Chapter 10: Cat's Meow

Pain, that was all he could really think about. The pain that ran through his skull as he glared daggers at the men surrounding him. Sam Winchester was tied to a chair, his eyes swollen from being beaten, his body ached from the lack of sleep, his stomach knotted from hunger. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so terrible, a sharp, thorny crown sat on his head. It dug into his skin with every movement he made causing blood to fall into his eyes. He'd been wearing it for days now, everytime he moved it would reopen his wounds.

The man was surprised he hadn't bled out yet though he had a suspicion the crown was taken off him whenever he blacked out from blood loss or pain.

"I'm telling you for the hundredth time," He barked out, taking in air "I don't know who this 'king' is and it's definitely not me!" Blood dripped from Sam's mouth as he spoke. His eyes narrowed down as he attempted to keep himself from breaking.

A tall demon with a wicked smile on his lips stood over the man, his body large, his hands neatly folded behind his back.

"Listen, we've told you before, the king has to be a Winchester. That's what the bloodlines would say,"

"Well it's not me," Sam growled, "and it's not my son,"

One demon laughed, his thin face and sharp nails reminded Sam of a weasel.

"Course it aint your son!" The weasel man snapped, "your wifes bloodline ruined that,"

Sam shuffled in his spot, wincing as the sharp thorns dug into his skin.

"And where's the faith amulet,"

"Again," Sam snarled, "I don't know what youre talking about,"

"Of course he doesn't," A voice barked,

Sam turned his head painfully to see who spoke, they were seated in the middle of an old warehouse. With walls of iron all around them, seated on the second floor. Nothing in the room but empty space and the single chair, he hadn't seen out of this room in days.

The man took a few steps into the dirty light of the ceiling panels, his purple jacket stood out against his dark tank and dirty green pants. A DNR wristband from a hospital wrapped around his wrist, a pair of bright golden spikes sat on his knuckles. His moustache smiled with his lips as he looked everyone over,

"He's not the king,"

"Oh you," Spat the weasel-faced demon, "Look at him! Birthed from the loins of his father, long hair, he's the spitting image of the king!"

"You need to get your eyes checked, last I heard the king wasn't turning grey,"

The demons seemed to squirm at what the other said, "And he doesn't have the 'Chamulet'," the demons shot each other looks, looming in the darkness like a pack of rabid dogs. Staring at Baal with beady, angry eyes, circling the man as if they were getting ready to pounce.

"Chamulet?" Sam whispered, staring at the mustached man with wide eyes. He felt his heartbeat quicken at the name, knowing Abel had something to do with naming this 'Faith amulet'.

"I'm here for him," Baal shouted, pointing to Sam,

"You'll have to get through us!" the demons growled

Baal shrugged, pulling his jacket off and dropping it to the ground. His body is muscular, scars and bruises racing over his well toned body. Grey blue eyes narrowed as he got into a fighting position, his golden knuckles shining in the empty light.

The demons all cackled before one of them launched themselves at the man, Sam watched in horror but the fear died as Baal landed a hard punch to the demon's skull. Sending the creature flying backwards nearly losing its grip on the human body it occupied,

"Who's next?"

The other two shot eachother looks before diving at the man, Baal squared himself as one of the demons leapt at him. The human face twisting sickeningly as large fangs jetted from its lips. Sinking them in Baal's shoulder, the man hissed in pain As he grabbed the demon, pulling it off with such strength Sam couldn't help but gasp. Despite the pain sparked in his body, Baal tossed the creature away from him before turning on his heels to get the demon that had attempted to attack from behind.

"Not playing fair," Baal scoffed, "Not surprised,"

His knuckles came in contact with it's stomach, sending the demon backwards but it leapt at him again. Its face contorted to show its long black fangs, black eyes narrowed. It leaped towards Baal, teeth sharp as knives. He went to swing at the man only to be kicked from behind by a pair of hard boots.

Grunting in surprise as sharp pain rolled over his back, suddenly feeling feet meet with his chest he was thrown to the floor in a heap. Agony bit down on him, but he was up yet again. Spitting blood to the floor he raced at the two, the demons looked shocked before he landed a few more blows.

The third demon scrambled to its feet, having recovered from the initial hit. It leapt at Baal who swung, bashing his fist into the side of its head. Baal spun quickly, he kicked up at the other demon. His steel toed boots coming in contact with its crotch causing the monster to howl in agony. Without hesitation Baal threw himself back, coming down hard on the demon behind him. The monster screeched in agony, Baal held it to the floor. Blood dripping from his nose, Latin chants came falling from his lips. His eyes flashing a bright gold as he spoke,

The demon under him squirmed and screamed out in agony as the body went limp, Baal stood only to see the other two demons had taken off running the second their friend had fallen to the floor.

"Whoa," Sam whispered, impressed with the bigger man as he made for the hunter.

"You alright? Well, ah shit, I mean, you not dead?"

"No, I'm...sort of alive," Sam chuckled,

"Who are you?"

Baal looked around the room before his eyes fell back on Sam, "Didn't you have a friend?"

"How did you know that?"

"I know things," he replied flatly, grabbing his jacket off the floor and brushing dust off of it. He pulled a pocket knife from his boot, making towards the hunter. Sam felt himself tense up at the look of the blade,

"Who are you?" Sam repeated, Wincing as Baal brought the knife to the ropes that held him. Cutting them off slowly, eyes not meeting Sam's as he freed him.

"I'm a hunter," He lied, "Your boys posted about your disappearance on twitter," It wasn't a complete lie, he thought to himself as he stood up and attempted to pull the thorn crown off Sam's head. The two had, just today, posted that they were looking for Sam.

"Wait, Chamuel and Abel?"

"Mhm,"

Using the knife again he cut, the thorn crown fell apart after only a few small cuts in the front causing Sam to let out a sigh of relief.

"And you just happened to find me?"

"Don't question it too hard," He murmured, spitting blood on the floor as he wiped his bleeding nose. "I got my sources,"

Sam felt weak, his body shaking as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. He felt freezing and hot all at once, the world spun under his gaze at the sudden movement he made. Baal grabbed Sam, keeping him from falling, he gave the other a small smile.

"Names Baal,"

"Baal?"

He hesitated, forgetting who Sam was for just a second. He knew Sam must have heard of his work in hell even if he was no longer there, "Erm, yeah, family name,"

Sam looked as if he were going to argue but thought better of it, if he was going to stay alive he had to trust the man that just took on three demons by himself with only a pair of brass knuckles.

"Did you have a friend with you?"

"Yeah, Butch,"

Baal nodded as the two made for the staircase, Sam leaning on the man as they went, noticing the burning that was radiating off his skin as though it was on fire. It was then Sam knew, Baal was no hunter, he was no human. Why was he helping then? Why was he following his boys on social media? His boys? When did he start calling them that?

***

Baal tore through the building with Sam, he had taken to carrying the man bridal style despite his protests. Baal's boots hit hard against the building's floors, demons tore after the two as they ran. Their bodies distorted, turning black against the skin of their hosts. Baal's eyes narrowed in concentration as he recalled the maze he had to run through back when he would come to the building with Lucifer. On the outside, it was a simple building on a dock with a few other warehouses. On the inside it was huge, with a second floor that housed the hunter but the rest of it? There were hundreds of floors that ran all the way down, deep into the ground. Why was it here? Baal wasn't at a high enough pay grade to be told but he knew it wasn't anything good.

Baal took towards another door, he used a foot to kick it in, turning down a few hallways until he came to another door.

"Shit," He whispered as they came to an empty closet.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Sam shouted,

"Nope," Baal said, turning on his heels and making his way down the hallway once more. A few demons walked in and out of the rooms in front of them, watching him with confusion as Baal charged past them like a bull escaping the slaughter.

"I remember," He growled, his skin was becoming hot to the touch. The demon had been in the building once or twice but he couldn't remember the exact way to the exit let alone to Butch. He took another turn into a door, kicking it in and moving through what seemed to be a laboratory.

"What is all this?" Sam breathed, completely unaware of all that was under this building. Watching with wide eyes as Baal purposefully grabbed a few glass tubes with chemicals.

"Don't know, don't care," He grunted, tossing the chemicals on the floor.

"What are you doing!?" Sam shrieked,

"Hoping these things will slow them down," He replied, "Unless you got any other ideas?"

Sam shook his head, gripping onto the man harder. They moved through multiple more doors, hallways and rooms until Baal stopped suddenly.

Sam turned to see why with eyes wide as moons. Standing before them was a large metal door, Baal huffed.

"Baal, what are you thinking?" Sam's voice panicked as he could see the gears turning in the man's skull turning before the brute lowered his head.

"Keep your head covered," Baal growled, Sam watched the man's blue eyes flash to gold. He snorted, smoke billowed from his nose as if he were a dragon and he tore forward. Sam screamed in shock and surprise as Baal raced at the metal door, his feet a blur as he ran.

Sam sucked in air as the man's head connected with the door, this was it. Sam though, he was going to die because this guy ran into a door head first. Only that wasn't what happened, the door screeched as his head connected. A large dent could be seen in the metal, Sam's eyes widened.

"Almost," Baal growled, he took a few steps back, stomping down with a foot and dragging it back before taking off at the door again. Sam shut his eyes tight as the door exploded inward from the impact of the man's head. It was as if he rammed it down with a pair of unseen horns.

"Sam!" Butch's voice caused the hunter to look again, Butch was sitting in the small room, chained up. He was beaten pretty badly, with lashes on his face and palms, his hands had been bound down with chains. Baal walked towards the startled man who looked from Sam to the busted metal door that laid in a heap beside him.

"You alright? Can you walk? Run?" Baal asked, Butch scramled to his feet and held out his hands, the chains clinked together. Baal snorted at them, the sound of racing footsteps could be heard rapidly approaching. His science experiment must not have done much. He grabbed at the chain with a hand, they sizzled against the man's skin. The bottom of Baal's hands seemed to turn black before the chains exploded from the intense heat.

"What the fuck are you?" Butch asked, his voice hardly a whisper as Baal leaned down and did the same to the shackles on his ankles.

"Baal, one of the seven kings of hell,"

Sam and Butch both looked at him with wide eyes, "No time to discuss that, if you want to live and find Abel before they do we gotta get out of here,"

Butch nodded dumbly, Sam didn't feel the need to fight as Baal turned on his feet. Still holding the older hunter as he glanced to and fro.

"Keep up," He said over his shoulder before taking off towards the way they came.

"Baal we're going towards them!" Sam shouted,

"You got any other ideas?" The man's skin started to melt off his head, it fell to the floor in clumps as two large horns exploded from his skull causing Sam to screech in surprise. The pain Baal felt as the horns ripped apart his head nearly caused him to stumble but he caught himself. One horn was full, turning towards his ear like a rams would but the other horn had been broken. The main body of the horn still stood strong but the end was obviously man handled off, jagged, sharp spikes protruding at the end. Blood ran down the mans skull where the horns now sat, falling into his eyes.

Sam was awestruck, In all his years as a hunter he'd never seen such a thing, most creatures horns, wings and tails seemed to be hidden in an in between world and appeared in shadows and darkness but this? These were real, they were large, and they looked strong.

He lowered his head like a ram, charging faster at the demons who all let out wails of surprise as Baal started to knock into their bodies. The demons scrambled to get away from the charging man but it was no use as he knocked them out of his way with his massive horns. Smoke billowing from his nose as he moved like an angry dragon, fangs had ripped from his lips and touched down into his skin causing him to bleed lightly.

They cleared the large horde of demons in record time, Baal could feel himself losing energy as his horns slowly moved back into his skin. Wincing at the pain as he took the stairs upwards, surprised that Butch was able to follow so close.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam yelled to the man as they ran, but Baal didn't answer. His eyes fixated on the stairs as he leapt up them two at a time, he could smell the demons around him but thankfully they seemed to think better of going after the raging king.

There it was! The door! He burst through the wood, sending the door flying across the room with a loud smack as it hit the wall. Baal's breath came in heavy now as he attempted to push himself onward, his body shaking lightly. They stood in the main part of the warehouse now, it was empty aside from a few rats that scampered away from their falling feet. Baal moved quickly towards the exit, with Butch at his heels the three reached the door and leapt out.

Sam had expected a group of demons to follow suit but nothing, it was as if they had given up attempting to stop them. Baal didn't stop moving until he rounded a few corners in the large lot that held a dozen or so similar warehouses, coming to an old truck with a sticker on the back reading, "2029 boxing champion". Baal practically threw Sam into the passenger seat, sliding in beside him. Butch scrambled to get in as the truck engines roared on. The door slammed shut behind Butch and they were off, flying across the highway.

Baal felt his body aching with agony as he attempted to catch his breath, using his horns caused him a lot of pain and energy. He could feel his skin bleeding heavily from where they had torn it opened, silently thankful it didn't tear into his hairline much.

"What is happening!" Sam finally yelled out, staring at Baal with wide eyes.

After what felt like hours the demon pulled off to the side of the road, leaning back in his chair and sucking in air. They were settled next to a cemetery which gave Sam a shiver of fear,

"If you're a king of hell why are you helping us?" Butch pipped up from the back, "Or are you capturing us for yourself?"

Baal laughed between breaths, shaking his head and pulling a rag from the side of the car door. There were a handful of them, a few had obvious old blood stains. He used it to clean the blood from his head, wrapping it around his skull to stop the bleeding. He pulled out his cell phone next,

"Hey!" Sam barked, "Are you going to answer us?"

Baal put up a hand, fiddling with an app on his cell phone, "Hang on, I need to get this"

"...What?" Sam looked down at the man's phone, the game let out a soft noise as the demon king brushed his fingers over it.

"The pokestop, I had to get it,"

"Is that.... pokemon?" Sam asked, completely perplexed by what had just happened, by what was happening. He just watched this man go full demon only to see him pull open a kids gaming app.

"Yeah, that's why I stopped here, two stops!"

"What is going on, what's happening?" Sam whispered, though his anger was dying down as a rush of sickness seemed to shake him due to his lack of food and sleep. Butch could feel it too as the adrenaline fell from their blood.

"Like I said, I'm Baal, former king of hell. One of them anyways," He scratched at the facial hair that dotted his cheeks.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam repeated, getting frustrated with the man as he just seemed to talk in circles. To which Baal held up the phone to Sam, pointing to the picture of the Chamulet.

"Your boys found this," He said, "I don't know how they found it, but it's wanted by nearly everyone and anyone in hell,"

Sam blinked at it, he'd never seen it before making a mental note to check his fathers journal for the symbol, "So that's why? Are you going to trade us for it?"

Baal laughed again, "No, I'm going to help you protect it,"

"What?" Sam and Butch said at once, everything about Baal confused the hunters as they attempted to read his face for any clue as to what was going on but Baal seemed far more interested in catching the creature that jumped up and down on his screen yet again.

"Abel," He said, "He's what we demons call the king of kings. A man said to stop the end of the world,"

"But...I stopped the end of the world,"

"Yeah, you did. But this time it's going to be worse,"

Sam fell silent, Butch shuffled uncomfortably in the back seat but said nothing. Sam bit his lip as thoughts raced through his mind,

"King of kings...like Jesus?"

"You got it, buddy,"

"Abel is Jesus?"

"No," Baal looked at Sam now, "Jesus was already born and lived, Abel, he's something else."

"Would explain the thorns," Sam murmured, "What is he?"

"Can't say I know," Baal said, turning his cellphone off and taking the car out of park.

"All I can say is he was chosen by whoever made the necklace. By whoever made the prophecy. And now every demon, creature, ghost and monster is going to be honing in on him and Chamuel," He snorted, taking off down the highway again, "but I won't let them stop the king from rising,"

"Why would you want to do that? Arent you a demon?" Baal looked at the mirror so he could see Butch, who looked as if he'd fall asleep at any second.

"The world isn't so black and white, Sam, you of all people should know that,"

That was the last thing Sam heard the man say before darkness swarmed his vision. His sleep consisted of his torture he had endured, the lack of food, the darkness, the thorns. He could almost feel them as he slept, yet his body was so desperate to sleep he couldn't wake himself up at the worse parts of it. That is, until a noise broke into his dreams. The sound of a cat's meow caused the hunters mind to kick him awake, eyes flying open only for him to realize he was sleeping in a motel bed. The scratchy sheets, the damp smell of, probably, mold. He sat up, seeing Butch in the bed beside him. The man was curled in on himself, twitching in his sleep.

The sound of a soft meow caught his attention again, he got to his feet. Stumbling lightly as the world churned away from him, grabbing the bed to keep from collapsing. Forcing himself to a stand, he slowly made his way across the shaggy carpet. Glancing curiously at the second bed that was dotted with old blood, the pillow holding most of it.

"Baal," Sam whispered, the cats meowing caught his attention again. It was directly outside of the motel door, he shuffled over, grabbing the knob and pulling it open. He was on the first floor of a large motel, the parking lot directly in front of him as he glanced down to Baal who sat on the curb.

The man was sitting in the morning sun, his head covered in dried blood, taking bites from a tuna sandwich. A few cats sat around him, happily licking up whatever tuna he would give to them.

"Baal, are you feeding the strays?" Sam could hardly believe his eyes as the cats willingly took the food from the demon,

"They're hungry, I'm hungry, seemed like a good deal,"

"Where are we?" Sam asked, not wanting to press the issue further. The cats didn't seem to mind Sam as he sat beside Baal who ripped what remained of the sandwich in half. Holding it out to the hunter who hesitated,

"If you want it toasted I can do it for ya," A glint of humor flashed in the demon's grey gaze.

"No thanks,"

"You're starving, just eat it,"

Sam couldn't argue with that, his stomach roaring in pain from the lack of food. He took the tuna, it was like a switch as he took a bite. He couldn't believe how good the crappy gas station sandwich tasted to him at the moment. He ate it down quickly, it hardly made a dent in his stomach but it was better than anything he'd eaten for weeks.

"So…" Sam started, "Why did you help us?" The cats wound themselves around Baals legs, avoiding Sam as the demon started to pet the flea bitten animals. The heat in his hands burned the fleas off the cats but the animals seemed to enjoy the heat as they pushed themselves into his palms more.

"Told you, keep Abel safe," He said, shrugging

"But you're a demon," Sam's mind hopped back to when he had trusted Ruby, a demon he still saw in flashes of his nightmares.

"Yeah, I am. I worked hard to be a king too. Get that extra power." He laughed, scratching the cat beside him. "And one day, I was called to Earth, important mission from the big horns himself,"

"Lucifer?"

"Yep, I lived as a human for a week. Went back down but nothing felt right after that, back when I tortured souls I didn't think about it." He stared into the sky, its colors turning from orange, to gold, to a brilliant blue as the sun peaked out against the new york skyline.

"Until I met the families of the ones I tortured," He whispered, "Now I'm trying to make up for it, I mean, I'll never make up for it. But I like to think I can put some distance between myself and who I was,"

Sam watched the man for a few seconds, he could see there was more to the story. Maybe a lot more but his explanation was good enough for now. His mind heavy, he never imagined a demon with a conscience. He didn't even think they had souls but now, he sat next to someone who commanded some of hell, someone who could probably rip a normal human in half with his bare hands, and he was petting a cat. Not only that, but the cat was enjoying it! Sam couldn't even get cats to come up to him, let alone share food with him.

"You don't need to trust me," Baal said, looking towards the other, "But I want to try and gain that trust from you."

Sam looked back to the sky, closing his eyes as he attempted to calm the swirling anxiety that moved through him. But the idea that Abel had somehow alerted every demon in every part of the world that he had this mysterious 'Chamulet' made the hunter feel sick.

"I guess I...don't really have a choice?" Sam said,

"That's the spirit," Baal laughed, slapping the man on the back playfully only for Sam to grunt in agony, leaning over with a hiss of pain.

"Oh, sorry," Baal whispered, patting the others back now in an attempt to calm him.

"You're burning me," Sam whispered, the demon removing his hand entirely.

"Sorry, I forgot I turned the heat up for the strays," He chuckled.

***

Sam's leg bounced lightly as he looked down at Baals phone, his mind a haze.

"Do you not remember the number?"

"I have a phone now, I haven't had to remember a number for years," Sam grunted in response.

Closing the phone app and switching to Twitter, he blinked in surprise at all the excess stuff that had been added to their Twitter but decided against looking at it. He opened up messages, noticing a few pictures had already been sent to the two.

"What...are these?" Sam asked, scrolling up to see the pictures.

"Oh uh, I was trying to help them a bit."

"What is that picture?" Sam narrowed his eyes at the picture.

"It's Chamuel," Baal leaned against the lamp post he stood by, holding a beer in one hand. A bright red straw sticking from the neck of the beverage,

"Call 'em, if you send them a message they might not see it,"

"You're telling me this," Sam pointed to the angry angel on the painting, or at least, what seemed to be an angry angel. "Is Cham?"

"Yep,"

"The guys a cupcake, he couldn't hurt nobody like that," Butch said as he looked down at the tweet, "Who's the gal?"

"Oh her?" Baal rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Erm, her name's Bailey. She's a security guard for the museum," He took a sip of his drink, "It took me a few tries to get a good picture of the damn thing since photographs aren't allowed. She chased me away a few times,"

Sams head pounded, the information was stressful enough but knowing that this picture was in a museum? What did they need with this painting? Why were they after it? He felt sick as he rubbed the sore spot above his eye. Baal had bandaged him up pretty good, helped clean him up but the pain was still incredibly distracting.

"Okay," Sam clicked out of the app, biting his lip he had one more idea. Opening up facebook he went to Abel's personal page, scrolling to the bottom he hissed. At some point the hunter had grown wise and hide the, very public, information. Sam was only minutes from helping them hide all that when he was taken,

"Shit," He growled, "I don't remember Abel's number,"

"Wait, ah…" Butch shuffled, he had been sitting on the ground fiddling with a rock as he listened to the two talk. The hunter tugged tugged off his shoe, pulling up the lip to show a phone number written neatly on the bottom of the lip.

"These were Cham's shoes, ah grabbed em since I couldn't find mine."

"Oh thank God," Sam shook his head, Chamuel writing his phone number on things almost made the hunter laugh. It was something he noticed the angel so on anything he deemed important, "I don't know who taught him that but they're my hero right now," Sam sighed.

Running his fingers through his long, brown locks the hunter punched in the phone number into Baal's phone.