Sam and Dean parked outside the Ranger Station, barely speaking the whole drive there. Sam was seething with grief and confusion in the front seat while Dean just stared at the road ahead in order to stay focused. They got out and went inside, still not speaking. Sam made his way over to the 3-D map on the table and stared until he found the coordinates.

"So Black Water Ridge is pretty remote. It's cut off by these canyons here. Rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place…"

"Dude, check out the size of the friggin bear."

Sam turned his head to glare at his big brother. He walked over to glance at the picture Dean was staring at and he had to admit, the bear lying dead in front of the hunter was huge. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure."

"You boys aren't planning to go out near Black Water Ridge by any chance?" the Ranger asked as he came up behind them to the desk.

Sam and Dean turned around and the younger Winchester was ready with a response. "Oh, no, sir. We're environmental study majors from U.C. Boulder. Just working on a paper."

"Recycle, man." Dean said, punching the air.

This got a disbelieving chuckle from the Ranger. "Bull. You're friends with that Haley girl, right?"

"Yes," answered Dean. "Yes, we are, Ranger… Wilkinson."

"Well, I will tell you exactly what I told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Black Water until the 24th. So it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" Dean shook his head in response, but the Ranger added, "Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine."

"We will," replied Dean but he was struck with a genius idea and decided to roll with it. "Well, that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?"

"That is putting it mildly."

"Yeah, we got a friend like that too. She'll steamroll ya outta nowhere like it's nothing but damn if she doesn't use it in your defense." Dean forced the laugh from his throat as he continued, "She's actually the one who sent us here on Haley's behalf. Said to ask for a copy of that backcountry permit, so she could see her brother's return date."

"Quite the friend you got there."

"You have no idea."

The brothers left the station, Dean holding onto the copy with a triumphant chuckle. Sam picked up his pace with angry footsteps and spat, "You cruising for a hookup or something?"

"What do you mean?"

"The coordinates point to Black Water Ridge, so what are we waiting for? And why did you bring up Lynn like we didn't just leave her at the motel, huh?"

Dean slowed to a stop as they reached the Impala and strongly answered, "She's still our friend, Sam."

He harshly turned to his brother and snarled, "No she's not. She was our responsibility until she lied to us. Now we're done. So let's just go find Dad. We don't need Lynn or to talk to this other girl."

"Ok, first of all – harsh, Sammy. Second, you and I both know that she's more than that no matter how messed up it feels right now. And third, maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it." Dean argued as he walked up to the driver's door without unlocking the car to keep Sam facing him on the other side.

"What?"

"Since when are you all "shoot first and ask questions later" or "screw giving the benefit of the doubt" anyway?"

Sam glared at him and replied, "Since now." He tried to open the door but when the handle wouldn't unlock, he all but snarled, "Open the door, Dean."

"Not until you tell me why you're so damn mad."

"Aren't you? After what she did?" yelled Sam. "I mean, we gave her a ride, took care of her, helped her, and all she did was lie to us about the most defining moment of our lives!"

Dean rested his hands on the roof of the car, clenching his fists, and argued, "You think I'm not upset about that too? You think I don't want answers from her? I'm the one who left her there, Sam! I'm just as pissed, but you know what? Doesn't mean we don't go back for her once we cool off and you should know that."

Sam defiantly shook his head and started pacing on his side of the car. "Seriously, Dean? You want to go back for the girl that lied to us? She could be working for the demon that killed Mom for all we know! That brand could be for possession or-or summoning or – I don't know – channeling the demon's power!" He slammed his fist on the side of the car and panted out his rage. "She could've been working with Brady to kill Jess and to manipulate us. How else would she know all that?"

"I don't know," Dean replied in a calmer tone as he unlocked the doors. "And we won't know unless we talk to her."

The brothers stood outside the door, catching her eyes as it opened. "You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam. We're, uh, we're rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. We wanted to ask you some questions about your brother Tommy."

It was one of those moments where you see someone and think, 'You look like a friend of mine.' Both Dean and Sam were struck by the thought. Haley could've been a cousin she resembled Lynn so much. However, she was just a bit off. Her hair wasn't as long or thick or curly as Lynn's dark coiled waves but still pretty close. Her complexion was a bit warmer than Lynn's with striking blue eyes instead of a deep brown, but she was just about as tall. Their facial features held similarities but none alike enough to confuse the two of them. She was almost Lynn, yet not her at all. It was almost eerie seeing Haley standing on the other side of the screen door without thinking of the solid one they slammed behind them when they left Lynn at the motel.

"Let me see some I.D." she said, snapping them back from their thoughts.

Dean reached into his pocket and held up the fake card he made. "There you go."

Haley stared at it and seemingly satisfied, she said, "Come on in." She opened the door for them, receiving a thanks from Dean, when she saw their parked Impala. "That yours?"

"Yeah." Dean answered with a proud smirk.

"Nice car."

Dean watched her walk inside and the second he was out of her eyeline, he turned to Sam and mouthed, 'Oh my –' Sam rolled his eyes and followed his brother inside to where Haley and her other brother were getting ready to eat dinner.

"So, if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" asked Sam.

"He checks in everyday by cell," Haley answered as she brought the rest of the food to the table. "He e-mails photos, stupid little videos. But we haven't heard anything in over three days now."

"Well, maybe he can't get cell reception." Sam suggested.

Haley shook her head. "He's got a satellite phone too."

"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asked.

Ben dropped his fork and strongly replied, "He wouldn't do that."

"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."

"Can I see the pictures he sent you?" inquired Sam, coming up with an idea to get some insight to what's out in Black Water Ridge.

"Yeah." Haley went to the computer and brought up the saved video files of her brother. "That's Tommy." She clicked on a thumbnail to bring up his last video and pressed play.

"Hey Haley. Day six. We're still out near Black Water Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow."

Sam's eyes studied the screen to the best of his ability, but they weren't able to discern what they had just seen. He knew in his gut that it was supernatural, but he would need a copy of the video to figure out exactly what was up there.

"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Black Water Ridge first thing," Dean told her.

"Then maybe I'll see you there," Haley replied as she walked over to her younger brother. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guide. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."

Dean locked eyes with her and while he felt connected to her words, it wasn't Haley that was pulling him in. Dean saw her for who she really was, but somehow, he could only picture Lynn. It was an uncontrollable feeling that completely overtook him and scarier still, he was starting not to care.

"I think I know exactly how you feel."

"Hey, you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked her.

"Sure."

Sam and Dean left the house as the sun was dipping below the horizon. They got into the Impala, Dean turning the key in the ignition and gripping the steering wheel as he pressed down on the gas pedal. Sam looked over at his brother to see him staring hard at the darkening road in front of them.

"We're going back for her…" Sam wasn't asking or telling; he was observing. He leaned deeper into his seat as he stared out the window. The trees along the road appeared to loom over the pavement, branches reaching out to usher them back to the motel. "What if she's not there?"

Dean's eyes shot over to him and asked, "D'you not want her to be?"

Sam kept his eyes on the road leading back to Lynn. He exhaled all the air from his lungs and rage didn't fill them. Betrayal and suspicion didn't rush through his veins. It was gone. All of it. Only to be replaced by something far worse.

"I'm afraid she won't be…" Sam quietly admitted. "Because of how I –" He cut himself off, clenching his fists and picking at the ends of his sleeves. "The way I yelled…"

Dean sighed and brought his eyes back to the road, keeping them as steady as his voice. "Was an instinct reaction. I'm the one who ripped her a new one and left her there alone. If she's not there, it's 'cause of me. Not you."

"I don't understand this, man." Sam groaned, rubbing his hands over his face, and turning to his brother. "I was so angry and in some ways I still am, but not at her. Not anymore. I mean, I was ready to leave her there, Dean. Only go back to demand answers and then cut ties, if not kill her if she was working with the demon, but now…" Sam stared out the windshield and sighed, "Now I feel guilty for it like –"

"You betrayed her," finished Dean. "Like even though she was the one who lied, you're the one who screwed up because you hurt her by calling her out and leaving?" He glanced over at Sam to see him nodding.

"How does that make sense?" Sam ardently asked, confusion and frustration heavy in his tone. "How can we feel guilty when she was the one who… How is it that we –?"

"I don't know, Sammy. But somehow this girl dropped into our lives and got into more than just the car. She's in us now and we care about her, no matter what the hell is going on – and believe me, I don't know what the hell is going on! This doesn't happen to us."

Sam looked at his brother and questioned, "What if that's part of what's going on? What if there's something supernatural about her making us feel bonded to her or something?"

Dean frowned and replied, "I don't know, isn't there a word for that though?"

"Uh, no. I don't – I don't think so. I don't know."

"What? You know all the words," teased Dean. "Come on, College Boy. What's the word?"

"This is serious, Dean! What if feeling this connected to her is actually dangerous? What if it's part of the demon's plan?"

Dean tilted his head over to his little brother and countered, "What if it's not? What if Lynn being with us is the break we've waited our whole lives for, huh?" He raised an eyebrow before looking back to the road, realizing they were almost at the motel.

"We don't get breaks, Dean. Ever. And now with Jess and Dad and finding out about Mom…" Sam trailed off as his eyes drifted into the darkening dusk. "I should still be angry, not scared that she won't be there waiting for us."

"I get it, Sammy, I do." Dean replied as he pulled into the motel parking lot. "But evil always feels like evil and we know evil. We know what it looks like, what it feels like, and Lynn isn't evil. She's human and made a mistake that hurt pretty deep, but that could be all it was."

Sam sighed and stared at the door they slammed behind them earlier that day. "I don't want to feel this close to her, Dean." He practically whispered. "Because if you're right, if she's more than our friend – if she's our break, if she means that much to us already before we even know how or why – it's gonna hurt a hell of a lot more than it does now if…"

"Don't do that, Sam. Don't think about a big picture you can't see yet." Dean said as they got out of the car and walked to the door. "We don't actually know anything, so let's deal with that first and then we can figure everything else out. And we will, alright? She's inside waiting for us."

Sam nodded as Dean opened the door to reveal a dark and empty room. No trace of Lynn left except for her room key left on top of the table.

"Son of a bitch."

Lynn knocked on the apartment door and didn't have to wait too long for the older man to answer it. He had clearly spent the majority of his life failing to escape the trauma that scarred him so many years ago. Mr. Shaw wore dirty clothes with a half burnt-out cigarette hanging from his dry lips and his gut held every beer he drank in failed attempts to forget that horrid night in the woods.

"Wha'dya want, girl?" he asked in a gruff voice that held no anger.

"I wanted to ask you about the one thing you probably never want to talk about, but it's very important." Lynn answered in the most calming tone she could manage. "You're the only person that can help me."

Mr. Shaw blinked, trying to hide the terror in his eyes and shuffled back into his apartment, leaving the door open. "You're right. If it's what you mean, I don't want to talk about it." Lynn slowly followed him inside and closed the door as he said, "Besides, it's public record."

"The public record states that your parents were mauled by a bear, but I don't think that they were." Shaw turned around to glance at her as Lynn continued, "I think that the others who went missing that year and all the people who've gone missing this year, I think it's the same thing that killed your parents. And I think you know that it's not bear attacks."

Shaw wasn't able to hold her gaze and crumbled into his chair by the window. Lynn took a few gentle steps toward him and pressed, "I'm trying to make sure what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else and I'm working with two expert rangers to do it, but I need your help. I need you to tell me what happened to you."

"You seem like a sweet, girl. Kind and brave." Shaw said with a crooked grin. "But I seriously doubt you can do anything."

Lynn sat down on the edge of the bed to look him in the eye and strongly responded, "I've delt with more than should be humanly possible in the last ten days than anyone else has in their entire lives, so trust me when I tell you I can make a difference here. Me and my friends will stop this for good." She softened her voice and finished, "Please Mr. Shaw, tell me what happened that night. I will believe you. That's why I'm here."

He took a deep breath and it shakily released from his lungs. "I didn't see anything. It moved too fast, hid too well. I heard it though. A roar…" Shaw almost got lost in the memory, but he soon found her eyes to anchor him in the present. "Like no man or animal I ever heard. And it…"

"It what?"

"It got inside our cabin. I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door – it unlocked it. Do you know of a bear that could do something like that?"

Lynn shook her head. "No, sir. A bear couldn't do that, but a monster could."

Shaw nodded as his memories welled up in his eyes. "I didn't even wake up until I heard my parents screaming. It dragged them off into the night. Why it left me alive… been asking myself that ever since."

Lynn was about to tell him how sorry she was for what he went through, that he should've been believed, when Mr. Shaw said, "It did leave me this though." He pulled down his shirt to reveal a deep scar made by claws that could have shredded him in seconds had it wanted. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon. I don't know what you think will stop something like that –"

"Fire. Fire will stop something like that," answered Lynn. "Thank you for trusting me with your story. It helped me in more ways than you know."

"You do believe me, don't you girl?"

Lynn gave him a tight-lipped grin and replied, "Yes, I do."

"That mean you know what – what that thing is?"

"I know what that thing is, if you'd like me to tell you."

Mr. Shaw shook his head and Lynn saw his whole body relax into his chair. "Wouldn't make a difference now. Never really mattered what it was. Only mattered that someone believed that it wasn't a grizzly." Lynn gulped back empathetic tears when she saw him wipe his stray ones from his cheeks. Mr. Shaw smiled at her and put out his cigarette. "Thank you for that, girl."

"Lynn," she lightly laughed.

Mr. Shaw extended his hand to shake hers, but she held onto it instead. He sighed a smile and gently squeezed her soft hand inside his, roughened by many hard years. "Thank you, Lynn."

"Did a girl check out of Room 15 earlier today?" demanded Dean as they burst into the office.

The young man behind the counter looked up and stuttered, "Uh I don't think so… no one's checked out today as far as I know."

"As far as you know?" Sam spat.

"Y-Yeah, my shift only started half an hour ago and the system said no one was scheduled for check out tonight…"

"Well, it wouldn't be scheduled," said Dean harshly. "I'm the one who booked the room. So did a girl with dark hair and big doe eyes to match come in here to say she was leaving? Maybe get a cab or leave a message?"

The guy nervously shook his head and answered, "S-Sorry. No, I don't know, but if she didn't check in then she could just go whenever she wanted. I mean, it's a motel not a hotel, so…"

"Great, just great!" Sam exclaimed, interrupting the clerk. "How the hell are we supposed to work this out with her if we can't find her?"

"I don't know, Sam!"

The younger Winchester marched up to the counter and aggressively leaned so far over it that the guy on the other side started to panic. "Check your system again. Check for written notes. Check the call logs if you have it. Just check everything!"

He started to fumble on the keyboard and along the desk but kept glancing up at the brothers in total anxiety. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

"No!" they both shouted.

"Ok…" He continued to search until he found a piece of paper on the floor. "Here!"

Before the guy could hand it across the counter, Sam grabbed it from his hand and skimmed over the words before reading it to Dean. "If you're in the office then you care enough that I wasn't in the room, so check your voicemail boxes. I had to call from the motel phone since mine doesn't work here."

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean gruffly replied.

"I don't know. Check your phone."

They both left the office in a hurry back to the Impala, leaving the poor guy behind the counter to stand there shaking so the intensity of their visit could start to dissipate.

Dean pulled out his phone the moment they got into the car while Sam had already pressed the New Message button and held it to his ear. "Hey Sam, it's me – Lynn – I just… I wanted to say how sorry I am about how you found out about everything today. That's not how I ever wanted to tell you. If I'm being honest, I didn't want to tell you because of how much pain it'd cause you, but if I was honest from the start maybe it would've hurt less. I'm still in the learning curve with all this, but I hope you understand that I would never intentionally hurt you or Dean. You mean too much to me. So, I'll make this right, okay? I'm gonna do everything I can to find Jessica's killer. I promise, Sam. See you soon."

Sam glanced over to Dean as his voicemail from Lynn ended to see that Dean was still listening to his message. His brother's jaw clenched, and his stare pierced out through the windshield into the night as Lynn's recorded voice spoke into his ear. "Hey Dean, it's Lynn. I need to tell you how sorry I am for everything that happened today. I shouldn't have kept the truth from you and Sam. I just wanted to protect you from the pain, but I made it even worse. I hope you can forgive me because I would never intentionally hurt either of you. I'd rather die. But I know you need actions more than words, so I'm gonna make this right. I'm gonna help you find your dad and I've already started. See you and Sam on the hunt, Dean."

He shut his flip phone and turned to Sam. "She's hunting this thing up at Black Water Ridge."

"What?" Sam sharply sighed as Dean started the Impala. "I thought she was going after the demon!"

"What?!" Dean yelled. "Damnit Lynn!"

"Hold on, just – What did she tell you?"

Dean pulled out of the parking lot and drove in the direction of the Ranger station, not sure of where else to start looking for her. "She apologized for everything, that she'd rather die than hurt us, and promised she'd make it right by helping us find Dad, saying she'd see us on the hunt."

"Okay, well, she apologized to me too, saying that she never wanted to hurt us because we mean too much to her, and promised to make it right by finding the demon that killed Jess."

"That girl is gonna get herself killed!"

Sam looked at his brother and clarified, "For us."

Dean gripped the steering wheel and pressed on the gas. "Son of a bitch!"

"I need a Martin Saber Elite Takedown Recurve Bow," declared Lynn as she walked up to the customer service desk at the hunting store. "All black if you have it."

The man blinked at her, clearly stunned at how a young woman could know exactly what weapon she wanted to such specificity, and asked, "What's a girl like you need with a bow like that? Hm? I bet your boyfriend sent you for it, right?"

Lynn narrowed her eyes at his underneath the camo cap and said through gritted teeth, "I'm also gonna need a metal rest since it won't shoot off the shelf and I refuse to use that bow's crappy rubber one. And an Allen key so I can take the riser and limbs apart." She cocked her head and smirked at the dumbfounded look on his face. "While you're getting all that, I also need 24 carbon arrows, 12 aluminum arrows, 3-blade removable broadheads for each – preferably hellrazor but I'll take thunderhead and woodsman too – a black Legend hip quiver for a righty, and a foam lined case to store it all."

He took his feet off the counter and stood up, trying to type in what he remembered her listing off. Lynn sarcastically smiled at him and said in a sickly-sweet tone, "Let me know if you need me to repeat anything. I know it was a lot."

"You into archery then, huh?"

"For many years. I would've found everything myself, but your sign says that you close in less than 30 minutes and I know it's better to get those last-minute customers in and out so the closing can actually start on time."

He glanced up at her and Lynn felt herself ease at the guilt forming behind his eyes. "An archer that works retail. Well, we got everything you're lookin' for. I'll go get 'em for you."

"Thanks."

Lynn pulled out the fake credit card Dean gave her to use for all her clothes and silently thanked him for letting her keep it. Looking to her right, she saw the gun case and moseyed over to get a look. There was quite the collection of handguns on display inside the glass and Lynn knew it was probably a good idea to choose one. Let's face it, in the world of Supernatural, she was gonna need a hell of a lot of silver, devil's trap, and witch-killing bullets in a gun she was comfortably skilled at shooting. Luckily for Lynn, that list was very short, so she knew where to look. She noticed the Colt and Taurus handguns that were like Sam and Dean's and slightly grinned. She also quickly skipped over the Magnums and large Glocks until she found her type of pistols.

The man returned with a flatbed cart that held everything she requested on the top and after noticing Lynn was perusing the gun case, he asked, "Did you want to see any?"

She looked over and caught sight of his nametag clipped to the bottom of his shirt. "Yeah, actually. If I could get a feel for that 9MM that'd be great. Thanks Warren."

He nodded, parking the cart next to her, and walked around to the locked door. "Which 9MM was it?"

Lynn peered closer and pointed at one of the more compact pistols, answering, "The Ruger."

Warren nodded and handed the weapon to her, after proving it to be unloaded. Lynn took it and held it in her grip, safely testing out the balance and features. It wasn't the same as the one she had back in her world, but it still felt familiar. "How many rounds does it hold?"

"15."

"Perfect. Do you have any conceal carry holsters that clip to the waist?"

"Sure do. Anything else, miss?"

Lynn glanced up at him and couldn't help but slightly smile. She hadn't been called "miss" for a long time. But she was 19 again, complete with the slim stature, younger features, and fluctuating hormones. Just something else to get used to – being 19 and being treated as 19.

"Aside from a couple boxes of ammo, nope. That'll do it. Thank you."

Warren grinned and replied, "No problem. I'll grab the boxes and holster and meet you at the register."

Lynn pushed her cart up to the counter and looked over everything. Warren did a great job collecting all that she asked for, it was exactly what she requested. He came up behind the counter and added the holster to her items. Warren scanned it and packed all of her archery components into the foam lined case while bagging up the bullets. Lynn was ready with her card when Warren unpacked the Ruger from its box. She watched as he pulled out something blue and white and went to screwing it on the grip.

"What're you…" she started to ask, but then realized what he was doing.

Warren was placing a custom grip onto her gun. It had a midnight blue background with opalesque filigree swirling around and in the center was a circle that looked like a moon made of pearl with three black arrows in the middle pointing upward. Lynn openly smiled and said, "It's beautiful! Thanks for finding it and putting it on for me. Did you add it to my total?"

"On the house. For being an ass to ya."

"What? No, you don't have to–"

Warren politely held up a hand to shush her and put the Ruger back in its box to bag it up. "Yeah, I do. 'Cause at the end of the day, no matter how many stupid people I talk to, I should know better than to assume you were one of 'em just because you don't look like our regular clientele."

Lynn giggled and handed him the credit card. "No worries and thank you, really. I love the grip."

Warren nodded and put the receipt in her bag, asking, "D'ya mind if I ask what you're gettin' all this for? You target shooting, competing, or hunting something?"

"Hunting something." She got a firm grasp on the secure case and stuck her arm through the plastic bag's handles when she bluntly remembered, "Shit! Do you have exploding arrowheads?"

Dean and Sam drove up to the Ranger Station to find that it was closed for the night with no sign that Lynn had been there. Not knowing what else to do, Dean parked but left the engine running. "This is nuts! We already can't find Dad and now we lost our storm-'n-time-traveling, gut-following, kinda-all-knowing, hot girl sidekick!" Dean yelled and slammed his hands down on the steering wheel. "What the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Okay, look, we just need to figure out where'd she go."

"What a brilliant idea, Sammy. How'd we not think of that until now?"

Sam glared at his brother's angered sarcasm and frustratingly replied, "Shut up! She said she was gonna hunt this thing, right? So next step would be to talk to any witnesses, and she knows that."

Dean's rigid muscles began to relax at that. "Yeah, yeah. She was a natural on that hunt in Jericho. Okay, Sammy. Good." He put the Impala back into drive and started heading towards the town. "Wha'do we know about the attacks?"

Sam pulled out the info he got from the station from their first trip and pulled up all the info Haley sent to his email. After going through it for a few minutes, Sam responded, "So Black Water Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic – local campers mostly – but still, this past April two hikers went missing out there and they were never found."

"Any before that?"

"Yeah. In 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack. And again in 1959, and again before that in 1936. Every 23 years, just like clockwork." Sam pulled up the video that Haley emailed him and waited for a red light to show Dean. "Okay, I'm downloading that guy Tommy's video… Watch this. Here's the clincher."

Dean looked over to the screen and watched as a shadow flew across the tent behind Tommy. If Dean had blinked, he wouldn't have seen it. "Do it again."

Sam slowed it down by only clicking through the few frames. "That's three frames. It's a fraction of a second," said Sam as the light turned green and Dean pressed on the gas. "Whatever that thing is, it can move."

"And Lynn is going after it alone. Not good, Sammy."

"I know, but…" he scrolled through back to one of the files and finished, "I found a survivor. In '59, one camper survived the supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid – barely crawled out of the woods alive. If Lynn has the same info I do, then this is where she'd go."

"Is there a name and address?"

Sam confidently grinned at his brother.

"So, I guess that makes you two her expert ranger friends, huh?" Mr. Shaw greeted them at his door.

Their eyes widened as Sam asked, "Wait – was someone already here asking you about… Was it a young woman with dark curly hair?"

Mr. Shaw nodded and lifted a glass of water to his lips before replying, "Yeah. Pretty young thing. Big eyes and a sweet smile, though –" He stopped to chuckle as he sat down. "Something tells me she's tougher than she looks. Came by a couple hours ago to ask about what really happened in the woods when I was a kid. Mentioned you two. Not that you'd be coming by…"

Dean stepped forward and asked with a demanding edge to his tone, "What did she say? What did you tell her?"

"Since she already came by, why not just ask her?" Mr. Shaw responded. "Why're you here?"

Sam came up to stand with Dean and replied in a gentler tone than his brother, "She got a head start on us and we're trying to catch up – to make sure she's okay. Please, Mr. Shaw. What did you talk about?"

He sighed and settled more into his seat. "I told her what really happened that night. How I never saw a thing because it was too fast and hid too well in the dark. How its roar was unlike anything I ever heard. She believed me. Even when I told her that it unlocked the cabin door to get inside and that I didn't wake up until I heard my parents scream as it dragged them into the night." Mr. Shaw took a deep breath and looked the brothers right in the eye. "She was the first person to really listen, to believe me. Also the first person to look at me with sympathy instead of pity or fear when I showed her this."

Mr. Shaw revealed his scar, studying their intrigued reactions, and continued, "Lynn – I don't know who she is or how she does what she does – but that girl's got something about her."

"What do you mean?" they both asked.

"She puts you at ease. She… cares and that somehow makes you feel safe." Mr. Shaw looked up at both of them and asked, "Girl's your friend, isn't she? Bet you feel it much more than that."

Sam and Dean tried to smile but the pain of their parting at the beginning of the day threatened to sourly angle them down. Shaw cleared his throat, jolting them back to the present, and said, "Anyway, Lynn said that she was gonna stop the evil that's in those woods. That all of you were. Said she knew what it was and could only stop it with fire."

"Fire?" Dean questioned.

"Did she say what it was?" asked Sam.

Shaw shook his head and answered, "No. She offered to tell me, but I didn't need to know."

"Why not?" Dean harshly judged. "Someone tells you they know what killed your parents and you don't want to know?"

"It wasn't about knowing," Shaw strongly defended. "Knowing wouldn't change what happened. Knowing wouldn't fix anything. Hell, even stopping it wouldn't do any good now. Not for me." He got to his feet and walked over to the kitchen to refill his glass of water. "My whole life I thought I wanted to know what really happened but turns out it wasn't about knowing. It was about someone believing me." Shaw turned back to them and led them to the door, opening it for them to walk through. "Because she believed me – because she knew it was real – I know it's real. It wasn't a nightmare. I didn't imagine it. I'm not crazy. That's what I needed. To be believed. To not feel it alone."

Sam and Dean stood on the other side of the door, staring at him as a small smile lit up his weathered face. "So thank her again for me when you see her. She's quite the gift, that girl."

Shaw closed the door, leaving Sam and Dean in the hallway. After standing there silently, trying to absorb everything that he told them, the Winchesters finally turned around to walk out of the apartment building.

"Okay, so, I'm starting to think that maybe she's not connected to the demon." Sam thought aloud. "If other people are feeling things that like around her, even if it's less than us, it probably means something… else."

"Ya think, Sammy?"

"Don't, Dean! Just don't with that, alright?" Sam huffed as they turned the corner. "She was already here and apparently already knows what we're hunting."

"Which means we're way behind and need to catch up." Dean thought for a moment and said, "Well spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors if they want inside. They just go through the walls."

"So it has to be something else, something corporeal."

""Corporeal?" Excuse me, Professor."

Sam intensified his glare and snapped, "Shut up. So, what do you think?"

"The claws, the speed that it moves, can only stop it with fire…" Dean thought for a moment, trying to piece together the evil creature puzzle without his dad's journal in front of him, and guessed, "It could be a Chupacabra or that – erm – garoo thing Dad hunted when we were kids. Loogaroo! Or maybe a black dog." He pushed open the doors and headed for the car with purposeful steps. "Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it."

Dean immediately went to the trunk and opened it, lifting up the false bottom to look at everything. Sam stood next to him as look out while Dean packed the duffel. "We need to find Lynn before she goes out there, Dean."

"I know, but I was thinking – there's no way she'd head out there now, right? I mean, it's night. Can't go hunting in dangerous, unknown territory alone in the dark."

"You'd think, but she left the motel. Key on the table. What if she thinks she can handle it on her own?"

Dean momentarily stopped shoving things into the canvas bag to look at his brother and replied, "Lynn's not stupid, Sam. It's suicide to go alone and that wouldn't help us, which is what she said she was gonna do. I think we –"

"What?" Sam pressed, intensely staring. "We what, Dean?"

"I think we need to trust she knows what she's doing. That if we don't find her, she'll find us." Dean threw the last few things into the duffel and dropped it on the ground so he could close the trunk. "I mean, she already found us once before, right?"

Dean tossed the bag for Sam to catch with a wink and got into the car. Sam followed, putting the duffel in the backseat. Dean turned the key in the ignition and as the Impala rumbled to life, he glanced at Sam to ask, "Wanna get something to eat? I'm hungry."

"Really? So we're done trying to find her then?"

"Sam, we gotta eat. And you know what? So does Lynn. Maybe we'll find her at a local haunt. So let's find a place to get a burger and beer."

"What if she's not at whatever place we go to get food? Huh? What then?"

Dean huffed and replied, "Then we hope she goes back to the motel because she still needs a place to sleep tonight."

"Unless she's on her way to camp out in the murder forest."

"Enough Sam! She's not going out there alone. We're gonna meet up, like she said we would, and then we're gonna hunt this thing together. So we can protect her while we figure all this crap out. I know it in my gut. And she was right about trusting that." Dean's fingers clenched the steering wheel as his thoughts spilled from his mouth. It was like he needed to convince himself just as much as he needed to convince his brother. "Lynn didn't suddenly come into our lives to try and help us, to care about us – for us to care her – just to get herself killed before we understand why or how it all happened. Why she is what she is to us."

Sam's eyes glossed over into the darkness surrounding them as a realization flashed in his mind. "Coup de foudre," he whispered.

"What?"

"That's the word. Or phrase, I guess. Coup de foudre."

Dean blinked as the memory of describing their connection to Lynn found its way to the front of his mind. "Is that even English? What does it mean?"

Sam gazed into the side mirror at the empty backseat where Lynn had sat for the last week and a half. "It's French for the moment when lightning strikes. As in when something sudden and unforgettable happens and you want to keep it with you."

"Yeah," agreed Dean. "That's it."

Lynn stepped out of the cab with all of her bags and paid the driver. As he drove off, Lynn slung her duffle strap across her chest (opposite of her live-in bag) after putting her new hunter green canvas and dark leather backpack over her shoulders. Picking up her weapon's case, Lynn walked along the gravel parking lot of the bar and looked for the Impala. She stayed in the few illuminated areas leading to the entrance but stopped when she saw it. Baby was almost directly under a lamppost, her sleek black metal shining in the light, and Lynn felt herself sigh with relief. She chose the right bar.

Lynn stepped closer and delicately put her hands on the cold hood. They had been inside for at least long enough to order food, if not already be eating it. She put her case down by the front passenger's tire and then her duffle, bag, and backpack. Lynn found herself lifting her body up to sit on the hood and stared at the door leading into the bar.

Dean said he wouldn't change a thing. Sam wholeheartedly agreed. So however this was gonna go, it was how it was supposed to… but Lynn couldn't help but feel anxious. She picked at her thumb cuticles until they nearly bled. What if they weren't ready to see her or talk to her yet? What if she was supposed to wait for them to come to her? Maybe they were supposed to walk out of the bar and find her sitting on the Impala, waiting for them. Or maybe she supposed to find them inside and eat dinner with them. Lynn brought her torn cuticles to her mouth and started to nibble at them with her teeth. Maybe she shouldn't be worrying about it at all.

Frigid air swept over her and the lamppost above flickered. Lynn looked up to see the light nearly spark out and saw her breath leave her lips in a cloud of fog. She stiffened and immediately scoured the parking lot for any sign of a supernatural presence.

"Over here."

Lynn jerked her head to her left to see Brady sitting next to her on the Impala. Her breath instantly quickened to match her heartrate as every muscle tensed. Brady slid off the metal before she could make a defensive move and leaned over her legs to all but pin her in place. "Nah ah. Don't you move. No reciting any Latin either or I start killing innocent stragglers."

She glanced at the people leaving the bar, talking as they got to their cars. She couldn't risk their lives even if getting their attention would distract Brady long enough to fight him off. Lynn eased as far back as she could and asked, "What do you want?"

"I want a lot of things," chuckled Brady. "I wanted to see the look on Sam's face when Jess died in his arms. I wanted to destroy Dean from the inside out. I wanted to capture you, lock you in a stronghold, and torture every bit on info out of your pretty little meatsuit."

Lynn trembled at the touch of his finger tracing her jaw and down her neck to feel her racing heartbeat. Brady lowered his head to sniff her scent behind her ear and growled, "But orders are orders."

"Orders?" Lynn asked, pulling herself back and slowly raising her knee against Brady's chest to keep him from getting closer.

"I've been watching you since the fire. Waiting… until you were alone. Until you were ready." Brady clawed his hands over her chest, down her sides, and over her legs in search for weapons. Lynn winced at the aggressive pressure and tried to shift away from him, but the demon held her there beneath him. "So tell me, Lynn, after all you did today, you ready to leave the Winchesters?"

Lynn blinked frantically and whispered, "What?"

"They left you."

She frowned at his sharp blue eyes piercing into her and said through gritted teeth, "No they didn't."

"Yes, they did. Sam and Dean Winchester abandoned you in that motel, forcing you to go on a supply run all by yourself." Brady maniacally shouted with a wicked smile. "Poor little lost girl. All on her own with no one to help her survive in this dangerous world she fell into."

"I'm not lost," Lynn replied under her breath, watching him closely to find that he clearly missed the part where future Sam and Dean paid her a visit. Thank goodness.

"You sure? 'Cause I'm here to make you an offer."

"What're you talking about?"

Brady nodded and explained, "I was ordered to wait until you were alone, deciding whether or not to choose the Winchesters, and present you with an offer from Azazel."

Lynn wriggled farther back until her tailbone aligned with the windshield and hesitantly asked, "What offer?"

"Leave the Winchesters and I'll bring you to the Ruler of Hell," answered Brady, his voice deepening with every word. "Azazel felt when the lightning struck you into this world and he knows you have invaluable potential. That's why he had me brand you, so he'd always know where you are." Lynn instantly glanced down at her bandaged arm, but Brady grabbed her chin and forced her eyes back on him. "While he doesn't know how you got here or what you are or all you can do, he's willing to help you find the answers and once you do – in return for his assistance and protection – you repay him by using your abilities for his purpose."

Brady released his hold on the young huntress and slowly moved himself off the car to stand across from her. Lynn stared at him, bringing her legs up to her chest, and questioned, "Why does he care enough to want to make this offer? If he needs more power, there are at least a hundred other options. All I did was travel through a storm."

"Right into the laps of Sam and Dean Winchester," explained Brady with a demeaning smirk. "And clearly for a reason since the connection you have with them was instant. Supernaturally instant and permanently binding from my view this past week."

"Meaning?"

Rolling his eyes, Brady groaned, "Meaning you're important."

Lynn nodded, glancing around to find an empty parking lot, and strongly replied, "Good."

"Good?"

She slid off the hood and glared at him as she said, "Yeah good. If Azazel really does consider me – what was it? – invaluable and important to his 'purpose' then you can shove his offer up your ass."

Brady's eyes went black, and he advanced on her, but Lynn had freed the hidden karambit knives from her boots and spun them in her hands. The silver glinted sharply in the lamplight, ready to cut him, but Brady wickedly snickered at her stance.

"Really? Tiny silver knives? You should've kept the iron poker."

Lynn smirked at him. "You were waiting for me to be alone, like that's new to me, like it would mean I was weak and desperate and wouldn't know how to survive, but guess what," Lynn yelled, twirling the knives in her palms as she brought her arms down to her sides. "I've been alone my whole life. It's my natural state, my freakin comfort zone! But while you were wrong about basically everything, you were right about one thing. I am permanently bonded to the Winchesters."

The demon snarled, but Lynn stood her ground. "I don't know how or why but it doesn't matter. I'll figure it out with them because I will always choose Sam and Dean. Always! There's nothing that would ever make me leave them. I'm theirs, not Azazel's. So, if he wants me then you're gonna have to take me. And I'll die first."

Brady darkly cackled and threateningly stood over her to respond, "Careful little one. Or I'll skip the niceties and hang you from that streetlight by your intestines."

"No you won't. You can't." Lynn spat, meeting the intensity of his stare. "You've been watching me since the fire? Then you've had plenty of chances to hurt me, but 'orders are orders.'" The moment she saw Brady's eyes falter back to blue and angrily clench his jaw, she taunted, "You want to torture me – destroy them – but you can't. Not yet anyway. You got in my head last time and I fell for your bluff but not tonight." Lynn pushed him back, slicing the upper corners of his chest, and shouted, "Get the hell out of here! And don't come back until you're ready to fight."

"Not gonna try to exorcise me, bitch? Or dive into your new bag of weapons to torture me? Make this body useless?"

"Are you kidding? I'd never rob Sam of that."

"Right," grinned Brady as he stalked his way around her. "But here's the problem..." He flicked his hand and sent Lynn flying across the parking lot and into the side of a truck. Brady laughed over the bold smack of her body denting the metal and harsh crunch of her hitting the gravel. "If you say no, I get to "convince" you. And I can't tell you how happy I was when the how part of that was left up to me!"

Lynn had dropped her knives at the impact and wasn't able to reach out and grab them in time. Brady clawed his hand into a fist and Lynn immediately felt her insides tighten. She screamed when it felt like her organs were being pierced by razors and soon began to cough out blood. Brady continued to laugh and held up a hand to keep the bar door from opening.

"I," the demon shouted, kicking her onto her back. "Do," he grabbed her by the throat. "Not," and lifted her above his head. "Bluff!" He finished by throwing her out into the middle of the cobble-filled lot.

Lynn coughed out the pain as she struggled to climb to her feet, but she wasn't fast enough. Brady grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her up to growl in her face, "And I'm always ready for a fight."

"Good!"

Brady sharply turned around the moment Lynn saw Dean rush out from behind the Impala with his gun raised.

"Cause we're more than ready to kick your sorry ass back to Hell!"

Brady cruelly laughed at Dean, but it soon turned into a horrid scream when Sam snuck up behind him to douse holy water onto his skin. The unrelenting burn forced Brady to release Lynn. Sam caught her before she fell and led her to the car. Brady roared and lunged for them, only to be struck in the shoulder by a bullet. He turned to glare at Dean, who fired again and hit him beneath the collar bone.

"Okay. I think we're done here." The demon knocked the gun from Dean's hands with a flick of his wrist and sent him flying into the brick wall. He cocked his head to Sam and sent him flying into the same wall with a smirk. "And don't worry about anybody comin' out. I got that bar locked down."

The brothers could hear loud music playing inside and figured that was why no one came out at the sound of the fight. Plus, the doorway reeked of sulfur which backed up Brady's claim. They were trapped and at his mercy – and this demon had no mercy in him.

Brady backhanded Lynn across the face as hard as he could and chuckled when her body slammed into the ground. He shoved her with his foot to make sure she was unconscious and when he was satisfied that she was, Brady moseyed on over to the Winchester brothers.

He evilly smiled up at Sam and taunted, "Hey Sam. It's been a little while since we've hung out."

"You son of a bitch!" Sam hollered, trying to break free of his hold to no effect.

"Ouch! That anyway to talk to a friend?"

"Friend?! You're a demon!"

Brady rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Yes sir! Since the middle of our sophomore year." Sam blinked, panting in rage and confusion, so Brady continued, "That's right. Let it all sink in."

"I'm gonna kill you," Sam cried out. "You… You introduced me to Jess!"

"Then I tried to toast her on the ceiling, only to have her die in your arms. So I guess it all worked out."

"Why?" Dean angrily interjected over Sam's furious screams. "Why the hell are you doing all this?"

The demon tilted his head with a snide stare and replied, "Brady here was a good kid. Straight arrow. I mean, Sam's best friend, really. Perfect point of access." He met Sam's glare again to ask, "Remember when I came back from thanksgiving break all messed up? Dropped out of pre-med, the drugs, the bitches? That was the new Brady. That was me." The demon blinked to reveal his black eyes and openly rejoiced at the rage, fear, and pain on Sam's face. "Remember how much time you spent trying to get me back on the right track? You really were a good friend."

For a moment, his voice almost sounded genuine. Only to instantly darken. "But I wasn't sent to be your friend. I was sent to reduce your life to ash and damn was it fun!" He stepped closer to feel the agony radiate from Sam and ridiculed, "You know Jessica thought we were friends too. Let me right in. She was baking cookies. She was so surprised…" Brady's voice broke into callous laughter. "So hurt when I started in on her."

"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna tear you apart!" Sam frantically howled. "I don't care how long it takes! I'm gonna kill you! I'll find a way and kill you!"

"Sure you will, champ." Brady mocked and glanced over at Dean, eyes glistening with empathetic tears for his brother. "Just like with the demon that killed Mommy. Only 22 years with no leads, but hey! Now you got her, right?"

Brady spun around to find that Lynn wasn't lying on the ground. He walked further into the parking lot and didn't see her anywhere. Seething, Brady called out, "I thought nothing would ever make you leave your boys? Where'd you go, Lynn?"

Sam and Dean put all their strength into breaking free as they looked for her, but it was no use. They could barely move, and she was nowhere in sight. Brady stalked around the cars, peering into the shadows, but Lynn had disappeared.