"DEAN!"
With a gasp for air she rises up. Upset she tries to catch her breath, still in complete shock.
"You've been with me for two days and you already scream my name while you're sleeping?"
Stunned by the sound of his voice she looks over her shoulder and stares into Dean's green eyes. He has a playful smile on his face, clearly he doesn't have a clue what's she just went through. Instantly she glances at his chest, but there's not a drop of blood to be seen. Still struck Zoë watches him for a moment, then looks away while she lets out a sigh of relief; it was just a dream.
"Seriously, you look like you just saw a hellhound", Dean states, as the expression 'as if you just saw a ghost' doesn't really appeal to them anymore.
"I did", she confirms nervous.
Concerned she tries to get up, but her leg is anything but cooperative. Determined she gets up anyway and scans the room. Surprisingly enough, the fireplace where through the hellhounds came, isn't even there. She all imagined it, or was her dream more than that? Puzzled Dean follows her with his eyes.
"What time is it?", Zo wonders.
Dean checks his watch, "3 PM".
"September 27nd, right?", she checks.
"No, September 28th. Are you alright?", he asks carefully.
"Yeah, I'm fine", she lies, pretending that it's nothing.
A moment later the satellite phone rings before Dean can continue questioning. He realizes it's must be Sam. As the phone rings, Zoë ponders about her nightmare. Her dream must have taken place last night, she doesn't remember waking up afterwards. So everything in that dream didn't actually happen? It felt so real, even more real than her flashbacks. She have could sworn she had that conversation with that demon. While she dwells in her thoughts, Dean picks up the phone from the floor and answers the call.
"Y' hello?"
"How you holdin' up?"
It is indeed Sam on the other end of the line. Dean's glad to hear his voice.
"We're okay, that storm is pretty bad huh?", he comments as he glances out side.
He can see the snow passing by the window like bullets instead of humble snowflakes. The wind forces the trees to bow.
"Yeah, it is. I'm stuck", he says pissed off.
Unpleasantly surprised Dean turns to face Zoë, she can read from his face that something's wrong.
"How do you mean, stuck?"
"They blocked the Arlington-Darrington road, Dean. It's the only road to the valley. The snow has reached lower grounds and no one can get in or out", he notifies mad.
"Ah, come on!", Dean cries out frustrated.
"What's wrong?", Zoë asks as she keeps staring outside the window with her arms crossed in front of her.
"Road's blocked", Dean informs her shortly.
"Can't you put me on speaker? I need to talk to Zo", Sam requests.
Dean removes the phone from his ear and presses the speaker button, after which he places the phone on the floor.
"She's all yours", he states.
"Zoë, I did some research on this whole hellhound business", the youngest Winchester brother tells her. "You're right, there's no way to kill them".
Normally she's glad with recognition, but this is not what she wanted to hear. With a sigh she turns around to glare at Dean, but then jumps back startled. His face, which is pale as a corpse, flickers to different positions as he opens his mouth to make a screeching and terrifying sound. His eyes have sunk deep into their sockets while his eyes are white as those of a blind man. Horrified she stumbles back till she hits the wall, but when she closes her eyes for a moment and opens them again, all she sees is the handsome guy that he is. Puzzled he stares at her with his eyebrows lifted.
"You sure you're alright?", he checks cautious.
"You're face…", she stammers. "A moment ago it was…"
Unable to finish her sentence she looks away as she tries to catch her breath. Sam, who by the sounds seems to realize what is going on, jumps in.
"You're hallucinating, Zoë".
"You think?", she replies sarcastically.
"There have been reports of this, people who get close to their deadline start to have these disillusions of what they will face downstairs", he explains without losing his temper.
Zoë rubs her face and lets out a sigh; this is getting weirder and weirder.
"What else you've got?", she questions.
"Well, like I said, we can't kill them. But there is a way to get you off the hook", he tells her.
For a moment Zoë glances at Dean, who's still set down on the ground. It startles her when she realizes that they are both on the exact same spot as they were when the Yellow Eyed Demon's made her the offer.
"Kill him".
"What did you say?", Zo asks puzzled.
Dean looks at her confused. "I didn't say anything".
Then again she hears it the words, this time she recognizes the voice; it's the demon.
"Kill Dean Winchester".
While grinding her teeth she closes her eyes and blocks out the voice. What the hell is that son of a bitch thinking? That she's actually gonna listen to him? As anger boils up she looks Dean in the eye, but doesn't flinch.
"Everything okay there?", Sam asks.
Dean gives her a look, he is wondering the same thing. But Zoë shakes her head to tell him that this is not the right time to talk.
"Yeah, we're fine", Dean lies. "So how can we get her out of this deal?"
"By killing the demon that holds her contract", Sam tells.
"You think I'm that bad of a researcher, Sam?", Zo comments annoyed. "He's already dead".
"He is?"
"Quite sure, Sammy", Dean backs her up.
"Then how the hell…?"
"He unleashed his hellhounds before I exorcised him", Zoë answers before he can even finish the sentence.
For a moment Sam keeps still as he thinks through her words.
"That's why Dean saw it too", the youngest of the brothers realizes. "They're like heat seeking missiles, they kill anything they run into".
"But they focus on Zoë when we're together", Dean brings to mind. "When they were chasing us down the mountain at midnight, I didn't see them. Not until I walked out alone to get the satellite phone".
"So let me get this straight. As long as he's with me, he's safe?", Zoë questions stunned.
"Yep, they won't harm him", Sam confirms.
"So we're back on square one?", Dean sighs.
"Not exactly. I've called a few hunters. No one knew about hell hounds, but do you remember Caleb?"
Dean does actually. "Sure, friend of Dad's".
"John has friends?", Zoë asks out loud cynical after which she receives a glare from the eldest brother.
"He mentioned a guy named Singer. Apparently he's a very experienced hunter, he might know something", Sam notifies. "You have Dad's journal?"
Zoë watches how Dean takes the old leather notebook out of his jacket and leafs through it. When he finds a list of hunters, he stops.
"Singer you said?", Dean checks.
"Yeah".
"714 960 2323", Dean reads out loud.
"Thanks, I'll give him a call", Sam promises.
Sam hangs up, causing the disconnected tone to sound through the room. His elderly brother picks up the phone and presses the red button. His gaze glides up to Zoë, who he stares at with a cautious but stern look.
"What the hell is going on with you?", he wants to know.
Zoë shakes her head and takes a breath.
"It's nothing, just… the nightmare and the hallucinations. I think it's getting to me", she admits.
She limps towards him and sits down against the wall. Desperately hoping for the voice to go away, she presses her hand on her ears and closes her eyes.
"He has to die. You are the one who can do it. You are special, Zoë".
"What was it about?", Dean asks.
"What?", Zoë recalls confused.
"Your dream, what was it about?", he repeats patiently.
"About demons and hellhounds and… we died", she says shortly, not specifying over Dean's actual cause of death.
"That better not be a vision then", he comments.
"No, it wasn't. I never had premonitions, only flashbacks. Besides, this was as clear as a bell, the flashbacks are always blurry", Zoë claims.
With shaking hands she grabs her pack of cigarettes and takes one out to light up. She inhales deeply the first time, then she lets the smoke slide out over her lips again. The nicotine helps her relax a bit, but the voice keeps haunting her.
"You are my favorite, Zoë. Kill him".
For a second she looks aside at the guy who the demon wants dead desperately. He tries to seek what on earth is going on in that head of hers, but it's all so unclear. All he can see is that's she's hurting. Tears form in her eyes, but they don't role down her cheeks yet, she's too strong for that. Brave she keeps fighting the urge that's put on her from the outside to listen to the bastard. She turns away from him and tries to concentrate. In order to drive it out, she imagines a shield around her as she clears her mind. When she opens her eyes again, the voice is gone. Relieved she rests her head against the wall and glances aside. For all this time Dean kept observing her with a questioning look upon his face.
"Trust me, you don't wanna know", she sighs.
He doesn't respond with a smart answer, but keeps silent for a moment. He notices her trembling and hands her a thin blanket that was also in David's back pack. With some resistance she takes the blanket and covers her body with it in order to keep warm. Now that she has calmed down a bit and stares at the door absently, Dean dares to let out a few comforting words.
"It will be okay, Zo. We'll get you out", he assures.
She huffs, but doesn't answer. He's such a positive guy, so naïve. Tired out by stress and confusion she rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes for a brief moment. A bit overwhelmed Dean looks down at her, not sure how to respond to this. Zoë opening up to him is one thing, but now she's actually searching for a little affection? Yet he doesn't see any harm in it, so he relaxes and lets her rest against him. Although she acts like a tough chick, deep inside she's probably lonely. She left home five years ago and hasn't stopped hunting ever since. Traveling around the country, never staying in a town longer than two weeks, it shuts you off. He himself can deal with that pretty well, he has always been a fan of his freedom. But Zoë is more like Sam on that area, she had a long lasting relationship with someone, a person she truly loved. Pondering he stares outside the window, where nature shows her fury. He can't help but wonder if Sam will get through to them or not. One way or the other, he's not going to leave her to be dragged down to hell. He risks his life for innocents every day, why should today be any different? In the last couple of days he got to spend with her, his respect for the young woman gained. She's not just the hunterbitch to him anymore like he saw her before. Maybe this is the side that Sam likes so much, the girl that Sam secretively feels attracted to. And yes, Zoë Sullivan can be an unbelievable pain in the ass, with her smart answers and arrogance. But every time that she will put on that mask again, he will know what's underneath. A girl that has way too much weight on her shoulders, a girl that is drowning in an ocean of unbearable history.