A/N Wow, I'm kind of on a roll again, huh? *clapclap* Yay me. Anywho, this chapter takes place at the end of S2. While Zoe's dealing with this stuff, Sam and Dean are gonna go deal with the whole Azazel-kills-Sam and Dean-makes-a-deal thing. Next time you see this story, dean will have SOLD HIS SOUL. *dramatic music* Anywho, enjoy and please review! =) Oh, and once again, the character of Cassidy belongs to LittletonPace. Read about Cass in her Supernatural fics!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural.

Chapter Twenty-One

Zoe woke up the next morning feeling a little better than she had the night before. Something about being more than a day past the night she'd fought with Dean made things seem not quite so bad. Baby steps forward. She was stepping in a new direction and maybe it wasn't the right one, but it wasn't necessarily the wrong one

Zoe got out of bed and opened the blinds. The sunlight made her squint and caused Cassidy, who had apparently still been asleep, to groan and say, "Close that!"

"Sorry." Zoe closed the blinds again. "I'm gonna go get breakfast."

"Fine," Cassidy mumbled sleepily, rolling over onto her back. "I'm gonna keep sleeping."

Zoe smiled and quickly got dressed before making her way to the hotel lobby, where she plucked a bagel from a basket at the breakfast buffet. She sat down at a table with her bagel and a packet of cream cheese, and pulled out her cell phone. After considering for a moment, she dialed Sam's number while spreading cream cheese over her bagel.

"Hello?" Sam asked.

"Hey, Sam. It's Zoe."

"Oh, hey, Zo," Sam said, sounding happy to hear from her. "How are you?"

"Um…" Zoe took a bite of her bagel. "I'm eating a bagel. With cream cheese."

"Okay," Sam said slowly. "That's good, I guess. Doesn't really answer the question, though, does it?"

Zoe grinned. "You sound a little tired. I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Nope. We're awake," Sam said. "Are you purposely avoiding my question?"

"Why, do I seem like I am?" Zoe laughed a little. "No, Sam, I'm….I'm okay. I guess I've been better, but I'm doing better than I was yesterday and the night before."

"I'm sorry," Sam said.

"No, don't apologize for him." Zoe took another bite of her bagel and swallowed it before going on. "If he's sorry he can tell me so himself, but frankly I don't want to hear it right now. Dean has no idea."

"Fair enough," Sam said. "What are you up to? Are you home?"

"No," Zoe said. "I met this chick named Cassidy. She's going to take me back to Iowa today. Right now we're near the Roadhouse. What about you? Any leads on Yellow-Eyes?" A pang of guilt struck Zoe as she asked. Whatever Sam said, she knew Dean was right about one thing – it was her fault Azazel had gotten away from them the other night.

"No," Sam sighed. "But we're doing our best. We'll get him eventually. Hopefully soon."

"Yeah," Zoe said. She finished her bagel and wiped cream cheese from her mouth. "Well, I better go, Sam. I'll probably give you a call when I get home and if you wanna talk before then, or anything…you know me. My phone's always on."

"All right," Sam said gently. "Take care, Zo."

"You too, Sammy. Thanks." She closed her phone and tossed her napkin in the trash. Then she headed back upstairs to see if Cassidy was awake yet.

Cassidy was up and dressed in a tank top and jeans when Zoe got back to their room, though she didn't look too alert yet. "Morning, sunshine," Cassidy said sleepily as she ran a comb through her black hair. She yawned. "I don't suppose you brought me a coffee or anything?"

Zoe shook her head. "Sorry."

"Hmm." Cassidy made a face in the mirror. "I'll have to get coffee before we hit the road. Don't wanna be falling asleep at the wheel if I've got to drive both of us to Iowa safely."

Zoe sat down on her bed. "Hey, Cass, I really appreciate this. I know I'm not, like, the most cheerful person to be around right now."

"Don't worry about it." Cassidy waved her hand. "I've dealt with worse."

Zoe nodded. "And anyway, I've decided I'm not going to let it bother me anymore. It's not like – " She looked up at Cassidy. "You have no idea why I've been upset, do you?" Zoe knew she'd been pretty vague and patchy with what details she'd told Cassidy.

Cass shrugged. "Well, I get that somebody made you feel pretty bad about yourself, possibly because a demon got away from you."

"On the nose," Zoe said, tapping her nose. "But whatever. I don't care what he thinks."

"Are you having guy issues?" Cassidy put her hands on her hips.

"Not exactly." Yes, exactly. "Okay, sort of. But I'm not in the mood to hear someone else tell me he's going to come around, or we'll start getting along again if we talk it out."

Cassidy lifted her hands. "Wasn't going to. It's not really my business, is it?" She ran her fingers through her hair and fluffed it out one last time. "All righty. Shall we get a move on?"

"What about your coffee?" Zoe asked, standing and slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder.

"I'll get it to go," Cassidy replied, heading for the door. "I want to stop at the Roadhouse and say hi to Ellen real quick before we jet off home."

Zoe snorted. "You wish we were jetting off. You're driving."

"I know," Cass said with a grin. "But it feels more glamorous to say 'jet off.'"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Goodness knows we need more glamour in our lives."

Cass responded by putting on a pair of dark sunglasses. Zoe couldn't help laughing.

xxx

Cassidy's battered old truck barreled down the dirt road toward the Roadhouse. "So I've gotta just stop and fill Ellen in on how I beat that demon," Cass said to Zoe. "And then you'll have to point me in the quickest direction to get to…" Cassidy trailed off, staring ahead. She pulled her sunglasses off. "Is that smoke?"

Zoe peered through the windshield in the direction Cass was pointing. A cloud of smoke did appear to be rising into the air. "Oh my God," Zoe breathed. Cassidy sped up and haphazardly pulled into the parking lot of the Roadhouse a few minutes later.

The building had gone up in flames, some time between them leaving last night and them returning that morning. Most of the Roadhouse was gone, except for a few rickety timbers and parts of the wall still standing.

Zoe leapt out of the car. "Ellen? Ash!" She dashed over to the wreckage, Cassidy just behind her.

"Zoe, be careful!" Cassidy's eyes were full of horror as she surveyed the ruin that only twelve hours before had been the beloved Roadhouse.

"What do you mean, be careful?" Zoe snapped, wading her way into the wreck. "It's not burning anymore!"

"It's not the fire I'm worried about," Cassidy said, her sharp eyes surveying the scene. "There's no way the Roadhouse burning down was an accident. Not on Ellen's watch. She wouldn't have let it happen."

"You think someone did this?" Zoe paused in her search to gape over at Cassidy. "Who would burn this place down? Ellen and Ash never hurt anybody!"

"It could've been anyone!" Cassidy said. She examined the remains of the Roadhouse carefully. "It looks like the fire burned itself out – no one called the fire department, and no one put it out." She furrowed her eyebrows. "It must have started just after we left. Which makes me wonder," Cass went on loudly, overriding Zoe's exclamation, "whether we were meant to be in there when it went down."

Zoe walked a few steps closer to Cassidy. "Why would someone want to burn this place down with you inside it?"

Cassidy shrugged. "I don't know. Why would someone want to send you up in smoke?"

Zoe stared at her. "You can't seriously blame me for this!"

"I'm not blaming you!" Cassidy said. "I just think it's an odd coincidence that, of all nights, the arsonist chose last night to destroy the Roadhouse!"

Zoe folded her arms. "There were a lot of people there last night. This place was packed." She bit her lip. "You – you think everyone got out okay? Ellen and Ash?"

"Oh, of course." Cassidy shook her head. "I'm sure they're fine." She hunched her shoulders. "I just think we should probably get a move on. Danger aside, it probably won't look too good if we're the only ones here when the police show up to investigate."

Zoe walked over to her. "You're right. I just – " The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. Nervously she glanced over her shoulder. "We should go."

"That's what I said," Cassidy huffed, rolling her eyes. "Come on."

Zoe's heart rate had increased, and she could feel it pounding against her ribcage. "Move!" she shouted to Cassidy, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the destroyed Roadhouse. "There's a demon here!"

"How do you – "

"I just know!" Zoe said. There was a sound behind them and Cassidy whirled around, yanking a gun from her waistband. She fired two shots, the second catching a man who had just appeared in the shoulder. He dropped to his knees and yelled in pain, his eyes turning black.

Cass's eyes widened. "Wow, you're good," she said to Zoe.

"I guess I forgot to mention I can sense evil," Zoe gasped, staring at the demon. "Oh crap, he's getting up." She turned and ran to Cassidy's car. Cassidy back up slowly, firing more shots at the demon. "Cass!"

"It's rock salt! The guy will be fine!" she protested. Then the demon twitched his fingers and knocked Cassidy to the side. She landed with a heavy thud and the gun flew out of her hand. Cassidy, winded, lay gasping for air on the ground while the demon reached Zoe and wrapped his fingers around her throat.

Grasping at the door handle behind her, Zoe managed to yank the door of Cassidy's truck open and bang it into the demon's head. He toppled over once again, giving Cassidy a chance to pick up her rock salt gun and shoot him again. With a scream, the demon's mouth opened and black smoke billowed into the sky and disappeared. The man's head fell to the side and he lay still.

Cass and Zoe looked at each other. "That was weird," Zoe said.

"You can say that again," Cass said, shoving the gun back into her waistband. "Can we go?"

"Absolutely," Zoe said quickly, climbing into the truck.

Cassidy started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. "Did you notice he went for you first, not me?"

"I did notice," Zoe said dryly, massaging her throat. "Things are constantly trying to throttle me. I ought to be used to it by now." She shrugged. "It probably would've gotten you in a minute. It was probably trying to cover its tracks."

Cassidy looked over at her. "Do you believe that, or are you trying to keep something from me?"

Zoe stared at her. "Why would I lie about something like this? Look, if that demon wanted to kill me in particular, which I'm not convinced it did, I truly have no idea why!"

Cassidy chewed her lower lip. "What about the fact that – um – you can 'sense evil' as you said?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "That's nothing to kill me over. For whatever reason, I can tell when someone is possessed by a demon. How? I have a panic attack, pretty much. It's not exactly a threat to them."

"Well. Maybe," Cassidy said slowly, her eyes on the road."It still doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Welcome to my life." Zoe crossed her arms and slumped down in her seat.

Cassidy cut her eyes over to her. "Want to tell me about what you've been dealing with?"

"What do you mean? The reason for my glumness, or the fact that I have panic attacks around demons?"

"Both," Cassidy said.

"It's a long story," Zoe said, shaking her head.

"We've got a long drive," Cassidy answered, gesturing at the road in front of her. She looked over at Zoe and gave her a small smile.

Zoe straightened up. "All right, you got me. I'll talk." She grinned back at Cassidy. "If only so you'll stop being so suspicious."

xxx

Cassidy pulled into Zoe's subdivision several hours later. "Hmm," she said. "I'm starting to think we're not so different. Both hunters from normal white-bread families who disapprove…"

"My family is far from normal," Zoe countered.

Cass tilted her head. "I suppose mine kind of is too, but I've yet to find anyone who has a normal family. Based on the life's story you've been pouring out to me over the past few hours, yours might be as close to normal as they come."

"Hey now," Zoe protested. "I only told you the story of my past year. With a little family stuff sprinkled in." She sat up in her seat. "That's my house," she said, pointing.

Cassidy whistled through her teeth as they pulled into the driveway of the large brick house. "Your dad did pretty well for a single parent, huh?"

"He's a lawyer," Zoe said. "And a pretty damn good one, too."

Cassidy parked and drummed her fingers on her knee. "Do you want me to stick around?"

Zoe shook her head. "No, I won't make you do that. Thanks, though." She reached over and squeezed Cassidy's hand briefly with a smile. "And thanks for listening to me ramble on about my escapades."

"Hey, I asked." Cassidy laughed. "Next time I'll have to tell you about mine."

"Sounds good." Zoe smiled. "So what are you going to do now, Cass?"

"I'm gonna track down a demon, that's what," Cassidy said. "I'll let you know when I find one."

"Why, so I can help you?" Zoe snorted. "I thought I made it clear I suck around demons."

"Not so you can help me, silly, I can handle them myself just fine." Cassidy grinned back at her. "No, I'll call you because when I find a demon I'm going to get it to spill a little info on you."

Zoe stared at her. "Really?"

"Well, yeah!" Cass said. "I'm kind of intrigued by this anti-demon thing you've got going on. And since even the demons seem to know more about it than you do…." She shrugged. "Why not ask one of them? There's some reason they want to kill you. Demons aren't random." She paused. "Well, they can be, but they don't randomly go after the same person over and over."

Zoe smiled. "Well…thanks. Thanks for everything, Cass."

"No problem." She stuck out her hand and Zoe shook it. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Mitchell. Good luck."

"Same to you, Cass," Zoe said, and with one last wave at her, she hopped out of the car. Cassidy watched her go up the driveway and knock on the door of her house. It was pulled open a moment later by a tall man with brown, graying hair who Cassidy assumed was Zoe's father. He stared at her for a moment before wrapping her in a tight hug, which Zoe returned. Then he put his arm around her shoulders and led her into the house.

Cassidy put her truck into reverse and backed out of the driveway. Driving down the road, she reflected on Zoe and the things she'd told her. A girl who could deflect demons from her own body and sense when they were around was even more abnormal than Zoe seemed to realize. Zoe saw it as a handicap, but Cassidy thought it was more of a gift. And whatever it was, the demons didn't like it, and the demons wanted Zoe dead. Cassidy wanted to know why. Knowing why wouldn't, perhaps, deter the demons in their attempts to kill her, but it could give Zoe more of an advantage.

Cassidy grinned. She'd been given hell more than once by other hunters about her unusual introduction to the world of the supernatural. Here was another hunter who had been brought into it in more of a non-traditional way. But then again, they all got into it somehow.

Cassidy hit the highway and her eyebrows furrowed in determination. She had a mission now.