"Mom, I don't want to go to school," Henry complained, plopping down on the couch behind Dani.
Dani took a sip of her coffee and set the mug down, pushing it towards the center of the table. She turned around and looked at her son with a tired expression. "You have to, Henry. It's important. We've had this discussion too many times…" She smiled at him.
"Weird stuff has been happening at school. The other kids are scared of me."
Dani's smile was instantly wiped off her face. "What stuff?" She immediately got up and walked to Henry. "Henry, tell mommy what's going on."
Henry turned away, frustrated and Dani turned him back to her. "Henry, please. You have to let me know."
"I got mad…" Henry grumbled.
"And…?"
"I hit someone. I got in trouble. Now the kids think I'm a freak." Henry said quietly.
Dani exhaled, so relieved that she chuckled. Ever since Henry was born, Dani's been afraid that Henry was like her (or how she was). She was human now, but she wasn't always. She remembered how it was before Lucifer stripped her of her powers. She had telekinesis and was able to control demons. The more demons that died or were exorcised around her, the more powerful she got. By the end, she was able to smite demons with no effort. But Lucifer was mad that she refused to serve Hell and well…He smited the demonic part of her. It was gone or at least subdued. She couldn't tell.
"They'll get over it, Henry. Hey, go to school today and if it's still bad, then we'll go in and talk to the teachers, okay? We can go to that burger place you really like after school if you go."
The child pondered for a second before the promise of a bacon cheeseburger (his father's favorite, a trait they both shared) won him over. "You better not be lying."
"Hey, if I'm lying we can have cheeseburgers for a whole month."
"Bacon cheeseburgers. Daddy doesn't like it when you get it wrong."
"And you don't either. C'mon, go to school." Dani got up and walked Henry to the door and motioned him towards the Impala, which Dean sat in, waiting. Dani waved as the two drove off. She smiled and then looked over as someone pulled up into the driveway. She frowned and walked towards the car before seeing Sam get out of the car.
"What brings you here?" She asked, relaxing.
"What, can't stop by to visit?" Sam asked, charismatic as usual.
"No, it's a pleasure. You just missed Dean, though. His turn to drop Henry off at school, today."
He chuckled. "He let you drive the Impala?"
"Nah," she replied, gesturing for Sam to come in the house, shutting the door behind him. "His one rule: don't drive his car." Dani headed towards the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. "Coffee?"
"No, I'm good," Sam said. "Listen, I actually came here to talk to you guys about something."
Danielle's eyes flew to Sam. "Something, meaning…?""A case."
Dani sighed. "Sam, I'm sure Dean would love to go hunting, but with a child and-"
"No no, it's not just some minor thing here. I wouldn't even have come bother you if it wasn't important."
Sighing, Dani poured the hot water into her mug, mixing the ground coffee in slowly. "What is it?"
"Demons. They're showing up everywhere. In fact, I ran into a few of them at my place."
"What do they want?"
"Henry."
Dani gagged on some of her coffee and she shakily set her mug down. "Henry as in…my Henry?"
Sam nodded. Dani met his eyes and shook her head slowly. "But…why? He's human, they shouldn't — Are they after me? Because I'll go to them and I'll — Why do they want my son?!"
"Wait, who wants our son?" Dani turned and saw Dean shut the front door behind him. He set his keys on the kitchen table and looked at his younger brother. "Hey, Sammy," he said, hugging his brother. Afterwards, he turned towards his wife and asked, "Dani, what the hell are you talking about?"
Sam answered for her. "Demons have been following you guys for a while. I don't know why, but they want Henry."
Dean looked at Sam, his gaze turning from concerned to angry. "Those sons of bitches…" he looked to Dani and then to the hollowed out floorboard where the couple stored their weapons. "Then we take the fight to them."
"Behave at Uncle Bobby's, okay?" Dani leaned down to kiss Henry on the head. She watched as Bobby took the kid into his home and nodded at the three hunters. She shut the door and turned around, expression stone-cold, towards the Impala.
"You sure he'll be safe there?" Dean asked.
"It's Bobby…House is warded against demons. And I gave him hex bags, they'll be hidden for awhile. 10 mile radius of coverage. Drive out of it, and they'll know exactly where we are."
"You want to draw them to you," Sam said.
"Any other bright ideas? We can't hide forever."
"You're not committing suicide," Dean said. "There's an abandoned barn a few miles from here, outside of the hex magic's mojo area. We'll set up there. We're gonna do this smart, Dani. Can't go barging in like before. All of us, we're too vulnerable."
The huntress nodded. "You're right. Let's go. The sooner this is over, the better." She was human, and heaven was closed off. The likelihood of Cas swooping in to save all of them was unlikely.
Once the three got to the barn, they went to work. Sam began spray painting devil's traps around the entrances and Dean started salting the windows. Dani stood over buckets of water, chanting in Latin, rosary in hand.
"Hey, can one of you grab me another bag of rock salt from the trunk? I'm running low," Dean yelled out.
"I got it," Dani said, exiting the barn and walking towards the Impala. She opened the trunk and grabbed two bags of salt before looking up to the flickering light in front of her. She grabbed her shotgun and looked around. Afterwards, she quickly shut the trunk and the bag of salt. When she turned around, she saw someone standing inches in front of her, his eyes pitch black. As she raised her shotgun, the demon held it's hand out and Dani flew back against the Impala, pinned down.
She struggled to lift her arms and reach for her gun, which had flown to the side. "Damn it…" she said. The last time she dealt with a demon, it couldn't fling her, it couldn't touch her. She was able to sense it from a mile away, but now she was completely under it's control.
The demon walked towards her slowly. "I've been looking for you."
Dani glared at it. "Yeah and who are you? Just another low-level demon? Who are you working for? Why do you want Henry?!"
The demon chuckled. "Not exactly. My name is Astaroth and your son…He's important to us. Like you once were."
"He's human…You're wasting your time!"
"So you think," he chuckled. He opened his mouth and black smoke bellowed out straight towards Dani. The smoke entered in through her mouth and once it was all in, she opened her eyes, which were dark, just like the demon's. She stood up, smirking, looking down at her body. "Not so invincible after all…"