A/N: Well hello there! I honestly can't believe I'm twenty chapters into this craziness and that you guys are still sticking around. Thank you so much! Giant shout outs to the new favorites and follows!

mercenary2.0: The showdown is going to blow your mind (hopefully). The last sentence of the last chapter seemed a bit cheesy to me, but I couldn't resist and I'm glad you liked it :)

Emily: Please don't throw a bitch fit. I'm not promising anything, but just read this chapter and you'll know whether or not Gabriel dies.

DracoPotter80: I know this is a little late, but I had to do it! I'm sorry, but he wasn't dead for long and just to put your mind at ease there are no further plans for Connor dying. ;)

Alright guys, that's it for this note, there will probably be an additional one at the end. Here's the next chapter, enjoy! :)

By the afternoon of the next day, the group had a pretty decent plan for how the fight with Valac was going to go down. Both angels had made sure that they had covered all of their bases, the hunters had gone over the arsenal they deemed right for the attack, and Connor had made sure that he'd have anything he could use to help the group in his bag. Everyone was happy with the plan… everyone but Ana.

"How do you plan on getting Valac to the barn if you're not going to let me leave the bunker?" she demanded of her father as he placed a duffle full of weapons in the Impala.

"Connor and Gabriel think they can make it seem as if you're there, at least long enough to draw Valac there." Dean explained, "He's after you, Ana, and I'm not going to give him the chance of getting his hands on you."

Ana's face was flush with anger, "And what are you going to do if someone gets hurt? Connor is going to be fighting right alongside the rest of you and who's to say that he won't be able to help when someone goes down?" she argued, "I've been working really hard on healing magic for this exact purpose. If for nothing else I need to be there because of that."

Dean looked into her eyes, jaw set, "You are not leaving this bunker and that's final."

"What if someone dies?! How do you think that would make me feel?" She yelled, it wasn't often that Ana raised her voice and this was the only time that she had since she had been with Dean. "If someone dies and I could have been there to stop it, you know I'm going to blame myself. Just like you and Sam will for not being able to save them."

"No one is going to die!" Dean yelled back, his voice booming in a way that Ana had only heard in her visions. He dropped his tone to just above a whisper before speaking again, "No one is going to die, there's a group of us against one demon-"

Ana scoffed, "One demon? Valac is a Knight of Hell, dad! I'm pretty sure you remember Abaddon, this isn't going to be a walk through the park!" she crossed her arms over her chest, "Something is going to go wrong, I can feel it!" Ever since she had talked with John the night before, the moment she exited the shooting range there had been a pit in her stomach and the closer the time grew to her family leaving, the bigger it got. There was no way Dean was going to let her go with, she knew that, but she also knew that she had to be able to help if they needed her.

"Ana-" Dean began, but she interrupted him again.

"What if I only come if you need me?" She questioned, a plan forming in her head. "I've read over so many spells in the past few days…." her voice trailed off as she tried to recall one specific one. "There's a spell that will let me mentally connect with one of you. I would be able to see through that person's eyes, we'd be able to talk to each other through our minds. If something went wrong, I would be able to see it and then do a spell to basically teleport me to where you're at." the words were just falling out of her mouth by that point, but it was the best chance they had at a compromise.

Dean's eyes when a little wide at that, "Vulcan mind meld?"

Ana rolled her eyes at him, "Is that what you're going to call everything concerning witchcraft?"

"No, but c'mon, sounds pretty Vulcan-mind-meld-y." He responded as he closed the trunk of the Impala, thinking about her plan. "You'll only come if someone's hurt and needs your help?" he questioned.

"Or if you guys are getting your asses handed to you." There was no way she was just going to sit back and watch them all get slowly taken out by a demon.

He considered the new addition to the plan and he didn't like it. With the kind of fight he knew they were walking into there was no doubt that they would take some hard hits, but he still wanted to keep Ana as far away from it all as possible. Even as he thought that, Dean knew that he wouldn't be able to keep her locked away every time danger struck, "Fine, but you stay here until either someone is hurt or until you're told to come. Got it?"

Ana nodded, it was going to be the only way she got him to agree to her being there, "Got it. Now I just need a willing participant."

"Well you can count me out. I love ya, kid, but I don't want anyone in my head, let alone my own daughter." Dean shook his head and shivered slightly at the thought. "I bet you could convince Connor to do it." he offered.

"I would really prefer if I could get someone else to do it with me." She muttered as they walked back through the bunker. If they were going to act on Ana's new plan, they needed to start now to keep on schedule.

He looked down his shoulder at her as they walked, "What's up with you two? You've been all quiet around each other when I usually can't get either of you to shut up."

There was a pause before she answered, "Nothing's up, we're just focused on this demon thing." she shrugged.

"Sure you are." Dean didn't believe her, it was obvious that the two had a quick connection from the beginning. With the banter and flirting gone, he knew something had happened between the two kids. "He didn't… try anything.. right?"

The words made Ana stop dead in her tracks, "Wha- what? Are you asking if Connor made a move on me?" she raised an eyebrow at her father.

With a sigh, he stopped and turned to look at her, "That's not exactly what I meant… Did he…" he grumbled, this was part of parenting that he was never going to get down, "He didn't try to.. force himself on you, did he?"

"What?!" She was honestly shocked that Dean thought Connor was the kind of monster that would do something like that, "No! God, no! Dad, really?" he couldn't possibly think that if something like that had happened that she wouldn't go to someone else immediately after beating the crap out of Connor for it. "He's not a scumbag."

Dean let out a slow, relieved sigh, "I don't know, I barely know the kid."

Ana brushed a hand through her hair, "You may barely know him, but I've been spending most of my time with him since he showed up and I've gotten to know him pretty well. He would beat the crap out of anyone who would touch another person like that."

"That's good to know." He muttered, "If it's nothing like that, then what's really going on? It's not the demon thing, so don't lie to me."

"We're not talking about this." she informed her father, stepping around him and walking down the hallway with long strides. Once she was in the library Ana was glad to see that everyone else was already there. "Hey! So who wants to let me be in their head?"

Everyone looked in her direction with confused expressions, "Want to run that by us again, Little Red?" Charlie questioned, not entirely sure that she wanted the full explanation.

Grinning, Ana walked over to sit amongst the group sitting at the table, "So it's been very clearly stated that I will not be joining in on the fight with Valac," she began to explain as Dean walked into the room, wearing a slightly pissed expression, "but I don't want to be here waiting, not having any idea what's going on. Also, I want to be easily notified if someone is injured and needs my assistance." Her eyes drifted everyone sitting around her, partially making sure they were all following, but also wanting to file away how they all looked in that moment in case anything were to happen to one of them, "There's a spell that will allow me to, basically, be inside someone's head. I'd be able to see whatever that person was seeing, be able to communicate with them."

"So you would essentially be there… without physically being there?" Sam asked, wanting to make sure he was understanding his niece correctly.

"That about sums it up." She replied with a nod, "If something goes wrong and I need to help, it will be easy enough for me to do a quick teleportation spell and be there to do what I need to."

Connor had given her his entire focus, just like he did anytime she was speaking, sometimes how smart she was would take him by surprise. "You're looking for someone to volunteer?"

The young redhead slowly turned her attention to the witch, processing the first words he had spoken directly to her since their conversation in the kitchen, "Yes. It could be uncomfortable for whoever agrees to do this with me, maybe a little disorienting and I don't want to put more risk on one person unless they're fully prepared for it."

"There is the possibility of minor set backs with a ritual like that." Connor spoke from experience, "Sometimes pieces of it linger with the two people who were connected. In some cases they're just highly attuned to how the other is feeling, in others the ability to speak within each other's minds never really leaves."

Ana raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you saying that this isn't a good idea?" the question sprouting from pure curiosity. Connor was obviously more experienced with witchcraft than she was and if he didn't think it was a good idea, she would listen to him.

There was a brief pause before he shook his head, "No, I think it's a brilliant idea. Being able to easily contact you for any reason could be helpful, but I don't think that anyone else should do this ritual with you. I'll do it, I've done it before so I won't be taken by surprise with how it works, therefore it shouldn't hinder me during the fight."

"You… You want to do the ritual with me?" Ana was shocked to say the least. It did make more sense to perform it with someone who had done it before, but after the way he had been acting she didn't think he would offer to help. "What about the 'pieces of it that linger'? You're willing to risk being connected like that with me for however long it may take for it to wear off?"

"If it means you quickly getting to our location to save someone's life? Yes, I am." He answered, his blue eyes glued to her green ones.

Everyone eyed the witches a moment, watching their staring contest seem to linger before Gabriel cleared his throat, "It may even make our plan to lure Valac there a little easier. If she has a mental presence inside of your mind, Connor, it will be easier to fabricate a believable replica."

At Gabriel's words Ana's eyes shifted, "I'm sorry, a replica?"

The archangel nodded, "Damn straight, kiddo. Connor's going to work a little magic, I'll add some of my Trickster mojo and BAM! A completely fake, but believable rendition of the living Anastasia Winchester."

She nodded at that, her father had said that they had a plan to draw Valac to them and if they could make her appear to actually be there it would do the trick. "Alright, if we're going to do this, we should get started on the ritual so you can still leave when you planned." Ana offered, her focus on Connor as she stood.

"You two go do what you need to, we'll finish getting everything else ready." Dean instructed, waving his hand at the witches to shoo them out of the room. They had taken to using the training room for magic and he assumed that this time wouldn't be any different. Once the two were gone, he turned to look at Sam and Charlie, "You guys have any idea why they're being so weird?"

Sam merely shrugged, he had an idea, but no proof to it. "No idea." he stated as he stood up to finish going over what little written information they had on Knights of Hell.

Dean turned his attention to Charlie, hoping that his daughter may have confided in the only other woman in the bunker. His friend gave him a one shoulder shrug, "All I could get out of her was that for some reason he wasn't happy with her, but before I could dig any further Cas and Gabe showed up."

"They have a fight or something?" He questioned, sitting back in his chair.

"Like I said, I don't know. I guess you'll have to get one of them to tell you." She offered with a grin, "Good luck with that, by the way."

He grumbled, turning his attention to his father, "What did you two chat about last night?" he asked. When they had come back together from the shooting range neither mentioned their conversation, but it was clear that it hadn't been small talk.

John looked at his son, thinking about how thankful he was to get to see his eldest boy be a father, even if he was a little late on the pick up. "We talked about your mom." he offered, crossing his arms over his chest and looking toward the doorway that Ana had walked out of moments before, "Your girl reminds me a little of Mary."

Dean could barely suppress a grin at his father's observation, "Well, thank God for that."

-A-

The ritual Ana and Connor needed to perform was finished and after instructing her on how to essentially turn off and on the ability to see what he was seeing, they were all ready to go. They met everyone in the garage, the hunters were going to drive in the Impala while the angels flew themselves and Connor to the barn, he and Gabriel needed time to create Ana's double. Once they were standing among everyone, Ana took a turn looking at them all, there was no telling what was going to happen once Valac got to the barn and she was worried that one of them wouldn't be coming back.

As if reading her mind Sam gave her a warm smile and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, "Everything's going to go fine, alright? Stop worrying."

She looked up at her uncle, "I know we haven't known each other very long, but you know me enough to know that I'm going to worry."

"Yeah, but you can't blame me for trying." He gave her a quick squeeze, seeing Dean walking their way, he let her go to give them some privacy.

Dean looked at her for a moment, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket, "You're only allowed to leave here unless-"

"Someone is seriously hurt or you're in major need of assistance. I know, dad." Ana sighed, "Just… be careful, alright?"

He gave her a tight smile, "This will all be over before you know it."

"Dean, we need to get going." Sam called to his brother as he stood by the car, Charlie and John were already waiting inside.

With a nod, he turned on his heel and walked toward the car. No part of him was okay with leaving his daughter, there was always a possibility that he wouldn't come back, but he refused to say goodbye to her. He wouldn't leave her without both of her parents, not again.

Ana didn't move as she watched the Impala drive out of the garage, waiting until she couldn't see it anymore before she turned to look at the three men left with her. "I have the teleportation spell ready, if anything goes wrong and I'm needed, you let me know." she instructed Connor as she walked over to the small group.

Gabriel gave her a look as he considered his words carefully, "If you need to come help, I want you to throw everything you've got at that demon, you got it? You take care of whoever needs your help but then you come out swinging."

She knew the words were an order and any other time she would have given the angel hell for thinking that he could tell her what to do, but she only nodded. "You watch your back, alright?" she was worried about him being the one to lure Valac into the devil's trap.

The angel gave her his signature smirk, "I'm pulling all of the Trickster stops out on this one. It'll almost be as good as when I got the upper hand on Luci."

Slowly, Ana turned her attention to Connor, images of the last time they encountered Valac running through her head. Specially a complete replay of Connor's death. "You come back in one piece." she told him, her voice slightly shaking.

"I'll do my best." He stated, not seeming to care either way what happened.

With powerful strides she closed the space between them, grabbed onto his shirt, and pulled him down to her level. Closing her eyes, she planted her lips on his and kissed him almost desperately, smiling when he responded in turn. Pulling away enough to look into his eyes, she poked him in the chest with her index finger, "You come back to me, Connor Mohr, are we clear?"

He grinned down at her before giving her another quick kiss, "Crystal." he assured her before stepping back to join the angels.

"Be safe, all of you." Ana instructed one last time before Gabe and Cas flew the group away, leaving her alone in the bunker. She was frozen in shock for a moment, now that everyone was gone her true fear was settling in, but she quickly forced herself to shake it off. Turning, she quickly made her way back into the main part of the bunker and jogged down the hallway until she was in the library, where she had everything set up for the simple teleportation ritual that would take her directly to her family. Taking a seat in the chair in front of her set up, she leaned back and closed her eyes, speaking the short incantation to start up the visual part of her connection with Connor. Once the connection was in full effect she sucked in a quick, surprised breath.

The inside of the barn was bare, dying grass being the only thing covering the ground. She watched through Connor's eyes as Castiel used a spray can to draw a devil's trap in a rather obvious spot in the middle of the room. "You with me, Ana?" She heard Connor's voice filter through her head.

"Roger that, captain." She focused the thought and aimed it at him. The way the ritual worked was that unless otherwise intended, they would only be able to hear what they other wanted them to, which kept either from snooping through the other's mind.

"Alright, you ready to do this?" Gabriel asked Connor, they had to work simultaneously to create the replica of Ana.

She could feel Connor nod, "That's weird." she commented in his head, causing him to smile slightly, which she could also feel.

"The bond is probably a little stronger than most because of how powerful you are." he explained, before turning his attention back to the archangel standing in front of him. "Yeah, let's get this done."

As Connor and Gabriel went to work, they heard the sound of the Impala pulling up outside, followed by the sound of opening and closing car doors. They could hear the footfalls of the group coming in, but they didn't turn their attention away from their task at hand, each man focused deeply on the separate incantations they were reciting in hushed voices. As each slowly stopped speaking, between them a soft light began to glow and form into the shape of a person, as the light dimmed there was almost an exact replica of Ana standing there, though she didn't have the life in her that normal people did.

"Okay, the way this works is that no one can touch… it." Gabriel began to explain, "It's very similar to one of my doubles though it's not as strong, but it should do the job."

Connor turned to see Dean set a duffel bag near one of the walls and then continued to make sure all of his weapons were in place, "Alright, let's get on with the next step, you can make it talk like her, right?" his eyes flicked between Connor and Gabriel.

"Actually, with the connection I have with Ana, she'll be able to talk through me. It'll be kind of like a ventriloquist with me being the puppet, my mouth moves, her voice comes out." Connor explained.

"And why didn't you inform me about this?" a slight anger clear in the thought as she pushed it into his head.

"One less thing for you to worry about, don't worry, it'll be easy. I'm going to help, all you have to do is talk." Connor turned his attention back to Dean, "We're ready whenever everyone else is."

Everyone seemed to double check their weapons at the same time. Castiel was assured that his angel blade was in it's proper place and therefore was free to focus on other things, which was when a thought occurred to him. "Connor," he brought the witch's attention to him, "I do believe that we discussed a cloaking spell of sorts?"

"Right!" Connor had almost forgotten about one of the most important parts of their plan. When Valac appeared they wanted to make is seem as if Gabriel and 'Ana' were the only people there, so he was essentially going to make them invisible along with making it nearly impossible for Valac to sense them. "If everyone but Gabriel would move with me near the wall, I need you to stay close for this to work." he explained as he walked toward where Dean had dropped his duffle bag.

The spell itself was easy, it required nothing in the form of ritualistic ingredients, but it was incredibly draining on the caster's energy. Once he was sure that everyone was close enough for it to work, he began to incantation. It was slightly longer than most he was used to working with, but it still didn't take very long and when he was finished he looked over to Gabriel, "So?" he questioned.

"It's good work, I can still see you, but I knew you were there. The magic is basically vibrating off of you, so I'm going to take that as a sign that it's working?" Gabriel offered.

Connor nodded, "Good." he turned his attention to Dean, "Are we ready for Ana to call on the demon?" With a nod from Dean, he began to pull on Ana's presence in his head until it was at the forefront, giving her control of his body for the most part. Looking around, she raised an eyebrow at Dean, "This is so weird." she muttered, "Really weird. Alright, what do you want me to say?"

"Just draw his attention, it shouldn't be hard with how long he's been trying to find you." Gabriel offered, watching as Castiel finished up the second devil's trap, using some old hay to cover it up slightly.

"I think I can do that." She closed her eyes.. his eyes, focusing all of her willpower on her voice being strong. "Alright, Valac! Here I am, come and get me you bastard!" Her voice rang through the silence of the barn.

There were minutes where nothing happened and everyone stood completely still, waiting for a sign that Ana had been heard and Valac had been drawn into their trap. The dead silence was shattered by the loud bang of the large barn doors being thrown open, Valac slowly waltzing through the doors with a smirk.

As the demon approached nearer to the first devil's trap, his blue eyes focused on Gabriel and 'Ana', "Gabriel, I had heard you were dead." he stated, stopping just before the trap without a glance down at it.

Ana slowly released her semi-possession of Connor's body so that he was in full control and she was sitting in the backseat again, watching through his eyes. They were focused on Valac, he looked exactly like he had the night he'd attached them on the rooftop. Same blue jeans and tight black shirt; the man the demon had possessed was probably in his thirties and must have been some sort of extreme athlete for how muscular he was.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Val." Gabriel spoke with a smirk, gesturing to fake-Ana, "I do believe you've been looking for this."

The demon looked passed Gabriel at the girl, "I have been, though I can't imagine why you would be handing her over to me."

Gabriel shrugged, "Honestly? I'm just ready for this hole thing to be over. Bringing Heaven down and Hell up will quickly ruin the world. I've been around long enough for me to just not give a damn anymore." he glanced at fake-Ana, the mirage pulling off a pretty convincing scared expression. "Take her, finish your ritual, let chaos unfold."

Valac moved to take a step, but then paused, finally glancing down at the floor. "Trying to trap me, Gabriel?" he asked, mood swiftly changing from curiosity to rage. "That was not a wise move." he growled, quickly destroying the the trap with the toe of his shoe. Stepping through it, he raised a hand and pushed the angel toward the back wall of the barn. Once Gabriel was out of the way, he went to grab for fake-Ana and the double dissipated at his touch, which only fueled his rage. Spinning around, Valac's attention landed on the group that was supposed to be cloaked, "Insolent witch! Did you really think your tiny magic would hold up against mine?" he demanded, raising a hand and bringing each person to their knees with grunts of pain.

While Valac seemed distracted, Gabriel pulled himself up off of the ground, lowering his angel blade and made a run at the demon. Just as he was about to thrust it into the demon's back, Valac spun and knocked the blade out of the angel's hand, forcing it to fly in the direction of the group.

Ana watched as the blade flew past Connor and landed with a thud, followed by a painful grunt. "Who did it hit? Connor! I need you to look, who got hit?!" Ana frantically asked, needing him to turn his head so she could see who had been struck by the blade and how bad they were injured.

Fighting back his own pain, Connor slowly turned his head until his eyes landed on the man merely feet away from him, the blade sticking out of his side. Sam's eyes were closed tightly, as if to avoid the pain of whatever magic Valac was working as well as the pain from the blade impaling him.

"NO!" Ana's mind screamed into Connor's before her eyes flew open and she finished the transportation spell quickly, grabbing the bag she had set aside before it took place. Her entire family was in pain and Sam was most likely in danger of losing his life, if that didn't qualify as a reason for her to go to their aid then she would gladly argue with her father about it once the damn demon was dead and everyone was safe. She felt her surroundings change and when her eyes focused to the change in lighting, she stood facing Valac, who still held Gabriel back with a hand.

"There you are, little witch." The demon grinned, tossing the archangel aside as if he were a piece of trash. He began to raise his hand in her direction, but before he could a power seemed to grab hold of his body and he couldn't move.

Ana dropped her bag to the ground, not needing it to fight off the demon, her anger was fueling her power more than she had experienced since Gabriel's grace had left her body. A slow grin spread across her face, "I really hate to repeat myself, but I do believe I told you that you had no idea who you were messing with. Apparently you need a lesson." she raised her hand, much like the demon did to focus his power. Throwing Valac across the barn, he crashed against the wooden wall and fell to the ground with a thud. The distraction made his hold on her family fall and now that they were no longer being attacked internally, she could hear them moving to Sam's aid.

"You think you can beat me?" Valac snapped as he slowly stood, "You're just a child!"

Ana stalked toward him, no longer afraid, "You things never learn, do you?" she questioned, twisting her hand as she formed it into a fist, crushing the demon within the body, "I'm a Winchester and we always have one more card up our sleeve." Throwing her arm with a large amount of force, she threw him into the second devil's trap, releasing her hold on him once he was inside. A scary grin formed on her lips as she watched Valac realize he was trapped.

"Ana!" Dean called to her, they had been so focused on Sam until Castiel had healed him that he quickly spun to check on her once he knew his brother would live. He had caught the end of the fight and was glad to see that she had gotten the demon into the trap without seeming harmed at all.

Turning on her heel, Ana hurried over to her family, throwing her arms around Sam who had just been helped up. "I'm so glad you're okay." she told him with a grin before pulling away. She wanted to assure herself that Sam was indeed alright, but they still had the demon to deal with. Locking her eyes on her father's, her expression slowly turned grim again, "Finish him, dad."

Dean gave her a curt nod, pulling his pistol out and walking over to the where the demon was trapped. A single gunshot rang through the barn and then he returned to the group. "You don't need to see what's going to happen next, Ana. Why don't you and Charlie go back to the bunker? We'll meet you there when we're finished."

Charlie didn't say anything, but she was grateful that Dean wanted her to leave with Ana. Though she had already seen a lot of disturbing things on her solo hunts, she didn't think she was ready to watch someone be cut to pieces, demon or not. She walked over to the younger girl and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, "Come on, Little Red."

Ana nodded, feeling no reason at all to argue with her father. She did want Valac gone, but she didn't want to watch the process it was going to take. With a glance at Connor, she realized how weak he looked, the cloaking spell and then the torture the demon had put him through were clearly taking a toll on his body. "We're going to take Connor too." she stated, looking to Dean, "He doesn't look like he's going to be much help."

Dean looked at the witch and then nodded, "Good idea." he closed the short distance between himself and Connor, "You did good. Go back to the bunker and get some rest." he ordered, receiving no argument.

Ana gave Dean small smile as she led Charlie over to Connor, she grabbed his hand and made sure that Charlie still had her arm around her before she began to reverse the teleportation spell that had brought her there. There was barely a pause before it took effect and the three were standing in the bunker's library. "Why don't we get you to your room?" she looked up at Connor.

"Good idea." Connor muttered, he felt like crap and was pretty sure that the moment he laid down he would be fast asleep.

"Alright, you make sure he doesn't pass out on the way to his room, I'll go make us some hot chocolate." Charlie offered with a smile, turning toward the kitchen.

Not letting go of Connor's hand, she led him out of the library and down the hallway. "Thank you for helping with that."

Connor looked down at her as they walked, a small smile lighting up his face for just a minute before the exhaustion set back in. "You don't have to thank me. Oddly enough I've started to feel like part of the group. Plus, it is literally one of my responsibilities to watch out for you, so I would have even if I didn't want to."

She nodded, lost in her own thoughts for a moment. They stopped in front of his bedroom door, "Go get some rest."

He opened the door and took a step in before turning back to look at her, "Want to join me?" the offer was weak, but he couldn't resist.

"I'll take a rain check, I have a date with Charlie." She teased with a wink.

"I did what you asked, came back in one piece, doesn't that earn me a prize?" Connor walked into his room further, dropping his bag of spell supplies on the ground near the desk.

Nodding, Ana stepped into the room, "Your prize is sleeping." she stopped just in front of him with a smile, "Now get some rest, I'll see you in the morning."

Connor nodded, leaning down to give her a quick kiss, "Good night."

"Night." she responded, turning and leaving the room. It would be a while before the rest of the men returned and she was thankful that she hadn't come back to the bunker alone. As she walked back into the library Charlie was just sitting down at the table, a mug in her hands and one sitting across from her on the table. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she sat down. Worry had slowly filled her since her family had been internally attacked by Valac's powers.

Charlie thought on the question as she sipped at her hot chocolate, the pain had been so sudden and intense that she was sure she never wanted to face off against a demon again, but she also wouldn't let it stop her from hunting. "I'm okay. Just kind of seems like a bad dream, you know? One minute I was in extreme pain, the next I was fine."

Silence settled over the women as they sipped at their drinks, each lost in their own thoughts. Ana was replaying her face off with Valac in her head, there was a part of her that couldn't believe she had taken on the Knight of Hell with her magic and overpowered him. There was still a lot she didn't know about what kind of power she had control over.

They sat like that for a while before they decided to turn in for the night. There was no telling how long it would be until the rest of their group returned and there was no use in waiting up worrying when there was nothing they could do. Taking their dirty mugs into the kitchen, they left them in the sink and walked down the hall together toward their rooms. Ana's room was first, they muttered soft goodnights to each other as she opened her door and once it was closed behind her the young girl threw herself down on her bed. All of the worry she had been housing over Valac and her family going after him broke through to the surface, tears streaming down her face. With no need to keep it in any longer, she let all of it out. The assurance that they were now safe from that particular threat making it okay for her to let her guard fall. Tears escaped her eyes slowly and it wasn't long before the exhaustion of the day, paired with the relief from letting her emotions free, took hold and she fell into a deep sleep.

A/N: Boom! So that showdown wasn't as extreme as I originally thought it was going to be, don't hate me. Everyone is still alive and kicking, so Emily there is no need for a bitch fit! I would love to know what you guys are thinking after this chapter. At this point the story could go one of two ways. This could be a good place for it to wind down, a couple of more chapters pulling it to an end and then it being finished or it could just slow down for a little bit before it picks up again and I continue going for the foreseeable future. Let me know if you're ready for the close or if you want more! As always, thanks for reading guys! :)