Disclaimer: Supernatural is not mine and never will be, thanks for reminding me.
AN: This chapter takes place a few months after the first. Think of the first chapter as more of a prologue to the story. Also this chapter is kind of Samcentric.
While the Winchester's rested and recuperated at Missouri Mosley's they searched. They looked for the demon's past trail, incidents that mirrored their own. They'd stumbled onto Max once maybe they could find more of its victims, people like Sam. Sam used his laptop to cross reference the phenomena that John had described to them with house fires that resulted in the death of at least one parent in the family.
"This is like looking for a demonic needle in a haystack." He said rubbing his forehead in frustration one day. His head was throbbing, the way it usually did after a vision except that he hadn't had any visions lately. Not since the accident.
"Take five Sammy. I can man the computer." Dean said sitting next to him at the kitchen table.
"You just don't want to do your chores." Sam accused him.
"Well why the hell do I have to do all the manual labor around here?" Dean asked shaking his head.
"Because, as long as I have to tell you not to cuss in my house your gonna do all the work." Missouri explained cuffing him upside the head.
"Ow. I just got out of the hospital woman." Dean said rubbing his head exaggeratedly.
"So you need to build up your strength by fixing that window in the den like I told you to this morning." Missouri said hands on her hips.
"I'll get to it." He said dismissively.
"Did I sound like I was asking?" She said narrowing her eyes at him.
"Why you always so hard on me?" Dean asked frowning.
"Cause you can take it." Missouri said smiling. She ruffled his hair on her way to the fridge.
"Sam needs a break so I can't fix the window right now." Dean said rolling his eyes at her back.
"Don't roll your eyes at me Dean Winchester. And your brother does need a break but your not getting out of fixing that window." Missouri shot back. She came back form the fridge with a glass of something greenish brown in a glass.
"Here Sam drink this I made it last night but it had to sit overnight." Missouri said putting the glass down in front of him.
"Um thanks, what is it?" Sam asked eyeing the glass suspiciously.
"A remedy for your headaches." She explained.
"Can't I just have an Advil?" Sam asked.
"Now Sammy respect your elders and drink the spook juice Missouri made ya." Dean said smiling his best shit eating smile. This wasn't the first of Missouri's remedy's any of them had been force fed. They universally tasted like shit.
"I heard that Dean Winchester." Missouri snapped suddenly grabbing a wooden spoon from the counter.
"Um I gotta go fix the window, bye." Dean said beating a hasty retreat before she could whack him with it. He'd take a poltergeist any day over the psychic and her damn spoon.
"Where's Dean going?" John asked coming in through the kitchen door.
"He's afraid of Missouri." Sam replied grinning.
"Sam stop talking and drink that up now." Missouri said brandishing her spoon at him. He held up his hands in mock surrender and reached for the glass. He took a tentative sniff and regretted it.
"What is that shit?" John asked grimacing on his son's behalf.
"A headache remedy." Sam answered using anything to keep from putting that glass to his lips.
"Drink it." Missouri commanded exiting the kitchen to get ready for an appointment coming in the next half hour.
"We out of Advil?" John asked eyeing the glass closely wondering if he should try shooting it with rock salt.
"Lets not and say I did." Sam said pushing the drink away from him across the table.
"Better not, she'll know." John warned pulling the laptop to rest in front of him. "Anything new?"
"I've been narrowing it down and I found a couple of promising leads." Sam said hopefully.
"But?" John asked sensing disappointment on the horizon.
"Its tough, I'm trying to find survivors of the fires that fit the bill but there are so many to look into" Sam said rubbing the bridge of his nose again.
"How many?" John asked dreading the answer. The thought of so many family's being destroyed by that thing chilled him to the core.
"Not too many, a couple dozen that fit some of the criteria even less that fit exactly. I don't think all of them or even most of them are even related to us." Sam said trying to sound optimistic.
"Drink that Sammy. You really do need to rest." John said sighing. It was still a bit awkward to him slipping into the role of concerned father over drill sergeant, but he was trying.
"Do I have to?" Sam whined putting in his "my puppy just got kicked" look.
"Wow I almost mistook you for a twenty two year old man for awhile there. My mistake apparently. Drink it." John said fixing him with a withering look.
Sam locked eyes with his dad defiantly and held on for a few long seconds before giving in and retrieving his glass.
"If I die from drinking this I'm gonna haunt you three." Sam promised before he held his nose and down the whole thing quickly in one foul gulp.
"Oh-oh God what the hell did she put in that?" Sam asked shrilly practically gagging.
"Sam you should see the look on your face son." John said barely restraining his laughter.
"Did he drink it?" Dean called from the other room.
"Fuck you." Sam yelled getting up and running to the sink, sucking water straight form the tap to rid his mouth of that taste.
"Sam I will wash your mouth out if you yell like that in my house again." Missouri promised aloud. Dean was laughing loudly at his brother from across the house.
"That's it I'm takin a break, I'll be upstairs of you need me." Sam said cracking his sore neck.
"Get some sleep Sam." John told him.
"Yes Sir." Sam said yawning as he walked out of the kitchen to the stair case.
"You okay Sam?" Dean asked when he passed then den where Dean was measuring the broken window pane.
"I'm fine just tired is all." Sam assured him. The things that happened to their family had served to make Dean more aware, more protective of them, especially his little brother.
"Still no dreams, huh?" Dean asked sympathetically.
"Nope. Calm before the storm I guess." Sam said shrugging. He walked up the stairs and shuffled to the guest bedroom he and Dean shared.
It didn't take long for them to make themselves at home in Missouri's. Their healing was slow going and painful but they made it through. Being back in Kansas and staying in one place for so long took a lot more getting used to for the two older men than for Sam. He was glad that they made the effort though.
Dad and Dean still looked sad and lost every time they passed their old house and sometimes Sam came down the stairs and saw John just staring out of a window, he wouldn't even hear him coming in, something unheard of with John Winchester. Then he would suddenly snap out of it and whirl on him sending him to ground, telling him that he needed to practice get back into shape. But Sam wasn't fooled by him trying to make it seem like a test. He saw him do it to Dean once but Dean had been able to dodge the attack like he expected it. Sam wondered if John had done that a lot while he was away at Stanford.
Everything fell into a routine of mundane everyday tasks and just trying to get better after the first couple of weeks. John got a job at a local garage far enough away that old acquaintances couldn't ask a lot of questions about what he'd been up to lately but close enough that he didn't have to be to far from his boys in case they needed him. Dean's car was returned from the dead nearly as good as new, although he still sometimes grumbled about it, and Sam started working with Missouri with his gifts. She didn't have the answers he was searching for but she taught him a few relaxation techniques to calm him and force fed him vile liquids to take away his pain.
Every time he slept he always expected to wake up gasping for air trying to shake off the nightmares that used to plague him but they didn't come. He should have been relieved but he wasn't, at least he knew what to expect from the nightmares, the pain, the images, the fear he felt in the people he dreamt of, but the waiting for the dreams was worse. Much worse, sometimes he stayed awake all night worrying about it. Dean was the only one he told about his dread. He thought Sam was blocking them out subconsciously, Sam said he was surprised Dean knew what subconsciously meant when Dean told him his theory.
Sam hit the twin sized bed hard and was asleep almost immediately. A deep darkness was all he saw as he closed his eyes, no terror waiting on the other side. It would not stay that way.
"Sam." A familiar but foreign voice whispered to him in his sleep. Sam strained to hear through the silence who or what was calling to him. He knew he was dreaming when he opened his eyes and was standing in the dark alone.
"Sam, please, Sam." Her voice took on a new clarity and he knew who it was.
He'd heard her say his name more times than he could count but never like this. It wasn't like when she was frustrated with him, like when he was late for their dates, or sad like when she got the call that her grandmother died. She didn't even sound accusing or confused like in the nightmares he had about the night she died. This was urgency and desperation in Jessica's voice. She needed him to hear her.
"Jess! Jess where are you? I c-I can't see!" He called spinning round and round searching for her in the dark. He was very aware this wasn't real but sometimes the dreams were the only glimpse of her he had anymore.
"Sam you have to.."
"Have to what? Jessica please." He called desperately pulling at his longish hair in frustration.
"Sam." And she was right in front of him. Dressed in that same white nightgown stepping out of the dark. She was an like angel haloed in golden hair and a sad expression on her beautiful face. He reached out to touch to see if she was real. As soon as he touched her cheek cold made him flinch and pull his hand back.
"Jessica I'm so sorry baby." Sam said feeling the tears welling up in his eyes.
"Its okay. Its not important now Sam." She said insistently. "You have to help her."
"Help? Help who?" Sam asked confused
"Her." She turned away from him and pointed.
Sam looked and saw nothing for a moment then as soon as he blinked he saw the girl. It was more the feeling than the actual sight of her that made him gasp and reach out to her to try to help. Huddled and naked on the ground with arms around her knees pushed up close to her body she barely moved. He could make out her light red hair obscuring her face that was pressed tight into her knees. There was a circle of light around her body and it was only then that he noticed the dark moved. Edged in and out around the girl, if it got to close the light would flared up and beat it back a few inches then a few centimeters, less and less every time. Pain and loneliness echoed all around them, suffocating in its depth, waiting for the light to drop its guard and devour the woman in front of him.
"She needs your help. She keeps the darkness at bay but she can't do it alone anymore. Not strong enough. Its closing in on her." Jess explained stepping closer to her.
"This is the world that she lives in." Jess said gesturing all around them.
"I-how? Where is she?" Sam frantically. His face wet with tears that wouldn't fall before. He couldn't bear it for much longer, this world of someone he didn't know.
"She'll come to you soon." Jessica assured him.
Without another word Jess disappeared leaving him alone with her.
"Jessica wait!" he yelled to nothingness. He saw the girl flinch when he yelled, like she was aware now of a presence besides her and the shadows.
He watched transfixed as she looked up slowly only her eyes visible to him in the semi-light. Deep brown eyes glanced warily up at him, they held so much emotion that he staggered at the sight.
"I want to help you." Sam said the only thing that come to mind not even sure if she understood him.She narrowed her eyes at him and he felt himself being pushed away by a warmth that was not entirely unpleasant.
"Can't help." A voice whispered around him.
"I can, please let me help you." Sam said softly fighting against whatever it was that was pushing him away. The warmth was also keeping back to the biting cold that had started creep up on him.
"You'll die. Go away." The voice said, she was still looking at him, he could feel her trying to will him away but also keeping her tormentors from grabbing at him while he stood in their domain.
"Please." Sam tried again.
"No!" She yelled using her mouth instead of her mind. The warmth turned into the searing burn of fire as he was forced away.
Sam jerked awake covered in sweat and shaking with the chills. The room had been lit by the afternoon sun drifting in from the windows when he fell asleep but was covered in shadows now. He panicked thinking he was still trapped there, that whatever it was in his dreams had taken him.
"Sam. Sammy you're alright man. Its okay." Dean was holding onto to him trying to calm him down as he thrashed and gasped for air.
"Dean I- Jessica- the girl with the shadows." Sam was spouting gibberish.
"Its okay man I know. But its over now it already happened." Dean said rocking his brother back and forth the way he did when they were kids.
"No, no it wasn't like that. I didn't dream of that night. Jessica came to me." Sam insisted pulling away from Dean to look him in the eyes. That was when Sam noticed Dean was dressed for bed and he looked rumpled and sleepy like he'd just woken up.
"How long did I sleep?" Sam asked looking out the window at the full moon now lighting the room like it knew it was needed as a makeshift nightlight.
"All day its four in the morning." Dean answered waving it off as unimportant. "What did Jessica say to you? Are you sure it was really her?"
"Yes I know it was her." Sam said more forcefully than he meant to.
"Its okay I believe you tiger." Dean said holding his hands up in surrender.
Sam told him with as much detail as he could remember the dream he'd had. The feeling of hopelessness that seemed fill him every time the darkness crept up on him, and how the girl protected him but pushed him away at the same time insisting he'd die if he tried to help her.
"Shit." Dean said running his hands through his hair. "I guess your visions are back then."
"Yeah be careful what you wish for." Sam said looking down at his hands.
"On the bright side it looks like we have a job." Dean said smiling lightly.
"How is that a bright side again?" Sam asked incredulous, only Dean could see a demon hunting gig as a silver lining.
"You have to really wanna see it Geek boy." Dean said smirking.
"Thanks Dean." Sam said after a moment of quiet.
"Yeah I know I rock." Dean said grinning and going back to his bed.
"You sure you'll be okay now?" Dean asked pausing before getting into bed.
"Yeah man I'll be okay." Sam said rubbing a hand over his face. Dean looked at him for a long moment unconvinced.
"I'm fine get some sleep." Sam insisted.
"Alright then." Dean took another worried look at him and got into bed.
"Night Sammy." Dean mumbled.
"Night Dean." Sam replied
AN2: Feedback welcome. Till next time