single_man_tear | Neighbor, Michigan

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Neighbor, Michigan - Early Tuesday Morning

The day started with a police report from the town of Neighbor, Michigan. A man had returned home late in the evening and had been attacked even though all the doors were locked and there was no sign of forced entry. He was found by the maid the next morning and was currently at the local hospital in critical condition.

Without wasting any time, Dean had (rudely) yanked Liliana out of her morning slumber and dragged her to the Impala and then driven through an extra large Portalocity portal. The morning light was just starting to creep up over the horizon as he pulled up in front of the familiar house.

Without saying a word he put the automatic transmission of the Impala into park, turned off the engine and stepped out of the car to start rummaging through the trunk.

“I know this type of thing is your specialty,” he called out. “But I need you to listen and do what I say when we go in there. My world, my ghost and my rules.”

[NFB due to distance.]

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One moment Dean was getting berated by a ghost and the next there was nothing. And then Dean's phone was playing the "Witchy Woman" ring tone by the Eagles. He sighed and answered the phone.

"Uh. I'm assuming Kevin's with you?" Dean asked, still looking around the room.

"Obviously," Liliana said, swapping the call to video. "We're standing outside of heaven now, I'm presuming. There's some kind of barrier I'm going to have to break through. Slight problem with that. Heaven has no black mana so I'm going to have to use something else to boost my power. And that has an obnoxious side effect of nearly killing me when I draw on too much of its power. I'm assuming you'll let me replenish much of what I lose from you, yes? Or anything else you can find that's living, but I make no guarantees it will be when I'm done."

There was a pause at the other end of the line as Dean processed this all and then just nodded. "Ok. I'll do it."

Kevin on the other hand was starting to freak out. "Wait. What? Hold on! Dean, you can't-"

"I am and that's the end of it," Dean growled back.

Kevin just stood there flabbergasted and looked over at Liliana. "Why are you even doing this? I don't even know you."

"The same reason I do anything, darling," Liliana purred. "Because I want to. And because I really, really hate angels." She handed the much-more-corporeal Kevin her phone. "Do drop that if you feel yourself starting to float or go insubstantial or whatnot? I have things on my phone that I will be annoyed to have to replace."

Once Kevin took her phone, Liliana reached down for the Chain Veil at her hip and fastened it over her face. Immediately the voices of the Onakke began whispering in her head.

*The root flourishes...the seed blossoms...*

"Oh do shut up," she snapped viciously. "You wanna talk destruction? Let's see some of that in action."

She held up her hands and black lightning shot from her hands slamming into the glimmering field/wall/barrier. It went on and on and on and as it did, the lines on her skin that had been blazing purple suddenly went red as her skin tore open and began to bleed. It started with slow drops, but sped up, turning into streams as she continued to pour her power into breaking through into heaven proper.

"Uh. What's going on?" Dean asked and Kevin turned the camera around to show the crazy woman trying to blast through the walls of heaven.

"Holy crap!"

"Dean," Kevin said flipping the camera around again. "I appreciate this but this is too much. I'm just a nobody."

"You're somebody," Dean growled back. "And you deserve this."

"Dean..."

"No chick flick moments," Dean said shaking his head.

Kevin turned and looked back at Liliana. "I don't even know your name. I... Oh God she's bleeding everywhere!"

Edited 2024-04-30 19:29 (UTC)

"My name...is Liliana Vess," Liliana said, legs buckling. She hit her knees, but still the power poured through her. This wasn't the power she used to have, no, not when she could create whole planes and order stars to her will, but it was as close as she'd ever get these days and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't intoxicating. Not just the feel of the power flowing through her, but throwing herself against something huge and unmoving and bending it to her will. "I am the strongest..." The pool of blood around her was getting larger. "...necromancer..." Her already pale skin grew chalky, red leeching from her lips to a pale rose, her breathing came fast. "...in the Multiverse!"

There! The barrier had been cracking under her onslaught, and a small hole, barely more than a crack, opened up within it. She crooked her hands into claws and dragged them apart, her power doing the same thing to the barrier. It wouldn't hold, she could feel it trying to close already, and she struggled to keep it open. It wasn't the power of the Chain Veil that was failing, but her own body.

You were mine...and I...protect...that which is mine.

The pull on Kevin was instantaneous.

Not sure what else to say he looked at the phone one last time.

"Goodbye Dean."

The pull was even stronger now as he took the phone and knelt down to place it close to Liliana. "I still don't understand why you're doing this for a total stranger. But thank you."

And with whatever will he was using to remain he let go. Being pulled in like a rifle shot into the breach that Liliana had made.

As soon as he was through, Liliana dropped her arms, flopping over onto her side as all the pain she'd been ignoring came rushing through her. "Did it...for me," she muttered thickly. "Everything I do. S'for me."

She wanted to give herself more time, but her heartbeat was already weak, thready. Not as bad as when she'd 'Walked out of Kothophed's throne room, but enough that she knew she'd be in serious trouble if she stayed.

"Dean," she said, looking like a Carrie remake as she picked up her phone. "You better keep your fucking promise." She didn't know if he was still there. Didn't much care, either.

She forced herself to her feet, adjusted her headdress, and tottered forward into the Blind Eternities.

Dean looked at his phone and the mess that Liliana had turned into and then suddenly Liliana was right there in front of him, drenched in blood from head to toe.

"Son of a bitch!"

He reached forward to grab on to her.

"What in the hell did you do?!"

"My job," Liliana rasped, and grabbed him right back. "Greatest...necromancer..."

He could figure out the rest. She was holding him to his promise, greedily pulling at his life force to replenish her own. Second after second, drop by drop, she drained his living essence from him, feeling her flesh reknit, her blood replenish, her heart return to its steady beat.

His vitality streamed into her like a thundering river and she drank deeply of it. She could keep this up until he died. Had half a mind to. She was still weak. Still hurting. It would be so easy to just let herself fall into it and not stop until he was dry.

She stopped, wrenching herself away from him. Her wounds were closed but the markings still livid. Her heart was fine but her breathing was still shaky. She needed more, but she'd live now and that was enough.

The taking of his life force was something that Dean had agreed to but as usual Dean did not think this thing through. He forced himself not to break away as he felt his vitality taken away from him and by the time Liliana pulled away he was stumbling and doing his best to keep his balance.

Probably a good thing that Liliana forgot about the automatic transmission from earlier.

"Whoa. Son of a bitch," he said trying to pull himself together. And that's when his phone notification went off.

Cass

DEAN! DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! THERE IS A LITERAL HOLE IN HEAVEN!

Dean frowned. "What about Kevin?" he texted back.

Cass

We will not hold him responsible for someone else's actions. However: No more exceptions. Understand?

"Sure. For him you make an exception," Dean grumbled before turning to Liliana. "You're a mess."

He stepped over to give her support or something to lean on. "Come on. We better get going before someone investigates."

"Fuck you," she muttered, but leaned on him heavily. "There was a lawn outside, yeah?"

There wouldn't be for long. By the time anybody arrived, the entire yard would be brown and brittle and completely dead, right down to the soil.

Everything continued to hurt, even after that, but do you know what made her feel better?

She was gonna get blood all over Dean's stupid two-pedal car.

It wouldn't be the first time blood was spilled in that car.

Mustering his strength, Dean bent down and gathered up Liliana to carry her back to the Impala. "Lawn? Yeah there's an entire-"

He pulled the door open to watch the yard turning into a dead vegetation zone.

"Oh. Good. That won't attract any attention," he grumbled, carrying her out to the car. He got there and put her back on her feet as he opened the door to the back seat. "I heard you over the phone. I know you said you did it for yourself but-"

He looked at her in all her blood and gore glory.

"Clearly it cost you something. I... Thank you."

"Of all the people I didn't do it for, I didn't do it for you the most," Liliana said, settling into the passenger seat with her eyes closed. Her head was pounding and the glorious morning sunshine wasn't helping at all. "I will take any opportunity to spite angels and your god isn't the boss of me."

Look. You be mature when most of your blood was decorating heaven's antechamber.

"He certainly isn't," Dean said buckling her in and then closing the door. "But you went above and beyond to spite someone. As in nearly killing yourself."

He got in the car and immediately got lightheaded.

"I'm taking us someplace so we can recover. We got hours before we catch the next portal."

"I am very good at spiting," Liliana mumbled. "Yes. Good. Somewhere warm. I'm cold."

Colder than normal, even.

"Comfortable accommodations." Liliana, honey, you needed to specify better than that.

"I know just the place," Dean said as the engine roared to life. Within moments they were back on the road.

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Neighbor, Michigan - Early Tuesday Morning

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