"Thatta girl!" Dean smiled when Kara's blue dot stopped moving. She'd found the hut. "Now just stay put, Sam and I will be there in minutes."

He started the ignition and sped towards the motel to pick up Sam, who was waiting outside. Without a word, Dean drove back towards the woods and drove as far as he could. When they couldn't drive any further, Dean and Sam got out of the car to go the rest of the way on foot.

"How much farther?" Sam asked Dean. Dean looked at his phone.

"About 600 yards," Dean replied, walking slightly faster. He wove his way around the trees, following the map to find Kara and Mambo.

They continued on, when suddenly, the screen on Dean's phone flashed. "What the hell?" he swore, smacking the side of it. It flashed again, and Sam grabbed it.

"What the hell is going on?" Dean demanded.

Sam messed around with the phone, trying to keep it from going off.

"That's not good," Sam said, staring at Dean's phone.

"What? What's not good?" Dean asked, concern rising in his voice.

Sam pressed his lips together and held up the phone. Kara's blue dot was missing.

"Get it back!"

But the screen went blank, turning black. Sam whipped out his own phone to try to track Kara. Her blue dot appeared for no longer than a second before flashing out. Then Sam's phone copied Dean's and went dead. Sam looked up at Dean, and shook his head.

"Dammit!" Dean swore. He looked around, trying to remember which way he was supposed to be going. He finally picked away that looked pretty close. "Come on, this way."

Knowing Kara was in some sort of danger, they broke into a run. Dodging trees, branches, and bushes, the two ran, hoping to make it in time, although they weren't sure exactly for what.

A few minutes later, the Winchesters stopped running to catch their breath.

"Dean, look." Sam pointed to a small house that neither had noticed earlier.

Dean was confused. This can't be right. We should still have another 100 yards to go. Either way, Mambo's hut sat a little to their left.

The two looked around for any sign of Kara. "I don't see her," Sam said.

"Me neither."

They each pulled out a gun and cautiously walked towards the house, eyes peeled for anything out of the norm. Well, besides an ancient house appearing out of nowhere.

"Look at this." Dean knelt down and picked up Kara's cell phone. He flipped it open. The screen was black.

"She's gotta be inside," Sam said.

"Damn it, Kara," Dean muttered. He stood back up and started walking towards the house. Immediately, both Sam and Dean hid their weapons as Dean knocked three times on the front door. The door slowly opened, revealing a woman who looked to be in her late forties to early fifties.

"Can I help you?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"Uh, yeah, we were hiking with a friend of ours, and we got separated. Just, uh, wondering if you've seen her, by any chance. She's uh, pretty, red hair, gray eyes, mid twenties?" Dean said.

The woman thought back for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I haven't seen your friend."

This angered Dean, because he knew differently. "Hm, interesting, because we found her cell phone right outside your door."

The woman's smile faltered, but she held it, sighing. "I guess I shouldn't have lied to you like that. Your friend was here earlier, but she left after I told her how to get out of here. She must've dropped her phone without realizing it."

Like hell, Dean thought. "I don't buy it. "Kara? Kara?!"

There was no answer.

The woman laughed softly. "I'm sorry, but Kara isn't here."

"Dean, we should just go. Maybe we'll catch her on the way back," Sam said. Dean glared at Sam, but nodded his head.

"All right, fine," he muttered to Sam. To the woman he said, "Sorry for disturbing you."

The woman smiled even more and shut the door. Sam and Dean turned and walked away.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Sam asked as they walked.

"The bitch is lying," Dean replied. Then he turned, and started to go out towards the back of the house.

"Dean, what the hell are you doing?" Sam hissed as he followed Dean.

"I'm going to find Kara," Dean stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sam sighed and followed Dean. They crept around to the other side of the house and hid next to the window. Warily, they peeked through the old, tattered window curtains. Inside was Mambo, standing with her back to them. Neither Dean nor Sam could see what she was doing, but they could tell that Kara wasn't there.

"The bitch was telling the truth," Dean mused. Kara was nowhere in sight. In fact, if it wasn't for the cell phone, there was no proof that anyone other than Mambo had ever been there.

The two brothers continued watching, looking for some sort of sign to tell them anything about Kara's disappearance. But there was nothing.

"Damn it, you old broad," Dean swore. Mambo's head jerked up and she turned around. Dean and Sam ducked out of the way of the window. Hearing footsteps from inside the house they scrambled around the corner. The window opened, and they could tell that Mambo was looking out. When they heard the window close again, Sam sighed.

"She's not here, Dean," he whispered. "Lets' just get back to the car.

Dean agreed, but wasn't happy about it. Damn it, Kara!

On the way back to the car, neither brother said a word. When they reached Dean's Impala, they got in wordlessly. Dean started up the car and drove back to the motel.

"You know, Dean, we're gonna find her," Sam said encouragingly.

Dean didn't want to hear it. He didn't like the tone Sam used when he said it.

"Of course we will, Sammy. Why the hell wouldn't we?" Dean replied.

Sam didn't say anything. Instead he stared out the window. Dean thinks that we're always going to win. Doesn't he realize that we're not all powerful? Sam almost chuckled. He remembered Dean telling him that Kara had said that while they were in St. Louis.

While he drove, Dean, too, was lost in thought. Why the hell did Kara go into that house? I specifically told her not to, it wasn't part of the God damn plan! If she gets hurt, it's all her damn fault. He was obviously not happy with how things were turning out. If Kara had just kept with the plan, they could have smoked the bitch already and they'd be done with it. But no, Kara had to go and disappear, ruining Dean's perfect improvised plan.

Finally, they made it back to the motel. Once inside, Sam immediately flipped open his laptop and began the search for anything that could help them.

Dean grabbed a beer.

He pulled his phone back out; it was working once more. "Sam, check your phone."

Sam looked confused, but pulled out his cell phone anyway. He raised his eyebrows, "It's just fine."

"That's what I thought. Mambo doesn't seem to have any power now that we're out of those damn woods," Dean said, taking a chug of his beer.

"Which means that Kara could be all right," Sam mused.

"Yeah, we just gotta find her."

Sam stood up. "Maybe we should look around for her. I'll just take Kara's car so that we can split up and look faster."

Dean nodded and put down his beer. The Winchesters walked out of the motel, shutting the door tightly behind him. They walked over to Dean's car and looked at the space next to it where Kara had parked her car earlier.

"Uh, where's Kara's car?" Dean asked.

The space was empty. Her car was gone.

She ran, tears streaming down her face. She didn't know where she was going, or what she was going to do, but she ran. She didn't look back, and didn't think about what she was doing, she just did it.

The hot sun was beginning to set, and the sky was starting to get darker. Although she was unwilling to admit, she began to grow scared. Every noise, every dog bark, every car, every footfall quickened her heartbeat. When she thought she heard someone following, she broke out into a quick run.

Somebody help me! Her thoughts screamed inside of her head as she ran.

She turned the corner and ran into someone, knocking herself to the ground. She looked up into the face of the person she hit. It was a woman, older than herself, but not real old, maybe mid-twenties.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked, smiling.

The girl nodded her head slowly. The woman extended her hand, and she took it.

"What's your name?" the woman asked her softly.

The girl looked her in the eye, and her fear began to dissipate. "Maria. Maria White," she told her.

The woman smiled, and Marai began to feel better. She looked the friendly stranger over one more time. She was dressed nicely, wearing black pants with a two-buttoned jacket over a red tank top. Her flawless skin was tanned just right for her. Her beautiful red hair hung at her shoulders. But the thing that stood out the most were her eyes. Long thick lashes and black eyeliner framed her sea green eyes that seemed to shine out in the quickly approaching night. In fact, now that she thought about it, her eyes weren't the only thing that reminded her of the sea. A faint aroma of sea water floated in and out of Maria's nose. And her sweet voice reminded her of the sound of waves crashing softly on a beach.

Maria smiled, instantly feeling better. To her, the beach was the most wonderful place in the world. The only place were she felt completely at peace.

Maria realized she was staring at the beautiful woman and blushed. "What is your name?" she asked.

The woman's smile seemed to deepen. "My name is Kara. Kara Laketon."

Even her name reminded Maria of the ocean: Laketon.

"Where are you running to?" Kara asked.

Maria blushed, knowing how her answer would sound. "I don't know," she admitted. "Away?"

"Really? Me too!"

Maria was surprised. "Why are you running?"

"Honestly, I need to get away from my family. It seems like they're trying to suffocate me," Kara admitted to Maria.

Maria's eyes widened. "Same here!"

"Well, I'd offer you a ride, but, I don't know if you'd wanna go where I'm going."

"Where are you going?" Maria blurted before she realized what she was saying.

Kara shrugged. "The ocean," she answered simply.

Maria gasped. Never before had she such an urge to feel the waves of water wash over her toes. "Oh, take me with you, please!" she begged.

"Well…all right. But we have to make a stop first."

"Oh, anything!"

Maria followed Kara across the street, where she stopped in front of a car. Kara opened the driver's door, and Maria looked at her. "This is your car?"

Kara nodded.

"I like it," Maria informed her, going around to the passenger side. She opened the door to the black car and got in.

"Thank you," Kara replied. With that, she started the car and began to drive away.

"So, um, where exactly do we have to stop at?" Maria asked shyly.

Kara smiled even deeper. "I have to go see a friend."

Maria nodded and hesitated before asking, "Where does your friend live?"

"In the woods," Kara replied.

Maria knew that she should be alarmed, but Kara's answer suddenly seemed like the most natural thing in the world. She smiled up at her new friend. "I can't wait to meet her."

Kara looked at the road ahead, still smiling. "I was hoping you would say that."

"Yeah, I'd like to report a stolen vehicle." Sam was on his phone talking to the police as Dean drove, looking everywhere around for Kara or her car. He wasn't having any luck.

"Uh, yeah. It's a black, Chevy Camero SS." Sam said, reading the type of car off a piece of paper Dean had written it on. There's no way he would have known what kind of car to say if Dean didn't tell him.

Sam waited as the operator he was talking too did a search for the vehicle. He was put on hold while the woman typed up a report and put out a call to the available squad cars.

"You got it yet?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head, "She put me on hold."

Dean sighed in frustration. "How the hell did we not notice?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. Both cars were in perfect view of the window. But I'm more concerned about the why," Sam said.

Dean pressed his lips together, and then told Sam his theory. "I think it's my fault."

"How?"

"I probably said something that pissed her off. So she left Mambo's house, took her car, and now she's hunting it by herself."

Sam took in what Dean said. It did make sense. Except for one thing. "When Kara gets pissed, you know. She's not the type to just leave when she's angry, she starts the insults and yelling."

Dean knew that Sam was right, which worried him even more. Whatever he had done to offend her must have been really bad for Kara to just leave like that. After every fight or argument, she still stuck with the Winchesters. Now she was gone without a trace.

"Maybe she just got sick of working with others. Kara did say that she'd been going solo for about nine years. And, lately, it's been like we're just her go to boys," Dean pointed out.

Before Sam could reply, the operator returned. "You're car was just seen on Sixth Avenue. Would you like us to send a squad car?"

Sam laughed. "Oh, no, I'm sorry. I just remembered, I told my cousin she could take the car out today. I must have totally forgotten!"

The woman was not amused. "Sir, situations like these are very serious. Next time, make sure it's an actual emergency."

"Yes, ma'am. And I'm very sorry, I won't let it happen again."

The woman hung up.

Dean looked over at Sam curiously.

Sam turned to Dean. "She's heading back to the woods."

"Ah, that's a good girl," Mambo purred as she saw Kara coax the girl into her car. She opened her eyes, a triumphant smile on her face. Now bring me my girl…

Mambo turned around to face the altar she had set up. Two black candles stood tall, waiting to be lit. A large brass bowl sat in between the candle. Mambo smiled proudly at the bowl. It was hundreds of years old, older than even she was.

And definitely older than she looked. Mambo pulled a handheld mirror from under the table and held it up. She gazed at her reflection and scowled. She tossed it down. Not yet! But almost…

Mambo stared at the wick of one of the candles, and a flame started. She then watched the other until it lit as well. Taking a deep breath, Mambo next stared down into the dark, thick liquid in the bowl. She exhaled slowly and began to speak.

"Everything is going as planned."

She sat quiet for a moment, and then continued. "Oh, don't worry; I'll keep my end of the bargain. As long as you'll keep yours."

Mambo was quiet once more. "By the end of the day, they will be yours."