Welcome to the Club

From the dust I rose on high
Thunder cloud in a two-lane sky
From the world I did rebel
A fallen angel

Fallen Angel, Blue Oyster Cult

"OK," Dean said, following Kole after she paid the coffee tab, "so you and Leila didn't talk? Well, that explains why she thought you walked out after us."

Kole stopped in her tracks and turned to face Dean, who walked right into her, surprised by the sudden stop.

"No, that's not what I meant," Kole told him. "I mean, I stopped to talk to her, but didn't. I… I don't know what happened. I remember stopping, then I remember you walking up to me at the coffee shop. There's a… a gap."

"So," Dean said slowly, "you think this all has something to do with the diner?"

"Hello, McFly?" She reached up and knocked on his forehead, completely exasperated. "No, I don't think this has to do with the diner. It's Leila!"

Dean let the information sink in. He had come to that conclusion as well; only there was a part of his brain that was refusing to believe it. It wasn't that he had any evidence to the contrary, but he found that he had to force himself to accept that Leila was involved with, or was in fact, the Mara.

"Dean?" Kole's voice broke into his thoughts. "Where's Sam?"

Well, that did it. The knowledge that Sam was either with Leila or was planning on meeting up with her soon awoke him from his state of denial. Whatever Leila could have done or said that blinded him from the truth was now switched off with the recognition that his brother was in trouble. He turned to Kole.

"I don't know where Sam is." Dean's fists clenched without him even realizing. He began to walk quickly towards Sal's diner. "But she's got him."

"Leila?" she asked quietly, knowing the answer before Dean even nodded. Kole looked around and found a large clock in one of the shop windows. "Dean, it's nearly 4:30. And, it's winter, which means it's going to start getting dark pretty soon. This place doesn't exactly strike me as having a lively nightlife. I'm guessing people here go to bed early."

Dean was too worried about Sam to understand where this was leading. When he remained silent, Kole sighed, but more from concern than frustration. She had to run a little to catch up with him.

"Look, this demon works through dreams, right? And, if she can set people off… make them go after one another while they're asleep? Dean, if she realizes that we are trying to stop her… she could have an army of townspeople in as little as four hours."

"What's your point, Kole?" Dean demanded.

"My point is," she said, ignoring his anger, "whatever we do, we have to do it fast. Do you know how to stop her?" Noticing they were back at the diner, Kole stopped. "Wait Dean, we don't have a plan. We can't go in there now."

"I wasn't planning on it," he told her, walking around to the back of the building where the parking lot stood empty, but for one car. "We gotta get ourselves prepared."

"We?" she asked with a smirk on her lips.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, rolling his eyes. "Welcome to the club, Batgirl."

"I prefer 'Barbara Gordon' in public," she told him, then slid into the passenger seat of the Impala.

Dean shook his head and gave her a crooked grin, then took the car out of the parking lot and drove to their motel.

Dean and Kole sat at opposite sides of the table in her room, each with a laptop in front of them. They weren't getting anywhere fast. Dean had looked through his father's journal three times and couldn't find any references to a being that attacked and controlled through dreams. He was now checking through his frequently visited websites, but the only thing he was gaining was a headache.

"Can you tell me something?" Kole asked, as she sat back in her chair and removed her glasses to rub her eyes.

"What?" he asked without looking up.

"This morning, when you were… catatonic, do your remember anything?"

"Like what?" He didn't particularly like this line of questioning.

"I mean, what was going through your head? You know, like, before or during your… blackout."

"You know," he said, annoyed, and pulled her notebook from his jacket, "that's not the blank that I thought you would try and fill in first."

"You're stalling," she said steadily. "And I don't care that you read my notes, so don't try and get out of this conversation by bringing them up."

"Fine!" he said, standing from the table and knocking his chair backward. "I felt like I was in a haze… like I was sleepwalking. I was awake, but not. I sat down to try and clear my head and wake up, but I couldn't. It was like everything slowed down, then just stopped. It was like a movie and someone else had the remote control."

He felt foolish having to say it out loud, but if that was what it took to get her off his back and continue the search then so be it. He wasn't going to waste time arguing when Sam needed his help.

He looked at Kole. Her eyes were on him, but she wasn't seeing. She was deep in thought, trying to work something out in her head. Then, without a word, she got up from her chair and grabbed the case of DVD-Rs from her bag. She flipped through, found the one she was looking for, and popped it into her computer's disc drive.

"Have you found anything?" Dean asked as he sat back down, bewildered by the behavior. "Sam's the one who's good with the research…"

"Did you know that 'Leila' means 'born at night'?" Kole said, looking at her computer screen. "And according to this, one of the lilin was named 'Leila'."

"One of the what?"

"The lilin. They were the daughters of Lilith, the night demon. They were said to be demons with powers similar to the succubi."

"OK," Dean said, a smile forming, "now you're speaking my language." He got up from the table and started for the door, while still talking. "So, we just have to find her and…" the rest was drown out. Kole got up and followed him to the car.

"I'm sorry, I must have left my de-coder ring back at my place. What is it that you have figured out?"

Dean opened his trunk and started digging through his arsenal. Kole watched him, speechless at the trunk's contents. He pulled out a couple bottles of water, handing one to Kole. Then, he reached in for a couple of handguns.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kole raised her hands in surrender.

"What?"

"Well, I…," she stuttered, "I… I've never used a gun before. I didn't know you could… get rid of demons with a gun."

"Get rid of?" Dean might have laughed if he wasn't feeling rushed. "Let's get it straight. We kill demons. Kill. And, no, a gun won't kill her. But, the silver bullets will slow her down. So will holy water," he said indicating the bottle he was still holding.

"So, what does kill a demon?"

"Different methods for different demons. But for this one... I'm going with beheading." He watched as Kole continued to stare into the trunk. "You OK?"

"Sure," she breathed.

"Look," he said impatiently, "I need to know that you can handle this. I'm not going to be able to fight her, get Sammy back, and worry that you might get hurt. It's too much. So, you either take a weapon," he waved over some various items, "so you can defend yourself or you leave the area so I don't have to worry about you."

"What about this?" she asked, pointing to a crossbow. "Will this hurt her?"

"Yeah…" he said slowly. "The arrows are silver."

"OK," she said, reaching into the trunk.

"Wait a minute," Dean said, grabbing her arm. "You've never fired a gun, but you know how to use a crossbow?"

"I took archery and fencing lessons when I was younger," she smiled. "My father was in the service, too, you know," she said when he raised his eyebrows. "Then, your dad showed me how to… perfect my skills."

"But not how to use a gun!" he asked, aggravated. "What kind of Winchester doesn't know how to shoot a gun?"

"I'm not a Winchester!"