Chapter Seven

Dean opens his eyes. Above him is a cloudless sky. He is lying on his back in an open field, grass and flowers surrounding him. Sitting up he sees Katerina doing the same. She is looking around, a confused expression on her face.

"Where are we?" he asks her. But she just shakes her head.

As they both stand they hear voices. Just ahead a small family is sitting on a picnic blanket. They walk closer, cautiously and suddenly Kat stops. She watches the family with wide eyes. It's a mother and a father with two young girls. Dean looks back and forth between the family and Kat, an eyebrow raised.

"It's my family," Katerina says without looking away from the scene playing in front of them. The family is eating together, laughing and talking. They don't look up at the two intruders but continue as if Katerina and Dean aren't there.

"It's a memory," Kat says finally. "Something happened to us. I think we are trapped in our minds somehow."

Dean looks around again. The two little girls have gotten up and are now playing together. He recognizes the dark haired one as a young Katerina; the blonde her little sister.

With difficulty, Katerina tears here gaze away from the man and woman who are sitting together on the blanket, now holding hands and laughing.

"Any idea what this is and how we get out?"

Dean rubs his temples. "I've gotta tell ya, I've been stuck in a dreamworld more times than I care to admit. It could be anything from Angels to a Jin, to some kind of crazy sleep psychic, I don't know. But whatever it is, it can't be good."

Suddenly the scene changes and the family disappears. Another family takes it's place. A familiar man with dark hair and brawny figure carries a young boy on his shoulders. A woman with curly blonde hair pushes a baby stroller. They are walking down a quiet street.

Dean rolls his eyes. "I've seen this all before," he yells out. "You're not gonna get me this time."

Katerina watches the family warily, but again the scene changes. Kat and Dean now stand in a darkened house. A piercing scream fills the air and Katerina looks away as the woman from the first scene is thrown across the room by a spectre. She crumples to the ground, her eyes open and lifeless. Not far from her prone body, lies another. A man, also dead.

Dean watches the scene unfold, the girls in the closet, Katerina fighting off the spirit with an iron hanger, his father charging in. He watches as young Katerina saves his father's life, watches as she comforts her toddler sister, and watches his father give away his prized journal. Suddenly a world of things start to make sense to him.

He turns to Katerina who has watched everything in haunted silence, but before he can say anything the scene morphs again. And this time, he knows what's coming. His mother's scream fills the air as her body bursts into flames. John yells at a young Dean to take his baby brother and run. The house explodes into fire and Dean watches it all stoically. He's seen it all a million times before, replayed in his head, in his nightmares.

"So whatever this is...it's showing us our worst memories?" Katerina asks. Her voice sounds like its coming out of a dense fog. Dean shakes his head and forces himself to focus.

"I'm not sure," he says. And again the scene changes.

Kat and Dean stand on a city street watching as two young girls run away from a pack of boys. The boys are shouting and throwing rocks at the two girls. A thirteen year old Katerina herds her little sister down the street, turning a corner and then darting into a shop entrance. As the boys run by, the young girl breathes a sigh of relief.

Young Penelope turns to her sister. "I don't know why you had to punch Tommy," she says. "We should have just ignored him. Now they'll never leave us alone."

Young Kat scoffs. "Well I wasn't just going to stand there after he pushed you in the mud and tried to steal your bag!"

Penny rolls her eyes. "I'm not a baby anymore. I can take care of myself."

"Then why didn't you?" Kat demands. Penelope glares back but before she can answer a voice cuts in.

"Can I help you girls?" The speaker is a middle aged black woman. She stands behind the counter of the hardware store they just entered. She has short hair and is powerfully built. Her face is stern, but her eyes are kind.

"Um, I'm sorry ma'am," Penelope says. "We were just going." But as they start to leave the shop, the group of boys returns and the girls quickly duck out of sight.

The woman at the counter frowns and looks out. Understanding dawns on her face and she nods. "You two are welcome to stay here for a little bit. Just be mindful of your manners and we won't have a problem. My name's Georgia. You let me know if you need anything."

"Thank you, ma'am," Penelope says politely. She sits on the floor and pulls out a book, while Katerina prowls around the shop. Besides the two girls and the shopkeeper, the store is empty. There are shelves of tools and simple hardware throughout, but something catches Kat's eye. She approaches a windowsill that has a line of salt along the edge. She touches it and brings her finger to her lips just to be sure. Frowning, she turns. All the windowsills have the protective line along them. Her eyes narrow as she inspects a strange carving in the wall. Finally, she looks up. The ceiling is ornately painted with a devil's trap.

"You're a hunter, aren't you?" young Katerina says casually, as if she meets hunters everyday.

The woman's surprise is naked on her face. She studies the young Katerina for a moment, before slowly going to the front door and turning the Open sign to Close.

She turns back to the young girls. Penelope has put down her book and watches the woman with interest.

"What do you know about hunters?" Georgia asks.

The scene morphs again and Dean and Kat now stand in an alleyway. A teenage Katerina and Penelope are fighting a vampire. They each hold a sword and are swinging around with deadly grace.

"That's it," a voice says from the side of the alley. "Sweep with your hips, and follow through." Georgia stands to the side watching closely. The girls are clearly in the midst of a training session with their mentor.

Following her instructions to the tee, teenage Penelope spins on her heel, using the momentum to follow through with a strong and perfect swing of her sword, completely and effectively decapitating the vampire.

Grinning sheepishly, Penelope wipes her brow while Katerina smiles proudly.

Dean glances between the teenage Kat and the one standing next to him. They look so similar, yet there is a defined change in their eyes. Young Kat seems so young, so carefree. The older Kat is haunted.

The scene morphs again, so quickly that Dean barely registers the change. They are back in that same alleyway, and this time, Katerina is alone. Her hair is shorter and she looks several years older than the last scene. She fights a demon, his black eyes glinting in the streetlight overhead.

Though she fights furiously, its obvious she is losing. Her face sports a fresh cut over her eyebrow and the demon grabs her by the throat and throws her hard against the wall. She crumples to the ground and then struggles to stand. Dean knows this is a memory, but he itches to help anyway. He looks at Katerina now. She stands with her hands clenched in fists at her sides, but meets his gaze with a rueful grin.

"Don't worry," she says to Dean. "I survive."

He cracks a smile of his own and turns back to the scene. The demon is grinning maliciously and approaching her. He squats in front of her and begins taunting her, but Dean doesn't listen. He's heard it all before. Instead he turns back to present day Kat.

"So, what do you think this is?" he asks her. "Some kind of spell that takes us back in time? Kind of like a ghost of Christmas past kind of thing?"

Kat shrugs. "I'm not sure. It's almost like we are being shown significant moments of our lives. But why?"

"What's significant about this?" Dean asks, turning back. The demon has dragged the flailing young Katerina up the wall and is about to tear her throat out. "You must have fought hundreds of these. Why this one?"

Katerina turns back to the scene. "You'll see," she says.

Just then a figure appears in the alley. He sprints forward, grabbing the demon by the neck, flipping it around and pinning it in a choke hold. His voice rasps in the dark alley, "omnis immundus spiritus..." He continues the familiar spell, all the while keeping hold of the creature with an unfathomable strength that Dean immediately respects. He knows first hand how strong a demon is while possessing a human.

When the spell is done and the demon is sent back to Hell, the mysterious newcomer lowers the body softly to the ground and checks its pulse. "Still alive," he murmurs. He takes out a cell phone and places a call to 911. When he stands up, he approaches Katerina who is leaning against the wall, breathing heavily and trying to staunch a bleeding wound on her head.

She cringes back. "Who are you?"

The stranger reaches toward her, but thinks better of it and stops halfway. "My name is Rupert Kozlova. And we'd better get out of here before the police arrive." He speaks with a strange accent that is both fluid and rugged at the same time. Sort of a cross between English and Russian. Younger Kat takes the man's extended hand and rises to her feet. With that, the scene dissolves again.

...

"Dean, it's me. For the fifteenth time. Where are you? Call me back." Sam puts down the cell phone and looks across the diner table at Penelope and tries not to look worried.

Penelope's empty breakfast plate sits in front of her. She ordered two plates of food and inhaled them both as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. Now she sits back and studies Sam.

"Is it like your brother to just ignore your calls like that?"

Sam sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sure they just passed out. None of us have had any sleep. I bet they are as exhausted as you and me. Look, let's go back to Bobby's, rest up and then if they don't call us back by this evening, we'll go looking."

Penelope nods curtly, but doesn't look happy about it.

Sam signals to the waitress who comes bustling over. She is a kind looking older woman and she grins a toothless smile. "Anything else for you two?" she asks.

"Just the check," says Sam.

"Right-e-o," says the waitress. "Looks like rain," she says as she hands the slip of paper over and hurries away. Thunder rumbles from outside and the two head to the car.

Back at Bobby's Penny lays in a dusty bedroom and tries to close her eyes. She tosses to her left, then to her right. Despite the fact that she is very tired, she just can't settle. Something is itching her.

In the adjacent bedroom Sam is doing the same. He kicks off his boots and pulls off his t-shirt, hoping he'll be a bit more comfortable. But sleep eludes him. Deciding to get a glass of water, he rises and opens the bedroom door. Penny is standing on the other side, her arm poised as if about to knock.

"Hey," he says, his eyebrows rising. "What is it?"

Penny lowers her hand and shrugs. "I-um, can't sleep."

"Yeah, me either."

They lock eyes for a moment and something strange passes between them. Without warning, they both lurch forward, into each others arms and soon their mouths and hands are a tangle as they tug at each others clothes, falling toward the bed in a whirl of lust that borders on madness. For the next few hours their moans are all the noise that is heard other than the rocking of springs and the banging of an old, dusty headboard.

Outside Bobby's old house, standing behind a decrepit minivan is a woman standing in the rain. She smiles a toothless smile and chants something in a strange language. In her hands she holds a bundle of red roses.