A/N: Still low on time to write nowadays, but here you go. Enjoy.

Chapter 13: Demons

The rain has picked up outside, making a thunderous noise against the ceiling. The initial excitement from a new hunt is long gone, it wore off days ago. I sit impatiently on the bed, waiting to hear any sign from him that the hunt is still on. We lost the trail earlier that day, no closer to knowing what we are hunting than we were when we started. I watch him finger through the stack of papers related to the case on the desk. There is no clear pattern to the deaths that occurred in this town, but the frequency of deaths alone was enough to make us curious. All of the deaths were described as "mysterious" by most people in the town. At this point, only one thing is clear, the deaths aren't natural. I start looking through my own stack of papers in my lap, trying to find anything I didn't notice the last four times I read over them.

"We should call Mike," I finally say after going through my papers again.

"He's busy with a werewolf thing in Kansas City. We don't need to bother him over something this simple."

"Simple? What exactly are we hunting, again? Oh, that's right, we have no idea."

"It has to be a shifter...or a werewolf..."

"Or a ghost or a vampire or a hundred other monsters that could leave a less than specific trail of bodies. Eric, we're out of our league. We should call another hunter."

"What? And prove that we can't do this on our own? Lara, we've been hunting on our own for two years."

"So? Even Mike needs help from other hunters sometimes."

Eric turns from looking at the papers and locks eyes with me.

"You know we can't-"

"'Can't trust other hunters'...yeah I got that the first fifty times you and Mike told me that. I still find it hard to believe there aren't any trustworthy hunters, but whatever."

"No, Lara, not 'whatever'! This is serious. There are some hunters out there who wouldn't understand! They would just think-"

He pauses for a second too long.

"Think what?" I say angrily.

"That we don't know what we're doing."

"That's not what you were going to say and you know it. Just because Dad is dead doesn't mean you have to keep all of his secrets! It's been four years, Eric, why won't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

I huff in disbelief, "You know damn well what."

"Dad only kept secrets to protect us. To protect you."

"So you're trying to protect me, is that it? I'm an adult now, I don't need your protection."

"You're seventeen!"

"Oh, thanks, I didn't know that."

"You're not an adult, Lara, you're still a minor...and still an amateur when it comes to hunting."

His words sting, drawing tears to my eyes. Until this point, he has never said anything that hurt me so much. When I finally look back up at him, I can tell he knows he crossed the line. Sure, our fights have been heated before, but never like this. Not since our father died.

"I'm going to go get some food for us, stay here," Eric says evenly, heading for the door.

I know why he wants me to stay, it makes perfect sense. That still doesn't stop me from lashing out, in an attempt to hurt him like he hurt me.

"What, like you did when Dad told you to stay put?"

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret saying them, but it's too late. He stops cold, his hand on the door handle. He doesn't turn around, doesn't look at me.

"Don't leave the room," he says, opening the door.

The night stretches on and still I do not hear from my brother. In the first half-hour I know he probably just needs space from the poisonous words I just shot at him. As the half-hour turns into a full hour my concern is still shrouded by my anger. It is when my wait passes two hours that I really start to worry, despite the anger I still feel. There is no possible way it would take Eric that long to get food, not when the food place was right up the street. I walk over to the desk where a town map is scattered among the news articles we gathered for the case. When I move one of the articles off the map it uncovers a circle that has been drawn in pen on the map. I know the place that has been circled, we visited it earlier today. I look back at the article and see various words have been circled or underlined in the same ink. At the bottom of the front page of the article is written one word, in my brother's neat handwriting. The article suddenly seems to be moving further away from me, down a long tunnel. I drop the paper, grab my pistol from under my pillow, and bolt out of the door. The rain has subsided to a steady drizzle and the night sky is still devoid of any light, due to the clouds. The air outside smells like rain-soaked dirt. The only source of light outside is the bright sign for the motel. I look around for any sign of Eric, but it is difficult with the motel sign flickering off and on continuously. He will be furious with me for not listening, but if I can hunt this thing down by myself there is no way he can doubt my hunting abilities any more. I take one step in the direction I need to go and the whole world goes black.

The world comes back to me, dull and blurry, like I'm waking up from a long nap in the middle of the day. It is still nighttime, however, and the rain has died down even more. When everything finally comes into focus, I am staring at the dark sky. It takes me a few more seconds to realize I am also being propped up by someone else.

"Wha...what happened?" I ask into the air.

"Lara! Hey...just take it easy, okay. You're okay," Eric answers gently.

I am laying on the hard, unpaved ground of the motel parking lot, my head and upper body resting in my brother's lap.

"Eric? What-Where did you go?"

"Don't worry about it...how do you feel?"

"Lousy," I answer honestly.

My whole body is aching and I can't remember a thing.

"What happened? I was walking out to-"

I look up at my brother's face for the first time and immediately notice his eyes are red and swollen. Red and swollen, like he's been crying.

"Eric..." I say, panic starting to set in, "what happened?"

"I couldn't find you, I came back and you weren't in the room. I came out again, looking for you..." he trails off, fighting back tears.

"What happened?" I am no longer asking, I am insisting.

I sit up, slowly, much to my brother's protest. I turn my body to face him, to look him in the eyes. His eyes dart away from mine, looking at the dirt lot underneath us. My memories slowly come back, yet I still can't remember what happened after I left the room.

Together we sit in the dirt lot in front of the motel, a light rain falling over us. Dread grips me as I finally remember what was written on that paper. Tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision again.

"No..." I mutter.

I stifle a sob with my hand. Eric places a hand on my knee.

"It's going to be okay," he says.

I don't believe him. The night is suddenly illuminated by two bright lights, headlights of a car. I recognize the car, I know who is inside. It is all starting to feel way too familiar, and not in a good way.

"Eric, please tell me you didn't- Oh, God...How long?"

When he doesn't answer I feel the sudden urge to throw up, but it passes when he throws his arms around me. I return the embrace and bury my face deep into his shoulder. I start to cry, my breath hitching with each sob. We stay locked in our embrace for a few long minutes, the longest minutes of my life, before someone steps behind us.

"Lara..." Mike says gently. "Come on."

I ignore him and continue to hold on to my brother.

"Mike, please... take her," I hear Eric say, my face still buried in his shoulder.

I feel Mike wrap an arm around my waist, intending to pull my off of my brother.

"No, no, no no!" I scream, my anguished cries muffled by Eric's jacket.

It is futile, Mike is far stronger than me, even in my emotional state. I try to push his arm off of me and, in doing so, lose hold of my brother. Mike is able to haul me, unwillingly, to my feet, while Eric remains sitting on the ground, his head bowed.

"NO!" I scream again, attempting to plant my feet in the ground. "Mike, please! You can't!"

I never take my eyes off of Eric, even with all the flailing and screaming I am doing. Eric finally makes eye contact with me, his bright, blue eyes holding me in place. I stop crying out and fighting. I know the look on his face, I have seen it only once before.

"Lara," Eric says, his eyes filled with tears, "I love you."

Once again, my whole world is crashing down around me. A new wave of tears comes over me, but I have lost all will to fight or scream.

I don't really sleep that night, not between the nightmares and the thoughts constantly running through my head about my visions. Eventually, dawn breaks, casting more and more sunlight into my room. With nothing better to do, I start to get dressed and pack for my drive back to Mike's. I am finishing up the last of my packing when there is a knock on the door. In my tired state, I do not even take any precautions before opening the door.

"Oh, hey, Dean," I say upon seeing him in my doorway.

"Hey. You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I ask, fearing I had screamed out in my nightmare or something.

"Well, we kinda dropped a huge bombshell on you last night. Even for a hunter that's...pretty big news."

"It's okay. I really am glad you told me, I would much rather know before anything too crazy happens."

"We were going to tell you. I just told Sam we probably should ease into it somehow. Apparently, last night was his idea of easy."

"I'm a big girl, I think I can handle some bad news," I say with a smile.

Dean's previously serious expression melts into a smile.

"You got a minute?" I ask, opening the door all the way to let him in.

"Yeah, Sam's packing anyway. What's up?"

I close the door behind him and sit next to him on the end of the bed.

"I have to tell you something," I say after thinking through how to handle this.

"Okay..." Dean replies, his tone slightly concerned.

"But first, I need you to understand something. Mike told me recently that my brother had visions too. He told me that trying to prevent them got my brother into a lot of trouble. On one particular hunt, my brother saw something that made him actively seek out the demon we didn't know we were hunting. The demon killed my brother...and my father made a deal to save his life, at the cost of his own. And my brother, he never got over that, he blamed himself. He always thought that maybe, if he hadn't tried to take on the demon alone, our father would still be alive. I think it always would have happened, whether he saw it in a vision or not."

"Lara, I'm sorry, I had no idea- What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that sometimes these visions can't be prevented no matter how hard we try to prevent them. And in some rare cases, trying to prevent them might actually lead to the vision coming true."

"What does that have to do with me? I don't get visions."

"It's about Sam."

"Sam? Did you see something?" Dean asks, his entire expression changing.

The way he responds to the possibility of his brother being in danger shatters my confidence. One second I am filled with confidence, the next I falter at the thoughts going through my head.

"I-No, I just wanted you to think about how it affects Sam, these visions. It is very hard to see things that you, most of the time, can't control. I know Sam seems angry with you, but he's probably just stressed. Especially knowing where the visions come from, that just makes it worse, trust me. Just...don't be so hard on him."

Dean seems to think over my words for a few moments, leading me to panic and think he knows I'm hiding something.

"You're right," he finally said.

I'm caught off guard by his response, I was expecting him to at least cast off my words as an overreaction. Obviously, my shock shows on my face.

"What? You're right, I am too hard on him sometimes. I just forget sometimes..."

"Dean..."

"Nope, no chick-flick moments," he says getting up.

"Chick-flick moments?" I say smiling, getting up after him.

"I don't do all of that touch-feely crap."

I laugh. "Me neither, usually."

"Sam's probably done packing. I should get going, but thanks, I needed that.

"Chick-flick moment," I mutter quietly, amused.

"What?"

"Nothing. Yeah, you should probably go," I say.

"See you around then," Dean says, kissing me.

"...Yeah, see you," I say, taken aback by the unexpected kiss.

For a few minutes, I stand in the middle of the room, thinking about what I have just done. Or, rather, what I have not done. I quickly pack up the rest of my stuff and leave. As I drive to Mike's, I get the overwhelming feeling that I have just made a horrible decision.

A/N: Another chapter coming as soon as I can write it, and it will have a little more in it than this one. As always, feedback and comments are appreciated.