Chapter 4- Phantom Traveller
"Night daddy" Alissa said and he bent down to kiss her goodnight, just like he had done with me.
"Night my sweet" he said before walking to the door and turning the light off.
"Sleep well my girls" he said, closing the door, but not all the way so as to allow a crack of light to spill into the room through the door. I groaned and turned over onto my side, to look at my sister lying in the bed on the other side of the room. She was sleeping in here with me because we were decorating her room so mom said that she would stay with me for the week because otherwise the fumes would make her ill.
"Liss, you awake?" I asked and she huffed a sigh.
"Yeah, sis I can't sleep" she said and I swallowed.
"Me either. I'm scared but don't know why" I heard her sigh, and was able to make out her shape under the bed clothes. The rustling of sheets was heard and I knew my sister had turned onto her side because the light shone on her face, making her eyes stand out because they changed colour under the light. Her eyes were cool like that.
"Yeah I've been feeling that all day as well" she stated and I bit my lip.
I hadn't been feeling very well all day, but I knew that it was more than that. It was the same way that I felt whenever I had one of my episodes where I felt weird. Mom said that I tapped into people's emotions and that sounded right but I don't know whether I believed her. It was the only rational excuse as to why I felt strange feelings that I knew didn't belong to me, but ever since mom found out what I could do she helped me to control it, so that I didn't become overwhelmed with other people's feelings. That had happened the once apparently and it had scared Sam and Dean when they were staying with us. Alissa was similar, but where I felt emotions, she saw pictures. Usually we would wake up at the same time, scared because Alissa saw something, and I would feel what the people in her images felt.
Alissa and I were twins. We had the same build of body, in that we were slim and both quite short, but we were nearly eight so we had plenty of time to grow. Though Dean teased us because we were small but he had just turned fifteen so he was old anyway. We had the same hair colour, with it being dark, chocolate brown, almost black, except my hair was longer than my sister's because my hair grew faster, plus mine had a slight wave in it whereas Liss's hair was straight. Her eyes were different to mine though and that was how you told us apart. We shared our mom's eye colour, my eyes being exactly the same hazel colour, with a rim of green around the pupil and edge of my iris, whereas Alissa's eyes were the same, but when light shone on her eyes, the hazel turned green and the green turned blue, so that her eyes resembled our daddy's. It was cool, and I of course was jealous, but it was one of the many little quirks that we shared and what made us unique according to our parents. Sam and Dean had joked about a year ago though, when we had one of our feelings, that twins were powerful and ran on their own wavelengths. It made sense, but the boys had meant it as a joke, though Liss and I knew that it definitely wasn't. We weren't normal children, no one except us and mom knew that. Especially John, he was a nice man and he loved his sons, but he had a strange way of showing it. He drilled them until they did things right, that was his way of bonding, but Liss and I could never make him see what we saw, that he didn't have to work his boys so hard and make them help him get revenge for Mary dying, they loved him anyway. It was this part of him that had always kept me from being completely honest with him whenever he came around. If Liss or I would have one of our episodes while he was here, we would excuse ourselves and go upstairs until it passed. He scared me, because I knew he was capable of many things. I sighed and heard Liss do the same.
"What do we do?" she asked and I frowned, before sitting up, and reaching across to the nightstand where I turned on the lamp so that we could see each other.
"We stay awake and see if something happens. We aren't doing anything tomorrow so we can just tell mom that we are ill and sleep for the day" I shrugged and my sister nodded, sitting up on her bed so that we could face each other. She looked thoughtful.
"Have you heard from them?" she asked and I frowned, shaking my head in annoyance.
"No, they haven't phoned and I know that John hasn't contacted daddy either" I sighed and my sister smiled sympathetically. I loved Dean and Sam, I loved them a lot, but we hadn't heard from them in about a month and it was worrying me. They made sure to call every week, even if they had to wait for their dad to go out so they could call us on a payphone.
"Is something wrong?" Liss asked, a frown on her face and I shook my head, sighing.
"No they are alive and well. I think John is just making them work harder" I explained, knowing what she meant because we were on the same frequency and understood each other easily.
I frowned and cocked my head to the side before sliding off the bed, my feet not making a noise on the floor, like daddy had showed me how to, before I crept over to the door and slowly opened it, wincing when the hinges squeaked. Daddy kept meaning to oil them but he didn't have much time, between playing with Liss and I, or working at his workplace or with John when John asked for help. I didn't know what John did for a living, but knew that it wasn't a normal job and was dangerous. It involved some sort of hunting, but I didn't know what. I stuck my head out of the door, Liss doing the same, but she stuck her head out of the door below me since she was on her hands and knees.
"How could you do that Oscar?" mom sobbed and I frowned down at Liss.
"I had no choice Melanie" daddy replied and I cocked my head to the side before doing something I swore I never would. I focused on my parents, on their familiar energies and opened myself up to them, feeling what they were feeling. Mom was scared, horrified, upset and she felt betrayed. Dad was feeling guilty, but proud, whatever had happened he had hurt mom but he thought the thing he'd done was right.
"What's happening sis?" Liss asked and I shrugged. She wouldn't know what was happening unless she'd seen this in one of her dreams. Her feelings don't work while she is awake, unless she focuses really hard. I sighed in response and shrugged at my younger sister, who had been born three minutes after me.
"I don't know what's wrong. But daddy has done something that mom isn't happy about. It hurts so badly and she can't decide whether she hates him for doing it or loves him because she understands that he believes it was the right thing to do. But daddy loves her and while he feels guilty he's proud because no matter what she says he knows it was the right thing to do"
"Do you think he's unfaithful?" my sister asked and I shook my head instantly.
"Nope, his energy is normal and he loves mom more than what he did yesterday. No daddy is faithful, whatever he did isn't anything to do with loving other people, well except us of course" I replied and we grinned at each other before sighing and backing away from the door.
"Whatever it is, we should let them figure it out together" I shrugged and Liss nodded before we climbed onto my bed and Liss held my hand tightly, allowing me to feel that she was still feeling sick like I was, but I was able to control my sickness whereas she wasn't, simply because she had never had to, this was my power.
"Alissa, what's wrong?" I asked and it was then that I heard a yelp from downstairs. I frowned at Liss as she looked back at me, panicked. Something was happening, which meant that our feelings all day had been correct, like they always were. I swallowed against the horrible feeling in my throat before getting to my feet and walking quietly through the door where I came out onto the landing.
"You staying there?" I asked Liss, since she had followed me to the door. She shook her head.
"Definitely not, we're stronger together" she stated, taking my hand and gripping it tightly where we crept down the corridor and hid behind the bars at the top of the stairs because there was a potted plant here. Mom liked having plants around the house since it made her feel closer to nature or something like that. Mom was a spiritual woman though and always had been for as long as I could remember.
"This won't be pleasant" a male voice sneered and I frowned at Liss who shrugged at me in response. Both of us didn't recognise the voice and that made me uneasy. My stomach churned, making me want to vomit but I ignored the feeling, although I felt warm, so warm that it was becoming uncomfortable.
There was a sickening wet slurping sound and I shivered, feeling pain spread throughout my body and Liss whimpered. I covered her mouth with my hand, hoping she would quieten down because otherwise she would give us away to whoever it was downstairs and I couldn't risk her getting hurt, like I knew he was hurting our parents. I could physically feel their pain. I could feel how my mom's stomach churned with nausea at what was happening to daddy and I could feel him burning, as though he was being burnt alive, but there was no fire. My nerves were strung so thin and I was feeling lightheaded from how scared, nervous and hopeless I felt. This night wouldn't end well, but I knew that I couldn't move from where we were crouching behind the plant, not just yet at least, because if we moved we would risk our own lives.
"No don't, leave him alone!" mom screamed and I winced, pulling Alissa close to me and holding her tight. She buried her head in my shoulder and sobbed quietly as I stroked her hair, hoping to keep her as calm as possible. The man in the room just snickered and I shivered, knowing he was enjoying it. I could feel the pleasure that hurting people gave him, could feel the evil as though it was a person gripping my shoulder and could feel how rotten the man's heart was, because he didn't have one that felt any human emotion, everything was negative, there were no pleasant emotions like love or happiness. This man was not a man, but he was definitely an evil being. I wasn't sure what he was exactly though, but this was no human energy that I'd ever felt before.
Mom screamed again, a higher pitched scream than the last one, which suggested she was in pain, she was being tortured, but there was nothing we could do just yet. This man would be stronger than us and I hadn't thought up a plan yet.
"No!" daddy shouted, his voice gruff and showing how in pain he was. Alissa sobbed harder on my shoulder and my heart and body hurt. I was on fire now, everything was so hot and it was suffocating and I was so scared for my sister and my parents that it was making me feel sick. Please, what do I do? I begged though I didn't know who I was asking for help.
I heard a grunt and a scuffle before daddy appeared on the stairs, clutching his side and I stared at him wide eyed. He sighed and I felt the tears start to fall down my face. He looked horrible. He had in fact been burnt, his face was cracked and bright red, with blisters appearing on his lips. His hands were burnt and there was hole in his side, which I could see right through.
"Daddy" I choked out and he collapsed next to me.
"It's okay Ali, now take your sister and get out of here. Run as fast as you can get to a police station or a neighbour, but don't look back" he begged and I sobbed before shaking my head.
"No we can't leave you" I sobbed and his blister cover lips turned upwards in a smile before he kissed my head.
"Yes you can, and you will, for your sister's sake" he said and we both started sobbing when mom screamed again in pain. His face turned murderously angry and I couldn't stop shaking, he'd never looked like that before and it scared me. His face softened and Liss pulled out of my arms before she started crying at how horrible he looked. It was hard to make sure that it was in fact daddy, but I recognised his comforting smell and energy. Liss whimpered and I wrapped my arms around her before tugging her up with me.
"We need to go Liss" I urged and she stood up on trembling legs, obviously so scared that she couldn't even control how her body reacted. I luckily was able to keep a grip on my emotions thanks to mom's training. We stumbled down the stairs and into the living room, which we would have to walk through to get to the front door as it was an open plan, living room, kitchen and dining room.
"Come on, I'll distract him so you can-" daddy began but stopped when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Mom screamed again and I froze before swallowing and taking a deep breath, letting go of Liss to turn around, where something rose through the floorboards. They were black particles and I shivered at the feeling of hatred and evil that it gave off. Whatever it was, there was more than one of them.
"No" daddy screamed and I turned, quick enough to grab Liss as daddy took off into the room. Liss and I hurried after him but stopped at the scene in front of us. Liss began crying loudly, diverting the attention away from our parents momentarily for the thing to grin maliciously. I don't know what it was but it looked like it was wearing all black, with a hood up to cover its face. But either way I couldn't see any memorable features.
"Your children are here to watch you die" the voice hissed and Liss crumbled to the floor, making me crouch next to her to keep her safe, turning her head into my body so that she wouldn't have to watch, but I was unable to peel my eyes away from the scene playing out in front of me.
The bad feeling rose up and crashed against me urgently, encouraging me to help my parents because if I didn't then they would die, but I didn't know what to do to help them. I was powerless, I couldn't fight these men off, because I counted that there were six of them. I wouldn't even be able to fight off one of them. Daddy looked at us and mouthed something, which I read as 'I love you' before he turned and removed something from the waistband of his jeans, plunging it into the skull of the man in front of him. The body crumbled to the floor, falling into ashes as a dark shadow fell over the room, as though a hand had reached up and covered everything that let out light.
"Daddy!" I screamed as a figure moved behind him and my dad turned in the direction of my voice, before the figure lifted its hand and plunged a knife into my dad's stomach before twisting and running the blade up the length of his body, cutting his skin open and making his blood pour out of his body like a waterfall.
"NO!" I screamed and the figure turned to me, but I was focused on the organs spilling out of my father's now dead body as his head lolled in my direction, his eyes open wide and glassy, already clouding over. I choked on a sob and held Liss tighter and she struggled against my hold, but I couldn't let her see what was happening. It was too horrific for anyone to witness but I couldn't tear my eyes away. I was rooted to the spot and I didn't know why.
"Oscar!" my mom yelled and I looked up to see that she had been tied to a chair, her wrists and ankles bound to the arms and legs of the chair as there were knives sticking out of her stomach, thigh, shoulder and her private area. The blood had crusted around her and was still pumping in steady streams. Her eyes widened as she saw me there.
"Ali. Go. Please" she choked out, her face streaked with blood and I swallowed the bile rising, knowing that her face was streaked with blood because her tears were bloody. There was blood dripping out of her nose and at the corner of her mouth, with gashes along her bare arms, her white nightdress stained pink as the blood was lightened by the colour of the fabric. I realised then that I was crying, but I hadn't been aware of the tears falling until that point. My arms loosened and I felt my body drain at the sight that was my mother. My stomach churned and I pushed my sister away to vomit onto the floor, which stupidly left her open to see the scene in front of her. She let lose a piercing scream and I trembled at the sound of it, never hearing her scream like that before.
The figures looked at us and I grabbed Liss, pulling her to me and whispering soothing words into her ear to calm her down, but it didn't work, she still cried loudly into my shoulder.
"Ali" she sobbed and I felt my heart start to tear at the pure fear in her voice. I'd never heard her sound so scared before. It was the most terrifying thing ever, tied with how scared I was for the both of us right now. And it was all my fault. It was my fault that she was so scared and my fault that daddy was dead because I was a coward. I had power but I didn't know how to use it and I didn't know what to do to stop this from happening. The feelings we'd had all day now made sense. Our parents were going to die and it was all because I was too scared, and too weak, too stupid and too small to do anything about it.
"What have we here?" the figure standing next to my mom said before it walked over to us in a smug way.
"Fuck off" I hissed, pushing my sister behind me and pressing into her, so that she was squashed between my back and the wall. The figured hissed.
"You dare speak to me that way?" it questioned but I glared at it in pure hatred, knowing that this was the original male I had heard and from the sense of power it was giving off, it was in charge. I could see the whites of its eyes through the hood and smell its rotting breath and I crinkled my nose at the smell. It backhanded me, sending me flying across the room and crashing into the dining table, ending in me splitting the wood and crying out in pain when the wood pierced my skin. It had backhanded with such a force. I heard my sister whimper before she screamed.
"Alissa" my mom and I yelled and I got to my feet painfully, my left leg giving way and I saw that the wood had pierced my body in a way that it went through my torso and stuck out at the back of my thigh. I gasped in pain as my head began to spin and my body became hotter, as though I was standing right in front of an open fire before I blinked away the tears. I would not cry, I would not give them the satisfaction and I would not let myself cry when my mom and sister needed me.
The figure had grabbed Liss by her hair and was holding her about a foot off the ground. She was screaming in pain as he walked back over to my mom, the motion causing her to bounce and I stumbled after them, seeing that he had tugged on her hair so much that there were trails of blood running down the side of her face. Oh Liss I'm so sorry I sobbed in my head and she fisted her hands in response.
I know you are Ali, go and save yourself she replied and I sobbed harder.
NO I'm not leaving you. Forget it I sent back and heard her crying again.
See my sister and I had a bond that stretched way deeper than Sam and Dean had ever guessed. We were telepathic, only with each other though and that was why we understood each other so well, at times it was like we were one person split into two different bodies.
The man faced my mother again before throwing Liss to the side and I groaned, pushing myself into a light jog over to her and gathering her into my arms.
"That's what happens when you go back on your deal" the figure said, pointing in the direction of Liss and I, but I tried my best to ignore him.
"My husband made the deal not me" she said, before spitting into the hood of the figure, which only enraged him, I felt his rage in the pit of my stomach before he lashed out and scratched my mom along her face. I jumped in fright, still cradling Liss in my arms, who had drifted off due to the pain in her head.
"I'm not interested in specifics you whore" the man said and I frowned at him, before standing up painfully.
"My mom is not a whore you evil bastard" I said and my mom begged me with her eyes to stay quiet but I was tired, in pain, feeling sick and scared out of my mind. I wanted this to end and for my mom to hug me while I cried and tell me it was okay. The figure turned on me before pointing at me with his finger and I flew backwards, hitting the wall where he pinned me there before waving his finger and I was pushed through the wall. I sobbed in pain as my back hit the floor, causing the piece of wood jutted in my body to be pushed out. I screamed in pain as I heard my mom screaming again, so I pushed myself to my feet, refusing to let myself surrender and saw that the figure was holding a ball of fire in his hand and was running the ball down my mom's body, leaving a trail of burnt, charred skin in its wake.
I gasped and ran as fast as I could over to the sink, turning the tap on where I removed the tap that mom used to wash the plates down and pointed it in the direction of the man with the fire, which hit him and put out the flame instantly because they were situated fairly close to the kitchen part of the room. He looked up and focused entirely on me before I saw him grin and walk over to my sister.
"Looks like little sister will pay for that you brat" he said, before digging his hand into my sister's chest and pulling out her heart. She didn't even have a chance to scream. I choked on a scream, pushing it back as well as the tears before he squeezed the heart, the blood that was inside being pushed out and dripping onto the floor.
My mom screamed and I ran over to her but she twitched her head to her right and I flew in that direction, away from her.
"This is your punishment but your daughter has fire, I might brainwash her and bring her up as my own" the figure hissed and I screamed from where I had fallen on the floor.
That was it! I'd had enough of this! My body heated up, but not from sickness or fear or even because I was tapping into what someone else was feeling. My body heated up from rage and pure hatred at this thing in front of me. I didn't know what it was but he had taken my daddy and my little sister. He would not hurt my mom or me! I refused to let him touch or hurt us again. I wanted him dead! A figure approached me on my left and I turned in that direction. I wanted him dead! I picked up the first thing I found which was a splintered piece of wood and swung it at the figure before stabbing him. He started gurgling as he slumped to the floor and I twisted the wood before pulling it out, pulling a few pieces of his intestines with it before turning on the figure approaching me from behind and swinging at the hood, where I heard the sickening crunch as the wood connected with skull. But I was so consumed by rage that I didn't realise I had killed something with a wooden stake, when I wasn't even that physically strong and never had been. The figure was crouched over my mom saying something and I saw my mom start to glow white, before the white moved out of her and towards the figure. I didn't know what the white stuff was, but knew that it wasn't good so I ran over to the figure and started bashing him with the stick, using my weight behind every hit as the white stuff receded, back inside my mom.
It backed away from my mom where she slumped in her chair, her face ashen, her hair limp, the sparkle in her eyes gone and the energy zapped from her veins. She was limp and lifeless but still alive and in an incredible amount of pain. I could feel her pain as though it was my own. I took a step forwards and the floor squelched beneath my bare feet and out of pure habit I looked down to see that the blood was mixing with water. I'd left the water running! I remembered as I was hit in the chest, sending me spinning into a back summersault in the air and landed on my front, hitting my face off the floor and crying from the burning pain in my nose and the blood that trickled down over my lips and the side of my face.
"Look up Princess, I want you to watch this" the voice urged soothingly and I looked up, not able to stop myself because it felt like my head was attached to a string and the string had been pulled, to lift my head up. I had no control over my muscles. The figure looked down on me and I saw that its skin was pale white with yellow-white swirling eyes. I frowned, because its eyes were like nothing I had ever seen before, not that I had seen much in terms of things like this.
He pointed a finger at my mom and she screamed as a hole was made to the right of where her heart would be and I actually saw part of the muscle of her heart, beating slowly, but instead of pumping blood to her body, the blood was pumped out of the hole, spurting across my face because I had landed about three inches away from her. She panted, trying to regain her breath before she looked up at her murderer's face and spat.
"You can take us, but I won't let you have my only daughter" she said before her lips started moving and she started mumbling something in some sort of language that I'd never heard before but I let my head sink down to the floor, closing my eyes against what my body and heart were feeling as I heard the figure cry out before the body slumped to the floor.
"Ali" my mom sighed and I pushed myself to look at her and she looked down at me, the only parts of her visible were her eyes. Her hazel eyes, with a green rim. It was then that I let myself cry and she cried with me.
"I'm so sorry baby, I'm so sorry" she whispered, no longer having enough energy to talk louder than a whisper. I cried out as I struggled to my knees and started untying her arms and legs, where she pitched forwards, falling off the chair and onto her front with a strangled cry.
"Mom! Mommy" I yelled, turning her onto her back where she gazed up at me, her eyes starting to cloud over.
"I love you my darling. I love you so much and I'm so sorry for all of this. This isn't what I wanted for you" she said and I shook her.
"I don't understand" I cried and she smiled, reaching up to touch my face and I held her hand there, because she wouldn't be strong enough to hold her hand there by herself.
"I don't have time, take my necklace and your sister's and put them on and never take them off. You'll know what to do with them but they will keep you safe and help you when you need them" she said and I frowned.
"Now Ali" she instructed and I ran over to Alissa's body, looking at the silver necklace stained with her blood, which was now drying into a deep red colour which was starting to become crusty. I removed the necklace and fixed it around my own neck, now having two pendants of a green coloured stone that was a small cylinder shape before I bent down and kissed her head.
"I'm sorry my dear sister. Please forgive me, please. I failed but I love you so much" I cried into her head before getting unsteadily to my feet, pushing through the pain to kneel beside my mom again, where her necklace was in her hand.
"Here my daughter" I took it from her and she watched me fix it around my neck before I bent down and kissed her head, pulling back to see her eyes slipping shut.
"Call John, he'll look after you now" she said, before letting out one last breath, her skin glowing a pale white colour before my skin glowed where I was holding her hand.
"Mom! Mommy open your eyes!" I shouted, but she didn't move.
"No please don't leave me. I'm so sorry that I failed you. I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you, but please don't leave me on my own. I need you" I cried, before burying my head in her neck, but pulling away when that action caused a slit in her neck to pour blood. I shakily got to my feet and walked over to the phone where I dialled Dean's cell number which I had memorised, knowing that he would answer because his dad might not answer his cell if he was working.
"Dean, please help me" I sobbed into the phone after he greeted me.
"Dad! Sam! It's Ali, something's wrong" he called on the other end.
"Ali?" John Winchester asked, but I didn't reply, because the pain burned out and I cried, slumping to the floor where I hit my head once more and the blackness covered me.
I gasped and jolted upright, pressing a hand over my mouth as I sobbed quietly before I looked to my left and saw that Dean was fast asleep, lying on his stomach like he usually did. The sweat was covering my face, but it was that horrible cold sweat that you made you feel cold to the bone.
"Ali?" came Sam's voice and I looked over to where he was sitting on his bed, the television flickering with the light, but the sound turned down so low that I didn't think he could even hear it.
"Sammy" I sobbed and he shot off the bed and over to me where he hugged me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he picked me up, backing us up before we sat down on his bed, with him cradling me on his lap.
"It's okay, it's okay. It was just a nightmare. I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you" he whispered into my hair and I gripped his shirt tighter in my hands, sobbing as he held me tightly against his body, allowing me to feel the comforting thump of his heart.
"I couldn't save them" I cried out as he rocked me from side to side but didn't say anything. For that I was grateful because I didn't want to make up excuses.
"Did you dream of your family?" he whispered into my hair and I nodded, trying to breathe but the sobbing continued, where I made a snorting sound with every breath and sob that I took.
"Deep breaths" he instructed, but I couldn't breathe, I wanted to but I couldn't. All I could smell was blood and death and rotting flesh and bad breath and I could still hear their screams ringing in my ears. I felt myself being lifted and realised that Sam was carrying me bridal style to the bathroom, where he placed the lid on the toilet down and settled me on it, taking a cloth and wetting it before pressing it to my face as I gripped his biceps, feeling myself become calmer as the cool fabric pressed against my flushed, sweaty skin and feeling that Sam was here with me. He was real and safe and even though he reminded me of home, I wouldn't want him to feel any other way. He placed the cloth into the sink before frowning at me worriedly. I sent him a tiny smile.
"I'm sorry for this" I sighed and he shook his head at me, making himself comfortable where he was kneeling in front of me, taking my hands in his.
"Don't apologise Ali, I know what it's like to have nightmares remember?" he asked and I sighed before nodding, focusing on his face and scanning my eyes over his features, needing something to distract me from my thoughts.
"And just like you, I don't want to talk" I sighed and he smiled before kissing my cheek.
"It's fine, I wasn't going to push you to talk anyway. What I want to know is why you are letting me close to you? I had a feeling that you weren't sleeping too well because you were moaning in your sleep, but I would've expected Dean to wake up and comfort you and for you to scream if I approached you?" he asked and I sighed, before placing my forehead against his shoulder.
"Yeah, I don't know" I replied, shrugging at the fact that I wasn't acting like that, when for the first year I had nightmares, Dean would be the only one I would allow to comfort me. I also had to have him sleep with me, or for someone to sleep next to me since having someone's warmth to fall asleep next to allowed me to sleep better. It was strange but worked, and Dean had always been the one I slept next to and always the one who would be allowed to touch me when I woke up, screaming from a nightmare that started to vanish as soon as I woke up.
"Come on you" Sam sighed, pulling me to my feet and I groaned, placing a hand against my side as my scar burned. It only ever did that everytime I had one of those nightmares. Sam frowned and I lifted my top up to see that my scar looked a little red, but that was all. He wrapped his arm around my waist and led me back to the main part of the room, where we climbed onto his bed. He sat next to me and urged me to lie down next to him.
"What about you?" I asked sleepily and saw him shrug in response.
"I don't sleep much, but I know how moody you are if you don't get at least eight hours" he smiled down at me and I sighed before nodding.
"You should try sleeping with someone" I yawned and saw him stare down at me in shock. I grinned at him and shook my head.
"I didn't mean like that. I still sleep in the same bed as Dean, even twelve years after what happened simply because his presence soothes me, his body heat helps me sleep, knowing that he is right there. I haven't tried not sleeping next to him because we're both scared that the nightmares will return" I shrugged, talking around a yawn which I let loose. Sam looked down at me playing with my hair while I repositioned myself until I lay my head on his thighs, but he didn't complain he just nodded.
"I'll think about it" was all he said so I sighed before closing my eyes.
"Thank you for being here when I needed you, but you should consider sleeping. I'm here beside you" I yawned and heard him chuckle.
"Close your eyes Ali and go back to sleep. I won't leave you until you wake up" he said and I closed my eyes, the feel of Sam's hand combing through my hair lulling me back to sleep.
I groaned and rolled over, burying my face into Dean's body and hearing him chuckle, but it didn't sound like Dean's laugh.
"Ali?" came Sam's voice and I shot up into a sitting position, blushing when I realised that when I'd repositioned myself, I'd managed to bury my face between Sam's thighs.
"Shit sorry" I said hurriedly and he laughed at me, shaking his head slightly.
"It's okay" he replied and I frowned at him, studying his face before I felt cold, remembering why I was sleeping on Sam and not Dean like I usually did. I sighed and Sam frowned at me before pulling me to his body where he hugged me tightly and I settled into his arms. I hadn't hugged him like this in so long, frightened to touch him because he was still in so much pain after Jess was killed, deciding to just keep my distance from him and stay with Dean like I had done since Sam went to Stanford four years ago. Wow was it really four years? It only felt like half of that, which made sense as to why I kept getting confused between Sam being gone for four, or two years. The first two years dragged by so slowly. Dean was missing his brother, John felt guilty at how he and Sam had parted and I did everything I could to look after them and make them feel better when they needed it. Then these last two years had flown by so quickly due to the fact that we seemed to find more jobs to go on, and the fact that I was able to help out more than what I used to. But after not having Sam around for four years it felt good to hug him again. It was always hard deciding which of the brothers gave the better hugs, but Sam always felt slightly cuddlier than Dean.
"It feels good hugging you again" I sighed and heard him chuckle before I froze and pulled away from him. He frowned at me in confusion but I felt bad, knowing that he was still hurting, so I sighed and smiled instead before glaring at him.
"You let me sleep on you all night without sleeping yourself?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. He sighed in response but didn't reply, instead choosing to shake his head at me.
"Leave it alone please Ali" he pleaded and I bit my lip before nodding and ruffling his hair instead which made him glare at me playfully.
"I'm glad you're up actually" he began, shifting around on the bed so that he could move around me and stand up, stretching his muscles out. I looked away and moved so that my back was resting against the headboard.
"Why's that?" I asked when he'd finished stretching, and I saw that he was a little tired, then again he hadn't had his eight cups of coffee yet. He usually had those before Dean or I woke up, but I could smell caffeine on him straight away. I couldn't today and I found it sweet that he hadn't moved, sticking to his promise to stay with me until I woke up.
"Well I need to get a drink and some food, but I didn't want to wake you so I could leave" he shrugged and I smiled slightly.
"Well thank you for staying with me, but you could've left" I shrugged, to which he rolled his eyes at me and shrugged into his khaki, hooded sweatshirt.
"I'm gonna get some coffee and whatnot, I won't be long" he said and I nodded before sliding of the bed.
"Lock the door behind you then, I'm gonna hop into the shower" I replied and he nodded, the two of us heading in those directions.
I stripped down and stood under the spray for a minute or so, allowing my body to adapt to the cold water, where I then quickly scrubbed myself and washed my hair before turning the shower off and wrapping a towel around myself. I crept quietly into the room and gathered my duffel before removing my clothes for the day as the door opened and I saw Sam's figure pause in the doorway before he closed the door behind him. Dean shifted on the bed, moving his hand beneath his pillow as Sam rounded the corner, carrying three coffees on the take-out cardboard holders. He started upwards, turning over his shoulder, but keeping his hand beneath the pillow before relaxing when he saw it was his brother.
"Morning sunshine" Sam taunted and Dean groaned before flopping back down on the bed.
"What time is it?" he asked sleepily.
"It's about five forty-five" Sam stated and I frowned at how early it was. Great!
"In the morning?" Dean asked and I snorted.
"Yes idiot. Like I would let you sleep in past ten in the morning" I said and Dean groaned.
"Where does the day go?" he questioned and I snorted as he sat up.
"What are you doing awake? And wearing nothing but a towel?" he asked and I rolled my eyes at him, grateful that I'd showered before he woke so that any traces of last night would be washed down the drain. I shrugged in response.
"I woke up in the middle of the night to find you'd taken up the bed again. I nearly fell on the floor so Sam kindly let me sleep with him" I shrugged, I hated lying to Dean but he had enough to deal with considering that Sam was having trouble sleeping. Besides I was hoping that last night was a one time thing that happened from time to time when I became too stressed. I wasn't going to worry him unless the nightmares became a permanent thing again. I saw Sam glance at me carefully but I shook my head stiffly at him before pulling my clothes out of my duffel and disappearing back into the bathroom, switching the towel to wrap it round my head while I got dressed and put on deodorant, walking back into the room to see that Sam and Dean were sitting down on the beds facing each other. Sam smiled and handed me a coffee and something in a brown, paper bag which I took gratefully and sat next to him, bringing my legs up and crossing them under me.
"New fashion statement?" Sam asked and I turned to look at him before grinning.
"Yeah, I'm thinking it might distract whatever we face next long enough for you guys to kill it. Think it'll work?" I asked and he shrugged before snorting a laugh.
"It's possible" he said and I grinned as I started drinking the coffee, smiling to myself when Sam remembered that I liked it sweet.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" Dean asked and I looked up to see that he was focused on Sam. He shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah I grabbed a couple of hours" he said and Dean snorted.
"Liar. I was up at three, and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial" Dean frowned and Sam shrugged in response, where I smiled slightly, knowing he was going to say something silly in response.
"What can I say? It's riveting TV" he said and I laughed into my coffee before Dean turned to frown at me and I shrugged in response.
"Well Sam couldn't have gotten much sleep considering that I woke up lying all over him" I shrugged and Dean grinned, making both Sam and I roll our eyes at him.
"Don't say whatever you are thinking you pervert" I stated, already knowing what he was thinking because I could see the thought on my face. He was going to ask what position I'd woken up in and why Sam didn't push me onto the floor. He pouted playfully instead and I laughed.
"Drink your coffee" I said and he did just that before shaking his head.
"Seriously, when was the last time you got a good night's sleep?" Dean asked and Sam sighed, shifting his weight on the bed next to me before shrugging.
"I don't know, a while I guess. It's no big deal" he replied and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Yeah it is Sammy" I frowned and he glared at me, telling me to shut it and I turned away, knowing that I couldn't really lecture him after my nightmare last night, but I still managed to go back to sleep.
"Look I appreciate that you are both concerned" he began and Dean snorted.
"Oh I'm not concerned about you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp" Dean joked and I grinned at him before shrugging at Sam who looked at me questioningly before he started tugging on my towel wrapped hair, making the towel unwind and flop onto the floor while my hair fell around my face. I looked at him through the curtain of hair that had fallen over my face before I swept it back with my hand and he smiled, shrugging at me.
"It was distracting" he said and I hummed in thought.
"Perhaps I should tie-dye a towel and use that next time" I shrugged and he laughed before pulling my duffel over and rummaging around, pulling out a brush and sitting behind me where he started brushing my hair, careful when he brushed the tangles out. I frowned at this before grinning at Dean, making him frown.
"You know Sam, it's a good thing I'm not on my period otherwise there would've been boxes of tampons in there" I shrugged and he laughed form behind me, but I froze, wincing mentally when I thought how stupid that was. He'd had a girlfriend while he'd been in college and he'd lived with her, so that mustn't faze him anymore. Dean, on the other hand, shuddered from where he was sitting watching us.
"Now see, I remember that Dean used to brush my hair, and you used to plait it for me" I said and Dean snorted in response as Sam laughed.
"Yeah well, Dean purposely used to brush your hair so he could yank at the tangles, especially if you'd pissed him off that day" Sam stated and I shrugged in response, looking at Dean who sent me an apologetic smile.
"Oh I know, that was why I put itching power in his boxes the once because he'd pulled out a shitload of hair" I shrugged and Dean glared at me, before he frowned at Sam over my shoulder and I sighed, knowing their conversation wasn't over yet.
"But seriously, you still having nightmares about Jess?" Dean asked and Sam breathed out slowly and quietly, but I heard and felt his breath against the back of my head. I felt him shrug as he continued brushing out my hair, which I now realised was down to the bottom of my back, just above my ass.
"Yeah, but it's not just her. It's everything. I just forgot you, man this job, it's gets to you" he said and I nodded in response, agreeing with him.
"I get that Sam, it's the same with me too. But you have to try your best to push that shit away, you know, you can't bring it with you otherwise it'll weigh you down" I shrugged and Sam paused in brushing my hair as Dean nodded.
"I agree with Ali, about the not bringing it home" he said and I frowned at him curiously.
"What, so all this? It doesn't get to you? It doesn't keep you up at night?" Sam asked and Dean shrugged before shaking his head.
"Never? You're never scared?" Sam pushed again and Dean shook his head in again.
"No, not really" he replied but that was bullshit. He was scared, not of what was out there, but scared at the consequences of the job, of the people we could lose who we were trying to protect or even losing each other. He just hid it better, but I would never tell him that I knew that. Dean was a tough guy, he never wanted anyone to know his deepest thoughts and fears and I kept myself closed off to that, but occasionally he became a little emotional deep inside. He was human after all. I smiled and slid closer to the edge of the bed before reaching over to Dean and sliding my hand under his pillow, withdrawing the weapon- which was a knife- that he always had there, before showing it to him. He frowned and took it off me.
"That's not fear. That's precaution" he stated and I rolled my eyes before sitting back near to Sam where he started plaiting my hair for me, which would be nice for a change since I was tired of ponytails, plus I found a way to keep my hair out of the way and a plait would be easier to tie up this way than a ponytail. Sam sighed.
"Alright, whatever, I'm too tired to argue" he said and I frowned, the guilt bubbling up and making my shoulders tense up. I felt bad that I'd probably kept him from sleeping last night, but Sam's response was to hold my hair and grip my shoulder with his other hand, digging his thumb in a little to try and ease my tense muscles, telling me without verbally speaking that it wasn't my fault. I sighed and relaxed my shoulders, where Sam carried on plaiting as Dean's phone rang.
"Hello?" Dean asked and I knew that he didn't recognise the number that had flashed up on his phone. He frowned for a second before recognition dawned and he nodded.
"Oh right, yeah. Up in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The poltergeist thing. It's not back is it?" he listed off and I frowned, trying to think of the guy that had needed our help. His name had been Jerry but I couldn't remember his surname.
"What is it?" Dean asked and I frowned as Sam tapped my back, telling me he was done so I slid off the bed and tugged my socks and boots on, tucking my black, skinny jeans inside the boots and going over to my duffel where I pulled out the chopsticks I'd bought from a market, of course I'd checked that they weren't cursed or anything like that, and they were perfectly fine. I grabbed the plait and wound it around before inserting the chopsticks into my hair.
"Okay where?" Dean asked before he snapped his phone shut as I inserted the second one, making sure that my hair hid them which wasn't too hard since my hair had darkened over the last twelve years, to the point where it was black, with tinges of mahogany, caramel and slight tints of blue depending on the light. My eyes were still the same, however there were the occasional flecks of blue. I turned away from the mirror that was hanging up on the wall and faced Dean.
"Where to?" I asked him and he smiled as I walked over and packed my duffel up and followed Dean out of the room and over to the Impala.
"That hairdo suits you" he said and I grinned in response before he poked me, so I poked him back as we all placed our duffels in the backseat, where I then followed through with sliding in and shutting the door behind me, the boys doing the same.
Dean started the engine and backed out making me frown, before shrugging since I'd gathered that we'd already settled the payments needed, though I knew that Dean paid for the room a week or so in advance just in case, we only ever settled small stupid things anyway when we moved.
We hopped out of the Impala and I frowned at the fact that we were at an airplane hangar.
"What the hell?" I asked Dean and he shrugged in response.
"I don't know, Jerry told me to come here" he replied and I nodded slowly before following him inside, where I recognised the man standing talking to someone.
"Jerry" I called out and he turned; waving us over before saying something to the other guy he was talking to.
"Thanks for making the trip so quick. I ought to be doing you guys a favour not the other way around" he said, leading us through the hangar where we passed different sized airplanes, before turning to Sam.
"Dean and your dad really helped me out" Jerry stated and Sam nodded.
"Yeah he told me, it was a poltergeist right?" he asked and Jerry nodded as a guy passed in front of us.
"Poltergeist? Man I loved that movie" the guy said and I looked at Dean before snorting a laugh as Jerry held his hands out in annoyance. I added the movie to my mental list of 'things to do on a dull day' not that that would ever happen. But I hadn't seen that movie so it was on my list anyway.
"Nobody's talking to you, keep moving" he said, before we passed the guy, continuing to walk through the rows of planes.
"Damn right it was a poltergeist and a nasty one at that. Almost tore my house apart. Tell you something if it wasn't for you and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive" Jerry said, directing the last sentence at Dean before turning his attention back to Sam.
"What about you, your dad said you were at college?" he asked and Sam looked at the floor briefly before looking back up.
"Yeah I was, I'm…um taking some time off" he replied and I smiled up at him encouragingly, making him smile back at me as Jerry nodded in response.
"Well he was real proud of you, I could tell. Talked about you all the time" Jerry said and I grinned in response, knowing that John was in fact proud of his younger son but he had trouble showing things to his boys after Mary died.
"He did?" Sam asked and I could tell he was surprised at this.
"Yeah, you bet he did. Hey, I tried to get a hold of him. How's he doing anyway?" I glanced over at Dean before shrugging.
"He's doing good thanks, just tied up in a tough job at the moment" I replied and Jerry turned to look at me curiously.
"Well, we're missing the old man but we get Sam anyway. Even trade" Jerry said and I rolled my eyes as Dean laughed slightly. We were missing the old man, but Jerry had no idea how much and how badly.
"No, not by a long shot" Sam sighed and I nudged his arm, before frowning at him, he rolled his eyes at me and shrugged in response.
"I got something I want you guys to hear" Jerry said, walking ahead slightly with Dean behind him but I stuck by Sam's side.
"There's only room for one of us to be doubting themselves in this trio" I said, poking his arm before jogging to catch up to Dean as Sam walked up onto my other side while Jerry led us into a room and closed the door behind him, but Sam didn't continue the conversation. It was a small office with a desk and filing cabinets, just how you would expect an office to look like.
"I listened to this, and thought it might be up your alley" he said, taking out a CD from on his desk and inserting it into the drive as Sam and Dean sat down on the chairs provided and I stood behind them, leaning on the backs of both their chairs.
"Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It was a recording in the cockpit for United Britannia flight 2485. It's one of ours" he stated, pressing play and taking a seat on the chair behind the desk.
"Mayday, Mayday! Repeat! 2485… immediate instruction, may be experiencing mechanical failures…" the male voice on the recording said before there was a whooshing sound.
"Took off from here, crashed about two hundred miles south. They're saying it's a mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board and only seven got out alive. Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh...well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault" Jerry explained and I frowned.
"You don't think it was?" I asked, sensing that he didn't agree with his friend. Jerry shook his head at me.
"No I don't" he stated and I knew he believed that, so I nodded in response.
"Jerry we're gonna need passenger manifests…um, a list of survivors" Sam began, ticking the things off on his fingers and I nodded in agreement with him.
"And, is there any chance we can take a look at the wreckage?" Dean asked and Jerry thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"Now the other things won't be a problem. But the wreckage… well the NTSB has it on lockdown, there's no way I have that kind of clearance" he said and I nodded in response before exchanging a look with Dean, where we both grinned slightly.
"Don't worry about it, it isn't a problem" I said, tearing my gaze away to nod at Jerry politely and hide my grin.
We said our goodbyes before leaving the office and the hangar and heading towards the Impala, where we climbed in and Dean drove into town, looking for something though I didn't know what, and that was weird because I could usually guess what Dean was going to do.
It didn't take long though and he soon pulled up outside of a Copy Jack, before climbing out and slamming the door behind him, not waiting for Sam or myself which made me think he didn't really care if we followed or not. I frowned at Sam and he turned in his seat to shrug at me before we climbed out of the car and sat on the hood, something that I could see Dean being pissed off about but I wasn't too worried. I dug my hand into the pocket of my jacket and took out a pack of cookies, before opening them and offering one to Sam. He smiled, and lifted his eyebrows.
"Cookies?" he asked and I shrugged in response so he laughed and took one.
"Do you remember when you guys would visit every now and then? And you guys always shared with me because the spare room was given to your dad and we all preferred sleeping in my room instead of splitting you and Dean between Alissa and I?" I asked and Sam smiled slightly before nodding as he munched on the cookie. I took another one out and passed it to him.
"Do you remember that one night where Liss came into the room because she could hear us whispering and we'd kept her awake?" I asked and Sam scoffed a laugh while I watched his face, seeing that he remembered.
"Yeah, we were talking about things in general and then we snuck downstairs and raided the junk food cabinet before taking like six packs of cookies back to your room and eating the evidence" he grinned, making me grin too before and I sighed, shaking my head at him.
"No we talked about my life, you and Dean always steered the conversation away from you whenever I questioned you guys about it" I sighed and Sam frowned before shrugging, making me sigh.
"I'm sorry" I said and my friend looked at me, his brows furrowing in confusion and I fisted my hands, resisting the urge to smooth his eyebrows out with my finger. Which was a weird urge really! What did it mean? I sighed as I watched Sam's face.
"I'm sorry for everything you know. Everything that you have gone through in your twenty two years. Sorry for Dean and I pulling you away from college and sorry for all the pain you are feeling. I'm so sorry that I can't do anything to help you Sam. And even more sorry that you got landed with my ass" I sighed, swallowing around the lump in my throat and rubbing my hands over my face to push back the tears that wanted to spill over. Man I needed to get a grip. I heard Sam sigh before he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to his side.
"I don't know why you're apologising for things that you have no control over?" he asked and I shrugged before looking up at his face, and seeing the confusion etched once again into his eyebrows. I shook my head at him and shuffled around so that the cookies lay on my lap and I could lean backwards on my hands and look at him. I sighed before shaking my head.
"I don't know, after last night and seeing that after my mom died I went straight for the phone and called you guys instead of the police. Well I can't help but think that if I hadn't called you guys at all, things might be different" I said and Sam snorted before he shook his head and shifted his weight so that he was sitting crossed legged, though I'm surprised he could sit comfortably considering how long his legs were. He frowned at me.
"What's the real reason you're saying this to me?" he asked and I blinked before looking away. Damn it, how was it that Sam could see things so easily, whereas it took Dean a while to figure these things out? Then again, for some reason I would never have said this to Dean though it was because I wouldn't want him to worry. He worried too easily and too much, though he would never show it unless it was needed.
"Ali?" Sam pushed again and I turned to look at him, making him frown and shift his weight closer to me, his knees digging into the side of my thigh. I shook my head at him and closed my eyes, willing the tears away but they fell instead. I took in a deep shaky breath, before crossing my legs and placing my hands on my thighs.
"Because Sam, I'm bad luck. I see that now. I was with my family, I watched them die in front of me and I didn't do a damn thing about it. Dean and I had dropped you off before coming back the night Jess died. I can't help but think you and Dean and John, when he shows his face again, would be better off without me. Everyone I love dies and if it wasn't for the three of you, I don't even know how I would've gotten up in the morning" I whispered, as I felt Sam's hand on my own, so I turned my hand over and laced my fingers with his. The feel of his skin, not completely smooth, but not completely rough either, against my own made my turn and look up at him where he frowned when he saw my face.
"You really think this?" he asked and I swallowed before nodding.
"Ali, why do you think so low of yourself? Saying you're a crap Hunter, which isn't true by the way, and then blaming yourself for every bad thing in our lives. Jesus Ali, how can you blame yourself for anything? You don't control the cosmic order of things. Besides isn't it you who believes things happen for a reason? Maybe the reason for everything happening to all of us will be shown soon, but if it wasn't for you, I think Dean, dad and I would've gotten into a load more fights. You always place yourself in the middle of everything. You're always there for us whenever we need a hug, someone to talk to, or just to sit beside you and share your company. Like you always say to us, we can't focus on the bad things in our life because sooner or later they will tear us apart. You need to learn to take your own advice Ali, because if it wasn't for you, I don't know how Dean or I would've coped some days" he sighed and I squeezed his hands, smiling at him and he smiled sadly back before I shrugged.
"I know, I overthink things too much" I sighed and he snorted.
"That's an understatement" he said and I poked my tongue out at him, making him laugh as I shook my head.
"I think that, after having that nightmare again for the first time in about three years, it just made me think. Reliving that night and remembering how helpless I felt, well I don't ever want to feel that way again. And the only way that would happen was if anything were to happen to you, or Dean, or John" I sighed, frowning and Sam smiled at me before shrugging.
"Well that's why you're here, to keep our crazy asses under control and smacking us over the head when we don't think rationally" he shrugged and I grinned.
"Do I have permission to do that?" I asked and he rolled his eyes at me.
"If you have to, but you know I'll always help you when Dean becomes too much" he shrugged and I laughed.
"After all these years you have no faith in me being able to keep him under control?" I questioned and Sam grinned at me before shaking his head and focusing back on my face, fixing me with a look.
"Don't keep doubting yourself Ali. You're an important part of the team, plus we love you. We need you to keep us in line" he shrugged and I laughed before rolling my eyes and glaring at him.
"And you Mister, need to take your own advice. What was that back there, doubting yourself? I never thought I would see the day where a Winchester doubted his mad hunting skills" I joked and Sam smiled, but it wasn't the smile of his that I loved so much. Wait what?
"Well it isn't exactly a fair trade, me for dad?" he said, but it sounded more like a question.
"You're right, it's not" I shrugged and Sam looked sad, which made me smile.
"It's better, you were always more fun than your dad" I shrugged and he laughed before rolling his eyes at me and stealing a cookie from the packet and eating the whole thing. I frowned at him.
"You have a big mouth and long legs" I stated and he glared at me which made me laugh before I reached for a cookie but he moved it out of my reach, making me frown and reach again, but Sam slid off the car so that he didn't fall off, making me fall on my face, stretched across the hood. He began laughing at me and I slid off the car before chasing him around the Impala.
"Give me those cookies back!" I shouted before we stopped at opposite sides of the car and he grinned cheekily.
"Nope, they are mine now" he stated, taking one out of the packet before stuffing it in his mouth and moaning loudly, making a woman who was walking passed look at us curiously. I smiled and nodded at her before frowning at Sam, where we both laughed and I took his momentary lapse of concentration to my advantage and ran around the car, before jumping on his back, making me squeal when he straightened up.
"Dude, you're a giant" I said, tightening my legs around his waist as I wrapped my arms around his neck, reaching for the cookies which he kept out of my reach and I groaned.
"What is it with you and my height? Just because you're a dwarf" he said, shrugging his shoulders, making me bobble and I sighed into his ear.
"Because you and Dean teased me enough about my shortness when I was younger. Besides I've never actually had a piggyback from you" I said and he snorted.
"That's a lie, I gave you one for your thirteenth, remember?" he pointed out and I hummed in thought before nodding. That was true.
"Okay, but you weren't over six foot then" I retorted and he nodded.
"Fair enough. I'll give you a piggyback now" he said and I laughed before tightening my hold on him as he gripped my knees and ran down the street with me, making me laugh loudly. He ran back and I let go of his shoulder to place my hand in the air and twirl it as though I was twirling a piece of rope.
"I'm a real life cowgirl!" I whooped and Sam burst into fits of laughter, as passers-by gave us weird looks, but we were too busy laughing to care.
We reached the Impala and saw that there was no sign of Dean which meant he was still inside as I slid down Sam's back, where he didn't let me go until my feet were safely on the floor, then again he was a whole foot taller than me. Sam and I looked at each other before shrugging and returning to the car, where I sat in the back with my laptop as Sam sat in the front.
"Okay, I take the recording, you check the survivors?" I asked and Sam nodded in response.
"Good plan" he replied, smiling at me before pulling out his laptop and logging onto his emails since Jerry had said he would email them to Sam.
About an hour or so later, after Sam and I had been finished for a while and were just hanging around the car, finishing off the cookies, Dean walked out, glancing at a woman briefly and saying 'hi' before looking at the two of us and grinning.
"What the hell have you two been doing?" he asked and I rolled my eyes at him, sensing that he was teasing us so I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Lots why?" I replied and Dean snorted.
"I meant the piggyback ride earlier" he stated and I frowned.
"How did you see that?" Sam asked curiously and Dean chuckled.
"Dude there are these things called windows" Dean said sarcastically and I rolled my eyes at him again.
"We were having fun, since you are turning into a boring old man" I shrugged and Dean smirked at me.
"Oh really?" he asked before advancing on me and grabbing me by the waist and spinning me around, making me laugh before he settled me down.
"Okay Dean, you're living the wild life" I laughed and he grinned as Sam leant against the side of the car and I smiled at Sam before looking back at Dean.
"Dude what happened, you've been forever" Sam said, exaggerating it a little. I rolled my eyes as Dean showed us three ID's.
"Yeah well, you can't rush perfection" Dean stated as Sam and I took the ID's from him before I frowned.
"Homeland Security?" Sam asked and I frowned at Dean.
"That's pretty illegal, even for us" Sam said and I nodded slowly in response but hey, what was the point in doing this job and not getting paid for it if you couldn't have fun through committing serious offences of identity fraud? If killing creatures wasn't enough of a rush, then committing fraud was a close second since we could be tracked.
"Yeah well it's something different. People haven't seen it a thousand times" Dean replied and I smiled at his way of thinking. He moved around to climb into the car and Sam and I walked around to the other side.
"Hey, thanks" I whispered to him and he grinned down at me before shrugging.
"Anytime, even the most strongest of people need a shoulder every now and then" he stated and I smiled at him before shaking my head.
"Well don't expect me to freak out on you too much" I replied and he shook his head before we climbed into the car.
"Alright, so what do you got?" Dean asked and I settled into the chair as Sam pulled out a recorder that we had been working with earlier on.
"Well there's definitely EVP in the cockpit voice recorder" Sam stated and Dean glanced at him quickly.
"Yeah?" he asked, before turning away and Sam nodded, before pressing a button on the recorder, which no longer had the voice of the Pilot on but something else entirely.
"No survivors" the gravelly voice said and I frowned, still trying to figure out what it meant.
"'No survivors'? What does that mean? There were seven survivors" Dean asked and Sam shrugged.
"Got me" he replied and I knew he meant that he was just as confused.
"So what are you thinking? A haunted flight?" Dean asked and I frowned in thought, continuing to listen to their conversation.
"Well there's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes and ships, like phantom travellers" Sam stated and I bit my lip as Dean hummed in thought.
"What about flight 401?" Sam asked and I let my lip go before shrugging to myself.
"Yeah, the one that crashed. The airline salvaged some of the parts, put them in other planes and the ghosts of the pilot and co-pilot haunted those planes" I stated and both boys nodded from the front.
"Right" Sam stated as Dean said "Yep" at the same time.
"Could it be the same thing?" I asked and Sam shrugged.
"Could be" he replied.
"Alright, so the survivors, who do you want to talk to first?" Dean asked Sam.
"Third on the list, Max Jaffey" Sam stated and I frowned.
"Why him?" I asked and Sam shuffled slightly to angle his head in my direction.
"Because for one he's from around here and two if anyone saw anything weird he did" Sam stated.
"What makes you say that?" Dean asked and Sam looked at him.
"Because I talked to his mother" he began, "-and when I asked about him, she said he'd checked himself into a mental institute" Sam finished and I frowned at how weird that was as Sam told Dean the address and we drove in the direction of Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital.
The boys climbed out of the car and I followed after them as we walked up to the woman in a pale pink nurse uniform who was sitting behind a computer, typing something on there. Dean cleared his throat to get her attention and she looked up before smiling at the boys, before her gaze landed on me and she frowned. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her, knowing that that wouldn't have been very professional of me, so I sent her a bright, charming smile instead and she frowned harder before turning away and focusing on Sam and Dean.
"What can I do for you?" she asked and I bit the inside of my cheek, getting pissed off at how she was checking them out, something which I was used to, but for some reason I was in a bad mood ever since we had gotten in the car to come here. Sam sent her a smile which made her blink.
"We're looking for a Mr Max Jaffey?" he asked and the woman nodded, before typing his name into the computer and looking back up at us.
"He is located in room 203, but if he isn't there then he is probably outside on the deck somewhere" she said and the three of us nodded.
"Thanks" Sam said, before we walked off and I frowned at the signs we passed, but found that we were on the right floor, so we sought out room 203 and it was me who found it, but the door stood ajar and there was no one inside, so with a sigh I headed back to the boys and shrugged. They understood what I meant so we headed outside to the porch where we looked for the man, finding him fairly easy as he was walking down the deck in our direction, wearing a white patient's uniform and using a stick to support his right side. I walked over to him.
"Mr Jaffey?" I asked as I approached him. He frowned and nodded at me so I smiled as I felt Sam and Dean stand behind me.
"We're with Homeland Security and were hoping we could ask you a few questions about the plane crash you were involved in?" I asked and he frowned, but Dean held out the ID he had and the man nodded, before leading us down the steps towards a grassy area.
"I don't understand, I already spoke to Homeland Security" he said and Sam nodded from where he was walking in between Max Jaffey and myself.
"Right. Some new information has come up, so if you could answer some questions for us…" Dean said, from the man's other side. And he nodded before approaching a patio set, with a black table and four chairs, where the four of us sat down, making it easier to face each other.
"Just before the plane went down did you notice anything…unusual?" Sam asked.
"Something like flickering lights, weird noises, maybe. Voices" Dean listed and he shook his head.
"No, nothing like that"
"Mr Joffey-" Dean began and Max Jaffey frowned in response.
"Jaffey" he corrected and Dean nodded.
"Right" he said and I rolled my eyes at him before leaning forwards on my arms, which I'd placed on the table.
"Mr Jaffey, you checked yourself in here, right?" I asked and he nodded in response.
"May I ask why?" and he shrugged at my question.
"I just survived a plane crash, I was a little stressed" he replied and I sat back in my seat in frustration. He wasn't telling us anything.
"Uh huh, and that's what terrified you?" Dean asked and I heard the tone of sarcasm in his voice, suggesting that he didn't believe the man either.
"I…I don't want to talk about this anymore" he replied, sitting back in his chair and I swallowed the groan of frustration that I wanted to release.
"See I think maybe you did see something" Dean said and Max Jaffey turned to look at him.
"Well I was…I was delusional, seeing things" was his response and Dean looked at Sam and I in disbelief.
"He was seeing things" he parroted and I rolled my eyes at him, since that wasn't necessary.
"It's okay, just tell us what you thought you saw then please" Sam encouraged and the man sitting opposite me sighed.
"There was this…man and he had these uh…these eyes- black eyes. And I thought I saw him uh…" Max rambled and I could tell that he was a little scared.
"What?" I asked as gently as possible and Max turned to look at me.
"I thought I saw him open the emergency exit" he stated before blinking and looking at Sam and Dean, "-but that's impossible right?" he asked them before frowning, "-I mean, I looked it up, there's like two tons of pressure on that door" he said but I couldn't tell whether he believed it or not. It was more of a feeling I had where he was trying to persuade himself.
"Yeah" Dean said and Sam leaned forwards a little.
"This man, did he disappear and reappear quickly? It would look something like a mirage?" Sam asked and Max Jaffey frowned at him in confusion.
"What, are you nuts?" he asked Sam, who tilted his head in confusion. I found that kind of ironic, the guy who had admitted himself to a mental hospital was asking someone if they were nuts. I looked at Dean and smiled slightly, making him shake his head to cover a smile of his own, obviously he thought the same thing.
"He was a passenger, he was sitting right in front of me" Max answered and I blinked in surprise. So that ruled out any ghosts haunting the plane. I sent Max a smile and stood up, signalling for the guys to do the same and they did.
"Thank you Mr Jaffey, I think that's all we need" I said, before sending him a nod, while Sam shook his hand and we walked off, back through the Psychiatric hospital and towards the Impala.
"Well that rules out ghosts" I sighed as we climbed inside and Dean started the car before nodding and I sighed before tapping Sam on the shoulder.
"Can you use the list of passengers that Jerry gave you to find out who was sitting in front of Max?" I questioned and Sam nodded, before removing the piece of paper that he had been given and scanning the list.
"Okay I know where we're going" Sam stated and Dean nodded as I turned out of the window while Sam rattled off the address of where the passenger used to live and we pulled up outside of a pleasant house, one that I would associate with families and white picket fence life. Which it looked like it belonged to a family with money.
"Okay so here we are. George Phelps, seat 20C" Sam stated and Dean sighed.
"Man, I don't care how strong you are. Even yoked up on PCP or something, there's no way you can open an emergency exit in the middle of a flight" Dean said as we climbed out of the car and slammed the doors closed behind us.
"Not if you're human, but maybe if you're some kind of creature" Sam suggested and I frowned at him before turning away and looking at the house, shaking my head as I did so.
"Does that look like a creature's lair to you?" Dean asked and I saw Sam turn and assess the house before he sighed and shrugged. The house looked perfectly ordinary.
We all turned and walked over to the house, approaching the door where Dean knocked and a woman answered.
"Mrs Phelps?" Dean asked and she nodded before he held up his badge.
"We'd like to ask you some questions if that's okay?" he asked and the woman nodded, before standing aside and letting us into the living room. It was a nice place.
We all took a seat, Mrs Phelps on the couch and Sam, Dean and myself on the chairs opposite her. Well the boys sat but I stood, I hating sitting down and preferred standing behind the boys, it was a strange thing I'd always done for as long as I'd helped with interviewing people.
"What can you tell us about your husband Mrs Phelps?" I asked her politely and she thought for a moment before saying the first thing that popped into her head.
"Well he was a dentist, and he liked his work" she shrugged before I nodded.
"This is your late husband?" Sam asked, showing the woman a framed photo that was placed on a cabinet next to where he was sitting. She smiled sadly and nodded.
"Yes that was my George" she replied.
"And you said he was a dentist?" Dean asked, just to double check and she nodded in response.
"He was headed to a convention in Denver. Did you know he was petrified to fly? For him to go like that…" she replied trailing off and I sensed her sadness at how he died in the one way he was afraid of dying.
"How long were you married?" Sam asked her.
"Thirteen years"
"In all that time did you ever notice anything…strange or out of the ordinary with your husband?" I questioned and she frowned at me.
"Well… he had acid reflux, if that's what you mean?" was her answer and I frowned in response as the boys glanced at each other. Well whatever had happened, I doubted that George Phelps was anything out of the ordinary.
"Thank you for your time Mrs Phelps" Sam said politely, before standing up and Dean followed suit before we showed ourselves out of the house, and I sighed quietly. Well that was unnecessary though I suppose it ruled out the man.
"I mean it goes without saying. It just doesn't make sense" Sam stated and Dean shrugged as we walked down the stairs.
"A dentist with an ulcer isn't exactly evil personified. What we do need to do is get into the NTSB warehouse, check out the wreckage" Dean suggested and we nodded in response.
"Okay but if we're gonna do that route, then we need to look the part" Sam said before climbing into the car. Dean and I looked at each other before shrugging and climbing into the car at the same time.
Dean stopped the car when Sam told him to and we both frowned at Sam, which made him smile and climb out of the car. I frowned up at the suit rental shop and climbed out of the car as Dean did the same.
"Come on guys" Sam sighed, urging us forwards. Dean walked in front but I stayed where I was and I shook my head in response.
"Nope, I think I'll let you guys handle this one" I said and they turned to look at me, frowning in confusion and I grinned at them.
"Well this is a suit rental guys" I stated and Sam looked back at me in annoyance, as though I was telling a child something it already knew.
"Yeah" he drawled and I rolled my eyes.
"Can you really see me in a suit? Besides I have a feeling that to 'look the part' I would have to wear a skirt. There is no way I am trying to run in a skirt" I shrugged and Dean shrugged at Sam in response.
"She has a point man, I don't remember Ali ever wearing a skirt so I doubt she could run in one, especially a tailored suit" Dean reasoned and I smiled at my brother, which made him smile back and Sam nodded in agreement before they turned and walked into the shop.
I leant against the side of the Impala; waiting for them to return so they could hear any jokes I made as soon as I soon them. I was looking forward to taking the piss out of them, especially Dean since he teased me endlessly. Luckily though they didn't take long, since I saw their figures approaching the doors, before they pushed them open. My jaw went slack and I gaped at them as Sam adjusted his collar. Holy crap on a cracker, they looked smokin' hot!
Both of them wore crisp black suits with white shirts and black ties. Dean looked extremely uncomfortable.
"What happened to you? The suit giving you a wedgie?" I asked Dean, since his face looked pained.
"Man, I look like one of the Blues brothers" he sighed and I grinned in response before shrugging.
"That's who I was thinking of" I nodded slowly and Sam shot me a glare, so I smiled and he rolled his eyes at me, knowing I was teasing my brother.
"In fact, you look like an undertaker" I shrugged and Sam shook his head.
"Nah, he actually looks more like a… seventh grader at his first dance" Sam taunted and I laughed in response as Dean glared at the two of us before I shrugged, deciding that I needed to be nice.
"Actually, you both look real good. I would totally jump you if that wasn't weird" I shrugged and Dean smirked so I winked playfully at him as Sam looked at me in shock, so I frowned.
"What?" I asked and he shook his head.
"What Sammy?" I asked, knowing that it annoyed him whenever we called him that. He narrowed his eyes before shrugging.
"Nothing it's just that, I never would've expected you to say something like that" he stated and I rolled my eyes.
"Yes well, my boys have never looked so fine before" I grinned and Dean smirked before nudging Sam's arm as the younger brother shook his head and walked up to me, where he opened the passenger door and I swore I saw his cheeks turn a light shade of pink, but I couldn't have been correct since it disappeared just as quickly as I saw Dean look down at himself and sigh in frustration.
"I hate this" he stated and Sam turned to look back at him, frowning in response.
"You want to get in to that warehouse or not?" he replied and Dean sighed in response, so I shrugged.
"If it's in lockdown, then not even your mad skills can get you passed security without an alarm being raised. This is the only option Dean" I shrugged and he shrugged before walking over and climbing into the car.
I sighed as I played with the radio in the car while I waited for the guys to come back out as I let my mind wander. I don't ever recall seeing them in suits before and I knew this because I was positive that I would remember how they looked. They had never looked so damn fine before, and three years ago I never would've said that to their face, but after staying with Dean for over a year and a half, working jobs with him more that John, well he brought out the ballsy side of me that I didn't realise I had, though with Sam back as Dean's partner in crime, I didn't need that side so much, so I'd reverted back to my quiet, observational self where I only gave input when it was needed and spent the rest of the time being the nerd and researching anything and everything that might be needed for the current case. Three was an awkward number, so I couldn't really do much since the boys were more experienced than me, but if I got to see them in suits more often, then I totally would be happy with being in the backseat, figuratively speaking of course, I preferred the passenger seat when in the car but oh well.
I heard car doors slam and looked over to see two suited men climb out of a sleek black car. I would guess and say it was a Mercedes but I was more into… well anything but cars really, that was why John had left the Impala to Dean and gotten himself a truck a few years ago, whether he still had the truck though was a question since his license plates hadn't dug up any sign of him. They walked towards the warehouse and I groaned.
"Shit" I cursed under my breath, knowing that this wasn't good because they were real officers or government officials or whatever, but luckily we had parked the car so that I wouldn't be seen so easily but that I could still see out. I took my cell out of my pocket, since I had one but never used it. I didn't see the point really, the only time I used it was to contact one of the boys since we used newspapers and the internet to look for jobs, it was rare that we came across a job from someone calling us. I unlocked the keypad before scrolling down to Dean's number on my contacts, torn as to whether I should call him and warn him, or whether I shouldn't and reduce the risk of them being found if they were hiding since Dean never had his phone on silent. I sighed and locked the keypad again, going for the latter option to keep them safe if they were hiding.
Alarms started ringing in the warehouse and I frowned before leaning forwards and starting the car, seeing Dean throw his jacket onto the barbed wire on top of the fence to my right and jumping over, where Sam did the same and Dean grabbed the jacket. He said something to Sam, who shook his head, before they ran over to the car and I settled back in the seat as Dean drove us away from the warehouse.
"So what happened?" I asked from the backseat and Dean glanced at me in the mirror before Sam turned in his chair to see me better. See this is why Sam was good in the passenger seat since he turned around to talk to me, Dean never used to when the four of us would share a car and John would be driving. Both boys undid their ties, Dean leaving his around his neck as Sam removed his completely, and both of them undid the top button of their white shirts. Obviously they felt more uncomfortable than they looked.
"Well we checked out the hangar but there was no EMF, or none that Dean's busted up Walkman could find" Sam began, frowning at his brother while I chuckled.
"Okay so no EMF and don't hate on the Walkman, it's a piece of junk but it works just fine" I shrugged and Sam grinned as Dean sighed and shook his head before Sam handed me a bag and I saw that he had a knife with scrapings on the blade. I held the bag up to the window and squinted at the yellow scrapings, but had no clue what it was, so I handed the bag back to Sam and nodded.
"Okay so where did you find that and what's the plan now?" I asked.
"That was on the emergency door handle, so we're heading back to the hangar to see if Jerry has a microscope or something we can use" Dean explained and I nodded, before we pulled up outside of the hangar about ten minutes after and headed straight towards the office where Jerry was already sat inside working on something. I politely knocked on the door before walking in and he stood up at our entrance.
"What happened?" he asked and the boys moved to stand either side of me.
"You got a microscope?" Dean questioned and Jerry frowned.
"Huh, this stuff is covered in sulphur" Jerry stated looking up at us and away from the microscope which he had been peering into for the last five minutes.
"You sure?" Sam asked and he nodded.
"Take a look for yourself" he replied as banging was heard outside of the door and voices were heard, obviously some sort of argument but I didn't pay much attention to what was said though it sounded like 'You piece of crap' or something along those lines.
"If you'll excuse me, I have an idiot to fire" Jerry sighed, before walking around the desk and out of the door as Dean made his way over to the microscope.
"Hey Einstein, yeah you, what the heck are you doing? Put that wrench down…" Jerry said and I rolled my eyes at how idiotic people were today before focusing on Dean who was looking into the microscope.
"There aren't many things that leave behind a sulphuric residue are there?" I frowned, questioning the boys and they shook their heads at me.
"No Ali there aren't" Dean stated, sending me a smile to say he was happy that I knew that, which of course I did, I was just a little unsure.
"Demonic possession?" Sam asked and I had to blink at his question.
"It would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to unlock an emergency hatch" Dean pointed out as I sat down in the chair behind me, needing to sit before my legs gave out. Demonic possession. Demons! The dream I had last night… my family were killed by demons. That's what that black mist of particles were that rose up from the floor. Demons! And there had been six of them, though what I didn't understand was why they kept themselves covered. Demons don't care if their victims see them, because they would always die, and if I had been taken by them like the leader had told my mom, well I would've had to see their faces at some point. Right?
"If the guy was possessed then it's possible" Sam said, the two of them continuing their conversation, completely blind to what was going through my head.
"This goes way beyond floating over a bed and barfing pea soup. Possession of a human is one thing, but using them to take down an entire plane…" Dean trailed off, seemingly confused, but what I couldn't get my head around was the fact that I'd dreamt about my family dying last night, the first night in about three years and the next day we get a call from someone we saved and the case leads to demonic possession and demons? That was way too coincidental, then again I didn't believe in coincidences, especially because I'd been unable to remember who or what had killed my family. Everything was a blur except for how they died, I couldn't even see outlines of figures and after two years of trying we'd given up. So for me to suddenly remember now? That was strange and something wasn't right…surely? God I was so confused!
"You ever heard of this happening before?" Sam asked and I heard Dean sigh.
"Never" he stated and I blinked against the slight ache that was building up between my eyes, so I massaged my temples.
"So what's the plan guys?" I asked, letting my hands drop to my lap so I could look up, just as the two of them focused on me. I swallowed and pushed everything down, deciding to deal with that later on when this was over, or when we had a lull in between jobs.
"Well, we do some research" Dean groaned and I grinned in response. Good, something I was good at, finally! I nodded and got to my feet eagerly, maybe I could research something to do with my own family at the same time. I may come across something so it couldn't hurt right?
We headed back to the Impala where Dean drove us to the motel and I hurried inside, heading over to one of the beds and pulling my laptop and notebook out and booting my computer up as I tucked strands of hair behind my ears where they had fallen out of the sides and making myself comfortable on the bed, with my laptop on my thighs and my notebook set on my right.
After about two hours, we had a lot of information to do with anything relating to demonic possession. What made demons possess humans, if there was a specific person they went for, which apparently the person had to be vulnerable with a chink in their armour. There were all sorts of lore's and legends taped to the walls and how demons had become integrated to as many religions that I researched as possible. Dean was sitting at the bottom of the bed I was on, next to my feet while reading something that he had placed on the other bed, since that bed was empty. Sam was sitting at the table with his laptop placed in front of him.
I on the other hand hadn't found much about why demons would've gone after my family. It could be for fun, or because they had been conjured or promised something where the person hadn't delivered and so were killed because of that. But I couldn't see my parents ever conjuring or controlling a demon, let alone being dumb enough to let it go where it then attacked them. No, this demon had wanted something, but it didn't seem like a sacrifice of sorts, so I had hit a dead end on that part, to which my findings had been noted down in my notebook where it would stay hidden from the boys. They had enough with trying to search for their dad and then hunting whatever we came across, I couldn't tell them about this, simply because I didn't know what good it would do and something told me that John would be the best person to ask, but he wasn't here and at the moment I wasn't sure if I should trust him with this information, but I'd been feeling annoyed and angry with him lately so it could be that emotion that was keeping me from leaving a message on his phone.
"So, every religion and culture has their beliefs on demons and demonic possession. I mean Christianity, Native America, Hindu, you name it" Sam began out of the blue meaning he must have found something.
"Yeah but none of them describe anything like this" Dean said and Sam shook his head.
"That isn't exactly true. According to Japanese beliefs, certain demons can be behind specific things, both natural and man-made disasters. One causes earthquakes another causes disease" he explained and I frowned.
"What and this one causes plane crashes?" Dean and I asked at the same time before grinning at each other and turning back to Sam who shrugged as Dean got to his feet.
"Alright, so what? We have a demon that has evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, you know, who knows how many plane crashes it has caused before this one" Sam said as Dean snorted in response and I frowned at him.
"What?" I asked him, sensing that something had gone off in him and he shook his head.
"I don't know. Demons cause death and destruction, for their own sake. This isn't our normal gig you know, this is big and I wish dad was here" Dean sighed.
"Yeah, me too" Sam replied and I sighed before placing my laptop on the bed and standing up, wincing when my legs hurt.
"Shit, my butt's gone numb" I groaned and the boys laughed at me, making me laugh too.
"Sorry, I didn't realise I'd said that out loud. Now come on you pansies, we can do this. It's us against the world remember, your dad taught you well and he wouldn't have left, expecting you to sort out the first job in Jericho if he didn't believe in his boys" I stated tacking a shrug onto the end of my sentence before sighing, "-and I believe in you guys too, I mean there's no one I'd much rather have to keep my ass safe" I shrugged again and they grinned at me.
"You have a lovely way with words sis" Dean said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and I grinned at him before shrugging again.
"I try my best. Who else will keep you on your toes and believing in yourself huh?" I said and they both hummed before shrugging.
"Well you do that job pretty well Ali" Sam said and I smiled before bowing jokingly as Dean's phone rang.
"Hello?" he answered and I perched on the edge of the bed.
"Oh hey Jerry" Dean said and I looked up at him, giving his face my full attention so I could detect any change in his expression.
"Wha- Jerry I'm so sorry. What happened?" Dean asked and I sensed sadness before sighing and scrubbing my face with my hands. Jerry's friend had died; I could feel the sorrow in my heart.
"Where'd this happen?" Dean asked before snorting at Jerry's reply.
"I'll try to ignore to irony in that" he sighed before shaking his head.
"Nothing, look hang in there Jerry and we'll catch up with you soon" Dean said before snapping his phone shut, ending the conversation.
"Another crash?" Sam asked and Dean nodded.
"Yeah let's go" he sighed, shrugging into his jacket.
"Where?" I asked and Dean snorted.
"Nazareth" he replied and I let lose a tiny chuckle at the irony as I stood up ready to go.
"Are you gonna check for sulphur again?" I asked and he nodded in reply.
"Yup, but you can stay here sis" Dean said and I frowned in response before sighing and nodding and sinking back onto the bed, making Dean frown. He had obviously expected an argument but I was too tired for one.
"We won't be long, and I'll call you when we are on our way back so you can meet us back at the hangar" Dean said and I nodded.
"Okay, stay safe boys" I said and they rolled their eyes at me.
"Quit worrying woman" Dean sighed and I stuck my tongue out at him before they walked out, closing the door shut behind them and I flopped backwards onto the bed, covering my eyes with my arm and sighing.
I walked into the office, seeing the boys already there and Jerry looking into the microscope before he looked up, sending me a brief nod and focusing on the boys.
"Sulphur?" Dean asked and Jerry nodded in response.
"Well that's great. That's two plane crashes, both involving Chuck Lambert, I think the demon was after him" Dean said and I frowned, before walking over to the boys and placing a hand on Dean's shoulder, glad when I found he wasn't hurt, before placing a hand on Sam's arm and getting a weird jolt of electricity but was pleased when I found that he wasn't hurt either. Dean frowned and rolled his eyes at me before turning back to Jerry.
"With all due respect to Chuck, if that was the case then that would be the good news" Sam said and I frowned up at him questioningly.
"What's the bad news?" Dean and I asked at the same time, but I ignored the annoyed glance Dean would be sending me at the fact that I'd 'stolen his line again' instead focusing on Sam who frowned slightly.
"Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into the flight, and get this so did flight 2485" Sam stated and I rubbed my eyes tiredly.
"Forty minutes? What does that mean?" Jerry asked and I turned to look at him.
"It's Biblical Numerology. Noah's Ark… it rained for forty days. The number means death" I answered his question.
"And I went back and there have been six plane crashes all in the last decade that went down forty minutes into the flight" Sam said and I sighed quietly to myself. I hadn't even thought to check if there were previous crashes, and after discovering the sulphur on the wreck that should've been something I had checked, or it would've been anyway just in case. Instead I was focused on researching demons, but now I realised it was more so for my sake, than to help the boys. Dean had Sam back now and Sam had always been brilliant with research. There was really no need for me anymore if I thought about it.
"Any survivors?" I asked and Sam shook his head.
"No none, or not at least not until flight 2485, for some reason. But remember what the cockpit voice recording said?" he replied and I frowned.
"'No survivors'" Dean quoted before I sighed and rubbed my sore and tired eyes again.
"It's going after all of the survivors" I stated, as Dean opened his mouth to do say exactly the same.
"We should get going and sort out these survivors, make sure they are safe until we can sort this thing out" Sam said and we all nodded before saying goodbye to Jerry.
"Really? Well thank you for taking our survey, and if you do fly then please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airline. Thanks" Sam said into the phone before ending the call and scratching off another name on the list.
"Well that takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They won't be flying anytime soon" Sam said and I smiled at the back of his head. He was handy to have.
"So our only wildcard is the flight attendant Amanda Walker" Dean stated and Sam nodded.
"Her sister said that her flight leaves Indianapolis at eight pm. It's her first night back on the job" Sam said.
"That sounds like just our luck" Dean sighed and Sam shook his head.
"Dean, this is a five-hour drive, even with you behind the wheel" I stated, knowing that Dean was the best at driving out of us, well I couldn't drive very well anyway but that wasn't the point, and Dean could go longer behind the wheel than what Sam could, though I teased him saying that was only because his legs were a little longer than Dean's.
"Call Amanda's cellphone again and see if we can head her off at the pass" Dean said and Sam sighed.
"I've already left her three voice messages. She must've turned it off" Sam said, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck.
"God, we're never gonna make it" Sam sighed.
"Oh we'll make it" Dean replied, easing onto the gas a little more and pushing the Impala forwards faster. I frowned but left him to it, if it was between Sam and Dean to drive as fast as possible without getting a ticket, then I'd bet my money on life on Dean, he loved going fast but he knew the best limit. I just hoped we would get there in time.
Dean drove quickly into the airport garage and pulled into a parking space before shutting the car off and hopping out, Sam and I following after him before Dean started to move.
"Woah, woah, woah, we're about to head into an airport dude" Sam stated, fixing Dean with a pointed look and I snorted at him. He looked confused for a moment before groaning and heading back to the car, since he'd rushed out so quickly, before emptying himself of the three guns and two knives that he kept on himself constantly whenever we were awake and working.
"Damn it, I feel naked" he groaned, looking pained at the fact that he'd had to shed all of his weapons, before we ran out of the garage and through the main airport doors, which wouldn't have happened if Dean had kept his weapons on him. It was a good thing that Sam had thought of that really, because I wouldn't have. I was a little out of it though, but I had good reason to since I'd fallen asleep both when Sam and Dean had gone to Nazareth and then while Dean was driving here and both times I'd dreamt of my family and watched them die over again. Except while I was separated from the boys while they checked out the second wreckage I dreamt afterwards that they had died. That's what happened whenever I wasn't with them, and why I had to touch them, because it reassured me that they were okay, since I literally felt that they were fine, in that it was like my body was theirs and there weren't in any pain.
We rushed over to the Departures board, checking for flight 424 which we had found out was the one Amanda would be on.
"Right there. It boards in thirty minutes" Sam said, pointing it out and Dean nodded in response.
"Okay, we still have some cards to play. Now we need to find a phone" he said, looking around before running over to the phone mounted on the wall, which I knew allowed you to contact any part of the airport and they would put you through to them, no questions asked, unless it was against any sort of protocol that they had.
"Hi, gate thirteen" Dean said into the phone as Sam and I stood either side of him.
"I'm trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight…um…flight 4-2-4" Dean said and I could tell that in his haste to contact her, he'd forgotten the flight number.
"Come on" Dean said into the phone as the seconds passed, obviously becoming more agitated, though he was just making me nervous for no reason.
"Miss Walker, hi. This is Doctor James Hetfield from St Francis Memorial Hospital. We have a Karen Walker here" Dean said into the phone and I snorted at the fact he had used the guy's name from Metallica, though I didn't like that band so I had no clue who was who, I just knew that Hetfield played in the band. I think he was the drummer? Something like that at least. He played an instrument.
"Nothing serious, she was involved in a car accident, just a minor concussion so-" but Dean was interrupted by who I'm assuming was Amanda on the other end. He paused and looked a little unsure.
"You what?" he asked before frowning and looking stuck.
"Uh, well... there must be some mistake" Dean said, trying to salvage what was happening as Sam moved closer, trying to listen in on the conversation, which made me smile, but I knew that whatever had happened, Dean could solve it.
"Guilty as charged" Dean said and I frowned, this was a really weird one sided conversation. He started nodding even though Amanda couldn't see him, but it looked like he had a twitch in his neck.
"He's really sorry, so" Dean began and I saw him think.
"Well, yes, but, he really needs to see you tonight so-" Dean tried again but was cut off.
"Oh come on, don't be like that. The poor guy's in bits. Really. It's pathetic" he tried and I had to admit that he sounded convincing. Obviously she had broken up with someone recently and thought Dean was one of his friends, so that's who Dean was pretending to be.
"No, no wait. Amanda. Amanda!" Dean said loudly into the phone before slamming it back into its holder, seemingly frustrated.
"Damn it, so close" Dean sighed as we moved to the check in area, hopefully to see if we could spot her, but there wasn't much luck so far.
"Thank you for flying with United Britannia Airlines" the voice on the overhead intercom thing said and I rolled my eyes.
"Well you seem to have a demon problem love" I said sarcastically in reply to the voice and Dean snorted a laugh before Sam sighed and turned around to face us and waved his arms in the air before letting them flop back to his side.
"Okay Plan B, we're getting on that plane" Sam said and I looked at Dean, as he looked at me, both of us wide eyed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa there. Let's think this through" I said as Dean said the same thing except he said 'now hold on a second' as his second sentence.
"Guys, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board and if we're right, then that plane is gonna crash" Sam stated. Well thank you for that Captain Obvious!
"We know that Sam" I snapped and he sighed in response before shaking his head.
"Okay, so we're getting on that plane, finding the demon and performing a full on exorcism. I'll go and get the tickets, you two get whatever you can out of the trunk that we can use and that will make it passed airport security and we'll meet back here in five minutes" Sam urged and I bit my lip, looking at Dean to see that he'd gone a little pale.
"You okay?" he asked Dean, who shook his head, before looking at me and I shrugged but felt a little lightheaded.
"No, not really" Dean replied, making Sam frown in worry.
"What? What's wrong?" he asked and I gulped as Dean spoke.
"Well it's just uh… I kinda have this problem with…" but he couldn't get the sentence out so he made a flying action with his hand.
"Flying?" Sam asked, finishing off the sentence and I could tell that Dean was embarrassed by this with how he responded.
"Well, it's never really been an issue until now" he snapped in return.
"You're joking right?" Sam asked and Dean shook his head, his eyes still wide.
"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" he snapped again and Sam removed his hands from how he'd crossed them over his arms before holding them out to Dean, to try and calm him down.
"Alright, alright, then I'll go" Sam said.
"What?" Dean asked stupidly.
"I'll go, I'll do this one on my own" Sam said and I frowned at him.
"Hey" I said and he rolled his eyes at me.
"Oh please Ali, you think I can't tell that the idea of it is freaking you out too?" Sam questioned, looking annoyed that I thought so low of him, which I didn't I just hoped he hadn't noticed. I sighed and tucked the strands of hair behind my ear since they'd fallen out of place again and I sighed.
"What?" Dean asked, shaking his head and Sam sighed, throwing his arms out in frustration at being slowed down. Though I understood why he was getting a little antsy.
"I'll do this one on my own" Sam stated, adding a nod to the end to reassure Dean who looked annoyed but the idea of flying was still freaking him out.
"Dude are you nuts? You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash" Dean hissed and Sam sighed.
"Dean, we can do it together or I can do this one by myself. I'm not seeing a third option here" Sam stated firmly.
"Come on. Really?" Dean replied and I sighed in response before shaking my head and hesitantly taking a step over to him, angling my body in both Sam and Dean's direction.
"I'm coming with" I said and Dean sighed so I looked back at him and he gulped, looking at Sam and I carefully.
"It's okay brother, we'll take care of this one" I nodded encouragingly, but knew that if Sam and I were going that there was no way he would leave us alone, even though Sam and I would be there to back each other up. He sighed, obviously not pleased.
"Alright let's go" he said and I smiled at Sam before running back out through the airport, digging my heels in to push myself harder. Running was something that I was good at, at least. I used to do cross country from the age of six, plus my dad went running when he was home and I would join him while Liss helped mom in the kitchen of a Sunday. I was always the more boyish and active one, while Liss was the girlier one, though we were equally smart, I just chose to use my brain more than my sister, but she always used to depend on me.
I propped open the boot and dug through the arsenal, looking for bottled holy water and lots of it before throwing it into a duffel.
"You got your dad's journal?" I asked and Dean nodded, patting his jacket in reply before closing the boot and locking the car, where we hurried back to the airport, going through security once again, which was a pain in the ass, and meeting Sam who had bought three plane tickets, when in fact the boys could've done this without me, but I was worried that Dean would back out so I felt like I needed to say I would go with Sam if that made my Dean feel better about letting his brother go, since he technically wouldn't be alone. He held them up and we headed for Gate thirteen just as they were in the last ten minutes of boarding.
We found our seats, with me by the window and Dean in the aisle seat, Sam sandwiched between us as Dean jiggled his leg up and down and was reading the safety sign on the back of the chair in front of him. I could sense Sam's amusement at the fact that Dean was scared of something as simple as flying.
"Just try to calm down" Sam said, trying to soothe Dean.
"Just try to shut up" he retorted and I smiled in amusement as Dean jumped at the plane rattling when it began moving.
The plane rocked from side to side when it was the air and I watched as clouds zoomed passed before I looked out of the window and gripped something tightly, making Sam moan and jump in his seat. I turned to see that I'd grabbed his thigh and was sinking my nails in.
"Shit, sorry Sammy" he sighed and rolled his eyes at me before tapping my hand calmly.
"It's okay, just, try not to look out of the window?" he reasoned and I swallowed before closing my eyes and swallowing while nodding. I opened my eyes again, looking right into Sam's eyes before smiling.
"Yeah, good idea" I replied as the plane rocked again and Dean sank into his chair, making Sam smirk again.
We'd been in the air for a little while now and I was perfectly calm, managing to bury my fear of heights and how far we would fall if we couldn't stop the plane as well as the fact that the likelihood of death for all three of us was ridiculously high. Okay so maybe I hadn't pushed those thoughts away, but I had reconstructed my wall against my emotions, so that I didn't feel any of the fear. It was kept safely behind my walls, and was also the one time where I felt calm and at peace.
"Are you humming Metallica?" Sam asked and I saw that he was leaning over to Dean.
"Calms me down" Dean stated and Sam turned to look at me before we grinned slightly and he frowned at me.
"You've calmed down" he stated and I nodded before shrugging.
"I'm good at not feeling emotion when I need to keep calm" I stated bluntly and he frowned but nodded.
"Okay, whatever helps" he sighed before looking at Dean who had groaned at the turbulence again.
"Look man, I get you're nervous but you need to calm yourself down, and stay focused" Sam said and Dean nodded before swallowing and I could sense him trying to calm himself down, but it wasn't working, so I smiled encouragingly and Dean frowned at me.
"Why are you so happy?" he asked and I rolled my eyes.
"We'll get back to her" Sam stated before glancing at his watch and sighing.
"We've got thirty-two minutes to find out who this thing is possessing and perform a full on exorcism" Sam stated and Dean sorted.
"Yeah on a crowded plane, that's gonna be easy" he huffed and I frowned.
"We'll just take it one step at a time. Now who will this thing be possessing?" I asked, and Dean frowned at hearing my voice.
"It's usually gonna be someone who's vulnerable, you know who has a chink in their armour. With some sort of addiction or emotional distress" Dean stated and Sam nodded.
"Well this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her I'd be pretty messed up" Sam replied and I resisted the urge to snort at that, the three of us were already pretty messed up, even when we had no physical injuries, but I kept that thought to myself. Now was not the time. A woman walked down the aisle next to where Dean was sitting and he turned to her.
"Excuse me, are you Amanda?" he asked politely and the woman sent him a bright smile but shook her head.
"No, I'm not" she replied and I saw Dean give her a small smile.
"Oh, my mistake" he replied and the flight attendant walked back down to the front of the plane while Dean turned in his seat to look up the aisle at the back of the plane.
"Alright so that's gotta be Amanda" he said and I shifted to look over my seat at the woman manning the food cart thing behind the curtains at the back of plane, where I could see the toilets were located, "-so I'll go talk to her and uh… get a read on her mental state" he finished saying and I looked back to see him unbuckling his seatbelt.
"What if she's already possessed?" Sam asked and Dean nodded.
"There's a way to check that" he stated, before digging into the duffel bag and producing a water bottle in the shape of the Virgin Mary which contained holy water, which I knew because I'd packed it earlier. Sam shook his head and snatched the bottle away before tucking it inside his jacket.
"No we can go more subtle than that" he stated and I frowned in response.
"If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God" Sam said and I tilted my head to the side, storing that piece of information away for a rainy day. I didn't know much about demons because I hadn't really come across many of them during the job, though I know that John and Dean had but I'd never been with them on the jobs. Now I realise that I was probably a little naïve to not be curious and not know how to deal with them.
"Oh, nice" Dean stated before turning to walk away.
"Hey" Sam said, gaining Dean's attention so that he looked back.
"Try saying it in Latin" Sam suggested and Dean nodded.
"I know" he replied before turning to go.
"Oh hey" Sam said again and Dean turned once again, looking a little pissed.
"What?" he asked stiffly.
"In Latin it's 'Christo'" Sam said and Dean frowned in annoyance.
"Dude I know, I'm not an idiot" this time he left for good and I shrugged at Sam in response so I watched him go and he hit an empty chair near him when the plane shook again, making me smile fondly as Sam snorted a laugh, obviously looking as well before we faced the front again.
"You're horrid" I said and Sam frowned before grinning in response when he understood what I meant.
"I don't know what you mean" he played the innocent role and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Oh please, dumb doesn't suit you. You're horrible for picking on your brother about his fear of flying" I pointed out and Sam grinned.
"I know, it's amusing is all" I snorted at this and rolled my eyes again.
"Yeah because you're not afraid of anything?" I asked rhetorically, though I knew he was, he just wouldn't admit to it. He shrugged in response and I smiled at him.
"It's normal Sammy, surely you know that even the fearsome warriors like your brother and you are afraid of the most normal things that most people wouldn't be afraid of" I stated and he rolled his eyes but left it at that, instead he leafed through John's journal since Dean had placed it in the duffel bag that we had as carry-on luggage.
It didn't take long and Dean soon returned to his seat, huffing a little.
"Well she has got to be the most well-adjusted person on the planet" he said sarcastically and I frowned at him.
"You said 'Christo'?" I asked and he nodded.
"And?" Sam questioned though it was obvious that there was no demon in her.
"And there was no demon in her, there's no demon getting in her either" Dean stated and I sighed before letting my eyes roam around the parts of the plane that I could see without having to adjust my head too much, since it might look a little suspicious to the other passengers if I kept watching them.
"So if it's on the plane, then it can be anyone" Sam sighed as the turbulence made the plane shake.
"Come on, that can't be normal!" Dean exclaimed.
"Hey, hey, it's just a little turbulence" Sam stated gently.
"Sam this plane is gonna crash okay, so quite treating me like I'm friggin' four" Dean snapped and I frowned at him, leaning towards both Dean and Sam a little, though Sam didn't seem to mind the fact that I was half leaning on him.
"You need to calm down Dean" I said carefully and he glared at me.
"Well I'm sorry, I can't" he replied and I frowned.
"Yes, you can" Sam said and Dean groaned.
"Dude, the touchy feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping" he hissed and I sighed in response.
"You can do this Dean and you will. First of all, you've never let anything get to you this badly before, even when we've been in life or death situations" I said and Sam nodded in agreement.
"Exactly, and secondly if you're panicked you are wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down right now" Sam finished my sentence, in exactly the way I was going to say it, which made me frown at him and Dean took a deep calming breath before turning to stare at the two of us.
"That was weird you two" he said and I grinned in response.
"Twilight zone weird, dude" I replied and Sam snorted a laugh before clearing his throat.
"Good, now I found an exorcism here in dad's journal that I think will work. The Rituale Romanum" he said and I nodded, that sounded vaguely familiar for a weird reason, considering that I had never dealt with demons personally before.
"Okay, what do we have to do?" Dean asked.
"It's two parts. The first expels the demon and allows it to manifest, making it more powerful" Sam said and Dean frowned.
"More powerful?" he questioned and I nodded.
"Yeah, it doesn't need to possess a body anymore, it can wreak havoc on its own" I said and both boys turned to frown at me.
"What?" I asked and they shook their heads, before returning to the matter at hand.
"Okay and why is that a good thing?" Dean asked his brother, who sighed.
"Well because the second part sends it straight back to hell. Once and for all" Sam replied and we grinned at each other.
"First we need to find it" I pointed out and the boys nodded before getting out of their seats. I went to move but Sam shook his head at me.
"You stay here, watch the passengers for any weird reactions while Dean and I scan" he instructed and I rolled my eyes but nodded and shifted to Dean's seat watching as he walked down the aisle, moving the EMF reader. I watched as he moved it from person to person, but all he received were weird looks from the passengers, no supernatural readings. Sam walked up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, making Dean jump and probably cry out from what I was reading from Sam's amused expression.
"Anything?" Sam asked and I heard his voice as well as saw his lips form the word, and Dean shook his head, before Sam shook his. Okay so they hadn't gotten anything between them and I hadn't gotten anything either except the feel that it was definitely here, somewhere. It was obviously just hiding really well. Sam glanced at his watch as they moved a little closer to me.
"Fifteen minutes. Maybe we missed somebody?" he said to Dean who shrugged.
"Maybe the thing's just not on the plane" he replied, sounding more hopeful than sure. Sam gave him a look.
"You really believe that?" he asked and Dean shrugged.
"I will if you will" he replied, just as the EMF reader started spiking and he looked up.
"Christo" he said and I looked up to see the co-pilot walking out of the toilets. He looked back at the sound of God and we all saw that his eyes were black, before he disappeared back into the cockpit as Dean looked between Sam and me. Ah hell.
Dean turned and walked to the back of plane, where I shrugged at Sam and motioned him forwards to follow after Dean, which he did so I slid out of my seat and followed the two of them, seeing that Dean was heading towards the back where Amanda was still located. I sighed and shook my head, knowing instantly what Dean was going to do.
"She's not going to believe this" I heard Sam say and I couldn't help but to agree with him.
"Twelve minutes dude" Dean stated as he walked up to Amanda and she smiled at him.
"Oh hi, flight's not too bumpy for you I hope?" she asked as Sam and I walked through.
"Actually that's what we need to talk to you about" Dean said as I shut the curtain behind us, giving the illusion of privacy.
"Oh um…okay, what can I do for you?" she asked politely and I admired the fact that she was calm on the outside, when the appearance of the three of us had her a little apprehensive.
"This is gonna sound nuts, but we don't have time for the whole 'the truth is out there' speech now" Dean said and I sighed.
"Alright look, we know you were on flight 2485" I stated, needing the get this over with because like Dean said, twelve minutes. Amanda's pleasant, flight attendant smile disappeared.
"Who are you guys?" she asked carefully and I smiled slightly, trying to reassure her that we weren't going to hurt her.
"We spoke to some of the other survivors who were there and we know it wasn't a mechanical failure that brought that plane down" Sam stated and she frowned in response.
"We need your help to stop it from happening again. Here. Now" Dean rushed and she shook her head.
"I'm very busy… I, uh, I need to go" she said, trying to get out of the way, probably thinking we were nutcases.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not gonna hurt you okay, but look the pilot on 2485… Chuck Lambert? He's dead" Dean stated. Wow, way to go with ripping the band aid off Dean!
"Wait what? Chuck's dead?" she asked, confused. So she hadn't heard?
"He died in a plane crash. That's two crashes in two months, that doesn't strike you as strange?" Dean asked, urging her to understand and see the connection.
"I-" she began, but trailed off, obviously realising something was a little off but I looked at her and she met my eyes.
"Amanda listen to us please. There was something wrong with flight 2485. Now I know there is a possibility you may have sensed something wrong with that flight, and there's something wrong with this one too" I said, hoping she would see it and her change of expression suggested that she had sensed something wrong with flight 2485.
"On…on flight 2485, there was this man and he had these eyes" she said, referring to the black eyes and Sam nodded eagerly.
"Yes, that's what we're talking about" Sam said but she frowned.
"I don't…I don't understand, what do you want me to do?" she asked in confusion.
"Okay, the co-pilot, we need you to bring him back here" Dean ordered and she frowned.
"I don't understand, what has he got to do with this?" she questioned. Okay so she couldn't just follow orders, she was like Sam, she questioned everything.
"No time to explain, just go in there and get him to come back here" I urged, aware of the ticking clock.
"I don't understand, how am I going to go in the cockpit and get the co-pilot out?" she asked and I shrugged at the same time as Sam.
"I don't know, tell him something's broken but do whatever it takes, whatever to get him out of that cockpit" he said. She still looked torn.
"I could lose my job for this" she said and I huffed in frustration.
"You could lose a whole lot more if you don't help us" I said firmly, not in the mood to play games now as my body started to become warmer, and I knew it wasn't because of the heating. She nodded and I watched through the curtain as she disappeared down the aisle before knocking on the cockpit door, where the co-pilot appeared. They exchanged a few words before he closed the door and followed Amanda up to us.
Sam closed the curtain and pulled out the bottle of holy water that he still had stashed on him as Dean pulled out John's journal and handed it to Sam as the co-pilot walked through the curtains.
"What's the problem?" he asked and Dean punched him in the face, making him lose his balance and fall on the floor. Dean then sat on him, pinning him to the ground where he placed duct tape over his mouth to keep him silent and punched him again.
"What are you doing I thought you were going to talk to him?" Amanda exclaimed, appearing as frightened as she was in the inside. Dean nodded in response.
"Oh we are going to talk to him" he said, before unscrewing the bottle and spraying the water on the co-pilot's torso making the woman squeal in fright.
"Oh my god, what's wrong with him?" she asked. Well he's evil, that's what's wrong with him, and though I wanted to say this I doubted this was the time for sarcastic comments.
"Look we need you calm. We need you outside the curtain" Sam instructed gently but Amanda looked frightened.
"I don't underst- I don't know-" she stuttered, not knowing what to say.
"Can you go on the other side of the curtain and make sure no one comes in here?" I asked carefully and clearly, "-can you do that?" I asked and she nodded before disappearing through the curtain.
"Hurry up Sam, I don't know how much longer I can hold him" Dean urged and Sam turned to the book before starting the exorcism.
"Regna terrae, cantante deo, psallite domino-" he read out and the demon started struggling, managing to knock Dean off him and hit at Sam, who subdued him with more sprays of holy water as I stood by the curtains, just in case someone managed to get past Amanda. Dean got back and pinned the demon down again as Sam continued where he left off, but the demon was having none of it, he struggled again, pushing Dean off and ripping the tape off his mouth before grabbing Sam, who was kneeling next to him, by collar and hissing at him, which was when I moved out of my position.
"I know what happened to your girlfriend. I bet she must have died screaming. Even now she's burning" he spat in Sam's face, but I slammed my foot into his face, breaking the co-pilot's nose and making him loosen his hold on Sam, who fell against the side and glared murderously at the demon. I gave Sam a brief glance before crouching and spraying holy water on the demon again, which made him scream, subduing him as Dean made his way back over and pinned his right side, while I pinned the left, rendering him unable to move.
"Sam" I said, knocking Sam out of his thoughts and restraining the demon who was still struggling while Sam continued reading the first part of the exorcism, but the demon struggled, managing to slam his foot into the side of my ribs and making me loosen my hold.
"Sam" Dean called and I shifted to see Sam move to restrain the demon, where when he was finished reading the exorcism, the demon struggled, kicking the journal aside before coming out of the body in a swarm of black particles and disappeared through the vents in the plane.
"Where'd it go?" I asked just as the plane started buckling and shaking about.
"It's in the plane. Hurry we need to finish" Dean urged and I pushed myself up, ignoring the ache in my ribs, before the plane plummeted, sending Sam flying into the aisle after the book and Dean and I to grab onto each other and the bar on the wall, before screaming. I knew Dean was shit scared, and my fear was starting to surface at the fact that we were plummeting thousands of feet at an alarming rate. The height wouldn't bother me if I knew the plane was safe but the fact that this one was doomed to crash, well that was why I had been hesitant to board it in the first place.
The gravity of the plane falling at a quick rate, acted against me, lifting my feet slightly off the floor, and Dean continued screaming like a girl, as I lowered myself to the floor, pushing against the bar to keep myself anchored to the floor, before wrapping my legs around Dean, pressing our legs tightly against each other's to anchor us more. If we were going down, we were going down together.
A bright electrical light flew throughout the plane, before the plane levelled out and Dean and I sank against the floor in relief before smiling at each other.
"We never speak of this again" he said before we pushed ourselves to our feet and stumbled out into the aisle from behind the curtain
"Agreed" I said seeing Sam stand up and turn towards us where I smiled at him gratefully and he nodded back as people sitting down checked their neighbour to make sure they were okay.
FBI, FAA and paramedics swarmed around the room since the pilot had radioed in a 'mayday' call, being told to land after the plane had been exorcised by Sam. The three of us had already been checked out and statements taken, which we had worked out of course.
"Sir, can you tell me what happened?" an agent asked the co-pilot who was sat in a wheelchair, a blanket across him and his nose broken. Oops!
"I don't know, I was walking through the airport then it all goes blank. I don't even remember getting on the plane" he replied, before my gaze wandered and I spotted Amanda talking to another guy in a uniform who was noting down her statement. She looked our way and smiled before mouthing a 'thank you' to us which we nodded in response.
"Let's get out of here" Dean said and I sighed.
"Amen to that" I sighed, following Dean but stopping when I sensed that Sam had stopped following.
"You okay?" I asked him, making Dean turn to and he shook his head in response.
"No, Ali, that demon, it knew about Jessica" he said, and I swallowed at the sadness and grief and anger. Dean stepped forwards but I placed my hand in front of him, stopping him. I knew exactly what to say to Sam and I had a feeling that Dean would make up some crap, but I would be as honest as possible.
"This isn't going to sound pleasant Sammy, but news travels, it's what it does. Whatever it was that killed her, it must have said something until the news spread that Sam Winchester's girlfriend had been killed by whatever it was. Demons are good at what they do, and knowing what hurts us and they are bastards by using that against us. It's what they do best unfortunately, but we will find it Sammy, I promise you that" I said and he sighed before nodding, blinking away tears.
"What if we don't?" he asked and I shrugged in response but didn't want to say what was in my mind.
"We will, I know we will" I said instead and Sam swallowed before nodding, where I squeezed his arm and he pulled me into a tight embrace. We would find this thing, even if I had to use myself as bait to lure the bastard so that the boys could kill it. I would do whatever I could to ensure that Sam and John got what they needed, the revenge they felt they needed for the ones they loved, as long as it meant that they were safe afterwards.
We pulled away and I smiled sadly at Sam who smiled sadly and nodded back before we walked over to Dean who frowned at me, his face pale before he turned away.
"Come on" was all he said, as he led us back to where the Impala was parked, "-let's go back to the motel and get some rest. We'll say goodbye to Jerry when we leave tomorrow" Dean said, driving us back to the motel.
After turning the engine off and locking the Impala up, Dean led us to the room and unlocked the door, switching the lights on as he walked inside so that we could see.
"I'm hitting the hay straight away" Dean said and Sam and I nodded before he stripped down to his shirt and boxers, climbing into bed and pulling the covers over him. He was sound asleep and snorting lightly within five minutes. It must be nice falling asleep so quickly, I sighed and Sam snorted.
"I agree" he said and I frowned at him. He smiled and shook his head.
"You said that out loud" he explained and I nodded slowly.
"I'm gonna go and get ready" I said, pointing to the bathroom door and Sam nodded before lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling before I walked into the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth, washed my face and got change into my pyjamas which consisted of a camisole, with thick straps and shorts that were mid-thigh before I flicked the light off and walked back in to see Sam standing right by the door. I squealed slightly in fright and he grinned in amusement before disappearing into the bathroom after me where I walked over stood beside Dean, seeing that he had already spread himself out on the bed. What a turd! I rolled my eyes as I heard Sam walk back into the room and laugh quietly behind me.
"Come on Ali, you can sleep with me tonight" he said and I resisted the urge to make a perverted comment, knowing that it wasn't the time after what happened tonight. Instead I shook my head in reply.
"Naah I'm fine, I'll just sleep on Dean, imagine the kick he'll get out of that in the morning" I said, laughing slightly and Sam laughed too, before I turned and saw him sitting in his bed, under the covers, with enough room for me too, it was a queen after all. Besides I wanted him to get some sleep, maybe he would if he slept with someone like I suggested, and he'd managed to keep my nightmare away last night when I went back to sleep.
"Okay, just for tonight, and I'll piss Dean off even more tomorrow at being a pain in the ass" I said and Sam smiled as I slid in next to him, the sheets feeling cold and I sighed, lying down as Sam looked down at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and he smiled.
"You seem nervous?" he asked and I shrugged.
"I've only ever slept with Dean" I said and frowned at how that seemed, Sam chuckled quietly before lowering himself down next to me.
"Here was me thinking there was nothing going on between you and Dean" he joked and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Well you don't know what goes on underneath the sheets" I replied and we laughed before we both gagged at the thought. The idea was gross.
"Yeah that's weird" we both said at the same time, the both of us lying on our backs and staring at the ceiling for a little while.
"Do you think you'll sleep tonight?" I asked him, turning my head to face him and he shrugged.
"I don't know, I want to but it's pointless hoping" he sighed and I sent him a small smile as he turned his head to look at me his hair falling over his face.
"What about you?" he asked me and I bit my lip before sighing and swallowing.
"Honestly?" I asked him and he frowned at me, it was then that I realised how scared I sounded, but he nodded, wanting the truth off me.
"No I don't think I will sleep well" I sighed and he frowned at me.
"How long has it been since you had the nightmare?" he asked me and I sighed.
"Nearly three years" I stated before shrugging, "-but this happens remember. I'll go without them for a while then they'll come back to the point where I'm scared to sleep then disappear just as suddenly" I said and he frowned which made me sigh. I hated him frowning, it made him look more troubled than he was, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to smooth out his eyebrows, but that would be weird…
"Is it always the same dream?" he asked and I turned on my side, before propping my head up on my elbow to look down at him easier before shrugging.
"Before? Yes it was the same night, now it's different" I sighed and he frowned curiously. I'd never spoken about my nightmares to anyone, but with Sam, he knew how it felt because of having them about Jess. It was always out of guilt and horror at seeing what we'd saw. Dean, as much as I loved him, wouldn't understand until he went through something like that, but then again he lived this life easily, and it never appeared to haunt him. I sighed, not knowing how to explain without freaking him out and he smiled in return.
"You don't need to worry about toning it down Ali, I'm gonna have nightmares anyway" he said and I couldn't help but laugh slightly at that which made him grin. I bit my lip before nodding.
"When you dream about Jessica? You see that night all over again right? From the moment you walk into the house, to the moment Dean shouts your name from the door?" I asked and he frowned, lifting himself up so that he could look directly at me, at the same level.
"How do you-?" he began and I smiled slightly before shaking my head in response.
"That's not important and it's hard to explain, but what I'm trying to say is that is the key moment for you. Mine begins when my dad kisses Liss goodnight up until I faint after hearing John on the other end of the line. I'm in my own body going through the same paces, feelings, the same words and reliving it over again, except for parts that are blacked out. But last night it changed" I said, sucking in a deep breath and falling against the pillows to look up at Sam who frowned down at me. I squeezed my eyes shut so that he wouldn't see my tears, but they still fell, instead I felt Sam grip my hand, so I held onto him, feeling his palm against mine, his fingers around mine and holding on to him, so that I wouldn't relive my nightmare, before opening my eyes.
"I saw them" I whispered, frightened to talk any louder, as if any mention of them would make them appear, even though they had gone. Sam frowned at me and nodded encouragingly.
"Sam you can't say anything yet. Not to Dean and you can't phone your dad up and leave him messages. This is my fight and I don't think it is connected to your mom or Jess" I said and he nodded, smiling at me.
"I promise Ali" he said and I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.
"There were six demons there that night" I stated and Sam frowned, his grip on my hand tightening.
"Holy shit, are you sure?" he asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, but they were wearing hooded robes so I don't see their faces but yeah, I saw the black demon particle thing come up through the floorboards and watched as they killed my family" I breathed and Sam took a deep breath before swallowing, his jaw clenching and I closed my eyes, feeling better at telling someone.
"We'll find them Ali" he said and I looked at him, seeing him look at me. I nodded in response.
"I know. Well it was just one. The leader, he did the killing and I'm positive he was a demon, but I'm not sure about the other five. They just felt evil, nothing like him. Humans can be possessed, but can they just be controlled without the possession?" I asked him and he shrugged before nodding.
"I think there are a few cases of it happening" he said and I nodded.
"Well in that case they are dead, I killed them, and my mom exorcised the demon before she died but didn't kill it, I think it disappeared through an open window" I explained and Sam sighed, before lying down next to me.
"Well we'll get that one then. Remember, it's us against the world. We look out for each other and protect each other" he said and I sighed.
"Yeah until you get what you came after and go back to school" I sighed, sending Sam into silence.
"Night Sammy" I said and heard him sigh, so I looked at him to see he looked upset.
"Night Als" he replied and I smiled at my old nickname that he used to call me by when I was really young. I smiled and frowned, before lifting my hand and stroking his hair.
"I'll be here Sam. If you have a nightmare, wake me up" I said and he smiled before nodding.
"Same goes for you" was all he said, though we both knew that wouldn't happen.
"I got you" I whispered, wrapping my arms around a shaking and sweating Sam. He gripped me tightly.
"Slow your breathing and count your heartbeats" I whispered, not wanting to wake Dean and heard Sam do just that.
"There you go" I whispered and shifted so that I could hold him and stroke his hair soothingly, the way he did with me the night before, or the way that Dean used to do to me when I was younger.
"Thanks Als, I'm sorry I woke you up" he said and I kissed his hair before pulling back.
"It's okay Sammy, don't worry. Try and go back to sleep" I replied, continuing to stroke his hair soothingly, before his breathing became deeper and slower. I finally let myself panic at that moment. What the hell could that mean?
When I was younger, Alissa and I would have nightmares at the same time, with Alissa seeing what was happening and me feeling and hearing what was happening. You would think that seeing the image was worse, but in most cases, hearing the pain and screaming and feeling the pain and fear as well as everything else the person went through, well my sister and I agreed that was worse. Which it was, though now I wasn't so sure.
Sam had just had his nightly scare with the same nightmare about Jessica, I knew this because I knew how her death had gone down since Sam had said it was exactly the same as Mary's, with both women pinned to the ceiling, though John had been asleep downstairs the night Mary died so he was unsure on some things. But the reason I knew about Sam's dream exactly was that he talked in his sleep, plus I had watched his dream the once, we dreamt at the same time but while he experienced, I witnessed through the window of the bedroom, so I was basically floating. This time though, we had shared his dream again, this time I was in the room, watching, feeling, listening, experiencing, so when he woke up, I did too, the mental link being broken. What that meant I didn't know, and I was scared because I only over had that connection with my sister. My twin. My blood relation. Sam wasn't related to me, nor did I think of him as my brother, so what did that mean? Whatever it meant, I wanted to find out.
"Go away" I groaned as the quilt was tugged again.
"Fuck off" I mumbled, pressing my face into the hot water bottle next to me as Dean chucked and I heard the camera go off on his phone.
"You're a tit, a turd, and a dick. Now piss off and let me sleep" I grumbled, making my hot water bottle laugh, which sent vibrations through my face.
"What's vibrating against my face?" I asked quietly, making Dean snort with laughter.
"Your vibrator?" he asked and I felt my face heat up as I remembered, before grabbing my pillow and launching it at Dean with such speed and quickness that he stumbled a step back from surprise, plus the pillows were heavy and I threw them with a lot of strength behind the throw.
"Since when were you fast?" Dean asked, sounding surprised and I snickered.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I replied and he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"What time is it?" I asked and he smiled.
"Six in the morning" he said and I groaned in response.
"You're a boob too. Really dude, this early? Get a life" I groaned, pulling the covers back over my head and snuggling back up to Sam since he was really warm. This made him chuckle.
"Am I a hot water bottle now?" he asked, the vibrations running through my own body and making me shiver.
"Yes now shush so I can sleep" I stated, feeling my eyes drift closed.
I hadn't been able to fall straight back to sleep like Sam had, so I watched over him instead, worried that I would fall asleep again and share his nightmare, but apart from a few twitches and cute moans, he seemed fine and it worried me, maybe what kept him from sleeping was the fact that I shared his dream too? But he'd never mentioned it, so maybe he had never felt me invade his dreams or head? I was keeping my fingers crossed anyway. But I'd been unable to fall asleep until the first hints of sunrise crept through the window, probably about ninety minutes ago. Sleep started to grab at me again.
"Dude no, can't you see she's exhausted" Sam whispered, annoyed and Dean snorted.
"Yeah, so are you, but you cope. She can sleep on the drive" Dean replied aloud before grabbing my ankle and pulling me off the bed, where I landed painfully on my butt and glared at Dean.
"Asshat! And you call yourself my brother. Ugh fine I'm up, I'm going for a shower so get me about ten coffees" I sighed and Dean frowned down at me before pulling me up, where he held my face and stared at me.
"Take a picture, now get lost so I can shower" I sighed and he shook his head at me.
"Did you sleep last night, because you look like a friggin' zombie?" he said and I rolled my eyes.
"That's why you don't get laid as often as you would like, you don't say that to a woman" I sighed and Dean rolled his eyes, but didn't let go so he wanted an answer. I slapped his hands away.
"I had a few hours" I sighed, turning to go and finding Sam standing there looking at me in worry and accusingly. I sighed and smiled at him.
"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep" I shrugged and saw the guilt on his face, but I smiled brightly and shrugged, squeezing his forearm as I walked passed and hopped into the shower.
When I got out of the shower, Dean had about five coffees ready for me, where we piled into the Impala and I downed as many as possible.
"So why didn't you sleep?" Dean asked and I shrugged I reply, swallowing the gulp of coffee I had just taken.
"I don't know, I just woke up halfway through the night. Thinking too much that it kept me up I guess" I sighed, as Sam met my eyes in the rear-view and offered me a kind smile, which I replied to with one of my own. He now knew because of the fact that I told him about my dream.
We soon pulled up outside of the hangar, where Jerry met us outside and we all got out, before walking over to him.
"We just stopped by to let you know we were going" Dean said, nodding at the man and he smiled back before shaking both Sam and Dean's hand.
"Nobody knows what you guys did, but I do, you saved a lot of lives" he said, before giving me a brief hug.
"I can't thank you enough for coming down here" he said and I shrugged.
"It's what we do" I said and he smiled before nodding and turning back to the guys.
"Your dad will be real proud" he said and I nodded behind him which made Sam and Dean smile slightly.
"We'll see you around Jerry" Sam said, nodding at the man before the three of them turned to go but Dean turned back at the last second, to face the man.
"You know Jerry" he began and Jerry paused before turning back around.
"How did you get my cellphone number? I've only had it like six months" he said.
"Your dad gave it to me" he said.
"What?" Sam and I asked at the same time.
"When did you speak to him?" Dean asked and Jerry frowned before shaking his head.
"I mean, I didn't actually speak to him. I gave him a call and his voice message said to call you. Thanks again guys" he explained, before waving and walking away. Sam and Dean turned around and we all frowned at each other in confusion, before we climbed into the car and Dean drove away from the hangar before stopping the car when we were a reasonable distance away.
A plane flew overhead and I could just make out the red maple leaf on its tail.
"This doesn't make sense man. I mean I've called dad's number hundreds of times before. It's been out of service" Sam said as the two men settled themselves on the hood and I stood next to Dean, drinking the coffee out of the last remaining cup, but it had gone lukewarm now and tasted shit, so I threw the rest away but Dean dialled their dad's number and I moved so that I was standing in the gap between them, my legs pressed against their thighs, before Dean turned the phone so that all of us could hear it.
"This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son Dean. 785-555-0179 he can help" came John's recorded voice message before Dean cancelled the call.
That meant John was still alive, I called his number to check nearly two weeks ago and it had been out of service then, though I didn't tell the boys that since I think they had stopped calling him a little before that. Sam's jaw clenched and he bounced his knee, I could feel that he was silently fuming before he got up, opened the passenger seat door, climbed in and slammed the door behind him. Dean and I both winced and I was surprised that he hadn't broken the door; hell that he hadn't broken the whole goddamn car. I looked at Dean and he shook his head at me before we made our way to the car and climbed in, Dean starting the engine, where we drove off to another town in another country.
If he was alive, then he'd obviously gotten the messages off Sam and Dean, had gotten the messages off me since you had to check your voice messages and go through all that to record a new one. After all the begging we had done between the three of us, begging him to contact us and let us know he was okay. Begging him to find us, he couldn't pick up the goddamn phone and call his boys! What kind of a fucking father was he if he let his boys suffer like that?! Jesus, he might be after revenge, but why the fuck was he pushing his boys out, after how loyal they had been, until Sam started arguing and went to college four years ago. He always told me that I was in charge of looking after his boys if anything ever happened, not that he would ever need to ask me because I didn't that even when he was here, but this was fucking stupid. He still had his sons, he still had part of his family, he should focus on the ones that were alive, he should become a father again, instead of a ghost, instead of the memory of a father. His sons should be who he cared about, not chasing Casper across the goddamn country. He has no idea how lucky he is to still have blood relatives around him, to still be able to look at his boys and say 'they are my family' and how dare he take them for granted. How dare he scare and worry them like this, when I know Dean at least always looked up to him! He had two amazing boys in his life who he didn't know because he never got the chance to know them properly because he was always running off to another job. He had Sam who ran away because he couldn't cope with taking orders from his father, the man who was supposed to bring him up, look after him, hold him when he cried. I mean, Dean was more of a father to him, and there is a four year age gap between them. Dean had to become a man at the age of a child to look after the two of them, and he's suffered crap from both his brother and father because this was the life that had been handed to them, instead of the live they both deserved.
"Ali calm down" Dean said and I looked up, realising that we had stopped the car, that Dean was looking at me in worry and Sam was frowning at me. I took a deep breath, but the rage built up, it grew and grew until my lip curled in distaste and I climbed out of the Impala. I wasn't violent except when we were working a job, because you needed that sort of temperament, but I wanted to hit something right now. His attitude towards Sam and Dean was out of line, whether he had found the thing or not, and I didn't mean the last two months, I meant the last fucking twenty-two years.
"Ali!" Dean called and I waved my hand, telling him to wait there and as I did so a thick tree branch broke from the trunk, but it never hit me because I walked right under it as it fell, choosing instead to walk over to the nearest tree and climb it, I couldn't punch anything without breaking my hand or severely bruising my knuckles so climbing was just as good. I climbed about three quarters of the way, since the top became too high and too dangerous to climb, and I stayed there for ten minutes calming my anger.
"I need to get control of myself" I said quietly before taking a deep breath, feeling the anger calm, before I erected a wall and pushed it aside and after another calming breath I climbed back down, back to Sam and Dean who were waiting for me by the car, looking worried as well as Sam looking pissed off. He knew how I feel so I walked over to him and he sighed before we hugged and I pulled Dean in to.
"No matter what, I still love you two" I said and they both hugged me tighter.
"We'll always love you too Ali" they said at the same time.
"Not sure whether that's cute or freaky" I frowned and Dean pulled away.
"Well I'm not cute, I'm freaking hot" Dean winked and I rolled my eyes.
"Sure" I said as we climbed into the car.
"Now I'm hungry since you dragged me out of bed, literally, without feeding me" I sighed and Dean snorted.
"Yes miss" he joked and I stuck my tongue out at him making him laugh as I leant forwards and placed my hand on Sam's shoulder, feeling him keeping a tight rein on his anger. He gripped my hand tightly before releasing and Dean drove, hoping to find a diner or something nearby so we could eat.
Note: So if you have read all of this so far then thank you so much! As usual I apologise for the length of every chapter, but the episodes are long too and lots happen in each episode that needs to be put in here, as well as finding out about Ali, though this chapter reveals a lot about her past. Things will develop through the first 'season' hopefully and I'm looking forward to writing it and hoping that if anyone is reading that you look forward to it to. I'm sorry if there were any mistakes in this, but I didn't have time to edit properly, so let me know if there are any mistakes. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!
-Laura :)
