Chapter 37

The brothers dressed in full firemen's gear; start to check one floor after another with their EMF.

"I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up..." Dean tells.

"Really? You never told me that..." In front of the apartment 39, the EMF needle goes nuts. "Think we have a winner."

They heavily knock on the door. The woman Demon changes her eyes into black when another round of knocks are heard. "This is the fire department. We need you to evacuate." Dean yells from the other side. She opens the door, but Dean smashes it against her to enter the apartment.

.

In the bottles they carry on their back, they replaced the liquid with holy water.

They generously sprinkle it around the two Demons before starting to fight each one a Demon.

Sam arrives first to overcome the man and throws him in the wardrobe, soon followed by the woman Demon Dean dashes in it. They barricade the door and pour a half circle of salt in front of it.

They get rid of their equipment and start to search the place. They quickly spot their father in the bedroom.

"Dad?" Dean goes close to him. He briefly palpates him, looking for injuries and some signs of life. "He's still breathing... Dad?... Wake up..." He goes for his pocket knife to cut the straps.

"Wait... Wait..." Sam says.

"What?"

"He could be possessed too..."

"Are you nuts?"

"Dean... We gotta be sure... We did it for Eli, remember..." Sam takes a flask of holy water in his bag, opens it and throws some on John's body. Nothing happens, other than him slowly coming out of the blue.

"Sam?... Why are you splashing water on me?" He's slowly opening his eyes.

"Dad, you okay?" Dean asks.

"They've been drugging me... Where's Eli?"

"She's fine... Waiting for us downstairs."

"The Colt?"

"Don't worry, Dad... It's safe too..." Sam answers.

"Good boys... Good boys..." He whispers with a smile.

.

Downstairs, one of the firemen explains by walkie-talkie that no fire was been found in the Sunrise building and that it probably was a false alarm. People are gathered on the side of the road, lurking the scene. One tall black guy suddenly shivers and his eyes turn into black. He moves towards the firemen. "Hey, buddy... You can't go in yet." He tells him, touching the guy's arm. Instantly, the eyes of the fireman turn to black too. Both are entering the building.

Eli, watching the two men, instantly understands. She runs at the back of the building and enters it from one of the basement windows. She goes up the stairs four at the time to the second floor, listening for footsteps. They are just one floor above her. "Hey, you guys... I already warned them... They're long gone, suckers!" She yells laughing at them. The two Demons stop in the middle of the hallway. She attacks the tall black guy by giving a kick at the back of his knees, making him falling on the floor, but he quickly raises back up, pushing her violently away. It's Eli's turn to falls on the ground. "Dean!... Sam!... Get out of there!" She screams again as she sees the firemen axe's attacking the apartment door. She goes up and breaks the glass from the fire hose box, unrolling it and opens the water vane, spraying at the two Demons. The black guy comes for her again; she swings the hose to hit him full force in the face. He barely makes a step aside. She drops everything and rushes for the stairs, trying to escape, but the man is faster and knocks her out in just one movement of this hand. She hurtles down a flight of stairs.

.

Sam and Dean are carrying their father out of the bedroom, when they hear Eli's screaming in the hallway and see the fireman axe going through the front door.

"Back... Back... Back..." Dean yells to his brother, backing up to the bedroom again. Sam quickly spreads salt in front of it, while Dean is opening the window in front of the the fire escape stairs. He helps his father to climb through it, Sam joining them and salting the windowpane.

The three men arrive safely on the side-walk. "Go get Eli…" John whispers to Dean. He directly runs around the building but something makes him stop. He slowly walks backwards, his hands in the air. Sam and John raising their gaze to see Meg's Demon accomplice holding Eli by the neck.

"You give me that gun or she'll die instantly…" He furiously says.

Dean is still making steps back, hoping that the Demon will follow him till having Sam just a step behind him. Not hesitating, the youngest tackles both of them on the floor. The Demon loses his grip, giving the opportunity for Eli to escape. Dean rushes to the Demon that is now heavily beating up Sam, but with a slight movement of his hand, he sends the oldest flying in a windshield of a parked car. Eli wants to enter the fight, but John catches her hand. "Stay here… My boys can handle him…" A shoot echoes, the Demon suddenly stopping his beating, a hole in his temple, his eyes wide open and his body glowing. Just a few seconds later he collapses on the asphalt. Dean still shaking from the impact against the car, slowly lowers the smoking Colt.

.

In the middle of a wood, the Impala is parked in front of an abandoned cabin.

Sam is salting all doors and windows, his face showing bruises from the fight.

At the back of the small house, in a what so called 'bathroom', Dean is taking care of Eli. She has a nasty cut on the arch of her eyebrow. "Awoutch!…" She whines.

"Don't be such a wuss!... It's just a small cut… Not even needing stitches…"

"Why are you so mad at me?"

"I ain't mad…" He stops swabbing the wound for a moment. "I was… Okay, I'm sorry… I shouldn't act like I did… I was worried and focused and edgy and everything in between… Is that making you feel better?"

"No… Not an inch…"

"What do you want me to say, Eli!" He suddenly raises his voice.

"I… Oh, nothing… Forget it…" She whispers, her eyes down on the floor

"You better call Bobby to tell him you're all right…" He says, calmer.

"Yeah! I will… Go check on your Dad now… I'll take care of the rest…" She turns her back on him, looking her damaged face in the wobbly old mirror hanging with just a nail. He hesitates for a moment and then left, closing the door behind him.