Fic: Unspoiled Salt - Part 3

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Back to Part 2

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Stefanus was instantly in what must be this Sam Winchester’s bedroom, he was wearing a different body now, a man’s body, this must be the older brother, Dean. He was holding a small plastic container in one hand, and staring at the scrawny teenager sprawled on the bed.

Stefanus could feel Dean’s rage that he was being controlled by Crowley, the sense of the wrongness of the words, that they were words he’d never ever say and why didn’t his brother know it wasn’t him was overwhelming. “Sammy, I know you whack it, like all the time. It just seems like it’s a lot, I just want to check that what’s coming out is okay. Everyone does it to make sure they’re healthy.”

“I have never heard of this in my life, Dean,” Sam said with all the snotty assurance of a fourteen-year old know-it-all.

“It’s a pretty new thing, it wasn’t even around when I was your age. There’s a test at the drug store, I’m gonna go get one. I’ll show it to you,” Dean said. Stefanus was impressed with Crowley’s ability to instantly come up with a plausible explanation.

“This seems like something parents should be doing,” Sam said.

“You really wanna talk about your spunk with Dad, Sammy?” Dean waggled the container closer to Sam’s face.

“Fine, whatever. Just give me the container,” Sam said holding out his hand, impatient now to have this embarrassment over with.

“How long do you think it’ll take to fill it up?” Dean held out the clear plastic container with markings on the side. “It’s gotta be up to line number four for the test to work.” Stefanus could feel the longing, the want that this boy had for his beautiful brother, sprawled out in front of him. He could also feel how hard Dean fought Crowley’s hold, it was extraordinary, but Crowley was a much more powerful demon that he was. Stefanus thought it had to do with how much Dean loved his brother, it was almost strong enough to beat Crowley’s hold.

“I have no idea, I mean, I’ve never measured it or anything, that’d be totally gross. But that seems like a lot, Dean.”

“You can do it, Sammy. Just keep it in the fridge between jerk-off sessions. I’m gonna go out to the CVS in town and get a test, I’ll be back soon.”

“You’re not gonna stay?” Sam asked in a small voice, looking up at Dean through his long eyelashes.

“What, you want some help or something? It’s usually a one-man job, unless…” Dean trailed off, his voice going husky. Stefanus could feel Dean’s eyebrows waggling, then he felt Crowley’s fingers come off from contact with his forehead. Sam’s room disappeared from his view, just as it was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

“That’s impressively kinky, even for you sir, they’re brothers, really?” Stefanus asked.

Crowley grinned, horrible and self-satisfied. “It’s just a small part of a long term plan I have. These two Winchester brothers are going to be so wrapped up and twisted about each other, by the time I’m done with them. It’s going to be absolutely delicious to watch.”

“I hope I’m around to see it,” Stefanus said, really meaning it, because these brothers were really extraordinary, the connection between them wouldn’t be something he’d ever forget.

“Well, who knows, maybe if you pull this off, you will get that chance. Don’t get up until the buzzer goes off,” Crowley said, setting a ticking kitchen timer down on the bedside table.

Crowley had left him then, in a poof of his flashy red smoke, without more information about these brothers, instead leaving him with a stack of pregnancy books to read. When he was alone for a few hours, Stefanus began to worry that this was the point where he would fail. That Julia would finally find a way to kick him out. To keep her entertained and occupied he’d played all the greatest hits of her life over and over again, there weren’t many of them, graduating high school, giving the eulogy at her parent’s double funeral without crying when she was twelve, moving into the crappy apartment she lived in, and buying the crappy car she still drove to work every day.

Finally the buzzer had gone off and he’d been able to get up. He took a long hot shower to wash off the spunk that dribbled down his legs and thought about the beautiful boy who’d donated it, would he ever know what he was a part of creating? He concentrated all his focus and attention on where he thought her uterus was and thought fertile thoughts at it. A few days went by where he had her call in to work so her body wouldn’t have to be too active, and then he’d finally felt it, just as the books had described—the quickening.

There was a spark deep inside her body, no his body, he felt an internal kick, okay their body for now.

#####

Stefanus had to wait until he knew Julia’s body had successfully implanted an embryo, sure he had felt the quickening as all the baby books had talked about. But he had to be one hundred percent sure before he bothered to communicate with Crowley that their plan had succeeded. He had to wait a few weeks before he could even take a home pregnancy test to confirm his suspicions that he was indeed pregnant.

It was disgusting having to urinate on something, to get that substance on his hand, well it was just gross. He was kind of surprised at himself, he’d been elbow deep in many of the subjects of Hell when he’d taken his turn at the torture tables, but the stench and heat of the human urine, because it was coming out of his own (her) body, was just…yuck. Stefanus had to leave the bathroom, pacing back and forth with a thrumming anxiety, he had to be right, he just had to. He couldn’t take another month of waiting. Or of having to tell Crowley that he’d failed at something as simple as getting his stupid vessel pregnant.

After what felt like hours waiting, the buzzer that he’d set finally rang, echoing down the hall. He strode in and slammed it off, and picked up the pregnancy test stick, it had a pale plus sign in the indicator window. He compared it to the paper that had come in the box. That was it, confirmed and for sure he was carrying the savior of his people. All he had to do now was get a doctor to confirm it, Crowley had insisted on that, telling him not to bother calling until he had something official. With a shaky hand he dialed the phone and made the appointment with that liver-spotted patronizing doctor he’d seen a month ago.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. He went to work and sorted the damn corn and made small talk with as few people as possible. Julia might be glowing with that healthy pregnancy glow, but he didn’t want anyone to notice that yet.

The doctor appointment went quickly, and he felt stupid, having to perform basically the same test in the doctor’s office as he had at home. But the answer was the same, it was positive, he was indeed pregnant, with a due date in March of next year. That seemed so far away, but he’d already been here long enough to figure out how worthwhile it was, being here up top instead of in the depths of Hell. It was worth the boredom, at least he wouldn’t have to be possessing this woman any longer now that she was finally pregnant. He thought he’d switch off and possess one of the handsome men that worked at the corn sorting plant. They seemed to have more going on in their lives and he’d still be able to keep an eye on Julia.

Stepping out of the doctor’s office, he knew he had to wait until well after dark to find someone to kill to make the call to Crowley. He couldn’t risk Julia getting caught and imprisoned or worse. Instead of driving home, he took himself out to eat at the one nice restaurant in town, candles and white tablecloths. The rare steak that he ordered wasn’t bloody enough for his tastes of course, but he wasn’t supposed to really risk that sort of thing now that he was pregnant. He chewed slowly and thoroughly, thinking about what he’d be eating after he birthed the savior of his race. Would he be lucky enough to have a private chef preparing his meals perhaps? Or would there be a slave involved, someone he could order around and abuse with all his demands and whims being met immediately. He smiled at the idea and then saw a woman across the dim restaurant notice his expression. He must not have hidden his demon-ness well enough because the woman looked utterly terrified. He sniffed and took it in, the scent of the woman’s terror was as delicious as the steak. He kept his eyes on her as he finished, slowly chewing, imagining it was her that he was consuming instead. She cowered in her booth, alone with her plate of uneaten food in front of her. When Stefanus was done, he paid and waited outside in the dark parking lot. The woman finally exited and he quickly subdued her, bundling her up into his car, driving off into the night.

Finally it was time to announce his triumph to his king. It had been hard to wait these extra days. But finally it was time to slit this woman’s throat and fill the bowl. She went limp and pale in his arms, the scent of her terror overtaking the rich copper of her blood. He shivered with the feeling of power holding the pewter bowl in his blood slicked hand, watching the voice of his king dance upon the crimson surface of this pitiful human’s life.

“We did it, sir. I’m…uh, she’s pregnant!” Stefanus couldn’t help his excitement, he hoped it came across the line to Crowley well enough so he’d understand.

“You’ve had this confirmed by a doctor?” Crowley asked.

“Yes…of course, sir. I followed your directions to the letter, I did the home pregnancy test and then another one at the doctor’s office, just today in fact,” Stefanus said.

“Well, that is—quite a thing isn’t it, we’ve actually, we might have really won this thing after all,” Crowley said, sounding a little over-awed at their success.

“What is your next directive, sir? Shall I stay in the town, and observe her throughout her pregnancy or return to Hell?” Stefanus asked, hoping that he’d get to stay top-side a little longer.

“No! You idiot, you stay in possession of  her! You must keep her down, at least until the birth,” Crowley said, shouting so loudly that some of the blood splashed out of the bowl. Stefanus worried that the connection would be severed.

“I see, sir, of course, how stupid of me not to realize—“ Stefanus stammered, terror-struck the pit of his stomach at the thought of Crowley’s displeasure.

“We must keep her under control. You must understand how critical it is that we take the cambion into our custody the moment he is birthed. The angels will know, and they will be searching for him,” Crowley said.

“I understand, sir. I will not fail you,” Stefanus promised, meaning it with every shred of himself that he still possessed.

“You’d better—oh I’m not going to bother threatening you, Stefano, I know you know the drill,” Crowley said.

“I promise, I will keep her in control at all times. And as soon as I schedule the c-section, I will contact you with the date so you can attend.”

“Good man, I know you will not fail me because you know the importance of our success,” Crowley said.

“Thank you, sir,” Stefanus said, even though the connection had been cut before he finished speaking.

He had not really thought about it, but of course Crowley would want as much control of the situation as possible. There couldn’t be a chance that Julia, once she wasn’t possessed would hurt the child by eating the wrong thing or Lucifer forfend, get an abortion. It wasn’t going to be the most pleasant thing in the world to be pregnant and give birth, but it was still better than going back to being just another cog in the workings of Hell.

After the bowl had been emptied and the connection cut off from his end, he screamed up into the night sky until Julia’s (his) voice gave out. Throwing the bowl out into the corn field in a rage, Stefanus was not happy. It made sense, of course it did, Crowley was always right. But damn, he had so been looking forward to getting out of her, stretching his legs, trying on someone new. He screamed and raged, letting all the frustration out by tearing apart the woman from the restaurant that he’d already killed with his teeth and hands (her teeth and her hands). When he was done with her, it looked like she’d been ravaged by a pack of wolves. All the while putting up with the howls and screams of protest from Julia within. He viciously pushed her down until he could no longer feel her. He drank his fill from the dead woman, until his belly felt sick. He wiped the blood from his mouth and stomped off into the cornstalks to retrieve the bowl.

• 

****

For the first month or so of the pregnancy, Julia made small efforts at stepping forward, not exactly trying to take back control, but like she was trying to surface a little to see what was happening. He didn’t want that or anything close to it happening, he just couldn’t chance it. Instead, he showed Julia a continuous loop of what her child would do to Heaven’s Host, wiping out the angels and then remaking the world. Stefanus had always been a true blue Lucifer acolyte, he had always wanted the cleansing of the world to happen, he wanted to see it all burn. He delighted in Julia’s horror at seeing what her child would do over and over again. Eventually she stopped making her attempts at seeing through her own eyes. But Stefanus kept the picture show going anyway, just because he could. He had to get his sick pleasure somewhere, right?

Julia really had been subdued for most of her pregnancy, so Stefanus delighted in surprising all her coworkers at the corn processing plant with ever more risqué reasons for her expanding belly. They had never really noticed Julia before, but now she was the talk of the morning shift. It was fun watching their human faces react when mousy little Julia mused about whether this married man or maybe that also married man was the father. The pearl clutching scandal, oh my!

Stefanus made sure to eat well, take his prenatal vitamins and go to all the maternal care appointments with Dr. Liver Spot. He was making sure his (her…their…the) body did the best job it possibly could at growing the cambion. He slept on his right side, pillow between his legs, hand curled around his growing belly, dreaming of birthing The Weapon that would save all demon-kind. He dreamt of parades in his honor, cheering throngs of demons and angels who’d been won over by the cambion’s raw power.

He could feel it, always pulsing deep within him, that extra heartbeat so much stronger than it should be, the almost visible glow through the stretching skin of his belly. How did no one else see it, or maybe it was only visible to his demon eyes? He was glad to have it all to himself, well him and Julia. He showed her more and more possibilities of what her child would accomplish. How he would take the world apart and remake it for demons to rule over forever. It made her cringe even further back, made her more compliant and listless. It took less and less of his energy to contain her, she hardly even responded when he tried to provoke her.

Julia’s body, swaybacked, curved belly, waddling walk, barely made it through her last scheduled shift at the factory. Her supervisor leered and offered her money to let him fuck her over his desk on her last day before pregnancy leave. Stefanus had leered right back, got up in that fat bald man’s pathetic face, spat right at him. As if he would let Julia be used that way when she was the perfect carrier of the savior the demons had always hoped for. He wished that he could break the man’s neck and drape his entrails all over the factory in warning to all the others like him. But he couldn’t take the risk to Julia’s safety and his freedom. Stefanus had swiped the pitiful stack of cash he’d been offered, right off the man’s desk and waddled his way out of the office, ignoring the spluttering protests.

This child, her child, his child, their child, was going to ruin all of this, not that there was much to ruin. Corn corn and more fucking corn, corn filling the entire horizon, and shitty people working shitty jobs for the whole of their shitty short lives. It was going to be one hundred percent better once his son got done kicking ass and taking over. He wondered if the cambion would consider him as father, or if he’d be seen as a necessary means to being born. Either way, he’d relish his connection to the bringer of death, the end of the world.

####

On the first morning of his pregnancy leave, Stefanus got a call from the doctor’s office to confirm the c-section appoint that he had made. It was supposed to be the next day, but they needed to reschedule. Stefanus had to agree, he needed to get this baby out at a certain time so Crowley could be there. It would be okay, he could make a call.

Sure, it was a little earlier that he’d expected, and it wasn’t a nicely scheduled and arranged c-section with a start time and all that Crowley could plan around. That had been their plan, for Stefanus to call as soon as he knew the final scheduled time for the operation. Crowley had to be there. Stefanus had even picked out the neighborhood child that he’d be sacrificing to make the call. There were so many of the ragged neglected ragamuffins to choose from, and that other little girl gone missing had already been forgotten.

But Julia’s body had other plans, just after he’d hung up with the scheduling nurse, the birth pains hit him. They started with a roaring burst of pain that almost knocked him to his feet. Stefanus doubled over with the pain, screaming in surprise. It wasn’t going to work, he wasn’t going to be able to call Crowley. It was all so sudden, the horrifying all-consuming pain spreading over his entire belly, wrapping around his back, cutting off his breathing.

“Oh Lucifer, oh Lucifer give me strength,” he cried out. He just needed—he just needed to breathe. He tried, he struggled so hard just to breathe, in—out—in—out, just to concentrate on that, he had to keep control.

But the pains of his (no no no, her) uterus contracting were beyond what he’d planned for. With every single contraction he felt his control slipping away.

He couldn’t even manage to move Julia’s body out of her house, or call for an ambulance. The pain of it was overwhelming, no, it was paralyzing. He couldn’t anticipate the rhythm of the contractions, they seemed to hit him out of nowhere. Vaguely he remembered the term, precipitous labor, and this was it. It was happening, and he couldn’t stop it.

Stefanus had to concentrate every ounce of his attention and power at keeping control of Julia that he wasn’t using just to breathe and to survive the pain. It was as if she’d been storing up all of her energy for this moment, to push him out, push him down just enough to break free. He struggled for control of Julia’s body, suddenly finding himself downstairs in the basement.

He felt such joy, near glee, because finally the birth was happening. Julia was feeling it too. He tried to twine their emotions together, they both wanted this baby to be born. He didn’t care about her reasons. But he, Stefanus, was going to succeed in giving Crowley exactly what he’d planned on. This boy was going to change the world. They were finally going to win!

The boy slipped out of her body in a gush of blood and fluid, and overwhelming pain and Stefanus felt himself black out.

He came back to himself, finally it was all over, and was holding the boy right there in his arms. He saw his dear little face, so human, but still with that inner cambion glow. Before he could manage to say hello to the little one, he found himself near the container of salt used for the walkways in the winter. He wailed and pounded at her skull from the inside but it didn’t work. He was too tired from the birth, and she was too energized by it. Julia pushed him out just long enough to get there, to get her filthy human hands on enough salt to stuff down her gullet. But wait…no, it wasn’t just her pushing him out. It was the cambion helping her, the baby in her arms instinctively pushing away at something hurting its mother. Stefanus wasn’t strong enough, not anywhere near prepared for that kind of power, that sort of combined assault took away any hold he had left on Julia’s body.

How had she even known that he’d be susceptible to salt? Where had she even learned that? Had there been a clue somewhere in all those visions he’d given her about demons and their trials and tribulations? Those were the thoughts that raced through him as he exited out of her mouth in a black torrent of smoke. Disoriented and crazed by the pain he’d just dissipated, floated off into nothing, not able to stay there and re-take her.

He floated off and out and away into the frigid March night. He knew nothing and only came back to himself after it was much much too late. He swooped through her house, only able to do recon, to see if she was still living there, the idiot woman hadn’t fled. But she sure as hell wasn’t pregnant anymore. And the boy was long gone. And he had failed at the only thing that mattered.

Once he finally felt up to it, Stefanus possessed a cashier in a gas station in the middle of the night, he slashed the throat of the first customer that was unlucky enough to stop for gas. As the bowl filled and the surface shimmered with the power of a sacrificed human life he thought this might be his last moment alive. A best case scenario was that Crowley would surely smite him immediately, he knew, deep down in his demon depths that he’d more likely be tortured for infinity because of his epic failure.

“Why haven’t you called?” Crowley asked before Stefanus could even begin.

“The child…he was born, healthy and strong. But…sir, I’m sorry to report that the child, is gone, and I can’t find him,” Stefanus said.

Crowley raged and thundered incoherently, the blood leaping out in a splash that hit Stefanus right in the face. Finally the waves ended and stopped. “I don’t have time for this shit! You will stay there, in Omaha, monitor Julia’s movements, just in case she gives any clue about where she’s taken the child.”

“I will, sir. You can count on me,” Stefanus said, knowing it wasn’t really a promise that he should make.

“I know that I cannot, but you’re all I’ve got right now. And I’ve got too many plates spinning to worry about it. Tell me, quickly, what happened?”

“She bested me, right after the birth. It happened in her home, I never made it to the hospital, it was all over before I knew what had happened. She got to the road salt, and the child, he helped her push me out.”

“You did well,” Crowley said.

Stefanus almost couldn’t speak with how surprised he was, Crowley’s praise made no sense. He was so surprised that he dared to ask a question. “What do you mean, sir? I failed you.”

“Yes, you may have lost him, for now. But I can still feel him out there alive, I just can’t zero in at the moment, too many distractions to concentrate enough. I said that you did well, because you chose a good woman, who didn’t just outright kill our weapon to beat Heaven. Don’t bother to contact me again until you know something worthwhile.” The connection ended abruptly.

Stefanus didn’t know what to think, what to feel, he thought he’d be dying right then and there. He hadn’t planned on getting another chance. As he stalked out of the blood-soaked gas station, he went over what Crowley had said, and how he’d said it. Stefanus got the strong impression that Crowley was otherwise occupied with something more important. Which struck him as strange, what could possibly be more important that ensuring that Hell’s side won the Apocalypse?

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Part 4