Unfortunately, Walter didn't make it. It honestly might have been for the best. I was aware that demons existed before one used me as a meat puppet, but it was still an uncomfortable experience.

We gathered everything we could think of to fight this incoming hoard. No one knew what tricks they'd have up their sleeves, so it was a crap shoot. There was a thick tension in the room where Dean, Sam, and I prepared weapons.

I was getting ready to talk about it when shouting came from outside. 

"Tamara! Tamara! Tamara! Help me! Please!" There was no mistaking Isaac's voice. "Tamara! I got away, but I'm hurt bad! I need help!"

"It's not him." Bobby grabbed Tamara's arm to stop her from leaving. "It's one of the demons. It's possessing his corpse."

Isaac pounded against the door. I closed my eyes, remembering how it felt to see Azazel using my dad for the first time. Sam gave me a side hug and kissed my temple. We both knew it might be our last chance.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you, too," Sam said.

"Baby! Why won't you let me in? You left me behind back there. How could you do that? We swore...At that lake in Michigan. Remember? We swore we would never leave each other!" Isaac's screams each put another dagger in my heart.

Tears streamed freely down Tamara's face. "How did he know that?"

"Steady, Tamara." Bobby frowned at the three of us.

"You just gonna leave me out here? You just gonna let me die?!" Isaac yelled. "I guess that's what you do, dear! Like that night those things came to our house...came for our daughter! You just let her die, too."

"You son of a bitch!" Tamara charged forward despite all of us yelling for her to stop. 

Before she could push open the door and break the salt line, Sam grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. We raced toward the upstairs to avoid being ambushed from behind when that exact thing happened. 

I lost my grip on Sam's hand when another woman shoved me against the wall. 

"Melanie!" Sam started back after me.

"Get safe. I can take her!" I yelled.

As Sam turned to leave, she punched me across the face. Pain erupted in my jaw as I crumpled to the floor. Her kick to my stomach sent me spiraling into the next room. I landed on my left arm with a thud and crunch. I gasped in pain as agony emanated from my shoulder and radiated down through my whole arm.

"Thought you could take me, huh?" The woman cracked her knuckles.

"Pride or wrath?" I clutched my arm to my side as I tried to scoot back as far as I could in the room. 

"Come on, Melanie, use your brain. Azazel said you were smart." She smiled sickly at me. "You weren't his first choice, but he did admit that he had a weird connection to you. It was probably your dad's meat suit." She laughed as she stalked toward me. "Now, how about we use our brains and—"

Her voice stopped as she collided with the invisible barrier of the devil's trap above her.

"You must be wrath. Pride wouldn't have fallen for that." I smirked as I stood up. My arm hung awkwardly at my side. "Sometimes being helpless is worth it."

Wrath slammed against the barrier as if she could break it. I exorcised her in a flash then went to help Sam. As I went toward the stairs, he was coming down them. He looked around me, then his eyes landed on my left arm hanging at my side.

"Melanie." He rushed down the last few steps. "I thought you could take her. What the hell happened?"

"Wrath doesn't like being insulted. Will you pop it back in for me?" I asked.

Dean stepped out of the bathroom. "You're gonna want some alcohol for that."

"It's not bleeding," I said.

"It's not for disinfecting," Dean said.

As Sam prepared my arm to return it to the socket, he told us about this girl who mysteriously showed up and killed demons with a knife. 

"And they lit up when she stabbed them." Without warning, Sam pulled my arm forward until my shoulder joint slid back into place. "Just like that night in the cemetery with the colt."

I groaned in agony. Dean patted my good shoulder and handed me the bottle of whiskey. I took a long pull from it.

"Some warning would've been nice," I said.

Sam shook his head. "It's better this way, I promise."

"A knife, you're sure?" Dean asked.

"Yes, Dean, I know what I saw." Sam took the whiskey bottle from my hand.

"Did you get a name?" I asked.

Sam shook his head as he swallowed the warming liquid. "She hardly said more than ten words to me."

"Strange," Dean said. "We'd better take care of the bodies and check on Bobby and Tamara."

"I'll get Wrath." I stood up, but Sam pushed me back down.

"No heavy lifting for you." Sam ruffled my hair, but I swatted his hand away.

"Fine." I stood up again. "I'll go check on the other two. Bring us any survivors."

It took all night, but we were able to get all the demons out of the house and make a pyre for their bodies. Only two of them survived, Lust and Sloth. Bobby and I helped them work through what happened and explained that it wasn't their fault. Tamara insisted on building Isaac's pyre by herself. When Bobby and I finally made it outside she stood at Isaac's pyre alone. Bobby stopped to talk to her.

"Think she's gonna be alright?" I hugged Sam's midsection. My arm already felt so much better.

"No, definitely not," Dean said.

"I still can't get that knife out of my mind." Sam draped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "What kind of a blade can kill a demon? Do you know of anything Melanie?"

"Just a few hours ago, I would've said there was no such thing," I said.

"You know what I can't get out of my mind?" Dean chuckled. "How come a girl can fight better than you?" I kicked him. "Obviously, excluding you, Melanie."

"Three demons, Dean. At once," Sam said.

"Hey, whatever it takes to get you through the night, pal." Dean shook his head.

"Oh yeah? What'd you do again? Makeout with Lust? You were super helpful." I looked up at Sam and smiled. "Besides, Sam has me to get him through the night."

"Ugh," Dean groaned as Sam leaned down and kissed me. "Alright, get a room."

Sam pulled away from me and sobered up when he looked at the pyre in front of us. "If you want a troubling question, I got one for you."

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"If we let out the seven deadly sins, what else did we let out?" Sam shuddered, and I squeezed him tight.

Dean lit his matchbook. "You're right. That is troubling." 

With a flick of his wrist, the pyre shot up in flame. As the fires burned, Sam joined Bobby and Tamara. He said he wanted to check on her before we left. My guess was that it was only half true. He also wanted to ask them about that chick's blade.

"Penny for your thoughts." Dean handed me the bottle of whiskey again.

I took a pull. "Something feels off about all this. How does this random girl just know that we need her out of nowhere, and she has the exact weapon we need? If it's too good to be true, it probably is."

"I agree with you there." Dean watched the other three over the flames. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I know I've been on a tear lately."

"Dean, I'm the last person you need to apologize to." I rubbed my thumb over the gauze still covering my stitches. "You don't see Sam, though. He doesn't want this to end like his relationship with your dad. That's why he hesitates to say anything. You're scaring the hell out of him, but he's more afraid of saying something he'll regret."

Tears swam in Dean's eyes. I handed him the bottle. "I didn't know."

"I know." I rested my hand on his shoulder as he drank from the bottle. "Just try to take it easier on them. They're the ones losing us, alright?"

Dean nodded and sniffled. "There's something I didn't tell you about the deal."

"What do you mean? Do you not really have a year?" I asked, panic swelling in my chest. 

"No, I have one year." Dean looked up at Sam who was still talking with Tamara. "If we try to get out of the deal in any way, Sam dies."

My heart dropped to my toes. I watched Sam give Tamara a side hug. "How could you agree to those terms?"

"I wanted him back, alright? I didn't think he'd try so hard to break the deal," Dean said.

"He's not going to be happy, but you have to tell him," I said. 

Dean shook his head. "Melanie—"

I rounded on him. "No, Dean. He won't stop trying unless he knows. The longer you wait, the higher the chance that he'll die. Tell him. It's not up for discussion."

Not wanting him to respond, I marched over to Bobby, Tamara, and Sam. I tried my best to cool off on the way over to not tip Sam off, but I didn't do a very good job. Sam raised a brow at me as I approached the smoldering pyre. With some effort, I relaxed my face. I took my spot beside him, and he rested his arm on my shoulders.

"Tamara, how are you doing?" I asked.

Tamara sighed. "I've been better, but I'll survive. This isn't my first funeral and likely won't be my last."

"Let us know if you need any help in the future." Bobby hugged her. "The world just got a lot scarier. Be careful."

"Don't worry about me, Bobby. We ladies know how to kick ass." Tamara winked at me. "If you ever get tired of all this testosterone, let me know."

"I will." I couldn't help but smile at Sam's offended face.

Dean finally joined us but didn't say anything. 

"See you gents around." Tamara got in her car and drove off.

There was an awkward tension still hanging in the air around us as we walked toward the cars. Sam's arm tightened around me, but it didn't seem like he realized he did it. If those psychology classes my mom gave me taught me anything, I would say Sam feels the subconscious need to protect me or show off his claim on me. I don't like either, but I hope it's the former not the latter.

"Keep your eyes peeled for omens," Bobby said. "I'll do the same."

"We will," I said.

Bobby turned to get in his car, but Sam said, "Wait, Bobby. We can win this war, right?"

There was a long pause. Bobby wasn't going to answer the question, and it was probably for the best. To say the least, his thoughts were not optimistic. "Catch you on the next one."

The three of us said nothing as we loaded into the Impala. 

"So, where to?" Dean started the car.

Sam cleared his throat. "Uh, I don't know. I was thinking Louisiana maybe."

Dean smiled returning to his normal charm. "We're a little late for Mardi Gras, aren't we?"

"Yeah. Listen." Sam cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter as we pulled onto the road. "I was talking to Tamara, and she mentioned this hoodoo priestess outside of Shreveport who might be able to help us out. You know, with your—with your demon deal."

"Alright, Dean, are you going to tell him or do I have to?" I asked.

"Tell me what?" Sam looked between us.

I raised my eyebrows at Dean in the rearview mirror. All the charisma melted out of him. 

"Sam, we can't go to Louisiana and talk to the hoodoo priestess," I said.

"Melanie, why not?" I could see anger behind Sam's eyes. "Don't you want a chance to get out of this deal? Don't tell me you've gone all sacrificial lamb like Dean. What's gotten into you?"

I redirected my gaze to the mirror again. "Ask your brother."

Dean glared at me.

"Someone better answer me or I'm gonna throw myself out of this car and ruin this deal thing," Sam said.

"Alright!" Dean shouted as Sam's hand reached for the car door. I knew he wasn't going to do it or I would've stopped him. "We trap the crossroads demon, trick it, try to welch our way out of the deal in any way? You die. Okay? You die. Those are the terms. There's no way out of it. If you try to find a way, so help me God, I'm gonna stop you."

Sam's jaw clenched. "How could you make that deal, Dean?"

Dean's eyes focused on the road, but his voice wavered a little. "Cause I couldn't live with you dead. Couldn't do it."

"So, what, now I live and you die?" I could feel the rage radiating off Sam.

"That's the general idea, yeah." Just like that, the wall was back up. Dean was back to making cracks about it.

"Yeah, well, you're a hypocrite, Dean. How did you feel when Dad sold his soul for you? 'Cause I was there. I remember." Dean didn't respond to Sam's words. "You were twisted and broken. And now you go and do the same thing to me. What you did was selfish."

Dean looked at Sam in the rearview mirror. "Yeah, you're right. It was selfish. But I'm okay with that."

"I'm not." Sam's fists balled up.

"Tough. After everything I've done for this family, I think I'm entitled." Some of the anger ebbed out of Dean's voice. I saw tears in his eyes when he looked back into the mirror. "Truth is, I'm tired, Sam. I don't know, it's like there's a light at the end of the tunnel."

"It's hellfire, Dean." Sam wasn't calming down.

"Whatever. You're alive, I feel good—for the first time in a long time. I got a year to live, Sam. I'd like to make the most of it." Dean smiled. "So what do you say we kill some evil sons of bitches, and we raise a little hell, huh?"

Sam shut his eyes and made himself comfortable. "You're unbelievable."

"Very true." Dean nodded.