"You know," Danielle said from the backseat, her eyes never leaving the book before her, "You've never told us where in Michigan we are going. I mean there are people in various cities I can call. As long as it's not Saginaw I'm happy."
Dean tossed a look over his shoulder, ignoring the tugging at his side. While she had been listening to her CD player in the backseat after driving of ten hours, he'd asked the same question and hadn't liked the answer. "What if it is? Think about it hard Danni. What killed her?"
"Don't, not now, not ever. Where are we going Sam?"
Sam threw Dean a look and then looked back at her in the rearview mirror, "Saginaw, we're going to Saginaw."
Her face paled and her eyes grew large and dark, her breathing grew shorter. "Stop the car. Please stop the car Sam."
She felt trapped. They couldn't go back, she had died there and it had been just outside of the rough and tough town that she had buried them. She flung the door open and was out of it before the car had even pulled to stop. She paced the roadside taking deep breaths.
This couldn't be happening to her, it just couldn't be. She had sworn that she'd never set a foot back in Saginaw again. Not after their deaths, not that she would have been able to stop them even back then. She twisted her head side to side, hoping to stretch out the muscles that were pulling taunt over her shoulders.
She heard the door slam behind her and Dean say "Get back in."
"No not if we are going to go back. You made a promise to yourself never to go back to your home. I'm never going back to mine either. It's nothing but bad memories Dean, nothing that can't be forgotten."
"Her death can't be forgotten. I thought you'd know that Danni."
"Anything can be forgotten if you put your mind to it. Some just take longer. Maybe it's best if you two just go on without me. I can call Yuki and he'll come get me or send a car."
"Ya know what Danni. Sam's better at this touchy-feely stuff than I am. Maybe you better talk to him. Then again he wasn't there and is absolutely clueless as to what the hell is going on."
"You weren't there either Dean, not at first. So don't you dare pretend to know what the hell happened before you decided to finally play the white knight." She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. "I'm sorry that was uncalled for. We couldn't kill it the first time what makes the second time any better?"
"Because there are more of us and I hate to say it but Lani won't be there to distract us."
"You, she won't be there to distract you. Did you think I didn't know that you liked her? Everyone like Lani, me included. For one time though I was happy; happy that someone liked me more than her."
She took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll go back but if I figure out it's the same thing that killed Lani I'm gone. Do you understand me? I'll disappear and never come back because I can't go through that again. I can't."
She'd never fully told him what happened that night before he'd come in. The only thing he fully knew was that he'd come in and she'd been tied to a bed, that she'd been raped and that Lani had been murdered. The puncture wounds on the neck had been a dead giveaway of a vampire.
He sighed, "Fine. Getting back in or do I have to throw you?"
"I'll get back in myself. Thank you." She said stalking past him and sliding into the car. "Hand me your coat Dean."
"What why?" He asked slamming her car door.
"So I can use it as a pillow. I'm going to take a nap unless there are rules against naps. In that case we should stop at the next hotel so we can all sleep. I bet you two haven't slept in the same beds in years."
Wanting her to shut up he tossed her his coat and settled back to be annoyed the rest of the day, "Don't wrinkle it."
She smirked and folded it nicely before putting it on the seat. She tossed a quiet look at the back on Dean's head and remembered how they used to argue, most of the time they had ended up in bed, a way they could express themselves without using words. As her eyes drifted shut she knew in her heart that she was still in love with him.
The man smiled at her from the shadows, "Do you know how nice it was watching her die while inside of her? Watching her face as the life drained out of it."
"No, you're lying. Lani can't be dead. She can't be. Why are you doing this? What has anyone ever done to you?" Danielle pleaded with the man.
"They've done everything to me. They won't accept me for who I am; for what I am. No one ever understands. Would you like to see her body?"
"No, no. Lani isn't dead how many times do I have to tell you that? She wouldn't have…" Her voice trailed off as a body was lowered from the ceiling. No, she thought but knew it was true. Lani was dead, blood matted her long black hair and her sapphire eyes were open and unblinking. Her head tilted to an odd angle, blood congealed on her neck and chest.
He saw her face pale and smiled in delight. She had been sweet, but this one would be so much sweeter. He walked slowly over to her, reveling in the happiness that he received from seeing her defeated look. He rested his hand on the small bump of her stomach; he could feel the innocence that radiated from the spot. Poor thing didn't even know what kind of power she held in her. Best to be rid of it, he thought seconds before slamming his fist into her stomach.
Her startled cry of pain was glorious and so he did it again and again. "Do you realize this is all your fault? Never again will you see your darling cousin. Next I'll get Emma and she'll be just as sweet. Now it's your turn. Should I do the same thing to you as I did to Lani?"
"No please." She whispered as he reached up and cut the bonds that held her. The bed only a few feet away and he knew she wouldn't fight. Her screaming began getting louder in his ears.
"No! No! Dean!" Danielle thrashed around the backseat. Everything so clear in her mind as if it had happened yesterday.
"Pull over Sammy." Dean turned toward the backseat. "Danielle, wake up. Danni you need to wake up."
She shivered uncontrollably as he ran in cold fingers down her body. This couldn't be happening to her. She thought she'd been able to handle it with Dean as back up but now she wasn't so sure. All she knew was that she had failed Lani and all of the other innocents that had died while they had been hunting this thing.
"Don't touch me!" her body thrashed around at the sight of the knife he produced.
"Don't touch me! Leave me alone! Dean, help me please!" Her voice was shrill and her face closed up tight in fear.
"Damn it." Dean muttered, getting out of the car and moving to the backseat. He gathered her up in his arms. "Danni wake up. Wake up."
She beat her fists against his chest and buried her face into his chest, sobbing. "Lani she's gone she's gone."
Dean sent Sam a look like what the hell do I do? Her hair was soaked with sweat and her breathing ragged.
"Look at me Danni. Come on." He murmured, his hand absently reaching to stroke her hair.
Her dark eyes fluttered and took a minute to focus on his face. She took a deep breath, hoping to calm the fanatical beating of her heart. Her voice was shaky when she said, "It was a dream. Nothing more than a dream. God I need a drink."
Sam shot his brother a confused look in the rearview mirror and Dean shrugged. "What was it about?"
"Nothing absolutely nothing." She climbed off Dean's lap and sat cross-legged on the seat. "Did you tear your stitches getting back here?"
"No I didn't. Would you quit being a mother nurse?"
"Can't." She dug through her pink backpack until she came out with a shot glass and a bottle of Jack Daniels, "Want one Dean?"
"What the hell are you doing?"
She poured and drank and poured again. "Forgetting. Why don't we just go on our merry little way Sam? In fact why don't we just hit the next town and go to the bar there?"
Dean took the bottle out of her hands, stared at it and then climbed back into the front seat. Once they started rolling down the road, he tossed the bottle out the window.
"What?" Danielle stared at the shattered bottle.
"We need a sober Danni because she's the one that's paying for the hotel room in the next town." Dean said settling back against the seat.
Sam had to wonder what was going on. Something had happened in Saginaw and he was going to find out for sure at the hotel, after Dean and Danielle were sleeping.