Thanks again for reading. Special thanks to Ezraduke, fairyofmusic, and an anon reader for leaving me reviews. And of course I can't forget SciFiNutTX and laceym for playing betas for me. You really should read their stuff too.

Chapter 4

John didn't speak for nearly the entire fifteen-hour trip. He simply listened to Katie read the article she found on the internet and then ordered her to sleep. He was a little surprised that she slept almost the entire trip. She woke up about an hour before they arrived at Daniel's house. He didn't realize she was awake until she spoke.

"Are you ok, John?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." he replied.

"No, you're not. What's going on in that thick skull of yours?"

"Just thinking about Daniel."

"What happened with you two?"

"He tried to take your brothers."

"What do you mean?"

"He thought it was too dangerous for me and the boys, so he tried to give them to Social Services here in Colorado. He even made arrangements with them to make sure the boys went back to Kansas and you girls."

"How old were they when this happened?"

"Dean was six and Sammy was two."

"Then I'm glad it didn't happen. Dean never mentioned it to me. In fact, he's never even mentioned Elkins."

"Dean had just barely turned six. He didn't start writing to you until your birthday, 10 months later. I'm not entirely sure he remembers it."

Katie gave John a weird look, but she didn't say what he was expecting.

"Why did Elkins try to take the boys?" Katie asked.

"Daniel was the only person I told about you girls, until I took you from Kansas. He didn't think it was fair to split you kids up like that. He also thought I would just end up getting myself killed if I was on a hunt and thinking bout the boys. Nearly did happen a couple times in those first years." John replied.

"You didn't tell him everything, did you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't tell him that Laura and I were taken from you. You probably just told him you left us. Am I right?"

"Yeah. I don't think it would've made a difference though. He told me almost everyday that I needed to ship the boys back to Kansas. I almost did a couple times."

"I'm still glad you didn't. What Laura and I were put through, I don't think the boys could have survived it."

"You and your sister made it through ok."

"Yeah, because of Dean being on the outside and writing us letters. If he and Sam had been in there with us, I'm pretty sure we'd all be dead."

John nodded to her and then didn't say anything else until he stopped the truck a mile from Elkins' house.

"We're gonna walk in from here, if you think you're up to it."

"Takes more than a little demon bashing to slow me down." Katie said with a smile as she jumped out of the truck.

They walked in silence until they got to the edge of the tree line surrounding the house. Katie was about to walk out into the clearing when John grabbed her arm. He didn't say anything, just pointed toward the house. Katie looked up toward the windows and saw what could only have been flashlights moving around through the windows.

"Other hunters?" John whispered.

"No, Caleb was gonna make sure they knew we were on this." Katie whispered back.

Both hunters began to search the area outside the house. When Katie looked over to the driveway, she smiled.

"I know who's here." Katie whispered as she pointed over to the black Impala parked next to what must have been Daniel Elkins' truck.

"Well, that was the last thing I expected." John whispered back.

"So what do we do now?"

"We follow your brothers and see what they find."

"Why don't we just go in and help?"

"We need to make sure they aren't being followed first. We can't put them in danger if the demons catch up to us."

"Good thinking."

They watched from the cover of the trees until Sam and Dean got into the Impala and drove away. As soon as they were out of sight, John and Katie gave the house a quick once over to make sure the boys had covered their tracks and then headed back to the truck. They found the black car outside of a post office in town thirty minutes later.

"You stay here and keep a look out." John said to Katie as he parked the truck, "I'm gonna go talk to your brothers."

Katie watched her father head over to the car and then began scanning the streets around them to make sure no one else was watching. A strange feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. She had only talked to her brothers once since leaving them in Chicago. Sam had been rather irate with her and wanted to know how long she'd been riding with John. She simply said "A while" which was really no answer at all. She knew she was back to square one as far as her relationship with her little brother was concerned.

The worst part had been Dean. He didn't seem surprised by the answers, or lack there of, to Sam's questions. He did however sound, disappointed. They had never lied to each other about anything before and she had been doing nothing but for months. She had always told him exactly where she was, she just omitted John's name and replaced it with Bobby, Caleb, or Racheal. She could only hope that her relationship with her older brother wasn't completely destroyed over their father's attempt to protect his sons.

A few minutes later, she watched John get out of the Impala and head back to the truck. He was carrying what looked like a white envelope. As he got back into the truck, he handed her the letter.

"Read this." John said gruffly.

"Are the boys ok?" Katie asked.

"They're fine." John said as he started the truck.

Katie was buried in the letter John had handed her so she didn't see the expressions on her brothers' faces as she and John drove past them. After reading the entire letter, she looked up at her father.

"Well, this is certainly what we've been looking for." Katie said.

John simply nodded and continued to watch the road.

"So what, we get this gun from the vampires and then we ditch the boys again?" Katie asked.

"Nope. We get this gun and then you're gonna stay with your brothers." John replied.

"Not gonna happen." Katie said determinedly.

"It has to happen. They're gonna need you."

"No, I mean they aren't going to let you just walk away this time."

"That's why I'm counting on you to keep them occupied so I can finish this."

"You mean so you can get yourself killed. I'm not letting you do that to them. Face it John, you're stuck with all three of us now."

"You know what's at stake as far as Sam is concerned. I don't want him anywhere near that damn thing."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do to keep the boys away. You just remember your promise and keep your damn mouth shut about it. Where are we going anyway?"

John shook his head. He didn't like the way Katie talked to him sometimes, but at least she had agreed to do as he asked.

"Back to Elkins' house." John said in answer to her question, "I want you to take a better look and see if you can pick up a trail."

"I have a better idea. We need to find a motel. There isn't gonna be anything to find cause I'm pretty sure it's snowed up here since they got Elkins. You need sleep and so do the boys. I'm sure the vampires will resurface pretty quickly."

"I don't wanna wait that long."

"Too bad. You want me to keep the boys away while you commit suicide, you're gonna do what I say right now."