Sam woke to a pillow hitting him over the head, groaning he sat up and looked around groggily. He was sitting at the small desk in their motel room in Illinois in front of his laptop he had probably used as a pillow in the night. It still lay open on the desk its screen black from lack of use
"Wakey wakey Sammy boy. Time to get some breakfast"
Dean stood on the other side of the room he was rolling the sleeves up on his forest green jacket smiling. Sam groaned again but got up to take a shower ignoring his brother's comments about him being to0 slow, Sam emerged from the bathroom now fully awake and dressed, his brother looked up from his seat at the desk.
"Well it's about time. Come on we can talk over breakfast"
Sam rolled him eyes chuckling as he followed his older –though at times like this he seemed younger- brother out of the room.
The dining hall was fairly empty when the two men got there, an elderly couple were sitting right near the doorway and a young woman were seated at the very back near an open door way leading out to a sunny deck holding only two more middle aged couples. Dean popped his collar and walked towards the table across from the woman on the other side of the hall; she glanced up briefly as he passed tearing her gaze away from the letter she was holding in her hand.
"So Sammy did you find anything last night?"
Sam sighed and rubbed his tired eyes
"No, nothing I was up all night and I don't have a clue"
Dean's fist clenched on the table
"So what do we do Sam? Drive around hoping to happen upon this girl"
"Can I get you anything?"
Both Sam and Dean looked up seeing the same girl who was at the counter the night they arrived; Sam coughed awkwardly and picked up the menu.
"I'll have the short stack with bacon on the side with a coffee, black"
Dean smiled handing his menu to the girl
"Make that two… Brandy"
She giggled collecting both menus' disappearing through double doors that no doubt led to a kitchen, their flustered waitress arrived several minutes later holding their food on a tray. Placing both plates she placed both plates down and filling the mugs to the brim
"Two short stacks with a side of bacon with two black coffees, oh and a little something extra for you"
She placed a folded piece of paper into Dean's hand and left with a wink.
"Well I'm set up for Illinois"
Dean had a grin on his face for the rest of the meal, Sam gazed across the hall once more his eyes landing on the girl behind Dean, her straight black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She hadn't taken her eyes of the piece of paper in her hand since they had sat down; she was wearing dark worn out jeans with a cream pullover sweater. She suddenly folded the letter bending down to place it in the small leather bag beside her when he caught it, the small patch of red on her chest. The exact patch of red he was looking for.
"Dean, behind you the symbol, it's on her sweater"
Dean turned at once almost knocking his coffee cup off the table
"Well that's lucky"
Sam got up and walked over to the table, Dean watched for several minutes as his brother talked to the dark haired girl. He waited as they talked just out of his ear shot; Sam came back a small smile in his face.
"Well what did you find out?"
"That's Anastasia Labelle; she is a student at the University of Indiana majoring in criminal studies. She was here visiting her parents Rachel and Thomas and is on her way back for the semester."
Dean cut off Sam agitated
"Oh so did you get her number to? I thought you wanted to save this girl"
Sam laughed and pulled out a picture of Anastasia and a girl with curly dark brown hair and dark green doe eyes.
"Anastasia's best friend and dorm mate just so happens to be Charlotte Hathaway, the girl we're looking for"
Dean stared at the photo for a few seconds before looking back at his brother
"That was lucky, I wonder if that rabbit's foot has some long term effects"
The power from it was destroyed when we burned it, all its magic is gone we've just been very lucky"
"Hey either way, we know where to go so you go pack I'm going to finish my breakfast"
Sam scoffed but got up and left the dining hall, once back in the room there was a knock on the door. Sam confused walked over and opened it slowly, seeing the waitress Brandy he was even more confused
"If you're looking for my brother, he is still eating"
She pushed past him into the room her silvery blonde hair was now free from its tight bun and stopped right above her shoulders; she turned to face him her pale blue eyes turning jet black
"You see Sam I don't care about your brother; you're the one that we want. The one with all that potential"
"The yellow eyed demon sent you?"
"Azazel? No, not directly. But how do you think he would feel if I told him where to find the Winchesters, or more specifically you."
Sam clenched and unclenched his hands as they began to get clammy; he wasn't prepared. If he tried to exorcize the demon it would get away and tell of their location.
"What do you want from me?"
She scoffed what makes you think I want anything you can give me
"Because you're talking to me, if you didn't think you could get anything from me you would have told yellow eyes where we are. So I will ask again, what is it that you want?"
She froze, staring at Sam with a curious expression. He waited for her to answer not wanting to push his luck further than he already had
"Alright, I want freedom, and before you speak let me explain. I don't want to ever go down to the pit ever again, I want to be able to walk this earth knowing I won't have you worry about the best damn hunters this world has seen trying to exorcize me"
Her answer came quick and was almost a whisper, like she was afraid to admit her weakness
"We aren't the only hunters out there and besides how will I know if it's you or not?"
"You will know it is me because I am going to give you something, something that will tell you if I am near"
She pulled a chain from under her shirt, on it was a small bottle filled with what seemed to be black smoke
"It is part of my purified soul; it turns black when I am close to it. I beg of you, every demon you capture check it"
She held onto the chain letting the bottle swing from it as she offered it to him, Sam hesitated
"As long as you don't do anything to catch our attention, we won't have to find you"
She nodded but didn't pull back her arm
"Do we have a deal?"
Sighing Sam reached forward grabbing the chain and slipped it over his head letting it drop down the collar of his shirt and rest against his bare chest. The demon smiled and left the room; Sam let out a breath and quickly shoved the rest of their belongings into various bags hastily, waiting for Dean to come back.
"So let me get this straight; a demon came to you and asked for freedom, that we not hunt it"
"Yeah, I'm, having a hard time believing it myself Dean. But it happened"
The two brothers stayed silent for a few moments, Dean staring blankly at the road in front of him his hands tight around the steering wheel. Sam stared at the passing landscape as they sped towards Indiana in hopes of saving the girl they now knew as Charlotte Hathaway.
"Something's up demons don't just give up something to tell hunters where they are"
"It doesn't tell me her location exactly; she said if the smoke is black it means she is close. Dean I know demons lie, but I think she was telling the truth. She was afraid"
"Yeah well I'll believe it when I see it"
Dean stayed silent Sam no wanting to chance making conversation in fear his brother's anger would get the best of him. The silence in the car dragged out the few hours it took to reach the outskirts of Indiana, Sam chuckled at the sign
Welcome to
INDIANA
Crossroads of America
Dean glanced over curiously
"You don't you think that's the tiniest bit ironic? Crossroads and we're hunting a demon"
"Yeah let's find this girl and tell her how funny it is she's going to die if we can't find this damn thing and kill it once and for all"
Sam sneered
"Why is it every time we get a lead on this demon you act like a child?"
"Is it so childish that I want to kill the thing that killed mom and dad, the thing that lead to us becoming hunters, oh and maybe break this damn deal?"
"See there you go again, Dean I want to kill this thing as much as you do. But we need to keep our heads clear; if we go in angry we won't come back"
Dean grumbled angrily at his younger brother's words but didn't add anymore to the argument, Sam sighed and turned his attention out the window
"So where does this girl live?"
"The school is in Bloomington, she said they lived fairly close with one other girl. So start there we will just have to ask around"
Dean nodded his expression sour, once again silence engulfed the brothers there was no debate over a motel as they went through the same routine. Parked, two queens not one king, unpacked, and went to sleep tension were high in the lowly motel room but sleep was eventually found.
Sam's hand fumbled around the bedside table, his eyes half open looking for the source of the high pitched beeping. Finally it hit the right button silencing the clock
"Dean, Dean get up"
He sat up glancing over at his brother's bed. Empty, sighing Sam sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes before getting dressed. The door opened just as Sam pulled on his jacket
"Hey Sammy"
He glanced over at his older brother
"Where have you been?"
"Gathering information on this Charlotte girl I have her address, I was thinking of checking the place out after breakfast"
Dean placed some papers on the small table near the door tossing him a takeout bag, shrugging Sam ate the warmish half soggy food in the bag.
"Charlotte and that Anastasia girl work together, from what I found out they are hardly ever apart. It puts them both in danger, but does make it easier to keep an eye on them both"
Sam nodded thinking it over
"We can run into them after their shift, try and find out more about them and inspect the house"
After eating what in Sam's mind could hardly count as food the two drove to the café they were told the girls worked at, sure enough both girls were inside happily serving customers in malt green dresses though it was Anastasia that approached them.
"Sam? What are you doing here?"
"Well me and my brother ere were passing through Indiana and thought we might come and say hello"
She raised an eyebrow glancing between the two
"You came all this way to say hi to a girl you spoke to once?"
Sam shuffled his feet awkwardly scratching the back of his neck
"Well ya, we were in the neighborhood. It wasn't any trouble"
"Alright the truth is, we didn't come here to say hi. We came to ask if you wanted to go out for a drink or something tonight, Sam here wouldn't shut up about you the whole ride so I found out some stuff and brought him here"
Dean's younger brother glared at him giving a sheepish smile to the girl in front of him making a metal note to strangle his older sibling at a later date. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear she glanced at her watch
"That's sweet of you to offer, I get off at 6. Meet me back here then?"
A gruff voice called her name from behind the serving counter; she smiled and walked off returning to her work. Charlotte bee lined towards her
"Well that went better than expected. Come on Sammy boy, we got to get you ready for date night"
Sam looked back at the two girls talking wondering just how long he had to save her life, eventually he followed his brother from the coffee shop and back the waiting Impala.
