[Music & Song Recommendations – You can follow the playlist for 'Along For the Ride' on Spotify. It's the one with the cover that features the back of a young woman wearing plaid.]

~ "Lucky Penny" by JD McPherson

Chapter Sixteen

"Bad Day at Black Rock"

Late May 2007

Buffalo, New York

Dani shook her head at Sam as she leaned against the side of the Impala, arms folded. "You just haaad to touch it."

Sam gazed warily at the rabbit's foot in his hand. "I didn't know," he insisted for the upteenth time since getting off the phone with Bobby. The older hunter had informed them of the charm's origins and its deadly side effects. Excellent luck, so long as you possessed it. But if you lost it, your luck took a turn for the worse and you'd be dead in a week.

Dani leaned her head back. "It's always something with you boys. And that can't even be blamed on a cursed rabbit's foot."

"Dude!" Dean called, grabbing both their attention. He gestured at the row of scratch cards on the Impala's hood and picked up a few for them to see. "We're up fifteen grand."

Both Dani and Sam gave him halfhearted smiles. "Yaaay," Dani cheered unenthusiastically, her voice barely raising.

"Uh-huh," Dani sounded into the phone as she distractedly continued to pick confetti out of her hair. Sam, sitting beside her on the outside of the restaurant booth, pulled a string of silver and gold tinsel from her tresses and she mouthed a grateful, "thank you," to him. Dani listened to her uncle on the other line and glanced at Dean sitting across from her, happily wharfing down his ice cream. She rolled her eyes. Ever since the trio had set foot in the Biggerson's restaurant and been declared the one millionth customer with the prize of free food for a year, Dean had taken advantage of what the place had to offer on their menu.

After picking the last strands of tinsel from Dani's hair, Sam returned his attention to the laptop before him, where pages covering the rabbit's foot's history covered the screen.

"Right. Wado, edutsi Reshen." Dani ended the call and turned to Sam. "Well, Uncle Reshen said that voodoo and hoodoo were outside of his people's particular magic, but that he'd get his mages to look into it for us."

"Whatever help we can get," Sam muttered. He tilted his head at the laptop screen. "Bobby's right. This lore goes way back. Pure hoodoo." He shut the laptop, having grown tired of looking. "You can't just cut one off any rabbit," Sam enlightened them with some sarcasm as he tucked away his laptop. "It has to be in a cemetery. Under a full moon on a Friday, the 13th."

Dean set his now empty bowl of ice cream on the table. "I think from now on, we only go to places with Biggerson's." He winced as he was suddenly struck with brain freeze. Sam and Dani exchanged an amused look and chuckled over his predicament.

As Dean struggled to overcome the aching pain in his head, a waitress came over to their table. "Can I freshen you up?" she asked Sam, holding up her coffee pot.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Sam slid the mug over so she could easily pour into it. "Thanks."

Dani eyed the waitress, an uneasy vibe coming over her. The waitress was a leggy knockout with bright turquoise blue eyes, high cheekbones, and short raven hair. But it was the hair that didn't sit well with Dani. She could tell right off the bat it was a wig. The hair color didn't suit the waitress' complexion for one thing and didn't match the color of her eyebrows for another. And it's bob cut style looked more suited for a '20s flapper costume.

Now Dani was aware that there were a number of reasons why a woman would wear a wig; cancer, bad haircut, trying a new style before going through with the actual change, etc. But the one reason that kept throwing itself to the forefront of Dani's mind was the one that made her feel so uneasy: to disguise.

The waitress, paying more attention to Sam than what she was doing, overfilled the mug and liquid spilled onto the table. "Oh," she gasped at the same time as Sam. Flustered, she sat down the coffee pot and pulled out a rag to clean up the mess, apologizing profusely, all the while Sam assured her he could take care of it and not to worry. Dean observed the interaction with keen interest. The waitress, Kary, her name tag read, couldn't seem to stop glancing at Sam as she wiped down the table and hovered over him longer than necessary.

Finally, table all cleaned, Kary straightened up and stepped back. "Oh, hey, before you go," Dani spoke up, suddenly noticing how low her own mug was. She held up her cup. "Could I get a refill on some coffee…" The waitress had already turned and was sauntering away, casting lingering glances back at Sam.

The brothers moved in unison as they leaned forward over the table and blatantly stared after Kary. Dani slumped in her seat and rolled her eyes. "Put those tongues back in your mouths, boys, and stop panting."

Dean was the first to tear his gaze away and focused on Sam. "Dude, if you were ever gonna get lucky..."

Sam scoffed, trying to hide his pleased grin. "Chill out," he said. Dean made a "suit yourself" face as he picked up his own coffee and sipped it.

Sam went to grab his fresh cup, only for it to tip over and spill all its piping hot contents onto the table and over the edge onto his pants. "Oh! Oh, jeez!" He quickly righted the mug and shot out of the booth, only to collide with a passing waiter carrying a full tray. The tray of food was knocked out of the waiter's hands as the man crashed onto his back. Glass shattered, food scattered, people gasped.

"S-sorry," Sam stuttered, shocked.

Dani's mouth hung open in surprise as she took in all the damage. "...What the heck did I just witness?" she asked aloud.

Dean, looking just as dumbfounded, glanced at her but couldn't come up with an answer. His brow furrowed in confusion. "How was that good?" he posed.

Sam reached into his jacket pocket for the rabbit's foot, turning it inside out to reveal it was empty. "Oh yo," Dani groaned.

"Son of a bitch." Dean wadded up his napkin and scrambled out of the booth with Dani on his heels. She hurriedly grabbed Sam's laptop case and her messenger bag as she scooted off the vinyl seating and followed the boys out the restaurant doors. Sam held back to keep the door open for Dani, allowing her to pull ahead and catch up to Dean.

"Come on," Dean urged, leading them to the right. They had barely cleared the doors when Sam let out a cry and the sound of a body dropping on the pavement was heard. Dean and Dani stopped dead in their tracks and waited a moment.

"This isn't gonna be easy," Dani informed Dean.

"Nope," he agreed. They turned as one to find Sam lying face down on the ground. "Wow," Dean said in amazement. "You suck."

"Dean," Dani admonished with a swat to his arm. They both helped Sam to his feet. The younger Winchester gave a few pained grunts as he was hauled off the pavement.

"So, what, now your luck turns bad?" Dean asked.

They saw the knees of Sam's jeans were torn open, revealing bloody, scratched up knees that would definitely need some disinfectant. "I guess," Sam admitted.

"I wonder how bad," Dean muttered.

"Gee, Dean," Dani said sardonically. "Considering how all of the charm's previous owners ended up dead not long after – I'd say pretty bad."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dean grumbled. He snapped his fingers at her and Sam. "Hey, until we get this bad mojo off of you, we ain't cashing in those scratch cards, you hear me?"

"Obnoxiously loud and clear," Dani acknowledged. To Sam, she muttered, "His brotherly concern for you is bringing tears to my eyes." Sam chuckled as she helped him limp back to the Impala.

Sometime later, after the sky had grown dark, Dani was waiting outside of the apartment, cellphone to her ear, while Sam and Dean went inside to confront the men who had stolen the rabbit's foot from John Winchester's storage room in the first place.

"Anything?" she asked.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Reshen apologized. "My mages aren't very proficient in voodoo, especially hoodoo. Has Bobby –?"

"We haven't heard back from him yet."

"Ah. Well, I reached out to a contact I've got in New Orleans. I'm about to have to attend a meeting with representatives from the Changeling community about that fiasco you and the boys were involved with."

Dani hummed in quiet sympathy. She knew how much he hated meetings. While at times Reshen could be a calming presence, he was also full of energy and hated to keep still for long periods of time.

"There's no telling how long this meeting might take, so I've instructed my contact to call Bobby if he can't reach me."

"Okay. Wado, Uncle Reshen."

"No problem, sweetie. Gvgeyui."

"Love you too. Bye."

Dani hung up and waited several long minutes for the boys to return. Just when she was beginning to worry that maybe Sam's bad luck had reared its ugly head once more and that she'd have to rescue them, the Winchesters were exiting the apartment. Dani sighed with relief.

Dean's cellphone began to ring, and he answered it while signaling to Dani that they were heading back to the Impala. "Hello?" Dean listened for a moment, then put the phone on speaker. "Okay, Bobby, we're all here and listening."

"Well, you can thank Dani's uncle for this," Bobby informed them. "His contact in New Orleans sent me instructions for a heavyweight cleansing ritual that should do the trick."

"Bobby, that's, uh, great, except Sam, uh..." Dean glanced back at Sam, who appeared to be annoyed over some gum getting stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Dean shared a wary look with Dani. She shrugged and gestured for him to continue while mouthing, "Go on." Dean winced. "... Sam lost the foot," he said quickly.

"He what!" Bobby shouted.

"Bobby, listen, listen!" Dean hurried to explain. Behind him, Sam hobbled over to a broken storm drain and tried to scrape the gum off against it.

"This hot chick stole it from him. I'm serious. In her mid-20s, and she was sharp, you know, good enough of a con to play us."

Dani glanced back at Sam to see how he was doing.

"And she only gave the guy she hired a name – probably an alias or something. Luigi or something?" Dean looked back to Sam for confirmation.

"Lugosi," Sam grunted, still attempting to rid his shoe of the gum.

"Lugosi," Dean repeated, turning away.

"Lugosi?" Bobby echoed. "Lugosi... Oh, crap. It's probably Bela."

Dani stepped away from Dean to go help Sam when the younger Winchester scraped his foot against the grating too hard and dislodged his shoe. It dropped into the drain with a soft splash. The look on Sam's face made her want to laugh and coo in sympathy at the same time, but she resolutely remained silent.

"Bela Lugosi?" Dean chuckled. "That's cute."

"Bela Talbot's her real name," Bobby told him. "Crossed paths with her once or twice."

Dani arrived at Sam's side just as he was crouching down to try to retrieve his shoe. "Ah, ah, ah, ah," she warned, grabbing his arm, and pulled him upright. "Let's not tempt your bad luck. Okay?"

Sam hung his head in defeat.

"She knew about the rabbit's foot. Is she a hunter?" Dean asked Bobby, oblivious to the situation going on behind him.

"Pretty friggin' far from a hunter, but she knows her way around the territory. She's been out of the country. Last I heard, she was in the Middle East someplace."

"I guess she's back."

"Which means seriously bad luck for you."

"Great."

"But if it is Bela, at least I might know some folks who know where to find her."

"Thanks, Bobby, again."

"Just look out for your brother, you idjit. And Dani, you look after them both." Bobby hung up without another word.

Dean finally turned around and found Dani peering down the storm drain and Sam, looking thoroughly dejected with his arms hanging at his sides and his shoulders, slumped.

"What?" Dean asked.

"I lost my shoe," Sam said plaintively, looking for all the world like a sad five-year-old. Dean's eyes flicked down to his brother's feet. Lo and behold, there was one sock clad foot flexing its toes. Dean sighed with annoyance then rolled his eyes and turned away.

Dani stood up and hugged Sam from the side, prompting him to walk with her. "It's okay, big guy, we'll get you a new pair of shoes."

Sam sniffed. "This just hasn't been my day."

"I know," she said, patting him on the back in sympathy, all the while fighting back a snicker. "I know."

Bobby called again as Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot of a motel. "Alright, Bobby, thanks. Hey, we owe you... another one." He hung up. "Alright, Bobby's got it on pretty good authority that this Bela chick lives in Queens." He checked his watch. "So, it will take me about two hours to get there."

"So, what are we doing then?" Sam asked in confusion as he glanced at the motel.

"You, my brother, are staying here with Dani, 'cause I don't want your bad luck getting us killed."

Sam opened his mouth to make some type of retort, thought better of it, then sank down in his seat and folded his arms over his chest, pouting. His mood didn't improve as Dean checked them into a room for the night. By the time the trio lugged their bags into their room, Sam was sullenly dragging his feet.

"What am I even supposed to do, Dean?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Come here." Dean guided his brother to the middle of the room and grabbed a chair from the minuscule kitchenette set nearby. "I don't want you to do anything. I want you to sit right here," he pulled the chair to Sam and pat his hand on the seat, "and don't move, okay?"

Sam stared morosely at Dani. She inclined her head at the chair. The giant young man sank onto the chair with the glummest expression on his face as Dean rattled off instructions.

"Don't turn on the light. Don't turn off the light. Don't even scratch your nose." Dean turned to Dani. "And you make sure he doesn't."

Dani saluted. "Aye, aye."

Dean was out the door before another word could be spoken. Both Dani and Sam heaved a sigh. "I'm already bored," Sam admitted. "And my nose itches," he added miserably.

Dani chuffed and approached him, holding up her hand, fingers wiggling. "Where at?"

Sam scrunched his nose in opposition then relented. "Left nostril."

Dani couldn't help but laugh softly as she scratched the itch for him. Stepping back, she rummaged in her messenger bag and pulled out The Light of Eidon by Karen Hancock. She was halfway finished with it and figured she could while the time away with some reading.

"You wouldn't happen to have an extra book in there, would you?" Sam asked hopefully.

"You've got your choice of Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, or Monster by Frank E. Peretti."

"You don't have the sequel to that one?" Sam asked, pointing to the one she held.

"Sorry. I packed it in my suitcase which is in the Impala."

Sam huffed. "What's Monster about?"

"Essentially? A couple goes hiking in the woods, wife gets kidnapped by a family of Bigfoots."

Sam blinked. He held out his hand. "Gimme that one."

Dani dug it out and handed it over. "It's good stuff."

Opening the book to the first page, Sam suddenly hissed and stuck his index finger in his mouth. Dani stared. "…Paper cut," Sam grudgingly explained.

"Oh, yo. It's gonna be a looong night."

And it was a long night. A ridiculously long night. You wouldn't think that anything bad could happen from just sitting in a chair and doing nothing but read a book, right? Wrong!

After Sam managed to get five paper cuts, tore a page, dropped the book twice, and leaned so far back in his chair that he fell over, Dani had finally had enough and took away Monster. She eyed the torn page, and Sam cringed into himself as he righted the chair and sat down. "Sorry 'bout that."

"It's fine. Nothing a strip of tape won't fix," Dani assured him. "How about I read it aloud to you?"

"Nah, it's fine. I prefer reading it myself. My mind tends to wander if someone reads things aloud to me."

"Fair enough." Dani stuffed the books into her bag. "How about a game of I Spy?"

Sam made a face. "Seriously?"

"Why not?"

"...Yeah, okay. Sure. You first."

"All right. I spy something blue."

Sam looked around and his gaze settled on the blue of the bed comforter. "Is that it?" he asked, pointing.

Dani 'tsked'. "I want to easy on ya."

Sam chuckled. "I spy something..." His eyes skimmed here and there, then quickly backtracked towards the heater behind Dani's chair. Was that thing smoking?! "Oh, come on!" he moaned, pointing at it.

Dani turned, saw the smoke, and leapt out of her chair with a yelp. Sam got out of his seat to approach. "Vtla!" Dani snapped; hand upraised at him. "No! You might make it worse! Don't move!"

So, Sam stayed absolutely still. Until a sneeze exploded out of him from nowhere. A spark fizzed from deep within the vents, then the heater caught fire. Dani gave Sam a sharp stare. He shrugged helplessly.

"Find something to help me put this out," she ordered. Sam grabbed the bed comforter and hurried past Dani. "No, wait, Sam!" He knelt and immediately attempted to smother the blaze, but it kept resurging as soon as he took away the blanket.

"Get some water!" he yelped.

"That's an electrical fire, Sam! That won't help!"

A few seconds later, Sam managed to put it out. Dani sighed with relief. Then Sam's jacket sleeve caught fire from an errant spark. Because of course it did.

"Hold still!" Dani cried while Sam didn't listen and grabbed at the window curtains and tried to replicate his smother technique. It worked, but in his haste, Sam leaned too far back and managed to tear the curtains right off the rod, tripped over Dani's book bag, and hit his head on the floor hard enough to knock him out cold.

Dani stared in open-mouthed, wide-eyed awe at the scene. How? Just how? Movement at the window caught her eye.

Looking up from Sam, Dani let out a tiny 'eep' of shock. Two men, one tall and blonde the other short, stocky and dark-haired, stood on the other side of the window, looking in at her with what Dani could only describe as recognition, though she'd never seen either of them before. The taller blonde man lifted his face to the sky in what could be taken for a serene expression of 'thankfulness' as the shorter, slightly darker skinned man glanced back and forth from him to Dani to the unconscious Sam at her feet.

Dani didn't know these men. Not at all. But everything in her told her one thing. Don't let them in. Seán Callaghan had often told his daughter that God had given her the gift of Discernment. Kenan had once tried to brush it off as merely "women's intuition" until it became clear that it went beyond that. Dani truly had a gift. And Dani's "gift" had served her well many times. So why ignore it now?

The blonde man brought his gaze back down from the heavens, then looked her in the eyes and smiled. "Everything alright, sweetheart?" he asked, close enough to the window that his voice carried through without having to raise it.

Dani nodded and forced a smile on her face. "Yeah, all good."

"You sure? Your friend there looks as though he could use some help."

"He's fine," she assured him, waving her hand at Sam's body in a lackadaisy manner. "Just tripped."

"He could have a concussion. I'm a paramedic, I could check on him," the man said, already moving towards the door that Dani knew Dean had locked behind him before leaving.

Sam's bad luck must have been working overtime. Maybe the door hadn't closed all the way, or the lock was broken. It could have been any number of things that occurred to allow the man to easily open the door and walk in. "Hello, sweetheart," he greeted pleasantly.

Dani put herself between him and Sam. "Get out," she growled.

Pale blue eyes flicked to Sam's prone form, then back to her. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Danielle."

Dani's stomach dropped. Reaching behind herself for the gun tucked in her waistband, the sound of another gun being cocked stopped her.

"Ah, ah, ah." The blonde's companion had joined them and was pointing a weapon at her. "No funny business. Bring it out nice and slow and slide it this way."

Dani sighed through her nose and did as he said. "Let the lady sit down, Creedy," the blonde advised. He gestured at the seat she'd been occupying, and Dani sat down with reluctance. The blonde retrieved Dani's gun and tucked it into his pants, all the while smiling.

Creedy went over to Sam and dragged his limp body to the other chair. The blonde helped him with seating Sam in it then tossed Creedy a roll of duct tape. "Be sure to strap him in good and tight."

"Can do," Creedy responded as if Blondie had asked him to pass the milk.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Dani asked, because, hey, might as well get the most obvious questions out of the way.

"Oh, where are my manners?" The blonde placed a hand over his chest. "I'm Kubrik," He introduced conversationally. He gestured at his partner. "This is Mr. Creedy."

"Gordon Walker sent us," Creedy added.

Dani audibly groaned at Gordon's name. Her head lolled back. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm afraid I'm not much known to have a sense of humor, Miss Callaghan," Kubrik said apologetically.

Gordon Walker, a hunter who went way overboard in his mission to hunt the things that went bump in the night and saw the world as black and white. Humans were the good guys and monsters/creatures were the villains. Even if the creatures weren't causing any harm, Gordon hunted them down and would even resort to torture. Dani was not an advocate of torture. And unlike the uncertainty Dani had once faced concerning how the Winchesters would view Reshen, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what Gordon would do if he ever came across her godfather.

Gordon was dangerous not only to the creatures he hunted, but to humans as well. If you got in his way, he took you down without blinking. He showed no remorse.

"Let me tell you something about Gordon Walker," Dani began, more than ready to tell these men exactly what she thought of that psychopath but was interrupted when Kubrik made a sound and quickly crossed the room towards her.

He pointed at the silver cross dangling from her neck. "You're a sister in Christ!" he whispered excitedly. He looked at Creedy, his smile widening. "It's another sign."

"Excuse me?" Dani asked, thoroughly confused. She shot a look at Creedy. He shook his head in tired resignation and began restraining Sam to his chair with the duct tape. No help to be expected from him then.

Kubrik sat on the end of the bed next to Dani's seat. "Did he deceive you, sister?" he asked sympathetically.

"Who?"

"The boy. Sam Winchester."

Dani scoffed with amusement. "Deceive me? Sam is my friend. He's practically a brother to me."

"And I'm sure that makes it all the more difficult to accept."

Dani blinked. "You're not making sense."

Sam let out a groan and twitched in his chair, finally sitting up. "Oh, he's awake," Creedy announced, partially bent over Sam as he smiled at the younger man's confusion.

"Back with us, eh?" Kubrik said, standing from the bed.

Creedy shook his head as he joined Kubrik's side. "We didn't even have to touch you," he informed Sam. "You just went all," he twitched about, "spastic and knocked yourself out. It was like watching Jerry Lewis trying to stack chairs."

"Who are you?" Sam asked, utterly baffled about these two strange men. "What do you wan –,"

"Gordon sent them," Dani provided.

Sam rolled his head back in much the same manner as Dani had done as he groaned. Kubrik snapped his fingers to get Sam's attention. He waited to speak until he was sure he had it. "I used to think your friend Gordon sent me because he asked me to track you down and put a bullet in Your brain." Kubrik turned from Sam and walked to Dani, his pale eyes going to her cross once more.

"Great," Sam intoned. "That sounds just like him."

"Actually, that's rather subdued, don't you think?" Dani asked across the room.

"Yep. Maybe prison's mellowed him out?"

"One can only hope."

"Buuut as it turns out," Kubrik went on, turning the Sam again. "As it turns out..." He approached Sam, that smile ever present. "I'm on a mission from God."

He suddenly backhanded Sam and Dani jumped to her feet. Creedy pointed his weapon at her. "Sit yourself down, missy."

"He's out cold again," Kubrik muttered, going back to sit on the bed closest to Sam this time. "Get some water to splash on his face, will you?" He asked Creedy.

Creedy looked uncertainly at Dani. "But what about her?"

"She won't be any trouble. Will you, sister?"

Dani glared. "Call me 'sister' one more time…"

Kubrik jerked his head at Creedy. "Water. Now." Creedy went away to the bathroom to fill up a cup.

"It's not a mission from God that led you here," Dani said. Kubrik glanced at her. "It was a stupid rabbit's foot."

An eyebrow lifted in confusion at her words. "You doubt God's hand in this?"

"Oh, I don't doubt God's involvement in a lot of things, but this. This was just pure bad luck brought on by a cursed rabbit's foot."

Kubrik blinked blankly at her. Dani sighed and looked heavenward. "For once, just for once, God, could I please meet another sensible Christian and not…" She lowered her eyes to glance pointedly at Kubrik, who was watching. "Well," she continued, eyes lifting once more, "whatever the heck that is."

Kubrik frowned and opened his mouth to speak when Creedy returned and splashed Sam in the face with the requested cup of water. Once Sam was conscious, Kubrik spoke. "You were a part of that demon plan to open the gate, weren't you?"

"We did everything we could to stop it," Sam insisted. Dani nodded though Kubrik never looked at her.

"Lie, lie, lie!" Kubrik interrupted, a finger held up near Sam's face. "You were in on it."

"No, he wasn't!" Dani snapped but went ignored.

"You know what their next move is too, don't you?" Kubrik asked Sam.

"No, I don't, okay?" Sam said, his voice tired. "You're wrong about all of this."

"Where are they gonna hit us next?" Kubrik went on, as if Sam hadn't even spoken a denial. Sam sighed and met Dani's eyes, a very 'done' expression on his face. Kubrik blocked Dani from view. "Don't look at her! Don't you dare twist her mind any further!"

"My mind is very much untwisted, thanks," Dani droned.

"Where?!" Kubrik shouted, backhanding Sam again. Sam winced and sucked air in through his teeth as his face screwed up in discomfort. After a moment, he faced Kubrik with a sigh.

"Gordon told me about you, Sam, about your powers. You're some kind of weirdo psychic freak?"

"No, not anymore," Sam stumbled to answer. "I have no powers, no visions – nothing. It just –,"

"Lie!" Kubrik accused, this time delivering a swift punch to Sam's jaw. Dani gripped the underside of her chair to keep from leaping up to Sam's defense. Kubrik hunkered down, his face close to Sam's. "Now no more lies," he cautioned softly, as if chastising a child.

"He's not lying!" Dani insisted through clenched teeth.

"How would you know, sister? Because you haven't seen him use his powers? He could be hiding it from you."

Dani rolled her eyes in frustration. "At risk of his own life?" she questioned pointedly. "That's some real commitment," she added with heavy sarcasm. Her gaze went to Creedy. "Look at him," she urged, jerking her head towards Sam. "You really think if Sam still had his powers, he'd let some guy keep hitting him like that?"

Creedy glanced between her and Sam uncertainly. Kubrik turned his back on her. "There's an army of demons out there, pushing at a world already on the brink. We're on deck for the end game here, right? So maybe, just maybe, you can understand," Kubrik straightened and reached for Dani's gun tucked into the back of his pants, "why we can't take chances." He thumbed back the hammer and aimed the barrel at Sam's head.

"Wait!" Dani cried.

"Whoa! Okay, okay! Now hold on a minute," Sam pleaded.

Creedy, already on the fence, reached out and touched Kubrik on the arm. "Kubrick –,"

"No!" Kubrik barked. "You saw what happened, Creedy. Ask yourself – why are we here? Because you saw a picture on the web? Because we chose this motel instead of another? Luck like that doesn't just happen."

"Look, I can explain all of that," Sam interrupted.

"Already tried, Sam," Dani said in a tired tone.

"Shut up," Kubrik ordered. Dani glared. He returned to his conversation. "It's God, Creedy. He led us here for one reason – to do His work." Creedy's dark eyes flicked from Kubrik to Sam's bloody face. "This is Destiny." Kubrik turned in one fluid motion and brought the gun back up to Sam's head.

"Whoa. No," Dean's voice broke in.

Dani sagged with relief as Dean aimed his own weapon at the backs of Kubrik and Creedy's heads. "No Destiny. Just a rabbit's foot."

Kubrik's expression took on a hint of annoyance. "What is with this rabbit's foot?" he muttered to Creedy. To Dean, he said, "Put the gun down, son, or you're going to be scraping brain off the wall."

Creedy slowly brought up his hands and inched his way out of the path of Dean's gun but made no move to do anything else as he watched the situation unfold. For now.

"Oh, this thing?" Dean gestured with his gun casually.

Kubrik paused a moment. Blinked. "Yeah, that thing," he confirmed pleasantly.

Dean smirked. "Okay." He set the gun down on the small table and Dani's jaw dropped.

"Dean, what are you doing?" she hissed.

He made a 'take it easy' gesture at her as he continued. "But you see, there's something about me that you don't know." He noticed a pen next to his gun and picked it up.

Kubrik, his attention being drawn away from Sam and Dani, turned to aim at Dean. "Yeah? And what would that be?"

"... It's my lucky day."

And with that cryptic answer, Dean tossed the pen at Kubrik, and it lodged itself deep inside the gun's barrel. Dani's jaw couldn't open any wider, but her eyes sure could. Sam was just as shocked.

"Oh, my god! Did you see that shot!" Dean crowed.

Creedy, feeling emboldened by Dean's lack of a weapon, slung a fist at him. All Dean had to do was lean away and Creedy slipped past him and ran barreling into the wall. He rebounded hard enough to knock him to the ground. Kubrik was still in awe of the pen sticking out of the gun and attempted to pull it out.

"I'm amazing," Dean remarked, grabbing the TV remote and lobbing it at Kubrik's head when the man pointed his still plugged up at him. The remote struck Kubrik's forehead, and down he went. Dean stared in astonishment at Dani and Sam. "I'm Batman," he whispered cockily.

Sam gaped at him for a moment. "Yeah," he answered sarcastically. "You're Batman."

Dani leapt up from her chair and grabbed her bags. "And I'm Robin. Can we go now!"

"Right, right, right, right," Dean responded, hurrying over to Sam, and flicked open his switchblade to cut him free of the duct tape.

"How on earth did you manage to park the Impala this close without us hearing it?" Dani asked once they were out of the motel room door and she saw the vehicle right in front of them.

"Like I said," Dean said, digging into his jacket pocket. He pulled out the rabbit's foot and let it dangle from the long chain. "It's my lucky day."

"Oh yo. Not you too."

"I took a risk. Now let's get out of here and, uh, let's hit up a few lottery places before we burn this thing to a crisp, yeah?"

Sam sprinkled the mixture of bone ash and cayenne pepper onto the glowing coals before him. "That should do it."

The three of them stood in a cemetery at night, circling a small square of dirt filled with hot coals awaiting the rabbit's foot, but Dean was still busy scraping at some scratch cards. "One second..." he muttered.

"Dean, you –,"

"Hey, back off, jinx," Dean warned, though not harshly, without taking his eyes off the cards. He blew away some residue. "I'm bringing home the bacon."

Sam sighed and looked to Dani for support. She simply shrugged and gave him a "Just let him be," look.

Finished with the cards, Dean smirked, then stashed them in his jacket, which was slung over a gravestone. "Alright," Dean said, pulling out the foot. "Say goodbye to Wascally Wabbit."

Dani, leaning on the gravestone next to Dean's jacket, fluttered the fingers of her left hand. "Byeee," she sang. Dean chuckled and turned to the coals.

A gun cocked loudly in the silent night. "I think you'll find that belongs to me," a woman's British accent stated behind Dani.

She whirled around to find the woman from Biggerson's, sans black wig, holding a gun on them. She looked far better with her naturally long, golden-brown hair than the short, black wig. Downright beautiful, except for the calculating look in those turquoise eyes of hers.

"Or, you know..." Bela mimed pulling the trigger. "Whatever." She gave Dean a close-lipped smile. Dean didn't return it. "You," Bela pointed the barrel at Dani. "Get over there with them. Now. Dean, put the foot down, honey."

"No." He eyed her and smirked. "You're not going to shoot anybody."

She strikes me as totally capable of shooting anybody, Dani thought to herself.

"See, I happen to be able to read people," Dean went on. "Okay, you're a thief. Fine. But you're not –,"

Bela switched her aim and fired off one shot into Sam's shoulder. The force of the bullet caused Sam to spin in place and took him down. "Sam!" Dani yelped, rushing towards him. Bela allowed it.

"Son of a –," Dream whirled towards Bela.

"Back off, tiger!" She ordered. "Back off."

Dean held back. Dani helped Sam to his feet and checked his wound. He winced and let out a hiss of pain.

"You make one more move, and I'll pull the trigger."

Dean glanced back to check on his brother but made no other movement towards Bela. As if to further discourage any plans of doing so, Bela added, "You've got the luck, Dean. You I can't hit." She aimed at Sam. "But your brother – him I can't miss," she threatened.

"The hell is wrong with you!" Dean shouted, sounding insulted of all things. "You don't just go around shooting people like that!"

"Relax. It's a shoulder hit. I can aim. Besides, who here hasn't shot a few people?"

Dani lifted a hand. "In self-defense only."

Bela narrowed her eyes. "Well, aren't you a little goody two shoes." Her attention returned to Dean. "Put the rabbit's foot on the ground now."

"Alright!" Dean barked, arms extending out. "Alright. Take it easy." Slowly, Dean began to lower it to the ground. "Think fast." He suddenly threw it at Bela and she instinctively caught it.

Her eyes closed in defeat. "Damn."

Dean gave a little triumphant smirk. "Now, what do you say we destroy that ugly-ass piece of dead thing?"

"Eloquent as always, Dean," Dani murmured.

Bela sighed and begrudgingly approached the coals, tossing the foot onto them. "Thanks very much," she said sardonically. The cursed charm ignited. "I'm out $1.5 million and on the bad side of a very powerful, fairly psychotic buyer."

"Wow," Dean grunted. "I really don't feel bad about that. Sam?"

"Nope."

"Dani?"

"Vtla."

"Not even a little," Sam added.

"Who would even want something like that?" Dani couldn't help but ask.

"Someone very powerful," Bela answered.

"You mentioned that before."

"And it bears mentioning again," Bela snapped. "I can't stress it enough how powerful this," she seemed to hesitate, as if debating over the word, "…man is. To him, $1.5 million is pocket change. But that's the most money I've ever been offered before. I've been acquiring objects on his behalf for years. I've seen what he can do to people who displease him. It's the stuff of nightmares."

Bela took one last look at the burning rabbit's foot, then walked away, arms folded close to her chest. She paused next to the headstone that Dean's jacket was lying on. She rest her hands on top of it as she turned back. "Maybe next time, I'll hang you out to dry."

"Oh, don't go away angry," Dean said with clear irritation. "Just go away."

Bela smiled, and something about it reminded Dani of a cat. "Have a nice night, boys and girls." She leaned away from the headstone and took her leave.

Dani's eyes strayed to Dean's jacket pocket. A satisfied smirk graced her features.

The trio didn't leave the cemetery until the charm was completely engulfed in flames and charred. Dani even stamped on it until it crumbled to ashes.

"You good?" Dean asked his brother, who was still holding his wounded shoulder.

"I'll live," he groaned.

"Don't worry," Dani said assuredly. "I've got something in my bag to dull the pain and slow the bleeding."

"Will it taste good?" Sam asked.

Dani's smile didn't quite come off as convincing. "… Sure."

Dean chuckled. "I guess we're back to normal now, huh? No good luck. No bad luck. Oh!" His hand came up to his jacket's right breast pocket. "Oh, I forgot. We're up $46,000. I almost forgot about the..." His hands came up empty. He switched to the other pocket. Still nothing. He checked all his pockets and froze. "...scratch tickets." His face froze in alarm and Sam stared at him, head tilting in a silent question.

In the distance, Bela's car roared by on the other side of the cemetery. The trio stared at it as there was a mocking honk of the horn. Sam and Dean's gazes met.

"…Son of a bitch!" Dean exploded. Dani let out a chuckle. "Damn it, Dani, this isn't funny!"

That elicited another laugh from her. "Actually, it is. It really is." Dani dug into her jean fleece-lined jacket's inner pocket. "Because she thought she was being so sneaky." She withdrew a small stack of scratch cards, grinning ear to ear. "I figured, well, I didn't want to risk another chance of something going wrong and you two losing all the money, so I picked your pocket just before Bela showed up. I didn't manage to grab them all, but –,"

Dean grabbed Dani by the shoulders and stared deep into her eyes. "I love you," he said dramatically. He suddenly pulled her in and lifted her off the ground in a bear hug. "You're freakin' brilliant, Dan!" He set her down and snatched at the cards. "Gimme that. Let's see what you managed to snag."

The total came to $31,000.

"Split between the three of us. That's...," Dean paused, doing the mental calculations.

"Roughly $10,333," Sam supplied.

"Friggin' human calculator," Dean muttered.

Dani blinked, unsure if she'd heard right. "Split between the three of us?"

Dean cocked his head. "Yeah. What? Did you really think we weren't going to share the winnings with you?"

"I just never... It never occurred to me," Dani admitted.

In her mind, she thought about her dream of running her own shop. How the money could be saved for that step. A bright smile spread along her features. "Wado."

Dean slapped a hand on her back. "C'mon. Let's cash these suckers in and treat Sam's wound. Good job, Dani."

(Cherokee Terms and Phrases Used)

[*asterisks mean I am making a guess as to the pronunciations, basing it off what I know of the Cherokee language.]

- Wado – Thank you (wah-doe)

- Edutsi –Uncle (āye-dew-gee)

- Yo [This word can be used in a variety of ways, but it is an equivalent to saying, "Oh gosh, oh man, oh geez," etc.]

- Gvgeyui – I love you. (guh-gay-you-ee)

- Vtla – No (un-tlah)