The meat and potatoes (so to speak) of the main story arch is finally about to start! Enjoy and comment with any helpful suggestions! Again, I own nothing.

Chapter Seven:

Sam and Dean were both taken off guard to have met the brunette hunter again so soon, especially given the circumstances. Sam merely did a double take, as his older brother broke out into a surprised, yet crooked smile. They both gazed at Laura, who was holding a couple of books and a black cloth bag in both hands, with the most peculiar expression.

"Everybody, this is Laura. Laura, these are…" Bobby said gesturing to Sam and Dean.

"The Winchesters," Laura said darkly, and then strode over to Pamela, dropping the heavy books onto the floor and gruffly shoving the bag into her friend's lap. "Really Pam? Couldn't have given me a heads up?"

Though she was blind, Pamela could hear in Laura's voice how agitated she was, but for the life of her, she could barely stifle her giggles.

"I really don't find this amusing," Laura scolded her friend, putting her delicate hands on her hips. Pamela had a habit of thrusting Laura into uncomfortable situations just to see how she would react; it was a source of entertainment for her.

"I take it you three met before?" Bobby ventured with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, they've met before," Pamela responded with a wicked grin, clearly enjoying herself.

Sam and Dean didn't know what to make of Laura's reaction to them. Sure they were a bit rude in Christiansburg, but the Winchesters thought they had at least left off on a better note than what warranted her reaction.

"Where?" Bobby inquired with a thoroughly confused expression.

Laura waved off the question and said: "It doesn't matter. Let's just focus on Anna."

The quiet redhead seemed to appreciate it, for she had been fretting the entire time about the fact that her own world was crashing around her.

"My name's Laura. Pamela and I are psychics and we're going to put you under hypnosis. Are you okay with that?" the brunette asked with a professional tone, not even waiting a second before kneeling on the ground and digging some things out of the Pamela's black cloth bag.

'So she's a psychic. Well that makes sense' Dean thought to himself, and as he glanced at his kid brother, he could tell Sammy was thinking the same thing. Although this eased their minds a bit about Laura, they still had prolonged conversations between themselves and Bobby about what type of psychic could do what she did in that mausoleum.

"You have the candles?" Pamela inquired, standing up and pulling a desk chair towards the head of the bed as Laura continued to set everything up.

The brunette with breathtaking blue-green eyes didn't need to respond, for she flicked her lighter and began lighting all the candles she placed around the bed.

"Lie down, sweetie," Pamela gently guided Anna down.

The redhead tentatively obeyed, though everyone could see pure terror swirling behind her dark, almost childlike brown eyes. Anna laid down, eyes darting around the many interested faces. Bobby had inched his way forward, and stood behind Sam and Dean. The Winchesters watched on with both curiosity and anticipation from behind the circle of candles Laura had set up. Pulling her ancient silver amulet from underneath her plain white, fitted tank top, Laura told Pamela that everything was ready.

"Okay, Anna, close your eyes. I'm gonna recite a few prayers, and during that time you're going to feel your eyes grow heavier. Don't fight it. Let yourself drift away, and when I count to five, you'll be under. Understand?" Pamela stated calmly, holding the redhead's pale hand with her own olive one.

Anna nodded and closed her eyes. Pamela Barnes then grabbed Laura's hand. Laura immediately tensed up, and told Anna to breath, and that she needed to calm herself down or it wouldn't work. Anna tried her best to comply, but after a few minutes, she let out a frustrated sigh and asked: "How am I supposed to do this? My family was just murdered and demons and angels are chasing me… calming down doesn't feel possible!"

Pamela turned her head, as if looking directly into Laura's eyes, and nodded her head, silently giving her permission to do something. With a sigh, Laura rose from the ground and walked behind the head of the bed.

"Okay, close your eyes," Laura said softly.

Anna protested in exasperation, but the young psychic insisted: "Just do it."

The redhead took one last glance at Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Ruby before complying.

"Okay, now inhale," the brunette with wavy hair said, taking Anna's hand. She used her own delicate fingers to open Anna's and slid her hand past the redhead's palm up to her wrist. Gripping her slender wrist, Laura breathed in, and closed her eyes.

Anna grabbed Laura's wrist back as Laura exhaled and said in an almost whisper: "Exhale."

Anna breathed out, and almost immediately, her tense body went limp; her face appeared serene. Laura, on the other hand, had seemed to become agitated, with a stiff posture and pained expression. She swallowed hard as a small tear escaped her eyes and ran down her cheek. As if swapping mindsets completely, Anna was now peaceful, whilst Laura seemed to be struggling to steady her breathing.

Everyone was holding their breath and the entire room was eerily silent. With her free hand, Laura reached up and clutched her amulet so tightly that her knuckles grew a bloodless, pale white color.

Her face was contorted in a strange, distressed expression, and for a moment, Laura's breathing hitched in pain.

Pamela reached out and touched her friend's shoulder, signaling her to stop before she absorbed too much of Anna's pain and suffering. Laura was an empathetic, which meant she could tap into the emotions, physical sensations, and even the general aura of another human being. Though extremely helpful at enabling her relate to others and avoiding dangerous people and situations, when Laura attempted to ease the suffering of others, it often took a large toll on her physically, and she had been struggling to learn when to let go.

The moment Pam's hand rested on her bare, sun-kissed shoulder, Laura felt a warm surge break through the cold darkness she currently found her body growing numb to. Opening her eyes, she blinked a couple of times and let go of the now serene Anna.

"She's ready," Laura spoke with a shaky voice. She felt everyone's eyes boring into her, but she pretended not to notice their stares.

With her word, Pamela began praying as Laura returned to the foot of the bed, picking the books up from the floor. She felt faint, and was struggling to push away the oppressive feelings of extreme fear, grief, guilt, and confusion that she had absorbed from the redheaded woman. She finally got the courage to look around the room, and everyone was thankfully now attentatively watching Pamela continue with the prayers, with the exception of the stunning, dark haired girl standing in the doorway. The woman's dark, almost black eyes were piercing her with an expression of extreme interest.

As she stepped out of the circle of candles, Laura suddenly saw another face beneath the black haired woman's sultry one.

'She's Ruby. She's the demon," Laura thought, stifling her fear and appearing nonchalant and collected. As she made her way outside the panic room, Laura could have sworn she saw Ruby smirk in a foreboding, and almost eerie manner. Deciding not to overthink a demon's not-so-friendly look, Laura made her way up the stairs to do some research while Pamela took care of the now fully hypnotized Anna.


Pamela Barnes made her way over to her companion, who was pouring over a couple of open books in Bobby Singer's library. Sighing, Pamela plopped down on the very broken-in couch.

"How'd it go?" Laura inquired, knowing full well that it was probably not good news; there hadn't been good news in months and with the entire house's lights flickering, Laura knew nothing Pamela said would be a positive sign.

Pamela searched for the words, but decided to just come out and say it: "She's a fallen angel."

Laura picked her head up from her books, turned around in her chair, and stared hard at Pamela.

"A fallen angel?" she repeated.

"Apparently she wasn't a fan of being robo-cop anymore and tore her grace out," came the voice Dean Winchester walking into the library.

Laura immediately grew cold, but was too curious not to continue the conversation.

"So they can just tear that out?" she asked, giving Dean an unfriendly look.

He seemed taken off guard by such a harsh expression on her face, and responded slowly: "Apparently. Sam's looking for where it dropped down, but ugh, we're running out of time."

His voice trailed off as he glanced between Pamela and Laura, as if expecting something.

Laura and Pamela both appeared to be lost in thought, so Dean ventured: "We may need a little bit of help finding it, so if you could maybe do another locater spell…"

"No!" Pamela protested to the great surprise of both Laura and Dean.

"Why? She helped us with Samhain. Did a damn good job, too," he said, adding the last bit with a smirk directed at the brunette sitting at the desk; He hoped that his compliment would make Laura a bit less peeved at him.

Laura didn't have time to speak before Pamela rose, grabbed her elbow tightly, and dragged her towards the door.

"Can I talk to you, please?" Pamela said between her teeth, and before dragging her friend outside onto the porch, she smiled weakly at Dean and excused herself.

Dean Winchester stood there awkwardly scratching his head and watched from the window as Laura and Pamela began to argue a bit.

"You know why the angels want this girl killed right?" Pamela inquired with raised eyebrows.

"Sure. She's one of them… well was," Laura corrected herself, shoving her hands into her skinny jean's back pockets.

"But what made them start taking an interest in her?" Pamela persisted.

Laura knew why her friend was so worried, for the thought had crossed her mind as well.

"Because she can listen in on them."

"Yeah, and hey, guess what, you can too, Laur," Pamela stated.

Laura hated seeing her usually cheery friend getting this upset.

"But no one knows that," Laura pointed out with a small, reassuring grin.

"Doesn't matter. You need to stay far away from that girl. She's got big time demons on her ass who would just love to get their hands on someone like you, and if the angels ever caught wind of what you can do…" Pamela trailed of, nervously touching her curly black hair.

"No one's gonna find out, Pam," Laura stated firmly. She knew the risks; she knew what could happen to her or anyone she cared about if she was discovered. That's why she ran from home and pushed everyone away. Laura also understood, however, that she was given these abilities for a reason, and she needed to figure out why and learn to use them to stop Lucifer from rising.

"What if they do?" her friend asked again. "What would you do? What would I do?"

"Don't tell me that now your scared of those fluffy-winged bastards," Laura teased a bit, but Pamela was in no mood.

"You can't help this girl. You need to stay as far away as possible."

"Weren't you the one who told me that if I wanted to control and understand my powers, I'd have to look for the answers, no matter what it took? This girl, she's the only person I've ever met who's like me… she can do what I can… she can hear them and she sees what demons really look like. I have to help keep her alive long enough to talk to her about it," Laura explained, knowing that getting involved in this any further would certainly end badly.

Pamela shook her head, then stated: "I can't watch you march to your own death…"

"Good thing you're blind then," Laura chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

Pamela smirked a little before a look of sorrow replaced it.

"You know you can't come right?" Laura said, appearing just as forlorn. "It's dangerous that you even know this much, but if you're around me…" Laura felt a lump growing in her throat, "I just don't want you getting caught in the crossfire."

"You think I'm just gonna sit on the sidelines while you take on both Heaven and Hell?" Pamela asked incredulously.

"I'm not the Winchesters. I'm not gonna put you at risk for my own benefit," Laura said darkly.

"This is bigger than all of us. The 66 seals, Lilith, Lucifer breaking loose… they need me. Just like you're gonna need me," Pamela stated the God's honest truth.

Laura nodded her head, knowing her friend and mentor was speaking the truth, but she also knew what would happen to Pamela if she got too involved. She couldn't bear the thought of anyone dying for her, and from the looks of where this road was headed, Laura knew she would have to go it alone to keep everyone safe.

"You've sacrificed enough, Pam. I'll call you like I always do, but we both know I can't see you for a while," Laura said, trying to sound as strong as she could given the conversation. Although she could not see Pamela's eyes, she knew her dear friend was just as heartbroken.

Pamela embraced Laura tightly, and her voice cracked as she whispered: "I'm always here. You call and I'm there, you understand?"

Laura nodded her head, fighting back the tears that so desperately wanted to escape her eyes.

"Be safe," the young psychic's wavering voice said.

"You too. I love you, kiddo."

"I love you too, you crazy braud," Laura tried to smile as they tore themselves apart from one another.

They heard the screen door close as Bobby walked outside.

"Heard you both were leavin'. Came to say bye," he said, eyeing them both closely, for he realized he had just walked in on something.

"Actually, I'm just leaving," Pamela shook off her sadness and beamed. "And you're driving."

Bobby glanced over at Laura for help, but she simply grinned and shrugged her shoulders. Making a face, Bobby gruffly uttered: "Balls."