well, demons are technically everywhere. But most of them aren’t strong enough to do anything that would attract our attention.” I reached out farther. “I think it’s coming from up there.” I pointed up and to the left.

Dean looked out. “At that corner house?”

“Yeah.”

Sam and Dean glanced at each other before Dean pulled back onto the road. Luckily, we were the only car out at the time. We pulled across the street from the house. A woman was unpacking a carload of groceries.

“There’s one in her.” I studied the woman. It was very faint—not a very strong demon. The woman probably wasn’t fully aware of it yet. She likely had blackouts and mood swings, if she showed any signs at all.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked, looking at her.

“Yeah.” I got out of the car. They followed behind me. The woman didn’t notice us at first. Suddenly, she glanced behind her and saw us. She dropped the grocery bag, spilling the contents on the driveway.

“Here, let me help you,” I said, coming over and bending down. I glanced up at Dean, silently hoping he or Sam would be ready to drug her.

“Thanks,” the woman mumbled. “Who are you?”

Dean gave me a questioning look, and I gave a brief nod. This person definitely had a demon inside. It wasn’t active at the moment.

Before I could answer the woman, Dean plunged the needle into her neck and held onto her. She struggled for a moment before slumping down. I put the spilled grocery bag back in the car and shut the trunk. Dean and Sam were already racing back to the car, plopping the woman in the back seat.

I climbed in beside her.

“Yeah, maybe it is sort of… uh, kidnapping,” I commented as Dean started the car.

He gave me a perturbed look through the rearview mirror and turned around to head back to Bobby’s.

THE WOMAN WAS OUT COLD, and other than my saying so, gave no indication that she was possessed at all. I was pretty sure they were questioning my judgment but didn’t want to say anything.

Bobby was surprised we came back so soon. Then he noticed who it was.

“Is that Mrs. Klieman? From down the street?”

Sam and Dean placed her in the chair in the middle of a devil’s trap.

“Uh, corner house? Just down that way?” Dean asked, nodding toward the direction we came from.

“Yeah,” Bobby said, looking like we were all nuts.

“Then yeah. Apparently your neighbor has an unwanted house guest,” Dean replied.

Dean and Sam tied her arms down to the chair. Once done, they all looked at me.

“Well, I guess since she’s still sleeping, we can do part of yesterday’s lesson,” I said and stepped closer to Mrs. Klieman. I reached out for Dean’s arm. “Here, tell me what you feel.”

He took a step closer and concentrated.

“It’s very faint, but you should feel it,” I said quietly.

Dean put out his hand and hovered over Mrs. Klieman’s body.

“It’s warm and cold.”

“Right. Focus more on the cold part right now,” I said.

We remained silent as Dean checked things out. He jerked back a little and looked at me. “I think I’ve noticed something like this before.”

“Really?” I asked.

He nodded slightly. “It’s hard to say, but I must’ve just thought it was a gut instinct or something.”

“What are you talking about, Dean?” Sam asked, moving closer.

“When we hunted demons, the air was always different. The sulfur. You even smelled the sulfur,” he said to Sam. “Now that I know what I’m looking for, it’s easier to feel it… it’s—like she said. Cold and heavy… and it smells.”

Suddenly, Mrs. Klieman’s eyes flew open to reveal complete blackness. “You’re not so springtime fresh yourself, handsome.”

We both jerked back. Mrs. Klieman looked around her. “Aw, the Winchesters.” Noticing she was trapped, she looked back at us. “Don’t you have bigger fish to fry than lil’ ol’ me?”

“Not today, sweetheart,” Dean smiled back.

“Alright, you two,” I said, pulling Dean back to focus on me. “I’ll show you what I do, but I won’t finish it. Then you can try.”

Mrs. Klieman looked confused, then grinned madly. “My, my, my. If I’d known this, I would’ve had the bitch spruce up some more.”

Dean turned back to give her a smart answer, but I stopped him. “Dean, we need to focus here. Just ignore her.”

“You’re going down, bitch,” Dean said, before turning back to me.

“As long as I’m on top, sugar,” she taunted.

I jumped in between the two as he was pulling out his flask of holy water. “Enough. Just let it go. Do you want to learn this or not?”

He sneered at her over my head, then looked back at me.

Sensing he wasn’t going to attack her, I stepped to the side again. Mrs. Klieman had a smug look on her face.

“For now, let’s do it this way.” I paused. “Hold out your hand to her.”

He did as I asked, not taking his eyes off hers. I placed mine directly behind his so that both our palms faced her.

“Just feel what I’m doing,” I said.

I started to pull at the demon. I found the soul and began separating it from the cold stench of the demon. Mrs. Klieman yelled out. It started to fight back, but it was a lower-level demon. It wasn’t too hard to stop—especially now that I had the practice. I built a small protective bubble around the soul using my energy and began pulling the demon farther away. When the demon was about to be expelled, I stopped and dropped the bubble around the soul.

The demon fell back into the chair, panting.

“Did you feel what I did?” I asked.

“Who are you?” the demon growled, looking up at me.

I didn’t answer her. Instead, I turned back to Dean. “You try it this time.”

I pulled my hand away. He shifted and reached his hand out again. He struggled for a moment, trying to find the separation between the soul and the demon. I glanced behind me and noticed Bobby and Sam watching studiously.

I turned my attention back to Dean. He started to get the soul away, but the demon sensed his hesitancy.

“You’re weak,” the demon hissed.

Dean was losing his grip on it.

“Okay, stop for a minute,” I said to Dean. He didn’t listen right away, so I touched his arm. He lowered it and looked at the floor for a second, taking in a breath.

The demon cackled.

“What’s the matter? Pretty boy can’t do it?” she goaded.

His arm tensed under my hand. I pulled him a little farther from the demon.

“You can definitely do it. I think the only problem is that you’re doubting yourself. Just ignore everything and focus only on separating the soul. Form a protective barrier around it as you pull it away, so the demon can’t touch that part again.”

We walked back over.

“You know, I have better ideas of how we could spend the afternoon together,” the demon said, batting her eyelashes.

Dean finally ignored her and concentrated on the soul still inside her body. I tried not to feel too much as he worked. He took his time, slowly putting a barrier around the soul.

“Give up,” the demon shrieked. “You’ll never be able to do it. Maybe a little demon blood would help. Oh wait, that would be your brother.”

The possessed woman snapped her head in Sam’s direction. Sam looked disgruntled. With his jaw set, he stared back at her. I didn’t think Dean even heard her. He was doing it. Very slowly, I’d admit, but he was doing it. Smoke started to pour out of the woman’s mouth.

Suddenly, Dean stumbled backward and the smoke re-entered the body. He put his hands on his knees.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, panting.

The demon looked livid.

“Let’s take a break,” I suggested, looking him over.

“No. No, I’m good. Fine,” he said, straightening up.

“Dean, it’s okay. You—”

“I’m fine. I’m going to finish this,” he said with determination.

“You sure, man?” Sam asked. He looked a little worried. I assumed he had flashbacks of when he was able to do this—only in his case, it was with the aid of demon blood.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Dean said with a bit of an edge.

I stood right next to him and took his hand. “Take a deep breath and shut your eyes.”

He gave me a funny look.

“Just do it. Trust me,” I said quietly.

Reluctantly, he shut his eyes and more or less huffed the deep breath.

“Three deep breaths,” I instructed. I waited as he did so. He became a little calmer.

“Great, what’s next? Yoga?” the demon said sarcastically.

I pushed a protective barrier out around Dean. It was what I do with ghosts before they cross over—and with souls before the exorcism.

“Feel that?” I asked quietly.

He nodded, eyes still shut.

“Good. Take that and use it.”

I let go of his hand and stepped back, leaving the protection around him. I disconnected from the barrier so he could use it. I felt him absorb the protection and project it out to the soul in the woman. It surrounded her, casting the demon aside. A few moments later, black smoke emitted from the woman and sank through the floorboards. The woman then slumped over in the chair.

Dean staggered a little. Bobby was already at Mrs. Klieman’s side, checking for a pulse.

“She’s okay,” he announced. “I think she’s still knocked out.”

He glanced up at Dean, who looked a little shaken.

Getting Mrs. Klieman back home wasn’t too difficult. Sam and Bobby took care of that. They said they left her on the porch. Hopefully, the drug wore off before her husband came home. We assumed she’d think she passed out—only this time from being saved from the possession rather than the demon itself.

Dean felt a little shaky afterward. I figured he probably used too much of his own energy while trying to exorcise the demon. That was fixable, and I told him as much. It should become easier for him with practice. Considering he’d just learned about energies the day before, I thought he did really well.

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