The Winchesters, Nancy and I all ran back to the main office area where Henriksen was. Dean tossed a gun he'd gotten from his trunk to Sam and handed another to me. The black smoke was covering all the windows, making it darker than it should have been in the middle of the afternoon. Nancy was clutching the cross around her neck, terrified. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the building shook, and then the smoke seemed to disappear and it got quiet again.

"Everybody okay?" Sam asked.

"Define 'okay'," Henriksen replied.

"Alright, everybody needs to put these on," Dean said, taking out protective necklaces. "They'll keep you from being possessed. There you go."

"What about you three?" Nancy inquired.

Sam and Dean pulled down their shirt collars, showing off the protection symbol tattoos on their chests and I pulled up the hem of my shirt showing off my identical one on my hip.

"Smart," Henriksen nodded. "How long you had those?"

"Not long enough," I responded.

⁘

A crowd of possessed people were gathering outside. Nancy was organizing some files at her desk when she happened to glance up and notice one of them.

"Hey, that's Jenna Rubner."

"That's not Jenna anymore," I muttered, following her gaze.

"That's where all the black demon smoke went?"

"Looks like," I nodded.

Dean was showing Henriksen how we filled shotgun shells with salt to fire at the demons. He started listing off all the other things besides demons that were real and then made a quip about how bigfoot was a hoax.

"You know what my job is?" Henriksen asked.

"You mean besides locking up the good guys? I have no idea."

"My job is boring, frustrating. You work three years for one break, and then maybe you can save... a few people. I've been busting my ass for 15 years to nail a handful of guys and all this while, there's something in the corner so big. So yeah... sign me up for that big, frosty mug of wasting my damn life."

"You didn't know," Dean pointed out.

"Now I do," Henriksen paused. "What's out there. Can you guys beat it? Can you win?"

"Honestly? I think the world's gonna end bloody," Dean said, looking over at me. "But it doesn't mean we shouldn't fight. We still got choices. I choose to go down swingin'."

I smirked, heart swelling at the underlying, unspoken promise that was between the lines that Dean spoke. In that simple declaration, he was really promising me that even though we were running out of time, he wasn't going to give up. He was going to fight, and he was going to find a way to get out of his deal if there was any sliver of a chance he could.

"Plus you got nothing to go home to but your brother and your girl over there," Henriksen pointed out.

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "What about you? You rocking the white picket fence?"

"Mm-mm," Henriksen shook his head. "Empty apartment, string of angry ex-wives. I'm right where you are... Except you have a girl who loves you and a little one on the way."

"Imagine that," Dean chuckled along with the Fed.

There was a crash from the other room, and Dean, Henriksen and I rushed to see what it was with Sam bringing up the rear. Ruby was standing in the middle of the Devil's Trap, her face bloody from breaking in through the window.

"How do we kill her?" Henriksen asked, raising his rifle.

"We don't," Sam said, lowering the rifle with his hand.

"She's a demon," Henriksen pointed out.

"She's here to help us," Sam insisted.

"Are you kidding?" Amici demanded as he and Nancy also joined us. Dean and I exchanged a look, both sighing in exasperation.

"You gonna let me out?" Ruby glared at us.

Henriksen glanced at Dean and I as Sam stepped forward, scratching part of the Devil's Trap off with Ruby's knife so she could get in.

"And they say chivalry's dead," she mocked. "Does anyone have a breath mint? Some guts splattered in my mouth while I was killing my way in here."

We all followed her back to the main area, Sam staying behind a moment to fix the salt line and Devil's Trap.

"How many are out there?" I asked the demon.

"30 at least," Ruby answered. "That's so far."

"Oh, good," Dean rolled his eyes. "30. 30 hit men all gunning for us. Who sent them?"

Ruby looked past us at Sam, who was hovering in the doorway.

"You didn't tell them?"

Dean and I rounded on Sam, confused.

"Oh, I'm surprised," Ruby continued.

"Tell us what?" I growled.

"There's a big new up and comer," Ruby informed us as Sam remained silent. "Real pied piper."

"Who is he?" Dean inquired.

"Not he. Her. Her name is Lilith."

"Lilith?" Dean and I chorused.

"And she really, really wants Sam's intestines on a stick and Ellie's head on a spike. Cause she sees them as competition."

"You knew about this?" Dean demanded, but Sam didn't answer. "Well, gee, Sam. Is there anything else we should know?!"

"How about you three talk about this later?" Ruby suggested. "We'll need the Colt."

She looked over at Sam, who avoided her gaze. She then turned to face Dean and I.

"Where's the Colt?"

"It got stolen," Sam finally piped up.

"I'm sorry. I must have blood in my ear. I thought I just heard you say you were stupid enough to let the Colt out of your thick, clumsy, idiotic hands. Fantastic. This is just peachy..."

"Ruby..." Sam started.

"Shut up," Ruby raised a hand. "Fine. Since I don't see that there's any other option. There's one other way I know how to get you out of here alive."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I know a spell. It'll vaporize every demon in a one-mile radius. Myself included. So, you let the Colt out of your sight and now I have to die. So next time, be more careful. How's that for a dying wish?"

"Okay what do we need to do?" Dean questioned her.

"Aww... you can't do anything. This spell is very specific. It calls for a person of virtue."

"I got virtue," Dean nodded.

"Nice try," Ruby chuckled. "You're not a virgin."

"Nobody's a virgin," Dean laughed.

Ruby looked at him, then shifted her gaze over to Nancy, who looked away.

"No. No way. You're kidding me, r-. You're..."

"What? It's a choice, okay?" Nancy defended.

"So, y-you've never... Not even once? I mean not even- Wow."

Dean shook his head incredulously and I smacked him upside the head.

"So this spell," Nancy looked at Ruby. "What can I do?"

"You can hold still... while I cut your heart out of your chest."

"What?" Nancy's eyes widened in terror.

"What? Are you crazy?" I rounded on Ruby.

"I'm offering a solution," she defended.

"You're offering to kill somebody," Dean corrected.

"And what do you think's gonna happen to this girl once the demons get in?"

"We're gonna protect her. That's what," Henriksen said.

"Excuse me."

"Very noble," Ruby glared at the Fed.

"Ex-excuse me."

"You're all gonna die," the demon continued. "Look. This is the only way."

"Yeah, yeah," Dean said. "There's no way you're gonna-"

"Would everybody please shut up?!" Nancy shouted, getting louder than she'd been the entire time we'd been here. "All the people out there... will it save them?"

"It'll blow the demons out of their bodies. So if their bodies are okay... yeah," Ruby nodded.

There was a long pause and then Nancy nodded.

"I'll do it."

Henriksen, Dean and I all started protesting at once.

"You don't need to do this," I told her.

"All my friends are out there," Nancy said.

"We don't sacrifice people," Henriksen shook his head. "We do that, we're no better than them."

"We don't have a choice," Ruby insisted.

"Yeah, well, your choice is not a choice," Dean informed her.

"Sam, you know I'm right."

We looked over at the younger Winchester, who'd been really quiet throughout this whole ordeal.

"Sam?" Dean asked. "What the hell is going on? Sam, tell her."

"It's my decision," Nancy said.

"Damn straight, cherry pie," Ruby smirked.

"Stop! Stop! Nobody kill any virgins!" Dean shouted. "Sam, Ellie, I need to talk to you."