The Weapon

Chapter 21 – The Trouble with Demons

The three of them were sitting now in Jerry's office putting everything together. They had done all the research and now knew what they were up against even if it didn't cheer any of them any. It was a demon; a demon had possessed one of the passengers and brought down the plane. It had actually taken them a while to figure it out, mainly because none of them wanted to take on a demon so soon after what happened to Jessica, but also because this wasn't their usual demonic possession.

They were sitting in the same office just after leaving the hanger. In fact Sam and Dean were still wearing their suits, much to Kaida's amusement. They looked so odd in formal wear, to her at least. Maybe it was because they only time they dressed in anything other than jeans was when they were conducting interviews. The real Winchesters lived in cheap jeans and second hand biker boots. As Jerry left to deal with his workers out in the hanger Kaida stretched with exaggerated movements. In her baggy jeans and t-shirt she was much more comfortable than her brothers and she couldn't help rubbing it in a little. Dean scowled at her before continuing the conversation.

"Hmm. You know, there's not too many things that leave behind a sulphuric residue."

There was one thing and they all knew it.

"Demonic possession?"

Demons were not what any of them wanted to deal with right now. Demons were hard to pin down. They could be anybody anywhere and they couldn't be killed.

"It would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch"

The problem was this was way off the map. It was unheard of for a demon to act in this way, At least in their experience. This was big time.

So they had done what they always did and thrown themselves into research. It was their back up plan. They may have had a vague idea about what they were up against, but they had never seen anything like this before. So it was time for research. They needed to know exactly what they were getting in to. It was one thing John had insisted on and it had stuck.

They were sitting in the motel room surrounded by books. Sam had the laptop open in front of him while Dean and Kaida searched through the books and documents. Kaida smiled slightly at the sight of her brothers immersed in research. She knew why John had always insisted they understood as much as they could before going into a situation. It wasn't just so that they could be prepared, it was so they didn't kill the wrong thing, and she appreciated it. It was one of the things that made them different from her father and it always made her smile. But they had done as much research as they could and all they could do now was talk it out.

"So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it."

They had gone over this earlier, but it didn't help. They all knew that demons existed.

"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this."

But then Sam came out with something they hadn't gone over before.

"Well, that's not exactly true. You see according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One cause's earthquakes, another cause's disease."

Kaida would have laughed, but he was serious.

"And this one causes plane crashes?"

Then they had gotten the call from Jerry and things had gone from bad to worse. Jerry's pilot friend had died in a plane crash, another plane crash, and their job had suddenly become urgent. They just needed Jerry to confirm that what they had found at the latest wreckage was Sulphur. He looked up just then and confirmed their suspicions.

"Well, that's great. All right, that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert. This demon sounds like it was after him."

Unfortunately their luck never ran that way.

"With all due respect to Chuck, if that's the case, that would be the good news. Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes into flight. And get this, so did flight 2485."

That was one problem Kaida could see in the obsessiveness with which they attacked their jobs. Due to everything they knew about the supernatural they saw patterns everywhere. They saw the omens and they knew what they meant. As a result they lived continually on edge. Was that why Sam had left? Had he finally had enough? Had he ever been able to turn off that part of his brain? Kaida didn't think she ever would. She relied on it too much, they all did.

"I went back, and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in."

Soon they were on their way again. At least the boys were. Kaida had been left behind to track down as many of the survivors as she possibly could while they went to make sure that the ones they had tabs on where not going to be flying anytime soon. Unfortunately that left Kaida behind yet again, when she should be protecting her brothers and that didn't sit well with her. Especially when she realised that only one of the survivors was likely to be flying in the immediate future. Amanda Walker. That name glared up at her from the computer screen. She was a stewardess and tonight was her first night back at work. That meant that the boys would have to intercept that flight. In normal circumstances that wouldn't be good, but suddenly Kaida remembered something from her childhood. Something that she had forgotten about, not only because it had been a painful conversation for her, but because Dean had made her promise to keep it quiet, And until now it hadn't been an issue. She remembered that Dean was afraid of flying.

Kaida snapped awake. She had heard something, a small meaningless noise so she sat up. She hadn't been here long in this house, a couple of week's maybe. John Winchester had taken her in and insisted she stay with them until he could sort out the legalities of adopting her officially. She still wasn't used to this place. Every little thing woke her, as it had done at the orphanage. She crept silently through the rooms, checking that everything was alright, that nothing was out of place.

As she walked into the kitchen her breath caught, but it was only a pile of weapons stacked onto the kitchen table; nothing to be afraid of, nothing to worry about. They were John's weapons, John was a hunter, but he was a good hunter, he wouldn't kill her. He wasn't her father. It was still strange for her to be here. Not only because she had suddenly gone from pretending to be poor little harmless Kaida all alone, to living with these hunters who encouraged her to be herself, but also because she trusted them. She felt safe with them, she felt at home. Maybe it was Sam's fault. They were in the same class at school, and although the Winchesters had not been in town very long she had instantly liked him. It was only logical that she would also like his brother and his father, even if they were hunters.

"You don't sleep much do you?"

Kaida spun around taking her eyes off the pile of weapons for the first time since she had entered the room. She shrugged slightly letting her head fall forwards so tat she could hide behind her hair. Unfortunately she was learning pretty quickly that that particular little trick didn't work on Dean Winchester. Most people would leave her alone and pass her by when she did that, she had felt safe being invisible to the rest of the world, But Dean didn't let her. He used to, back when she was little Kaida, Sam's friend, but not now. Ever since that day in the library he had looked at her differently and Kaida didn't know what to make of it. It worried her slightly.

At five years old Kaida had learned to keep to the shadows. She tried to fit in just enough so that she could fade into the background and be forgotten, but now there were three people who knew exactly who she was, knew exactly what she could do and she couldn't hide anymore. Sam treated her the same as he always had, but with the added enthusiasm of having her as a sister. And John was encouraging, always trying to get her to use her abilities and to learn more about their job. But Dean, Dean had been asking questions. He had decided that he wanted to know everything about her and her past.

"So, how old were you?"

Kaida's gaze snapped back up, he had been hinting at that question over the last couple of weeks, but this was the first time he had come right out and said it. She stared blankly at him for a couple of seconds but he ignored her, going to the fridge and getting out a couple of cans of soda.

"You're afraid of something Kaida, everyone is, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what. You're father was a hunter and he tried to kill you. Judging by the way you wake up at every little thing I'd say he's still alive and you are afraid he will come after you again. What I'm asking is when?"

It was out in the open now, there was no way she could avoid that question. Not when he was asking her so directly and looking straight at her. So she sat across from him and told him everything she could remember about that night. It wouldn't do to keep secrets, they were going to be family and if her father ever did find her she would need their support, all of their support.

Exhausted and with tears in her eyes from remembering her mother, Kaida finally slumped back in her chair and took a shaky breath. She had done it, she had told the whole tale, and she had heard his. He had told her about the fire, about taking Sammy out of that burning building in his arms and about his mother. That was something they had in common, something that they could understand, that they could relate to. And in some small way it helped.

Dean stood up and put the empty cans on the counter. The air was clear and they were one step closer to being a family. But just before he reached the door Kaida called him back.

"Dean? What are you afraid of?"

"You promise you won't laugh?"

"Flying. I fucking hate planes, terrifying things. We're just not built to fly. There are so many things that can go wrong with a plane. Cars I understand, but planes. That's what I'm most afraid of, Flying"

Kaida stood up quickly and went to find Jerry. She needed to get to that airport and she needed to get there now!