hello! i hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. i want to again thank you all for the wonderful reviews, they really do help me write quicker. so, barring any unforseen plot ideas (lol) there will only be two more chapter after this one. i want to again thank everyone for your wonderful support, i know this story has gotten a little long.

well, on with the show. enjoy and please let me know what you think :)

D: kerri and her family are mine, but the rest belongs to kripke.

SOMETHING LOST

Chapter 21

Sam moved slowly through the darkness, his trained eyes taking in every shadow, the shotgun held firmly in his grasp, flickering flashlight illuminating the path as best it could. He shifted the pack on his shoulder, the smell of smoke drifting in through the maze. He could feel the heat radiating through the narrow tunnels, charging down into the confined spaces, heralding the fire's arrival.

He brushed back his sweat soaked bangs as he swept the light back and forth across the rocky ground, his trepidation growing with each passing moment. They had to burn the bones, had to keep Dean safe, but that wasn't their only problem. None of them knew how the fire was attached to the malevolent spirit, and there was no way of knowing if it would dissipate or grow stronger once she was gone. Sam knew they had gone into this hunt blind and now they were paying the price, but, at the moment, there really weren't many other options.

He knew that, had they taken Dean and ran then he just would have been attacked again, that bringing him back to the mines was all they could do. And, as he walked, it all seemed to click for the young hunter, all the events of the past week falling horribly into place. The further away from the mines they got, the more frequent Dean's attacks became. It was almost as though the spirit knew where they were, and now it was pulling them in, steering them back to it like rats in a maze. But, when it came down to a battle for his brother there was no contest, Sam would fight for him till his dying breath.

"Paging Sammy Winchester."

"The radio isn't a toy, Dean."

"Yeah, yeah. Says you." His brother's voice crackled back through the radio.

"What's up?"

"Just checking in."

"Dude, I've only been gone for ten minutes."

"Really? It seems longer."

"Yeah well, it hasn't been."

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Dean, did something happen or are you just calling for a chat?" Sam moved stealth fully though the passage to the next shaft, his eyes still searching, body tense and alert. Everything suddenly seemed too easy, the spirit having yet to show herself to him, yet to attack, the fires she had set crackling behind him, but not closing in.

"Well, if you mean by something, did I have a nice little talk with psycho bitch? Then yeah."

"What! Where the hell are you?" Sam yelled into the radio, subconsciously turning back in the direction of his brother, fearing that Dean had decided to search the tunnels himself.

"Hey! I'm right where you're scrawny ass left me. She's the one that popped up in one of the doorways."

"Oh. What'd she say?" He answered back sheepishly, almost feeling Dean's glare through the static filled radio as he turned back towards the tunnel he was searching, the bones still nowhere to be found.

"Oh, you know, textbook evil 'you will never defeat me' rant."

"Are you ok?" He knew it was a stupid question but he had to ask, even if it was only to hear Dean's voice, to hear his brother say that he was fine, that everything would be all right, even if it was a lie.

"Yeah, how 'bout you?"

"Peachy."

"Have you found anything yet?"

"No. I finished the second tunnel and now I'm working on the third, but there's nothing here. Even the fire's hanging back."

"So, the bones should be around there."

"Yeah, but they're not. I don't know, Dean, something just feels off. I think we're going about this the wrong way."

"Have you seen our host?"

"Dude, there's nothing here but the dark."

"Well, that's just great. What about you, Kerri? Find anything?"

Sam froze in his place, his breath stilling, static filling the air. It was all too easy, everything was just too easy. It had lured them there, attacked Dean every time it seemed that they would stay away. It was smart, smarter then they had given it credit for. And now they were right where it wanted them.

It hadn't just been after Dean, it had been after all of them. The townspeople had killed her son, thrown him to the fire, the mother watching, witnessing his death. And now it wanted those responsible to suffer. That's why it was attacking children at the school, making the parents suffer, and that is what it was doing now. It wanted Dean to suffer, wanted absolution, wanted the worst kind of revenge. Yes, it wanted him to die, but it wanted him to go through hell first, and they had played right into it. They were all separated, and the spirit seemed intent on keeping them that way.

"Kerri?" Sam called into the radio, already back tracking towards his brother, his fear growing with each passing moment, heart beating faster with each step he took.

"Kerri?" Sam heard Dean call her again and again, his voice growing frantic.

"Dean, just stay were you are, I'm on my way back." But he was met with nothing but static. "Dean? Damn it."

Sam ran back to the cavern as fast as the darkness would allow, his mind racing, lungs burning as the smoke thickened, the tunnels heating to an almost unbearable level. But he didn't slow, didn't falter for even a second as he raced back to his brother. He pushed his wet hair back out of his eyes as he leapt over the salt lines Kerri had laid earlier, his heart nearly stopping when he swept the light across the room. He could see their extra pack, see the salt that had been laid around Dean, see the few supplies they had left, but there was no sign of his brother.

"Dean!" Sam called into the radio, but he was again met by static. "Stupid, stubborn, jerk." Sam cursed, making his way to the tunnel he had seen Kerri disappear down no more then thirty minutes before.

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Kerri coughed again, her eyes burning, body sweating as she walked deeper and deeper into the mines, her tense frame trembling with each sound she heard, each crackle of the ever nearing fire. It had been almost fifteen minutes since they had split up, but to her it felt more like fifteen hours. She didn't like hunting, plain and simple. She knew she could handle herself, but she also knew that she wasn't nearly as good as the other hunters, that she was just good enough to stay alive, and even that was sometimes questionable. But she did what she had to do, always, to keep those around her safe, to keep those she cared about as far away from harm as she could manage. And Dean and Sam were two people she cared deeply about. That's why she didn't even think twice when she had agreed to go with them to the mines, why she had never once turned back as she wandered through the darkness alone. They were everything to her, the last bit of her past that was still alive, still around, still with her, and she wasn't about to lose them.

She could feel the heat building all around her, feel the fire bearing down upon her, herding her, pushing her into the darkness, but, at the same time, she also felt unnaturally cold. Her body shivered, while sweat poured down her face, her lungs burning as the oxygen dissipated. And suddenly, her flashlight flickered and died, sending her into near total darkness, the only light she could see was the red dance of the approaching flames.

"Damn it." She breathed, unclipping the radio from her belt as she made her way further into the mines, her fear growing with each passing moment. "Sam, I think I need some back up over here." She lifted the talk button and waited, but nothing more then static met her ears. "Sam?" She called again, unconsciously quickening her steps. Still nothing.

"Dean?" Her voice was shaking at this point, her pace growing, mind racing. She had to get out of there, had to get back to the cavern. But, all her hopes were suddenly shattered when she was met by the fallen rocks of a long forgotten cave it, her path out of the shaft completely blocked. She turned slowly, a laughter ringing in her ears, ice dancing down her back, the ghostly figure of a woman standing only a few feet away, the fire dancing dangerously behind it.

"They killed my child before my eyes."

"I'm sorry."

"He was innocent."

"So am I."

"Really?"

"No, but I thought it was worth a try."

"You came with them, with the hunters."

"Yes."

"They came to kill me."

"I know."

"I wanted him back."

"Your son?"

"Your friend."

"Dean? Why?"

"He is an evil that must be punished."

"No, he's not."

"Are you so sure?"

"I'm positive."

"He has made it his life to rid the world of the supernatural."

"Yeah, so?"

"So. What about the other boy, his brother?"

"What about him?"

"He is supernatural, he is one of us. Why then is he still alive."

"That's different. He's never done anything wrong."

"And neither did I. But I was still hunted like an animal, I was still burned and buried for being different. So tell me, what makes him matter more then me?"

"Look, if we could change what happened to you we would, but that was along time ago. We didn't ask to be born or raised the way we were, it just happened. It's not our fault."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"That's because there is no answer. I can't tell you why some people should live and other's shouldn't. I just know that they have to."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because your sister is gone? Because your father is gone? Because you couldn't live if you knew they were all out of your reach?"

"How do you know that?"

"I can feel the guilt dripping from you, I can feel your fear building the closer my fire gets, see the memories drifting through your mind. Would you not punish those responsible for their deaths?"

"I'm responsible."

"I know. Just as Dean in responsible for so many others. He let them slip through his grasp, let them be ripped from his arms. Yes, he has saved many, but many have been lost as well."

"That's not his fault."

"How do you know? He burned a child."

"That boy was evil."

"That boy was murdered. There are other ways to free us besides burning our bones. But you hunters, you don't care. You see us as evil, see the victims as the enemy while their murders' progeny is allowed to live on, allowed to forget us. Justice will not be served until all the innocent are avenged."

Kerri's eyes grew wide as she watched the fire seep towards her, the air around her growing thin and heavy, her vision swimming as her lungs screamed for air, her jeans sticking to her sweat soaked body. She could hear her sister screaming again, her father's voice echoing from some distant horizon, calling out for Evelyn, screaming at Kerri to save her sister, to bring her back. She could see the demon's yellow eyes floating before her once more, hear its laughter ringing in her ears while her sister's body burned into nothing, her father crying, begging, bargaining with the demon for his little girl, his sweet Evelyn.

She could feel it all over again, feel her heart stop, her breath seizing in her throat as she watched her family, her world disappear into smoke, vanish into red hot flames. And she felt like a failure all over again. Dean and Sam were somewhere in the mines, brought here because she thought she could stop the spirit, she thought she knew what was going on. But it was the same as before, she had been lured into a trap, and the people she loved had been the ones to suffer.

"I'm sorry." Kerri's voice was barely more then a whisper, her throat raspy and soar, body heavy and tired. She had lost them all, her entire world falling into flames. She looked up once more into the spirit woman's empty eyes, her sorrowful face staring down at the girl at her feet, completely unaware of the shadow creeping up behind her.