Author's Notes: this chapter is dedicated to Kole and gives a bit of her background – hope that doesn't put you off…

A/N2: Also, please remember that this was written pre-Hookman and therefore all information about The Demon had not yet been revealed.

Welcome to the Club

Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared... saying don't be afraid
Come on baby... and she had no fear
And she ran to him... then they started to fly

The Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult

Kole's hand was still on her face, but only because she was too preoccupied with the sudden change of scenery to notice.

"So," Sam said from somewhere behind her, "it happened to you too." He sounded genuinely sorry for her. She turned around to see him putting out the last bit of a bonfire with a hand-held extinguisher. Her knees buckled.

"Whoa," Dean said as he held onto her. "Careful now." She turned to look back at Dean and saw that his clothing was singed in places and there was dirt and soot on his skin.

"What is going on?" she asked weakly. "Where are we?"

"There's a pretty big field in back of the motel," Dean told her and nodded over his shoulder to where just the tip of the motel roof could be seen. "And we are in the middle of a wooded area just past it."

"Do you remember anything?" Sam asked, walking towards them. He and Dean began walking Kole back to the motel.

You are meant for the fire.

Six-year old Nikole sits on the bed in her parents' room watching her mother. Her mother is brushing her thick dark blonde hair at a vanity across from the bed and keeps sneaking peeks at her daughter through the mirror. They make faces at one another and laugh.

The lights flicker and her mother is suddenly on the ceiling above her. Blood drips all around Nikole onto the cream colored bedspread from her mother's open abdomen. Nikole is frozen in place, not realizing that she has begun screaming as the fire starts to spread from around her mother's body. Soon, Nikole is being pulled from the bed by her father and carried out of the house to safety.

You are meant for the fire.

Kole, as she is now demanding to be called, and her father move into their new home. She meets Tom, the boy across the street, not by going out and playing, but because his parents take him to the same sleep disorders clinic. Kole has not slept but in small fitful powernaps since her mother died. Beds make her nervous, closing her eyes is worse.

But now she has a friend, a narcoleptic boy who is the only one she allows to call her Nikki, and she is the only one he allows to call him Tommy. He is a few years older than she is, but they are soon in the samegrade due to their respective sleep disorders. She is ahead because the only quiet thing she can do while her father is sleeping is read, and her mind soaks up all the information. Tommy is a year behind because of his inability to stay awake in class.

Kole is nearly 16 and is taking driver's ed, and she and her best friend Tom are put in the same car since they are the only two seniors in the class. Tommy is on medication and has not fallen asleep in class in nearly a year. He has been waiting for this day, and he and the teacher get into the front of the car while Kole slides into the back.

His driving is perfect, he is smiling and ecstatic. But on their way back towards the school, Tommy's head hits the steering wheel and he is in a state of cataplexy, unable to pull the car away from the oncoming wall. It is too quick for the teacher to react and they crash.

Kole screams Tommy's name as the teacher pulls her from the car. Before he is able to do the same for Tommy, the car explodes and bits of fiery debris land near Kole, where she sits in the grass at a safe distance.

You are meant for the fire.

I just need to finish school, Kole tells her father when he is concerned that her sleeplessness has gotten worse than ever. I can't be there anymore. I just want to hurry up and finish. Then, everything will be fine.

She is taking her finals soon after, and in a very small ceremony that only includes her father and the principal, Kole receives her high school diploma. To celebrate, she and her father go to their favorite Italian restaurant. Like always, her father spills some of his food in his lap.

Just as she begins to smell the all-too familiar stench of burning flesh, the smoke alarm starts to go wild. She takes the steps two at a time to try and reach her father. For a split second, she thinks she can help as he is standing on the far side of the bedroom. But then, she realizes that his eyes are wide and he seems glued to the wall, and there is a laceration from his neck to his navel.

Without warning, there are strong arms around her pulling her from the burning room. They lift her up and drag her down the stairs, and out the front door. When they are finally in the yard away from the house, the arms turn Kole around and she sees a man that can only be her Uncle John. She only has the slightest memory of him from 10 years before, but he looks too much like her father not to be related. He pulls her into a hug and tells her that everything will be OK and that she is safe.

You are meant for the fire.

Kole is bound to a chair and facing the flames. The man standing behind her, the man who had hired her and made sure that she had everything she needed to teach and to live and to be happy, now holds a knife to her throat. He grabs her by the hair, pulls her head back, and whispers in her ear:

You are Agni's sacrifice. You will be with them again. You are meant for the fire.

And he is absolutely right. She is supposed to be here. She is meant for the fire. It has tried to emancipate her three times, but someone has always been there to stop it. But now, standing here, no longer bound to the chair, in front of the flames she is free. She will be free and she will be with her parents and Tommy again. She just needs to allow it to happen.

She tries to step into the fire, but someone grabs hold of her shoulders from behind. She struggles to get free, but the hands are too strong. She yells and cries out, but she is held fast. Her captor steps in front of her and tries to push her from the sanctified doorway. She fights to get past him…

But everything is gone as he turns her away from the fire and slaps her across the face.

"Oow! What are you doing?" she asked, holding her stinging cheek. She looked around. "What's going on?"