At Hell's Gates

by mrsemmettcullen12

What if Sam had a twin sister? This is the story of Dean and Sam with a sister, Alex.

34. Callin' All Angels

This is my first story, so please be nice. Tell me what you think.

I do not own any of the characters (except for Alex) and I do not own any of the storylines.

Chapter 34

Dean managed to pull his lighter from his pocket, flipping it open and lighting it up as he coughed and gasped for breath. He took in his surroundings with wide eyes, noticing that he was trapped in a pine box. He coughed and took in a small breath.

"Help," he called out, his voice sounding weak and puny.

He coughed and tried again.

"Help!"

His voice was raspy and his throat was scratchy as he struggled to talk.

"Help!"

He pushed up on the top of the pine box with his free hand, his palms pushing on the lid of the box. Dirt fell down onto his face and he closed his eyes for a few brief seconds as the dirt fell. Once he opened them again, he began pushing against the lid of the pine box harder. Even more dirt fell onto his face and a large avalanche of dirt cascaded down onto his whole entire body. He reached through the large pile of dirt with both hands and pushed his head out from the ground. He gasped for breath as he felt the sunlight hit his face and he struggled to pull himself from the dirt. He closed his eyes, groaning with the effort it took to pull himself from the hole. He crawled out of the hole just enough to remove his whole body from the dirt. He laid down on the dead grass beside him, breathing heavily from the exertion of climbing out of the ground. His face was turned towards the sun and his eyes were closed as he felt the sun warm his face. After a few minutes, he stood up and began walking out of the forest he was currently located in, heading for the nearest road.

Dean wiped his brow with his forearm as he walked down the road, his jacket tied around his waist. The sun was beating down on him harshly as he walked and he found an almost empty gas station down the road a few more miles, only one unoccupied car in the parking lot. He walked over to the gas station and banged on the door.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice still very raspy.

No one answered, so he untied his jacket from around his waist and covered one of his hands with the jacket. He slammed his covered hand into one of the glass window panes of the gas station's door and reached inside, unlocking it. He pushed the door open and headed straight for the coolers full of drinks. Dean grabbed a water bottle from one of the many coolers and twisted the cap off. He threw the cap onto the floor as he downed the whole water bottle in less than one minute. He sighed in relief at the comfort it brought his sore throat and he grabbed another bottle. He turned to look around the empty gas station and grabbed a newspaper from the rack beside the cooler. He checked the date, which read, September 18, 2013.

"September?" he questioned out loud, his voice no longer raspy and back to its normal and deep timbre.

Dean found the bathroom and twisted the faucets, turning the water on and splashing some lukewarm water on his face. He used his jacket to wipe the excess drops from his face and he stared at himself in the mirror. He lifted up his shirt, expecting to see scars all over his chest from where the hell hounds had torn him up, but there were none. The only thing marring his chest was his tattoo. He let his shirt fall back down to cover his torso, but he noticed something out of his peripheral vision. He turned slightly to the side, putting his left arm up to the mirror and he lifted up his short shirt sleeve. He cringed when he saw a huge, red handprint on his left shoulder. He looked at it questioningly, wondering who had put it there.

Dean put his jacket back on and grabbed a plastic grocery bag from behind the gas station's counter. He began filling the bag with protein bars and fiber bars. He walked over to the cooler and threw as many water bottles as he could fit into the plastic bag. He was chewing on one protein bar when he saw a porn magazine on the magazine racks. He smirked and grabbed the magazine, stuffing it into his plastic bag. He walked behind the counter and over to the register, opening the cash register and grabbing the change, shoving it into his pockets. As he was doing this, the old, small TV next to his left elbow turned on suddenly, showing him static. He looked at the TV curiously, but then Dean just reached over with his free hand and flicked the Power button to the off position. Once the TV was off, though, the radio on the counter suddenly turned on, playing some country station with a lot of static interrupting it. Dean stepped towards the radio to turn it off, but then the TV flipped on again. Dean looked between the two, very confused, before walking out from behind the counter, a determined look on his face. He grabbed some salt off of one of the racks and began pouring it along the windowsills. The noise from the radio and the TV began to build into a high-pitched whining sound. Dean grabbed his ears once it had become too much to handle, the ringing obnoxiously loud and high-pitched. Dean fell to the floor as the windows were suddenly blown out. He got up to move away from one set of windows, but was then blown backwards by the other set of windows being blown out by the noise. Dean stood up slowly, using the counter as leverage. He stepped forward to one of the many windows, the glass crunching under his boots as he walked forward. Dean looked out one of the windows, seeing that the glass had been blown out from every single window or glass pane.

Dean walked to the telephone booth outside of the gas station, only a short walk away from the last gas pump. He stepped inside the small booth, squinting at the sunlight that streamed in through the glass. He shut the sliding door behind him once he was inside and dialed a familiar number. It only rang voice and then an automated message came on the line, telling him the number had been disconnected. Dean shook his head, sighing. He grabbed another quarter and pushed it into the telephone, dialing a second number. The phone rang one time and then Bobby's familiar voice came over the line.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Bobby?" asked Dean, somewhat in disbelief.

"Yeah?"

Dean hesitated for a split second, but then continued on talking to Bobby.

"It's me."

"Who's me?"

"Dean."

The line went dead then and Dean took the phone away from his ear, staring at it. He hung it up, but then picked it back up once again, placing it to his right ear as he pushed another quarter into the telephone and re-dialed Bobby's number. The phone rang for less than one second as Bobby picked up yet again.

"Who is this?"

"Bobby, listen to me."

"This ain't funny. Call me again and I will kill you."

Bobby hung up once again and Dean took the phone away from his ear, just staring at it again. He sighed, but then slammed the phone back down onto its hook. He ran his hands through his hair as he slowly turned around in the telephone booth. He stopped walking when he saw a car in front of him, completely abandoned. He sighed, but walked out of the phone booth and over to the car.

Dean muttered under his breath as he attempted to hotwire the vehicle.

"Come on, come on," he whispered to himself.

After a few more seconds, the car started and Dean pulled away from the gas station, heading straight for Bobby's house.

Dean banged on Bobby's front door a few hours later. He waited, holding his breath as Bobby opened the front door. Bobby froze, staring at Dean on his front porch. Dean let out the breath he had been holding and smiled at Bobby.

"Surprise," said Dean, his voice still a little raspy.

Bobby's eyebrows rose.

"I don't…" said Bobby, trailing off as he continued looking at Dean, in complete disbelief.

Dean shook his head.

"Yeah, me neither."

Dean walked through the front door, which was still wide open.

"But here I am."

Suddenly, Bobby lunged toward Dean, a large silver knife in his hands. Dean deflected Bobby's blow and held Bobby's arm away from his face. Bobby landed a left punch to Dean's stomach and Dean stumbled away from Bobby, farther into the house, holding his stomach.

"Bobby, Bobby, it's me!"

"My ass!" yelled Bobby, coming towards Dean with the knife raised up.

Dean grabbed an office chair and held it in front of him, attempting to block Bobby from walking forward any further.

"Wait, wait! Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a hunter after your wife became possessed. You're about the closest thing I have to a father," yelled Dean.

Bobby stared at him in complete disbelief, lowering his arm to his side as Dean stood up straighter.

"Bobby. It's me."

Dean stood up completely straight and watched, his eyes wide, as Bobby pushed the office chair out of his way. Bobby reached out with his hand that wasn't holding his large knife and touched Dean's shoulder. He lunged backwards quickly to stab Dean, but Dean gained the upper hand even quicker and tore the knife from Bobby's grasp. He rolled up his shirt sleeve and looked over at Bobby, his eyebrows raised.

"Alright, alright. If I was a shape-shifter, would I be able to do this, with a silver knife?" asked Dean.

His shirt sleeve was rolled up to a little ways above his elbow and he sighed as he felt the cold silver press into his upper arm. He cringed as he made a cut on his arm using the silver knife, blood dripping onto Bobby's kitchen floor. Bobby looked at Dean.

"Dean?" he asked him.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," said Dean, walking towards Bobby slowly.

Bobby cried with relief and happiness, pulling Dean in for a large hug. Bobby held the back of Dean's neck as he hugged him, overcome with emotion at having him back. Dean hugged Bobby for a few more seconds before pulling away. Bobby quirked an eyebrow at Dean, a smile on his face.

"It's certainly good to have you back, boy. How did you even bust out?" asked Bobby, shaking his head.

"I don't know. I woke up in a pine box-"

Dean turned around as he spoke, setting the silver knife on Bobby's kitchen table. As he turned back around to face Bobby, Bobby splashed some holy water directly onto Dean's face. Dean's eyes closed as the water hit his face and he stopped talking. He turned to the side, his eyes open once again, spit some water out of his mouth and onto the floor, and then looked back at Bobby, his eyebrows raised.

"I'm not a demon, either, you know."

"Sorry. Can't be too careful anymore," said Bobby, looking a little bit sheepish.

Dean nodded.

"So, what do you remember?" asked Bobby.

"Not much. I remember that I was a hell hound's chew toy. And then, um, lights out. Then I come to at six feet under and that was it," said Dean.

He grabbed a small hand towel from Bobby's kitchen counter and wiped off his face as he followed Bobby into his study. Bobby walked around his desk and sat down in his chair as Dean continued talking.

"Um, Sam's number isn't working. He's, uh, he's not…"

"Oh, he's alive, as far as I know," said Bobby.

Dean closed his eyes as he breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Good. And Alex's number was working, I just got her voicemail," said Dean.

Bobby nodded.

"She's definitely alive and fine. She calls me every morning," smiled Bobby.

Dean smiled and began pacing around the room. He stopped when he thought back to what Bobby had just said.

"Wait, what do you mean, as far as you know?"

"Well, I haven't talked to Sam in months," answered Bobby.

"You're kidding, you just let him go off by himself?"

Bobby sighed, standing up from his chair.

"Well, he was absolutely dead-set on it. Alex couldn't even stop him and you know that girl can basically talk Sam down from anything."

Dean raised his eyebrows, smirking as he realized what Bobby had said was true. But then he became serious once again and glanced over at Bobby.

"Bobby, you should've been looking after them, looking after him."

Bobby turned to face Dean.

"I tried. These last few months haven't been exactly easy, you know. For any of us. We had to bury you."

"Why did you bury me, anyway?"

"I wanted you salted and burned, you know, the usual drill, but Sam wouldn't have it."

"Well, I'm glad he won that one," said Dean, shuddering to think what would've happened if his body had been cremated.

"He said you would need a body when he got you back home somehow. And that's about all he said," said Bobby.

"What do you mean?" asked Dean.

"He was really quiet. And then, he just took off. Wouldn't return my calls. I tried to find him, but he don't want to be found."

Dean sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Oh, damn it, Sammy," whispered Dean.

"What?" asked Bobby.

"Oh, he got me home okay. But whatever he did, it's some bad mojo."

"What makes you so sure?"

"You should've seen my grave site. It was like a nuke went off. And then there was this… force, this, um, presence, I don't know. But it, it blew past me."

Dean took off his jacket and looked at Bobby.

"And then this."

He lifted up his left shirt sleeve to reveal the large, red handprint burned onto his skin. Bobby walked over to him to get a closer look.

"What in the hell?" whispered Bobby.

"It looks like a demon just yanked me out. Or rode me out," answered Dean.

"But why?" asked Bobby.

"To hold up their end of the bargain."

"You think Sam made a deal?"

Dean smirked angrily.

"It's what I would've done."

Bobby nodded sadly.

"Now, come on, Bobby. We better go find me some siblings," said Dean.

He slapped Bobby gently on the shoulder and headed back to Bobby's study. Bobby sighed, but followed Dean's lead.

Alex smiled to herself as she heard a knock on her motel room door. Bobby had called and said he wanted to meet up and talk, so she had given him her address. She held a glass of water in her hands and she took a sip from the glass as she unlatched her door. She held the glass in her hands as she pulled the door open, smiling widely. Her smile faded as she saw her oldest brother standing in her doorway. The glass fell from her hands as she took in Dean's form.

"Hey, little sis," smirked Dean, leaning against the door frame.

Alex shook her head, closing her eyes.

"This isn't real, I'm obviously dreaming. I buried you in the ground four months ago. You were bloody and disgusting and dead," cried Alex.

She opened up her eyes, but Dean was still there, looking at her sadly. Dean stepped back slightly and Bobby filled the doorway. Alex sighed with relief when she saw Bobby.

"Bobby, who is that standing behind you and why does he look exactly like Dean?" asked Alex, biting her lip.

Dean chuckled along with Bobby.

"Because that is Dean, sweetheart. I know it seems hard to believe, trust me. But it really is him. Your brother is alive again, Alex," said Bobby.

"No, Bobby, we buried him. There's no way he can be back, I mean…"

Alex trailed off as she looked at her brother. Her eyes were filling up with tears. She had this strange intuition that it was, in fact, Dean. Dean smiled at her and moved towards her, Bobby moving out of his way. Alex began sobbing when Dean pulled her into his embrace and Alex knew it was him then.

"Shh, it's alright. Everything's gonna be alright," soothed Dean.

He sighed, breathing in her scent. He kissed the top of her head as she cried into his shoulder. Bobby smiled at them and entered the room, shutting the door behind him. He took a seat at the kitchen table in the room and Dean walked with Alex over to her bed, sitting down beside her. Alex looked at him, taking him in. Her tears were slowly subsiding as she realized that her oldest brother was truly alive and currently sitting next to her.

"I can't believe you're alive, Dean. I mean, we buried you and I couldn't even handle it. I cried for days, weeks, months. Sam just held me while I cried, every single night for months and weeks on end. And I know he was trying to figure out a way to bring you back. How did you even get back?" asked Alex.

Dean sighed.

"We think Sam might have made a deal," answered Bobby.

Alex bit her lip.

"Alex, did Sam leave you alone?" asked Dean, looking his little sister in the eye.

"No, Dean. He calls me every single day," said Alex.

"Alex, we need to find him. We have to talk to him," said Bobby.

Alex nodded and stood up from her bed.

"I know. Just let me collect all my stuff and then we can go to him."

Dean and Bobby nodded and Bobby went to go get Alex all checked out of the motel. Dean helped her grab all of her things and she smiled at him.

"I missed you so much, Dean. It was so hard, on all of us. Bobby started drinking, Sam zoned out. I…"

Alex trailed off as her emotions got the best of her. Dean sighed and walked over to her, pulling her in close.

"I know how hard it was, for all of you. But I promise, I'm not going anywhere, alright? I am here to stay," promised Dean.

Alex nodded into his chest and Dean kissed her forehead.

"Now, baby girl, I need you to tell me where Sam is. We have to find him."

Alex nodded.

"Um, he's in Pontiac, Illinois."

Dean sighed and cursed under his breath. Alex looked at him, confused, her head cocked to the side.

"That's where I was this morning when I woke up. Pontiac, Illinois. Damn it, Sammy," said Dean, finishing his thought in a whisper.

Alex sighed and finished putting all of her stuff together. Dean helped her carry it out to the car and they climbed inside, Bobby driving, heading for Sam and Pontiac, Illinois.

Dean, Alex, and Sam walked down the hall to Room 207. Dean banged on the door and they watched as a woman answered, throwing the door open. She stared at the three of them, her eyebrows raised.

"So, where is it?" she asked them.

"Where's what?" asked Alex, looking confused.

"Um, the pizza. That apparently takes three people to deliver."

Dean smirked.

"Oh, I think we have the wrong room," said Dean.

"Hey, is that…"

Sam trailed off and stopped speaking completely when he saw Bobby, Dean, and Alex standing in his doorway. He looked at Alex, then at Bobby, and then over to Dean. Sam's chest was heaving as he took in his older brother.

"Hey, Sammy," said Dean, a gentle smile on his face.

Dean walked into the room, the girl moving to one side so she wouldn't be in his way. Sam watched his brother walk into the room and then he lunged toward him, a silver knife in his hands, as he backed Dean up into one of the walls closest to the open door. The woman in the room screamed and Bobby and Alex rushed inside. Bobby managed to pull Sam away from Dean and Alex ran to her oldest brother, looking at Sam from across the room with wide eyes.

"Who are you?" yelled Sam, struggling against Bobby's hold.

"Oh, like you didn't do this!" yelled Dean.

"Do what?" yelled back Sam.

"It's him, it's him, Sam. I've been through this already, it's really him," said Bobby.

Alex nodded encouragingly. Sam stopped struggling and was now just breathing heavy. He looked over at Alex, who smiled gently at him. She left Dean's side and walked over to Sam's. Sam pulled her into him, hugging her. Bobby let go of Sam and watched the two of them. Alex was rubbing soothing circles up and down Sam's back as she whispered into his ear. Sam nodded at some of the things she said to him. After a few minutes, she kissed his cheek and stepped away from him, standing by his side. Sam stared at Dean, still in a little bit of disbelief that his brother was actually back from the dead and standing before him.

"I know. I look fantastic, huh?" joked Dean, stepping a little bit closer to Sam.

Sam closed the small space between him and his brother and hugged Dean. Sam held back his tears of relief as he hugged his older brother and Dean closed his eyes as they hugged. He held Sam as close as he could, his grip so tight on Sam, that his knuckles were beginning to turn white. After a few more minutes, they separated and they smiled at each other.

"So, are you two, like, together?" asked the woman, who was still standing in the motel room doorway.

"What? No, no. He's my brother," answered Sam.

The girl nodded and smiled at Sam.

"Oh, I got it now, I guess. Look, I should probably go," said the girl, pointing towards the door with a small smile on her lips.

"Yeah, um, that's probably a good idea. Sorry," apologized Sam.

The girl put on the rest of her clothes and Sam walked her to the door. She turned in the doorway and looked at him, smiling.

"So, call me," she said.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing, Kathy," said Sam, smiling back at her.

The girl's smile faded and her shoulders slumped forward.

"Krissy," she corrected him.

Sam smiled a million dollar smile as he leaned against the doorway.

"Right."

The girl managed one more small, disappointed smile, but then she turned around and walked away from him. Alex looked at her, felling as if there was something off about the girl, but she just shrugged it off. Sam grabbed the door and shut it as she walked away down the hall, the door creaking on its hinges as he shut it. Once it was shut, he turned to face his siblings and Bobby. He sat down in an armchair.

"So, tell me. What'd it cost?" asked Dean, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at his little brother.

"The girl? I don't pay, Dean," smirked Sam.

"That's not funny, Sam. To bring me back, what'd it cost you?"

"You think I made a deal?" asked Sam, looking around the room at his family members.

"That's exactly what we think," said Bobby.

"Well, I didn't."

"Don't lie to me, Sam," said Dean.

Alex sighed and bit her lip.

"He's not lying to you, Dean," she whispered.

Dean ignored her, stepping closer towards Sam and uncrossing his arms from across his chest.

"Look, Dean, I wish I had done it," said Sam.

Dean grabbed Sam by his shirt's collar and looked him in the eyes.

"Now, look, there's no other way that this could've gone down. Now, tell the truth."

Sam shoved Dean's arms away from him and Dean stumbled back a few steps.

"I tried everything, and that's the whole truth. I tried opening the Devil's Gate. Hell, I tried to bargain, Dean, but no damn demon would deal, alright? You were rotting in hell for months, for months, and neither Alex nor I could stop it. So, I'm sorry it wasn't me, alright? Dean, I'm sorry," apologized Sam.

Dean looked at him, nodding.

"It's okay, Sammy."

Sam nodded.

"You don't have to apologize, I believe you," said Dean.

"Um, I love this family reunion. Seriously, I really do, you have no idea. But since both Sam and Alex's souls are fully intact, this raises a very important and puzzling question," said Bobby.

Alex and Sam both nodded along with Dean.

"If neither one of them pulled me out of the pit, then who the hell did?" answered Dean.

Alex and Sam shrugged as Sam stood up and walked over to the mini-fridge in the room. He pulled out drinks for all of them and handed them out before sitting back down in his place.

"So what were you doing here if you weren't digging me up?" asked Dean, looking over at Sam.

"Well, once I figured out I couldn't save you, um, I started hunting down Lilith. You know, trying to get some payback," said Sam.

"All by yourself? Who do you think you are, your old man?" asked Bobby.

"I helped him a little bit. I just wasn't physically with him," answered Alex.

Sam nodded.

"Anyways, um, I was checking these demons out in Tennessee and then they took a hard left and booked it up here."

"When?" asked Dean, sitting on Sam's other side.

"Yesterday morning," answered Sam, taking a drink from his beer bottle.

Dean looked over at Bobby, his eyebrows raised.

"When I busted out," said Dean.

"You think these demons are here because of you?" asked Bobby.

"But why?" asked Alex.

"Well, oh, I don't know. Some bad ass demon drags me out and now this? I mean, it's gotta be connected somehow."

"How are you feeling, anyway?" asked Bobby, staring at Dean.

"I'm a little hungry," answered Dean.

"No, I mean, do you feel like yourself? Anything strange or different, maybe?"

"Or demonic?" asked Dean, a little bit of anger in his tone.

Bobby cocked his head to the side, shrugging with his eyebrows raised.

"Bobby, how many times do I have to prove to you that I'm me?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, well, listen. No demon's letting you loose out of the goodness of their heart. They've gotta have something nasty planned."

"Yeah, well, I feel fine," muttered Dean, taking a pull from his own beer.

"Okay, look. We don't know what they're planning here. We need some help," said Sam.

"I know a psychic a few hours away from here. Something this big, maybe she's heard the other side talking," said Bobby.

"Hell yeah, it's definitely worth a shot," said Dean.

"I'll be right back then," said Bobby, standing up and heading into the hallway to call the psychic.

Dean stood up too and Alex and Sam stood up as well, Sam putting a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"Hey, wait," said Alex.

She reached up around her neck and pulled off the necklace that had once belonged to Dean. Sam and Alex had gotten it for their dad one Christmas, but when Dad didn't show up, they gave it to Dean instead.

"You may want this back now. Sam wore it for a while, but then we parted ways, he let me keep it," said Alex.

She took it off of her neck and handed it back to Dean, who stared at it in his palm. Alex smiled gently along with Sam.

"Thanks," said Dean.

He put it back around his own neck.

"Hey, Dean, what was it like?" asked Sam, looking at his older brother.

"What, hell? I don't know, I, uh, must have blacked it out. I don't remember a damn thing," answered Dean.

Sam and Alex nodded.

"Well, thank God for that," said Sam.

"Yeah," said Dean.

He walked away from them and headed towards the bathroom. Once he was inside, he flipped on the light and stood in front of the mirror, placed directly above the small sink. He ran a hand over his face as he leaned towards the mirror, grabbing the sides of the sink as he looked at himself. He thought back on his time in Hell, what he had seen and what he had done. He sighed.

Dean smiled as Sam tossed him the keys to the Impala. They walked over to the car and Dean reverently touched the hood of his vehicle, stroking it gently.

"Hey, sweetheart. Did you miss me?" asked Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes, but climbed into the backseat, Sam climbing into the passenger seat, just like old times as Dean followed Bobby onto the interstate.

"There' still something that's bothering me though," said Dean, once they were on the road.

"Yeah?" asked Alex, resting her cheek on the back of Sam's seat as she looked at Dean.

Sam looked over at Dean as well.

"Yeah, the night that I bit it. How'd you guys make it out? I thought Lilith was gonna kill the both of you."

"Well, um, she tried, but she just… couldn't," said Alex, biting her lip and looking at Sam.

"What do you mean, she couldn't?" asked Dean.

"She fired this, like, burning light at us and it didn't leave a scratch on either one of us. It was like we were immune or something."

"Immune?" asked Dean, in a little bit of disbelief.

Sam chuckled.

"Yeah. We don't know who was more surprised, her or us," said Sam.

"Yeah, and then she left pretty fast after that," chimed in Alex.

Dean nodded a few times to himself.

"Huh. Well, what about Ruby, where is she?" asked Dean.

"Dead. For now," answered Sam.

"So, are either one of you using your freaky, ESP stuff?"

Alex scoffed and Sam glared at him.

"No. You didn't want us to go down that road, so we didn't go down that road. Besides, you know it was Sam we were all worried about, anyway," said Alex.

"Alright, good. Well, let's keep it that way," said Dean.

Alex flopped back down onto the backseat, readying herself for the long drive ahead, while Sam rested his forehead on the glass of his passenger side window.

A few hours later, Bobby knocked on the door of a woman's house. A pretty, black-haired woman answered the door, smiling brightly when she saw Bobby standing on her front porch before her.

"Bobby!" she exclaimed, pulling him in for a hug.

"Pamela! Aren't you just a sight for sore eyes?" said Bobby, looking at the woman once they had separated.

The woman just waved his comment off and crossed her arms over her chest as she took in the siblings.

"So. These are the Winchesters," stated Pamela.

"Sam, Dean, Alex. This is Pamela Barnes, best damn psychic in the whole state," explained Bobby, looking at the Winchesters.

Pamela smiled at them and jerked her head towards the door.

"Come on in," she said, leading the way into her house.

Bobby stopped in the foyer, looking at Pamela as she closed her front door.

"I haven't heard much. No one seems to know who broke your boy out, or why," answered Pamela, having understood Bobby's unasked question.

"So what's next?" asked Alex.

"A séance, I would think. See if we can see who did the deed."

"You're not gonna summon the damn thing here?" asked Bobby, his eyes wide with fear.

Pamela smiled, shaking her head.

"No. I just wanna get a sneak peek at it, like a crystal ball without the crystal."

Pamela walked past all of them and down the hallway. She stepped into her living room, where a large, round table was already set up. Bobby began closing all of the curtains around the room and once he was finished, he took his seat at the table. Pamela lit the six curtains that rested in the middle of the black tablecloth on the top of the table. She sat down at one end of the table, Dean sitting next to her. Alex sat between both of her brothers around the round table.

"Alright. Take each other's hands," instructed Pamela.

They all grabbed hands around the table and Pamela looked at Dean.

"Now, I'm gonna need to touch something that out mystery monster touched."

She raised her eyebrows at Dean and Dean sighed, shrugging off the long sleeved shirt that he had on over his short sleeved t-shirt. He lifted up his shirt sleeve to reveal the large, red handprint that was on his left shoulder. Alex and Sam exchanged glances. Pamela rested her palm over the top of the handprint and then looked at the center of the table. She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began speaking into the dark room. They all closed their eyes as well, focusing. Dean opened his eyes when he heard a TV across the room turn on, the sound of static filling the room. The table began to shake and everyone except Dean still had their eyes closed.

"Castiel? No, sorry, Castiel, I don't scare very easily," said Pamela, her eyes still closed tight.

"Castiel?" asked Dean.

"It's his name, it's whispering to me, warning me to turn back," said Pamela.

Pamela began chanting again and Dean looked around the room, seeing his family with their eyes still shut. He sighed, but closed his eyes again. The table began to shake more profusely as Pamela continued chanting and everyone except for her opened their eyes.

"Maybe we should stop this," whispered Alex.

"I've almost got it," said Pamela.

She chanted one more time and then the candles flames grew higher. Pamela's eyes opened, but a bright, white light exploded from them. Blood dripped from her eyelids as she screamed. After a few seconds, her eyes shut and she fell to the floor, the candles burning out. The siblings and Bobby sat, frozen, for a few seconds.

"Someone, call 911!" yelled Bobby.

Sam stood up and rushed from the room to call 911. Bobby and Dean ran over to Pamela, Bobby pulling her into his arms. Dried blood was all around her eyes and when she opened her eyes, they were just black, no color in them at all. She cried out.

"I can't see. I can't see, oh, God," she cried.

Bobby looked over at Dean, whose own eyes were wide. They heard Sam talking from the kitchen and Dean looked over at Alex, who was looking down at Pamela with wide, fearful eyes.

Dean, Sam, and Alex sat at a table in the local diner.

"So, we still don't know what we're dealing with," said Sam.

"Well, we do have a name, Castiel," said Dean.

Alex nodded and Sam shrugged.

"Look, Dean. I did follow some demons into town. Maybe we should just find them and ask them what's going on," offered Sam.

Alex nodded and Dean sighed. Their waitress returned and set down the three cups of coffee they had recently ordered. Then, she sat down next to Sam at the table. The three siblings looked at her.

"You angling for a tip?" asked Dean, smirking at her.

The waitress smirked back.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought you were looking for us."

Her eyes turned as black as night and they all stared at her, wary. The two other men in the diner also had black eyes and one of them walked over to the door, locking it with a flick of his wrist. He stood in front of the door so they couldn't escape and the woman changed her eyes back to a normal color, looking at Dean with a huge smile on her face.

"Dean. To Hell and back. Aren't you just a lucky duck?"

"That's me," said Dean.

"So, you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me, what makes you so special?" she asked him.

"I don't know. It wasn't my doing and I have no idea who pulled me out."

"Lying's a sin, you know," said the woman.

Dean looked at the woman, cocking his head to the side.

"I'm not lying. But I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo," said Dean.

"Mind your tone with me, kid. I'll drag you back to Hell myself."

Sam shuffled around, ready to attack the woman, but Dean held up a hand, stopping him.

"No, you won't. 'Cause if you were, you would've done it already. The fact is, you don't know who cut me loose. You're just as spooked as we are and you're just looking for answers. 'Cause whoever it was, they want me out. And they're a hell of a lot stronger than you," said Dean.

He smirked at her.

"So, go ahead, send me back. But don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep."

"I'm gonna reach down your throat and pull out your lungs," threatened the girl.

Dean smirked, leaned closer to her, and smacked her across the face. She turned back to face him and he did it once again. Sam and Alex looked at her, glaring, as the woman turned back around again. Dean smirked.

"Yeah, that's what I fucking thought. Let's go," said Dean, looking at his siblings.

They all stood up and brushed past the demon standing in front of the door. They walked outside into the bright sun, crossing the empty street.

"Holy crap, that was close," said Dean, shaking his head.

"We're not just gonna leave 'em in there, are we, Dean?" asked Sam.

"Well, yeah. There's three of them, probably more and we only got one knife between us," said Sam.

"I've killed a lot more demons than that lately," said Sam.

"Well, I'm back now."

"Dean, we gotta take 'em, now. They're dangerous," argued Sam.

"They're scared. Scared of whatever's got the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a bad motherfucker here," said Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes as she walked behind them.

"Always fucking arguing," she muttered under her breath.

Later that afternoon, Dean was sleeping on the couch, his head leaning against the wall. Sam looked around, not spotting Alex. He slowly opened the door and winced as it gently creaked open. Dean didn't make a sound, but Alex stepped around the corner in the bathroom, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Sam. Where are you going?" asked Alex, glancing at Dean to make sure he was still sleeping.

Sam sighed and turned to face her.

"Alex, please. Just let me go and don't ask any questions."

"Sammy, I'm not gonna let you do this. Stop, okay? I know what you're doing and it needs to stop. You told Dean you weren't gonna do this," begged Alex.

"Alex, I'm doing this with or without your permission. So, just let it go, alright?"

Sam looked at her and Alex sighed, raising her eyebrows at him. Sam looked at her and turned around, walking out the door. He shut the door behind him and Alex sat down on her bed, holding her head in his hands.

Alex sat up straight as the TV suddenly turned on, static filling the silence of the room. The radio turned on as well, the dial moving of its own accord. Dean woke up and rubbed his eyes, glancing at Alex on the bed. He quickly got up off of the couch and grabbed his shotgun from beside him. Alex got up and stood behind him as Dean slowly walked towards the door of the motel room. The ringing in the room got louder and louder and Alex pulled her hands up to her ears, trying to block out the sound. Dean's shotgun fell from his hands as he did the same. They both fell to their knees as the glass from the mirror shattered. The glass from the windows blew out as well and Dean cried out as his arm was cut by a shard of glass. His blood was dripping down his arm as he covered Alex with his body, both of them curled into themselves as the noise grew louder and louder. Suddenly, Bobby ran into the room, seeing Dean and Alex on the floor.

"Dean! Alex!" he yelled.

Bobby was driving the car as Dean sat in the passenger seat, Alex in the backseat. Dean held a red cloth to his arm and Bobby looked over at him.

"You kids alright?" he asked them.

"Besides the church bells ringing in my head, I'm just peachy," said Dean, very sarcastically.

Bobby glanced back at Alex, who smiled gently and nodded at him. Dean pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sam's number.

"Hey. What are you doing?" asked Dean, once Sam had answered.

"Couldn't sleep, so I went to get a burger," answered Sam.

"In my car?"

"Force of habit, sorry. What are you doing up?"

"Um, Bobby's back. We're going to grab a beer."

Bobby looked at him strangely and Dean held up a finger, telling him to hold on one second.

"Alright, well, spill some for me," said Sam.

"Done. We'll catch you later," said Dean.

Dean flipped his phone shut and Bobby stared at him.

"Why didn't you tell him?" asked Bobby.

"Because he'd just try to stop us," answered Alex.

"From what?" asked Bobby.

"Summoning this thing. It's time we face it head on," answered Dean.

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Bobby.

"I'm as serious as a heart attack," answered Dean.

"We don't even know what it is. I mean, it could be a demon, it could be fucking anything!" yelled Bobby

"That's why we gotta be ready for anything," said Dean.

He pulled Ruby's knife from his pocket and held it up in front of his face, inspecting it.

"We've got the big-time magic knife, you've got an arsenal in the trunk," said Dean, holding his arms out and shrugging as he looked at Bobby.

"This is an absolutely horrible idea," muttered Bobby.

"Honestly, I couldn't agree more," said Alex.

"But what other choice do we have?" asked Dean.

"Well, we could choose life," said Bobby, his eyes wide.

"Bobby, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it's after me. That much we know, right? Well, I've got no place to hide," said Dean.

"Dean, we could use Sam for this," urged Bobby.

"Nah, he's better off where he is," said Dean.

He looked in the rearview mirror at Alex, who looked back at him apologetically. He knew that she knew where Sam was, but she wasn't giving him up so easily. Dean sighed, but he turned his attention back to the front of the car and out the windshield as Bobby drove.

Sam slowly entered the diner that they had been at earlier in the day. He shut the door behind him and looked around the empty diner. The lights were off, only the neon signs in the windows providing lights for the place. Music was playing from somewhere in the back of the diner as Sam glanced around the small diner. He spotted a man lying on the floor behind the counter, so Sam slowly stepped forward. He bent down next to the man's head and saw that the man's knuckles were bloodied, indicating he had put up a fight. Sam flipped the man over and saw that the man's eyes had been burned out of his skull, just like Pamela's eyes had been burned. Blood surrounded his eye sockets and had dripped down his face. Sam stood up from his crouch just as a woman came flying out of the back, knocking him down and across the room. Sam fell on the top of one of the tables and it broke under both of their weights. The woman punched Sam across the face repeatedly until Sam grabbed her head and head-butted her three times. He threw her off of him and she landed across from him. They both stood up at the same time and she punched him across the face. He grabbed her arm and pulled it back behind her back. He kneed her in the stomach and then she stood in front of him. Sam noticed that it was the same demon woman from earlier in the day and her eyes were also burned out from her face.

"Your eyes," said Sam, breathing heavily.

"I can still smell your soul from a mile away," she said, also breathing heavily from their little altercation.

"He was here. You saw it," stated Sam.

The woman nodded.

"I saw it."

"What was it?"

"It's the end. We're dead, we're all dead," cried the woman, shaking her head.

"What did you see?" asked Sam.

The woman scoffed and laughed slightly.

"Go to Hell."

"Funny. I was gonna say the same exact thing to you," said Sam.

He held up his palm and closed his eyes. The woman coughed and then the demon inside her came out from her mouth in clouds of black smoke. The black clouds of smoke circled around her feet as she fell to her knees, clutching her throat. Sam's eyes were still closed as he closed his fist, sending the demon straight back to Hell. The floor underneath the woman opened up to the pits of Hell, flaming orange as the demon went through the floor. The floor closed up again once Sam opened his eyes again and the body of the woman was on the floor. Sam walked over to check the woman's pulse, crouching down and placing two fingers on her neck to check her pulse. He sighed when he felt nothing.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath.

Sam looked over to the kitchen door as a woman walked through it. She was smiling at him and it was the woman from his motel room a few days ago.

"Getting pretty slick there, Sam. Better all the time," she said, smiling at him.

Sam stood up from his crouch, still looking at her as he stood up.

"What the hell's going on around here, Ruby?" asked Sam.

Ruby shook her head, shrugging.

"I wish I knew."

Sam nodded, glancing around the diner.

"We were thinking some high-level demon pulled Dean out."

"No way. Sam, human souls don't just walk out of Hell and back into their bodies easy. This guy bleeds, the ground quakes. It's cosmic. No demon can swing that. Not Lilith, not anybody," said Ruby, shaking her head.

"Then what can?" asked Sam.

"Nothing I've ever seen before."

Sam nodded.

Alex stood beside Dean in an old, abandoned barn they had found. Bobby had finally finished spray-painting all sorts of symbols and traps on the concrete floor.

"That's one hell of an art project you've got going on there," remarked Dean, watching as Bobby walked towards him.

"Traps and talismans from every single faith on the globe," said Bobby.

He set the can of white spray paint down on the chair that sat beside Alex.

"How we doing?" asked Bobby.

"Stakes, iron, silver, salt, the knife. I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of," said Dean.

"This is still such a bad idea," said Bobby, shaking his head at Dean as he looked at the arsenal Dean had set out.

"Yeah, Bobby, I heard you the first ten times. Now, what do you say we ring the dinner bell?" asked Dean.

Bobby stared at him for a second longer before walking over to a small table behind Dean and Alex. He picked up a bowl and sprinkled some black dust into a bigger bowl on the table. He closed his eyes and began speaking in Latin, his hands wavering over the bigger bowl.

Sam sat across from Ruby in a booth at the diner.

"So, million dollar question. Are you gonna tell Dean and Alex about what we're doing here?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, I just gotta figure out the right way to say it. Um, Alex already knows. She figured it out a long time ago," answered Sam.

"Sam, Dean's gonna find out and if it's not from you, he's gonna be pissed."

"Oh, well, he's gonna be pissed any way that he finds out. I mean, he's so hard-headed about this psychic stuff, he'll just try and stop me."

"Look, maybe I'll just take a step back for a while. I mean, I'm not exactly in your brother's fan club, but he is your brother. And I'm definitely not gonna come between you."

"I don't know if what I'm doin' is right. Hell, I'm not even sure if I trust you, honestly. What I do know is I'm saving people and stopping demons. And that feels good, so I wanna keep going," said Sam, nodding at Ruby.

Alex sat next to Dean on one of the tables, kicking her legs as she looked around the room, utterly bored. Dean was playing around with one of his knifes, making holes in the table. Bobby was whistling some random tune across from them as he sat on the other table.

"Are you sure you did the ritual right?" asked Dean, looking over at Bobby.

Bobby stopped his whistling and gave Dean a look. Dean sighed.

"Sorry."

Suddenly, Alex heard a noise from above them. Dean and Bobby also looked up as the noise became louder. Something was hitting the roof repeatedly and it was loud and big. Alex stood behind Dean, holding onto his arm tightly as he stood in front of her, facing the barn doors. Bobby stood next to Dean.

"Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind," said Dean, yelling to be heard over the loud noises.

Suddenly, all of the light bulbs in the room exploded, sending glass flying everywhere around them. They ducked for cover as the glass popped around them. The barn doors slowly opened and a man walked into the barn as the light bulbs continued shattering. The man was wearing a tan trench coat, black pants, black shoes, and a white, button-down shirt. He had a blue tie tied around his neck. He strode into the large barn, Dean and Bobby raising their guns towards him as he walked towards them. His eyes were a bright, startling blue, and his hair was black. Dean and Bobby began shooting him as he came closer, but the bullets didn't affect him in any way. He just kept walking towards them. Bobby and Dean glanced at each other as he got closer, so Dean grabbed Ruby's demon killing knife from off of the table, holding it behind his back as the man in the trench coat finally approached them. He looked at Dean, completely ignoring Alex and Bobby as he stood directly in front of Dean.

"Who are you?" asked Dean, glaring at the man.

The man stopped walking as he stared at Dean.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," he answered.

"Yeah. Thanks for that," said Dean, sneering at the man who stood before him.

Alex shook her head and winced as Dean plunged the knife straight into the man's heart. The man didn't react in any way, just stayed standing in front of Dean. He looked down at the knife that was buried into his chest and grabbed it with his right hand, yanking it out of his chest cavity and dropping it onto the floor. Dean looked at Bobby, whose eyes were wide. Bobby ran towards the mysterious man, holding a crowbar and swinging for the man's head. The man turned around, grabbed the crowbar, and placed two fingers in the middle of Bobby's forehead. Bobby's eyes went cross-eyed right before he fell to the floor, unconscious. Alex yelped and the man looked at her, walking towards her.

"Don't you dare even touch her," threatened Dean.

The man turned away from Alex, who ran over to Dean's side. Dean held her into his side as the man looked into Dean's face.

"We need to talk, Dean. Alone," said the man, glancing in Alex's direction.

"Well, she's not going anywhere, so you better figure out what to say with my little sister around," snapped Dean.

The man sighed.

"Fine."

"Good. Now, what'd you do to Bobby?" asked Dean, looking down at Bobby's body on the floor.

"Your friend's alive."

"Who are you?"

"Castiel."

"Yeah, I figured out that much. I mean, what in the hell are you?"

"I'm an angel of the Lord," answered Castiel.

Dean glared at him, his upper lip curling up into a sneer. He pointed towards the doors that Castiel had walked through to get into the barn.

"Get the hell out of here. There's no such thing."

"This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith."

Dean and Alex watched as Castiel made a mini thunderstorm inside the barn before them, lightning included. They saw his huge, black wings pop up on him, their shadows appearing on the large wall behind him.

"Some angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes!" said Alex, staring at him, frightened.

Castiel sighed.

"I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be… overwhelming to humans. So can my real voice, but you two already knew that," said Castiel, looking between the two siblings.

"You mean the gas station and the motel. That was you talking?" asked Dean.

Castiel nodded slowly and Dean shook his head.

"Buddy, next time, lower the volume."

"That was my mistake. You see, certain people, special people can see my true visage. I thought you would be one of them, Dean. But I was wrong."

"And what visage are you in now, huh? What, holy tax accountant?" asked Dean, glancing down at Castiel's clothes.

"Oh, this is a vessel," explained Castiel, straightening the lapels on his coat.

"What, you're possessing some poor bastard?"

"He's a devout man, he actually prayed for this."

Dean scoffed.

"Look, pal, I'm not buying what you're selling, so who are you, really?"

"I already told you," said Castiel, cocking his head to the side in confusion as his eyebrows pulled together as well.

"Right. And why would an angel rescue me, of all people, from Hell?"

"Good things do happen, Dean," answered Castiel, stepping closer to them.

"Not in our experience," said Alex.

"What's the matter?" asked Castiel, looking into Dean's face.

"You don't think you deserve to be saved," stated Castiel.

"Why'd you do it?" asked Dean, glaring at the man who stood before him.

"Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you," answered Castiel.

Bobby sat at the desk in his study, flipping through a rather large book. Alex sat in an armchair in the study, sighing as Dean and Sam argued with each other in the kitchen.

"Don't you think that if angels were real that some hunter, somewhere, would have seen one?" asked Dean.

Sam smirked.

"Yeah, you just did, Dean," said Sam.

Alex chuckled as Dean sighed.

"Look, I'm trying to come up with a theory here, okay, man? Work with me."

"Dean, we have a theory," argued Sam.

"Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it, please," responded Dean.

"Okay, look. I'm not saying we know for sure, I'm just saying that I think we-"

"Okay, okay. That's my point, okay? We don't know for sure, so I'm not gonna believe that this thing is a freakin' angel of the Lord because it says so!" yelled Dean.

"You two chuckle heads wanna keep arguing religion? You wanna come take a look at this," yelled Bobby, leaning back in his chair as he stared at the boys.

Alex was over by Bobby's side first, looking over his shoulder at the book laid out in front of him on his desk. Dean glanced over at Sam with a hard, angry look on his face before heading over to check out what Bobby had found, Sam directly behind him. Bobby flipped the book around so that Dean and Sam could look at it without having to walk behind the desk.

"I got stacks of lore. Biblical, pre-biblical. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the pit," explained Bobby.

Sam looked over at Dean, a smug smirk placed on his lips and his hands on his hips. Dean rubbed his shoulder with the handprint on it and continued looking at the book, paying no attention to Sam. Alex rolled her eyes at her twin brother, who just shrugged over at her.

"What else?" asked Dean.

"What else what?" asked Bobby, a very confused look on his face.

"What else could do it?" asked Dean, looking at Bobby.

"Airlift your ass out of Hell? As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing," answered Bobby.

Dean looked at Bobby, his eyebrows raised and Bobby just shrugged his shoulders towards him. Sam's smile was still in place as he looked at his older brother. Alex looked at Dean, as well.

"Dean, this is good news," said Alex, gently.

"How?" asked Dean, looking over at her as she stood beside Bobby.

"Because, for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap. I mean, maybe you were saved by one of the good guys, you know?" asked Alex, her voice hopeful as Dean stared at her.

Dean smirked.

"Okay. Let's say it's true, say… there are angels. Then, what? There's a God?"

Bobby shrugged.

"At this point, my money's on yeah."

Dean chuckled and began walking back into the kitchen.

"I don't know, guys."

"Okay, look. I know you're not all choir boy about this stuff, but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof," said Sam.

Dean turned back around to face all of them, his hand rubbing the back of his head.

"Proof?" he asked Sam.

"Yes!" yelled Sam.

"Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a shit about me? Personally, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it!" yelled back Dean.

Alex sighed.

"And why the hell not?" she asked.

Dean looked at all of them, sighing.

"Because, why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?" asked Dean.

"Dean," whispered Alex, looking at her brother sadly.

"I mean, I've saved some people, sure. I figured that made up for the stealing and the chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy," finished Dean, his chest heaving as he finished.

"Well, apparently, you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs," answered Sam.

Alex nodded, biting her lip. Dean looked at Bobby, who had no sense of emotion on his face.

"Well, that kind of creeps me out. I mean, I don't even like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by… God," said Dean, his eyebrows raised.

Sam crossed his arms across his chest.

"Okay, well, too bad, Dean. Because I think he wants your help," said Sam.

Dean looked at Bobby again, clearing his throat.

"Okay, fine then. What do we know about angels?"

Bobby sighed, reaching over and grabbing a stack of four, very large hardback books. He placed them on top of the large book that was already open on his desk and the siblings looked at the books, their eyebrows raised.

"Start reading," answered Bobby, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed across his chest.

Dean grabbed the smallest book from the pile and pointed his finger at Sam.

"You're gonna go get me some pie first," said Dean.

He walked out of the study and into the kitchen, Alex chuckling from beside Bobby.

When Sam pulled back up to Bobby's house, Dean and Alex were helping Bobby load his duffel bags into the trunk of his car. Sam stopped the Impala and Bobby leaned his arms on the passenger side window that Sam had rolled down.

"Leave your engine running," yelled Bobby.

"Why?" asked Sam.

"I got a friend one state over, Olivia Lowery. I've been trying to reach her for three days on this angel thing. It's not like her to ignore this many calls," answered Bobby.

"Olivia Lowery? A hunter, right?" asked Sam.

"Yeah. We're gonna go check on her. You guys, follow me."

Sam nodded as Dean walked around to the driver's side.

"Scoot over," said Dean, pulling the driver's side door open.

Sam nodded and waited for Alex to climb into the backseat before scooting over to the passenger side, Dean climbing into the driver's side.

Bobby led the way into Olivia's apartment, Dean, Alex, and Sam right behind him.

"Olivia?" called out Bobby, his shotgun held in his hands.

Bobby stepped out of the entryway, while Sam shut the front door, as he was the last one to enter the apartment. He followed Bobby and his siblings into the main area of the apartment. He lowered his gun as they all stared at Olivia's dead and mangled body on her bedroom floor. Bobby sighed and walked back outside.

"Bobby?" asked Dean, watching him leave through the front door.

Sam stepped closer to the girl's dead body, Dean and Alex following behind him.

"Salt line," whispered Alex, pointing to the line of salt that rested in the entryway of the bedroom.

The three of them all stepped over the salt line and Sam crouched down to get a closer look at Olivia's body. Dean walked over to the arsenal in her closet and grabbed the EMF meter that rested on top. He held it up, showing it to his siblings.

"Olivia was rocking the EMF meter," said Dean.

Alex and Sam nodded.

"Spirit activity," said Sam.

Dean sighed and threw the EMF meter back on the top of the arsenal pile.

"Yeah, on steroids. I've never seen a ghost do this to a person," said Dean, motioning towards Olivia's body.

Olivia's chest had literally been ripped open, dried blood all over her body. Her chest cavity was a mangled mess and Alex looked away, disgusted.

They all looked over at Bobby as he re-entered the room. Sam stood up from his crouch next to Olivia's body.

"Hey, Bobby. You alright?" asked Alex, standing next to Dean.

Bobby looked at all of them.

"I called some hunters nearby," answered Bobby.

"Good. We could use the help," said Dean, glancing back down at Olivia's dead body once again.

"Except they ain't answering their phones either," said Bobby, stuffing his cell phone back into his jacket pocket.

"Something's up, huh?" asked Sam.

"You think?" asked Bobby.

He took another quick look at Olivia's body before walking out of the apartment again.

Later that night, Sam, Dean, and Alex were walking out of another hunter's house, Dean on the phone with Bobby.

"Yeah, we're at Jed's. Yep, it's certainly not very pretty. It's even worse than Olivia, Bobby. What about you?"

"I checked on Carl Bates and R.C. Adams. They've redecorated. In red," answered Bobby.

Dean sighed and threw his head back in frustration. He looked at his siblings, mimicking a cut throat with his free hand to indicate the other hunters were also dead. Alex and Sam sighed.

"What the hell's going on around here, Bobby? Why do a bunch of ghosts suddenly want to gank off hunters?"

"I don't know, but until we find out, you three better get your asses to my place," said Bobby.

"Yep, we're on our way," said Dean.

He flipped his phone shut and climbed into the driver's seat of the Impala, Sam and Alex already situated in the car.

Sam pulled into the first gas station he could find about an hour or so later. Dean and Alex were both asleep, Alex curled up in the backseat and Dean's head almost hanging out the window on the passenger's side. Sam grabbed the gas pump and put it in the gas tank, listening as he heard the gas begin filling up in the gas tank. He glanced around the place, saw the sign for the restrooms, and headed inside the gas station.

Sam was washing his hands in the small, grimy gas station bathrooms when he exhaled a rather large breath. He stopped when he could see his breath in front of him. He flipped both of the faucets off and let out another breath, still seeing his breath. The mirror in front of him, above the sink, became completely frost-covered. Sam stood up straight, swiped the mirror clean with one hand, and jumped, gasping when he saw the spirit of Agent Henrickson standing behind him. Sam turned around to look at Agent Henrickson, who had a smile on his face.

"Hi, Sam. It's certainly been a while," said Agent Henrickson.

"Henrickson. Are you, did you…?" asked Sam.

He watched as Agent Henrickson briefly flickered out of focus, answering Sam's unspoken question.

"I didn't survive. If that's what you're asking," answered Henrickson.

"I'm sorry," said Sam.

"I know you are."

"Look, if we had known Lilith was coming…"

"You three wouldn't have left half a dozen innocent people in that police station to die in your place."

Sam's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as Henrickson continued on.

"You did this to me. It was your fault. She was after you and I paid the price. You left us there to die!" yelled Agent Henrickson.

He threw Sam against the wall of staff lockers. He walked over to Sam, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, and threw him against another wall. He flung Sam into one of the two mirrors in the bathroom, smashing it into a million tiny pieces. He then hit Sam's chin on the porcelain sink twice before Sam fell to the ground. Sam looked up at Henrickson, his arms shielding his face. Suddenly, the ring of a shotgun sounded and Agent Henrickson disappeared. Alex and Dean ran into the bathroom, Alex holding the shotgun. Dean looked at Sam with wide eyes.

"Bobby," whispered Alex.

Dean cursed under his breath and ran out of the bathroom, Alex and Sam following directly behind him.

"Damn it, Bobby, pick up, c'mon," muttered Dean, driving the Impala as fast as it could possibly go.

Dean tried calling Bobby again as he glanced over at Sam.

"Hey, how are you feeling, huh? C'mon, how many fingers am I holding up?" asked Dean.

Sam sighed as he looked over at his brother.

"None. I'll be fine, Dean," said Sam.

Dean turned back to the road as Sam looked out the front windshield. Alex sighed from the backseat, but scooted closer to the edge of her seat, leaning her cheek against the back of Sam's seat.

"Henrickson?" she asked him.

Sam nodded.

"Yep."

"Why? What did he want?" asked Dean, listening to their conversation.

"Well, he wanted revenge because we got him killed," answered Sam.

Dean sighed and Alex sat back in her seat.

The three of them charged into Bobby's house the next morning, their shotguns loaded and ready to shoot.

"Bobby!" whispered Dean, looking around him.

There was no response, so they all continued on into the house. There was no sign of Bobby in the kitchen or in his study area. Dean looked at the bottom of the stairs, where an iron poker for the fireplace was resting at the bottom of the staircase. Dean snapped at Alex and Sam to get their attention. They all quietly walked over into the hallway where the stairs were located. Dean crouched down and inspected the iron poker. He stood back up, finding nothing, and looked over at his siblings.

"Alex, come with me upstairs. Sammy, check outside," whispered Dean.

Sam nodded and headed for the front door, Dean and Alex quietly heading up the stairs to look for Bobby.

"Bobby!" yelled Sam, walking into the junkyard of cars that was Bobby's backyard.

There was no response, so Sam tried yelling again.

"Bobby!"

Dean and Alex stepped off of the last stair and looked down the hallway that lay in front of them.

"Bobby," said Dean.

Suddenly, all of the doors in the hallway slammed closed except for the one at the very end of the hall. Dean and Alex stared as the door slowly creaked open almost all of the way. They began creeping slowly down the hallway.

"Come out, come out, whoever you are," teased Dean.

He and Alex walked forward a little bit farther down the hallway. As Dean exhaled, he saw his breath. He stopped walking and so did Alex, listening for someone behind them.

"Dean Winchester. Still so bossy," said a woman.

Both Dean and Alex turned around to see the spirit of Meg. Meg no longer had short, blonde hair. Instead, she had shoulder-length, brown hair and was wearing jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt with no makeup on. Dean and Alex stared at her.

"What, you don't recognize me? Well, this is what I looked like before that demon cut off my hair and dressed me like a slut," said Meg, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Meg?" asked Alex.

Meg's grin grew and spread across her face.

"Hi."

Dean raised his shotgun and Meg held up her hands.

"Whoa, it's okay. I'm not a demon."

"You're the girl the demon possessed," said Dean, looking at Meg.

"Meg Masters. Nice to finally talk to you when I'm not, you know, choking on my own blood."

Meg stepped forward one step and Dean and Alex backed up. Meg smirked.

"It's okay, seriously. I'm just a college girl. Wait, sorry. Was. You see, I was walking home one night and got jumped by all this smoke. The next thing you know, I'm a prisoner in my own mind and body. You know, I was awake. I had to watch while she murdered people," said Meg, slowly stepping forward as she spoke.

Dean had slightly lowered his shotgun as she spoke.

"I'm sorry," said Alex.

"Oh, yeah? So sorry you had me thrown me off of a building?" asked Meg.

"Well, we thought-" began Dean, but Meg cut him off.

"No, you didn't think! I kept waiting, praying. I was trapped in there, screaming at you, just help me, please! You're supposed to help people, Dean, why didn't you help me?"

"I, I'm sorry," whispered Dean.

"Stop saying you're sorry!" yelled Meg.

She threw a quick right hook to Dean's face and Dean fell to the floor. Alex knelt down beside him as Meg looked down on the both of them.

"Meg, we didn't know," said Alex.

Meg also punched Alex and as Dean tried to sit up, she kicked him in the stomach. She knelt down in front of Dean.

"No, you guys just attacked. Did you maybe ever think about the fact that there was a girl in here? No, you just charged in, slashing and burning. You think you're some kind of hero?" asked Meg.

"No, I don't," said Dean.

Meg reached out and grabbed Dean by the collar of his jacket, pulling him more towards her. Dean glanced down at her hand that held his jacket and noticed a symbol on her hand. It was a circle, with lines going every which way inside the circle.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be ridden for months by pure evil? While your family has no idea what in the hell happened to you?" asked Meg.

"We did the best we could," said Dean.

Meg threw him down on the ground with a shout and kicked him in the stomach again.

Sam watched as he exhaled a large breath and saw his breath before him. He looked around at all of the junkyard cars in the Bobby's backyard and began banging on the trunks, looking for Bobby. He grabbed a crowbar and walked back to the trunk of one of the cars.

"I'm coming, Bobby!" yelled Sam.

Sam got the trunk open, but Bobby wasn't inside. He ran over to another car and pried open that trunk as well, but Bobby wasn't inside there, either.

"It wasn't just me, Dean," said Meg, looking down on Dean as he began crawling away from her.

Alex was sitting along the wall, Meg ignoring her until she was done with torturing Dean.

"I had a sister, a little sister. She worshipped me. You know how little siblings are, right? How they'll do anything for you. You see, she was never the same after I disappeared. She just, she just got lost. And when my body was lying in the morgue, beat up, broken, do you know what that did to her?" asked Meg.

She kicked Dean in the stomach again and Dean fell onto the floor, shaking his head.

"She killed herself! Because of you, Dean! Because all you were thinking about was your family! Your revenge and your demons. 50 words of Latin a little sooner probably would've saved my life. My baby sister would still be alive. That blood is on your hands, Dean!"

"You're right," said Dean, holding a hand out to her.

Sam opened yet another trunk using the crowbar, but Bobby wasn't there either. Sam sighed and looked around the junkyard. He paused as he looked at a car that was stacked on top of two other cars. The side-view mirrors had ice on them. Sam's eyes widened as he ran to the back of the car and jumped on top of other cars, climbing over the top of them to reach the car where Bobby was located.

"Bobby! Bobby, hold on, I'm coming!" yelled Sam, using the crowbar to pry the back of the car open to get inside to Bobby.

As Sam looked inside, he saw Bobby surrounded by two young girls, who glared at Sam. Sam was flung off of the back of the car and he landed on top of a windshield of another car. He shattered the glass slightly as he landed on the windshield. One of the little girls loomed above him, her hand reaching out for his chest. Sam lunged with his right arm, swiping the crowbar through the spirit of the girl. She disappeared as Bobby did the same to her sister a few seconds later. Bobby looked down at Sam on top of the car.

Dean crawled into one of the rooms as Meg smirked down at him. Alex sat in the hallway, unsure of what to do since she didn't have a gun with her. She looked around for Dean's shotgun and spotted it underneath an end table in the hallway. She grabbed it and made sure it was loaded as she ran down the hallway. She looked at Meg and shot at her, Meg disappearing as Dean groaned in pain.

"So, these are just people we know?" asked Sam, once they had all gathered back in Bobby's study.

"No, not just people we know. People we couldn't save," answered Dean, loading his shotgun.

The room was silent for a few seconds until Dean spoke up again.

"Yeah, I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"

"Um, I don't think so," said Sam, shaking his head.

"It was like a mark on her hand, almost like a brand," said Dean.

Sam's eyes widened.

"I saw a mark too, on Henrickson," said Sam.

"What did it look like?" asked Bobby.

"Uh, you got some paper?" asked Sam, walking over to Bobby's desk.

Bobby handed him a spiral pad of notebook paper and Sam grabbed it from him, along with the pencil that Alex handed to him.

"Thanks," said Sam, leaning over Bobby's desk to draw the mark he had seen.

After a few minutes, he threw his pencil down and held the pad of paper out for Dean to look at. Dean nodded.

"Yeah, that's it," said Dean.

Sam handed the pad of paper over to Bobby, who nodded.

"I may have seen this before," said Bobby.

He walked over to his bookshelf and began grabbing books from it when suddenly, there was a loud noise from above them. They all looked up at the ceiling and Bobby grabbed the two books he had his hands on from the bookshelf.

"We've gotta move," said Bobby.

He handed the two books in his hands over to Sam and walked back for more, Alex waiting to grab them from him.

"Okay, but why?" asked Alex.

"Where are we going?" asked Sam.

Bobby handed the books over to Alex and looked at Sam like he was an idiot.

"Someplace safe, you dumb ass."

Bobby headed for his basement and the three siblings followed his lead. They walked quickly down the stairs and followed Bobby through his basement. He led them all the way to the back of his basement and to a large, metal door. Bobby pulled the door open to reveal a rather large bunker in his basement. He flipped on the lights and they saw four beds pushed against the iron walls. A huge Devil's Trap was on the floor and a fan was located high above them in the ceiling, a Devil's Trap on that, as well. An arsenal was located along the wall without beds on it and newspaper clippings were tacked onto a corkboard that was resting slightly above the metal desk in the room. They all stepped inside, the sibling looking around the new room curiously as Bobby struggled to pull the heavy metal door closed. Once it was closed behind them, he stepped over to his desk and set down the books Sam and Alex had handed over to him earlier.

"Bobby, is this…" Sam trailed off as he looked at the walls of the bunker.

"Pure iron, yep. Also, completely coated in salt. 100% ghost proof," answered Bobby.

"You built a panic room?" asked Alex, smirking over at Bobby.

Bobby just shrugged, one of his eyebrows raised.

"I had a weekend off."

Alex laughed and Sam chuckled along with her as they began glancing around the room once again.

"Bobby. You're awesome," smiled Dean, looking at the arsenal against one of the walls.

Dean chuckled and Sam and Alex laughed along with him. Bobby smiled over at them, a somewhat sheepish look on his face.

An hour or so later, Bobby sat at his desk, writing down information. Dean was forming salt bullets while Sam and Alex sat beside him. After about his fiftieth bullet, Dean sighed.

"See, this is why I can't get behind God," said Dean.

"What are you even talking about?" asked Alex, looking at Dean weirdly.

"If he doesn't exist, fine. Bad crap happens to good people. That's how it is. No rhyme or reason, just random, horrible, evil… I get it, okay? I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself, you know? Why doesn't he fucking help?" asked Dean, slamming the bullet he had just finished down on the table.

Alex sighed and looked at Sam. Sam sighed and looked over at Bobby. Alex and Dean looked over at Bobby also and Bobby's eyes widened as he shrugged.

"Hell, I ain't touching this one with a ten foot pole," said Bobby.

"Yeah," whispered Dean, turning back around to his work in front of him.

Bobby pointed to his piece of paper with his pencil, tapping the pencil on the pad of paper as he spoke.

"Found it," said Bobby.

"What?" asked Sam.

"The symbol you guys saw, the brand on the ghosts?"

"Yeah?" asked Sam.

"Mark of the Witness," answered Bobby, flipping one of the larger books to the marked page.

"Witness? Witness to what?" asked Alex, looking between her brothers' faces.

"The unnatural. None of 'em died what you'd call ordinary deaths. See, these ghosts, they were forced to rise. They woke up in agony, they're like… rabid dogs, it ain't their fault. Someone rose 'em… on purpose," explained Bobby.

"Who?" asked Sam.

"Do I look like I know the answer to that, kid?"

Sam backed off from his questions and Bobby continued on.

"But whoever it was, used a spell so powerful, it left a mark, a brand, on their souls. Whoever did this had big plans."

"The Rising of the Witnesses," whispered Alex.

Bobby, Sam, and Dean all looked at her, shocked.

"Lex, what are you talking about?" asked Dean, his eyes softening as he looked at her.

Alex bit her lip, sighing.

"Well, um, it figures into an ancient prophecy, I think," said Alex, looking over at Bobby.

Bobby nodded, his eyebrows raised and pointed to the book that was open in front of him. Dean and Sam stood up and walked over to stand on either side of Bobby as Alex remained seated.

"Wait, wait, wait. What book is that prophecy from?" asked Dean, looking over Bobby's shoulder at the book in front of him.

"Well, the widely distributed versions are just for tourists, you know. But, um, long story short, Revelations," answered Bobby, looking up at Dean behind him.

Sam cocked his head to the side, thinking.

"This is a sign, kids," said Bobby.

"A sign of what?" asked the three siblings, all at the exact same time.

Bobby sat back in his chair, leaning his back against the solid iron wall next to him. He looked over at Sam and Dean who stood beside him and then at Alex, who sat a little farther away from him.

"The apocalypse," answered Bobby.

"Apocalypse? As in apocalypse, apocalypse? Four Horsemen, pestilence, five dollar a gallon gas, apocalypse?" asked Dean, in complete disbelief.

"Yep, that's the one I'm referring to," said Bobby.

"The Rise of the Witnesses is, uh, a mile marker," said Alex, coming over to stand beside Dean, her hands in her back pockets.

"Okay. So, what do we do now?" asked Sam.

Dean scoffed, throwing his head back slightly.

"Road trip. You know, Grand Canyon, Star Trek Experience."

Dean smirked, clapping his hands together and pointing at Sam with a wink.

"Bunny Ranch," finished Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes in disgust as Dean returned to his previous seat.

"Well, first things first. How 'bout we survive our friends out there?" asked Bobby, his eyebrows raised.

"Okay, great. Any ideas besides staying in this room until Judgment Day?" asked Dean, turning around in his chair to face Bobby and his siblings.

Bobby nodded and pointed to another section in his large book.

"It's a spell. To send the witnesses back to rest. Should work," said Bobby.

"Should? Huh, great," laughed Sam, very sarcastically.

"If I translate it correctly. I think I've got everything we need here at the house," continued Bobby, staring at the siblings again.

"Any chance you got everything we need here in this room?" asked Alex, a hopeful smile on her face.

"So you thought our luck was gonna start now, all of a sudden?" asked Bobby.

Dean sighed, shaking his head and Bobby stood up from his chair, walking across the large room.

"Spell's gotta be cast over an open fire," said Bobby, walking over to his arsenal along one wall.

Sam smirked.

"Fireplace in the library," said Alex.

"Bingo," said Bobby.

"That's not as appealing as a, uh, ghost proof panic room," said Dean, glancing around the room they were sitting in.

Sam exhaled a breath he didn't know he had been holding and Alex nodded towards Dean.

About an hour later, Sam loaded his shotgun, while Dean handed Bobby a shotgun. Bobby held a notebook in his hands and Alex walked towards the door, sandwiched between Sam and Dean, as usual.

"Cover each other. And aim careful. Don't run out of ammo until I'm done or they'll shred you," said Bobby, holding onto the door handle.

"Ready?" he asked them, looking at all of their faces.

They all nodded and Bobby turned the handle and pushed the door open. Sam stepped outside first, taking the lead, Alex and Dean directly following him into the basement. They all slowly walked forward, Sam looking up the stairs once he was close enough to see up them. No one was there. He looked away and looked in every dark corner of the basement, on the lookout. Alex rounded the corner first to begin climbing up the stairs, but jumped back when she saw a larger figure sitting on the top step. Dean pushed Alex gently behind him and faced the spirit, who had his fingers steepled together and his elbows resting on his jean clad knees. He smirked at Dean.

"Hey, Dean. Do you remember me?" asked the spirit.

Dean smirked at the man, his teeth white and bright in the darkness of the basement.

"Ronald, huh? With the, uh, laser eyes. I wish I could say it's good to see you," said Dean, his smirk fading as Ronald grabbed the railings, pulling himself up into a standing position.

"I am dead because of you. You were supposed to help me!" yelled Ronald, his eyes full of hatred as he pulled himself all the way up and into a standing position.

Suddenly, Bobby shot at Ronald and Ronald's spirit disappeared. Dean ducked at the shot and Alex and Sam flinched. They all looked at Bobby, who just shrugged.

"If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk about it, damn it."

Bobby began the climb up the stairs and the three siblings followed him up the basement stairs and into his study. They began moving quickly, Sam drawing out a circle of salt around them and Dean and Alex helping Bobby unload his book s onto his desk. Once that was finished, Dean grabbed some matches from off the top of the fireplace and knelt down, lighting the logs on fire. Bobby looked over at Sam as he finished laying down the circle of salt.

"Upstairs. Linen closet. Red hexbox. It'll be heavy," said Bobby.

Sam nodded.

"Got it."

Sam began climbing up the stairs quickly, disappearing from view as the two little girls from before appeared outside of the circle of salt. Alex let out a little yelp as she spotted them, causing Dean and Bobby to look up at the little girls. Bobby's eyes widened, but Dean didn't hesitate and shot at the little girls. They disappeared from the room, but they could still hear them giggling from somewhere far off.

"Kitchen. Cutlery drawer. It's got a false bottom. Hemlock, opium, wormwood," said Bobby, glancing over his shoulder at Dean.

Dean began walking into the kitchen, but paused as he heard Bobby list off the items he would need.

"Opium?" he asked.

"Just go!" yelled Bobby.

Dean held up his hands and continued on into the kitchen, Alex standing beside Bobby now, holding her shotgun. She watched as Bobby picked up a piece of white chalk and began drawing a square on his desk. Neither one of them noticed as the two little girls appeared in the room once again.

"Bobby," said one little girl, causing both Alex and Bobby to look over at them.

"You walked right by us. While that monster ate us all up," said the other little girl.

"You could've saved us."

Bobby sighed, his face pained. Alex shot at the girls, causing them to disappear once again.

Sam walked swiftly down the hallway, his senses on high alert. He opened the first door on the left, but it wasn't the linen closet. He opened the second door on the left and pushed it open. He moved the white sheets and linens aside to find the red hexbox on the middle shelf, pushed to the right side. He began pulling the box towards him when a woman spoke beside him. He turned to his left, his shotgun raised as he looked at Meg.

"You know what really pisses me off, Sam?"

Sam shot at her, but she immediately re-appeared directly behind him. Sam turned to face her again.

"You saw how I suffered for months. I thought you must have learned something. I thought I died for something," said Meg.

"Meg," whispered Sam, lowering his gun.

"But what you're doing, with that demon, Ruby? How many innocent bodies has Ruby burned through for kicks? How many girls just like me? And you don't send her back to Hell? You're a monster!" yelled Meg.

Sam stared at her for a few brief seconds before aiming his gun right at her forehead and shooting her.

Dean pulled the silverware holder out of the drawer, looking for the items Bobby had requested. As he searched through the large drawer, the doors that led from the kitchen into the study slammed shit, hard. Dean whirled around, facing the doors, but saw no one.

"Dean?" asked Alex, sounding very concerned through the other side of the door.

"I'm alright, Alex! Tell Bobby to keep working!" yelled back Dean.

Dean continued digging through the large drawer, removing more and more un-wanted and un-needed items. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. Dean looked over to his right and saw Agent Henrickson standing beside him, holding onto his wrist.

"Victor," whispered Dean.

"Dean," said Agent Henrickson.

Dean took a deep breath, his eyes wide as he looked at Henrickson.

"I know."

"No, you don't."

"It's my fault you're dead," said Dean, holding his hand over his heart.

"I left you behind and the minute I heard about that explosion, I thought… I should have known. I should have protected you," said Dean, shaking his head and inconspicuously reaching behind him to grab his gun from off of the stove.

Henrickson noticed this movement and flung Dean's shotgun halfway across the room. Dean looked at the gun, which was now in the corner away from him.

"Nu-huh. Not so fast. You think you left, then Lilith came, and we all died in a beautiful blast of… white light? If only that had happened," said Henrickson.

Dean looked at him, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"45 minutes," explained Henrickson.

"What?" asked Dean.

"For 45 minutes, Lilith said she wanted to have some fun. The secretary was first, remember her, Nancy? The virgin? Lilith fileted Nancy's skin off, piece by piece, right in front of us all. Made us watch, Nancy never stopped screaming."

"No."

"I was the last."

"Victor," whispered Dean.

Suddenly, Henrickson's hand shot out and he plunged it straight through Dean's chest. Dean could hear his own heart beating as Henrickson grabbed a hold of it, Dean struggling and whimpering as Henrickson fumed on.

"Tell me how it's fair. You get saved from Hell and I die. Why do you deserve another chance, Dean?"

Henrickson's eyes closed as he got ready to pull Dean's heart straight from his chest. As Henrickson began to open his eyes, Sam appeared on Henrickson's left side, his shotgun pointed directly on Henrickson's temple. Sam didn't hesitate, and shot Henrickson, causing him to disappear. Dean fell and slumped against the stove, breathing in deeply. Sam knelt down in front of him, looking at his brother.

"Are you alright?" asked Sam.

"No," said Dean, feeling the left side of his chest to make sure he was okay.

Sam nodded and offered Dean his free hand, helping him to stand up. Dean grabbed it and pulled himself to his feet as Sam grabbed the red hexbox from off of the kitchen table. Sam slid the doors open to walk back into the study, Alex looking at them with a huge sigh of relief. Sam set the red hexbox down on the corner of the desk where Alex stood and Dean set the things Bobby had asked for down in a large bowl. Dean looked up and saw Ronald on the edge of the sale circle, seated on Bobby's loveseat.

"Ronald. Hey, man, I thought we were pals," smirked Dean, reloading his shotgun.

"Yeah, well, that's when I was actually breathing. Now, I'm gonna eat you alive," said Ronald, smirking up at Dean.

Dean chuckled as he looked down at the gun in his hands, still reloading it.

"Well, c'mon, I'm not a cheeseburger."

Dean raised his gun up to shoot at Ronald, but Ronald was no longer sitting in front of him. Dean looked around, but Ronald was nowhere to be found. He glanced behind him at Sam and Alex, who were standing around the circle. There were no spirits around them, either. Bobby began chanting in Latin. Suddenly, the windows burst open, blowing the pages of Bobby's book around. The siblings all covered their faces as a strong wind blew throughout the room. Bobby found his place again as the wind stopped, beginning to chant in Latin once more. Meg appeared before Sam, so he shot her as Alex did the same to Henrickson. Meg popped up behind Sam, but he didn't notice. Dean looked over and saw her.

"Down!" he yelled to his siblings.

Sam and Alex crouched down as Dean shot at Meg, who disappeared once again. Sam quickly began reloading his gun, shaking his head at their situation. Ronald appeared, walking determinedly toward Dean as he began reloading his own weapon. He glanced up, but Alex shot Ronald with her last bullet. Bobby kept chanting as the ghost began reappearing faster and faster every time, Sam, Dean, and Alex shooting at them like crazy. Bullet cases were flying to the floor. As Dean reloaded, Henrickson smirked and flung Dean's weapon across the room again. He strode toward Dean, so Dean grabbed Bobby's shotgun off of the corner of his desk. He pulled the trigger, but the gun wasn't loaded. Henrickson smirked, but Dean had another plan in place. He quickly ran over to the fireplace, grabbed the iron poker, and swung straight through Henrickson's shoulder, watching as he disappeared. Sam shot at Ronald, who disappeared. Sam began reaching for the extra bullets in his pocket, but Meg appeared too quickly. She moved a desk towards Sam, watching as it pinned Sam to the wall. Sam groaned in pain as the desk held him against the wall and Dean and Alex looked over at their brother.

"Sam!" yelled Alex.

"Alex! Cover Bobby!" yelled back Sam, struggling against the weight of the desk on his legs.

Alex nodded and stood beside Dean, almost out of bullets. Dean rested the iron poker on his shoulder. Sam's eyes widened as the two little girls appeared on the desk in front of him. Bobby was chanting when Meg came up behind him and stuck her hand through his back to reach his heart. He cried out as the bowl he was holding fell through his hands, the sound of his beating heart echoing through his ears.

"Dean! Fireplace!" yelled Bobby.

Alex fired off another bullet at Henrickson as he appeared again. Dean ran over and lunged, catching the gold bowl in his grasp before it fell to the floor. Dean flung the contents of the bowl into the fireplace and a burst of bright, bluish-white light rained over the room. They all cowered from the light, covering their faces and shielding their bodies as the spirits disappeared. Bobby fell to the ground once the spirits were gone, groaning with extreme pain.

"Bobby," said Dean, crawling over to him.

Alex ran over to Sam and helped him pull the desk off of his legs. The both of them ran over to Bobby and Dean, Sam leaning down to help Bobby stand up. Dean had a hold of Bobby's other arm as they brought him up and into a standing position. Sam brushed off Bobby's shoulder and Bobby took a couple of heaving, deep breaths, shaking his head. They all glanced around at the chaos in the room and sighed.

That night, Sam was sleeping on the loveseat, the moonlight shining on his handsome face as it streamed in through the windows. He looked peaceful, sleeping well for the first time in months. Alex was curled up in the armchair, a small smile on her lips as she let out a small, content sigh as she dreamed. Dean had been asleep only moments before, resting on the floor of Bobby's study, three blankets beneath him for cushioning and one being used as an actual blanket. He heard a slight rustling noise, causing him to wake up. He looked in the kitchen, saw Castiel leaning against the sink in the shadows, and sighed. He glanced around the room at his siblings, who were still sleeping soundly. He slowly stood up, his back cracking slightly as he stretched. He leaned down, kissed Alex's forehead, and then headed into the kitchen towards Castiel.

"Excellent job with the Witnesses," said Castiel, once Dean was close enough to hear him.

"You rigged all of this?" asked Dean.

"I was, um, made aware."

"Well, thanks a lot for the angelic assistance. You know, I almost got my heart ripped out of my chest," yelled Dean, pointing to his heart to empathize his point.

Castiel sighed, slightly rolling his eyes.

"But you didn't."

"Oh, I thought angels were supposed to be guardians. Fluffy wings, halos. You know, Michael Landon. Not dicks."

Dean glared at Castiel, who had a slight smirk playing on the corners of his lips as he looked at Dean. He leaned forward slightly.

"Read The Bible. Angels are warriors of God. I'm a soldier."

"Yeah, and what do you fight?" snarled Dean.

"I'm not here to perch on your shoulder. We had larger concerns."

"Concerns? There are people getting torn to shreds down here. And by the way, while all this is going on, where the hell is your boss, huh? If there even is a God," said Dean.

"There is a God."

"I'm not convinced. 'Cause if there's a God, what the hell's he waiting for, huh? Genocide? Monsters roaming the earth? The freaking apocalypse? At what point does he lift a damn finger and help the poor bastards that are stuck down here?"

"Look, the Lord works-" began Castiel, but Dean cut him off.

"If you say mysterious ways, so help me, I will kick your ass," threatened Dean.

Castiel sighed and threw up his hands in surrender. Dean looked at Castiel.

"So, Bobby was right. About the Witnesses. This is some kind of a… sign of the apocalypse?"

"That's why we're here. Big things afoot."

"Do I wanna know what kind of things?"

Castiel cocked his head to the side briefly, shrugging at Dean.

"I sincerely doubt it. But you need to know. The Rising of the Witnesses is one of the sixty-six seals."

"Okay. Well, I'm guessing that's not a show at Sea World," said Dean.

Castiel ignored his smart ass comment and continued on, not really looking over at Dean as he spoke.

"Those seals are being broken by Lilith."

Dean nodded.

"She did the spells. She rose the Witnesses," stated Dean.

Castiel nodded.

"Mm-hmm. And not just here. 20 other hunters are dead."

"Of course. She picked victims that hunters couldn't save so that they would barrel right after us," said Dean.

"Lilith has a certain sense of humor," explained Castiel.

Dean cocked his head to the side, agreeing slightly with Castiel's statement.

"Well, we put those spirits back to rest."

"Doesn't matter, the seal was broken," explained Castiel.

"Why break the seal, anyway?" asked Dean.

"You think of the seals as locks on a door."

"Okay. So, the last one opens and..?"

Castiel sighed, but stood up straight, stepping away from the sink he had been leaning against. He looked directly into Dean's face, never blinking as he spoke.

"Lucifer walks free," said Castiel.

Dean's eyebrows rose as he looked at Castiel in front of him.

"Lucifer."

Castiel slightly nodded and Dean shook his head.

"I thought Lucifer was just a story they told at demon Sunday school. There's no such thing."

"Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me. Dean, why do you think we're here, walking among you now for the first time in 2,000 years?"

"To stop Lucifer," whispered Dean.

Castiel nodded slowly.

"That's why we've arrived."

Dean nodded, licking his lips.

"Well, bang-up job so far. I mean, stellar work with the Witnesses. That's nice," said Dean, very sarcastically as he leaned up against the counter, glancing over at Castiel.

"We tried. There are other battles. Other seals, some win, some lose. This one, we lost."

Dean scoffed and looked away from Castiel. Castiel stepped closer to him, directly in his line of vision.

"Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week. You think the armies of Heaven should just follow you around? There's a much larger picture here, Dean. So you should show me a little bit more respect. I dragged you out of Hell and I can definitely throw you right back in there," threatened Castiel.

Dean looked down at the floor and when he blinked, Castiel was gone. Dean looked around, but saw him nowhere in the darkened room.

Dean jolted awake, lifting up his head to glance around the study. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows as Sam walked back into the room, his black socks sliding on the hardwood floors. He sat on the loveseat next to Alex. He set his cup of coffee down on the ground and Alex grabbed it, sipping from it as Sam chuckled. She handed him his button-down shirt and Sam began putting it on. He glanced over at Dean, who had a few black circles under his eyes and looked horrible.

"You alright?" asked Alex, taking another sip from Sam's coffee cup as she curled her legs up underneath her butt.

"What's wrong, Dean?" asked Sam, flipping the collar of his shirt up to face the correct way.

Dean looked over at them, sitting up on the floor.

"So. You two have no problem believing in… God and angels?" asked Dean.

Sam and Alex sighed, and Alex handed Sam back his coffee cup once he was fully dressed.

"No, not really," answered Sam.

Dean nodded.

"So I guess that means you believe in the devil then?"

Alex smirked.

"Why are you asking us all of this?"

Dean shook his head.

Dean and Alex were both sound asleep, Dean lying sprawled out on his back on his own bed, gently snoring. Alex was curled up on one side of the motel room bed she shared with Sam, but Sam wasn't lying next to her. Sam was awake, standing in front of the dresser in the room, looking in the mirror at himself. He could see Dean's sleeping form in the mirror and Sam turned around, looking at his sleeping siblings. He walked over to the door, gently turned the handle, and walked outside, his jacket slung over his arm.

Sam walked around the corner of the building just as Ruby pulled up in a bright orange Camaro. She stopped the car and Sam walked over to the passenger side, pulling open the door and climbing inside. He sat down and stared ahead, Ruby glancing at him.

"You ready?" she asked Sam.

Sam briefly glanced over at her.

"Definitely," answered Sam.

Ruby pulled away from the motel and the headlights shined into Dean and Alex's motel room briefly as she pulled away. Alex stirred slightly in her sleep, but she just rolled over onto her other side, letting out a small sigh. Dean tossed and turned as he saw scenes from his time in Hell behind his eyelids. Flashes of red and screaming souls haunted Dean until his eyes popped open.

"Hello, Dean," said Castiel.

Dean sat up slightly and saw Castiel sitting on the other side of his bed, looking at him.

"What were you dreaming about?"

Dean sighed and threw off his blanket.

"What do you want?" asked Dean.

"Listen to me. You have to stop it," said Castiel.

"Stop what?" asked Dean, his eyebrows raised.

Castiel said nothing, but just touched two of his fingers to Dean's forehead gently.

"Excuse me, buddy. You can't sleep here," said a voice from somewhere above Dean.

Dean sat up, his jacket covering his arms as a small blanket. He looked at the chubby police officer that was speaking to him. Dean looked around, confused.

"Okay. Sleep where?"

"Anywhere but here," answered the officer.

He gave Dean one more look before walking away down the sidewalk, whistling as he went. Dean sat up on the park bench he was currently sitting on and took in his surroundings, a confused look crossing his face. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his dad's leather journal and then his cell phone, flipping it open to make a call. The phone was beeping at him, indicating that he had no signal. He moved the phone to the right and then to the left, but there was still no signal. Dean scoffed.

"Perfect," he muttered, squinting as the sunlight hit his eyes.

He looked across the street and saw an old time diner. He sighed, but headed inside.

Dean pulled open the door to the diner, the sounds of "Rambling Man" blasting through the speakers in the restaurant. The place wasn't very busy, a few couples in the booths along the right wall and one young man sitting at the counter. Dean looked around and chose to take a seat at the counter, a couple of seats down from the man already sitting there. Dean sighed and rubbed his eyes once he was sitting down, rubbing his hand across his face. He looked at the man seated next to him.

"Hey, where the hell am I?" asked Dean.

"Jay Bird's Diner," answered the man.

Dean looked down at the menu in front of him quickly and then looked back at the man.

"Yeah, thanks. I mean, uh, city and state."

"Lawrence, Kansas. Hey, are you okay, buddy?" asked the man, looking at Dean concerned as Dean glanced around the diner.

Dean rubbed a hand over his face once again.

"Yeah. Tough night," answered Dean.

The man nodded and looked away from Dean. He stuck his hand in the air and pointed to Dean.

"Hey, uh, a coffee here, Rich?"

"Yeah, coming right up," said a man who stood behind the counter.

The man sitting next to Dean put his hand down and looked back down at the newspaper in his hands while Dean reached inside his pockets and pulled out his cell phone.

"Would you mind telling me where I can get reception on this thing?" asked Dean.

The man looked over at the phone in Dean's hand and scoffed, a smirk playing on his lips.

"The U.S.S. Enterprise," he said, turning his attention back to his newspaper.

Dean looked at him, confused, but just stuck his phone back into his jacket pocket as a man delivered his cup of coffee, setting it down in front of Dean.

"Thanks," said Dean, looking up at the man.

The man who delivered Dean's coffee was wearing a fur vest, with a jumpsuit on underneath it. The jumpsuit had a pattern of swirls on it and Dean raised his eyebrows as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Nice threads. You do know Sonny and Cher broke up, right?"

Both men stared at him.

"Sonny and Cher broke up?" asked the man sitting next to Dean.

Dean set his coffee cup down and looked over at the man, licking his lips. Dean looked behind him at the other occupants in the diner, who were all also dressed very odd. Dean turned back around and glanced at the newspaper in the man's hands who was sitting next to him. The headline read, "Nixon accepts resignation of top…", but Dean focused in on the date. The date read April 30, 1973. Dean read the date in his head and then whispered it to himself as the bell over the diner rang, indicating someone had just walked in.

"Hey, Winchester," said a voice from behind the two men.

Both Dean and the man next to him turned around. An older gentleman, probably around fifty years old, was walking towards the man who was seated next to Dean.

"You son of a bitch. How you doing, Corporal?" asked the older man, shaking the man's hand who sat beside Dean.

Dean turned around to watch the two men, more confused than ever.

"Hey, Mr. D," said the younger man.

"I heard you were back."

"Yeah, have been for a little while now."

"Well, it's mighty good to have you home, John. Damn good," said the older man.

"Dad?" whispered Dean, his eyes wide as he looked at the young man seated beside him.

"Well, say hello to your old man for me," said the older man, beginning to walk away from John Winchester.

"Oh, you got it, Mr. D!" called back John, turning back around to face the counter once the old man had finally walked away from him.

Dean was still staring at the younger version of his father as John picked at the now cold food on his plate. John Winchester glanced back over at Dean.

"Do we know each other?" he asked Dean.

Dean cleared his throat and turned his attention back to his coffee, grabbing the cup from off of the counter.

"I guess not," said Dean, drinking from his coffee cup and looking away from his father.

John Winchester looked at Dean for a few seconds longer before pulling some money out of his pocket and standing up. He threw the money down on the counter and gave Dean a slight nod.

"Take it easy, pal," said John.

"Yeah," said Dean, nodding back at John.

Dean discreetly watched his father walk out of the diner, turning back to his coffee when John turned his head to look back at Dean one last time before leaving.

Dean glanced around the diner before getting up and following John outside and down the crowded sidewalk, a few paces behind John. John rounded a corner and Dean rounded the same corner a few seconds later, stopping when he saw Castiel directly in front of him.

"What is this?" asked Dean.

"What does it look like?" asked Castiel.

"Is it real?"

"Very."

"Okay, so what? How did I get here?"

"Time is fluid, Dean. It's not easy, but we can bend it on occasion."

"Well, bend it back. Or tell me what the hell I'm doing here."

"I told you. You have to stop it."

"Stop what, huh? What is it, something nasty after my dad?" asked Dean.

A car horn blared from the street beside them as Dean finished speaking. Dean turned to see what was happening and in that split second, Castiel disappeared. Dean turned back around and Castiel was gone.

"Oh, c'mon!" yelled Dean, throwing up his hands in frustration.

Dean found his father at a car dealership, looking at a brown and white hippie van and smiling as he reached out and touched it. Dean shook his head and walked over to his father.

"That's not the one you want," said Dean, leaning against the hood of the Impala.

"You following me?" asked John, walking over to Dean.

"No, no. I was just passing by," said Dean, standing up straight.

"I never got to thank you for that cup of coffee this morning. I was a little out of it."

"More than a little," said John.

"Let me repay the favor," said Dean.

He gently touched the hood of the Impala, still looking at his father.

"This is the car you want."

John smirked over at him.

"Oh, yeah? You know something about cars?"

Dean nodded and his smile became bigger.

"Yeah, my dad taught me everything I know. And this, this is a great car."

Dean lifted up the hood of the Impala and John walked over to stand next to Dean.

"327 four barrel, 275 horses. With a little TLC, this thing is cherry," explained Dean, looking at the car reverently.

"Wow, man. You're right," said John.

"So what are you buying that thing for?" asked Dean, glancing over at the hippie van John had his eyes on earlier.

"I kind of promised someone I would."

"Over a '67 Chevy? I mean, c'mon, this is the car of a lifetime. Trust me, this thing's still gonna be bad ass when it's 40."

John looked at Dean, sighing. He reached over and stuck out his hand for Dean to shake.

"John Winchester. Thanks."

"Dean van Halen. And thank you."

Dean slammed the hood of the Impala closed as John walked around to the passenger side, looking inside the car and smiling.

"So I was in pretty rough shape this morning, huh?" asked Dean, smirking as he watched his father look over his car.

"No kidding," replied John.

"I've been hung-over before, but, hey, I was getting chills in that diner. You didn't feel any of those cold spots, did you?"

John stood up straight, looking at Dean and shaking his head.

"Nope."

"I swore I smelled something weird too, you know, like rotten eggs. You didn't happen to smell any sulfur by chance."

"No," said John.

"No. Have there been any cattle mutilations in town-"

"Okay, Mister, stop it," said John, looking at him sternly.

"Yeah, if only I knew what to stop," muttered Dean.

"You just, watch out for yourself, okay?" asked Dean, looking at John.

John shrugged, but nodded at Dean.

"Yeah. Sure."

Dean smiled gently and pointed to the Impala with a smirk before turning around and walking away, John watching him leave the car lot.

A few hours later, Dean had followed John to a suburban neighborhood, John pulling his newly bought Impala up to the curb and turning it off. Dean pulled his small rental car onto the curb a few houses down and across the street, turning off his headlights as he watched John. A young, attractive blonde woman came bounding out of the house John was parked in front of, stopping when she stood in front of John.

"Hey," said John.

"What's this?" she asked him, looking the car over.

"My car," answered John.

"What happened to the van?"

"Mary, this is better than the van! It's got a 327 4 barrel carburetor," explained John, standing behind Mary as she looked the car over.

"Mom?" whispered Dean, watching them from his rental car.

An hour later, night had fallen and Dean was standing outside of the diner, watching his parents through the window as they sat across from each other in a small booth, smiling and laughing. Dean smiled.

"Sammy, wherever you are, Mom was a babe. And Alex looks almost exactly like her, which is kind of weird," said Dean, his smile fading.

"I'm going to Hell. Again," finished Dean.

He watched his parents for a few more minutes, his mom standing up and walking away. He heard footsteps from behind him, so Dean turned around.

"Why are you following us?" asked Mary.

She grabbed Dean by the collar of his jacket and threw him against the side of the building next to the diner. She held up her fists as he freed himself and backed away from the wall.

"What, are you crazy?" yelled Dean.

Mary kicked out at him twice, but Dean managed to avoid her kicks. He backed away from her slightly and when she reached out for him, he grabbed both of her wrists, preventing her from moving for a few seconds.

"You've been trailing us since my house."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Dean.

"Really?"

Mary kneed Dean in the stomach, causing him to let go of her. She spun around and threw her fists up, throwing a right punch towards Dean's face. Dean backed away from her punch and grabbed her, pushing her against the wall and holding her there.

"Okay, how about we talk about this, huh?"

"Let me go," said Mary, struggling against him.

Dean glanced over and saw a charm bracelet dangling from Mary's left wrist. The charms included a cross and a Devil's Trap. Dean looked at the bracelet curiously. He suddenly let go of Mary and she whirled around, breathing heavily as she looked at him, her eyes full of hatred.

"Are you a hunter?" asked Dean.

Mary looked Dean over curiously and carefully, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took.

Mary watched John pull away from the curb, smiling as she waved at him. John turned onto another street, disappearing from view and Mary's smile faded. Her face became serious and she looked over at Dean, who had appeared from behind some bushes in her front yard.

"Dean, right?" she asked him.

Dean walked towards Mary, stopping once he was standing a few feet in front of her. Mary crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm not sure you should come in."

"You can trust me. I mean, c'mon, we're all hunters, right? I mean, we're… we're practically family," said Dean.

Mary looked at him, shaking her head slightly.

"The thing is, my dad, he's a little, um…"

"Oh, I gotta meet him," said Dean.

"You've heard of him?" asked Mary, her face showing her complete disbelief.

Dean paused and waited a few seconds before speaking, collecting his thoughts.

"Clearly not enough."

Mary sighed, but led the way into her house.

"So you're a hunter," stated Mary's father, sitting in his armchair.

Mary and Dean were standing next to her father, a few feet away from him as he spoke.

"Tell me something, Mr. Hunter, you kill vampires with wooden stakes or silver?"

"Neither. You cut their heads off," replied Dean, smirking.

Mary's smile grew from beside Dean as she listened to him answer.

"So, did I pass your test?" asked Dean.

Mary's father sighed, closing the book he had been pretending to read and setting it on the small end table beside his armchair.

"Yep."

Mary's father glanced over at Dean and then looked down at the floor.

"Now, get out of my house."

"Dad!" protested Mary, her smile fading.

"I don't trust other hunters, Dean. Don't want their help, don't want 'em around my family."

"Knock it off, Samuel," said the man's wife, Mary's mother.

Mary's mom was setting the dinner table from a few feet behind Dean and Mary, the silverware clanking together as she held it in her hands. Dean glanced behind him at Mary's mother, who was walking towards them now.

"He's a hunter," said Samuel, gruffly.

"He passed your little pop quiz and now I'm inviting him to dinner. You hungry?" she asked Dean, turning to face him.

"Starving," replied Dean, almost instantly.

"Good. I'm Deanna," said the woman, holding out her hand for Dean to shake.

Dean took her hand, shaking it firmly.

"You've met my husband, Samuel. Now, wash up," said Deanna, letting go of Dean's hand and walking back into her kitchen to finish up with dinner.

"Samuel and Deanna?" asked Dean, noticing that he and Sam were obviously named after their mother's parents.

Mary nodded, smiling slightly.

"Really," said Dean, raising his eyebrows.

"First time in Lawrence, Dean?" asked Deanna, looking at Dean as he ate.

They were all seated around the dinner table, Dean at the end of one table and Samuel at the other end. Deanna was on Dean's right and Mary was seated to his left. Dean finished chewing his food before answering his grandmother's question.

"Well, it's been a while. Things sure have changed, I think," said Dean, looking back down at his plate full of food.

Samuel scooped some gravy out of the bowl it was in using a ladle as he asked Dean a few questions of his own.

"You working a job?"

"Yeah, maybe," responded Dean, staring the older man down.

"What's that mean?"

"It means I don't trust other hunters either, Samuel."

Dean and Samuel stared at each other, Deanna and Mary eating their food silently as they also looked at Samuel. After a few tense seconds, Samuel's face finally broke into a slight grin as he looked at Dean. Dean smiled back.

"Hey, um, so why were you following me and John?" asked Mary, looking at Dean.

"Hmm, I thought something was after your, uh, boyfriend," answered Dean, setting down his fork and knife to take a sip from his water.

"But, uh, I don't think that anymore," finished Dean.

"John Winchester, mixing it up with spirits. Can you imagine?" asked Deanna, laughing gently as she looked over at her husband.

Samuel sighed, eating his dinner and Dean raised his eyebrows, returning his attention to his own plate of food. Mary's fork made a clatter against her plate as she set it down, looking at her father and rolling her eyes.

"I saw that," said Mary.

"What?" asked Samuel, stopping whatever he was doing and looking at his daughter.

"That sour lemon look."

Samuel sighed.

"Oh, honey, John's a really, really nice…"

Samuel trailed off and Mary gave him a look, her eyebrows raised.

"Naïve civilian," finished Samuel.

Mary scoffed and Dean looked down at his plate of food, raising his eyebrows.

"So, what? You'd rather me be with a guy like this?" asked Mary, pointing over to Dean.

"What? No, no, no," said Dean, shaking his head adamantly.

"No, of course not. It's just that, I, uh-"

"That's enough. From both of you. We have company," said Deanna, glancing over at Dean.

Mary looked at Dean for a quick second before returning to her plate of food.

"So, what about you, Sam? You, uh, working a job?" asked Dean.

"Might be," said Samuel, raising his eyebrows and drinking from his glass of water.

Mary rolled her eyes, but then smiled, turning and looking at Dean.

"He's working a job at Whiteshire Farm."

Samuel looked at his daughter as Dean's eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Whiteshire Farm, why does that name sound familiar to me?" asked Dean.

"Well, because it's been all over the papers, Tom Whiteshire. Got tangled up in a combine a few towns over," answered Samuel.

"That kind of thing happens," explained Dean, shrugging at Samuel.

"Son, why was he on it in the first place when his crops are all dead?"

Dean stopped for a few seconds.

"Demonic omens?"

Samuel nodded.

"That's what I've gotta find out."

"What about the rest of the town? Did you find anything on the web?" asked Dean, setting down his fork and knife and crossing his arms, resting them along the table.

Samuel looked at him strangely, his eyebrows raised at Dean.

"Of information that you have assembled," said Dean, recovering quickly from his mistake.

"Electrical storms, maybe. The weather service graphs should be here on Friday," answered Deanna, gently speaking to Dean.

"By mail?" asked Dean.

"No, we hired a jet liner to fly 'em to us overnight," said Samuel, being sarcastic with Dean since he had asked a very stupid question.

Dean looked at Samuel and chuckled. Mary took a sip from her water glass, smiling as she did so.

"You know, it sounds to me like we might be hunting the same thing. You know, if we go in there with numbers, we could take care of this real fast," said Dean, leaning forward on the table.

Samuel leaned forward on the table as well.

"What part of we work alone do you not understand, son?"

Dean nodded his head, smiling slightly. He picked up his silverware and began finishing up his plate of food, sitting in comfortable silence with his family.

The next day, Dean was visiting the Whiteshire Farm. He was dressed as a priest and he had just finished up his conversation with the dead man's wife. The wife had pulled open the front door and there stood Samuel, also dressed as a priest with his hand raised up and ready to knock on the front door.

"Father. I see you beat me here," said Samuel, taking in Dean's presence.

"The Lord is pretty funny that way. Beth Whiteshire, this is my associate, our senior, senior priest, Father Chaney," said Dean, emphasizing the word "senior" so that Samuel would seem very old to the woman.

Samuel glanced at Dean, a hard look on his face. Dean smiled happily and Samuel handed the woman the brownies he had brought with him that were wrapped in Saran Wrap.

"Please accept our deepest condolences on behalf of the County Diocese."

"Thank you," said Beth, smiling gently at the two of them.

"Mrs. Whiteshire was just telling me all about Tom and how normal and ordinary things were the day before his death," explained Dean, smiling back up at Beth Whiteshire.

"I see. So, you didn't notice anything unusual, ma'am?" asked Samuel, looking at the woman gently.

"You mean like my husband's guts fertilized in the back 40?" asked the woman, venom lacing her tone now.

Dean smirked and slapped Samuel on the shoulder.

"'Scuse me," said Dean, stepping away from the two of them in the doorway.

Dean walked down the front yard and saw Mary talking to the son of Tom and Beth Whiteshire. He walked over to where they stood, which was by a large tree with a swing attached to one of the branches that was located slightly higher up in the tree. Mary saw Dean approaching and felt him stand beside her.

"Charlie, would you like to tell the Father here what you just told me?" asked Mary.

The kid took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down before speaking once again.

"Dad drank sometimes. Sometimes he got really rough with Mom."

"And that's when the stranger came?" asked Mary, gently.

"I just thought he was some Bible thumper. Like you all. He showed up 'bout a week ago," answered Charlie, shaking his head slightly.

"Saying what?" asked Dean.

"Did I want the beatings to stop. I just thought he was crazy, I didn't think… And the next thing I know, Dad's dead. Am I going to jail?" asked Charlie, looking worried and terrified.

"You didn't do this, Charlie," answered Mary, speaking gently to the young teenager.

"Did the stranger want something in return?" asked Dean, his hands shoved into the pockets of his black pants.

"No, he didn't want anything," explained Charlie.

"C'mon, Chuck, he wasn't just handing out freebies now, was he?"

"He did say something about coming to call ten years from now. Maybe he'd want something then."

"Something like what?" asked Dean, his face suddenly very serious.

"I don't know, okay? Look, I told you he was nuts," said Charlie, his Southern accent coming out in his voice as he got more and more upset.

Mary glanced at Dean and gently grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him a few feet away from Charlie. Dean rubbed a hand over his face as Mary let go of his elbow and faced him.

"What do you think?" she whispered.

"I think he just pimped his soul to a demon and he doesn't even know it," said Dean, pulling his hands out of his pockets and resting them on his hips.

Mary sighed and walked back over to Charlie, Dean following right behind her.

"Charlie, do you remember what this stranger looked like?" asked Mary, her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets.

Charlie nodded.

"Yeah. He was about 5'10", white. He was kind of normal looking really."

"Anything else?" asked Mary, her blonde hair blowing gently in the wind.

"There was one thing."

"What?" asked Dean, gruffly.

"It's just, the light hit his eyes in a weird way and… for a moment, I could've sworn…"

"What, that they were black? Or red, maybe?" asked Dean.

"No. They were yellow. Pale yellow," said Charlie.

Dean's face hardened and he glanced over at Mary, who was looking over at him.

Dean threw a map down on Mary's dining room table, looking over it.

"What do you say we just slow down and talk this thing through?" asked Samuel, standing next to the table and looking over at Dean as he worked.

"There's nothing to talk about," said Dean, not even looking over at Samuel, but keeping his attention focused on the map he had laid out in front of him.

"Yes, you're saying this thing is a demon and none of us has ever heard of a demon with yellow eyes," said Samuel, his arms crossed over his chest.

Dean finally looked over at him and slowly stood up from his hunched over position.

"Yeah, well, I have. This thing killed my family," whispered Dean.

"Just calm down, son."

"You don't get it, do you? I mean, you are in danger, we are all in danger. In fact, you need to get yourselves someplace safe," said Dean, turning his attention and focus back on the map in front of him.

"Not until we know what we're dealing with here," said Samuel.

"Sam's right, Dean. It could be a demon, it could be a shape-shifter, any number of things," said Deanna, standing next to her husband now.

"I know what this thing is! And I'm gonna kill it. That's all the talking I need to do," said Dean.

Deanna walked away from them and walked back into the kitchen, setting down the large bowl of fruit she had been previously holding.

"You're gonna kill a demon? How?" asked Samuel, crossing his arms over his chest once again as he stared at Dean.

"There's a hunter named Daniel Elkins, lives in Colorado. He has Colt's gun. The Colt," said Dean.

"Yeah, I heard about the Colt. I used to tell it to Mary as a bedtime story."

"Well, it's real."

Samuel looked over his shoulder at his wife, who was leaning against the entryway between the kitchen and the dining room, drying off a plate in her hands. She raised her eyebrows and shrugged as her husband looked over at her. Samuel turned his attention back over to Dean.

"Alright, say that it's real. You got some kind of a crystal ball telling you where this demon's gonna be?"

"Yeah, maybe I do," said Dean.

He reached over and grabbed his dad's journal from inside his jacket that was resting on the chair closest to him. Samuel and Deanna exchanged another quick glance before Samuel walked back over to stand beside Dean, who had opened his dad's journal and was hunched over the kitchen table once again, flipping through the journal's pages.

"What's this?" asked Samuel.

"It's a list," answered Dean.

"Of what?"

"My dad wrote down anyone he ever thought came in contact with this yellow-eyed demon. Who, where, and when."

"Why?"

"Because the more he could learn about this son of a bitch, the more he could figure out why he killed my mom," said Dean, standing up and looking Samuel in the eyes.

Samuel looked away from Dean for a split second as Dean flipped to another page in the journal.

"Look," said Dean, pointing to a name and listing in his father's journal.

"Whiteshire Farm. I told you that name sounded familiar."

"Whiteshire Farm, that was two days ago. How the hell is that on your dad's list?" asked Samuel, leaning over the table to look in the journal with Dean.

Dean paused and looked around the room before he quickly glanced at Samuel. He looked back at the journal as he spoke.

"Um, my dad could see the future," lied Dean, looking back over at Samuel.

Samuel looked at him until Dean looked away, turning his attention back to the journal.

"Look at this. This thing's gonna hit here tomorrow night."

"Liddy Walsh?" asked Samuel, surprise coloring his tone of voice as he read the entry in the journal.

"That's close," said Dean.

"Yeah, it's about three miles, but…"

Samuel trailed off as he looked back at his wife, who was still standing in the entryway between the kitchen and the dining room. Dean stood up when he felt them looking at him curiously.

"Look, I know you guys think I'm really crazy," said Dean.

"You seem like a really nice kid, Dean, but, yeah, you're crazy," said Samuel, his hand resting on the back of one dining room chair as he looked at Dean.

"Yeah, maybe. But I know where this bastard's gonna be and I'm gonna stop him. Once and for all," said Dean.

He looked at Samuel and Deanna one last time before closing his dad's journal and throwing his jacket back on, the journal tucked under his arm as he left the room.

Dean had put the journal back in his jacket pocket and was walking down the hallway, looking for Mary. He found her in the study, listening to some vinyl records. He stood in the doorway for a few moments, just looking at his mother. He walked into the room and cleared his throat. Mary looked over at him, smiling.

"Hey, I'm headed out. I just wanted to say bye," said Dean, throwing up his hand in a slight wave as he looked over at Mary.

"Really? So soon?" asked Mary, pushing the vinyl records aside and standing up from the armchair she had been sitting in.

"Yeah, well. I've got a job to do," answered Dean.

Mary nodded and Dean stepped towards her.

"Hey, I, uh, wanted to tell you. You know, for what it's worth, um. It doesn't matter what your dad thinks. I like that John kid."

Mary laughed a little bit, a smiling breaking across her pretty face.

"You do?"

Dean smiled along with her.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think you two were meant to be. Hell, I'm depending on it," added Dean.

"What?" asked Mary, a confused look crossing her face.

"Oh, nothing. Um, can I ask you a question?"

Mary shrugged her shoulders, smiling once again.

"What's he like? John?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Hmm, I don't know. Uh, he's sweet, kind. Even after the war, after everything, he still believes in happily ever after, you know. He's everything a hunter isn't," explained Mary.

Dean's eyebrows rose and he shrugged.

"No offense," said Mary, noticing his facial expression.

"No, none taken," explained Dean.

Mary smiled.

"Can I tell you something?"

Dean nodded and Mary's smile grew larger.

"He's gonna ask me to marry him. Tomorrow, I think."

"Yeah?" asked Dean.

"Oh, Dad's gonna explode! But I don't care. I'll run away if I have to, I just… I love John and…"

Mary trailed off and Dean looked at her curiously.

"And what?"

"I want to get out. This job, this… life. I hate it. I want a family. I want to be safe. You know the worst thing I can think of? The very worst thing? Is for my children to be raised into this like I was. I won't let it happen," said Mary, sternly.

Dean nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah," said Dean, looking down at the floor.

After a few seconds had passed, he looked back up at his mother, sadness in his eyes.

"Hey, Mary. Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," said Mary, nodding.

"Even if this sounds really weird, will you promise me that you will remember?" asked Dean.

"Okay," laughed Mary.

Dean paused for a few seconds, not exactly sure where to start.

"On November 2nd, 1988, don't get out of bed. No matter what you hear or what you see, promise me you won't get out of bed," cried Dean, a single tear falling from his eyes and dripping down his face as he stared at his mother.

"Okay," promised Mary, looking at him curiously.

Dean nodded and smiled gently, wiping a hand over his face to get rid of the tears he had let escape as he spoke to his mother. He turned around and walked out of the house and away from his family, Mary watching him leave.

Dean was driving down a long road later that night, the night surrounding him as he drove. He glanced over in his passenger seat and was startled when he saw Castiel sitting there.

"So, what? God's my co-pilot, is that it?" asked Dean.

Castiel looked at him, but said nothing.

"Alright then. Tell me something, my siblings would have wanted in on this, so why didn't you bring them back too?"

"You had to do this alone, Dean."

"And you don't care that Sam and Alex are tearing up the future looking for me right now?"

"Actually, Sam's not looking for you. Alex is the only way and she's not making very much progress, so we're not worried about her."

"Alright, if I do this, then the family curse breaks, right? Mom and Dad live happily ever after and Sam, Alex, and I grow up normally?"

"You realize, if you do alter the future, your father, you, Sam, Alex, you'll never become hunters. And all those people you saved, they'll die," said Castiel, looking over at Dean.

Dean stared ahead at the road in front of him.

"I realize."

"And you don't care?"

"Oh, I care. I care a lot. But these are my parents. I'm not gonna let them die again. I can't. Not if I can stop it," said Dean, finally looking over at Castiel, but Castiel was gone.

Dean glanced around his rental car, but Castiel was nowhere to be found. Dean sighed, but continued on his journey to Colorado for the Colt.

The next morning, Dean was in Colorado, in Daniel Elkins' home, looking for the Colt. Dean was kneeling down in front of a safe, which he had just cracked open. He grabbed the Colt from the top shelf of the safe and smiled, holding it in his hands. He heard it click in his hands, but a second click came from behind him. Dean's smile faded as a gun was pointed to the back of his head.

"Hold it right there, friend. Drop the gun and be on your way."

Dean slowly stood up from his crouch, acting as if he was going to set the gun down on top of the safe. As he stood up to his full height, he quickly whirled around, aiming the Colt at the man who now stood in front of him.

"Can't do it, Daniel."

"Who the hell are you?"

"A hunter, just like yourself," explained Dean.

"Thief's more like it," shot back Daniel, glaring at him.

"I just need it for a few days."

"Not happening, mister."

"Look, I have the chance to save my family's lives. My family. But I need this gun to do it. So if you wanna stop me, kill me," said Dean.

He held the Colt close to his side as he slowly inched toward Daniel Elkins to move past him. Once he was in the entryway, Dean looked back at Daniel. Daniel sighed, his face softening slightly as he lowered his own gun.

"There's some hunters in Lawrence. The Campbells."

"Never heard of 'em," said Daniel, shaking his head.

Dean nodded.

"That's where she'll be."

Daniel nodded at Dean and Dean nodded back, finally walking out the front door.

A few hours later, Dean ran into Liddy Walsh's house, the front door already open as he ran inside quickly. Dean saw Liddy looking terrified on her paisley couch, Samuel stuck on the wall, and Mary was in the yellow-eyed demon's grasp, struggling. Dean aimed the Colt at the demon, who was smirking over at Dean as he held onto Mary.

"You let her go!" yelled Dean.

The yellow-eyed demon took in the Colt and his smile quickly faded.

"Where'd you get that gun?" he asked Dean.

Instead of replying, Dean loaded the gun and the demon chuckled darkly. Mary used this to her advantage and elbowed the man holding her in the abdomen, causing him to let her go. A large cloud of black smoke erupted from his mouth and disappeared through the nearest air vent, located above him in the ceiling. Dean sighed, cursing under his breath as he let his arm fall to his side.

"Mary, what else did he say to you?" asked Dean.

The two of them were on the front lawn of Liddy Walsh's house, Mary with her arms crossed across her chest and Dean walking in front of her. Samuel stepped onto the front porch as Mary began answering Dean's question.

"I already told you, just that he liked me."

Mary looked down at the ground, her eyes wide with fear once she looked up at Dean's face again.

"What did he mean by that?"

Dean didn't have time to answer as Samuel stepped off of the front porch, walking over to them.

"Liddy's a strong kid, she'll be perfectly fine. Are you okay?" he asked his only daughter.

"No, Dad, I'm pretty far from okay. Can we go?" yelled Mary, walking towards her father's vehicle, which was parked close to the curb.

"Nice job in there," said Samuel, looking over at Dean now.

"I missed the shot," whispered Dean, very angry with himself.

Samuel sighed.

"Take a compliment, son. I'm saying that I was wrong about you."

Dean looked over at him.

"We need to talk alone."

Dean glanced over at Mary in her dad's passenger seat and then walked over to his own car.

Dean peeked out the curtains of Samuel's large dining room window as Samuel sat at the head of the table, his back currently to Dean as Dean spoke to him.

"We need to kill this thing now or Mary dies," said Dean.

"What? How do you know that?" asked Samuel, turning around in his chair to face Dean.

"I just do, okay?" said Dean, struggling with his father's notebook that he was holding in his hands.

"When?" asked Samuel, still looking at Dean even though Dean hadn't yet looked over at him.

"I don't know, maybe today. Probably years from now, but it's happening, trust me," said Dean, finally looking at his grandfather before returning his attention back over to his father's leather journal in his hands.

"So what are you, some kind of a psychic now too?"

Dean looked at Samuel, his eyebrows raised. He took a few deep breaths before answering.

"No."

Dean walked over to the table and sat down next to Samuel.

"Alright, listen to me. Now, this is gonna sound a little… Actually, it's gonna sound massively, massively crazy," began Dean.

"Okay," said Samuel, his eyebrows raised as he looked at Dean.

"Mary is my mother."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm your grandson. And I know what in the hell I'm talking about."

"Would you maybe like to run that by me again, son?"

"My real name is Dean Winchester. I was born January 24, 1985. My parents are Mary and John Winchester."

"I know I don't have to listen to this," said Samuel, leaning back in his chair, away from Dean.

"Mary gets killed by a yellow-eyed demon in 1988. And I think that this, what happened tonight, I think that this is the moment that he caught her scent."

Dean took in a deep breath through his teeth, a slight whistle emitting from his mouth before he continued on with his speech.

"Now, if we don't catch this thing now, and kill it, and it gets away, then Mary dies. So I'm asking you, please," pleaded Dean, finishing his speech and looking over at Samuel sadly.

Samuel said nothing, but just looked at Dean, so Dean sighed angrily and threw up his hands.

"So how did I know about this Colt, huh? How did I know about the yellow-eyed demon or where it would be? I'm not making all of this up, Samuel."

"Every single bone in my body is making me want to put you six feet under, but… there's something about you and I just can't shake it. Now, I may be crazier than you, son, but I believe you," explained Samuel, sighing as he rubbed a hand over his face.

"Thank you," whispered Dean, slightly nodding at Samuel.

"Now, how do we find this bastard?"

"Right here. The list," said Dean, flipping open his father's leather journal.

"And with the Colt?"

"Yeah," said Dean, raising his eyebrows as he pulled it from out of inside his jacket, setting it down on the table beside him.

Samuel looked from the Colt and then back to Dean, sighing. He pointed over to the Colt as Dean looked up at him.

"Here, let me see it," he asked.

Dean moved the Colt farther down the table.

"Sorry, I don't really let anyone else hold it."

"But I'm your grandfather," said Samuel, in a sense of disbelief.

"Nothing personal."

"Sure it is. Considering it's me, the one you're trying to kill."

Samuel's eyes turned to a yellow color as a smirk spread across his face slowly. Dean's eyes widened, but Samuel flung his palm up and Dean was shoved out of the room, his chair ramming into the bookcase along the living room wall two rooms down from the dining room where they had just been sitting. Dean glared at the yellow-eyed demon, pure hatred in his eyes.

Samuel looked over at Dean, shrugging his shoulders as his eyes returned to a normal color.

"Future boy, huh?"

Samuel stood up and began walking over to Dean.

"You know, I only know of one thing that's got the juice to spin something like that, so you must have some friends in some pretty high places."

Samuel had finally reached Dean's chair, Dean glaring up at him.

"So, I kill your mommy? That's why you came all this way, to see little old me?"

"Oh, I came here to kill you."

"Hey. Wait a minute. If that slug marries your mommy, are you… are you one of my psychic kids?" asked Samuel, leaning in closer to Dean.

Dean turned away, closing his eyes as Samuel leaned forward, sniffing Dean's neck.

"No. Not you. Maybe you've got a sis."

Dean still didn't look over at him.

"Or a bro, that's terrific."

Dean finally turned his head back to the front, looking at Samuel with pure and absolute hatred.

"Well, that means it all works out. After all, that's why I'm here."

"So that's what this is about. These deals you're making. You don't want these people's souls," said Dean, staring into Samuel's face.

"No," said Samuel, shaking his head.

"I just want their children. I'm here to choose the perfect parents, like your mommy."

"Why her? Why any of them?" whispered Dean, shaking his head at Samuel.

"Because they're strong. They're pure. My own little master race, they're ideal breeders."

Samuel stood up and stepped slightly away from Dean, smirking down at him.

"Although Mary, she's my favorite so far," said Samuel.

Dean began to struggle as Samuel watched him, but Dean stopped when he noticed Deanna peeking her head around the corner of the kitchen's entryway, watching them.

"So why make the deals?" asked Dean, looking up at Samuel.

"I need permission. I need to be invited into their houses. I know, I know, I know, the red tape will drive you nuts. But in ten short years, it'll all be worth it. Because you know what I wanna do? To your siblings? I'm gonna stand over their crib and I'm gonna bleed into their mouth, demon blood is better than vitamins, minerals, it makes you big and strong."

"For what? So they can lead your discount demon army? Is that your big plan?" whispered Dean, absolutely disgusted with the yellow-eyed demon's plans for Sam and Alex.

"Oh, please. My end game's a hell of a lot bigger than that, kid."

"End game? What end game?"

"Like I'm gonna tell you. All those angels, sitting on your shoulders? No. I'm gonna cover my tracks well."

"You can cover whatever the hell you want. But I'm still gonna kill you, you sick bastard," promised Dean.

"Right. Now that I'd like to see."

"Maybe not today. But you look into my eyes, you fucking son of a bitch. Because I'm definitely the one that kills your sorry ass."

The yellow-eyed demon stared at Dean and began chuckling, a smile spreading across his face slowly.

"So you're gonna save everybody, is that right? Is that it? Well, I'll tell you one person that you're not gonna save."

The yellow-eyed demon pulled a knife from the holder on Samuel's hip, holding the sharpened blade in his right hand.

"Your grandfather," he finished.

He winked at Dean before plunging the knife straight into Samuel's stomach.

"No!" cried out both Dean and Deanna.

Samuel turned to look at Deanna, who was crouched behind the entryway leading into the living room. She ran over to grab the Colt from where it laid on the floor, but Samuel's eyes flashed yellow and he threw up his free hand, flinging Deanna across the dining room table. She landed on the other side of the table and Samuel pulled the knife from his gut. He began walking towards her and Deanna began crawling away into the kitchen, Dean struggling to break free of the hold he was still stuck under. Deanna made it around the corner of the kitchen, but Samuel grabbed her by the neck and twisted it, killing her instantly. Dean finally managed to break free and he grabbed the Colt on his way into the kitchen. He ran around the corner, the Colt raised, but Samuel was gone. Dean looked down at his grandmother's lifeless body, sighing.

"Mary," he whispered, suddenly realizing she hadn't come downstairs during all of the commotion.

"Mary!" yelled Dean.

"What did I tell you?" said Samuel, as he banged on the passenger side window of John Winchester's Impala.

Samuel pulled the door open and dragged Mary from the car, John quickly opening his door and stepping outside.

"Dad, stop it! You're hurting me!" yelled Mary, struggling against her father's hold on her forearm.

"Sir, just listen!" yelled John, shoving Samuel.

Samuel let go of Mary, grabbed John's head, and twisted his neck, killing him instantly. Mary cried out and fell to the ground, pulling John's head into her lap. She looked up at her father, whose eyes were now yellow and she glared at him.

"You killed him," she said.

"Oh, not just John, dear. Mommy and Daddy too. Yep, they're all gone," said Samuel, unzipping his jacket to reveal his fatal stab wound.

"You son of a bitch," said Mary, through gritted teeth.

"Well, sticks and stones may break my bones. But they won't bring your family back either," said Samuel, kneeling down next to Mary now.

"I'll kill you. I swear to God."

"Whoa, let's not get nasty," said Samuel, pulling himself into a sitting position on the ground beside John's dead body and next to Mary's kneeling form.

"Now, look. We've both said some things that we regret. Let's uh… kiss and make up," suggested Samuel, as Mary began silently crying over John's dead body.

"I'll tell you what. I'll arrange to have lover boy here brought back breathing."

Mary never looked at yellow-eyes as she spoke.

"My parents too?" she gently asked, tears streaming down her pretty face.

"Nope. Sorry, doll, that's not an offer that's on the table. But think about it. You could be done with hunting, forever. The white picket fence, the station wagon, a couple of little kiddos. But no more monsters or fear, I'll make damn sure of it."

"What? And all it costs is my soul?" yelled Mary, finally glaring over at him.

"Oh, no, no, no, you can keep your soul, I just need permission."

"For what?" asked Mary, after a very long pause.

Mmm, ten years, I need to swing by your house for a little something, that's all."

"For. What?"

"Relax. As long as I'm not interrupted, no one will ever be hurt. I promise," vowed Samuel, winking at Mary.

Mary looked away from him and looked at John's lifeless form in her lap. She took a few deep breaths in, trying to hold back her tears.

"Or you can spend the rest of your life desperate and alone. Mary?" asked Samuel, watching Mary's tears fall over her cheeks once again.

"It's a good deal. So, what do you say?" asked Samuel, in a whisper as he leaned closer to her.

Mary looked into his eyes, fear evident in them.

Dean drove as fast as he could possibly drive in his older rental car. He drove up to the ravine and his headlights flashed on two people kissing in the middle of the gravel road. As soon as his headlights hit them, they pulled apart. Dean could see that it was Mary and yellow-eyes.

"No," cried out Dean, yelling as he quickly got out of his car.

Mary looked over at him and Dean raised the Colt, but it was already too late. A large cloud of black smoke burst from Samuel's throat and disappeared into the night sky. Samuel's now lifeless body fell to the gravel road. Dean lowered his arm, the Colt now hanging from his fingers at his side. Mary looked back at him sadly, tears in her wide, vibrant blue eyes. Dean stared at his mother. John suddenly gasped from his spot in Mary's lap and Mary turned her attention back to him, stroking his face and his chest.

"Mary?" asked John, looking up at her.

Mary placed both of her cold hands on John's face, smiling through her tears.

"John," she cried, placing her forehead to his as John reached for her shoulder, pulling her in closer.

A fluttering noise came up behind Dean as he watched his parents reunite. Castiel placed a hand on Dean's shoulder and Dean took in a sharp intake of breath, startled. He turned to look at Castiel, who was looking at him almost sadly.

Dean jolted awake back in his motel room bed. He threw his jacket off of him and saw Castiel standing at the foot of his bed, looking off into the distance at nothing in particular. Dean glanced over at Alex, who was still fast asleep in her own bed, a small, sleepy smile placed on her lips. Dean looked back over at Castiel and sat up in his bed.

"I couldn't stop any of it."

Dean took in a large breath, placing his hands on either side of him and holding onto the bedframe of his bed.

"She still made the deal. She still died in that damn nursery, didn't she?"

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You couldn't have stopped it," responded Castiel, never looking over at Dean.

Dean's eyebrows pulled together in the middle of his forehead in confusion. He stood up from his bed and stared at Castiel.

"What?"

"Destiny cannot be changed, Dean."

Castiel finally turned to face him.

"All roads lead to the same destination."

"Then why in the hell did you send me back?"

"For the truth. Now you know everything we do."

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

Castiel's gaze turned to the bed that Alex was sleeping in. Dean looked over as well and saw that Sam's side had never been slept in. Dean looked back over at Castiel.

"Where's Sam?"

"We know what Azazel did to your brother, what we don't know is why," said Castiel, his gaze finally turning back to Dean's as he finished his sentence.

"What his end game is. He went through great lengths to cover all of that up."

"Where's Sam?" demanded Dean.

"425 Waterman," answered Castiel.

Dean glared at him before walking over to the other side of his bed, gathering his things together to go and find Sam. Dean threw on his leather jacket, shrugging it on over his shoulders.

"Your brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean. And we're not exactly sure where it's gonna lead. So stop it. Or we will," threatened Castiel.

Dean loaded his gun, but turned to face Castiel as he openly threatened Dean and his family. Castiel gave one Dean one final warning glance before he disappeared into thin air. Dean sighed and finished loading his gun before walking over to Alex's sleeping form. Dean sat on the end of Alex's bed and gently rubbed her back. Alex stirred and turned her head to look over at him.

"Alex, baby, we have to go find Sam, okay?" whispered Dean, looking at his little sister gently.

Alex nodded and slowly sat up, yawning as she did so. She stretched her arms over her head and stood up, getting ready to leave as Dean had asked. She looked over at the other side of her bed and saw that Sam was missing.

"Dean, where's Sammy?" asked Alex, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"Well, that's what we're trying to find out," answered Dean.

Alex nodded and finished grabbing all of her belongings. She followed Dean out to the Impala and they loaded all of their stuff inside, Alex climbing into the passenger seat and falling asleep with Dean's hand enclosed in one of her hers.

Dean and Alex stood outside of the small warehouse where Sam was located. Sam was with Ruby and a man, who was possessed by a demon, was also inside, tied to a chair. Alex and Dean watched as Sam used his psychic powers to expel the demon from the man's body, Alex cringing as this happened. Dean cursed lightly under his breath and Alex sighed, wondering what had happened to her twin brother. Dean began heading toward the front door and Alex followed him, not really sure what the game plan was or what was about to happen. Dean pulled open the large door and Sam looked over at his siblings with wide eyes. Dean led the way into the warehouse, Alex close behind him. Sam helped the man sit back down again and Ruby stayed close to Sam's back, Alex glaring at her entirely, not yet realizing who the woman really was.

"So. Is there anything you would like to tell us, Sam?" asked Dean.

"Dean, hold on, okay? Just let me expl-"

"Were you gonna say 'let me explain?' You were gonna explain all of this? How about this, why don't you start with who she is and what the hell is she doing here," said Dean, cutting Sam off.

Alex and Dean both glared at Ruby and realization suddenly dawned on Alex.

"Hey there, bitch," said Alex, a sarcastic smile on her face as she waved to Ruby with a trill of her fingers.

Ruby gave Alex a sarcastic smirk.

"Good to see you guys again, Dean," said Ruby.

"Ruby? Is that fucking Ruby?" asked Dean, looking at his youngest brother.

Sam looked at his siblings sadly and Dean turned his attention back to Ruby. He gave her a small, sarcastic grin, but then lunged for her. Dean grabbed her around the neck and pushed her up against a wall, pulling out his knife from on his hip. Sam ran over to help Ruby, grabbing Dean's arm that held his knife and pulling it from Dean's grasp. Dean glared at Sam and shoved him away. Ruby took advantage of the situation and grabbed the lapels of Dean's leather jacket, pushing him up against the wall where he had previously been holding her. Dean glared into her eyes as Ruby grabbed onto his neck, beginning to choke him. Sam watched her do this, but Alex jumped onto Ruby's back, causing her to let Dean go. Ruby tried to throw Alex off, but Alex was holding on with all of her might around Ruby's neck. Ruby finally pulled Alex off of her, but Alex quickly got up on her feet. Ruby headed for Alex, but Sam called out.

"Stop it."

Ruby paused in her steps and turned to face Sam.

"Well, aren't you an obedient little bitch?" snarled Alex, wiping her hands off on her jeans as she glared at Ruby.

"Ruby. Ruby, he's hurt. Go," said Sam, nodding towards the man who had previously been possessed only moments before.

Ruby grabbed the man's arm and flung it over her shoulders, helping him stand on his feet and she began walking towards the door.

"And where in the hell do you think you're going?" asked Dean, calling out to Ruby.

"The ER. Unless you maybe want to go another round first," said Ruby, raising her eyebrows at Dean.

Dean and Alex both glared at her as she walked past them toward the front door of the warehouse, the man stumbling along beside her and coughing as they walked. Once she was gone from the building, Dean and Alex looked over at Sam. Sam shook his head.

"Dean…" he began, but Dean ignored him and walked from the room.

Sam sighed and called after him.

"Dean!"

Sam heard the door slam closed and he shook his head, sighing. He looked over at Alex, who was looking at him sadly.

"Alex…" Sam trailed off, not entirely sure what to even say.

"Sammy, I don't even know who the hell you are anymore. And I'm terrified because of that," whispered Alex.

She left the room also and Sam cursed under his breath, not even knowing where to begin to fix this situation.

Sam sat at the small table in the motel room that was against the window by the front door. A stack of pamphlets advertising the motel were sitting on the table in front of Sam, but he was focused on the magazine in front of him. Alex sat down in the only other seat, which was across from him. She had a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her. She held another plate in her hands and she set it down in the middle of the table, gently pushing and sliding it over to Sam. Sam took it once it was within his grasp and they shared a small smile. A few minutes later, Alex heard the Impala pull up to the motel. Dean stormed into the room, not looking at either one of them. Sam stood up from his seat and watched as Dean began grabbing all of his clothes, stuffing them into one of his many duffel bags. Sam sighed.

"Dean, what are you doing?" asked Sam.

Dean said nothing, just completely ignoring his brother.

"What, are you leaving?"

"You don't need me. You and Ruby can go fight some demons," explained Dean.

Sam sighed.

"Hold on. Dean, come on man," said Sam, grabbing Dean's arm as he walked past him.

Dean turned to face Sam and punched him directly in the face, causing Alex to gasp and jump up from her seat. Sam held his face for a few seconds before he turned back to face his brother, blood seeping from his now split lip.

"Are you satisfied?" asked Sam, his eyebrows raised.

Dean pulled back and landed another punch to the other side of Sam's face. Sam held his wrist to his lip, moving his face around slightly as he examined the slight damage.

"I guess not."

"Do you even know how far off the reservation you've gone? How far from normal, from human?" asked Dean, almost yelling at Sam, but not quite yet.

"I'm just exorcising demons," explained Sam.

"Yeah, with your fucking mind!" yelled Dean.

Alex flinched at Dean's tone of voice and she watched the exchange between her brothers with wide eyes. Sam was still breathing somewhat heavily from the punches Dean had thrown at him.

"What else can you do?" asked Dean, looking at his little brother.

"I can send them back to Hell. It only works with demons and that's it," explained Sam.

Dean nodded, but grabbed Sam by the shirt, walking him backwards a few steps.

"What else can you do?" gritted Dean through his teeth.

"I already told you!" yelled Sam.

"And I have every single reason in this world to believe that?"

Dean turned away from his brother, but Sam followed after him.

"Look, I should have said something and I'm so sorry, Dean, I really am. But try to see the other side here."

"The other side?" asked Dean, whirling around to face Sam once again.

"I'm pulling demons out of innocent people."

"Use the knife!"

"The knife kills the victim! What I do, most of them survive! Look, I've saved more people in the last five months then we save in a freaking year."

"Is that what Ruby wants you to think? Huh? Kind of like the way she tricked you into using your powers? That's some slippery slope, brother. Just you wait and see. Because it's gonna get a whole hell of a lot darker and darker and God knows where it even ends."

"I'm not gonna let it go too far."

Dean smirked sarcastically and walked over to the end table by the TV stand. He threw the lamp that was on the end table across the room in anger, causing Alex to rest her back against the wall. Alex slid down the wall silently, neither one of her brothers noticing as she began to cry, her knees curled up to her chest as she sat along the wall and watched her family fall apart in front of her eyes.

"It's already gone way too far, Sam. If I didn't know you, I would want to hunt you. And so would other hunters."

Sam nodded, tears filling his hazel green eyes.

"You were gone. I was here, Alex was here. And we had to keep on fighting without you. And what I'm doing, it works."

Dean nodded.

"Well, tell me. If it's so terrific, then why'd you lie about it to me, to Alex?"

Sam dropped his head to his chest in shame and Dean continued.

"Why did an angel tell me to stop you?"

"What?" asked Sam, picking his head back up to look at Dean once again.

"Cas said that if I don't stop you, he will. See what that means, Sam? That means that God doesn't even want you doing this. So are you just gonna stand there and tell me that everything's all good?" asked Dean, looking into his little brother's face.

Sam looked at him sadly and Dean stared back, the silence finally broken by the shrill ringing of a cell phone. Sam reached down into his jeans pocket, realizing it was his Blackberry ringing. He pulled it from his pocket and answered it in one smooth movement.

"Um, hello? Hey, Travis, yeah, hey. Uh, it's good to hear your voice too, yeah. Um, look, it's not really a super good time right now… Yeah, okay, um, well, just give me the details. Yeah, um, Carthage, Missouri…" said Sam, trailing off as he turned away from Dean to find some stationary and a pen to write down the information an old friend was giving him.

Sam hung up his phone a few minutes later, looking back at Dean, who just shook his head. Dean walked over to Alex, who was looking up at him with tears rolling down her face. Sam watched as Dean pulled Alex to her feet, pulling her in for a tight hug. He whispered into her ear and caressed her hair, occasionally kissing the side of her head every now and then. Sam sighed sadly as he watched the two of them.

Dean was driving the Impala that night, Alex in the backseat and Sam in the passenger seat. The car ride was completely silent, Dean having just finished telling Alex and Sam what he had learned about their parents a few days ago.

"I can't believe it. Mom, a hunter?" asked Sam, glancing over at Dean in complete disbelief.

Dean shook his head, a small smile on his face.

"I wouldn't have believed it either had I not seen it myself. Man, that woman could kick some ass. I mean, she almost took me down."

"How'd she look? I mean, was she happy?" asked Alex, leaning forward from her seat to join in the conversation.

"She was awesome. Funny and smart. So hopeful. Dad too. Until, of course…" said Dean, trailing off.

Sam sighed and looked out his window.

"What?" asked Dean, glancing at Sam.

Sam shook his head.

"Nothing. It's just, our parents and now we find out our grandparents too? Our whole family was murdered and for what? So yellow-eyes could get in my nursery and bleed in my mouth?" asked Sam, scoffing.

Dean and Alex's eyebrows pulled together in confusion as they both looked over at Sam.

"Sammy, Dean never said anything about demon blood," said Alex, biting her lower lip as she stared at her twin.

"You knew about that?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, for about a year," whispered Sam.

"A whole year," stated Dean, turning his attention back to the road.

"Look, I should've said something and I'm sorry," said Sam.

"You know, you've been saying that a whole lot lately, Sam. But whatever. You don't wanna tell me, you don't have to, it's fine," said Dean.

"Dean," whispered Sam, but Dean looked straight ahead at the road, not saying anything more.

Sam sighed.

"Whatever."

Alex scooted back in her seat and stared out the window, wishing her brothers would just get along again. Dean glanced in his rearview mirror at Alex and smiled.

"You know, you look just like her, Lex," said Dean.

Alex smiled.

"I do?"

"Yep, you're the spitting image of mom. It was kind of creepy actually, I felt like I was fighting you for a little while there."

Alex smirked.

"Well, I'm pretty much a bad ass."

Dean and Sam both chuckled at Alex's comment.

A few hours later, Dean had the Impala pulled up across the street from the Montgomery's house. He was using binoculars to see into the kitchen window, where Mr. Montgomery was currently located. Dean watched as he pulled a beer from his fridge, taking a large swig from it as he stood in front of his fridge, the door still open wide.

"Are you sure that's him?" asked Dean, watching the man closely through his binoculars.

"It's the only Jack Montgomery in town," said Sam.

Dean pulled his binoculars away from his eyes to look at Sam.

"And we're looking for..?" asked Alex.

"Travis said just to keep an eye out for anything weird," remarked Sam, shrugging.

"Weird?" asked Dean.

"Yeah," said Sam, turning back to look at Jack Montgomery.

Dean pulled the binoculars back up to his face.

"Alright. Well, I've seen big weird, little weird. Weird with crazy on top. But this guy? I mean, c'mon, this guy's boring," said Dean, pulling his binoculars back down again and looking over at Sam.

"Well, I don't know, Dean. Travis seemed pretty sure," said Sam, using his own pair of binoculars to check up on Jack Montgomery.

Alex sighed and laid back in the passenger seat. A few minutes later, Sam made a disgusting noise from the back of his throat and Alex shot u, looking at the Montgomery's house. She pulled Sam's binoculars from his grasp and used them to see Jack Montgomery still standing in front of his fridge, holding an opened pack of raw hamburger meat that he had just eaten. Alex's face scrunched up in disgust and she handed the binoculars back to Sam.

"I'd say that qualifies as pretty weird," remarked Alex.

Dean and Sam nodded.

Dean unlocked the motel room door, sticking the key in his pocket as he pushed the door open and stepped inside. He looked up and saw an older man sitting at the table in their motel room, nursing a beer bottle. Sam and Dean smirked and Alex's smile broadened as they took in the man.

"Travis," said Dean, smirking over at him.

Travis smiled back at them and took a drink from his beer before setting it down on the table and standing up, beginning to walk over to them. Dean turned to Sam.

"See, Sam? I told you we should've hid the beer," whispered Dean.

Travis stopped in the middle of the room, chuckling, as Sam, Alex, and Dean began walking towards him.

"Smartass. Get over here!" said Travis, opening his arms for a hug with Dean.

Dean obliged and Travis clapped him on the back a few times before letting go of him.

"Aww, good to see you," said Travis.

"You too," said Dean, as Travis hugged Sam and then Alex.

"I swear, you look more and more like your mother every day," said Travis, taking in Alex.

Alex smiled gently.

"Well, how long has it been?" asked Travis, standing before the three of them.

"Hmm, it's gotta be ten years," said Sam, shaking his head.

Travis shook his head, his smile still spread across his face.

"Man, it's been too long, kids. I mean, look at the three of you. Two grown men and a pretty lady. John would've been so damn proud of the three of you, sticking together like this," said Travis.

Dean nodded.

"Yeah, no. We're as thick as thieves. Nothing more important than family," said Dean, glancing at Sam.

Sam's smile faded as he looked down at the ground sadly.

"Well, sorry I'm so late. Thanks for helping out an old man, I'm a little, uh, short-handed," said Travis, holding up his right arm, which had a bright white cast on it.

Dean nodded and sat down across from Travis at the small table, removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves. Alex looked at Sam, grabbed his hand gently, and pulled him over to the table with her. Sam sat down next to Dean and Alex pulled another chair over, sitting next to Sam and Travis.

"So. Have you three tracked down Montgomery yet?" asked Travis, looking between the three siblings.

"Yeah, we found him at his home," answered Sam.

"And?"

"And he had one hell of a case of the munchies. Topped off with a burger that he forgot to cook," said Dean, his eyebrows raised as he looked at Travis, who was nodding his head.

"Yep, that's him all right."

"What's him?" asked Alex.

"Kids, we got a rugaru on our hands," answered Travis.

"A rugaru? Is that made up, that sounds made up," said Dean.

"Yep, they're mean, nasty little suckers. Rotted teeth, wormy skin, the works," answered Travis.

"Well, that isn't this guy. I mean, he was wearing a cell phone on his belt," said Dean.

"He'll turn ugly soon enough. They start out human, for all intents and purposes."

"So, what, they go through some kind of metamorphosis?" asked Sam.

"Yep. Like a maggot turning into a bull fly. But most of all, they're always hungry," said Travis.

"Hungry for what?" asked Alex.

"Well, at first, for everything. But then, for long pig," said Travis.

Sam scoffed while Dean and Alex just looked confused.

"Long pig?" asked Dean, leaning forward in his chair.

"He means human flesh," said Sam.

Alex made a face of disgust while Dean nodded.

"And that is my word of the day," said Dean.

Travis smiled for a second, nodding.

"Hunger grows in until they can't fight it any longer. Till they've gotta take themselves a big, juicy chomp and then it happens."

"What happens?" asked Sam.

"They'll transform completely, and fast too. One bite's all it takes. Eyes, teeth, skin, it all turns. And there's no going back either. They feed once, they're monsters forever. And, unfortunately, our man Jack's headed there on a bullet train," explained Travis.

"Well, how'd you find this guy of he's a walking, talking human?" asked Dean.

"Let's just say, it runs in his family."

"You mean, uh…" said Sam, trailing off.

Travis nodded sadly.

"Yep, I, uh, killed his daddy back in 1978. That son of a bitch mangled eight bodies before I finally put him down. The guy used to be a dentist. Owned a Cadillac, had a beautiful trophy wife. But little did I know, a pregnant trophy wife. She put him up for adoption and by the time I found out, he was long gone and lost in the system."

"You mean to tell me you couldn't find someone?" asked Alex, nudging Travis with her elbow and smiling.

Travis gave her a gentle smile as he sighed.

"I'm not sure I wanted to, honestly. The idea of hunting down some poor, innocent kid? I don't think I'd have had the heart. Nope, I wanted to wait and make damn sure I had the right man. And apparently, I do," finished Travis, picking up his abandoned beer bottle and taking a large drink from it.

About an hour or so later, Dean had his blow torch and was firing it up, watching the flames blow out.

"So fire, huh?" asked Dean, switching it off.

Travis nodded.

"The only way I've ever found to kill these bastards. Deep fry 'em."

Dean nodded, turning his blow torch completely off and wiping off the handle with a cloth rag.

"Well, that's gonna be… horrible. Is that what you did to Jack's dad?"

"Uh-huh," answered Travis, as Sam walked back into the motel room, Alex right behind him.

"Not wasting any time, are you?" asked Alex, bounding past Sam and sitting across from Travis, but next to Dean at the table.

"No time to waste. Once Jack breaks loose and Hulks out, we won't be finding bodies, just remains," said Travis, screwing a part back onto his own blow torch.

Sam sat down on his bed and took off his jacket.

"And what if he doesn't Hulk out?"

Dean and Travis looked over at Sam and Alex nodded excitedly.

"Alex and I did a little homework. And, um, we've been checking out all of the lore on rugarus," explained Sam quickly, flipping through the pieces of paper he held in his hands.

"What, is all my 30 years of experience not good enough for the both of you?" asked Travis, taking a swig from his water bottle.

"What? No, we just wanted to be prepared," said Alex, looking defeated as her shoulders slumped.

"Sam loves research. He does," said Dean, explaining the situation to Travis, who nodded, a smile on his face.

"Look, everything you told us checked out, of course. But, um, we found a couple of interesting stories about people who have this… rugaru gene, or whatever. See, they start to turn, but they never actually take that final step," explained Sam.

"Really?" asked Dean, his eyebrows raised as he looked at his little brother.

"So, since they never eat human flesh, they don't fully transform."

"So what, they go vegan and then stay human?" asked Dean.

"Basically! Or, in this case, eat a whole lot of raw meat. Just not…" trailed off Alex.

"Long pig!" filled in Dean, a large smile on his face.

"Right!" said Alex, smiling at her oldest brother.

"Good. But those are fairy tales, Sam. The fact is, every rugaru I ever saw or heard of… took that bite," said Travis, standing up and pouring himself a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

"Okay, well, that doesn't mean that Jack will," said Sam, standing up also.

Dean and Alex also stood up and looked between the two men.

"Okay, so, what do we do? Sit and hope and wait for a body count?" asked Travis, his eyes wide and his eyebrows raised.

"No, we talk to him. Explain what's happening that way he can fight it," said Sam.

"Fight it?" asked Travis.

He began laughing and Sam clenched his jaw in slight anger.

"Are you kidding me? Sam, have you ever been really hungry? I mean, haven't eaten in days, hungry?"

"Yeah," said Dean, his voice taking on a deep and guttural tone.

"Right then. So somebody slaps a huge, juicy sirloin in front of you, are you walking away? Hmm?"

Dean looked at Sam and Alex.

"That's what we are to him now. Meat on legs. Look, I'm sorry, I'm sure he's a stand-up guy, but it's now pure base instinct for him. I mean, everything in natures gotta eat, you think he can stop himself because he's nice?" asked Travis.

"Look, I have no clue, I don't know. But we're not gonna kill him unless he does something to get killed for," said Sam.

He looked at Travis before he stormed from the room, the motel room door slamming closed behind him. Travis looked over at Dean and Alex.

"What's up with your brother?"

Dean shook his head and a sarcastic smile graces his features.

"Don't even get me started."

Alex rolled her eyes and grabbed her jacket from off of her bed.

"You two are assholes."

Alex made sure the motel room door slammed closed behind her as she ran to find Sam.

"What's up with your sister?" asked Travis, scoffing.

"That I really don't know," said Dean, looking confused as he stared at the door that Alex had just disappeared through.

"Sammy!" yelled Alex, watching as he walked slowly down the hall and away from their motel room.

Sam turned and smiled as he saw Alex running towards him. He turned to face her just as she approached him.

"Look, I don't think what you're doing with Ruby is right, not at all. But we're family and family sticks together no matter what, through thick and thin. I love you, Sammy, you're my twin brother. I'll always be around, okay? I'll be here for you, I'm not abandoning you, ever," said Alex, looking up at her twin brother.

Sam grinned down at her and pulled her in close. He kissed the top of her head gently and Alex welcomed his embrace. After a few seconds, she pulled away from his hold and she grabbed his hand.

"C'mon, let's go find a basketball court or something and shoot a little bit of hoops. You think they've got a river court around here like the one back home?" asked Alex, smirking up at Sam.

Sam chuckled.

"I don't know, but we can sure find out."

Sam slung an arm over Alex's tiny shoulders as they took off down the hallway, laughing as they went.

About thirty minutes later, Alex and Sam had found a river court and a basketball and were shooting some hoops, Alex obviously losing due to Sam's size.

"Alright, I'm seriously gonna make this one, Sammy," said Alex, bouncing the ball by her side.

Sam chuckled.

"Alright, whatever you say, little sis."

Alex smirked and began dribbling toward the basket, Sam watching her every move. Just as she was about to move past him, Sam grabbed her by the waist and carried her down the court, Alex laughing the whole way. Once Sam had let her go, she pushed on his chest.

"Sammy! You don't play fair," pouted Alex, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sam laughed.

"I can't let my little sister beat me. That would be more than embarrassing."

Alex laughed and she saw down in the middle of the court, Sam joining her.

"You know, most days I wish we could just do this all day. That we wouldn't have to fight monsters or demons or stuff from nightmares. I hate it, Sammy. I haven't even talked to Kellan in God knows how long. I just want to be normal like everyone else, you know?"

Sam nodded and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side on the basketball court.

"At least I'm not some demon exorcizing freak like you," said Alex, poking Sam in the ribs.

Sam chuckled.

"Yeah, thank God there's not two of us walking around or Dean would probably flip," said Sam.

Alex nodded, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, that's for sure. Sometimes I wonder, how did I end up with visions, but not the rest of that stuff? Why is it only you, Sammy?"

Sam shrugged and glanced at his little sister.

"Maybe because I was the first-born twin? Maybe there weren't supposed to be two of us."

"Or maybe I can, but I haven't ever actually tried," said Alex, shaking her head.

Sam nodded, squinting into the sunlight.

"Yeah, maybe."

Suddenly, the sound of a car pulling up sounded from behind them and Sam and Alex both turned to see Dean pulling up to the river court in his Impala.

"C'mon, let's go, you two. We've got a man to go talk to," said Dean, motioning them into the car.

Dean was driving the Impala to Jack Montgomery's house, but he and Sam were currently in a heated argument about whether or not they would have to kill Jack Montgomery.

"I mean, he's a regular guy with something evil inside of him. Maybe you can relate," said Dean, glancing at Sam out of the corner of his eye.

Sam sighed and his jaw tightened as Alex looked at him, biting her lip in nervousness.

"Stop the car," said Sam.

"What?" asked Dean.

"I said, stop the car or I will," threatened Sam.

Dean looked over at his little brother, but did as Sam had asked, pulling the car over to the side of the currently deserted road. He pulled into a small grove full of trees and Sam climbed out before the car was completely stopped. Alex climbed out on Dean's side of the car and stood at the back of the car.

"Do you wanna know why I've been lying to you, Dean? Because of crap like this!" yelled Sam.

"Like what?" asked Dean, watching as Sam walked over to his side of the car.

"The way you talk to me, the way you look at me like I'm a freak!"

"I do not."

"Or even worse, like I'm an idiot, like I don't know the God damn difference between right and wrong."

Sam turned around to catch his breath, placing his hands on his hips. He turned back around to look at Dean a few moments later, Dean looking down at the ground with a small smirk on his face.

"What?" asked Sam.

"Do you know the difference, Sam? I mean, you've been kind of strolling a pretty dark road lately," said Dean, his smile fading as he yelled at his younger brother.

"You have absolutely no idea what I'm going through. None."

"Then enlighten me!"

"I have demon blood in me, Dean. This disease is pumping through my veins and I can't ever rip it out or scrub it clean. I'm a whole new level of freak! And I'm just trying to take this… this curse and make something good out of it. Because I have to," finished Sam.

Dean looked at Sam for a few minutes, not saying anything. Alex looked between Sam and Dean.

"Let's just go talk to the guy. I mean, Jack. Okay?" asked Dean, looking at his sibling.

Sam scoffed, but nodded. Dean climbed into the car first and Sam let Alex climb into the backseat before he also climbed into the passenger seat.

Sam led the way into Jack Montgomery's backyard. Jack was standing over his plants, holding a hose, but not moving. Jack was just standing there, a blank expression on his face as he held the hose in his hands. The siblings were a few feet behind him when Sam finally spoke up.

"Jack Montgomery?" he asked.

Jack's eyes seemed to widen and he focused in on them as he turned his head to look at the three of them.

"I'm Sam Winchester and this is my brother, Dean, and my twin sister, Alex. We need to talk to you," said Sam, looking at the man sadly.

"About?" asked Jack, no sense of emotion in his voice whatsoever.

"Um, about you. About how you're changing," said Sam, taking the lead on this conversation with Jack.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you're probably feeling your bones move under your skin. And your appetite's reaching, um, hungry, hungry, hippo levels, how am I doing so far?" asked Dean.

Jack looked over at him and then looked back at Sam.

"Who in the hell are you guys?"

"We're some people who know a little something about something," explained Dean, sticking his hands in his jacket's pockets.

"We're people who can definitely help. Please, just hear us out," begged Alex, her features softening as she looked at the man in front of her.

After about twenty minutes, Sam, Alex, and Dean had explained the whole story to Jack, who was shaking his head as he looked at the three siblings, confused.

"Um, I'm sorry, a what?" asked Jack, shaking his head as he looked at the three of them.

"A rugaru. I know, it sounds made up, but believe me, it's not," explained Dean.

"Okay, alright. I mean, I've noticed certain things, some strange things, but I just… I don't know, I'm sick or something," said Jack.

Sam sighed.

"Your father was one of these things. I mean, your real father. He passed it on to you," explained Sam.

Jack shook his head, closing his eyes for a few brief seconds.

"No. Are you guys even listening to yourselves? You sound like you're-"

"We get the whole you guys sound crazy thing, alright? Look, you're hungry, Jack. And you're only gonna get hungrier," said Dean.

"Hungry for?"

"Long pig. Yeah, a little human flesh. Has it crossed your mind already?" asked Dean, staring down Jack.

"No," answered Jack, beginning to step away from them slightly.

"Look, it doesn't have to be like this, Jack, you can fight it off. Others have," said Sam.

"We're not gonna lie to you though, it's certainly not gonna be easy," said Alex.

"You're probably gonna feel like an alcoholic swimming around in whiskey. But I'm telling you, you've got to say no. Or…" said Dean, trailing off

"Or what?"

"You feed once and then it's all over for you. And then we'll have to stop you," said Sam, lookin up at Jack gently.

"Stop me? My dad, did, uh, somebody stop him too?" asked Jack, nodding his head in disbelief.

"Yes," whispered Alex, looking up at Jack sadly.

Jack nodded.

"Get off of my property. Right now. If I see any of you guys again, I'm calling the police," threatened Jack.

"Jack, your wife and everyone else you know, they're in complete danger," explained Sam, slowly standing up.

"Now!" yelled Jack, causing a neighbor who was trimming his hedges to look over at them curiously.

"Good talk," said Dean, very sarcastically, as they walked away from Jack.

That night, Jack was sitting on a park bench outside of an apartment complex, watching a girl begin to get undressed in front of her windows. The Winchester siblings were parked across the street in the Impala, watching Jack. They all watched as Jack stood up and strode toward the apartment complex. Sam cursed as Alex reached underneath her seat, handing both Sam and Dean their blow torches.

"Damn it, Jack!" yelled Sam, grabbing his blow torch from Alex's grasp.

"C'mon!" yelled Dean, grabbing his own blow torch and letting Alex climb out of the backseat.

The siblings all ran over to the bench where Jack had been sitting down and ran straight past it, up the front steps of the apartment complex, and into the lobby of the apartment complex. They bypassed the elevators and ran straight up the stairs to the top floor, where Jack had climbed up the fire escapes outside to reach the girl's window. They found the girl's apartment and Dean quickly kicked the door in. The girl screamed in terror as she saw them standing in the doorway and ran back into her bedroom.

"Um, we're here… to… save… you," said Dean, looking confused since there was no sign of Jack Montgomery anywhere in the apartment.

"I'm calling the police!" yelled the girl from somewhere off in her apartment.

"We should probably leave," said Alex, heading back down the hallway.

Sam and Dean nodded.

"Yeah," said Sam, running after Alex as Dean politely shut the woman's broken front door.

Dean pulled up to the Montgomery's house. Travis's truck was parked across the street from the house and the three siblings slowly climbed out of the Impala, their blow torches in hand. They kept a close eye out for Jack in case he was still on the prowl as they walked up the front porch steps of the Montgomery house.

"Well, I guess now we know where Travis is," said Dean, pointing out Travis's truck across the street from the house.

Sam shook his head.

"That stupid, reckless son of a bitch," said Sam.

Dean opened the front door of the Montgomery house very slowly, stepping inside first. Alex was between her brothers as usual as they all stepped into the foyer together. The living room was off to the left side and it had clearly been disturbed. A dining room chair that had been moved in there temporarily was knocked over, rope hanging from it as if someone had been previously tied up there. There was also a large blood stain all over the once pristine white carpet underneath the two couches. The large blood stain led behind one of the couches, so the siblings followed it. Pieces of a human body were located behind the couch and Alex looked away in disgust as soon as she spotted all of the pieces.

"Oh, God. Do you think that was Travis?" asked Dean, also looking away from the grimy scene.

Sam nodded, shaking his head and raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, what's left of him," said Sam.

Dean looked at his little brother, who sighed.

"I guess you were right about Jack."

Dean was still staring at Sam when suddenly, he was shoved forward from behind. Jack was definitely no longer human looking, his face all wrinkled and blood all over his mouth. Alex screamed in terror as Dean hit the coffee table, breaking it in half with splinters of wood flying everywhere as it broke.

"Dean!" yelled Sam, his eyes widening in horror.

Jack turned on him next, watching as Sam tried to grab his lighter and turn it on to ignite the flames that would demolish Jack, but Jack was too quick for him. He knocked Sam to the ground and across the room. Jack grabbed the blow torch from beside Sam's arm and knocked him over the head with it twice, knocking him unconscious. Jack finally turned to look at Alex, who was standing in the middle of the room, terrified. She ran into the dining room, but Jack ran the other way, meeting her in the middle and grabbing her around the waist. Alex screamed and struggled in his hold, but Jack was much too strong. He threw her into a coat closet along the hallway and locked the door, only unlocking it to throw Sam's unconscious form in there as well.

Alex sat in one corner of the closet, waiting for Sam to wake up. Sam's nose was bleeding and he had a large cut on his forehead with dried blood caked around it. He startled awake and Alex cried in relief. Sam looked over at her and sighed in relief.

"Alex. Thank God you're alright," whispered Sam.

"Sammy, Dean's still out there with that monster," cried Alex, tears rolling down her face.

"Shh, it's okay, we're gonna save him," said Sam.

He sat up and tried turning the handle, but it was clearly locked. Sam banged on the door loudly.

"Dean!" yelled Sam.

"I'm sorry, but Dean can't come to the phone right now," responded Jack.

"Jack! If you hurt him, I swear to God…" trailed off Sam, banging on the closet door repeatedly.

"Calm down! Your brother's alive. But not if you don't calm down."

Sam sighed, but leaned his head against the closet door, breathing heavily and closing his eyes. He took a few seconds to calm down, his breathing finally evening out and returning to its normal rhythm.

"Alright, Jack, please, listen to me. Open the door and we can figure this out, okay?" asked Sam, pleading with Jack.

Jack scoffed.

"Oh, we'll have ourselves a little brainstorming session."

"Jack, please," pleaded Sam.

"I don't think so. After what you did?"

"What? What are you even talking about?" asked Sam, standing up slowly and reaching for something inside one of his jeans pockets.

Sam was looking for something in his pockets to help them get out from the closet, but he found nothing, so he sighed and cursed under his breath as Jack continued talking.

"You sent your friend here. And he tried to burn my wife alive!"

"What?" asked Sam, becoming truly confused now at Jack's statements.

Sam glanced at Alex, who just shrugged. Sam's eyebrows pulled together in the middle of his forehead in confusion.

"Why?" asked Sam.

"He didn't say. I mean, I guess psychopaths don't really even know how to explain themselves!" yelled Jack.

Alex looked up at the top of the closet and saw wire hangers hanging from the bar in the closet. She slowly stood up and grabbed one, making sure it didn't clang into any of the other hangers so that Jack wouldn't know what they were up to in the closet. She handed it to Sam, who smiled at her, absolutely beaming. He pulled her in for a quick hug, kissing her forehead.

"You're a fucking genius, little sister," whispered Sam.

Alex smiled proudly as she stood behind Sam, watching him work on the closet door.

"Listen to me. You gotta believe me. My brother and sister and I, we never would have hurt her, okay?" called out Sam.

He bent the wire hanger into something he could use to get them out.

"Oh, God, I'm so hungry," whined Jack.

Alex's eyes widened as she heard Jack's last statement and she urged Sam to hurry up and move a little bit faster. Sam nodded and crouched down, leaning in closer to the door and sticking the wire hanger inside the lock.

"Jack, don't do this," pleaded Sam, beginning to unlock the closet door.

"I can't ever even see my family again. You three, your friend. You made me into this monster!" yelled Jack, looking towards the closet where Sam and Alex were being held.

"No one's making you kill us," yelled back Sam.

He sighed as the hanger still wasn't working and unlocking the closet door. He leaned his head against the closet door and spoke back to Jack.

"Listen to me, I know you feel like you have a black pit inside of you. Please, believe me, because I definitely know how that feels. But this doesn't mean you have to fall inside of it, you can't fall inside of it, Jack. You don't have to be a monster, ever," said Sam, beginning to try and unlock the closet door once again as Alex looked on.

Jack laughed sarcastically, looking back at the closet door once again.

"Have you happened to have seen me lately?" he asked Sam.

"Look, it doesn't matter what you are. It only matters what you do. It's your choice," said Sam, still struggling to get the closet door open for him and Alex to escape and save Dean.

"Sammy, hurry, please," urged Alex, not liking that they could no longer hear Jack's movements.

Sam nodded and after a few more minutes, he finally heard the lock click, indicating that the closet door had been opened once again. Alex grabbed her blow torch and handed it to Sam, who ran out from the closet, seeing Jack hovering over Dean's still form.

"Jack!" called out Sam, looking over at the man who now looked like an evil monster.

Sam and Alex, who was now standing beside Sam, looked over at Jack gently, urging him to step away from Dean, who was now beginning to stir. Jack looked at Dean, looked at them, and then quickly jumped up, heading straight for Alex and Sam.

"Alex, turn around," said Sam, as he grabbed his lighter from his pocket.

Alex did as she was told by her older twin brother and turned away just as Sam lit the flames even more with his lighter, causing Jack to stop directly in his tracks as a large wall of flame hit him. Dean looked over just as the flames erupted even more, so he quickly turned away. Jack screamed in terror and in pain as the flames washed over his body, burning him alive. Sam stared at Jack as he fell to his knees in the middle of his foyer, burning to death. Alex and Dean looked at their brother as he gave them a slight, imperceptible nod.

Later that night, Dean glanced over at Sam in the passenger seat, who hadn't spoken since they had left Jack Montgomery's house.

"You did the right thing, you know. I mean, Sam, that guy was a monster and there was no going back after that," said Dean, turning his attention back to the road as he spoke to his little brother.

Sam didn't acknowledge Dean's comments, but just looked down at his lap. Dean licked his lips before speaking again.

"Sammy, I just want to tell you that I'm really sorry. I mean, I've been kind of hard on you lately and-"

"Don't worry about it, Dean," whispered Sam, not even looking over at his brother.

"It's just that your, uh, your psychic thing, it scares the crap out of me," said Dean.

"Look, if it's all the same, I'd really rather not talk about this right now," said Sam, finally looking over at his brother.

Dean looked over at Sam, chuckling.

"What? You don't wanna talk? You?"

Sam sighed.

"There's nothing more left to say. I can't keep explaining myself to you, I can't make you understand," explained Sam.

"Well, why don't you try?" asked Dean, beginning to become angry as he looked at Sam.

"But I can't. Because this thing, this… blood, it's not in you the way that it's in me. And that's just something that I myself have got to deal with," said Sam, very calmly.

"Not alone," said Dean, finally turning his attention back to the road.

Sam sighed and looked at his reflection in the passenger side window for a few moments before finally speaking again.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. These powers, it's playing with fire. And I'm done with 'em. I'm done with every single thing," whispered Sam.

"Really?" asked Alex.

"Well, that's a relief. Thank you," said Dean.

Sam scoffed.

"Don't thank me because I'm not doing it for you. Not for the angels or for anybody. This is my own choice, so I'm doing this for me and only me. That's all," explained Sam.

Alex nodded and smiled at Sam from the backseat. Dean looked back at the road, not acknowledging Sam's admission.

"Hey, Alex. Can I climb back there in the backseat with you and get some sleep?" asked Sam, looking at his twin sister through the rearview mirror.

Alex smiled and nodded her head. Sam climbed in the backseat with her and laid down, Alex laying her head on his chest as he closed his eyes and stroked her back gently.

"I love you, Sammy. Always have and I always will," whispered Alex.

Sam smiled and leaned down, quickly placing a kiss on her temple.

"I love you too, sis."