Into the Night {Mara, Kay}

[Ben Isaac Winchester]

The ride to the crossroads was relatively quiet, if one could ignore the threats and insults being thrown at him from the passenger side. Kay was still doing her best to get him to turn the car around, without physically forcing the car off the road, but he just gritted his teeth and kept on driving. He knew what he had to do; he had to get some answers, even if it meant having to listen to the most annoying rant in the history of all rants.

Finally, however, after about fifteen minutes of straight ‘you’re an idiot, Winchester!’ he couldn’t hold it in anymore. His foot compressed the accelerator, forcing her baby to leap forward, as he snarled a ‘shut the fuck UP, Kay!’ at the windshield. Which, of course, only made the insulting even worse. Gah, he couldn’t have been caught by Chey, or Kay’s sister. Hell, he’d even appreciate Lexi James’ presence, with all of her witchy powers, over the hellcat sitting next to him. Good Lord…just get them to the crossroads before he strangled her!

”Thank fucking God,” He mumbled twenty minutes later. A four tongued fork in the road appeared in front of them and he urged the car to a slow halt.

Damn, it was like something out of a really bad horror movie; a rolling hill with fog creeping down, until it hovered over gravel. There were no other sounds around them, save the purring engine and the soft croon of the radio inside the car. Was someone…something, waiting for them? The thought made a nasty smile curve the Hunter’s lips.

He hoped so, man. Tonight was a night for blood.

Without a word to Kay, he reached into the backseat for his duffel and cut the engine. From the bag, he pulled out all the necessary ingredients for a summoning, did the chalk work and cursed any lack of a hiding place for one of those demon-cages he favored. When the ritual words were said and done, he sat back on his heels and waited.

Game face, baby.

[/blockquote]

[Iris 'Mara' Ariyadi]

Of course, none of this had come as any surprise to Mara.

The moment she'd sealed the deal with Ryder, Mara had been expecting a move like this from one or another of the Winchesters. That was the thing with them: they were all so willing to throw their souls away for each other, it was pathetic. So, it had only been a matter of time and patience, and watching the family to see who it would be that acted.

Mara was thrilled to find that it was Ben, even if she wasn't really surprised.

Whether or not she'd actually make a deal with him she wasn't sure. It was hard for Mara to know if her superiors had some special plans in mind for Ryder's soul, or if they'd be willing to "trade up" for Dean Winchester's first born. It seemed like a fair, logical trade to her of course, but she just didn't have any way to know for certain.

When the summoning ritual was finished, Mara let herself appear, though she wasn't stupid enough to move from her position at the center of the crossroads. These Winchesters were disgustingly predictable, and she knew that Ben would have traps set up to try and coerce her into breaking the terms of Ryder's deal. He couldn't know that she was the demon responsible for that deal, or that she'd have such an interest in his family, but that didn't really matter to Mara.

It was just one more weapon in her arsenal.

"Hey, hotshot," she said, smiling sweetly. "I can only imagine what it is that brings you and your little friend here. Something to do with your brother, I'll bet. Poor guy... He should have known better, huh? Tsk, tsk." She shook her head, remaining rooted in place, and ready to ditch her host and take off if need be.

She hoped that wouldn't be the case, though. Iris was so cute and disarming... It had made her job much easier over the past couple of years...

[Makayla Rose Rhys - Damara]

Kayla still wasn’t too happy about being dragged about to who know where, but it was the only way she was going to keep Winchester here out of trouble and she moaned at him the whole way. She was hoping he would change his mind. It was Christmas did he really want to run off instead of talking things out with the family? He really had been keen on it so here she was. She couldn’t stop him from going so she was on for the ride. He thanked god when they finally had reached a crossroads. This was going to be one hell of a night that was for sure. Kayla had text messaged the family to let them know where she is and that she is okay so they didn’t think she ended up in some sort of accident or something with the snow and stuff on the roads. Kayla left before Tameryn and Kellen when she left their house she had headed home to get changed again. She usually hates being early so she is usually tends to show up to these things late and now she was going to be really late, but who really would believe he was with Ben Winchester.

He had grabbed the stuff out of his duffle bag, and placed all the things in a tin to summon a crossroads demon. “ You know this is only going to get you more tightly wound up, Benjamin.” She had stated, and figured they were just going to give him the run around isn’t it what demons do? He was gung ho about doing it and what could she do to stop it really nothing now they were here. She let him do his thing even if she didn’t like it and thought he was making a big mistake. Kayla would have probably done the same though if it was one of her siblings and she would have loved for someone to try to talk her out of it and think clearly. Being angry at everything just makes rationalization head straight out the window and you get yourself up shits creek without a paddle, and she surely wasn’t going to let Winchester here get that far up shits creek that was for sure. Why, she didn’t even understand either. She watched him from the car dig up the spot to summon the demon. Kayla really didn’t know what she should do except keep Ben from selling his soul.

The demon appeared sprouting the usual blah, blah, blah. How dare she call her his little friend. Kayla snarled at that under her breath murmuring some obscene things. “This is a bad idea, Winchester.” Kayla spat once more. Wanting to hit the woman with her car, and sly devilish smile perched upon her lips at that thought. “Tell us what we want to know and perhaps we will be lenient on that poor defenseless girl you are sucking the life out of.” Kayla said slipping onto the hood of her car waiting to see what would happen and if she needed to grab her shovel out of the trunk. She probably could have mentioned to Ben that she had one, but it had been fun to watch him dig a little to get the box in the ground. She waited and watched to see what Ben had to say after Kayla had told the demon what she said. “ You summoned her, Benjamin you have the floor sweetheart.” She said mockingly knowing calling him that would make him cringe.

“ I am just here to make sure you don’t get into too much trouble.” She said smiling sweetly tapping her fingers on the hood of her car. She was freezing her ass off, but wouldn’t let that show. Kayla could be a little cruel hearted sometimes when it comes to demons. Sure, her daddy is one, but he plays for their side, and well she feels horrible for the girl who this demon has stuck its claws into and think hell she would be doing the girl a favor by taking the demon out, but this wasn’t really her fight it was Ben’s. So she would be a good girl and let him handle his business.

[Ben Isaac Winchester]

Damn, man…was it a rule somewhere that ALL freaking female demons had to be hot? What, there was no such thing as an old woman demon? A fat demon? Something that didn’t have his libido sit up with a ‘how you doin?’ Thank God that the thing started talking, or he’d probably have stood there like an idiot, trying to remember why he’d summoned it in the first place.

Nice going, Winchester. Definitely have your priorities straight there…gah. Then again, all he had to do was remember that Kay was around, and all THOSE kinds of happy thoughts died horrible deaths.

Though, he had to admit…standing there in front of the smirking, ‘I’m bad ass and you know it’ demon, it felt strangely comforting to have Kay at his back. Normally, he absolutely hated for people to come with him when he was on the job- and, after pushing his emotions aside, he attempted to convince himself to act like this was a job- unless they had a name as famous as his. But Kayla…well, she’d already shown that she could take care of herself; she’d managed to bring HIM down into the snow, which was hard to do. If the demon bitch tried anything, he could definitely see his friend backing up his play.

Now, if only she would SHUT. THE FUCK. UP!

Turning to give her a droll look over his shoulder, he resisted the urge to snap at her, instead forcing his voice to calm and his face to clear of all emotion. He had to have his game face on, when dealing with slimy demons like those that served the crossroads. Through gritted teeth, he managed a polite ”Thank you, Kayla. Now…lemme handle this, alright? Just sit there and look pretty.”

Ah, he was SO going to pay for that later, but what the hell. She talked too much for her own damn good.

Rolling his shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension there, he turned back to the demon. Her saccharine sweet voice seemed to heighten those innocent features, and he felt his jaw tighten. Just like Kay said, there was a girl behind those eyes; an actual person being used as a puppet by the evil dust cloud. The urge to reach for the gun he had in the back of his pants was almost too much to stand. But, for the sake of the information he had to obtain, he managed to keep his arms loose at his sides.

”Word travels fast among your kind, huh?” He drawled, casually crossing his arms over his chest. ”Well, then you should know why I’m here, then. I want to know who’s holding my brother’s contract…and I want to know now.”

[/blockquote]

[Iris 'Mara' Ariyadi]

Mara pouted.

"Wow, straight to business with no foreplay at all, huh? I can see why your little friend back there's so ornery, at any rate," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and winking at Makayla. "And to think, I've heard so much about your apparent... skills. Rumors that are as over-inflated as your ego, I'm sure."

As she spoke, Mara surveyed the area around her, looking for any hints of traps. It was a pretty wide open space, without any obvious places to hide something, so she figured she'd be alright as long as she stayed away from that damned car of theirs. No doubt there were all kinds of nasty surprises over there... Cautiously, she took a few steps forward, still remaining near the center of the crossroads.

"Your brother's contract, huh? That's a tough one, really," she lied, smirking. "The truth is, even if I did know--and I'm not saying I do... or don't--there's no way in Hell that I'd ever tell you." Smiling sweetly, she told him, "You might thing you're really, really bad, Ben Winchester, but honestly, you're about as scary as a day-old kitten when compared to some of my superiors."

Letting her eyes change to their demonic shade of red, Mara laughed, a surprisingly musical, beautiful sound that was completely out of place considering what she was.

"Besides, what can you do to me?" she asked dryly. "Send me back to Hell? Big deal. I've clawed my way out of the pit so many times that I've lost count. Anything else you can think up to do will more than likely just hurt my host, and I know you're way too foolishly honorable to do something like that."

[Ben Isaac Winchester]

Well, fuck. Just leave it to a frikkin’ demon to remind him how much of a moron he was. Given that there weren’t any structures around to house a demon trap, little Red Eyes could rip out his intestines whenever she wanted. And then he wasn’t even touching the fact that he didn’t have anything to bargain with, with Kayla squawking behind him. She’d gone suspiciously quiet, which made him wonder what she was planning…and what secret weapons she had hidden in that sweet ride of hers.

But he couldn’t show any of that to his little friend, now could he? Schooling his features to a mask of cocky confidence, Ben just flashed a humorless smile her way. Her little digs at his ‘special prowess’ made him want to spout out some juvenile comment, but he managed to bite it back. Demons seemed to live to make fun of his happy parts. Did that mean that he was a bit too touchy about his sex life? Gah, that could be taken in such a negative way…

”Don’t test me, demon,” He said smoothly, eyeing her as she took a step toward him. ”You should know that my family has a track record with getting what we want from your kind. There are things worse than simply being sent down to Hell. I could send you down there in pieces…or trap your black little soul and bury you. There are so many options…but I need information from you, not banter. Name a price. I need to know who holds my brother’s soul.”

And that was pretty much where his plan went south. Knowing that Mara would demand something he couldn’t give, he hoped that he could distract her instead. Would thoughts of another Winchester’s soul in those delicate hands make her red eyes faze with pleasure? So much that she would leave the safety of the crossroads and step onto the circle he’d hidden in the grass and gravel around their feet…

Now, he scowled, taking a step back away from her. God, it was his brother that did this part so damn well; the subtlety and intrigue. He, the eldest of the siblings, was more of a physical kind of guy. He ran at the problems head first and broke bones until he got what he wanted. He didn’t…lure, or deceive. But for his little brother, he had to try his hand.

And, hopefully tip hers.

[/blockquote]

[Makayla Rose Rhys - Damara]

Makayla really had been blunt and straight to the point. It was Christmas after all she should be with the family. She sent a text to some of them to let them know where she was and she surely had her knickers in a wad with them being all wet still from being pinned in the snow. If all had went well and Ryder didn’t sell his soul she probably would have had a few rounds of spiced egg nog and the family probably would have tired to trick them two under the mistletoe or something like they do every year. Every year she tells them she would rather kiss a porcupine. When will they get that? She was told to sit down and sit pretty and that he got it from there. “ Yeah, yeah. Bite, Me,” she remarked to that comment. She shuddered slightly as the demon winked at her.

She couldn’t help but snicker to herself when the demon told Ben he had an over inflated ego. Was it wrong of her to laugh? Ben had set a trap for her ways away but would she fall for it? They needed information and they needed it now. Makayla didn’t have all night that was for sure. The demon was asking him what he could do to her almost as if she was challenging him, but had to have known that Ben wouldn’t purposely hurt the poor girl trapped inside, but Makayla on the other hand Makayla could be heartless and she would hurt her. The demon would bounce back, but the poor girl inside her already is probably as good as dead! Makayla had loads of things in her car. She had her brother from another family modify her ride with weaponry, several hidden compartments, and hell she just wanted to run the biotch over right about now.

Made her wonder if the devils trap she had painted inside the car underneath the upholstery would hold her under the car. Makayla just sat their grinning evilly. The demon was right though Benjamin really was foolishly honorable, but he did have lots of ideas of what he could do to her. “ I like that trapping her and burying her it sounds like fun or we can hang her on a hook and let me play with her?.” Makayla said smirking, but was sort of joking about it, but she sounded serious which would probably make Ben roll his eyes at her and tell her to get her head out of the gutter and well Ben would probably be too righteous to hand the girl on a hook, but Kayla does have loads of guns, holy water, rope silver the whole shebang in there and well they do have Ben’s bag in there or they could trick her into going for a ride. Ben had asked the demon for a price and Makayla was curious as to what this price would have been. So sat there and watched Ben step backwards as if trying to lure her over to the trap that he had set for her. She did say something about foreplay and dangling her on a hook would defiantly be that.

She wanted to see if the demon would follow him or would they have to wheel and deal? Ben’s not giving up his soul that was for damn sure. It was why she was here to make sure he didn’t. The Winchester’s did seem to get what they wanted out of their kind. Kayla usually stayed out of the game, but hell she was here to happily sit here and watch and be back up. She wondered how Ben would have handled this if she wasn’t here. She slipped off the hood of the car her bum now nice and toasty from the car, and wondered if Ben would snap at her to sit back down or shut her cake whole that he got this. She after all was the back up muscle.

(( I don’t know what you all have planned for this so, hope it works lol))

[Iris 'Mara' Ariyadi]

Pointedly ignoring Makayla, Mara kept her attention focused on Ben.

"You are too much," she told him, laughing and shaking her head. "It's actually sort of cute, the way you keep on trying to sound so tough. I already told you, hot shot, there's nothing you can do to me, and we both know it." Pacing around a bit, Mara made sure she remained near the center of the crossroads. She'd been through this a time or two in the past, and she was not foolish enough to get caught in these hunters' traps, whatever and wherever they may be.

"So, let's get right to the point, here, Mr. Winchester," she continued, her red eyes narrowing as she stared him down. "It's time for you to stop pretending like you're in control here. Got it? You aren't, and you never were." Wandering back to the point where she'd first appeared, Mara looked back over her shoulder at Ben and Makayla. "So, if you're here to make a deal, let's get on with it. But, if you're here to try and scare me into cooperating with you, you're just wasting your time."

Mara fell silent for several minutes after that, letting her "guests" digest everything she'd just said. God, she was so sick and tired of all these hunters! The fact was, if someone came to her to make a deal, that was their problem. All she was doing was her job... Usually. Sure, there were times when she took a little initiative and lured weak-willed people in, but they still knew what was on the line when they agreed to her deal. None of them were forced into this, not really. Yet, when the truth came out or their time ran out, so many of them tried to break the deal and get off scot-free.

Well, not on her watch.

"Here are my terms, take them or leave them," she said finally, turning around to face them once again. "I'll give you the name of the demon who holds your brother's contract, and five years... In exchange for your own soul, of course." Smiling sweetly, she decided to add a little more. "Tell you what: if your cute little girlfriend throws her soul into the bargain, I'll give you both ten years instead. Deal?"

[Makayla Rose Rhys - Damara]

Demons, Demons, Demons all they do is run useless chatter and blah, blah, blah. Makayla sat their rolling her eyes as the demon ran the normal bullshit, but she seemed keen on staying close to the crossroads and must know that Ben would have set a trap for her. Well now they must be getting a little smarter now. She didn’t know what it was with people selling their souls. That shit never ever ends well.

Mara told them if they were there to make a deal to make a deal and if not and were trying to scare the info out of her that it wouldn’t work. They would get the info they wanted some way or another. Even if they had to do a little digging and she could do her digging on her own terms away from Mr. Winchester here, but dude needs to be put in check really. If she didn’t come he probably would have accepted a deal and would go on losing his soul like Ryder. Seriously these Winchesters should have shock collars or something that zap them when they come close to one.

The demon then gave them an offer for, and told Ben that she would give him 5 years for the information he wanted, and Kayla eyed him giving him the ‘ if you take that deal I am going to kill you’ look. She wouldn’t be pleased if he did, and she knew his family wouldn’t either. She was doing her best to keep him out of trouble, but could she really? Would he listen and it graze his thick skull. Oh, the next thing totally threw Kayla into a loopy head spinning twist saying that if she ‘ his girlfriend’ threw in her ‘soul’ she would sweeten the deal to 10 years each. She started gagging at that.

“How about you kiss my ass and I shove my heels up yours.” she retorted still gagging at the thought of being Winchesters girlfriend. “No, way in hell I am giving you my soul you demonic, biotch. Hell will freeze over and be very chilly before I give you that.” Kayla knew she would be so dead if she handed hers over. Kayla’s momma and daddy would kill her screw 10 yrs she wouldn’t even live till morning if she handed over hers. The demon couldn’t take it really with out her permission right? “ If you accept Winchester I am going to break your legs.” She was dead serious too and had a glare going on at him. She opened the car door, and opened the trunk.

How dare she call her his girlfriend she was ripping now. She had to calm herself down to think. Ben maybe honorable when it comes to the human inside the demon, but Kayla however was not. She took out a bottle of holy water out and threw it at her, and tosses Ben a shot gun. He had looked like he was going mental about now and his brain was going to go into overload spasms of explosions. She did think maybe he could take that anger out with that shot gun. Hell this calling was between him and Mara really, but she some how got dragged into it too. Kayla would love to shove a stick of dynamite down her throat and let it blow, but couldn’t she had to think of what to do.

Kayla was searching in her trunk grumbling about stupid soul taking demons and how there had to be other ways to get the info. Thinking maybe, they should take her and torture the info out of her. Kayla grabbed some more holy water in one had a blade in the other dipped in salt. Kayla stalked up to her and throwing it in her face, “Tell me what we want to know or I will be forced to take you with us or you know what….” She figured distracting the girl could give Ben time to do whatever he planned to do. “ I am sick of hearing you demonic blah, blah, blah. I think you don’t know who holds his contract and you would stiff us with no information or falsified information if we wheel and dealed, tell me what I want to know before I gut the girl you are in like a fish dangling on a meat hook. Winchester there might be honorable, but me I am not.”

(( hope this works.. I am a bit under the weather.))

[Iris 'Mara' Ariyadi]

Mara continued to ignore Makayla, as she simply wasn't interested in anything the young woman had to say.

No, her focus was entirely on Ben. After all, she already had bragging rights to one Winchester soul, and she was sort of hoping to snag another. Hell, why not go for the whole damn family? That would sure be something... And maybe it would finally get her the recognition she deserved. She was so sick of being kicked around and having orders barked at her. Someday she'd be the one calling the shots, then everyone who'd ever slighted her would pay.

Everyone.

In truth, Mara would have absolutely no problem spilling the beans on the demon who held the contract for Ryder's soul. He was a particularly nasty sort, and one that she would love to see out of the way. It was quite tempting, actually, to just roll over for these two idiots and tell them everything she knew, just because in so doing, Mara knew that her "boss" would end up with quite a bit of trouble on his hands. The Winchesters might be fools who'd throw their souls away for a cat stuck up in a tree, but it couldn't be denied that they had a great track record when it came to shaking things up for her kind.

Hot pain exploded in her face and sent jolts of agony throughout her entire body when the holy water struck her. She cursed herself for not paying attention, and for being lost in her own twisted plots. Instinctively, Mara leaped back, putting more space between herself and her attackers. Her vision was blurry and distorted, and as she wiped at her eyes uselessly, a second slash of holy water seared her skin like acid, causing smoke to billow up as she cried out.

"Enough!" she shouted, quickly drawing a blade and putting it to her own throat. "Take another step, make another move, and I'll slit this girl's throat before taking off and dumping her here like trash! That may not mean anything to you, slut, but I can't see your dear old Ben letting you do anything that'll lead to this girl's death."

Blinking her eyes furiously against the pain and blurriness, Mara looked past Makayla at Ben.

"You hear me, Winchester? Do you really want this child's blood on your hands? Call off your dog, and we can finish this discussion like adults... Or I kill her, get out of Dodge, and you don't get any answers at all. What will it be?"