What he was doing was the right thing. He was taking the demon blood that had meant to turn him into a soldier of Hell and turning it against demons. Ruby was just helping him tap that power, making him stronger, making him a force for doing things that were right. He was helping people and the blood was only making him more powerful.

They’d trapped another demon, questioned it about Lilith – because he was going to hunt her down, make her pay for what she’d done to Dean. How she’d made both of them suffer. The demon questioned, Sam ripped the thing free, crumbling it to ash. Revenge was dangerous, but every time he shut his eyes he could see Dean flinching, hurt by his time in Hell and someone had to pay for that. Dean had been through that because of him. To save him.

Ruby had dropped him off and Sam stumbled getting out of the car, hit by an odd wave of dizziness that seemed to swamp him for only a moment.

Still a little jittery from using so much power and riding high off of Ruby’s blood – smoke and heat still on his lips – Sam walked back to the motel where Dean was waiting.

“Hey. Didn’t expect you to still be up.” Casual. Completely casual.