Sam slammed Annie's back against the door and had the knife to her throat before she could even fully process that she'd been pulled inside the room. The flowers fell from her suddenly weak fingers and Annie stared into the steely brown eyes that were just inches from her own and tried to remember how to breath.
'Holy crap, Tanner was right!' She thought irrationally, 'Guys hate getting flowers!'
"Who are you?" Sam demanded.
Annie opened her mouth to repeat the fake name, but could produce little more than a frightened squeak.
The bathroom door clicked open. Dean stepped out and froze at the sight of his brother menacing a terrified teenage girl. Annie caught a glimpse of his stunned face and fervently hoped that he was her big brother and he could put a stop to all of this. Surely, he would disarm the looming psycho, apologize for his disturbed friend and send her on her way.
"Sam, what's going on here?" Dean asked cautiously.
"She just showed up outside our door," Sam replied, then added pointedly, "with a delivery for Dean Winchester."
All hope vanished when Dean's face hardened and he picked up a sawed-off shotgun from one of the beds. He positioned himself to get a clear shot at Annie and smirked cruelly.
"Stupid mistake, sweetheart. I haven't used my real name in months."
Annie whimpered and closed her eyes, unable to believe the situation she had gotten herself into. Like being doused by a bucket of ice water, reality came crashing down and the fantasy of the last few days melted away. What had she been thinking? Running off without telling anyone, knocking on sleazy hotel room doors, of course this was going to end badly! She prayed that Tanner was following the contingency plan they had established in the car. She'd left her cell phone with him and if things got out of hand, he was to immediately call the police.
"You may as well drop the act. We've got you trapped." Sam released his grip and backed up a few steps. Annie did not move, she felt frozen in place against the door.
The brothers had been on edge ever since they'd left Monument, Colorado. Lillith wanted their heads and had gotten way to close achieving her goal. They refused to let it interfere with their hunts, but couldn't help constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering when she would catch up with them again. Sam glared down at his captive intruder and believed that she finally had.
"I bet she's one of Lillith's followers." He speculated. "Hell, maybe she even is Lillith."
Annie's eyes flew open. This was just a misunderstanding, they thought she was someone else. She could fix this!
She finally found her voice, "M-my name is Annie. I don't know anyone named Lillith!"
"Annie, is it?" Sam asked derisively. "I thought you said your name was Amanda."
"Its - I..."Annie floundered for a reply and cursed herself. Why had she lied? She tried to think of a way to quickly explain herself, but the truth was so convoluted. She decided to just dive into it and hope she came out with something halfway coherent.
"Ok, my name is really Annie Finnigin. I came here because my dad's name is John Winchester and I thought Dean might be my brother and I just wanted to meet him. I'm really sorry I lied and now I just want to leave." She stared at them with pleading eyes. "Can I please just leave?"
A pit formed in Annie's stomach when anger colored Dean's face in response, while Sam just eyed her incredulously.
"Oh you're not going anywhere." Dean assured her. "And one way or another you will tell us the truth."
He looked at the ceiling above her head meaningfully. Annie followed his gaze to see a large circle filled with symbols that looked straight out of a satanic horror movie. Annie gasped and ducked out from underneath it with a shudder. She continued backing away until she hit a wall in the kitchenette. Dean gaped at her, then turned and smacked Sam in the arm with the back of his hand.
"What the hell, man!"
"That trap is sound, I swear!" Sam protested, "I checked it three times."
They advanced on her cautiously, fully expecting to be picked up and pinned to the wall by an invisible force at any second.
"Cristo." Dean said, trying to draw the demon out.
Annie simply stared at him and continued to tremble in the corner by the small fridge. Sam exchanged a confused look with Dean and a feeling of unease began to form in his gut.
Annie held up her hands defensively as they came closer. "Just stay away from me! My-my brother is right outside and probably on the phone with the police right now!"
Sam's eye's widened and he signaled to Dean that he was going to check it out. Dean nodded and closed the distance to Annie. She cringed away, but he grabbed her arm and forced her out of the kitchen and away from the door. Annie jerked out of his grasp and took a few stumbling steps back until she collided with a bed and sat down heavily. Sam opened the door and Tanner, who had been leaning into it with his ear pressed firmly against the wood, tumbled into the room with a yelp.
"Tanner!" Annie cried in dismay and tried to go to him, but Dean pushed her back down.
"Don't move!" He yelled.
Tanner looked up and shook the hair out of his eyes, which widened in alarm at the sight of his sister cowering on a motel bed, flanked by two armed men. Sam and Dean, for their parts, were staring at Tanner with equally shocked expressions. His dark bangs fell back down to obscure soft brown eyes that were hauntingly familiar. For a brief second, Dean thought that a 12 year old Sammy had just been blown in from the past.
"Dean," Sam began, awe-struck,"He looks just like-"
"Shapeshifter!" Dean growled and roughly pulled Tanner to his feet and shoved him towards the bed to join his sister. "Watch them." Dean barked at his brother. "Don't let either one move." Then he crossed the room to the table by the door and began rifling through his duffel bag.
Tanner was completely shaken and groped for Annie's hand.
"Annie, what's happening?"
She grasped his hand and squeezed reassuringly.
"Its just a misunderstanding Tan. It's going to be ok, but... you-you called the police, right? Are they on the way?"
Tanner shook his head miserably. "The battery's dead. I'm sorry."
Annie gulped and tried not to succumb to despair as her final hope for rescue slipped away. Sam, who had been watching the whole exchange, blinked and felt his entire perception shift. He suddenly realized that there was no supernatural threat in the room, just two children who were being terrorized out of their minds. He glanced over at Dean just in time to see him hold up a silver knife and glare murderously at Annie and Tanner.
"Shit!" Sam holstered his own knife and quickly intercepted Dean before he could take a step towards the kids and placed a restraining hand on his wrist. "Dean wait!"
Dean took one look at Sam's face and a mixture of frustration and disbelief flooded through him. "You have got to be kidding me! Do not tell me you are buying this crap!"
"No- I don't know. But what if she is telling the truth?" Sam knew this wasn't going to go over well, but it had to be said.
"She's not! Are you out of your mind? First with Ruby and now this, what's the matter with you?"
Sam frowned, but did not take the bait. "I just think we need to calm down and consider the possibility."
This suggestion had the complete opposite effect. Dean looked positively ready to explode and take out not only the suspected shapeshifters, but his idiot of a brother as well. Sam released Dean's arm and held up his hands placatingly.
"Alright, alright. Lets test them, but how about something a little less lethal?"
Dean scowled while Sam rummaged around the duffel bag. "Dude, I'm not a complete idiot. I wasn't going to over there and just kill them. I'm going to cut them a little bit first."
"Or you can use this instead." Sam extricated a small bundle wrapped in black cloth. He unwrapped it, pulled an object free and exchanged it with Dean for the knife. Dean held up the silver spoon and raised an eyebrow at his brother.
Sam shrugged. "Silver in any form burns a shapeshifter's skin. If that happens, then we can consider getting stabby."
"Fine." Dean replied in disgust. "But, you better cover me!"
He passed his gun to Sam, then turned towards Annie and Tanner muttering, "Freaking bleeding heart!"
Both kids tensed at Dean's approach. He zeroed in on Tanner and Annie protectively drew him closer. Dean towered over them and thrust the spoon at Tanner.
"Hold this." He ordered.
Tanner jumped and eyed the spoon warily. The benign object was so out of context with the threatening manner in which it was presented that it frightened him almost more than the weapons. Tanner shook his head and edged away. Dean grabbed the boy's wrist and Annie screamed as he forced the spoon into Tanner's hand. He expected Tanner to drop it in pain, but he simply held the spoon away from his body and looked around bewildered.
Sam cleared his throat.
"Dean..." He began, but Dean had already snatch the spoon away from Tanner and was now dousing him with a flask of holy water that he'd pulled from his pocket. Tanner sputtered in shock.
"Stop it!" Annie shrieked. Dean's actions were becoming more and more erratic and nonsensical. Being trapped with two dangerous men who had her mistaken for someone else was terrifying enough, but she now believed Dean to be completely insane as well. She felt her already slim chance of getting out of this situation in one piece dwindling.
Dean turned his attention to Annie and emptied the contents of the flask on her head. He was about to test her with the silver when Sam's hand clamped onto his arm and pulled him forcibly back.
"Dean, that's enough!"
"No Sam! They're LYING!" He shoved Sam away and pointed at the kids. "I don't care what you are, but using our father to get at us is the last mistake you will ever make!"
Annie wiped the water out of her eyes and looked from Dean to Sam.
"You're both John Winchester's sons?" She asked.
"That's right. WE are his sons." Dean replied, pointing at himself and his brother. "His only children."
"No you're not." Tanner spoke up for the first time, his voice wavering slightly. "Look, we have proof."
He reached into his back pocket, Dean tensed and reached for his gun, but all Tanner produced was the worn photograph he'd kept with him since first discovering it in the attic. He held it out towards Dean with shaking hands. Dean glowered at the kid, but took the offered photo.
"That's my dad holding Annie when she was just a baby." Tanner informed him.
Dean stared at the image for a long time and felt a new kind of outrage settle over him. He slowly lowered his hand and his fist clenched closed reflexively. Tears sprang unbidden into Annie's eyes as she watched the picture crumple in his grip.
"That's the only one we have." She protested weakly.
"It was all for her." Dean finally spoke, addressing no one in particular. "Our whole lives, the hunting and the constant moving, all of it because he lost her. And the whole time he was, what? Sleeping with every tramp that threw herself at him? And being freaking irresponsible about it!" He gestured at the kids, but could no longer bring himself to look directly at them.
Dean was working himself up to full-on rant now, "That son of bitch! Then he just leaves and expects us to carry on and clean up all his messes! Hell, he could have bastards spread all around the country, for all we know!"
Annie glared at the floor as her own anger began to churn and rise to the surface. The slight against her mother combined with Tanner's hurt expression at being called a bastard caused Annie's blood to boil and fear was no longer her dominant emotion.
"Hey!" Annie exploded and rocketed to her feet. "You just shut up about our mom!"
Dean was drawn out of his internal anguish by her outburst. He and Sam looked at her with surprise, as if properly seeing her for the first time.
"Ok, so our mom was fertile and your dad was a giant horn dog, so what? What makes you more entitled to exist than us? Screw you both!" She raged on, "Everyone was right about John Winchester, he's nothing more than a scumbag criminal and we're lucky to have not been raised by him or we might have turned into a couple of psychopaths, just like YOU!" She concluded, jabbing her finger angrily at Dean on the last word.
Sam and Tanner observed this tirade with shock that bordered on admiration, but Dean's face had turned stony.
"You need to watch what you say about my dad." He warned, "You're treading on dangerous ground and you don't know what you're talking about."
Annie took a step forward and matched his glare with an identical one of her own. All the while, she prayed that he couldn't see her knees shaking or hear the pounding of her heart. Annie's anger had a habit of burning bright, then quickly fading away and fear was reclaiming its rightful place of dominance. She ignored her treasonous emotions, she couldn't back down now that she had their attention. Annie balled her hands into fists, ready to fight if it came to that. This entire evening had turned into a big sister fail of epic proportions. She had gotten them into this mess and it was up to her to get them back out.
"Whatever." She spat and stared up at Dean defiantly. "We're leaving now. Coming here was a mistake."
Annie grasped Tanner's arm and pulled him to his feet, never breaking eye contact with Dean. Despite her bravado, Annie was fully aware that she and Tanner would not be going anywhere if the brothers wanted to stop them. Dean was standing between her and the door and for one heart stopping moment she thought that he was not going to move.
"You're right, it was a mistake to come here." Dean responded coldly. He stepped aside and added, "Go back home to you're mother and quit chasing after fairy tales."
"Wait," Sam protested, "we can't just let them leave."
"Sam!" Dean's voice held a warning that left no room for further argument.
Sam frown deeply, but closed his mouth and watched Annie scurry towards the door, pushing Tanner ahead of her. Tanner wrenched it open and the kids dashed out into the night.
Sam crossed the room to the window and drew the curtain aside in time to see the purple car start up and back out of the parking space. He quickly memorized the license plate before the car peeled out of the lot and disappeared down the road. He let the curtain fall and looked at Dean, who was standing in the center of the room staring into the empty space before him.
"Did she even look old enough to drive to you?" Sam asked worriedly.
Dean turned towards his brother and sighed, "I don't know. Who can tell? Teenagers never look old enough to drive to me."
"Dean, I don't think we should have let them leave like that."
Dean rubbed a hand over his face, looking suddenly tired. "And what do you suggest Sammy? We continue to hold them here against their will? We just got free from all of the warrants on our heads and a lot of good people had to die in the process. I think we've got enough on our plates without starting all over with kidnapping charges, don't you?"
"Of course, but those kids... they're our brother and sister." He paused. Once spoken aloud, the words sounded so surreal, he needed a moment to let it sink in.
"Exactly Sam! They're kids. Stupid, normal kids and they're going to stay that way. Do you want to welcome them into the family, spend holidays together, train them up to hunt? You think they'd even last a year as Winchesters before getting killed or corrupted? No, they're better off staying as far away from us as possible."
Sam caught the barely veiled jab at the grey line he'd been towing with Ruby, but he swallowed back his hurt and frustration and stayed focused on the topic at hand.
"That's not what I'm saying. I just... I want to know more about them. You can't tell me you don't."
"No, I definitely do." Dean agreed and pulled an object out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to Sam. "So grab your computer and start finding stuff out."
Sam looked down at the wallet he had just caught, it was bright blue and covered in shiny multi-colored stars. He arched his eyebrows at Dean.
"You stole that girl's wallet?"
"Oh don't give me that look. We'll mail it back when we're done."
Sam shook his head with mild disapproval, opened the wallet, pulled out Annie's ID and swore.
"A learner's permit, I knew it! She shouldn't be driving Dean. We have to go after them."
Dean was not moved. "They made here just fine, they'll make it back. Besides, its not like I never drove us around before I got my license."
"That you did." Sam agreed, "And in a stolen car no less."
"Oh yeah." A smug grin flashed across his face at the memory.
The grin faded as he wondered if his younger siblings were driving around a in stolen car as well. Dean grabbed the car keys off the table and headed towards the door.
"Where are you going?"
"I need a beer. Just work your research mojo. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"This is a dry county, remember?"
Dean paused with his hand on the doorknob, then closed the door with a solid thump. "Sonofabitch!"
He then proceeded to pace restlessly around the room while Sam dug up everything he could find on the Finnigins.
/*****/
It took every ounce of concentration for Annie to control her shaking limbs and keep the car going down the road in a straight line. All she wanted to do was pull over and collapse into a puddle of tears, but she couldn't afford the luxury of a breakdown right now. All that mattered was getting her brother back home safely. Tanner hadn't spoken a word since they left the motel, he just stared out the window, looking pale and withdrawn. The sight of him made Annie's heart ache. It felt a like a life time, but only thirty minutes ago he had been sitting in that very seat, practically giddy with excitement at the idea of having an older brother. She knew his current condition was all her fault, everything from the build up of the past few days to the crushing blow of actually meeting their brothers. All she had to do when Tanner first brought up the idea of searching for their father was obey her mother's wishes and deny that she knew his name and none of this would have ever happened.
The car pulled up to an intersection and Annie turned down the narrow, forested road that would take them back home. The sun was almost completely below the horizon and what little daylight remained was blotted out by the overhanging tree limbs. Annie flipped the headlights to high beams and jumped as Tanner finally broke the silence.
"I hate those guys." He muttered darkly.
Annie glanced at him worriedly.
"They are the worst." She agreed, but added with forced optimism, "But you know what? We're better off knowing the truth. Now we won't waste one more second of our lives thinking about dad and imagining how great he and our older brothers must be."
Tanner didn't reply, he simply sighed and continued gazing at the dark trees as they blurred past the window. He was pretty sure that he would have preferred to keep his fantasies. Tanner suddenly bolted upright in his seat as the engine emitted a loud ominous cough and the car shuddered violently.
"What was that?"
"I don't know!" Annie searched the dashboard to see if any indicator lights were flashing.
Another violent spasm racked the car and this time the engine cut off completely. Annie's heart thudded in her throat as she turned the wheel and the vehicle coasted onto the grassy shoulder of the road and came to a stop. She turned the key without much hope and got no response. Disheartened, she dropped her hands down to the her sides and let her head droop against the steering. Her eyes fell on the gas gauge and she felt her heart plummet into her stomach.
Annie sat up and whispered in horror, "Oh my God."
"What?" Tanner leaned over to see what she was looking at.
"...Out of gas?" He asked slowly, then repeated with an edge of hysteria, "Out of gas! How can we be out of gas? We passed, like, 20 gas stations today, why didn't you stop?"
Annie waved her hands about helplessly. "I don't know! I never had to buy gas before, Mom always does it. I just didn't think about it."
"You didn't think about it?" He shouted incredulously, "You are the worst driver in the world!"
"I am not! Just, don't yell at me right now Tanner, I'm trying to think of a way out of this."
Tanner flopped against the seat and ran his hands through his hair. "There is no way out of this. We are in the middle of nowhere with no phone and nobody has any idea where we are! The school is going to call Mom when we don't show up tomorrow, oh God!"
He was on the verge of a full on freak out, but a plan flashed into Annie's head and she tried to talk him back down.
"No! It's ok, I just remembered there is a gas can in the trunk. We've got plenty of cash. All we have to do walk back to the gas station in town. It will take awhile." She admitted, "But I know we can do this and still get home in time to make the bus in the morning. Mom never has to know!"
Annie grabbed a flashlight out of the center console and got out of the car. Tanner groaned doubtfully, but followed her lead and rolled out of the passenger seat. She headed towards the trunk and reached for the zippered pocket of her sweatshirt, only to find it unzipped and empty. She stopped dead in her tracks and searched through all of her pockets uncomprehendingly, then froze as realization dawned on her.
"That...ASSHOLE stole my wallet!" She screamed.
Tanner, who was still standing by the passenger door, tore his gaze away from the hood of the car with a start. Annie never said swear words.
"Which asshole?"
"Does it matter? We have no money." Annie told him defeatedly.
Tanner absorbed this new information with a sort of numbness that he welcomed. He thought he was beginning to get a handle on this day. Really awful things were going to keep happening to them and there was nothing he could do about. Once he accepted this, he realized that he just needed to roll with the punches and hope that when the sun came up tomorrow the world would be a place he could recognize again.
Tanner sighed and tried alleviate some of the guilt that was etched all over Annie's face. "You know, I think the empty gas tank is the least of our problems anyway."
He gestured for her to follow him to the front of the car, where steam was billowing out from under the hood with an angry hissing sound. Tanner took off his sweatshirt and used it to shield his hands as he popped the hood open. He jumped back and gasped at the sight of the engine. Wires were shredded and poking in every direction, metal parts were dislodged and laying in disorganized heaps. Annie clapped her hand to her mouth, mortified.
"Oh no!" She lowered her hand, "I swear I had no idea driving without gas would make the engine explode!"
Tanner snorted, then realized she was serious.
"Annie, it doesn't! That" He pointed at the engine, "makes no sense."
"So, that isn't my fault?"
"I don't see how it could be."
"Well, at least there's one thing that isn't." She replied, ruefully.
Tanner frowned and nudged her lightly.
"Come on, none of what happened tonight is your fault. Well, maybe running out of gas, but none of the other stuff."
Annie chuckled humorlessly, but offered her brother a small smile of gratitude. "Thanks Tan."
She looked back at the pulverized engine and came to a decision.
"Look Tanner, I think it's time to throw in the towel. Lets just walk back to town, find a phone, call Mom and tell her what we've done. She'll have to fly back from her conference and murder me, but at least we can just go home and this can all be over."
Tanner nodded his agreement, but cringed inwardly. That was a phone call he was not at all looking forward to making. He shrugged his sweatshirt back on and the two set off down the road. They had walked barely more than a few yards when a rasping, disembodied voice floated out of the darkness.
"You kids lost?"
They both started violently and grabbed on to each other's shirts. Annie followed the source of the voice and peered into the darkened forest on the left side of the road. She thought she saw a figure in the shadows, but it flickered and disappeared. She blinked a few times and assumed that the darkness was playing tricks with her eyes.
"You don't belong here. These woods are mine!" The voice chimed in again, this time from the opposite side of the road.
Annie and Tanner yelled and spun around. Annie shined the flashlight in the direction of the voice and illuminated an impossible nightmare. 'Walking corpse' were the words that flashed through her mind. The man standing at the edge of the trees was peering at them through a copse of facial hair with red-rimmed eyes that were full of malice. His skin was a mottled, sickly gray color and there was a thick, dark liquid pooling out of his left ear. He took one step towards them, then his whole body flickered briefly and was he suddenly standing in the middle of the road.
"Oh." Annie said mildly, "Well that's not real."
Clearly the stress of the evening had finally caused her mind snap.
"That's real." Tanner tugged on her sleeve urgently and began backing away. "Annie, that's real!"
"Where are you going?" The impossible man inquired. He flickered again and reappeared no more than five feet from the frightened siblings.
"Annie RUN!"
Tanner's shout jolted her into action. Annie turned and fled with her brother into the forest.
