I'll Tell You My Sins so You Can Sharpen Your Knife

“Lizzy!” Sarah called around noon the next morning. “Lizzy honey?”

The sound of tiny feet, and Elizabeth came into the kitchen. “Hi Mommy.”

“Hey, baby.” Sarah smiled. “You want to take lunch out to Daddy?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, hold the plate with both hands.” Sarah said, handing her a plate with two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. “Don’t drop the sandwiches.”

Elizabeth carefully and slowly followed her mother to the front door, which Sarah held open, and then went around the side of the house to where Dean worked on his car.

“Daddy! I have lunch!”

Dean looked up and smiled. “Thanks Princess. You want to put that down and help for a minute?”

Elizabeth beamed and put the plate on the outdoor table that was holding an assortment of car parts and tools. From inside, Sarah watched Dean pick up their daughter and point under the hood.

“Sarah.”

Sarah looked over her shoulder at Castiel and smiled. “Hey, come and see.”

Castiel looked closer and observed her family with her.

“Aren’t they just amazing?” she asked.

“Sarah. We have to go.”

She looked at him, confused. “Go where?”

“Zeus is on his way. He broke away from the discussions, he grew impatient. He is on his way to kill all of you.”

Sarah stood eerily still while she watched him.

“I can save you. But you have to come now.”

Sarah shook her head. “No, Cass.”

“Please, Sarah.”

“Take Elizabeth.”

“If I take her, he will follow. Don’t you understand? He has an army, Sarah. Of nymphs and sirens and monsters from his myths. They are latched onto her scent. They will find her, even if I take her into the darkest depths of hell or the innermost circles of heaven. But I can save you.”

“Then you won’t save any of us.” She said calmly.

“I could force you.”

“But you won’t.”

Castiel stood there and watched the little girl he had guided through growing up, the witch who had taken strict vows, the woman who got vengeance, the girl who had fallen in love, make her final decision to be a true mother. And it wasn’t until that moment that he really understood what unconditional love was.

Sarah opened the window over the sink and leaned out and yelled, “DEAN!”

Dean looked up from his lunch with his daughter.

“Bring her inside, alright?”

Something in his tone told him not to ask questions. He calmly picked up Elizabeth and the plate and headed for the front door. Sarah looked back at Castiel.

“I’m sorry, Cass. But this is just the way it has to be.”

“I know.” He said.

She moved forward and hugged him tightly, closing her eyes against the tears that threatened. And for the fifth time in memory, he hugged her back. He could feel how scared she was.

Dean walked in and saw them like that, and stopped. He knew. He tightened his grip on Elizabeth.

“Sarah?” he asked.

Sarah finally released Castiel and looked at Dean. “Yes.” She said. “It’s time.”

He closed his eyes and kissed Elizabeth on the side of the head.

“Daddy? What’s wrong?” she asked nervously. “Why is Uncle Cass here? Why is Mommy crying?”

“Oh, baby, everything is going to be okay.” Sarah promised, reaching for her daughter. “Do you remember that secret hiding place we talked about?”

Elizabeth frowned. “It makes my throat itchy.”

Sarah sighed and nodded, thinking about the iron cellar under the shed in the back yard. “I know baby, but you and Uncle Cass have to hide down there for a bit, okay?”

“But why?”

“Some bad people are coming, but don’t worry. Mommy and Daddy will protect you, okay?”
Elizabeth nodded.

“Now you go with Uncle Cass and don’t come out unless he says so, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now give me a kiss.”

Elizabeth kissed her on the cheek, and Sarah tried to hold the soft press of those lips in her memory. Then she looked at Cass, and nodded. They were gone in the blink of an eye.

Sarah and Dean looked at each other.

“Call your brother.” Sarah said.

“Will he get here in time?”

“Probably not.”

The doorbell rang. Dean handed Sarah a gun as she went to open the door while he called Sam. She peered out the window, then opened the door about a foot wide.

“Stew, I’m sorry, this is a really bad time.” She said. “Normally, I’d take you, but I can’t today – “

“My dear, I am not here to have my cards read.”

“Then why - ?”

He reached forward and touched her thumb, curled around the door, and Sarah shuddered as she finally saw. His power coursed through her veins. Suddenly, he had three faces. One belonging to a weary sea traveler, that of a wolf, and that of a king. Over his shoulder, she saw the gallows tree. No wonder he never let her touch him, not even for a palm reading.

“Odin.” She breathed, backing away from the door. “Oh, dear God, please – “

“I’m not here to kill you, or your daughter.” He said kindly. “I know what Zeus is about to do.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Do you know why Zeus wants to hurt Elizabeth?”

Sarah shook her head.

“It is said that on judgment day, the real one not the petty little angel feud, the gods shall judge the mortals and the huntress-witch will judge us gods.”

“Elizabeth would never hurt – “

“But now she will.” Odin smiled kindly. “Zeus is making his own bed. Elizabeth will judge the gods who decided to kill her and her parents.”

Sarah stood in silence.

“There is a chance.” Odin told her. “A small chance. If I can get Coyote away from the discussions, to intercede, it is possible that no one will have to die today.”

“Why Coyote?”

“He is the oldest of all of us. The last of his pantheon, through his own making. But most importantly, we are on his soil. America is a hard place for us old world myths, my dear. Most mortal Americans cannot even dream of our homelands.”

Sarah nodded slowly. Odin reached out and cupped her face.

“I never met a human with as good a soul as yours, Sarah Murphy.” He said.

“Dean tells me I’m a monster.”

“I think Dean doesn’t always tell you the whole truth.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “I will return soon.”

He was gone, and Sarah silently shut the door. In the other room, she could hear Dean still on the phone while sorting through weapons. She walked down into the basement and looked around at all the magic she had collected over the years. She ran her fingers over the pendant that held the Slender Man. When she had saved Dean with a kiss.

She considered the Necromancer’s bells. But she had come too far to start using black magic now.

So she grabbed a few bottles of prepared spells, and a cross bow, and returned upstairs.

She and Dean worked quickly now, laying out weapons and drawing sigils all around the first floor of the house. They lay salt and iron all over the kitchen, making it a final strong hold.
Sarah sat on the dining room table and lit a stale cigarette. She had quit, but kept a pack for late nights after Elizabeth was in bed. She cradled a military-grade riffle that Dean was afraid to ask where she had gotten it from and dragged on the acrid smoke.

“Will we survive?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” He admitted.

She smoked more. He poured both of them a drink.

“If we get out of this,” he said, “I will marry you.”

She gave him half a smile. “Who said I wanted to get married?”

“Fine. Will you marry me?”

Her eyes softened. “Yes.”

But they both knew the truth, even if they couldn’t say it. This was the last stand, and they would not get through it. But that didn’t matter so much, because of what they were fighting for. And the fact that they were together. Sarah was wearing her brave face, but it faltered as outside the sky grew dark.

“Dean.” She whispered in the semi-dark. It was almost a prayer.

He reached over and took her hand. “Sarah, listen to me.” he said desperately. “I never regretted a single moment I spent with you.”

She rubbed her eyes. “Making me cry before we fight for our daughter’s life isn’t very wise.”

“Not one.” He promised.

Unable to speak, she pushed her lips to his, then pulled away. She cocked the riffle. “For Elizabeth.” She said.

“For Elizabeth.” He agreed.

And the door flew open.

At first they were fine. Most of what came through the door was easily taken care of. Sarah was radiating power, throwing curses and bullets. Dean shot anything that would take a bullet.

But then the lesser gods and goddesses came in, and it was all over. Dean was pinned down by some mental torture that Sarah couldn’t save him from – those had always been his weak spot. Sarah had been in a tussle with Aphrodite when Artimus hit her with an arrow in the lower back, severing her spine. She crumpled to the floor and looked up just in time to see a three headed dog pounce on Dean and crush his chest, terrible claws digging in. Sarah screamed and the dog flew back, but it was too late.

“Dean!” a muffled voice outside was yelling. “Sarah!”

“Sam NO!” Sarah shouted.

But he was already in the door, crossbow raised. A strange black liquid dripped from it. He shot Aphrodite in the heart.

“ENOUGH!” a new voice thundered.

Everything stopped, even time itself, as a new player came into the room. He had shocking red hair and a face that was at once cruel and benevolent. The Greeks immediately backed down, and Dean was released from whatever spell he was under. He looked to Sarah, his eyes clouded in pain.

“How dare you.” The redhead seethed, and Sam saw that his teeth were almost canine. “This is not how we do things. Begone, I will deal with you later.”

At once, they all disappeared. Sam looked at the redhead, unable to move. “Who are you?”

The man smiled, not kindly. “They call me the Changer.”