"Hey Dean, Sam, Carmen," John nodded to each of them. "How've you three been?"
"Bobby sent us," Dean said, still slack jawed.
"That's because I asked him to. Sam, I promised you that when the time came, I'd allow you to be a part of this fight. Well, I have a lead on it."
"The Demon?" Sam eyes went wide. "You know where it is?"
"I know where it's going to be."
"And the colt? You found it?"
"I found it, Sam." Sam looked astonished, a fire burning behind his eyes. "But we need to start from the beginning." John motioned for them to come in; they set their bags down. Carmen and Dean traded looks at the door, but followed Sam through it.
"How's my girl," John said aside to Carmen as he looked fondly down at her.
She smiled back. "It's been a hell of a week, John."
"So, business as usual then?" John smirked.
Carmen laughed and John caught her in a bear hug.
"Dad, what is all this?" Sam asked reverently. He was gazing at the wall behind the desk that John had covered in maps and string that weaved in and out of each other and articles cut from newspapers. It reminded Carmen of the abandoned motel room they found when they first began their journey to look for John. Sam got as close as he could to the wall of maps, then stepped away and admired it from a distance.
"It's everything I know. Boys, our whole lives have been about finding this demon. But I couldn't find a trace of it, nothing…until about a year ago. It's the first time it reappeared since Lawrence."
"That's when you took off," Dean observed.
John nodded. "I knew it was going to be a dangerous job, tracking this thing, hunting it down. I couldn't take the two of you with me," John nodded to Carmen and Dean, "because I didn't want you in the line of fire."
Carmen and Dean traded looks once again. "Alright, so what's the trail you found?" Dean asked, motioning to the map wall. Sam inconspicuously walked to the other side of the room. Carmen guessed he wanted to get away from all the newspaper clippings documenting the violent deaths caused by The Demon. She assumed he saw his mother and Jess in every one of those women.
"It's been hard to determine, but there are things to look for. All over the country, houses burned to the ground…it's going after families. Just like it came after ours."
"Families with infants?" Sam chimed in from his corner of the room.
John nodded. "The night of the kid's six month birthday."
Sam looked surprised. "Was I six months old when…that night?"
"Exactly six months."
Carmen saw Sam's jaw twitch at this. "So basically The Demon is going after these kids for some reason."
"But why's it doing it?" Dean asked forcefully. "What does it want with these kids?"
"I wish I knew," John answered. "But I've always been one step behind it. I've never been able to save…" He trailed off, and looked down at the floor with guilt.
Sam looked up uncomfortably. He knew part of the demon's plan, but what would John and Dean say if they knew he had demon blood inside of him? What would Carmen think? He was afraid she would have the same reaction as she did when he told her he had visions…
"Alright so how do we find it?" Dean pressed on. "You said you found a pattern."
"There are signs we can look for, omens. In the days before every one of these fires, there have been cattle deaths, electrical storms, temperature fluctuations…and then I went back and checked, and…"
"These things happened in Lawrence." Dean whispered.
With a nod, John said, "and in Palo Alto before Jessica." Carmen looked up at Sam and read the pain in his face. "And these signs are starting again, right here in Salvation."
Carmen could only imagine what Sam and Dean were feeling. Carmen could see that Sam was angry; since Jess, all his focus has been on killing this Demon. It had taken so much away from him – it destroyed his family, it took away his mother, and it started him in this life of hunting that he had struggled with for so long. He had had a one-track mind since The Demon had almost taken Carmen from him as well in Pennsylvania.
Dean, however, was surprising Carmen altogether. He seemed, not unlike herself, apprehensive about this hunt. Carmen felt that all three of her family members had a blind spot when it came to this demon, and that they would stop at nothing to waste it. Carmen was too afraid of the price that might have to be paid. She could see that maybe Dean felt the same way she did.
John had gotten a suspicious and tragic call earlier that day. A pastor that he knew very well had been killed during the night. His throat had been slit, and they thought that it could have been The Demon's way of threatening them. That's when John got tough. He ordered the boys and Carmen to find every child who was turning six months in the next week. Dean had gone to the local library, while Sam and Carmen looked through the birth certificates at the hospital.
"Here you go, officers," the nurse said as she laid down the folder of the birth records from the last six months.
"There are going to be dozens of children from this town, Sam. How are we going to stake out all these places? There's no way to know where the son of a bitch will strike."
"We'll figure it out. I can't let this thing destroy any more families, C. I won't." Sam buried himself in his work as Carmen watched him worriedly.
When they had their list of twenty-one children, they headed out. As Dean had the Impala, they had a few miles to walk back to the motel. All the while, Carmen kept an eye on Sam. He worried her even more when he closed his eyes and started pressing on his temples.
"Sam, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. AH!" He crouched down on the sidewalk and put his head between his hands. "Something's happening…my head…AHH!"
"Visions?" John said incredulously. "Visions! Why didn't you tell me about this?" The rebuke was aimed at Dean, not Sam. "Something like this starts happening to your brother, you pick up the phone and you call me!"
"Call you? Are you kidding me?" Dean threw up his hands. "I called you when Carmen was in trouble, I called you when we practically had The Demon in our hands!"
"Dean," Carmen tried to calm him.
"No, Carmen!" He pushed her hand off of his shoulder. "Getting him on the phone? I've got a better chance of winning the lottery! He sends us on these hunts, these wild goose chases with these stupid, military style coordinates, and-"
"What?" John interrupted. "Dean, I never sent you coordinates."
"Yes, you have. We've been getting texts from an unknown number telling us where to go for hunts…"
"That wasn't me. Let me see." John looked nervous, which Carmen knew was never a good sign.
"If you weren't sending us these…" Carmen trialed off, afraid of knowing the answer to her own unspoken question.
"It was him." Sam said in a low voice from his corner. "It was The Demon."
"What? Sam, how do you know that?" Dean advanced on him.
"I just do."
"That's not good enough!"
"Dean, that's enough!" John broke up the brother's fight before it could get too heated. "Sam, look, whatever you know, now's the time to tell us. We need all the information we can get on this thing."
Sam shook his head and turned away, looking towards the window. He shot a sideways glance at Carmen, who gave a small nod. "Back in Cooper, when the demon attacked Carmen…Before it took the knife to her it…it talked to me."
"What do you mean 'it talked to you'? What, did you guys sit down and have a tea party?"
"Dean, shut up." Carmen shot, without taking her eyes off Sam.
"It was possessing you." Sam said to Carmen. "It was speaking to me through you. But it's eyes, they weren't black like normal. They were yellow. And it showed me things about my past.
"The night that thing took mom…We never really knew why it was there, why it was in my nursery. It was because of me. That night, The Demon came in to my room and did something to me; he fed me something."
"What was it?" Dean asked.
"I don't know," Sam lied. "But it can't have been anything good. And I think it's doing the same thing to these kids now. We have to stop it. We know The Demon's coming tonight, alright, I saw it in my vision, and it's the baby's six month birthday. If we don't stop it, this family's going to go through the same hell we went through."
"No, they won't. No will, ever again. We're ending this." John promised.
"I still don't see how that proves that The Demon has been sending us on these hunts." Dean pointed out.
"That night in Cooper, it also told me something else." Sam hesitated, trying to find the right words.
"Spit it out, Sam." Dean ordered.
"It told me that it was going to kill Carmen. It said it wanted you out of the way. I'm sorry." A stab of fear shot through Carmen, but she didn't let it show on her face. "Remember that demon, Jenna, remember how we saw her contacting someone? Remember what she said about you?"
"She said I was negligible."
"Exactly. I think it was The Demon she was calling. And think about every hunt we've been sent on! They've all been aimed at hurting you. First in Boone, where there was a demon attacking girls Carmen's age. Then it sent us to Jenna, who tried to kill all four of us."
"Bobby sent us on that hunt," Dean corrected.
"It was killing families, though, Dean. That's our one weak spot. I think Bobby just got to us first; if he hadn't sent us there, we would have gotten a text soon after. But we killed her, so the demon sends us to Medford. Carmen's hometown! And she barely got out in one piece.
"But you were too strong, C. So The Demon had to make its own appearance. He lured us to Cooper, where there wasn't even a hunt, and tired to kill her himself."
They were all very quiet. Carmen wrapped her arms around her own stomach. So all these hunts, everything that had happened to them since they began to look for John, all the fights and the death scares…It had been because The Demon wanted her dead? She suddenly felt very sick.
"I should have seen it," Dean dragged his hand over his face. "Carmen, I'm sorry, I should have seen this. I thought I was following Dad's orders, I though he was guiding us…"
"You think I would have led you to hunts that were especially dangerous for her?" John asked. He narrowed his eyes at Dean. "How could you believe that?"
"I didn't know, I'm sorry!" Dean pleaded. John looked as if he was going to retort, but just then, his phone rang. He shot Dean a disappointed look before turning away and flipping his phone open.
"It wasn't your fault, Dean." Carmen soothed. She knew he felt responsible for both her and Sam because he was oldest, and she could see the angst on his face. "It wasn't any of our faults. This thing has been jerking us around for long enough. It's manipulated us too many times! We can pass around blame, we can blame ourselves and feel sorry, or we can fight it! We can bring it down, tonight, and free ourselves from this hell."
"That was Caleb." John said with anxiety in his voice. "He's in Lincoln, surrounded by demons. They want the colt, and they know we have it." He grabbed his jacket and duffel bag.
"Dad, you can't just go! We have this thing in our sights, and we need the colt to destroy it!" Sam said with passion.
"You're going to destroy it, tonight, like Carmen said." He took out an antique gun, which looked similar to the colt in its build, and held it up.
"No." Dean said. "You can't give them a fake, they'll know!"
"It's the only option. I can't desert Caleb; he's in this situation because of me. You three stay here, and take this thing down for good." And then he was out the door, leaving all three of them stunned and scared.
There was nothing left to do but follow John's order.
It was after dark, and Dean, Sam, and Carmen sat in the Impala outside of the targeted home. They could see the couple inside, first at the dinner table chatting merrily, then playing with their infant baby. Finally, the trio watched them close the blinds and retreat to their respective rooms.
"What should we tell them to get them out of there?" Sam asked cautiously.
"Gas leak?" Carmen offered.
"When does that ever work?" Dean pointed out, loading his gun. "We have one game plan available here; we wait for this thing to arrive, and we take it down."
Sam sighed. "I wonder how Dad's doing."
"He'll be fine," Dean said shortly.
"I would feel a lot better if we were there backing him up." Carmen said.
"I would feel a lot better if he were here backing us up," Dean returned.
"Listen, Dean," Sam started. "I just want you to know…I know Dad likes to pin blame, but this whole situation, it's not any of our faults, especially yours. And I gotta say thanks, to both of you," he turned to look at Carmen, "for always being there for me. You know, when I felt like I couldn't count on anyone else, I could always count on you two. I just want you to know…Just in case."
"Come on, Sam, I don't want to hear this speech from you! I'm not allowing this 'just in case' bullshit. No one's dying tonight, alright, not us, and not that family. Just this demon."
Carmen scrutinized the brothers. It was almost like they had switched places. On one hand there was Sam, who used to be so cautious, so resistant to hunting. He wanted himself and his family safe and out of harms way. But now he was willing to sacrifice his life to stop this demon. Then there was Dean, who Carmen had always looked up to for his bravery and fearlessness. He could run into the middle of any fight and come out victorious. But now he was terrified for his family; she could tell simply by looking into his eyes.
And then there was Carmen, the observer, the mediator…the one who was negligible.
Sam nodded to his brother and turned his eyes toward the house. He sighed, and his breath was visible in front of him. A sudden chill caught Carmen as a gust of wind blew the leaves through the now crisp air. The lights flickered throughout the house, and the radio emitted static.
"GO!" Dean exclaimed, and they all bolted towards the house and burst through the door. The house was stunningly dark and quiet. "Sam, get the baby, Carmen and I will-"
But he was cut short by a killer right hook colliding with his jaw. It was the father of the baby, thinking he was protecting his family.
"Get out of my house!" He bellowed, coming after Carmen. But Dean swiftly got up and knocked him out, throwing his limp body over his back.
"Rosie?" They heard a woman call from upstairs.
"NO! Don't go into the nursery!" Sam shouted, and bolted up the stairs with Carmen hot on his heals.
"Go, Dean, I've got him!" Carmen yelled down to Dean as they ascended the stairs. It was chaos. By the time they reached the nursery, Rosie's mother was already on the ceiling, just as Jess had been.
And there it was, The Demon, standing over baby Rosie's bed with a knife. All Sam could see was a silhouette. It turned around and fixed them with its terrifying gaze. Sam raised the colt, but The Demon was too quick – it disappeared into thin air just as Sam pulled the trigger.
The moment it disappeared, the baby's mother, who Carmen deduced was called Monica because of her husband's constant screaming, fell from the ceiling. Sam rushed to break her fall, and Carmen snatched baby Rosie from her crib just in time to rescue her from the flames erupting around her.
"Go, Carmen! Let's go!" Sam bellowed as he carried Monica down the stairs and out the door. Out front, they were greeted with hostility by the nameless husband who was being restrained by Dean.
"No, it's okay, they saved us!" Monica said, taking her child from Carmen's arms and placating her husband. "They saved us."
The window of Rosie's nursery was filled with flames. They licked the side of the house ominously, lighting the night. Inside, the dark figure of a man could be seen standing amidst the flames.
"It's still in there!" Sam bellowed, and he charged back toward the house, But Dean and Carmen ran in front of him. It took both their efforts to restrain him.
"Sam, no, it's suicide!" Carmen yelled, shoving herself against his chest.
"I don't care! Let me go, I don't care!
"I do!" Dean bellowed. He shoved Sam backwards, and finally, he calmed down.
Carmen looked up at the window and watched The Demon flash a menacing smile, and then fade into the flames.
"Damn!" Dean exclaimed, chucking his phone on the bed. "Dad should have called by now." He paced the floor, going from Carmen's side of the room to Sam's. Carmen was sitting against the window ledge, pretending to flip through John's journal but actually trying to keep an eye on Sam. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, head in hands, staring at the floor.
"You should have let me go," Sam said, his voice harsh. "I could have ended this."
"What?" Carmen narrowed her eyes and rose from her perch. "Sam, are you kidding me? The only thing you would have ended was your life! You would have died, don't you get it?"
"I don't care!"
"You know what Sam? You and Dad are a lot more alike than I thought." Dean said, coming to stand next to Carmen. "You're both just so willing to die killing this demon, and you know what? It's selfish."
"Selfish?"
"Yes, Sam!" Carmen bellowed. "Because we're going to have to be the one's to bury you. If killing this demon means you getting yourself killed, then I hope we never find it!"
"This thing killed Mom! This thing killed Jess!"
"Sam, killing this thing isn't going to bring them back." Dean said. "They're gone."
Fury exploded in Sam's eyes as he grabbed Dean by the collar and threw him up against the wall.
"Sam!" Carmen exclaimed.
"Don't you dare say that to me! Not you! Not when you were the one who came and got me at school and dragged me back into this!"
"I'm sorry, Sam. I just can't lose you. The three of us, and Dad, that's all I have. I can't…"
Sam heaved a breath, and coming to his senses, he let Dean go. "Dad," he whispered. "He should have called by now. Something must have gone wrong."
Just then, Dean's phone buzzed. He flipped it open and checked the text. A dark look took over his features. "No," he whispered. He passed the phone to Carmen.
I have your father. Come with the colt if you ever want to see him again.