Chapter One
Sam lay on the motel room bed, awake, unable to find comfort enough to allow sleep to take him. He could only watch the play of red and orange lights on the ceiling from the outside signs blinking on and off through the curtains.
Dean, however, was snoring away, oblivious to his brother's mental and emotional turmoil.
It had been a week since they'd face the Yellow-Eyed Demon and prevailed, a week since Hell's Gate had been opened releasing an untold number of demons upon the unsuspecting human world. And it had been only a couple of days since their encounter with the Seven Deadly Sins.
Sam thought about the hunter they'd lost in their fight with the demon horde, Tamara's husband, Isaac. It was an unfortunate loss, but more than that, it had been a wakening moment for Sam.
Since discovering Dean's crossroad deal to bring him back from death, Sam had endured his brother's reckless and carefree behavior with nothing more than a shrug, believing he owed him everything, no matter how despicable it seemed. He'd stood by while Dean bedded any willing woman, ate anything in sight, and consumed alcohol as if it were water. Dean's excuse was always that he was dead in one year, so he wasn't going to sweat the small stuff. He'd even gone so far as to try and use himself as a sacrificial lamb as he and Bobby were to make their escape from the Seven Deadly Sins. Something was definitely amiss with his brother.
The revelation of his brother's deal also brought with it a disturbing condition. If either he or Dean tried to find a way out of the deal, he, not Dean, would drop dead. No matter what they did, what they came up with, or what they discovered about the demon's deal, one of them would be condemned to an eternity in Hell.
Dean's nonchalant acceptance of his fate bothered Sam even more than his behavior. It seemed as if his older brother was looking forward to his imminent death.
He'd said he was tired, but Dean never explained of what he was tired. Was he tired of being his brother, of always ending up in another two-bit town, of not have a home, a family, or friends, of following in their father's footsteps, or maybe just tired of being alive? Maybe he was tired of it all.
Sam listened to his older brother's breathing as he slept, considering what his life would be like without him, but he couldn't bring himself to the point of acknowledging the possibility that he could be the last Winchester left alive.
It felt as if a lightning bolt had hit him. Sam sat up in the bed, looking at his brother's unconscious form. He wasn't the last Winchester.
Sam slowly and as quietly as possible moved off the bed, grabbing his cell phone from the nightstand, and headed for the bathroom to find some privacy for the necessary phone call. It seemed like forever before the other line picked up.
"Bobby?" Sam whispered as loud as he could in the small, echoing bathroom. The voice on the other end sounded groggy, as if he'd been awakened.
"Sam?" came the sleepy response.
"Sorry, Bobby. Did I wake you?"
"No, I'm usually wide awake in the middle of the night." His voice was thick with sarcasm.
Sam chuckled, knowing Bobby didn't mean it. At least, he didn't think he did.
"What's up, kid?"
"Bobby, can you find Alyssa?" Sam was near to tears thinking of the woman who had come into his brother's life, nearly died to save them from the Demon, and now carried his nephew in her womb.
Alyssa was Dean's old girlfriend from a decade or so ago. She'd disappeared after a short relationship with him, telling no one where she had gone.
Ten years later, she found him and Dean in a little motel room in Arizona. She became embroiled in the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plans to awaken the demon within him, but her love for Dean prevented the worst from happening, almost at the cost of her own life.
And somehow, in the midst of all the evil happening around them, a miracle had occurred. Alyssa, barren from the day she was born, had conceived a child, Dean's child, a son.
To keep her and the baby safe, she'd been sent away, her whereabouts unknown to everyone, including her adopted father, Bobby.
"Why? What's up?" Bobby was suddenly alert, sleep no longer important.
"Nothin'." Sam tried to sound as if the world was just fine.
"Sam, what is going on?" Bobby pressed a little more harshly.
Sam let out a deep sigh and explained to their surrogate father what he had seen in Dean's behavior and his own thoughts about what was happening in the stubborn mind of his older brother.
There was a dreadfully long pause on the other end of the phone.
"Bobby, you still there?" Sam thought the call had been dropped.
"Swing back my way, Sam."
"When?"
"Soon."
And with that, the line went dead in his hand.
Sam crawled back into the bed, covering himself with the blankets. He felt better, more at ease, now that he'd shared his burden with Bobby. And he knew their old friend would do something to help him deal with Dean's new look on life. Finding Alyssa and bringing her back into the picture could be the first step. Now all he had to do was get Dean back to South Dakota, somehow.
He heard his brother moan in bit in his sleep. Dean was apparently having a dream, and Sam hoped it was a good one, because he knew the nightmares were coming.
Dean never heard Sam leave the room, never knew what his younger brother had been up to in the bathroom. He'd slept through it all, unable to escape from the endless cycle of his repeated dreaming. The dreams started out the same: Sam was dead. He was surrounded by demons. But something had changed in this dream, it was different.
He heard the roar of the demon's escaping through Hell's Gate. He looked to his left expecting to see his brother standing next to him ready to fight, but instead Sam's lifeless body was lying on a grave, demon's twisting around him. He was about to scream Sam's name, when he felt a hand on his elbow. Dean turned around and came face-to-face with Alyssa.
She was standing in the middle of the cemetery dressed in her usual clothes: jeans, tank top, and biker boots. Her long brown hair whipped around her as the demon's swirled through the air.
"Alyssa, what are you doing here? Help me get Sam. He's not supposed to be there." He pointed at the grave where his younger brother lay motionless.
Alyssa took a hold of Dean's hands, pulling her to him, and whispered in his ear.
The cemetery scene dissolved into the salvage yard, Bobby's home, and her home. They were standing in the middle of rows and rows of automotive skeletons.
"Where's Sam?" Dean looked around nervously for his lost brother.
"Dean, he's safe." She kept the talking to a minimum. The dream world was not a place to play around in, and from experience, the less conversation there was between her and the dreamer, the better.
Alyssa held his face in her hands, seeming to bear the weight of his life. She kissed him gently, feeling him gradually giving into her.
His arms wrapped her to him as he pulled her to the blanket on the grass. The dream had changed again, this time setting them in the past, the day of her eighteenth birthday.
Reluctantly pulling her lips from his, she looked into his eyes, "Dean, we're coming home." She kissed him once again before dissolving into nothingness.
Dean woke briefly with the sensation of her kiss still tingling across his lips and the warmth of her body against his slowly cooling. He turned over in the bed, seeing his brother's back facing him on the other motel bed.
His brother was alive, making the deal still solid as ever. Dean looked at his watch. It was quarter to three in the morning. There was still plenty of time before they had to get moving again, so he rolled back over and promptly fell back asleep.
Bobby sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about what he'd just heard from Sam. Dean had always been the troublemaker, the thickheaded sibling: almost the perfect copy of his father, John.
When he'd seen Sam alive again, he'd known exactly what Dean had done. After everything the family had been through with the loss of their mother and their father's demon deal to save Dean, his heart broke to know Dean had gone and done the very same thing to save Sam. Bobby was hoping it was all a bad nightmare, and he'd wake up soon, but it was true, only Dean was given one year to live, not the usual ten years gifted to those who were desperate enough to barter with a demon.
Bobby thought about Dean's behavior during their fight with the Seven Deadly Sins. He'd acted as if he was untouchable, that no matter what he did, he wouldn't die because his soul was already bought and paid for. If only he knew how happy the demons would be to have him ahead of schedule, then maybe Dean wouldn't think so lightly of what he'd promised for himself.
Sam was worried about his brother too, and he seemed to think Alyssa could do something to help. Bobby was optimistic she could, but he wasn't sure if this was the time and place to call her back.
One phone call is all it would take to bring her home. He'd missed his adopted daughter terribly and wondered how she was doing on a daily basis. After all, he was going to be a grandfather in a few months. It was exciting and heart breaking at the same time.
Bobby flipped open his phone once again and found his contact. He waited for the other line to pick up.
"It's Bobby. Send the piper home, the rats want to play. Thanks." He hung up knowing Alyssa would be on her way home soon. Hopefully, she arrived before the boys did. He wanted to spend some time with his daughter before the fireworks went off. He lay back down on the bed and waited for the Sandman to dust his eyelids one more time tonight.
The darkness outside the car's windows seemed thicker, more oppressive than ever. Inky blackness swarmed in from all sides, as if trying to suffocate her. The only escape from it came by way of the Camaro's headlights cutting through the night like dual swords of radiance.
Alyssa's cell phone rang, the tune of AC/DC's Highway to Hell playing to let her know someone was calling. It wasn't Bobby, Dean, or Sam, as each of their ring tones was different. This was a phone call from someone else. She answered the phone while she drove through the night.
"Got it. Thanks." The message was loud and clear. Bobby was telling her it was safe to come home, but she already knew that. She'd just woken up from a desperately needed nap, and was on the road again.
The brief dream walk with Dean had been a bit disturbing. She'd seen Sam's body lying on a grave, the demons all around her, and the pained look in Dean's eyes. Something was very wrong, and she had a hunch about it all, but she didn't want to think about it right now. There was something more pressing on her mind.
She'd been on her way to South Dakota yesterday. It was slow going as she was driving alone, and she was very susceptible to needing more sleep this late in her pregnancy, but considering the circumstances she was making good time, and she'd be home in less than four hours.
The past six months had dragged on day by day, but now it seemed as if it had flown by without her noticing. Of course, her swelling stomach was proof enough of how much time had passed. The miracle of the life growing inside her was her daily reminder of who and what she'd left behind.
What she had left behind was better than what she knew she was headed towards. When she'd last seen Sam, Dean, and Bobby, the world wasn't in the midst of a demon war. The human world knew nothing of what truly lay beyond the edges of the nightmares.
Now, those nightmares would become reality. Humans were under attack from a war they never knew was brewing. And it seemed the Winchesters were in the center of it all.
Alyssa absent-mindedly laid a hand on her dull brown leather bag in the passenger seat. Inside the bag was her sketchbook, the sketchbook where she drew her visions. It was sort of her diary, but instead of writing about her fantasies or wishes, she drew pictures of the visions that came to her, the visions that directed her to new cases, the same visions that had brought her back into the lives of the Winchesters.
Her mind kept going over what she'd seen in her dreams and the vision she'd drawn in her sketchbook. She had consulted with her spirit guides, but they had been no help with interpreting the images she'd seen.
Her desperation to know the truth impelled her to drive as much as she possibly could without putting herself or her unborn son at risk. Most times the pure exhaustion was kept at bay with the adrenaline pumping through her body. She needed to know what had transpired with Sam and Dean, and she just couldn't drive fast enough.
She needed to get as many miles behind her as she could before she needed to stop for another nap, so Alyssa leaned on the accelerator more, spurring the car on faster, cutting through the night.
"So, why do we need to go back to Bobby's?" Dean wasn't in a good mood this morning.
"He said he had something for us." Sam tried to keep the atmosphere in the car light and cheery, not wanting to give away that he knew what Bobby was up to and his part in it.
"Well, it better be good." Dean stepped on the Impala's accelerator lurching the car forward, sending them speeding along the road.
"He said it was important. That's all I know." He lied.
Dean grunted his disapproval of having to drive back to South Dakota. His plans to live up his last year of life were being thwarted by his brother and now Alyssa.
He hadn't thought of her much lately. He spent the first few weeks after their departure from Arkansas drowning her face in the flesh of women and booze. He was finally able to think of someone and something else until last night.
The dream started out the same as it had every night for the past week, but she'd shown up, changing it, and he knew it had been on purpose. He knew she could walk into anyone's dreams, tell them anything, and make them do anything.
It never sit well with him knowing she'd been in his head before she'd come back into his life, and it still bothered him that she could find him just by jumping into his thoughts and feelings while he slept.
His thoughts were his own, and he didn't like sharing. He hadn't told Sam about the nightmares, and he wasn't planning on telling him. It was his own problem and he would deal with it in his own way, but if it really was Alyssa in his dream last night, then she knew something about Sam, but did she know about the deal?