This is a John chapter. I felt I needed to give him some light to shine before he gets reunited with his children. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Only a few more chapters then this book will be over.

Update*: as one of my readers has pointed out John having that heart episode wouldn't have him up so fast. So this is just me rewriting things to make it move smoother and give the readers more information.

Chapter 24

John knew something was wrong when he felt the stickiness of Saliva on the back of his neck. His fingers gripped the handle of his silver dagger dipped in lamb's blood and sent it behind him while simultaneously rolling out of the way. His body groaned in his advanced age but he knew he could handle one Djinn. He was lucky the knife found it's mark in the creature's neck making the creature let out a choked scream before falling and jerking on the ground. John slowly climbed to his feet and took a hesitant step towards it. He knew that when a monster is at its most vulnerable, it becomes the most dangerous.

The Djinn's eyes locked on John's before it gave one last choked cry before shuddering and falling still. John kicked a nearby rock and watched it bounce off the Djinn's face. He took another uneasy step until he reached down and pulled the knife out of the Djinn's neck. Darkened blood began to pool beneath the body. He looked around, glad that nobody was in the abandoned library except for the severely weak young woman who was pale and breathing heavily in a chair that John had helped her in. He only wished he could have found the other two before they were too long gone to be saved. But he was sure to have collected their bodies in order to give them a decent burial and did not think it best for the innocent lives be burned with the monster's body.

John, after checking on the young woman, grabbed hold of his jerrycan of gasoline and doused the body of the Djinn. The young woman weakly looked up and shook as the lack of blood was now beginning to affect her.

"Come here," John said helping the young woman up to her feet with his arm resting just around her waist to give her the best support possible. "It's going to be okay." He told her as he walked past the downed Djinn. John pulled out a book of matches and skillfully lit one which lit the full book. He tossed the book making the gasoline light up quickly. "Let's get you to the hospital."

"What...'as 'hat...?" The young woman asked her voice weak as John walked out of the now smoking building. The smell of the smoke mixing with the smell of the mold covered books made John hold his breath not enjoying the scent.

"Just a very bad man." John said seeing his truck still parked out in front of the library. "Easy does it. We'll get you someplace warm and safe."

"Thank...you..." the young woman moaned while slumping in John's arms.

"It's my pleasure." John said seeing the young woman slowly slipping into unconsciousness. John hoped the young woman would make it to the hospital and not join the two other bodies in the back of his truck. He glanced at the young woman and felt his breath get caught in his throat. The young woman, thought younger then his daughter by a couple of years, made John see her as that scared six year old when he first met her. He peeled out of the back of the library's parking lot when he heard sirens blaring coming down the streets. He managed to sneak past the cruisers as the firemen worked to try and keep the fire from spreading to any nearby trees or buildings.

The first stop John made was to the hospital where he carefully set the young woman in a wheel chair that was left outside and rushed her in.

"Please help her! I found her on the side of the street barely alive." He said catching a few nurses' attention. "She lost a lot of blood." He informed them as they came in to check on her.

Her small movements and glossy eyed glances made the nurses take her to the back of the hospital, leaving John to turn and head back outside to figure out what to do with the two deceased bodies in the back of his truck. He never liked leaving bodies laying around like trash. He also knew how it would look if someone were to stumble on the bodies.

John took a sigh and walked back inside the hospital and grabbed hold of another nurse. "I have something else but I don't want you to take it the wrong way."

"What do you mean, Sir?" The Nurse asked as John lead her outside to his truck.

"There were three of them. Two of them were deceased when I found the third barely alive. I gathered the other two so that the families can be notified."

The Nurse's face paled a slightly as she watched John pull down the tail gate to show the two bodies wrapped tightly in blankets. "Oh my god..." The Nurse said covering her mouth in shock.

"Please, understand I wanted to save them all. But these two died shortly after I found them." John was vague in the statement not wanting to draw attention himself towards people.

The Nurse nodded and walked inside pushing an empty gurney. She then helped John with the two bodies before watching the mysterious man get into his car and drove away.

~DSCWIN~

John wasted no time in getting his things packed up and tossed in his truck. He needed to get out of town and rejoin his children. He needed to be with them and hopefully to see that they were all doing alright. Something started to ache in his left arm and he grabbed hold of his arm and began to massage it as it was sudden and unexpected.

The ache in his left arm soon dulled away allowing John to grab his belongings and left the hotel room. He tossed his bag inside the back of his truck before walking around to the driver side. As he opened the door pain exploded inside his chest, causing him to clutch the front of his shirt. His knees buckled sending him to the parking lot. Someone screamed before John's eyes closed and everything went silent.

~DSCWIN~

The air was stale when John opened his eyes in what he felt had been just a couple of minutes. The thin blanket that wrapped around him barely gave him any kind of heat. He flinched when he felt something pull on his arm and he could see there was a needle in the back of his hand. His eyes glided up following the line to see it was attached to a saline drip. John looked around the room seeing he was alone and quickly pulled the needle out of his hand and took off all the attachments that were on his chest. There was a slight beeping sound before it went quiet. John expected to see nurses running in checking on him but when none showed up John went in search for his clothes.

It wasn't until John was found his clothes in a small cabinet in his room that a nurse showed up and rushed to his side. It had been the same nurse he had brought the young woman in earlier.

"Mr. Jikowski, you shouldn't be getting dressed." Her voice was soothing but on the verge of hysterics and she gently pulled the clothes out of his hand and lead him back into his bed.

"I have to get going." John said his mind focused on leaving. "Why am I here in the first place?"

"You don't remember?" The nurse asked wrapping a blood pressure cuff on John's shoulder. She saw him shake his head slowly as if he was embarrassed he didn't remember. "You had a minor heart attack."

John couldn't believe what he had just heard. He had been healthy has a horse at his last physical, three years ago. "I can't stay here. I need to get out."

"Sir, there's no reason for you to be leaving. You're not in any trouble." John looked confused at the nurse as she kept working on him. "Besides, you shouldn't be doing anything strenuous for the next couple of days."

"I just had a minor heart attack. I'll be fine." John said trying to get back up. "I'll be fine."

"You also hit your head on the asphalt."

John finally felt the pain behind his eyes and he reluctantly sat back into his bed. "Concussion?" He asked.

"No. But we had to make sure. Here, take these." The nurse handed him two small blue pills in a small clear cup. Shooting back the pills John took the glass of water and shot that back as well. "Someone wants to say thank you, I'll be right back."

John watched as the nurse quickly left his room. He adjusted in his bed as he already could feel the pills he took was already taking away the pain in the back of his head. A small woman came in with tears streaming down her face. John was confused as she came in and sat down beside him and gently taking his hand in hers.

"Th-Thank you..." the woman's English was broken and had a slight Hispanic dialect to it. "You...brought daughter home."

"Was she a survivor?" John asked slowly.

The woman shook her head slowly as more tears came down her cheeks. "You brought daughter home. But I no mad." John frowned as he took the woman's hands.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save her." John said and the woman smiled softly.

"Please take." The woman reached into her large black purse and pulled out her wallet.

John quickly shook his head already regretting when the pain returned.

"Please." The woman held out a few dollar bills and John closed her hand around them.

"No thank you. I don't deserve it." John looked into the woman's deep set brown eyes and felt terrible.

The woman sniffed and after setting the money on John's lap she quickly left. John opened his mouth to call out to her but the woman had already disappeared. John looked down at the few crumpled bills and let out a sigh. He needed to get out of that hospital. Even if he wasn't supposed to. He needed to get away from the guilt he now felt.

~DSCWIN~

John quietly made his way out of the room barely missing the nurses and making it to the stairs. He didn't trust the elevator. When he reached the lobby John stopped. The young woman he had saved sat on a chair, a thin blanket wrapped around her body. He looked around seeing if there was a nurse around but his thoughts were not on if there was a nurse around, but how the young girl was out of her room. As he walked closer her head slowly turned and her eyes fell on his. John tried to smile but the girl didn't wait as she walked over and wrapped her weak arms around him.

"I'm so sorry..." her voice whimpered as John looked confused down at her. "Doctors were talking about you. They said you had a heart attack...It's because of me wasn't it?"

"Oh, no." John said shaking his head trying to keep his voice down as he didn't want to be back in his room. "It's not your fault. I'm just getting older. Things like this happen all the time for people my age." John said failing at trying to keep the young girl from worrying about him. "Listen I have to get out of here. Did they say where my truck was at?"

The girl slowly shook her head. "Will that thing...get me?" She asked her voice shaking with fear.

"That one creature will not. But I'm not saying you're never going to experience another monster. Chances are you just might. But if that happens, give this number a call. If I don't answer then call my son. You can hear it on my voicemail."

The girl smiled and thank John for the card. John watched as she turned and meandered across the floor and into a small waiting room. Inside an older couple smiled and carefully wrapped their arms around her. John now knew why the girl was in the Lobby instead of her hospital room. It was his cue to leave the building and to find his truck before someone were to discover his stash of weapons.

~DSCWIN~

John couldn't believe his luck when he discovered his truck still in the hotel's parking lot. John walked into the front office to pay for his extra night before climbing into his truck. He needed to leave, make up for his lost time in the hospital. The area around John slowly changed from city to open highways as he drove in a random direction. He felt as though he was being pulled in every which way until he stopped in Nashville Tennessee. The hairs on the back of John's neck stood up as he pulled up to a small motel and paid for a room. Something wasn't right about this place as John looked around for the nearest bar. He had to find out what was going on and felt the bar scene would be the best bet.

John entered the establishment with sideways glances from the other patrons but soon was ignored allowing the hunter to move and take a seat at the bar. He shot a quick scan of the place before the bar tender, a man that looked to be in his forties walked over and tossed his washcloth over his right shoulder.

"What would it be?" He asked John sticking a toothpick in between his teeth.

"Jack on the rocks." John said with a casual glance up and down the bar trying to push out his hunter senses for any hidden dangers. He tossed down a credit card he knew was recently activated and sat back watching as the bartender took the card to set it to the side. After the bartender had set John's drink in front of him the bartender simply walked down to the other end to help the two men that barely acknowledge John's presence.

The bartender set the small glass of amber liquid with ice in front of John who picked up and took a long swig.

"That's what I've been telling him." The door opened letting in two men who looked more biker then the bar's other occupants. "The Winchester kids are taking down creatures left, right and center." John tensed slightly at the conversation and held steady by sipping more of his drink. "So we're planning on taking them out." The voice dropped volume making John lean in slightly to catch every word. "We're planning a trap for those kids. Take out the youngest first then end with the oldest."

"How are we supposed to trap those kids?" The other man asked shooting the bartender a thank you smile.

"By making it seem we're the victims that need help. They'll drop their guard and boom, no more Winchester kids."

John trembled knowing that there was a price on his kids' heads. He wanted to but in to ask why his kids but couldn't just in case these creatures sitting next to him took out these innocents in the bar.

"What about their dad?" The second voice asked after taking a swig from his drink. "What if he finds out about this?"

"Their old man is dead and buried in some unmarked grave. I heard he suffered a heart attack back in Wisconsin. We have a clear path to those kids."

The second voice sighed as John caught him shaking his head slightly. "I don't know man. It seems pretty risky. I mean, what if we can't get them to drop their guard? Then what?"

"Then we slit their throats at night. All at the same time." The first voice had a sneer to his voice making John tremble with anger.

Nobody is going to hurt my kids; he thought finishing his drink and caught the bartender's attention. "Another one please. And a round for everyone in this room." The four other people plus the two besides John let out a cheer as they quickly ordered their drinks. The two moved over and took a side of John.

"That was very generous of you sir." The one on John's left stunk of chew and whiskey. "Don't think I ever caught your name."

"Never gave it." John said with an exaggerated slur to his voice. "Names Darrell. Darrell Jikowski. Was feeling quite generous as I'm meeting new friends."

"You know Darrell you seem like a great guy." One of the two men said grabbing John's shoulder and giving it a little shake. "Why don't you come with us and hang for a while. You may be of some use to us."

John fought to punch the man in the throat as his face twisted in a forced smile. "That would be great." John said layering another layer of drunken slur.