I agree human sacrifice is a strong possibility, or maybe (less subtly) Sam becoming immortal (and having to pay a price for it).

I doubt human sacrifice. They really haven't built up the background to show Sam going for that just to "muscle up". Still barely possible. But watching the Simple Life? No way Sam is that far gone.

I doubt human sacrifice because Ruby implied that it was something he'd done before and would need to continue to do to stay sharp.

I doubt human sacrifice because Ruby implied that it was something he'd done before and would need to continue to do to stay sharp.

She just wants him to smex her up again.

She just wants him to smex her up again.

That's what I said! Special push ups!

It's sad that I can't type an eyebrow wiggle.

Anyhow.

Sam's killed innocent people before though, like the host of that crossroads demon in Season 3. (Whose possession his summoning ritual was directly responsible for, I might add.) I can see Ruby offering up some murderer or child molester or whatnot as "the price of doing business" and getting Sam used to the killing before moving on to more innocent targets.

Sam's killed innocent people before though, like the host of that crossroads demon in Season 3.

Yeah, what I can't see him doing is routinely killing innocents without directly offing a demon as a result. Human sacrifice to directly kill demons or seeing the death of innocents as collateral damage? Yeah Sam has fallen that far. Killing people to gain strength for demon fighting, a more sophisticated type of vampirism? Nope can't see that. My only problem with the "Sex with Ruby" theory is that I can't see him continuing to be squicked by it.

I can see Ruby offering up some murderer or child molester or whatnot as "the price of doing business" and getting Sam used to the killing before moving on to more innocent targets.

I can totally see that happening down the line (and not very far down it, really) but I don't see it, at this stage and in this frame of mind. As with the sexing, Ruby's going to need to Pied Piper him down that road a bit. Sam tends to make the big decisions in times of crisis, and I just don't think he's there yet.

Maybe I'm dumb or oblivious, or both, but I thought Ruby was saying Sam's getting rusty because he hasn't been practicing pulling demons lately, since he promised Dean he wouldn't use his psychic mojo. That the more he practices, the better at it he gets, the stronger his power. So, "all" he's doing is removing demons from the human host, saving the host if possible, and killing the demon in the process. I understood that the demon dies, rather than returning to hell, if Sam yanks it out of the host--it flames out, rather than coiling up in smoke to go elsewhere, so that imagery spelt "killed" to me, rather than merely exorcised.

So, Sam's only dilemna is that he's promised Dean (and Castiel and Uriel) that he wouldn't "pull" demons, because somehow that's playing into his evil side, even though he's putting down demons *and* saving the human host. It seems to me that those are both good things, but somehow his tapping into Azazel's gift, no matter if the result is good, is evil.

I just thought he'd gone off with Ruby to practice pulling demons and get his strength for the task back up to where it was when he quit doing that at Dean's behest.

I thought Ruby was saying Sam's getting rusty because he hasn't been practicing pulling demons lately, since he promised Dean he wouldn't use his psychic mojo

That's as far as I went too.