Author's Note: So, funny story. My husband got me started on Supernatural. When I finally got really into it, he goes, "So, are you a Sam girl or a Dean girl?" I didn't tell him I was a Cas girl. Also, Misha got me into politics. That man is tricksy. I don't own Supernatural. Duh.

***Dean POV***

September 20, Daytime

Dean had to admit it; he would be sorry to see Ember go back home. Realistically, he didn't know when they would see each other again, though he could be fairly certain that they would see her again. Now that he and Sam knew about her, they would definitely be checking in on her, if she didn't contact them first.

Castiel – whoever he was – had blinded Pam, but Ember had barely seemed phased by it. She had definitely been concerned, he thought, but not as shaken as he had expected her to be. Still, she seemed stony and distant, particulary when they stopped at a small diner on the way back to her apartment.

"We got a name – Castiel, or whatever," Dean told Sam over coffee. "With the right mumbo jumbo, we could summon him, bring him right to us."

"You're crazy. Absolutely not," said Sam. Dean looked at Ember, but her eyes were on the waitress.

"We'll work him over. I mean, after what he did?"

"Pam took a peek at him, and her eyes burned out of her skull," Sam replied, "And you want to have a face-to-face?"

"Have you got a better idea?" Dean asked, glancing again at Ember, who was being awfully quiet. With a start, he realized that one of the men in the back of the room was staring at Ember… and she was staring back, a weary but resigned look on her face.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do!" Sam said. "I followed some demons to town, right?"

"Okay," Dean said. He wasn't really paying attention to Sam anymore, however. He realized that two men in the corner were heading toward the table staring right at Ember, and the waitress seemed to be making a beeline toward the table as well.

"So we go find them," Sam finished.

"You won't have to look far," Ember jumped in suddenly, once again eyeing the waitress, who sat down at the table, flashing black eyes at the three of them. Dean shot a look toward Sam, who had also identified the waitress' eyes. This was not good. This was very, very not good. He inched his hand toward his demon knife.

"Dean… to hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck?" the waitress said to the three of them. Dean saw, out of the corner of his eye, one of the men lock the door of the bar behind them.

"That's me," he said.

"So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh?" the demon waitress said. "Tell me, what makes you so special?"

Dean was also very aware of the two men, both eyeing Ember. He didn't like the way they were looking at her. "I like to think it's because of my perky nipples," he replied. "I don't know. It wasn't my doing. I don't know who pulled me out."

"Right, you don't."

"No, I don't," he replied forcefully. The men were still looking at Ember.

"Lying's a sin you know," the demon waitress continued.

"I'm not lying. But I'd like to find out, so if you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo."

"Mind your tone with me, boy," she replied. "I'll drag you back to hell myself."

He called her bluff. "No you won't."

"No?"

"No. 'Cause if you were, you'd have done it already. Fact is, you don't know who cut me loose. You're just as spooked as we are. You're looking for answers." He paused. "Well, maybe it was some turbocharged spirit, hmm? Or maybe uh… Godzilla. Or some big bad boss demon." He was scaring her, he could tell. We actually might get out of this diner alive, after all, he thought. "But I'm guessing at your pay grade, they don't tell you squat. 'Cause whoever it was, they want me out. And they're a lot stronger than you." Now, to finish the threat, Dean thought. "So go ahead. Send me back. But don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep with some vaseline and a firehose." Then, slowly, glaring at the waitress and the other demons, Dean, Sam, and Ember got up to leave.

They almost made it, too. The three of them almost made it out of that diner, with no fight, just a stalemate confrontation. Instead, just as they were about to leave, all three of them keeping an eye on the three demons, one of the men said, "Wait."

"What?" Dean snapped.

"You two can go… we don't want any trouble. Leave the girl."

"Why?" Sam snapped.

"I like her smell."

"She's half-demon, isn't she?" the other man filled in. "I've never seen a half-demon like her. And I saw her first." And he made to grab for Ember.

Dean and Sam both pulled their weapons, but Ember got there first. Her revolver was in one hand threateningly, and her other hand was out, pushing at the air, which seemed to be keeping the second man at bay, though barely. Then, to Dean's astonishment, she began an exorcism. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…"

The woman launched herself at Ember, but was blocked by Sam, who rolled with her to the other side of the room. The other man also attempted to launch himself at Ember, but instead met with Dean's demon knife, and keeled over onto one of the tables.

"Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursion infernalis, adversarii, omnis legio…"

Sam was struggling with the woman, and Ember seemed to be managing herself, so Dean launched himself forward to help Sam.

"Omnis congregatio, et secta diabolica!" Two clouds of black smoke fled from the room, and Ember keeled over onto the floor.

-SPN-SPN-SPN-SPN-

"Thanks for your help," Ember whispered, once the three of them had begun the journey back to Indiana in the Impala.

"No problem," Dean said, "It's what we're here for." His mind was reeling. What had just happened? The demons had been willing to let Sam and Dean go, but they wanted Ember? Why?

"You attract them, don't you?" Sam asked suddenly, and Dean's brain came to a screeching halt as he tried to follow what Sam was saying.

"Yes," Ember whispered from the backseat. "I don't know why, and I don't know how, but they seem to be able to sense me from… I don't know, for sure up to a football field away. I get… followed, you know? So I try to stay out of crowded places, but eventually I decided… that's no way to live my life."

"That's why you've run into so many lately, isn't it?" asked Sam slowly. "A couple of years ago, we – well, a bunch of demons were let out of Hell at once. And lately, with your powers growing… the attraction grows, too?"

Ember nodded.

"Holy shit," Dean said, his brain finally clunking into place. He couldn't imagine. She wasn't just powerful, and she wasn't just half-demon. No, she was a beacon, a literal beacon for unwanted demon attention. No wonder she hated demons so much! He couldn't imagine anything more absolutely horrible.

"I'm sorry," Sam was saying.

"Ember, are you sure you don't want to come stay with us?" Dean asked.

Ember smiled sadly. "I appreciate the offer, but I have a life of my own back in Indiana. I've come to terms with this life, with what I am, so as soon as I figure out why my powers are increasing, I should be fine."

Sam sighed. "If you're sure. Look… our door, and Bobby's door, is always open. If you ever need help, with anything, or just… I don't know, just want to come along with us or something… give us a call, okay?"

Ember smiled wryly. "I might just do that, actually. As scary as this weekend was, I can't deny that it's been fun. My normal life is stressful, but this has definitely been an adrenaline rush of a different kind." She sighed. "Not just that, but… you guys can use me."

Sam and Dean looked at each other. Ember continued, "I know what they say about hunting, that if you're involved with demons and hunting that it's your whole life and you can never leave it. And I'm not ready for that yet, and my mother certainly isn't. But… Bobby tells me from time to time what you guys are up against. You've seen my powers, and my guess is that there will come a time when you need me on your side."

Dean nodded, shooting a look at Sam.

"You're sure you're gonna be okay against this… Castiel?" Ember continued. "I can take a couple of days off work, if you need…"

Dean shook his head. "I have the advantage: he wants me alive, obviously." He could tell that the fact that she attracted demons was very troubling to her – or, at least it had been troubling, at one point. It occurred to him that she was a lot like him – troubled, with a really messed up position in life, and managing to bury it down. He hadn't seen any alcohol or cigarettes, so perhaps she was practicing what she preached and keeping herself sane with the whole "I'm a therapist" thing. Still, he mused, anyone who could make it through this past weekend and still want to spend time with them couldn't be completely right in the head. This was definitely too much thinking for him.

"Fair point," Ember was saying. "Just promise me you'll let me know when you find Castiel, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Dean said genuinely. "I promise, I'll call you."

Ember giggled, Sam elbowed him in the ribs, and Dean realized a second too late exactly what he had said.

***Ember POV***

September 30, Evening

One week later, Ember was finishing up some work when she got an important phone call. "Hey, Ember, it's Sam," said the voice on the other end of the line. "Hold on, I'm going to put you on speaker phone, so Dean can hear too. Bobby's here with us, too."

"Hey," Dean said in his very flirty voice.

"Hello Ember," said Bobby.

Ember knew that if all 3 of them were calling her at once, it definitely wasn't good news. "What's up, guys?"

"Well, we think we might've figured out why your powers have been increasing," Bobby said.

"And you're not gonna like it," added Sam.

Ember sighed. "Okay, just hit me with it."

"Well, over the past few days, a hell of a lot hunters have met their ends to the ghosts of the people they couldn't save," Bobby said. "And we almost did, too. And after awhile, we realized we were dealing with the rising of the witnesses."

Ember dropped the phone in her surprise. She felt a sharp swoop in her stomach. When she picked it back up, she heard Dean's voice "…doesn't know what that means, Bobby?"

"I told you, boy, that girl's done more research about demons than you two put together. She knows what it means."

"Bobby, tell me you're kidding me," Ember demanded.

"I'm sorry Ember, it looks like it's true," Bobby said.

Ember sighed, and sat down on her bed. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and she could feel a panic attack of epic porportions coming on. "Okay, tell me what you know," she said.

"Castiel came to me last night," Dean said. (Dean had called Ember and explained about Castiel in their last phone call, almost a week ago now.)

"And he didn't even wake me up!" said Sam's voice.

"Ah, shut up," said Dean. "Anyway, Cas told us Bobby's theory was right… the rising of the witnesses is one of the 66 seals. Lilith is in the process of breaking the seals, and when 66 of them are broken-…"

"Lucifer is free," filled in Ember.

"So you already know all this?" Dean asked.

"I'm half demon and a bookworm," Ember snapped. "I make it my business to know the lore. But I didn't know it could actually happen."

"Yeah, Cas says that's why angels have arrived back on Earth in the first place," Dean said. "Shame. They're huge pricks, from what I can tell."

"You're out of hell though," Sam pointed out.

Ember's head was spinning. "Guys… did Castiel say how many seals have been broken? Or for how long Lilith has been breaking seals?"

"No," Sam said. "But we thought… it can't have been that long, or else we would've heard about it. I mean, from what we've been able to gather, we're some of the first hunters to realize this is going on. You said your powers have been increasing for about a month, right?"

"Yeah," Ember admitted. "Nearly two months now."

"Well, that would make sense," said Bobby. "Demon power draws on Lucifer. And half-demons are supposed to be really powerful, only…"

"I've chosen not to give in to the dark side, yeah," said Ember.

"So it isn't safe for her to use her new powers then," said Dean.

"No, I keep telling you," Bobby said. "I'm pretty sure it's safe for her to use the non-evil powers for non-evil purposes."

"As long as she's not doing anything demonic, she should be okay," said Sam.

But Ember wasn't listening. "Bobby," she whispered through the phone, and all three arguing voices suddenly stopped. "Bobby, what am I going to do?"

There was no answer, until Dean said, very softly. "We'll get this under control, Ember. We'll figure out Lilith, and Lucifer too, if it comes to that. I promise you."