Intensity

by roguefire28

Our heroes are together again, this time facing death at the hands of one of their own. What happens when everything falls apart and the battle they face is to the death? Join Dean, Sam, Alex and Sarah as they fight to survive one last time.

1

Dean raised his gun and the flashlight crossed over his wrist to sweep the hallway with the beam of light. Behind him Sam steadied his own shotgun. In the back of the house Dean knew Alex and Sarah were making their own entry. The two story house was silent and devoid of life. The house was empty of everything, including furniture, creating an atmosphere of anxiety. Dean thought he heard footsteps on the stairs and he swept the beam in the direction, moving quickly around the entry hall corner to take up position at the foot of the stairs.

"I thought I heard footsteps," Dean whispered.

"Me too," Sam agreed.

"The girls?" Dean wondered.

"Are you kidding me? Maybe Sarah, but I doubt Alex would make any noise at all."

Dean found himself nodding in agreement. His girlfriend was good and there wasn't any doubt about that. She was as stealthy as a housecat when she wanted to be and as tough as a tiger when she had to be. If she didn't want anybody to hear her then nobody was going to hear her. Dean took comfort in the knowledge that somewhere in the house was another set of very capable hands watching his back.

"Good point," Dean conceded. "Let's go get this bastard."

It had taken them five days of road tripping to get to Mill Springs, Missouri but they had finally made it. To make the journey more interesting they had swapped off cars and passengers alike. It had been like playing Chinese Stoplight but they had swapped off at about every other city instead of every red light. It had been fun and interesting to ride and drive with each of the quartet. It had given them all a little more bonding time than they had ever had before.

Sam followed his older brother up the stairs and held his shotgun at the ready. Dean eased up the stairs slowly, making sure to keep his eyes steady on the landing above. Sam looked over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed up by anyone other than the girls, which he still had seen no sign of.

Once they had arrived in Mill Springs they had split up and done some digging around to uncover as much as they could about the rash of deaths plaguing the small town. The population here was only about two hundred or so and the town was nervous about having strangers running around. Over the course of three days they had learned that each man that had committed a heinous act of murder had mysteriously died of what looked like self-inflicted wounds a few short hours after. There was one thing that didn't make any sense to Sam, however. Each man had lacerations, burns, bruises, and other mannerisms of self inflicted wounds all over his body at the time of death but none of them had a history of any kind of mental health condition. They were all perfectly normal, perfectly happy, perfectly successful men with their whole lives ahead of them. Not one person they had spoken to had revealed that these men had any reason to commit murder and then kill themselves. And the wounds on the bodies didn't indicate suicide. It was more like the body was eating itself alive. As if a force inside the body had pushed its way out and killed the shell in the process.

This was exactly the theory that Sarah had proven when she had come too close to the man they were now chasing around the old, abandoned house on the outskirts of town. She had encountered him on the way out of a local hardware store and had explained the encounter as though something were sucking the life force right out of her. When she had tried to sense the man's emotions it was like she was casting about in a void of cold, dark, emptiness. She had felt only evil and it had made her sick to her stomach to sense it. The man, wherever in his own body he may have been, was not close enough to the surface for her to get a read on and she had no desire to dig any deeper just to find him. When she had explained this to Sam he had immediately harbored the suspicion of demonic possessions taking place. He had developed a theory that wasn't too hard to prove. An unknown demon was possessing people in the small town, seemingly males only, and when he burned out a body he would move on to another. Each body burned out too quickly though because the mortals he was possessing had no special gifts, no extraordinary willpower that would sustain the human body long enough for the demon to get comfortable. When a mortal body began burning out from the force of the demon within it would begin to deteriorate at an accelerated pace. There were several symptoms that were easily recognizable but by that time it was usually too late to do anything for the average mortal.

Dean hit the landing and swung his light back and forth, searching the hallway that ran in both directions for any sign of the man they were chasing. Once the demon inside him had realized there were hunters in town he had ran for the hills. They had followed him to this house, about as far as his human body was going to be able to handle carrying him, and now the search was on.

Dean nodded for Sam to search the bedroom on the left while he moved carefully to the door on the right. He kicked it open and sprang into the doorway, sweeping his light across the floorboards and against the walls. The room was empty. Dean backed away and pushed open the bathroom door in the middle of the hall. This room, too, was empty. Sam came out of the other bedroom shaking his head slightly to indicate he hadn't found anything either.

"Sam!" Dean yelled suddenly as a shadow dropped from the ceiling above them and hit Sam between the shoulders.

Dean swore underneath his breath as he realized the creep had been hiding up in the wooden support beams above them. His little brother went down under the weight of his attacker, unconscious on impact, and his gun slipped from his grasp to tumble down the wooden stairs.

The man looked up at Dean with eyes devoid of any color. They were completely black, empty orbs that seemed to glow with evil. He smiled cruelly and Dean had to resist the urge to put a bullet between his eyes. It was still a human being in there somewhere, after all. Dean noticed that lacerations had already begun to show on the man's face and neck. The body was burning out rapidly and Dean realized they didn't have much time.

Dean noticed the beam of a flashlight appear at the foot of the stairs. He knew that the girls had heard the commotion and were on their way up.

He lunged across the short distance separating him and the demon, tackling him to the ground away from Sammy. Dean dropped his shotgun on the way and wrestled for control of the situation. The demon punched him in the face and Dean flipped him over, pinning him to the ground just as Alex reached the stairwell landing.

"Sam!" Sarah cried, rushing past her sister.

Alex stepped over Sam and hurried to Dean, throwing her own body weight in on top of the struggling demon beneath them. The man bucked and screamed, trying to throw them off. He stopped struggling suddenly and stared Dean in the eyes with the smallest of smiles on his face.

"This body is done," he grated. "But I'm not."

The man started convulsing as a black cloud of roiling smoke poured forth from his eyes, nose, and mouth. In the midst of the violent spasms Alex was thrown from her position and crashed into the wall at the far end of the hall. Dean stood quickly to avoid the same fate and watched as the man took the last of his shuddering breaths.

Behind him Sam stood with Sarah's support, still a bit shaky. Alex lifted herself up from the ground and mentally kicked herself for losing another innocent. The black smoke cast about in the air, as if searching for the most suitable body within range, and Alex jumped to her feet. She rushed across the room and pushed her sister and Sam down the stairs firmly.

"Go!" she yelled. "Get the hell out of here!"

Sarah began descending the stairs with her arm around Sam for support as Alex watched the mass of smoke continue its search. She reached for Dean with her hand just as it enveloped him within its midst. She watched in horror as it invaded his mouth and nose, disappearing without a trace inside his body.

"Oh God," she muttered, unable to think clearly. "Dean . . . ."

Dean turned around and shook his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts. He looked up at Alex and smiled slowly. Alex finally realized her gun was still in her hands and she raised it shakily, aiming it more or less for his chest. Her heart wrenched when she realized she didn't have the strength to pull the trigger.

"You can't," he said simply. "And you're in my way."

Dean grabbed her roughly by the front of her leather jacket and tossed her like a rag doll over the stair railing. She fell the twenty or so feet to the ground floor and hit hard, knocking all the sense from her. The last thing she saw was Dean walking out the front door. Then the darkness closed in.

2

"Alex," a voice said.

She opened her eyes slowly, halfway wishing to be in a motel room somewhere with Dean still beside her sleeping soundly. Then the pain hit her body and she knew that it hadn't been a dream. Dean was possessed and he had gotten away. She felt so sick to her stomach she almost rolled over and threw up.

"Alex, are you okay?" Sam's voice said, full of concern.

She sat up slowly, willing away the pain in her body, and gripped the younger Winchester brother's arm for support. She felt the blood from a dozen cuts on her face and the pain of a wooden shard buried in her side. Behind her she could feel Sarah's support as her younger sister kneeled at her back. She leaned back, letting her head rest on Sarah's chest, and closed her eyes.

"You might want to grit your teeth," Sam told her.

She felt his hand on her side, gripping the piece of wood that had stabbed through her jacket and into her flesh. She didn't think she would need to grit her teeth. She didn't think she could feel any pain at all right now. Dean was gone and in his place was the kind of evil she had sworn to destroy. Sam yanked the splinter of wood out and quickly covered the wound with his own shirt, leaving him bare-chested in the faint moonlight filtering into the house. Alex didn't feel the wood come out, didn't feel the blood that followed after it.

"Alex," her sister said gently. "You have to get a grip."

Alex knew Sarah was reading her emotions carefully, trying to gauge her sister's mentality. Right now she was a swirl of hurt, anger, and confusion. For the first time in her life she really didn't know what to do. How could she kill the man she loved? She knew that pinning Dean down for an exorcism would be no easy feat and she wondered if that was even possible. She felt lost and wanted nothing more than to curl up in a corner and cry until time turned itself back and everything was alright again.

"We have to stop him," Sam said carefully.

"How?" Alex demanded.

Sam shook his head sadly. "I don't know."

"We can't kill him!" Alex cried. "And how are we going to get him in one place long enough to exorcise him?"

"I don't know!" Sam yelled. "He's my brother! Don't you think I wish I knew?"

"Guys," Sarah said, playing the mediator. "We can't fight each other. We have to stick together if we want to have any hope at all of saving Dean."

She noted the tears running silently down Sam's face. She heard the shuddering breaths her sister was taking to steady herself. Two different people that loved Dean deeply, in two different ways. Sarah knew that they might be able to save him if they could just keep from falling apart first.

Alex pushed herself to her feet shakily and walked to the open doorway that Dean had strode out of. She turned to find Sam standing close behind her, staring over her shoulder out into the wood line. The look on his face was one of total defeat, complete despair. Alex glanced down to see the darkness inside her amulet swirling. She cast the thought aside before it had time to completely take hold inside her head.

"What are we going to do?" Sam whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

Alex turned and drew him into a hug that her sister quickly joined. They held each other for strength, support, and comfort for several minutes. Sam dried his eyes with the back of his hand and Alex steeled herself inside. It was harder than to do than she thought it would be. She had been human for awhile now and she felt human emotions stronger than she ever had before. It was hard to put herself in a mentality of strength and toughness. It was hard to think about what she might have to do if all else failed. In her human state she knew she would never have the strength to hurt Dean in any way. Again she stared at the pendant that held her former self.

"We need to find him first of all," Sarah supplied. "Where would he go?"

"Demons like to blend," Alex said. "He'll go somewhere relatively crowded."

"The bar?" Sam wondered.

Alex nodded. "Good place to start and the most likely place. It's a small town and I see he took his car. We'll be able to find him fairly quickly."

"I'm not good with the fisticuffs so I'll go back to the motel and throw in some research," Sarah suggested. "Maybe I can dig up something useful."

Alex nodded again. "Yeah, better you're out of the action than in the middle of it."

"What do we do when we find him?" Sam asked.

Alex bit her lip. "I think the best thing we can do is size up the strength of the demon inside him. See what his next move is going to be and if we can get through at all to Dean. We need to know how much a foothold this thing has got and what kind of power we're going to need to defeat it."

"You think Dean is still in there?" Sam said hopefully.

"I know he is," Alex replied. "The issue isn't whether or not he's in there, but how far down he's been pushed. We need to know how much control the demon has."

"How are you going to do that?" Sarah asked doubtfully.

"I don't know," her sister replied, walking out the door. "I'm making this up as I go."

3

Dean walked through the front door of the crowded bar with confident, easy strides. He was almost challenging any of the patrons to look at him crosswise. He received a few suspicious glances but nobody overtly threatened him, which was a little on the disappointing side. He moved to the back of the bar when he saw the blonde haired woman he knew he was supposed to be meeting. She was sitting casually in a booth, sipping at a margarita and scanning the crowd slowly. Dean slid into the booth across from her and crossed his arms over the table.

"It's done, then," the woman said.

"Yes," Dean replied. "This one is a fighter though. He keeps trying to push me out himself."

"He won't be a problem?"

"Not at all. I've crushed more significant wills than his," the demon within replied confidently.

"And his love for the half-breed?" the woman asked.

The demon twisted Dean's face into an expression of contemplation. "It's a powerful thing, human love. But she isn't strong enough to destroy this body and he won't be able to overcome my will long enough to accomplish anything useful."

"So you are expecting there to be issues when the girl is around?"

"Perhaps. But nothing I can't take care of," Dean replied. "Do you want me to kill them all and get it over with?"

The tone of his voice implied that he really hoped this wasn't the case. The demon had been body hopping for a few weeks now and all he had been able to do was kill again and again. That was fun for a little while, but after that it just got boring. Death was all the same. And none of the humans he had killed were even worthy of his time. They never put up much of a fight. The demon longed to meet his equal in wit and battle so that he could savor the kill.

"No," the woman said. "As a reward for your loyalty you may do as you please. I know how you like to play. Meg has given her permission to see this through as you deem necessary. But eventually they will all have to die."

"Very good," Dean said silkily. "I have many things in mind. I have a feeling this will be an easy job. None of them seem like much of a threat."

The woman set her glass down sharply. "Do not underestimate them! They are not mere mortals. While it might be fun for you to toy with them and their emotions you must not forget what they are. They are hunters. One of them is a former half demon, the other two are psychics."

"Former half demon," Dean emphasized. "Meaning human now and vulnerable to her emotions for this body. The two psychics as I was told have little control or understanding of their powers. They are fledglings and nothing to be overly concerned about."

"Again you underestimate them," the woman reminded him coldly. "Do not make that mistake and fail Meg."

"Fine," the demon said just as coldly. "I'll tread carefully and make sure I know what I'm dealing with before I do anything. Happy now?"

"Not really," the woman admitted. "I'll be happy when they're all dead."

"Soon enough."

4

Alex pulled the Nova into the parking lot of the bar on the outskirts of town and climbed out. She was noticing the pain in her side now where Sam had pulled out the wooden shard but she pushed the pain away. It was a dull ache that she didn't have time for. Sam had replaced his shirt with one that was in her trunk and he stood beside her now, sizing up the bar the same way she was.

There were plenty of bikes parked outside and several cars, implying that the inside was going to be crowded. She could hear the bass from whatever music was playing inside thumping and she steeled herself for what was to come. She watched a pretty blonde woman walk out the front door and head to her car, a silver Honda Civic parked at the far end of the lot.

"You ready?" Alex asked.

"Ready as I'm going to get," Sam replied.

Alex started toward the door but stopped suddenly when she heard a slight yell from the side alley of the bar. She looked up at Sam in alarm and he took off for the side of the building. Alex felt herself suddenly longing for her demonic strength as she turned the corner and saw Dean holding a knife over a biker.

"Dean!" Sam roared.

"It's not Dean, Sam," Alex cautioned quietly.

She eased closer with her arm across Sam's chest to keep him from making any stupid moves. She watched the biker squirm into a more defensible position while Dean was distracted.

"Let him go," Sam demanded.

"Why?" Dean's voice said.

As soon as the words left his mouth the biker kicked out and caught Dean in the gut. Sam rushed past Alex and barreled into his brother, knocking them both into the wooden fence that lined the back of the bar. The biker jumped to his feet and looked as if he couldn't decide whether to retreat or join in the fight. Alex ran to him and grabbed him by the arm. She had to duck the sudden punch he threw in her direction from being startled.

"I'm sorry," he apologized to her after realizing it was a woman.

"Just get out of here, please," she told him. "We'll handle him."

The biker nodded and jogged out of sight around the side of the building. A few minutes later Alex heard the roar of a motorcycle starting up and she nodded to herself, satisfied that the biker's pride would keep him from calling the cops.

Sam gained the upper hand and pushed Dean off him, following the move with a harsh right cross that connected to Dean's jaw. Dean stumbled back and Sam kept coming obviously trying to take his brother down to the ground. Alex stayed back out of the way and let Sam work out his anger issues. Dean turned around quickly and punched Sam in the gut, doubling the younger Winchester brother over. Sam kicked out and connected with Dean's knee before rising up far enough to shove his elbow into Dean's abdomen. Dean grabbed Sam in a chokehold and fell backward against the wooden fence again. Sam threw his elbow into Dean's gut again just enough to get out of the hold and stumble away, gasping for air.

"Enough of this," Dean said icily.

He stalked forward and grabbed Sam by his jacket, lifting him into the air and throwing him easily thirty feet down the alley. Sam hit the ground and rolled, coming to a stop at the mouth of the alley.

Alex sized Dean up and knew that she wasn't strong enough to defeat him with a demon in full possession. She backed away slowly but Dean rushed up, grabbing her by the shoulders and pinning her easily to the wall of the bar.

"You must be the former half demon," he growled. "How does it feel to be a helpless human?"

It hit Alex suddenly that there was no way an average demon would know this about her. The back of her mind worked frantically, trying to put the pieces together. There was something else here, something larger at play. It also occurred to her that he had called her former half demon. He must not know anything about her power stored in the amulet or how she could break it and become everything she once was.

Alex made a move to push him off and he locked his forearm across her neck, pushing hard enough to make her think twice about moving.

"You won't win this," he told her.

"You don't know me very well then," she shot back.

Dean laughed. "I do like challenges. But I don't think you're going to be much of a challenge."

"Somebody obviously sucks at doing their homework," she replied.

Dean nodded slowly, as if thinking that response over. He lunged forward suddenly and enveloped her mouth in a kiss that made her stomach turn. It was a mockery of the love she had for Dean and the demon knew it. He was insulting her, demeaning her by showing her the power he held.

Suddenly Dean went flying off of her and Alex looked up to see Sam standing next to her, eyes a mixture of rage and pain. He was breathing hard and she could see that he had been injured in the fight. Bruises were blossoming on his face and arms and his shirt was ripped open on the left shoulder from his tumble down the alley. He reached out and punched his brother across the face with all his strength, sending Dean down to the ground. Dean was up again in an instant and shaking the hit off. Sam grabbed Alex and pushed her behind him, shielding her body with his.

She felt an uncontrollable anger at that moment. She hated the feeling of being helpless, of needing protection. She was angry that she couldn't stop Dean, couldn't fight him, and couldn't save him. She knew the demon inside him was too powerful for them to overcome with the physical strength they had at their disposal.

Dean faced Sam down and smiled coldly. Alex watched the grace of his movements, the strength that showed in his well toned body and felt again the utter hopelessness of trying to beat him. The demon had chosen the perfect body. Dean wouldn't burn out for a long time and he was in shape, strong by human standards, and even stronger in spirit. This would give Dean a fighting edge in trying to hold back the demon from complete possession but eventually the demon would win.

Dean turned around and began walking away. Sam started after him but Alex grabbed his arm.

"Let him go," she said.

"Another time," Dean said with a laugh. "Sammy."

Sam flinched at the use of his pet name in such utter perversion and Alex gripped his arm tighter, more for reassurance than anything else. They had no choice but to watch Dean walk away again and wonder what he was going to do next.

5

Sarah opened the motel room door and stood back as Sam and Alex stumbled in. Alex removed Sam's arm from her shoulder and eased him onto the bed, hurrying to get the first aid kit from the bathroom.

"Oh God!" Sarah cried. "What happened?"

"Dean happened," Alex replied harshly, coming back in the room.

Sarah eased Sam's shirt off as Alex began applying a wet cloth to his wounds. Sam laid his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes against the wave of despair threatening to wash over him. His brother was gone; everything he had left in the world aside from Sarah was lost to him. He had no idea where his father was or if he was even still alive. Dean had been everything to Sam, everything he had left to hang onto in a world that made no sense to him. They were supposed to fight the good fight together and Dean was going to be there for him always. Dean was supposed to protect Sam, according to their father, but what happened when Sam couldn't protect the one person that had always been there for him? What happened when Dean turned completely evil and hurt an innocent person? Was Sam supposed to just kill him like some other evil that he took out on an everyday basis? Sam felt the beginning of a gaping hole begin to develop in his heart, one that threatened to swallow him whole in the jaws of defeat. Sarah reached out quickly and grabbed his hand. He felt a rush of calm, of reassurance at her touch and found the strength inside himself to keep going for a little longer. He had to. For Dean's sake he had to be strong.

"What are we going to do?" Sarah asked.

"Did your research turn anything up?" Sam asked, opening one eye.

"No," she said. "Nothing we don't already know."

"Which would be the standard exorcism procedures and rituals," Alex added.

Sarah nodded. She sat cross-legged on the bed and held Sam's hand while Alex applied a bandage to a cut on his side.

"Sarah," Alex began. "Do you think you could get a read on him empathically?"

"I don't know. I've been practicing but I think it could be tricky considering the fact that there are two souls in one," she replied.

"What about with my help?" Sam asked. "I can't control it yet but I know that I have psychic powers of some sort too."

"That could work," Alex said. "If you feed off of our energy than you might be able to do more than you think you can. It would be like triple the power."

"How are you going to help?" Sarah asked, not meaning any offense.

Alex smiled and help up her amulet for her sister to see. She was not so subtly reminding Sarah that even with her demonic half severed it was still a part of her. The energy from that power alone was enough to give any psychic a kick in the ass. Sarah pursed her lips and brought her knees up to her chin, encircling her legs with her arms. Alex knew she was asking a lot of her little sister so soon after Sarah discovered her new power but right now it was the only chance she could think of. If Dean was still in there then she wouldn't have to consider the worst case scenario just yet. Her heart felt like it was ripping from her chest at the thought of losing Dean and even more at the thought that she wouldn't be able to stop him.

"I can try," Sarah said.

"We can try," Sam corrected.

Sam moved over on the bed and let Sarah lay down while Alex and Sam sat next to her on the other side. Sarah smiled bravely at her two companions and closed her eyes, falling deep inside herself. Alex cast an anxious glance at Sam and covered her sister's hand with her own. Sam joined his own hand on top of Alex's and she was surprised at how connected she felt to the both of them. It was as though their strength were her strength and vice versa.

Sarah fell down inside herself and pictured Dean's face, willing herself with all her heart to his side. She felt an odd tingling sensation from the hands over hers and felt as though a new power was surging into her veins with the contact. She felt like she was yanked from her physical body and hurtled through time and space. She was suddenly next to Dean, although he didn't seem to be aware of her presence. She walked around him in a slow circle, studying him from every angle before looking down at herself. She almost cried out when she found that she was completely incorporeal. She could see right through her hands to the black pavement below. She focused again on Dean, who was talking on his cell phone in a low voice. She got closer to him, practically on top of him, and listened to both ends of the conversation.

" . . .will not tolerate failure," a woman's voice was saying from the other end.

"I know that," Dean replied, exasperated. "I'm not going to fail. Too much time and effort has been put into this plan for it to fail now. Killing them is not going to be a problem. I just want to have some fun before I do it."

"As long as you do as Meg instructs within an appropriate amount of time," the woman replied.

Sarah felt the power surge strengthen distantly and she knew she had to find out who this woman was. There was a greater conspiracy at play here and this woman was part of it. Sarah knew that what she was doing was called astral projection. Her desire to see Dean had brought her here with the help of the power coming from Sam and Alex. The power boost had worked to an exceptional degree. She had a desperate thought; one that was so crazy it just might work.

She stepped back and jumped, willing herself into Dean's body. She flew past the demon so fast he didn't have time to register what had just happened. She searched, feeling for Dean's emotions, and latched onto them when she found them buried deep beneath the surface of his consciousness.

She felt like she was stepping through a door onto another plane of existence. Somewhere inside himself Dean was locked away in a secret place all his own where he held the demon back from destroying him completely. It was a place of his own making, somewhere inside his mind and it was into this place that Sarah went.

Dean felt the second intrusion into his body and came up to the surface just enough to realize that Sarah had somehow invaded him as well. He reached out with his will and grabbed her, bringing her into his safe haven before the demon could realize what had happened.

"Dean!" she said, as soon as she got her bearings again.

Dean realized this must be overwhelming for her. He had locked himself away inside his mind in a place that he constructed. Here he was safe from the demon's attempts to completely take him for now. The "room" they were standing in was a replica of his room when he had been an adolescent. There were Metallica posters covering the walls along with several other bands that Sarah didn't recognize. His desk had papers littered on it detailing different occult phenomena among other things. On his bed were several shotguns that he had been in the middle of cleaning meticulously. Sarah gaped in awe at the sheer reality of his safe haven. She had no idea people could retreat so fully inside themselves to this degree.

"Sarah what the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

She pulled herself from her thoughts and stared at him before throwing herself into his arms. He was stunned for a minute before returning the hug. Sarah pulled away with tears in her eyes.

"I'm here to find out what's going on," she said.

"Isn't that obvious?" he asked.

"I heard you . . .him . . .talking on the phone," she told him. "Dean you have to tell me what you know."

"I know that Meg is a part of this. Coming here was a trap, a setup to get us all killed."

"Meg?" she asked.

"She's a girl that Sam met awhile back who's connected in some way to the thing that killed our mother," he explained. "She's bad news."

Sarah nodded. "How long can you last in here?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Probably awhile."

"We're going to fix this," she told him.

"You have to get out of here!" he said. "This thing is serious. It's going to kill you all."

Sarah shook her head emphatically. "No. We're not abandoning you Dean."

"I don't know if I can hold him off and keep him from hurting you guys," Dean said quietly.

"Dean, we'll figure something out."

"Did I hurt Sammy?" he asked, the pain evident on his features.

"Nothing he can't handle," she reassured him.

"How's Alex?"

Sarah hesitated. "She's managing. My sister is a little on the mysterious side right now. She's not exactly being an open book."

"Tell her I love her. Tell her not to worry," he said.

"I will. Dean, just stay strong. Don't give up on us okay?"

"I won't. But you have to get out of here," Dean told her.

She hugged him again, wishing she could just take him back to the safety of the motel room with her.

"Dean, where can I find the woman he's on the phone with?" she asked, remembering the conspiracy theory.

"At a motel across town," he replied. "The Silver Horseshoe."

Sarah nodded and smiled at him. "We'll get through this. Just hold on."

With that she stepped out and let herself be pulled back to her corporeal body by her will to be home again. She opened her eyes to find Sam and Alex staring back at her.

"We have work to do."

6

Sam pulled the Nova up to the Silver Horseshoe motel and waited while Sarah went inside to work her charms on the desk clerk. He couldn't believe that this had all been an elaborate trap that Meg had laid out for them. She was trying to destroy them from the inside out by using one of their own against them. One who knew them best and would be able to tell their next move fairly easily. Dean knew all their strengths and weaknesses, which could prove to be a fatal asset. His own brother had become an assassin sent to kill them all by an enemy too smart for her own good.

Sarah wrapped on his window and he got out of the car to join her. Somewhere out there in the darkness of the town was Alex, searching for Dean. The town was pretty small and there were only a few places to search that he might be hiding. They had figured locating him at the very least was the best move so that they could keep tabs on his movements. Alex wasn't planning to confront him only to watch him from the shadows while Sam and Sarah dealt with the mystery caller.

"The latest check in was a blonde woman who's in room three," she told him.

Sam nodded and pulled his gun from the waistband of his jeans. He led the way to the door and knocked twice before covering the peephole to keep the element of surprise.

"She's in there," Sarah whispered. "I can feel worry."

Sam waited patiently while footsteps approached the door cautiously.

"Who's there?" the woman called from the other side.

"It's me, you idiot," Sarah snarled. "Meg. Open the damn door."

Sam looked at his girlfriend in surprise. Sarah gave a half smile and shrugged one shoulder. He heard the locks disengage and as soon as she opened the door a crack he shoved with all his strength, forcing his way into the room.

"What the hell?" the woman cried as Sam backhanded her onto the bed.

Sarah shut the door quickly and stood to the side of it while Sam pointed his gun threateningly at the woman's face. Sarah moved to search the rest of the room for any other people. The only light in the room was the dim glow of the television, which had been muted when they knocked.

"Who are you?" Sam demanded.

"That's none of your business," she snarled. "I'm calling the cops."

She moved to get up from the bed and Sam grabbed her by the throat, whirling her around to slam her up against the far wall. The muzzle of his gun found her ribcage and for the first time in his life all he could think about was pulling the trigger. This woman had helped take his brother away from him.

"You're not calling anybody," he told her. "Answer my question."

"My name is Sarina."

"Meg sent you here?" he demanded.

"To watch you," she confirmed. "To make sure the plan was carried out."

"What plan?" Sarah asked.

"Are you an idiot?" the woman laughed. "To make sure that Dean was possessed."

"Where is Meg?" Sam asked.

"How should I know?" Sarina replied. "She calls me. I've never seen her before."

Sam steadied himself and took a deep breath, trying to temper the rage building inside of him. Sarah took a step toward the front door and reacted in shock as it swung open.

"Sam!" she cried.

Sarah didn't have time to react to the fist that found her temple and she went down hard. Her head swirled as she fought to maintain consciousness. Sam spun around at her cry of alarm and all he saw in the dim light was his brother an inch from his face. Behind him Sarina scrambled out of reach and retreated into the far corner of the room.

"You're becoming a problem, brother," Dean hissed.

Sam saw a flash of metal and his body jerked as Dean sank the six inch blade into his gut. Dean grabbed his brother's throat and pinned him to wall in much the same manner that Sam had done to Sarina only minutes ago. He pushed the knife in deeper and Sam felt as though his side was on fire. He felt numb from shock as well, unable to believe that he was meeting his death at the hands of his older brother. He looked past Dean's shoulder as his world started to fade to see Sarah on her feet. Her usual gentle expression was gone from her face. Sarina started toward Sarah, as though to hit her again, and Sarah stalked forward. She decked the woman across the face for all she was worth as she went and Sarina fell to the ground unconscious.

"Get the hell away from him," Sarah growled.

Her face was a mask of rage so deep her body trembled with it. She felt the power building inside her, begging for release, and her hands flew to her temples. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. Dean slid the knife out and watched his brother fall to the floor before closing in on Sarah.

"Stay away!" she screamed and he was hit with a stunning blow of psychic energy that sent him flipping through the air and into a wall. The knife stuck blade first into the carpet as he tried to regain his footing. Sarah stalked closer, hands still at her head, and glared down at the monster inside her friend.

"Feel it," she commanded. "Feel all of it you bastard. All the pain, all the suffering. Rot in your own hell!"

She pushed all of her agony from herself and directed it at him. She cast about and gathered all the pain from other people that she could feel and sent it flying into the demon as though a tunnel had opened between the two of them. Dean's body jerked and convulsed as the demon rolled on the ground, moaning in anguish. She kept barraging him, sending all the energy of heartbreak and torment that she could muster straight into the demon. He screamed and growled, thrashing about on the floor while she rushed to Sam and grabbed him under the arms. Adrenaline surged through her system and she dragged him to the door, leaving a trail of blood across the navy blue carpet. Sarina got up from the floor and shook her head before registering that they were escaping. Sarah dropped Sam and moved back into the room, grabbing up a metal lamp that was sitting on the stand next to the bed.

"Bitch!" she yelled and swung with all her strength.

The end of the lamp connected with her head and a gash opened up beneath the force of the blow. Sarina fell like a sack of bricks and Sarah dropped the lamp to rush Sam out of the room. She opened the Nova's door and hauled him inside.

"Don't die, Sam," she begged. "Please don't leave me."

7

Alex yanked open the door to the emergency room and rushed inside. Her sister was pacing back and forth, tears staining her face, when Alex approached.

"Alex," Sarah cried and she couldn't muster anymore words.

Alex pulled her sister into a hug and Sarah broke like a dam, sobs wrenching from deep inside her. Her sister cried for several minutes before pulling back to arms length and studying Alex.

"I told the cops it was Sarina. She's being booked in jail right now. I made up some story about Sam meeting her outside the bar and she told us to come see her at the motel. Then she attacked us," Sarah told her softly.

"You left Dean out of it?"

Sarah nodded. "I remember he told us that he's legally dead in some other state. I didn't want them checking the records and finding out otherwise. You got to the room before the police right?"

Alex nodded. Sarah had called her on the way to the hospital before she had called the police. Alex had rushed to the room and wiped Dean's prints off the knife so that he couldn't be implicated in the assault. Her sister hadn't told her what she was going to tell the police but Alex had done as she asked and wrapped the knife in Sarina's hands so that the only prints left on it were hers.

"How is he?" Alex asked.

"I don't know yet. They're still in surgery trying to close the wound and stop the bleeding." Sarah's eyes teared up again. "He tried to kill Sam. What's he going to do now?"

"Nothing," Alex said through clenched teeth.

She looked to the pile of belongings that had come from Sam's pockets sitting neatly on an orange chair and thought about Sam never using them again. Fury exploded through her veins, turning her vision a bright shade of red. She thought about her sister being harmed, the only living family member she had left. She thought about her promise to protect Sarah with her life and her fists clenched at her sides.

"Alex?" Sarah asked hesitantly.

Alex looked at her sister and the beautiful woman that she had become. She wasn't going to let Dean hurt her or anymore people for that matter. There was something she could do and while it meant throwing away everything she had worked to obtain she no longer cared.

"Stay with Sam," she told Sarah.

"Alex," Sarah begged. "Don't."

Alex turned on her heel and stalked from the emergency room.

"I have no choice."

8

Alex pulled the car off the side of the road three miles outside of Mill Springs and climbed out. It had begun to rain although it was more like a light sprinkle. The clouds overhead were dark and gorged with the promise of more to come. Lightning flashed on the horizon and in the distance thunder rolled. She slammed her door shut and started for the woods.

She loved Dean with all her heart and soul, but she couldn't let him kill anyone. Dean wouldn't want her to stand by and do nothing. Dean would want to take a gun to his own head if he found out that he had killed Sam. Alex had a feeling Sam was going to pull through but the lingering threat that Dean would come back to finish the job was still in the air. She pushed through the underbrush and kept walking, seeking solitude and the courage to do the unthinkable.

Sarah sat in the waiting room on one of the ugly orange chairs and cried quietly. Her tears fell for Sam, for Dean, for herself, and for Alex. She held her head in her hands and wished fervently that everything could be perfect again. That they could go back in time to that sunny morning in Heather Thornton's kitchen when it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Now everything had gone wrong and it was all falling apart. She glanced around the waiting room and her eyes fell to the pile of Sam's belongings on the chair. She picked up his cell phone gently and flipped it open, mindlessly going through the numbers under his contact list. She stopped on one word. Dad.

Alex came to a stop in a clearing lined with thick, ancient oak trees. Overhead the thunder grew louder and the lightning flashed against the night sky with ferocity, as if trying to tear a hole through the clouds themselves. The sky opened up and rain poured down as she gripped the small crystal at her neck. She yanked it hard, snapping the chain, and held it up before her eyes. The blackness inside swirled darker than ever before. She thought again of Dean, of her failure to hold her own against him. She thought of the anger that she had felt when she knew that she couldn't save him. She thought of her love for him, of everything they had been through, and the anger surged through her again. The evil in her world had taken so much already. Her mother, her father, her twin, and now Dean. It wouldn't take Sarah and she would wrench Dean back from its grasp.

She threw the crystal against a rock in the ground with all her strength and it shattered to a clap of thunder that shook the heavens above. A jagged bolt of lightning escaped the sky and split the ground ten feet away from her.

The cloud of black swirled into the air and surged through her being. She felt like she was being torn apart and she threw her arms out wide. A scream of raw rage and pain escaped her throat as the evil reassimilated itself inside her. She felt it seeking out every part of her being, pulling her apart and back together again. The power surged through her veins until she thought she would explode. It was more than she could bear. More than her body could take. Her demonic half had grown stronger since she had yanked it out of herself and now it was back with a vengeance.

Alex fell to her knees in the rain and screamed again, pouring all her fury into that one sound.

Sarah dialed the number with trembling hands and waited through five rings. A deep male's voice came over the other end and told her that if it was an emergency to call his son, Dean. She waited until the voicemail told her to leave a message and mustered all her courage.

"Mr. Winchester, you don't know me but your sons are in trouble. You need to come to Mill Springs, Missouri immediately. Right now. Come to Mill Springs Memorial Hospital. I'm here with your son, Sam. My name is Sarah Delaney. Please come."

She hung up the phone and wondered if she had done the right thing.

Alex stood from the ground and faced the wood line. Her eyes were the deepest pits of onyx and rainwater poured down her face. She started back to her car with purpose. It was time to end this. The power coursed through her veins with all the fury of an out of control freight train and she stalked through the forest. Water cascaded off the leather she was wearing and fell to the muddy ground. She had only one thought.

Dean.

9

Sarah paced the waiting room anxiously. It had been almost nine hours since Alex had left the emergency room. The early morning sun was filtering through the windows around the waiting room. Sarah had slept for awhile and awakened when the doctor had come to tell her that Sam was in the recovery room from emergency surgery to close his wound. The doctor had said she could go in with him in the morning. She tapped her cell phone against her open palm, wondering if she should try and call her sister. She knew that Alex had gone off to reclaim her demonic half. She knew that Alex felt it was the only way left to stand a chance against Dean. Sarah also knew that her sister could be swallowed whole by the power that had almost claimed her before.

Alex had fought so hard to regain her humanity. She had taken a huge step in having the demonic half removed and stored. It had made her have to jump to the top of her game in way that she never had to before just to stay alive. Alex had been used to throwing demons around like they were rag dolls and holding her own against almost any enemy. Her martial arts skilled had been amplified by her superhuman strength and speed. When she got injured in a fight she could keep going because they healed on their own at three times the speed a normal human would. Her endurance gave her the edge in battle; she wasn't going to wear down like most people. Alex could take a hit as well as dish one out. Sarah had witnessed Alex walk out of some fights that she should have never survived without so much as a scratch on her. When she had been reduced to all the power of a mere mortal Alex had to make a huge adjustment in her style. She had to be more careful and to her she had always felt like she was doing half of what she could do. The transition had been incredibly difficult and Sarah was terrified of what would happen now that Alex was back to her former glory.

Allison and Alex had been a lethal duo. Alex by far had been the strength of the group. She had been the athletic one, the one to stand up first and throw the first punch. She was the last to fall down and the first to get back up. She was the toughest, the strongest, and the most dangerous. She alone had been on equal footing with the things that she fought because she had it in her to be just as savage as they were. Allison had been the soul of the group. She was as strong as her sister but less adept at using her demonic half to her advantage. Allison had been the intelligent one, the one to kick out the research and get the answers they needed to win. She had played mediator between Sarah and Alex countless times. Allison had been the voice of all three of them; the one that spoke the things they felt in their heart but would never say aloud. Sarah knew she had been the heart of their threesome. She had been the one that cried at night over the innocent people they had lost. She was the one that acted as the twin's moral compass if ever they veered off the path. Sarah had led them to some of their jobs with her ability to look ahead in time. Together they were unstoppable. Together they had stood strong against the evil in their lives. Until that same evil they had beaten back so many times before went and claimed everything all over again.

Sarah had found her place again. She felt strong in the knowledge that she had grown into a powerful psychic. Sarah had displayed several different forms of the psychic coin when she had become enraged at the demon inside Dean. She had used empathy and telekinesis all in the same hour. Then a few hours after that she had astrally projected albeit with a boost from the other two. She felt whole with Dean, Sam, and Alex by her side and that was a feeling she had believed she would never feel again.

She sighed deeply and checked the time on her phone. It was almost eight in the morning. Alex should have checked in by now unless she had been consumed by the evil she had kept at bay for so long.

Sarah turned her thoughts from Alex to the phone call she had placed earlier. She didn't know why she had called their dad, except for the obvious fact that he was their father. She felt like more firepower would be a better thing and if anything happened to either one of the Winchester brothers than their father should be there. She didn't know how she was going to explain herself or her demonic sister to their dad. Sam had told her a lot about him and their life growing up with him. She knew what he was like on a job, what he looked like, his history as Sam knew it, and his dedication to the job. Sarah knew a lot about John Winchester but she was worried how he was going to react to Alex. She was half of the thing that he has spent his life hunting. Sarah worried even more about what Alex would do if John Winchester threatened her in any way. She caught her thought train and pulled it back in, realizing that she was jumping the track in even thinking that John would show up. There was no way to know if he had even gotten her message or not. There was no way to tell if he would answer her plea or leave his sons to their own devices.

"Miss Delaney," a voice called.

Sarah turned around to face a nurse in a soft pink smock smiling gently at her. "You can go back now if you like."

Sarah nodded and slowly pocketed the cell phone. She followed the nurse back to Sam's room and tried to push all other thoughts from her mind. Alex, in whatever condition she was in, could handle her own well enough and there wasn't anything that Sarah by herself could do against Dean for long. Right now she belonged with Sam. If Dean came looking to finish his job, she would be waiting.

10

Alex sat in her car and stared at the bar entrance with narrowed eyes. She had been tailing Dean for hours now and so far her movements had gone unnoticed. She was moving methodically, watching his every move, feeling out his patterns. She wanted to know everything about the thing inside him down to what he ate for breakfast. Alex had crept into the waiting room in the early hours of the morning and taken the keys from her sleeping sister without being noticed. She doubted that Sarah even knew she had the car.

In her hand she held the cold steel of a .9mm already loaded and set on safety. She flipped it around in her hands and shifted in her seat wondering how much damage the bullet would do. She had a nearly uncontrollable urge to find out. She wanted to feel the blood on her hands and hear the desperate cries of the dying. She set the gun in her lap and clenched her hands against her temples, laying her head on the top of the steering wheel. She felt as though she were on fire, burning alive from the inside out. The power coursed through her veins unchecked and it was a strength she had never felt before. She struggled to remember her feelings for Dean; the love she had felt was slipping away with every second the darkness ebbed in her heart. She wondered silently if he would scream when he died.

She looked up suddenly and saw Dean walk out the front door. His stride was confident and slow, as though he knew that nothing in the world could touch him. Nothing in the world but me, she thought with a smirk. She opened her car door and slid out, feeling the cool night air brush against the heat of her skin. Her muscles rippled with the raw power inside them as she stalked toward Dean with all the silence of a panther in its natural territory. She came within feet of him as he removed the key to his car from his pocket and stood watching. He turned suddenly, obviously feeling her gaze boring into his back.

A slow smile spread lazily across his face and his green eyes flashed under the faint light of the lamps lighting the front of the bar. She smiled back, not one of greeting, but of self assurance.

"In a rush to die?" he asked.

She shrugged one shoulder and cocked an eyebrow above the sunglasses she wore to cover her eyes. The dawn light was breaking across the horizon behind him but the shadows from the night before were still long on the ground. It was between night and day at this hour where good and evil fought for power in a balance that was ever shifting.

"I told you," she began slowly, "you suck at doing your homework."

Dean propped one elbow on the top of his open door and leaned back, obviously not concerned about the fact that she was only a few feet away. His confidence came off him in waves and it made her sick. She wanted nothing more than to plant a bullet squarely between his eyes and watch him fall to his knees.

"What are you doing here?" he asked suddenly.

"Watching you," she replied.

He nodded to himself. "Learned anything useful?"

"Loads," she told him. "But you haven't learned anything about me."

"And what is there to learn?" he smirked.

She pulled off the shades with exaggeration and allowed him to see her eyes, once the brightest shade of sapphire blue, now burning pits of onyx. She enjoyed his visible shock, the way that he jerked with surprise. She stepped closer and her body moved with the fluid grace of a tiger slinking through the jungle ferns.

"I'm not an easy kill," she hissed. "But I think you will be."

"That's what you think," he shot back.

He lunged at her, trying to bring her to the ground, and she sidestepped out of the way. He stumbled past and she brought her foot around in a sweeping kick that caught him squarely in the back of the neck. Alex turned around slowly to face him as he regained his footing. She shrugged her shoulders, effectively popping her neck, and began a slow circular walk around him that he countered until they were both circling each other. He lunged and tried a left punch that she blocked with one arm. He brought his right hand in to hit her gut while she was distracted but she rotated her hips to the side and caught his arm in a vise grip. She spun him around and slammed him up against his car.

"Wanna dance?" she asked.

She brought her knee up three times fast, each time connecting with his gut and pushed him away. He came up again with rage across his features. There was a flash deep in his eyes that implied he was enjoying it as well. She figured it had been a long time since he had met anyone that could challenge him. He came in from the side and quickly changed direction to slam his fist against the side of her face. She stumbled back and wiped blood from her now split lip. She nodded to herself and leapt in, throwing a furious succession of punches that he blocked easily. He lunged forward and grabbed her by the arms. He lifted with all his strength and she flew thirty five feet backward to hit the brick wall of the bar. She slid to the ground and realized that the bricks around her had shattered from the impact. She got to one knee and brushed the remaining brick chunks off of her shoulders before standing. Her leather jacket was ripped at the shoulder and her skin had been rubbed raw from the impact. She was lucky there was any skin left on her shoulder. She stalked forward and didn't slow even after coming back within his range. He smirked at her and she pulled her right arm across her chest before swinging it out again with all her strength. She caught him in the face and launched him through the air with that single blow. He flew across the parking lot and his body landed in the windshield of a parked car. The windshield exploded on impact and Dean had to struggle to remove himself from the deadly glass around him. When he finally extracted himself he moved slowly back to his opponent and sized her up with renewed interest. She could throw him around with the strength of a full blooded demon and take hits that would kill a mortal. Her movements were fluid and swift, faster than the average human eye could follow, and every muscle in her body was wired for battle.

"This could be interesting," he remarked.

"Could be," she agreed.

"I will kill you," he told her. "Slowly."

She shrugged. "If you say so."

She leapt high in the air and swung her right leg around in a wide arc that connected with the side of his face. He fell to the ground and Alex heard his neck crack audibly. She landed easily and lunged, falling on top of him with her knee on his throat and her hands pinning his arms to the ground. Blood from her facial wounds dripped onto his face as she contemplated what to do now.

She reached into the waistband of her leather pants for the gun but stopped as a sudden barrage of memories shattered her focus. Her vision blurred slightly as she remembered Dean's emotional outburst in the kitchen when he had admitted his true feelings to her. She flashed back to their passionate lovemaking and the world around her tilted slightly. She rose from her position and stared at the dawn breaking across the sky. It swept across the darkness and washed it away, the purest form of light. Night could not hold against the dawn just as dawn could not hold against dusk. It was a never ending cycle that both sides played to win without ever really winning. It was an eternal tug of war for control and power. She remembered charging in front of an out of control truck to save Dean's life. She remembered feeling whole and complete when he was around. Behind her Dean stood from the ground and watched curiously.

She whirled around suddenly. "You bastard!" she screamed. "You made me human!"

The demon inside Dean laughed at her outburst. He knew that she was a formidable enemy, human emotions within her or not. He didn't fully understand the powers of a half breed because this was the first he had ever encountered. They were rare and powerful, with the best of both worlds within them. The ability to feel and love, hate and lust, with all the power of a demon behind them.

Alex turned and walked back to her car, shaking from her core. She half expected Dean to kill her from behind but the blow never came. She climbed in and pulled the door shut. The shaking nearly tore her apart. Her hands trembled so badly that she couldn't grip her keys to get them in the ignition. She felt blood begin to flow from her nose and the world inside her car tilted and swayed violently. Red flashed across her eyes as the memories barraged her with an assault her demonic half couldn't handle. Emotions roared through her being as loud and titanic as the ocean itself. She pounded her hands against her steering wheel and missed once cracking her wrist on the hard plastic. She heard the bone shatter with the strength behind the blow but she couldn't feel the pain. Her human half and demon half were at war with each other and her body was paying the price. Wounds that the fight had not inflicted ripped open and her skin felt as though it would burst into flame. Sweat soaked every inch of her body. She grabbed the steering wheel with all her strength and screamed in pain. Her car echoed the cry back at her with a hollowness that resonated through her war torn soul.

She felt her heartbeat increasing dangerously and then the red flashes in her vision went black.

11

Alex opened her eyes to find herself standing on a quiet park path lined with huge oak trees. She could hear the laughter of children in the distance and the sunlight beating down from above seemed as a candle that could never burn out. She walked forward on the twisting dirt path beneath her feet and followed the sound of the children. Somewhere deep inside her soul she felt as though she were dying but it was a call so distant it was easy to ignore. She followed the trail with no particular destination in mind and watched a single butterfly float past her on the breeze.

"Alexis," a voice said from behind her.

Alex turned around and swallowed hard. It was as though she had stepped in front of an invisible mirror. Her twin was staring back at her with eyes so brilliantly blue they shined like the brightest of sapphires. Alex's own eyes stung slightly and she knew that they were black as oil. Allison reached out a hand to her sister and Alex took it with trembling fingers.

"Sarah said she saw you," Alex told her sister.

"She did. And now I'm here to save you," Allison replied gently.

"Save me?" Alex questioned. "I don't need saving."

"That's where you would be wrong. You were always so stubborn," Allison said. "Your corporeal body is dying. You can't have both worlds in one body without balance."

Alex linked hands with her twin and followed her down the path. "How do you find a balance between good and evil?"

"It was easier when we were together," she replied. "We had each other to balance out. But now you have to find a balance all your own or you will fail."

"Fail?"

"Fail to save Dean and all those around you. With the demonic half inside you it's harder for you to remember your love for the oldest Winchester. That love is something you can't let go of."

"I don't know how to save Dean."

"You do know how to save Dean, you just can't see it right now. There is always more than one way to solve a problem. You will have to be at your strongest, both emotionally and physically, in order to win what is to come. There are more enemies around you than just your lover."

"What do you mean?"

"This I cannot tell you. Just be aware and keep your eyes open for other shadows lurking."

Alex nodded slowly and gripped her sister's hand tighter as a cold chill found its way up her spine. Allison smiled at her and that smile alone made her feel like all was right with the world.

"So how do I do it? How do I find the balance that will allow me to succeed?" Alex asked slowly.

Allison stopped walking and drew Alex in front of her. The compassion and love in her eyes was almost more than Alex could bear to look at. Her love for her twin welled inside her and she realized that she missed her more than she allowed herself to feel. Everyday that she woke up to a new morning the emptiness inside a part of her soul could be felt. It was the piece of her that Allison had filled, that Allison had been. It was a piece of her that nobody could ever give back. Allison truly had been her balance, her compass when she had been lost. When Allison had died she had lost that guidance. She had lost the piece of herself that had always belonged there. Allison's love had kept her from going over the edge more times than Alex could count. They had shared a darkness together that had been used for the force of good because they had each other. Now the darkness was more than she could handle alone.

"There's your answer," Allison whispered.

Alex looked into her sister's eyes, the mirror reflection of her own, and felt the sting of tears replace the sting of evil. She fell into Allison's arms, sobbing from the bottom of her being. Allison sank to the ground with her, shushing and rocking, while Alex felt as though her heart was shattering into a million pieces.

"It hurts," she gasped. "It hurts to move, to breathe. Oh god, Allison it hurts to live!"

"I know," Allison said. "You never dealt with my death. You pushed it down so that you could keep going for Sarah. That was admirable but ultimately detrimental. You think that because I'm dead I'm no longer with you."

Alex cried harder, the tears staining her cheeks with salt. "You're not here! When I need you I can't find you!"

"Alexis, I am always here. I never left you, not once. Death cannot stop the fact that we are twins. We share the same blood, the same face, and the same heart. When I died I was still with you. The piece of yourself you feel you are missing was never gone. Just misplaced. The balance I gave you is still within you; you just forgot where to look for it."

Alex raised her head and Allison gently wiped away the lingering tears. "Your love for Dean is strong. His love for you still remains, even buried beneath the weight of evil. Love overcomes all if you just believe enough in yourself to let it. I'm not saying that winning this will be easy because it won't. I'm not saying that you're going to win because that is something even I don't know. What I can tell you is your demonic half can be a great asset if used correctly and with balance. With it you truly stand a fighting chance."

"I can't lose Dean too," Alex told her.

"I know. And you don't have to," Allison replied. "Everything falls to you. Sarah for all her power doesn't have the power to defeat the evil within Dean. Sam lies injured in a hospital bed. You are the last chance to save Dean Winchester from the evil that he dedicated his life to stopping."

"Gee, thanks, no pressure," Alex said.

Allison laughed and the sound brought a smile to Alex's face. "You can do it because I know that I could do it," Allison told her.

"How long have I been here?" Alex wondered suddenly.

Allison shrugged. "Time is different here. I believe it moves slower, but I can't be for sure."

Alex nodded. "I don't want to leave yet. I just want to spend one more day with you."

Allison pulled her twin into another embrace. "Then stay."

12

Sarah left Sam's room quietly and walked the hospital halls to the vending machine in the waiting room. All of its occupants were gone now and she was alone with the whirring of the machine. She had spent all day in Sam's room with him. She had slept on and off while Sam had slept the whole time. The doctor had said he would be out for awhile from the surgery and the drugs pumping through his system.

Tears blurred her vision as she thought of what Dean had done to his younger brother. She had to remind herself sharply that it wasn't Dean who had sunk the knife into Sam. It had been the very evil they had all sworn to fight. She fell into one of the orange chairs near the vending machine and cried quietly. She didn't know if they had the strength to save Dean. With Sam in a hospital bed and Alex missing she was the last one standing at the moment. Her powers were strong but not yet fully developed. She didn't know how much good they would do against the demon inside Dean if he came calling. She felt the weight of too much responsibility crushing her and tried to fight off the overwhelming feelings of despair.

She stood and smoothed her wrinkled clothing. It was on her now to keep Sam safe for now, until Alex answered her calls. She had been trying to call her sister all day but her cell phone was off and she had gotten only the voicemail. She knew that Alex would call when she could. She also knew that Alex was probably in the grips of her demonic self right now and for that she feared for Dean's life. Sarah slid her dollar into the slot and attempted to keep her hands from shaking.

She turned as the emergency room door swung open, half expecting to see Dean standing there. She almost sighed with relief when she saw it was just a man in maybe his late forties. The machine pumped out a Coke and she reached down to grab it before a sudden realization slammed into her.

The man was tall and carried himself with a quiet confidence. His hair was dark brown and his eyes an even deeper brown. He wore faded jeans and a plain brown jacket over a flannel shirt. His face was strong, his nose broad, and in it she saw the reflection of his sons.

John Winchester.

She turned around to face him all the way and felt a knot in her stomach grow to an uncomfortable measure. She watched him walk into the emergency room with a determined, if somewhat worried, air and approach the nurses desk.

"No need," she told him from across the room.

John Winchester turned around to face her and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. She could tell he was sizing her up, trying to figure out who she was and what she was doing there. His eyes took in everything about her, everything that was visible anyway, and she knew that he saw a petite girl with disheveled red hair. She probably had dark circles under her eyes and her clothes looked like hell from sleeping in chairs for twenty four hours. What he couldn't see was the incredible psychic power hidden in her mind.

"Who are you?" he demanded quietly.

His voice was low pitched and deep, but she felt a certain comfort as he spoke. It was as though he knew exactly what he was doing and had no doubts about his course. She knew that he was in all reality confused about what was going on but he never let it show. She took a small measure of relief in the fact that he was here and that he seemed capable of handling anything she said. She still didn't know how he was going to react to the whole story though. He crossed the waiting room to stand a few feet away and she fiddled with the Coke in her hands.

"I'm Sarah Delaney. I called you," she told him simply.

"Okay," he said. "How do you know my sons?"

"I'm Sam's girlfriend," she said honestly. "And my sister is Dean's."

John tried to hide his surprise but he couldn't hide it from her empathic powers. She swept his emotional surface and found that he was shocked. His shock turned to confusion in the blink of an eye. She motioned for him to follow her from the waiting room and he complied.

"It's a really long story," she told him. "And we don't have time for it. My sister and I are in the same line of work. That's all you really need to know about us for right now."

Sam had told her that his father kept them on a need-to-know basis frequently and she felt strange turning the tables on the older Winchester. She knew that he was wondering about her and her past. She knew that he was trying to figure out how she played into all this and that wasn't something she was ready to share yet.

"I think that since you called me here all the way from Florida you owe me more of an explanation," John protested.

"You didn't have to come," she told him.

"They're my sons," he said quietly. "Of course I had to come. But you haven't told me why I'm here."

"Sam is in the hospital. Dean stabbed him."

John grabbed her arm and she had to stop herself from lashing out in surprise. John's face twisted in absolute confusion and anger.

"Is this a joke?" he demanded.

"No joke," she replied. "Can I have my arm back? I'll tell you everything. But we have to get back to Sam's room in case Dean comes looking to finish the job."

John pressed his lips together in a thin line and followed Sarah down the hall. She wondered silently in the back of her head how the hell she was going to explain everything in time.

13

Alex opened her eyes slowly and was immensely relieved to find that the stinging was gone. She jerked the rearview mirror down and stared into it. Her eyes were brilliant blue again. She reset the mirror and stared out the window. Night had fallen around her and the shadows were long and dangerous. She had been knocked out for the entire day. Allison had been correct in thinking that time moved differently wherever she had gone. The demonic half of her was still ever present, swirling just below the surface, but now she knew that her balance had never left her. Where once she had felt a hole inside her very soul she now felt complete. Allison's death had not taken her twin from her. Alex had removed that part of herself in thinking that Allison was no longer with her. Now that she knew otherwise it was easier for her to find the balance needed to walk the double bladed sword that was her existence. She felt as human as she had before she had gone into the woods to reclaim her lost self but the darkness inside was still very much there.

Alex picked up her cell phone and found about seven missed calls from Sarah who was probably back at the hospital worried sick. Alex set the phone back down and turned the keys over to start the car. She pulled out of the bar parking lot and turned right on the highway, heading back into town. She had about a thirty minute trip ahead of her and she flipped on the stereo she had installed. She mulled over why Dean hadn't swooped in to finish her off while she was out cold. She could have easily killed him before her world came crashing down around her but she hadn't. And he could have easily killed her while she sat in the car but he hadn't either. She figured it had more to do with the fact that the demon wasn't done playing its games than it had to do with anything else. She knew that Dean was strong and his will was nearly unbreakable. It was possible that Dean had fought the demon back long enough to make a getaway before he did something he couldn't take back. It made her feel better to think that Dean was still in there fighting to be free. It made her feel as though she wasn't in this alone.

Alex picked up her cell phone and dialed Sarah's number. She knew that her sister was probably biting off her finger nails with worry and she couldn't stand to put Sarah into more distress than she already was.

"Alex?" Sarah's voice came back.

"Yeah," she said. "It's me."

"Oh thank God!" Sarah cried. "Where have you been?"

"I had some business to take care of."

"You took it back, didn't you?" her sister's voice was more curious than accusing.

"Yeah, I did what I had to," Alex told her.

"You didn't have to," Sarah said. "We could have found another way . . ."

"There wasn't another way and you know it," Alex interrupted. "We don't stand a fighting chance against him without some kind of supernatural help."

"Well, speaking of fighting chance," Sarah began. "I kind of called their dad after you left. And he's here now. At the hospital with me."

Alex sucked in her breath. "That's great."

"He can help. He has more experience and . . ." Sarah started.

"I don't care how much experience he has. He's just one more body for me to worry about ending up dead. How's Sam by the way?"

"Sam's going to be okay. He's under a lot of drugs right now."

"Lucky," Alex commented. "I had a run in with Dean."

"What happened? Did you hurt him? Are you okay?"

"Calm down," Alex said. "I didn't hurt him. Much."

"Where are you at now?" Sarah asked.

"I'm on my way to the hospital. I should be there in about thirty minutes," Alex replied.

"Okay. I'll see you then. I love you," Sarah said.

"Love you too. Be careful, I don't know where Dean is anymore."

"I will. You too."

Alex disconnected and set her phone back down. She squinted her eyes as a glaring set of headlights came into view behind her, washing the interior of her car in a white glow. She was going the speed limit but the car got right on her ass, tailing her down the highway. She cursed under her breath and pulled off to the shoulder to let the speed demon pass. The car stayed behind her, keeping pace, and refused to pass. She looked closer and saw a single driver behind the wheel. Her heart skipped a beat as recognition hit her full force. Dean.

The highway was empty of other cars and the only thing to see was the passing of farmland. She was about twenty minutes from the hospital. Dean sped up and slammed into her bumper. She cursed and jerked from the hit.

"Dammit!" she cried.

She hit the gas and the engine roared as the needle on the speedometer went up over the ninety five mile an hour marker. She shot down the highway all the while glancing in her rearview mirror. Dean kept pace and eventually pulled into the opposite lane. His car came neck and neck with hers as they tore down the highway. He jerked his wheel, sending his car flying towards hers. She yanked on her own wheel and avoided the hit by mere inches. She pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor and for a second her car seemed to pause on the road before the engine screamed and the Nova shot forward. She jerked the wheel and cut into the lane in front of Dean's car. He pulled out from behind her and into the lane she had previously occupied. Alex glanced at her speedometer. The car was going 140 mph and she thanked God silently that she had had the governor taken out. The farmland on both sides flew past as an indecipherable blur and she jerked the wheel to avoid another hit aimed at her car. The car tore through the gravel on the side of the road before she pulled back onto the highway.

"That's it," she growled.

She slammed on the brake while simultaneously jerking the wheel as hard as she could to the left. The car came to a screeching halt while she completed the turn to end up facing the opposite way she had been traveling. She slammed her foot down onto the gas and the car jumped immediately back up to sixty and kept climbing. Dean hurried to reverse his car and once he had she pulled the same maneuver. She left a cloud of smoke from her tires on the asphalt behind her and kept going towards the hospital with her foot smashed against the gas pedal. She knew that the same trick wasn't going to work with Dean again and she just prayed that he wouldn't catch up.

She managed to catch a glimpse of a sign that advertised food and gas about five miles away. The hospital was in town and she was about ten minutes away now. Dean's car appeared right behind her again and she swore to herself. There wasn't much more she could do than hope to out maneuver him.

Her options came very limited as she came off the highway and onto a bridge that spanned a small river. The bridge was about two hundred feet off the ground and she could see the sparkling black water below as she shot past it. Dean got into the other lane and reached the side of her car. He slammed the front end of his car into the back of her bumper and her car lurched to the side. She struggled to hold the wheel and keep the car going straight. He pulled up farther and this time hit the front end of her car. The force of his blow was too much for the Nova to take. The wheel spun in her hand and she saw the guardrail coming up before her eyes.

She undid her seatbelt as the Nova shattered the metal guardrail and went sailing over the edge. Adrenaline and anger surged through her as the car began its descent into the black death below. She felt as though she were hanging in the air with the nose of the car facing downward. Her eyes stung severely as she let her demonic self emerge. Alex pushed open her door with all her strength as she fell. The wind resisted her but she proved the stronger. The door swung open and she stepped onto the edge of the opening before launching her body out into the open night air. She fell away from the car and hit the water.

14

Sarah hung up her cell phone and shifted uncomfortably as John Winchester's gaze remained steady upon her. She knew that he had been listening carefully to her end of the conversation. Beside them in his hospital bed Sam lay still. It made Sarah wince to see the IV stuck in his hand and the machine steadily showing his heartbeat.

"I think now would be a good time to start explaining," John said.

He sat in one of the chairs provided but his posture remained alert. He didn't relax back as most people would. He seemed ready to spring from the chair at a moment's notice and it was something that Sarah didn't miss. She leaned against the wall by the door and fiddled with her cell phone while she tried to figure out where to begin.

"I don't know where to start," she confessed after a length of time.

"The beginning is usually a good place," he told her.

"Well, that would be easy if the beginning had happened yesterday," she said. "But it didn't. I think what you need to know is that my sister and I aren't average hunters. If you call hunting in the first place 'average'."

John raised an eyebrow and waited patiently for her to find the words she was searching for. She struggled with herself for a moment, trying to figure out how much she wanted to trust this man. She remembered that in the end he was Sam's father and that alone should give him credit.

"I'm a psychic," she told him. "And my sister is half demon."

"Half demon?" he repeated.

"Yes. It's a long story so sit back," she told him.

She quickly highlighted the events of her life and summarized her first meeting with his sons. She told of the events to follow and how she had fallen in love with Sam. She told him about her sister and her relationship with Dean. He listened through it all without comment and with little facial expression to reveal what he was thinking.

"And now we're here," she finished. "And what's going on now is your son is possessed. Some girl named Meg set this all up as a trap to get us all killed and out of her way, I guess. I've never met her so I don't know what the hell she's up to. Alex was out there tracking Dean and now she's supposed to be on her way here."

Sarah glanced worriedly at the clock hanging on the wall. Alex should have been there an hour ago. Her stomach turned at the possibilities of what could have happened to her older sister.

"And your sister is a . . . ," John started.

The door swung open and he jumped to his feet. Sarah stepped away from the door as Alex walked in soaking wet. Dirt and blood streaked her face and her clothes were dirty and torn. Her shoulder was nearly skinned and her leather jacket was ripped open from the injury. Her eyes were black as the deepest reaches of space where no stars could be found and anger was stamped all over her features.

"A half demon," she finished for the startled John. "Get the hell over it."

She turned to her sister and shook her head. Her eyes reverted back to their normal blue and she ran her hands through her wet hair. "We have a rather large problem. Dean sent my car flying off a bridge."

"He what?" Sarah asked.

"He tried to run me off the road. And instead ran me off a bridge," she filled in.

"How are you still alive?" John asked.

"I'm not human," she said with exasperation. "I'm a freak of nature. Us freaks are hard to kill. You should know that."

John nodded and had to be satisfied with that answer. "Where is Dean now?"

"Do I look like I have a collar on him? I have no idea."

John sat back on his heels, obviously not use to such blatant disrespect. He was getting the impression that this was just the way his oldest son's girlfriend was and he found that he kind of liked her straightforwardness.

"Well, we'll just get a new car," Sarah said after a pause.

John turned a disbelieving eye on her and she shrugged one shoulder. "Our dad left us a rather large inheritance."

"That's not the issue," Alex growled. "I loved that car. Dean totaled my car. It's buried at the bottom of a fucking river!"

"I'm sure Dean didn't mean to," Sarah said.

Alex rolled her eyes. "I am so going to take that damn demon out of its miserable existence."

Sarah nodded and pursed her lips. "About that. How exactly are we planning to accomplish that?"

Alex shook her head and sank into the other chair. "I have no idea. I'm still recovering from the loss of my car."

"It's not going to be easy," John said. "I know my son and his abilities. This demon couldn't have picked a better body."

"Do you have anything useful to say?" Alex wondered aloud. "I found that out when he threw me into the wall of the bar. I broke the wall. Now I have to pay for the damn thing."

Sarah couldn't help but smile at her sister's snippy attitude. It was obvious they were both in desperate need of real sleep and a hot shower. She could tell that John could see that as well. Neither one of them looked like they could fight a Chihuahua much less demonic Dean.

"We should get a motel room," he said. "We all can't stay here. I'll take you until you get a new car."

"Dammit," Alex groaned, remembering her lost car.

She stood stiffly and looked at her sister. "We'll take shifts with Sam until we come up with a better plan. Do you want to stay here?"

Sarah nodded. "I can handle Dean if he comes here. At least enough to scare him away. You go get some rest and get cleaned up."

Alex nodded and followed John from the room.

15

The ride from the hospital farther into town had been full of strained silence. John was constantly vigilant, always watching everything around them, but eventually he had loosened up and stopped checking the rearview mirror every five seconds. She had requested he stop at the town's 24 hr Wal-Mart and he had complied. She had run in to buy the things that had been destroyed in the car. She cursed silently thinking again of her lost car. Not only were all their clothes and belongings in there but her entire weapons cache had gone down with it. She paid for her purchases, which were considerable, and ignored the stares of the people in line with her. She knew she looked like hell but there was little she could do about it for the time being.

She rushed out the sliding doors and back out into the cool night air. Her brisk walk across the parking lot was halted by the sudden feeling she was being watched. She turned in a slow circle, taking in the whole parking lot, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up with tension. She clutched the bags tighter and resumed her walk, this time her own level of alertness raised considerably.

She threw the bags into the back of John's truck and yanked open the door.

"Go," she said curtly, slamming it behind her.

John looked at her curiously but obeyed. He put the truck in gear and drove out of the parking lot and back onto the main street. She ran her fingers through her disheveled hair and stared out the window.

"So you're a half demon?" he asked after a short pause.

"You just can't get over that can you?" she shot back.

"You're the first I've ever met," he replied calmly. "I find it interesting."

"You wouldn't if you were me," she told him.

He nodded. "I would imagine not. What does it give you?"

She turned her head to look at him. "Meaning?"

"The demonic blood. What does it give you?"

She sighed and resumed her window staring. "The edge in battle."

"What kind of car did you have?" he asked.

She got the distinct feeling that he wasn't just filling the cab with idle chatter. He was feeling her out, trying to get an all over impression of her as quickly as possible. John Winchester wanted to know what she was all about and how much he could trust her. He wanted to know what she was capable of, probably thinking much along the same lines that she was. He didn't want to have another body to worry about his son killing. He had no idea what she and her sister were capable of. He had no idea that he had no cause to worry about their safety.

"It was a 66' Chevy Nova," she replied absently.

"Good car," he said. "I'm sorry Dean wrecked it."

"It wasn't Dean," she corrected. "I'll get over it. It's just stuff, replaceable. Dean isn't."

"You love him?" he asked.

The question was deeply personal and John knew it. She looked at him again, this time trying to figure out what he was all about. She knew that he loved both of his sons but was consumed with a battle all his own. No doubt he would be concerned about his oldest son dating a half demon. If things went any farther with Dean in the future she might be considering John as family. The thought stunned her. She hadn't even considered settling down and retiring. She had always thought about the job, about the lives of the people in danger, about killing the things that people thought didn't exist. She had never considered a family and kids. She had no idea how Dean felt on the subject but she knew that she would probably never bring it up. What she had with Dean was good enough as it was.

"Yes," she finally replied.

"How are you planning to stop him?" he asked.

She sucked in her breath. "If I knew that I would be doing it already."

"Can you kill him?"

She stared straight into his eyes and unconsciously her own eyes shifted into the darker spectrum of her personality. She could see that John was unsettled by the sudden change. She knew that to him it had seemed as though her eyes had melted from blue to black in a split second. She slid her sunglasses from her head and placed them over her incriminating eyes.

"If I have to," was all she would reply.

John pulled the truck into the parking lot of a vacant motel and shut off the engine. She waited patiently while he went inside and paid for two rooms, one for him and one for the girls. They had already questioned the wisdom of being separated but had ultimately come to the decision that it would be better to be in separate rooms. Alex stepped out of the truck and grabbed her bags. She pulled the sunglasses from her eyes after she was sure that they were blue again.

"You girls are in room 28," John said, coming out and handing her a key. "I'm in 29 if you need me."

He went to the bed of the truck and pulled down the back. She dropped her bags onto the ground and stood as still as the ground. John came around the side of the truck and she grabbed his arm as he passed.

"What?" he asked.

When she looked at him her eyes were black again. "We aren't alone."

16

Sarah held Sam's hand and watched him sleep. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead, feeling all the love in the world for this one man who yearned above all for normalcy. She felt a tear slide down her cheek when she realized just how close he had come to dying.

She had taken the time she had to take a shower in the stall provided in the room while a kind nurse had gone down and washed her clothes for her. The nurse hadn't questioned why she was still there after all this time. She had simply offered to get Sarah's clothes cleaned and dried for her. Sarah was so tired she had almost started crying at the nurse's simple offer. Sarah had relished in the hot water pouring down her back and didn't know how long she had remained in the shower. When she reemerged her clothes were neatly folded on the chair near Sam's bed. There was a hospital brush lying on top of them, courtesy of the nurse, for her to brush out her tangled locks.

Sarah felt better after the shower and with clean clothes on. She knew the dark circles under her eyes hadn't been diminished by the hot water but her spirits had been raised slightly.

"Sarah," Sam whispered.

She sat up straight and squeezed his hand. "I'm here."

Sam eyed her closely and laughed quietly. "How long have you been here?"

"Since you came in," she replied. "Almost two days ago."

"Have you slept at all?"

She glanced sidelong at the chair by the window. "On and off."

"Sarah, you have to take care of yourself."

She smiled. "I am. I'm taking care of you. That helps me."

She bent forward and kissed his lips. She hesitated, knowing that she would have to tell Sam everything that had transpired. She sat back down and took his hand again.

"Sam, a lot has happened."

"Dean?" he asked.

"Dean is fine," she assured him. "But Alex took back her demonic half, Dean crashed her car into a river, and your Dad is here."

Sam sat up a little straighter on the pillow and winced at the sudden pain the movement caused him. "My Dad is here?"

"Yeah," she said. "I called him after Alex went missing to get back her demonic half. I didn't know what else to do."

Sam looked around the room and then back at her. "Where is he?"

"He went with Alex to get a motel room. He's going to take her to get a new car in the morning."

"And what about Dean?" he asked.

"Alex had a fight with him and then he ran off. Nobody has seen him since but I'm sure he's still lurking."

"Do we have a plan?"

"We don't," she told him sadly. "I'm sure that your father and my sister have enough brains and brawn between them to figure something out."

"We can't let it take him, Sarah," he said desperately. "I know Dean would rather die than let that happen."

She shushed him and squeezed his hand. "I'll die before I let that happen, Sam."

He smiled sadly. "No. Because I can't lose you either."

"Nobody is going to be lost, Sam. We have a very capable group of people here. Even though one of us is bedridden."

Sam sighed and looked at the clock on the wall. It was getting close to midnight. "How long before I can go?"

Sarah laughed. "Sam, you were stabbed. It will be awhile before the doctors let you waltz out of here. They say that you're healing well. It should be a few more days and then they can take out the stitches. But you won't be able to leave for at least a week."

"I can't stay here for a week!" he cried. "What about Dean?"

"I don't think you're going to miss much. There isn't anything we can do until he makes a move," she told him seriously. "We don't even know where he is."

Sam sighed again. "I can't stay here Sarah."

"You don't have a choice. If you leave too early then you risk splitting your stitches and getting an infection. If you want to be in this fight than you have to do it when you're healed enough. You're no good to us dead," she told him.

He nodded. "I know. I hate not being able to do anything. Dean has always looked out for me, always been there. I can't lose him. I can't not save him."

Sarah guided his palm to her cheek and rested her head there. "I feel that way every time I see my sister's eyes turn black. There's nothing I can do and it's her fight. I have to trust in her to know her own path. You have to do the same for Dean right now."

"He's all the family I have left. Him and my Dad," Sam lamented. "They're all I have."

Sarah brushed the pad of her thumb across his cheek. "I know Sam. We'll fight this together, when you're able to fight. We won't lose Dean, I promise you."

"So Dean really crashed the Nova?" Sam asked after a pause.

"Yup," she affirmed. "He really did."

"Alex must be pissed," he said.

"Yup," she agreed. "Really pissed."

They laughed and talked for awhile more before Sam submitted to the pain killers the nurse had come in to administer. She took the time to tell Sarah that Sam was coming along better than they had hoped. His wound was healing rapidly and they might be able to remove the stitches sooner than expected. She followed the nurse out into the hall while they talked.

"You really should get some sleep, honey," the nurse told her kindly. "No offense, but you look like hell."

Sarah smiled at the thought. "I seriously doubt it."

The nurse nodded. "I'll come back in an hour or so to check on him."

Sarah nodded and thanked her before continuing down the hallway. She didn't know where she was headed until she exited the emergency room and stood outside. The cool night air felt good in her lungs and she breathed it in deeply.

A vise grip encircled her neck and she felt the stinging prick of a needle. Her world tilted and spun and she felt her body go limp in Dean's arms.

17

John set his bag down on the pavement and reached into the back of his truck for the rifle he kept there. Alex grabbed his arm and shook her head.

"Too much noise," she admonished. "We won't need that."

He replaced the rifle and instead opted for the hunting knife tucked into his belt. Alex nodded her approval and watched a single man slink from the shadows at the edge of the parking lot. He was tall and lean with long dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail at his back. There was something unnatural about the way he moved, the grace with which he flowed from one shadow to the next while gaining ground on them.

"Demon," she hissed.

John turned to her. "Demon in a human body?"

She faced him. "What do you think?"

John studied the man's approach. He took in the perfect coordination of movements, how the entire body seemed to be an extension of the shadows through which it walked. He knew that some demons were capable of taking on a human form for short periods of time. Not all of them, but just enough to infiltrate the human world long enough to accomplish specific goals.

"Demon," he stated. "Using a disguise."

Alex nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. Good. Makes this easier."

"He's not alone," John warned.

Two more figures detached from the shadows and began following after the lead demon. Their walk was slow and unhurried, as if trying to make their targets afraid just by watching them close in. Alex stood her ground with John beside her and knew that neither one of them was feeling the desired fear affect.

"So you're the little girl that's been throwing such a kink into our plans," the demon said when he was only ten feet away.

"I wouldn't call it a kink so much as an economy sized monkey wrench," she corrected. "And I'm happy to say that I am."

The demon sneered. "Killing both of you will be our pleasure."

Alex sighed and made a show of yawning. "Do we really have to sit around and exchange the pleasantries? I mean, if you're going to kill us shut up and get it over with already."

She shook her head derisively. "No wonder the bad guys always lose. You guys talk to damn much."

Behind her John smiled slightly. He was beginning to like his oldest son's choice of girlfriend. She was certainly brash and cocky. Now he would find out if that cockiness was well placed or not. He needed to know how capable she was, how good she was in a fight, in order to trust her with saving Dean.

"You think you two are going to be able to kill us?" the demon asked incredulously.

"They don't even have weapons," another observed.

Alex smiled coldly. "Haven't you heard? I am the weapon."

She lunged and the lead demon blocked the first two punches she sent his way. Behind him the other two went for John. They shed their human forms as they went and Alex was disgusted by the sight. In front of her the façade of a human male melted away. In its place was a creature well over six feet tall and covered in oily black skin. When he moved it seemed to leave a thin trail of ash in the air. His eyes were burning red coals and his mouth a cavern of deadly teeth that closely resembled the maw of a shark. Alex jumped back as his hands raked at her stomach. Except they weren't hands. They were five fingered claws, each finger ending in what seemed to be a foot long fingernail. The tips of those fingernails found her skin and broke through her already trashed shirt. She sucked in her breath as the skin that had been broken began to burn as though acid had been dripped on her. She jerked up her shirt to watch smoke curl from the wound and the skin eat away slowly. She rubbed the blood away and the acid-like effect stopped.

"You son of a bitch," she growled.

She surged forward and launched her body into the air. Her right leg swung a wide arc and slammed into the side of his head. She was quick to land and leap again, this time bringing her left leg around to connect with other side of his head as he came back up. He swiped at her again and she caught his arm, turning her body in underneath it to slam her elbow into his ribs. She released his arm and spun back out, slamming her foot into his gut for good measure. He launched his own body into the air and Alex realized that it was hard to distinguish the oily black form from the shadows of the night. She caught his ankle as he came down with a kick aimed straight at her head. She twisted the offending ankle with all her strength while he was still in the air and sent him spinning to the ground. Behind her she felt the claws of another demon cut into her shoulder and she quickly wiped away the burning acid. She whirled around and grabbed the attacking demon.

"I've always wondered if demons could fly," she said maliciously.

She lifted him high over her head and heaved with all her strength. All of her strength turned out to be overkill. The demon flew across the parking lot and collided with a streetlight. His body folded in half around the unflinching pole and Alex could swear she heard his backbone shatter. He fell from the pole to the ground and lay very still.

Alex shrugged. "I guess not."

The lead demon got up from the ground and came at her with a serious of swipes that she blocked more as reflex than a conscious response. Her body was a finely tuned weapon, alert and aware, every reflex perfectly coordinated with her foot movements. It had taken years of martial arts but she had trained and conditioned every muscle in her body for just these kinds of situations. Not only could she fight by reflex alone but it was easy for her to improvise in the worst of situations. Being able to be creative in battle often gave her the upper hand over her less creative opponents that liked to fight by the rule book. If you were willing to do anything to win than victory wasn't far from hand. When fighting demons and their ilk she wasn't the nice guy that finished last.

Having been distracted by her thoughts, and by the fact that she was watching John fight for his own life, she was taken by surprise at the claw that raked the side of her face. Blood ran freely from three scratches spanning the length of the right side her face. She quickly wiped away the acid that was beginning to burn through her flesh and felt her right eye begin to swell closed from the cut that had almost severed it. The demon reached out and wrapped his clawed hands around her throat. He lifted her easily and tossed her across the parking lot.

"Alex!" John cried.

She hit the unforgiving ground and tucked herself in to roll across the graveled pavement. Rocks burrowed into her skin and scraped the flesh from parts of her arms that were exposed. Her leather pants ripped open at the knee and turned her skin into raw hamburger where it met the gravel. She laid still and quiet, hoping to fool the demon into thinking that she hadn't been able to handle a blow that severe. Her ribs ached and she was sure they had at least cracked under the impact. She could sense more than hear the demon's steady approach and she waited until he was leaning down to check on her still form. She rolled onto her back and brought her legs up. Her knees locked around his neck and she jerked her body to the right, throwing his body over her own and onto the ground beside her. She clamped down tighter and the demon responded by digging one clawed hand into her left leg. The claws bit through her skin and dragged down leaving a long and gaping wound. She reached over with her hand and ground her thumb into his eyes, pushing until she felt the red eyeball explode beneath the pressure. Purplish-black blood ran down her hand and burned where it touched. When she wiped the blood away her hand came out looking as though it had third degree burns. The skin was raw and red and bubbling up in places. She ground her teeth and ignored the pain to jab her other hand into his remaining eye.

"I wonder how well a blind demon fights," she hissed.

She could hear John's footsteps behind her and was slightly relieved to know that he had won out against his demon. The demon trapped between her legs clawed at her wildly and she responded by jerking her waist hard to the right. Her entire lower body went with that singular motion, snapping his neck. He fell limp and she quickly untangled herself. John reached a hand down and narrowed his eyes when she reached up with her acid burned hands. He grabbed her forearm instead and pulled her to her feet.

He looked her up and down and then over at the two dead demons. "Not bad," he told her quietly. "Not bad at all."

18

Sarah opened her eyes slowly and caught a glimpse of a brown leather jacket and worn blue jeans climb out of the driver side door. She groaned slightly and tried to look around but found that her head swam from the effort. She slowly came to the realization that her hands were bound tightly in front of her and a strip of cloth had been secured over her mouth. She tested the bonds only to find that Dean was as good at tying knots as he was everything else he did.

Her door swung open and Dean leaned in. He smiled brightly when he saw her open eyes and he grabbed her arm.

"Ah, you're awake!" he said.

She stared at him wide eyed as he pulled her from the car and swung her around to clamp his arm over her shoulders. He kicked the car door shut and dragged her down a dirt path and up the stairs of what seemed to be an abandoned shack in the woods. Her efforts to struggle were useless. Dean was in shape and his hold was as impossible to break as steel. He dragged her inside the house, which was barrenly furnished, and over to a far corner. She looked up to see a chain suspended from the ceiling with a hook at the end. It looked as though it had been used at one time for a potted plant that hung from the ceiling. The hook hung approximately three feet above her head. Dean spun her around and lifted her small frame easily, securing her wrists to the hook above. She was able to put her feet on the ground but her arms were stretched so far above her head she would have no hope of clearing the hook to free her arms. Not that she would be able to get past Dean anyway. She stared at him as he walked across the room and slid the leather jacket from his shoulders. Beneath the jacket he wore a plain long sleeve black shirt over a white t-shirt. He slung the jacket over a wooden chair and approached her casually.

"Now I don't want any of your psychic tricks," he warned with an easy voice.

He stopped a foot away and slid a wickedly serrated and curved blade from the waistband of his jeans. She swallowed hard as the blade came to rest on her throat and tried to squirm away. Dean's hand found the back of her hair and yanked. She cried out from the flash of pain and the fact that her throat was now horribly exposed. She felt the cold steel biting mildly into her flesh and ceased struggling.

"No tricks or I'll slit your throat," he hissed.

He smiled slightly, the corner of his mouth turning up slowly and an amused glint in his eye. She realized that the demon was getting off on her fear. She tried to steady herself but found that even though it was Dean's face and Dean's body she couldn't keep herself from fearing him.

Dean reached a hand up and slid his fingers under the cloth around her mouth. He slid it down until it came to settle around her throat and removed the knife. Sarah held her tongue and waited for Dean to make his next move.

"So Sammy's not dead," he mused after a pause.

"No," she responded quietly.

"I'll have to correct that error," he said.

Her heart trip hammered at the thought of Sam not being able to defend himself. She felt sick to her stomach when she realized what her capture might mean for Sam and her sister. Dean walked to the table by the wooden chair and leaned against it, steepling his hands in front of him.

"Do you know why you're here, Sarah?" he asked.

She shook her head, feigning ignorance, in an attempt to play to the demon's pride and buy the others time. They would need the time to prepare once they realized that she was missing. Alex would come for her but she needed enough time to get ready.

"Your sister," he told her. "You and Sam, you'll be easy to kill. Hell, I could kill you right now and it wouldn't matter. But Alex . . .Alex is making things difficult. That fight in the parking lot? I could have killed her then, of course, but I wanted to savor the kill. Running her off a bridge didn't even kill her!"

Dean began pacing the room. Sarah knew that demons were prideful creatures who saw the human race as inferior. This demon wouldn't think twice about making Sarah his personal sounding board because he didn't think that she was a threat to him. Telling her all of his plans and frustrations wasn't a big issue for him. She also realized that the longer he kept talking the longer Alex would have to realize that she was missing.

"Alex is tough," she answered.

"Yes. Tough. Admittedly a worthy challenge but I have little time left to play games," he said. "In order to achieve my goals the half demon must die first. And for that to happen she must be brought to my playing field."

"What do you mean? You already tried defeating her in battle," she said. Sarah tried to pitch her tone and body language in a way that implied she was more curious than anything else. She wanted to trick the demon into thinking that she was helping him out by letting him work through his plan aloud.

"Yes, a physical battle would be more pleasing," he replied. "I would love nothing more than to kill her in battle and soak in her blood. But I don't have time for such pleasantries. No, I want her in your situation so that I can kill her quickly and be done with it."

"My situation?" Sarah questioned.

Dean smiled coldly and walked toward her. Sarah's heart clenched and she found her breath coming in shortened gasps. She knew that Alex would never show fear to any demon no matter what situation she was in. Sarah tried to imitate her sister's unwavering courage but found that her heart was not as steady. Dean pushed the blade tip against the skin of her exposed rib cage. The tip dug in painfully and split the skin shallowly. She cried out in pain and reflexively tried to move away from the blade.

"What's to stop me from plunging this all the way in and watching you bleed to death?" he questioned. Sarah wasn't sure if he was being rhetorical or not.

Dean pulled the blade away and Sarah stared at him.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Nothing," she responded.

"Exactly my point," he replied. "Therefore I want your sister in your place. You will be an easy enough kill without your big sister there to shield you."

Sarah tried not to feel the mounting despair rising in her chest. She knew that when Dean told Alex the terms she would agree to them without hesitation. Her sister would never let Dean kill her and she would give up whatever it took to save her. Alex would trade for Sarah's life and when she did Sarah didn't know if she would be able to save her.

Dean spun away from her chuckling to himself and slid his cell phone off the table. He smiled at Sarah as he raised the phone to his ear.

"Hello Alex."

19

Sam nearly jumped off the bed as his door swung open and the middle aged nurse stuck her head in. She was a young woman, pretty with honey blond hair pinned in a tight bun at the back of her head. Her eyes were dark brown and extremely kind. She had done a lot for Sam already by checking the whole hospital for Sarah when he had asked about her.

"Mr. Winchester I asked around about your girlfriend but none of the nurses at the front desk remember seeing her come back inside," she said kindly.

Sam ran his hands through his thick brown hair and thought hard. Sarah had reportedly exited the building about three hours ago. Nobody had seen her return and she hadn't been at Sam's bedside for that whole amount of time. Sam knew that there was no way Sarah would just leave him without telling him first. His stomach turned at the possible implications of her disappearance. He would die if anything happened to her. They had spent the last six months side by side and in that six months Sam had fallen so far in love with her he didn't think anything else would feel natural.

He thought of Jess then, and realized that she would be happy for him. Sarah was a good person with a strong heart. She loved Sam unconditionally and that was the kind of love that Jessica would want him to have. He knew that if she could see him now she would be smiling and that thought brought a tear to his eye. He would always love Jess, for everything she had given him, but it was time for a new chapter of his life. He reached over to the wooden bedside dresser and slid open the drawer. The nurse watched him quietly from the doorway, not saying anything, respecting his moment of emotion and the need for privacy. From the drawer he pulled out a velvet black box. He hadn't found the right time to bring it out before and now he flipped it open to reveal the silver band studded with three diamonds side by side. He had bought it a month ago and never found the courage to speak his mind. Another tear fell from his eye as he thought about the possibility that now he might never get to. He quickly snapped the box shut and promised himself that if they all got through this alive he wouldn't hold back anymore. He put the box back into the drawer and looked at the curious nurse. Sarah had said that Alex and his father had gone to get a motel room.

"Nurse," he said slowly. "Can you hand me my cell phone?"

He pointed to where it lay on the chair that Sarah had been occupying. The now empty chair brought a sharp pang to his heart. The nurse hesitated, as cell phones were not allowed in this wing of the hospital. Sam stared pleadingly at her and she sighed once before retrieving the cell phone and handing it to him.

"Don't tell anybody I let you use that," she said.

"Our little secret," he assured her.

She nodded and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Outside the door the hospital halls were quiet and nearly deserted. At this hour of night all the patients were sleeping and only the graveyard shift of nurses were left on duty. Every now and then the soft shushing sound of tread safe shoes passed by his door as a nurse went about her nightly routine.

He quickly punched in Alex's number and waited through three rings.

"Hello?"

"Alex it's Sam," he told her quickly.

"Sam?" she asked. "What the hell are you doing calling this late?"

"Sorry but Sarah's missing," he said. "I think Dean has her."

Alex swore under her breath. "How long ago?"

"Three hours," he told her. "The nurses saw her walk out of the emergency room but never come back in. I know Sarah wouldn't just leave me in the middle of the night. Something happened."

"And it has Dean written all over it," Alex agreed.

"If he has her than he'll probably call you soon," he told her.

"I wonder what the hell he wants," she said. "And I swear to God if he hurts her . . ."

"I know," Sam agreed. "I don't think he will though. He wants something and he's not going to hurt her until he has it."

"You stay in that damn hospital bed, Sam," she said sternly. "The last thing I need is you dying from infection. Your father and I will find Sarah. We'll handle this, you just heal."

"Fine," he agreed tersely. "Call me when you know something."

He disconnected and slowly uncrossed his fingers. He set the phone down and slid from the bed. When his bare feet connected with the cold linoleum he gasped in surprise. He treaded across the room to the pile of clothes that Sarah had brought for his release. He slid the jeans and t-shirt on and tossed the hospital gown to the floor. His side throbbed from all the movement but he ignored the pain and slid on the shoes.

Sarah needed him. He had already lost one love in his life and he wasn't going to sit in a hospital bed and lose another. He wasn't going to let the evil in his life take away one more thing. He was going to save both Sarah and Dean or he would die trying. He laced up the shoes and grabbed up his cell phone, sneaking to the wooden door. The hallway beyond was empty and quiet.

He dashed from the room and down the hall, turning a corner to a bank of elevators. As he pushed the button he realized that he was dripping sweat and his breath was labored. It hurt to stand up and his legs felt weak and rubbery. The elevator doors slid open and he stumbled into the car, gripping the railing for support. His body was rebelling against him but his mind was preoccupied with the task at hand.

When the elevator descended to the lower lobby he hurried out the hospital doors and into the night.

20

Alex stumbled into the motel room and shut the door behind her, leaning against the wooden frame in exhaustion. Her body ached and burned from the many wounds it had suffered. Her wounds from her earlier fight with Dean had not completely vanished and now that the adrenaline rush had passed she could feel the severe throbbing in her shattered wrist.

She moved toward the bed and slid her leather jacket from her shoulders and onto the tightly made sheets. She slowly pulled off the boots and her socks before standing up and catching sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. She walked closer in shock when she didn't recognize the woman staring back at her. Her hair was tangled and wild, her eyes dull and lifeless. Across her face blazed the three bloodied scratches and her right eye was swollen shut. A dark yellow bruise glared at her from her jaw and her lip was split on the left side. One shoulder was badly clawed and the other was skinned from her collision with the wall. Her arms were bruised and scratched from her wild fight with both Dean and the three demons. Her hands were blistered and burned and three deep scratches were etched into her abdomen. When she lifted her shirt over her head she found her ribcage had blossomed a huge black and blue bruise. The pain in her wrist reminded her of the shattered bone and she could feel the burning from the gravel where her knee had been almost skinned completely. The claw marks that ran from her thigh to her lower calf burned viciously as she slid off the leather pants. She suddenly felt like she had been run over by a truck and wanted nothing more than to lie down until this was all over. She wanted to wake up and find that Dean was coming out of the bathroom from his morning shower. She wanted to hear Sarah knocking on her door and telling her it was time to get up and for Sam to walk through that same door with a bag of donuts in his hand for breakfast. She wanted to pick up the newspaper and find their next job waiting far away from this place and all the heartache it had caused. And she wanted to open the door and find her beloved car parked in the gravel outside. She stepped into the shower stall and slid it closed before turning on the hot water.

She didn't know how she was going to defeat her lover. She didn't know if her human half had the heart to kill him and when it came down to that, she didn't know if her demon half could win out. She knew that when all other alternatives were exhausted she would have to do the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. She steadied herself as the water cut into her wounds and into her soul. She shook even though the water was creating a cloud of steam in the bathroom. Her hands trembled as she held them in front of her and thought about holding a gun to Dean.

Somewhere along the way she had fallen in love with the roguish Winchester. Despite her better judgment she had kept on loving him. What was at first a chemical passion had grown to a deeper level of love that she had thought she didn't have the capacity to feel. Although they were both sternly unemotional people and they hid their feelings well from each other she knew that he loved her the same.

She closed her eyes as the water ran blood from her wounds and into the drain. She had never in her life felt so strong and so weak at the same time. The demon half of her roared inside her, begging for release and for more bloodshed. The human half of her cried inside and didn't have the strength to get up and fight.

She lathered and rinsed her hair before starting to work on washing her body. She scrubbed at her many injuries and gritted her teeth against the pain as gravel was pulled from her flesh by the washrag. Blood tinted the water anew and when she was done she slid to the floor of the shower and hugged her knees to her chest. She watched as some of her more superficial wounds sewed themselves shut under the curtain of steaming water.

Alex didn't know how long she sat in the shower and cried. It felt as though the tears would never stop falling and each time she came close to breathing again her pain stole her composure away. The agony of all she had lost, all that had been stolen from her life, bubbled up from deep inside her and she released it all with explosive power. While she floated in a sea of her own grief she thought she felt a cool hand against her cheek. The smell of Gardenia filled the bathroom.

"Shhh," Allison whispered. "It's okay now."

Alex felt her sister with her as surely as she felt the water pounding down around her. She raised her head slowly. When she climbed from the shower stall and wrapped the white towel around her body the scent of Gardenia lingered for a moment than slowly faded away. Even with the aroma gone Alex felt as though she wasn't alone and knew beyond a doubt that her center had been filled. She opened the bathroom door in time to hear her cell phone start ringing. She answered it and was startled to hear Sam's anxious voice. He told her that Sarah was missing and he suspected Dean was involved. She talked to him for a few minutes before hanging up and wondering what to do now. Sarah was all the leverage that Dean needed. He knew that no matter how demonic she was she would never let Sarah come to harm. He knew that he held the ultimate playing card in his hand and for all her strength and power Alex wouldn't move against him while he held it. She slid on the new clothes she had hurriedly bought at Wal-Mart and dreaded the sound of her phone. She brushed out her tangled locks and braided them down her back. When she caught her reflection in the mirror again she looked only a little better. The dirt and filth was gone but she still looked exhausted and injured. Most of the wounds that were only an inch or so deep had already begun to fade. The scratches down her face weren't quite as pronounced but she knew that the deeper wounds would take longer to heal. She still wasn't in top fighting condition but she would have to settle for what she had.

The black tank top she had slid on showed off almost all of her upper body injuries while the dark jeans covered her leg and knee. She slid her boots back on and pulled out the new leather jacket she had bought.

The phone rang while she was removing the tags. She picked it up with trembling hands and tried to shut away her human half. She couldn't afford weakness right now.

"Hello Alex," Dean's voice greeted.

"Dean," she acknowledged. "Or not Dean, depending on your point of view."

"Ah," he said. "We still have time to crack jokes. Well, your time is running out."

"I know you have her," she said, cutting right to the point. "You have two seconds to tell me she's alive and unharmed or I'll hunt you down and pull your heart out through your throat."

Dean's amused chuckle came back over the line. She gritted her teeth against it. "You wouldn't. You're in love with the body I possess."

"The person, not the body. And if that person isn't left than there's nothing stopping me from sending you straight back to hell."

"Oh, he's in here all right," Dean assured her. "Putting up one hell of a hissy fit over the current events."

"Good," she said coldly. "I'll still kill you if you hurt her. You'll wish for hell."

"I don't want to hurt her unless you refuse to comply," he said. "At least not yet."

"Compliance has never really been my thing," she offered. "I have issues with authority."

"Cute," Dean said. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."

"I've heard that line before," she said. "Care to sing a different verse?"

Dean laughed quietly over the other end. She clutched the cell phone tighter and had to force herself to relax her grip. She was going to shatter her phone if she wasn't careful.

"What do you want?"

"I want you in exchange, of course," he replied smoothly. "Meet me at the bridge I ran you off of and I'll hand her over as long as you take her place."

"That's very original of you," she said derisively. "Somebody watches too many movies."

"Be there at dawn or I will kill her," Dean said harshly.

The line went dead and she stared at the cell phone for several seconds before disconnecting herself. She slid the jacket over her shoulders and went to get John.

21

John pulled open his door with a Glock in his right hand that he quickly tossed on the bed when he saw it was Alex. She looked a million times better after a shower and John was shocked to see the rate of healing her wounds were undergoing. She stepped inside the room and shut the door behind her.

"Dean has my sister," she said by way of greeting. She leaned against the dresser but found that she couldn't stand still long enough to lean. She began pacing in agitation while John sat on the edge of the bed and resumed cleaning a rifle.

"He wants me to meet him at the bridge at dawn and trade places," she finished.

John stopped cleaning and held the rag loosely in his hand while he stared at the thinly carpeted floor. His eyes were sad and his shoulders implied that he had been carrying a heavy burden for too long a time. She realized that under the warrior façade he was just a man who had lost the woman he had promised to love and cherish for the rest of his life. While he pursued vengeance his sons were out there risking their lives the same as he. She saw that he had great love and concern for his two boys and that despite any rough edges he may have he would still give his life for them.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do and fast," he said quietly.

Alex realized that his voice was almost always quiet and low pitched. His tone rarely rose above the normal level and he didn't put much emotion into his words.

"I might have an idea," Alex offered. "Although it's a stretch."

John looked up with interest and raised his eyebrows. Alex sat down on the edge of the bed, and then decided sitting wasn't a good option and stood back up just as suddenly. John followed her agitated pacing as she spoke.

"You already know that Sarah is psychic. Your son is too, although his isn't quite as pronounced. If Sam can tap into Sarah's energy we might be able to track Dean down before dawn."

John set his gun aside and sighed heavily. Alex felt her heart go out to him. He had spent his whole life trying to protect his two boys and then they grew up on him. Devoted to his own quest for vengeance he had kept them shut away at arm's length in an effort to keep them safe. Now both their lives were at stake, as well as Sarah's, and at the hands of his own son. Alex could only imagine how he must feel. She knew that she would die before she let any harm come to Sarah. She was slightly surprised that John hadn't tried to push her aside in the process of trying to save Dean. From what his sons had told her he liked to be in charge of everything. She wondered if it had anything to do with her unusual situation or the fact that she was just as take-charge as he was. It made her smile slightly to realize how similar they were without meaning to be.

"Say we do track Dean down," John started. "Then what?"

"That's where this plan gets a little weird," she said. "Before you came Sarah astrally projected herself into Dean's body. She had help from me and Sam in order to accomplish that but she did it. I'm thinking if we can do that again this time she can go straight for the demon."

John nodded slowly. "Root him out from the inside."

"Exactly," Alex agreed. "It's a long shot but it could work. If it does work it would be more effective than an exorcism. I really don't want to be the one to try and hold Dean down long enough to accomplish that."

John laughed quietly. "Probably a good idea."

Their conversation was interrupted by a light knock at the door. Alex raised a questioning eyebrow as John motioned for her to stay put. She noted silently that he was unconsciously going into protective mode by telling her not to move. She could feel the tension between them had lessened considerably. There was a mutual respect now, after the demons they had fought together. She respected his wisdom and his experience. John respected her demonic powers. He knew that she could more than hold her own in any fight and didn't have to worry about spending all his time protecting her.

He eased to the door with his pistol in hand and cracked it open. Alex was shocked when a sweating and pale Sam stumbled into the room.

"Sam!" Alex cried, rushing forward.

She caught him in her arms before he fell to the carpet and guided him down gently. His upper body rested in her lap and his head fell against her shoulder. He looked weak and exhausted. His body was soaked in sweat and his skin was ashen. John closed the door quickly behind his son and tried not to let the anger swell within him.

"Sam," he said. "What the hell were you thinking leaving the hospital?"

"I had to help . . .had to help Sarah," he gasped. "I can't let you guys do this alone."

"And we can't let you die," she told him.

"I'm not going to die," Sam said. "I won't give that demon the satisfaction."

"Still," John said sternly. "You're no good to us if you can't even stand, son."

Sam managed a scowl in the direction of his father. "If it was Mom you would do the same thing. Don't act like you would stay in the hospital because it was a risk to leave."

"Your mother is dead, Sammy. It's not the same."

"It is Dad!" The effort to raise his voice cost Sam and he coughed violently for a few minutes. Alex grabbed hold of him firmly and held him steady while he rode out the waves of pain. She put her palm over his forehead and eased his head back onto her shoulder. Sam looked at his father again. "It is because I love her. Just like you loved Mom. The only difference is Sarah's not dead yet. And I'm not going to let her die."

Alex could see the pain in John's eyes at the mention of his deceased wife. She stayed silent, knowing this was an issue for father and son alone. John sighed deeply and crouched down to meet his son's eyes. Sam was breathing heavily but his gaze was steady and determined as he looked at John.

"All right, Sammy," he said after a moment. "But when this is all over you're going straight back to the hospital."

Sam smiled slightly. He reached up and clasped John's shoulder while his other hand found Alex's. She was resting her arm over his shoulder and her hand hung freely against his sweat-soaked chest. She squeezed Sam's hand as soon as it clasped her own. Her eyes met John's over his head and she smiled too. John nodded at both of them and in that moment she knew that he considered her and Sarah family.

"Yes sir," Sam offered.

"Come on, Sam," Alex said.

She hooked his arm over her shoulder and lifted him to his feet using herself as support. John came and grabbed his other arm and together they eased him onto the bed.

"Tell me you have a plan," he pleaded with Alex.

She brushed his damp hair back from his forehead and looked at John. He nodded to show that the aforementioned plan would have to suffice. She quickly outlined it for Sam and explained his role.

"Right now you need to rest," she told him. "Since you're going to be a stubborn-ass you need all the rest you can get. We'll wake you up when we're ready."

She looked at John one more time and he nodded once. She left the room quietly and went to her own room.

22

A few short minutes later John knocked on the door to Alex's motel room. He never heard her footsteps approach the door. When he had first met Alex he hadn't known quite what to think of her. She was brash, sarcastic, rebellious, and cocky. But that cockiness was well placed and well deserved as he had come to find out. He had also seen a softer side, a side full of passion and tenderness when she thought nobody else was looking. He had been watching her carefully, trying to gauge her personality in a short amount of time, and he had seen more than enough. She was an excellent fighter, an asset to the dwindling number of players in the game and for that he liked her. She was his son's girlfriend and by all accounts he loved her deeply. She would give her life for Dean's and for Sam not to mention her own sister. For that he considered her family. It shocked him to realize that he had come to this conclusion already. Under normal circumstances her attitude alone would have angered him but he saw that she was used to being in charge, making all the moves, and keeping everyone safe behind her. In a way she was just like him. She had lost so much but yet she kept fighting with ferocity that struck fear into the hearts of her enemies. With her demonic heritage she was powerful, stronger than even she realized. John suspected she had yet to tap into her full potential.

The door swung open and Alex stepped back to let him enter. She shut the door quietly behind him and leaned against the door frame. He could see exhaustion written on her face and in the way she leaned. John tossed the black duffel bag he had been carrying onto her bed and motioned to it.

She raised a curious eyebrow at him and walked to the bed, slowly unzipping the bag. In it was a cache of weapons from his trunk. He didn't know what she preferred so he had grabbed several for her to choose from.

"I know you lost everything," he said quietly. "We don't have time to go replace it all right now. So you can use whatever you want from here."

Alex smiled slightly and began pulling various weapons from the bag.

"Christmas came early this year," she laughed.

"You're a strange girl if you like knives and guns wrapped up in a big red bow," he offered.

She pulled a compound bow out of the bag and inspected it slowly. The bow was a Dalton and the grip was metallic silver. She tested the strings and held up an arrow in front of her. John smiled.

"You like that?" he asked.

She fitted the arrow to the string and pulled back. John was struck by how tough she looked, how the bow seemed to bring out a warrior side of her that a gun couldn't have described. She loosened her grip and the string slackened.

"Yeah," she said. "The arrows . . . .?"

"Dipped in holy water," he told her.

She nodded. She set the bow and quiver of arrows on the opposite side of the bed and continued fishing into the bag. John sat down and watched her pull out a serrated hunting knife followed by a boot sheath.

"Nice," she commented. "You just have all the right goodies don't you?"

"I like to be prepared for anything," he said.

She smiled. "I can see where they get it."

John looked at her for explanation. She set the knife down with the bow and turned to regard him fully.

"Dean and Sam," she clarified. "I can see where they get their resolve and prowess. You've taught them well and that's why they've survived on their own for this long. This demon you guys are after, it's not going to beat you."

"How do you know?" John asked, not even bothering to wonder how she knew about the demon.

"Because you're family. No demon can overcome that. You're stronger together just like my sister and I are. You've taught them to be men and as such, they've grown on their own."

John laughed. "I know."

Alex smiled and shoved all of the weapons she wasn't taking back into the bag. She handed the bag to John and picked up the Wal-Mart bag again. In it she pulled out the closest to fighting garb that she had been able to come. She turned back to John as she was removing the tags.

"Are you ready for this?"

"My son is possessed, and my other son is badly wounded but too stubborn to go to a hospital," John said. "I don't think I'm ever going to be ready but this has to end now."

Alex nodded and walked into the bathroom. The door closed behind her but he could still hear her voice.

"I agree," she said. "Before I lose another sister and you lose a son."

"That's not going to happen," he called.

There was silence for a few minutes before the bathroom door swung open. Alex had changed into a looser set of blue jeans, dark in color, and a black shirt with sleeves that didn't attach at the shoulders. She looked every part the fighter that she was with her hair braided down her back and two bangs framing the sides of her face. The previous battle wounds only enhanced the image she was setting off and John realized that he couldn't have asked for a more capable ally.

"I know," she said. "We're not going to let it."

Sarah watched as Dean talked amidst a cluster of demons. They were all using human forms but she knew them for what they were. The group was excited about something but Sarah wasn't sure what. Dean was on edge and appeared nervous. Sarah tried not to jump in fright as the door to the abandoned house swung open. In the faint moonlight a figure was shadowed.

A woman stepped into the doorway and glared at everyone in the room. Her brown eyes came to rest on Sarah and a small smile crossed her fair features. Her hair was short and blonde and she was dressed in blue jeans and a red leather jacket that accented her curves. Sarah knew immediately without having to probe that it was a demon in a woman's body. The other demons backed away from her slowly and Sarah got the feeling that if they were scared of her then she must be really bad news. Her heart sank for her friends. A man walked in behind the woman. Despite the fact that he was a demon he was handsome. His hair was cut short and his features stern. He was about as tall as Dean and his dark eyes followed the woman's to rest on Sarah as well. The black leather jacket he wore made soft rustling noises as he walked, so silent had the room become.

Sarah felt the despair of the situation beginning to crush her. She honestly didn't think that any of them stood a chance anymore. If Alex decided to fight instead of trade, which Sarah didn't think she would, then she would be sorely outmatched. With at least five minor demons and three major demons in the same room Sarah didn't see how her companions could win.

"Awww," the woman said, coming closer to Sarah. "How sweet."

"Who are you?" Sarah demanded.

She didn't want any of them to know she was afraid.

"Meg," the woman said.

Sarah's hopes sank even further at the mention of the name. Alex was a half demon but she didn't think that any of them could stand up to this many powerful enemies. The man that had accompanied her stood silently against the wall of the room by the foot of the stairs that Sarah didn't trust to even attempt to walk up.

"I'm going to kill all of you and watch your blood stain this floor in a lake of red," Meg said with a smile. She reached a hand up and stroked Sarah's cheek. Sarah tried hard not t move away and take it. "You're going to get to watch me kill everyone you love before I put out of your misery."

Sarah bit her tongue and refused to take the bait. Meg turned away from her and approached Dean. She ran a hand up his chest and leaned in, kissing the corner of his mouth.

"I would have thought you would have had the job done by now," she told him. "But this is good. I think we're all going to have a lot of fun tonight."

Sarah ignored the disgusting display and centered herself. She fell deep into her own subconscious and searched for the line that would lead her to Sam. She didn't know if he would get her message, didn't even know if her visions worked this way, but she was so desperate she saw no other choice. She concentrated and blocked out all the noise around her. She thought only of Sam, of her love for him, and of her desperate need to save his life. Because if he walked into this house than he would die followed by anyone who came behind him. Sarah wasn't going to let that happen.

23

Alex and John reentered the motel room where Sam was to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching his head in pain. Alex rushed forward and grabbed him before he fell off the bed. Once again she held him in her lap while John looked on in concern.

"Sam!" Alex cried. "What is it?"

"Vision," he grated through clenched teeth.

"Sarah," Alex said, more for John's benefit. "I was counting on this."

Sam cried out in pain and his nose began to bleed. Alex hugged him from behind and rocked back and forth, trying to ease the pain in any way she could. After several seconds Sam relaxed his body against Alex and breathed easier.

"What did you see?" John asked.

"A two story house out on the highway, in the woods," Sam answered. "I saw a sign for the bridge and then a dirt road before it. You wouldn't normally notice it from the road. I saw Dean and Sarah. And Dad, Meg is there."

John's face hardened. "Meg. This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Meg is a demon," Sam told Alex. "A tough bitch. She's the one who arranged all of this to happen."

"Okay so the odds are sorely against us," Alex said. "That's not going to stop me."

John smiled. "It's not going to stop any of us. We finish this or we die trying."

"We need a plan," Sam said shakily.

"I get the feeling anything other than planning the basics is going to get in the way," Alex commented. "I think this is more of a fight for your life mission."

John nodded in agreement. "We'll figure out everyone's basic roles but you and Sarah can't be in the fight until we get Dean back. That will turn the tables on Meg and her friends. Dean is priority. You get him back, Sammy. That's all you do. Alex and I will buy you time."

Sam nodded. A hard look came over his face, one of determination that Alex respected. He stood from the bed and for the first time didn't double over in pain. He stood straight and tall in front of his father. Alex stood up behind him and gathered up the bow. The quiver holding the arrows was already strapped to her back. The knife was secure in her boot sheath and for everything else she would rely on her own physical prowess.

"It's a few hours before dawn," Alex said.

John turned for the door. "Let's finish this."

Alex crept up the path that led to the house silently. Over her shoulder she had slung the bow and she knew that she could get it ready and fitted with an arrow in seconds. She had always been a good shot but her father had taken her to an archery range most of her life. She had loved it and was a natural with the bow. She eased up to the side of the house and checked to make sure that the way was clear. John had been correct in thinking that they had the element of surprise. There were no guards posted. The demons obviously thought that she was going to go along with the trade they had demanded. Alex scoffed at the notion. She wasn't going to trade. An all out war was more her style. She was in her element and she knew it. Dean and Meg had underestimated all of them and that would be the last mistake they ever made.

She watched Sam slink to the other side of the house and knew that John was at the back. They were surrounding it with their limited numbers. They had already scouted it out and found their individual entrances about an hour earlier. Alex slid the bow off her shoulder and slipped an arrow into her hand. She held the arrow to the string and fitted it, holding the bow down low. She timed five minutes on her watch before moving to the front door. She could hear voices inside and tried to count them. She gave up after awhile and just approached the door.

From deep inside herself she pulled the dark power forward. She grabbed at it and let it consume her entire being. She tingled from head to toe and the energy coursed through her veins, setting fire to everything inside of her that it touched. She felt her eyes shift and as she reached deeper still, seeking out every bit of demonic power that she could immerse herself in, her canines shifted painfully. She felt them elongate with a grinding noise and her body responded. Every muscle seemed to tighten, winding itself up for explosive release. Every movement was fluid as though her body had been turned into the fury of the ocean itself. Her heartbeat slowed until it was a steady drumbeat in her ears and she felt as though all the power she had called into herself would make her explode. She searched further, seeking a way to make it her own. The ebb and flow of the power was elusive and tried to fight against her control. She focused on her heartbeat, that steady drumming, and fell all the way inside herself. All she heard was that beat and it roared in her ears. Then there were two. She listened carefully and heard unmistakably a second heart beating along with her own. The darkness rooted and took complete hold but she was still just Alex. She felt the evil settle inside her, rooted from her soul, but it was no longer strong enough to overcome her. The second heartbeat continued quietly beating alongside her own. She smiled to herself.

"Thanks, Allison," she whispered to the breeze.

She drew back her leg until her knees was touching her abdomen and kicked out. Her booted foot met the door and the door gave way. Splinters of wood shattered around her and the remainder of the door went flying into the house, torn from its hinges. She didn't even take notice of the demon that it hit and sent to the ground. She raised the bow up and pulled the string taut. The moonlight shed its light at her back, giving her the appearance of an angel at the doorway. She moved into the house with purpose and heard John make his entrance at the back. His was just as loud and all heads turned from the front of the room to the back as John came into view, holding a shotgun over his shoulder.

"Hi, honey," Alex said. "I'm home!"

She released the arrow in the direction of one of the minor demons and came further into the room, fitting another arrow as she walked. For a moment Meg seemed too stunned to react but she recovered quickly.

"Kill them!" she screamed.

Alex released her second arrow into the same injured demon who was already twitching in pain. She whirled on another demon that attempted to rush her and kicked out, connecting with the side of his head in a perfectly executed snap kick while releasing an arrow in the direction of Meg. The arrow sank into her chest and she roared with fury.

"That's for . . . .," Alex told her. "Well, just for being a bitch."

"I'll kill you myself," Meg hissed, tearing out the arrow.

Alex tossed the bow aside and drew the knife from her boot. She elbowed the same demon that had tried to charge her earlier in the face as he tried to sneak up behind her. She reversed her grip on the blade and sank it into his stomach from behind before pulling the blade free. She kept her gaze steady on Meg all the while. Dean rose up behind her and eyed her dangerously. Off to her side she saw Sam bringing Sarah down from her bonds and John in a vicious fight with two of the demons. Another man detached himself from the back wall and stalked toward John. She knew from the way he moved that he was no minor demon. She returned her full attention to Meg.

"Come on, bitch," she said.

24

Sam pulled Sarah down and gathered her into his arms. He went to work quickly on the bonds and when she was free he moved her quickly out of harms way. She followed him to the back corner of the room.

"What are we doing?" she asked. "Why aren't we helping?"

"We are," he said. "Give me your hand."

She offered him a confused look and gave him her hand. He grabbed it tightly and made sure nobody was targeting them.

"You're astrally projecting again," he told her. "Only this time find the demon and root him out from within."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Sam I don't know if I can do that!"

"You can," he said quietly. "I know you can. You have to, for Dean. Just think about that. You're his only hope right now."

Sarah sighed deeply and squeezed Sam's hand all the tighter. She felt the tingling between their interlaced fingers and looked up at him. He shrugged and closed his eyes. She did the same. They would have to hope that they weren't attacked.

John swung the gun around to hit one of his attackers in the face with it before swinging it back around and firing off a shot that shook the room. The demon stumbled back with a gaping wound in its chest as the already bloody hole began to smoke. John had soaked the shotgun shells in holy water the same as Alex's arrows. He nodded in satisfaction as the demon fell to the floor and writhed in its death throes. He pumped another round into the demon just for good measure and stepped on its body as he walked past. He was stopped by the man that had been calmly standing against the far wall when he had entered. The man's eyes were solid black, indicating that he wasn't a demon. He was a possessed human. John swore under his breath and shouldered the shotgun again. He ducked the first swing but the second caught him squarely in the gut. He doubled over as the demon began raining punches on him and in seconds John was spitting blood. He fell to the ground and rolled intentionally, bringing himself around the demon's feet and up again on his other side. The demon turned, trying to meet him, and was met with an uppercut to his jaw. He stumbled back but hardly fell. He came forward again and John realized how much trouble he was in when two of the minor demons came forward to join their master.

"Shit," he offered.

Alex saw the problem from the corner of her eye. In front of her both Meg and Dean were advancing slowly. As badly as she wanted to have a showdown with Meg she knew that she had to do something else first. She sheathed her knife while simultaneously going into a cartwheel followed by two back handsprings. At the end of the handsprings she leapt into the air and somersaulted over John's head. She came down in front of him in a crouch and quickly stood up to intercept the punch that the lead demon threw at him. Her hand locked around his fist and halted the throw as surely as a brick wall would have. She reached up with her other hand and punched him in the face with a left cross. She grabbed a tighter hold on the hand she held and twisted it, forcing him to double over and continued twisting until she had turned him all the way around with his arm pinned against his back. She pulled until she heard the arm break and shoved him away. Behind her John was already locked in battle with the two minor demons. She whirled around in time to intercept a hit that Dean threw at her from behind. She locked her arm around his as she turned, leaning in until their noses were almost touching.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hit a woman?" she sneered.

"I would hardly qualify you as a woman," he shot back.

"You're right," she sighed. "I'm a bitch."

She released his arm and shoved him backwards. He stumbled back a few steps before righting himself. Meg came forward beside him. The smile across her face told Alex everything she needed to know. Meg was good; she was confident for a reason.

"You can't beat both of us at once," Meg purred.

"Maybe not," Alex agreed. "But if I go down, I'm taking you with me."

Sarah fell into herself and sorted through the calls of all the individuals her empathic power could pick out. She could feel Sam's hand in her own and took comfort in the strength it offered. She listened carefully and found the one voice nearly drowned by all the rest. She latched onto it, following it back to its source of origin. She felt herself be yanked from her body and there was a brief moment where she felt her physical body fall over without anyone controlling it. She flew across the room, incorporeal once more, and had to dodge all the bodies that got in her way. She wasn't aiming for them. She targeted Dean who was in the middle of a fight with Alex. Alex was sorely outmatched although she took the hits and gave them as well. Sarah watched her sister go through a complicated punching routine with Meg, neither one gaining any ground, all the while fending off Dean with one arm or available leg. As she was moving past Sarah saw Meg pull a knife from a hidden sheath at her back. She swung the knife and Alex had to jump to avoid it. She jumped straight back into Dean's waiting arms where he proceeded to lock her in place. She broke his hold and flipped him over her shoulder. When he landed on the ground Sarah seized the moment to invade his body.

John worked his way closer to Alex, trying to get there to aid her in the same way she had done for him. He couldn't do all the flips and somersaults but he was trying all the same. He got caught in a hand to hand fight with one of the minor demons. The demon raked its claws across his chest, ripping open both shirt and skin. John grabbed the offending arm before it could retract it and punched the demon three times in the face with his free hand. He pushed the demon away and removed the machete he had been carrying on his back. John waited until the demon swung again and ducked under its arm, coming around at its back. He swung the machete with all his strength and watched the demon's head separate from its shoulders. The head fell to the ground and rolled a few feet away from Sam's foot. Sam looked at it in disgust and kicked it away. John locked eyes with his son for one moment, assuring himself that Sam was okay, before turning to face the next demon. He wasn't surprised when more of the bastards came pouring through the shattered front door. He made a quick head count of allies and enemies.

Sam was in the corner cradling Sarah's still form. The demon whose arm Alex had shattered was recovering and coming to rejoin the fight. Alex was on her feet although sorely pressed to avoid the blade that Meg continued slashing at her with. Dean was on the floor near them, his body jerking uncontrollably. There were now five more unharmed minor demons in the room, each fanning out to aid one of the bigger bads. John evaluated the situation quickly and decided that he would be no good to Alex in a fight against Meg. More likely he would just get himself killed. He backed into the corner where Sam was crouching and took up position in front of his son.

"Just finish it, Sammy," he called over his shoulder. "I won't let them near you."

25

Sarah was corporeal again, at least in this corner of the tiny fragment of Dean's mind that was still his. Even his body in his own mind was badly broken; he was too weak to even stand. Sarah stood in front of him, shielding him from the onslaught of the demon. It towered over her, nearly eight feet tall, and resembled a giant shadow. Its skin seemed to be made of ash and when he moved parts of that fell off, leaving a cloud in his wake. It was a distracting display at the very least. His fingers were claws and the ends were blood red as though the blood from his many victims had never washed clean. His eyes were narrow reptilian slits in the darkness of his face and when he smiled all she could see were the rows of teeth that shone white against the black. His very presence made her skin crawl and the aura he threw off made her want to hide under her covers and scream for her mommy. She cast aside those feelings of abject terror and focused on her mission. Save Dean at all costs. Without her, he would die within his own body.

"Come on you bastard!" she screamed.

The demon rushed her and she mentally opened a vortex behind him. The wind whipped against her hair and she could see the outside of Dean's body through the spinning window. She had made a portal back into the room where her friends and loved ones were fighting for their lives. She prepared herself and met his headlong rush, charging into him with all her strength and fury. As she ran she pushed him back telekinetically, giving herself the upper edge as her body met his own. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kept running, pushing simultaneously with her mind. The demon clawed wildly at her back, breaking through her shirt and tearing the skin beneath. She felt as though a bullwhip was cracking against her and she screamed in pain as she neared the portal. She felt the blood run in rivers from the wounds and still the demon clawed. He cut every available place his hands could reach while she barreled him toward the portal. She could feel herself getting weaker, even in astral form, as her blood ran freely. She cast all pain and doubt from her mind and charged through the portal with the demon firmly in tow.

Sam cried out as Sarah's body began to jerk. He could feel warmth soaking through the leg of his jeans and he quickly leaned her upright against him. On her back horribly deep claw marks were appearing, as though an invisible hand was rending her flesh. They split open all over her back, shoulders, neck and upper arms. The blood poured forth and Sam desperately tried to stop its ceaseless flow.

"Sam!" John cried, looking to the center of the room. John gutted yet another demon and hit it so hard it went spinning into the nearest wall. Sam almost smiled; that made three down and two more to go for his battle-hardened father. He followed his father's gaze to where Dean laid jerking and convulsing on the floor. Sam watched as Dean's mouth opened and a cloud of black smoke poured forth like an over exuberant Old Faithful. The ash like smoke roiled out until it seemed that the stream would never end. Dean's body hit the floor wildly and Sam was sure that he would have plenty of bruises left over from that. At long last the smoke cleared and in its place was an eight foot tall monstrosity that had materialized from the ash-like substance that had come from Dean's body. Sarah's body jerked sharply and he looked down to see her open her eyes slowly. Pain marked her expression and he quickly leaned forward to check her pulse.

"I'm okay," she gasped. "How's Dean?"

Sam looked from her to Dean. Dean was lying on the ground unconscious by all appearances.

"I don't know," he said.

Alex jumped back, desperately trying to avoid the blade. The demon whose arm she had shattered closed in on her until she was hard pressed to avoid a hit from either him or Meg. She threw a glance over her shoulder and saw a wooden wall a good ten feet away. She turned around and sprinted, knowing that Meg and her companion would give chase. As their footfalls pounded behind her she ran on and sprang up, the bottom of her right foot hitting the wall. She used her momentum to run up the wall, step after step, until her body began to curve. She pushed off from the wall and arced back down, coming to rest facing Meg from behind her. Meg turned around quickly and Alex used the advantage to swing her right leg around clockwise in an arcing kick that connected with Meg's outstretched wrist. The knife clattered to the floor out of her reach. Alex swung with her right arm in a backhand that hit Meg on the side of the face and jumped up to bring her boot heel level with the other demon's chest. She kicked out and sent him sprawling backward into the wall. Meg came at her hard then and she stumbled back, blocking of the blows but inevitably taking some. Behind her she heard Sam and Sarah on their feet and back in the action. John had traded out his rifle for a 9mm and was proceeding to finish off the remainder of the minor demons that had become such a pain in the ass. Meg smiled at her before coming forward with an arcing axe kick of her own that smashed into Alex's left temple. Her head jerked and she heard her neck pop painfully. Before she knew it she was on the ground, dazed, while Meg stepped over her body. She lifted her head to see John go flying across the room and crash into a table against a wall that had been left behind. The table splintered around him and when he hit the ground he didn't get back up.

"Alex!" Sarah screamed.

Alex looked up as she stumbled to her feet. Meg was holding John's gun in her hands. Alex followed the angle of the gun and found Dean getting to his feet, obviously disoriented and still weak. She watched as he shook it off, regaining full control of his own body and turned around slowly.

"No," she whispered.

She sprinted for all she was worth, knowing that she might not get there in time. She heard the gun go off and ran harder, her heart pounding in her ears. She jumped in front of him and her body jerked as they crashed to the ground together. He landed on top of her and stared down into her eyes. All she saw in them was the man that she loved.

"Alex," he said.

"Dean," she countered. "This isn't over."

"I know," he replied. "Did she just shoot at me?"

Alex nodded. Her heartbeat still roared in her ears and her blood was pumping furiously. Dean checked himself quickly and found no blood. He shrugged and looked in Meg's direction.

"She must have missed," he commented.

Alex took a steadying breath and raised herself up on one elbow. "No," she told him quietly. "She didn't miss."

26

Sarah moved into the center of the room while Sam ran to check on his father. Her muscles were tight and every movement wracked her body with pain. She watched as Sam was intercepted by the male demon and the two began fighting. Sam went down under a rain of blows. Sarah's heart burned with anger. She welcomed it; for once in her life she wasn't going to stand by and be saved. She let the anger grow inside her until it was consuming and the power that it brought up within her reached an explosive level. Her head ached mildly and her temples throbbed. She raised two fingers to her nose as it began to bleed and watched the crimson droplets spiral to the ground and splatter there. She looked up and saw Dean on the ground with Alex. Meg was moving toward them, still holding the gun, ready to finish whatever she thought she had started.

Sarah clutched her head as the ache persisted, growing more insistent and more painful. The blood from her nose continued to drip and she felt lightheaded and woozy. She thought about Sam and everyone else in the room. They were all going to die. She could hear the punches raining on Sam from behind her as though she were listening through a set of headphones. She could hear his cries of pain with every hit. She whirled around and her vision blurred.

Sarah's arm flew outward and the demon attacking Sam went soaring across the room. As soon as she landed she flung her arm again and his body obeyed. He slammed into the ceiling and dropped to floor, raining dust down around him. She jerked her head and he slid across the floor, his clothes shredding as he went, until he came up hard against the far wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Meg," she said simply.

Meg turned around at the mention of her name and stared at Sarah. Her brown eyes glinted as she raised the gun. Dean took her from behind, charging straight into her with a furious roar that hurt Sarah's ears to hear it. She looked from Meg to the other demon that was slowly getting to his feet.

"Nobody told you to get up," she told him.

He rushed at her then, eyes blazing with hatred, and she held up her hand with the palm facing outward. He slammed into something solid but invisible. He was held there fast as if stuck in glue that nobody else could see. He struggled to get at her but to no avail. She came forward and punched him in the face. When she drew her hand back it ached from the blow but she didn't care. She punched him again and again, her fist drawing blood on his face. Finally she stopped and cocked her head to stare at him.

She turned around and watched Dean attack Meg. He was on top of her, legs pinning her to the ground for the time being, punching her repeatedly. He got up and kicked her in the face with his heel. She reached out a hand and grabbed his ankle, pulling him to the ground with a jerk. Alex stumbled into the fight and broke her hold. Meg got to her feet and threw a punch at Alex that she nimbly ducked. When Meg went to throw a second punch Alex lunged forward, going into a forward somersault that took her under Meg's swinging arm and around behind her. As she rolled Sarah saw her remove the knife from her boot sheath. Alex came to a stop in a crouch behind Meg, her left knee touching the ground and her right foot balancing her out. Her arms were spread out wide and her head was bowed. She whirled quickly, never losing her balance, and slashed the knife out. Meg screamed as it sliced into the back of her knee. Alex spun the blade around quickly and rose up behind Meg like a phantom. She tossed the blade to Dean, now standing in front of Meg, who caught it deftly and spun it around. Sarah watched him plunge the blade into her gut, just as he had done to Sam when he was possessed.

Meg screamed again and stumbled back to Alex's waiting arms. Alex spun her around and yanked her knife out.

"That's mine, you bitch," she snarled. "I want it back."

Sarah turned her attention back to the trapped demon but was stopped short when she heard Sam moan in pain. Her senses returned to her and the anger that had been boiling inside her subsided slowly. She turned around and ran to Sam's side, breaking her hold on the demon. She never saw him run from the house and back out into the shadows of the night.

Dean moved to hit Meg again but she dodged out of his way with a sneer. She backed away from both of them and toward the door. Her companion had already vanished and she turned around to join him without a parting word. Her angry stare said it all. She would be back and with a vengeance. She would remember what they had done to her and she wasn't going to let it go.

Dean surveyed the damage that the battle had wrought. His father was lying unconscious in the corner and Sarah was holding a bloodied Sam in her arms. Sarah herself was bleeding all over and Dean could tell that the blood loss was starting to get to her. She was unsteady on her feet. He turned around to see Alex staring at him quietly. Her hand clutched her stomach and he could see the red of blood leaking from between her fingers. She smiled at him and in that smile his heart broke for all she had endured.

"Dean," she whispered.

He rushed forward to catch her as she fell. Tears fell from his eyes as he lifted her limp form into his arms. He had come too far to lose her now. Blood from the gunshot wound she had taken for him bled onto his shirt and he had to stop the sob that threatened to erupt from his throat. He didn't realize until this moment, feeling her heartbeat slowing down against his chest, how much he loved her. Tears streamed down his face as he carried her toward the front door. It was an alien feeling, the fact that she was so fragile and vulnerable looking. Alex was never fragile, always stronger than steel.

"Sarah!" he yelled. "We have to go to the hospital now!"

Sarah helped Sam up, who was just as shaky on his feet but able to stand. His whole face was swollen and bloodied, his right eye swollen shut and when he walked it was with a pronounced limp. Dean could see red staining his shirt as well from where the stitches had torn open and the stab wound had begun to bleed anew. Sam hurried to their father and picked him up with Sarah's help. Together they walked him from the house, all of them bloody, dirty, injured, and barely on their feet. Dean rushed to the truck as everyone followed behind as quickly as they could and piled inside. All the fighting spirit was gone now and each one of them reflected on how close they had all come to dying. Sarah's head pounded relentlessly as Sam lay in her lap staring at his father. John sat quietly, blood from a deep gash on his forehead and right cheek oozing down his face, and stared at the house as they drove away. He never saw the glowing reptilian eyes staring at them from the wood line.

Dean pulled out of the driveway and back onto the highway with a squeal of tires. He kept glancing at Alex's face, washed even paler in the faint moonlight, and wondered if she would ever open her eyes again.

27

Sarah awoke in a hospital bed and turned her head slightly to view the IV stuck in her hand and the machinery steadily pumping out her vitals for the world to see. The hospital room was quiet, deathly so, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw the bed beside her was empty. Alex should have been there. She frantically pushed the call button on the pad for the nurse's station and waited through several agonizing minutes.

"Can I help you?"

A middle aged nurse with warm brown eyes stuck her head in the door. Sarah didn't miss the flash of apprehension that surfaced at the top of her emotions for a split second. Sarah's heartbeat doubled, the fear filling the pit of her stomach as though a rock of ice had been swallowed while she was unconscious. She tried hard to swallow but found that her mouth had gone dry.

"My sister," she said. "Where is my sister? Where are the people I came in with?"

The nurse sighed and came all the way into the room, partly closing the door as she leaned against it.

"Three guys and another girl?" the nurse asked quietly.

Sarah's heart stopped. "Yes."

"I'll get the doctor. He's the one qualified to tell you their conditions. If you don't mind waiting a few minutes . . . ."

Sarah stared hard at the nurse, wanting to scream in anger even though she realized that it wasn't her fault. She had to follow procedure and there was nothing she could do about it. The nurse slipped quietly from the room and Sarah swore it was another hour before a white coated doctor walked in. He was aging, although gracefully, and his face was relatively smooth and stern. His eyes were a grayish blue with a depth to them that Sarah had never seen before. She thought she could see all the way down into his soul and it wasn't a bad sight. He gave off an aura of competence and kindness.

"Glad to see you're awake," he said when he entered. "We didn't even have a name for you."

"Sarah," she told him. "Sarah Delaney."

"Well, Sarah," he went on. "Would you mind telling me what put you in the hospital?"

"No," she answered, a little too sharply. "But first you have to tell me about the people I came in with. Where are they? Where's my sister?"

"Your sister," he breathed. "The other woman that came in?"

"Yes!" she cried. "Alex! Where is she?"

The doctor inhaled deeply and came to stand at her bedside. She felt her heart lurch and all oxygen intake ceased. The doctor leaned forward and his eyes conveyed everything.

"The woman that came in with you, your sister," he began. "She died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen shortly after arriving. We did everything we could but she had already lost over half of her body's blood. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Sarah thought she heard the doctor's voice break as he spoke and she could see the sympathy in his eyes as her whole world shattered. She felt dizzy and sick all at the same time and tears stung her eyes. She was too numb to really cry; she felt like if she could just wake up she would end this nightmare. The doctor stared at her and her vision swirled before her. Alex was dead. She had lost every family member. Just like Allison, her mother, her father . . . . .everything was gone. She was the last standing family member and she didn't know how to stand alone. She clutched at her head as the sobs began and shook her head wildly in an emphatic "no" gesture.

"No, no, no, no, no!" she screamed, grabbing at the blankets.

The nurse rushed in and grabbed her, sitting beside her on the bed and pulling her close. The doctor looked at her sternly but the nurse didn't take notice. She held Sarah close and let her scream and cry into her shoulder, shushing and rocking as a mother would. Sarah continued sobbing the word "no" over and over again until her voice was hoarse and raw. When the sobs subsided and her shoulders ached from shaking so much she thought of Alex again. She saw her sister's smile, her passion and fire, her whole entire life that she would never live. All the good that she would do, all the lives that she would save, and her life still unplanned with Dean. Sarah had always thought they would marry one day when they were both comfortable with the idea. She hadn't thought it would be any time soon but she knew that it would happen all the same. The sobs started all over again and her entire body shook so hard she felt like she was falling to pieces.

The doctor met the nurse's eyes over her bowed head and there were tears in them as well. The nurse made it clear that she wasn't leaving her side. Sarah knew that it wasn't normal for a nurse to go to this extent for a patient but she could feel the nurse's sympathy and pain for her.

Sarah cried long into the early hours of dawn and the nurse stayed by her side, never making her ride the pain out alone.

Sarah opened the door to Sam and Dean's room quietly and slipped inside. Dean lay awake in his bed, staring absently at the television screen, while Sam lay sleeping in the bed beside him.

"Sarah," he said in surprise.

He took notice of her tear stained face, the red of her eyes, the puffiness that only came from long hours of crying. Her nose was bright red, as though wiped a thousand times, and the shine in her eyes was long vanished. They were dull and lifeless, as though she were the walking dead been brought back to life by a crazed necromancer. He felt his stomach turn slightly at the expression on her face and instantly thought of the other two people that were not in the room with him.

"Dean," she began and had to turn away.

"Sarah," he said, sitting up quickly and climbing from the hospital bed. His wounds were the less serious of all of them, just a few bruises and cuts here and there. He hurried across the room and enfolded her in his arms, hugging her shivering frame tightly. "What is it?"

"Dean," she sobbed. "Alex is dead!"

Dean's heart stopped momentarily and he felt as though the floor was going to rise up and swallow him whole. He grabbed onto Sarah tighter to steady himself and the tears began to fall. Eventually Sam woke up, his face misshapen and badly bruised. When he heard the news he joined their huddle, each one holding the other, all of them holding each other up. Tears fell in one huge pool beneath them and Sarah could feel the pain in the room as a knife through her own heart. Dean took on a distant look when they broke apart and he went to the window overlooking a field that glowed red with the rays of dawn breaking the horizon. Sam held Sarah, his larger frame supporting hers, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Sam," she said. "I don't know how to live without her. I don't know how to go on by myself."

"You're not alone," he said firmly. "You're never alone anymore."

Sam looked at his brother and Dean nodded dully, trying to regain his senses and stand strong for Sarah when she needed him to. Tears still stung his eyes and a feeling of emptiness had filled his heart as though a piece of himself had gone that would never return. His mind wandered to Alex as he slipped from the room and went to find his father. He had never gotten to tell her how much he loved her, with all his heart and soul, until the day he died, and she had gone from him without him having the chance to say goodbye. He would never see her smile again, or fight with her again, or kiss her again. She was lost to him forever and he couldn't help but feel that it was all his fault. If he had been more careful, saw the trap for what it was, then none of this would have happened. None of them would by lying in hospital beds and Alex would be alive. He wept as he walked and had to force himself to be strong as he found the door to his father's room and stepped inside.

Sam swallowed hard and pulled the black velvet box from the pocket of his jacket that was thrown over a chair in the room along with the rest of his clothes. He had changed his mind before leaving the hospital room earlier and stuck it in his pocket and now he was glad that he had. He looked at Sarah's face and despite the swelling from the crying she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He took a deep breath, not knowing if this was the right time but not sure if there would ever be another time. He couldn't hold it in anymore, despite the tragedy; he couldn't not let her know how he really felt.

"Sarah," he said, drawing her attention to him. He walked forward and grabbed her hand in his own. Her blue eyes stared up at him, vibrant even under the circumstances. "I love you. I know you already know this, but I want to tell you again. I love you for your smile, your strength, your passion. I love you because you always see the good in everything around you no matter how bad things get. I love you for a million reasons and you have to know that. You're not alone, Sarah, not anymore."

"Sam . . .," she started.

He held up his finger to her lips and inhaled deeply before plunging ahead. He got down on one knee and Sarah looked down at him in surprise.

"You're not alone anymore, Sarah," he repeated firmly. "Because I want to spend the rest of my life with you, side by side, forever."

"Oh, God, Sam," she whispered.

"Sarah Delaney," he said hurriedly, but with a voice full of passion and hope. "Will you marry me?"

He flipped open the box and held it out to her, revealing the ring he had bought months ago but had never had the guts to pull out. She appeared stunned for a few seconds and Sam felt his hopes drop. How could she say yes at a time like this? How could she commit herself to a lifetime of love when everything she had loved in life, aside from Sam, had been taken from her all over again? Sam's eyes dropped to the floor and she reached out, putting his chin in her hand and drawing his face up to look her in the eyes.

"Sam," she said slowly. "Yes."

Sam leapt up and instantly regretted it as his body protested. He ignored the pain and slipped the ring on her finger. He had never thought that so much joy and pain could coincide in one body. Sarah smiled at him as he kissed her passionately, swollen lips and all. She hugged his waist and her head fell onto his shoulder as they held each other for several minutes.

"We'll get through this, Sarah," he promised. "Together."

28

Dean placed the last of Sarah's belongings into the trunk of the newly purchased flame red Firebird she had bought a few days ago. John had taken her out and helped her buy everything she needed to replace all that had been lost in the Nova. The last few days since their hospital release had been incredibly difficult for all of them, even John, to deal with the absence of Alex. Almost everything they did reminded them that she was no longer there. They had stayed in the hospital for a week although Dean was released much earlier than the rest of them. He had gone back and forth every day to visit them all and celebrate the engagement of Sam and Sarah.

The doctor had come in the last few days of her stay to tell Sarah that Alex's body had disappeared from the morgue. He had said that it was most likely a hospital error that would soon be corrected and the body would be retrieved for burial. Sarah believed him; she knew that for all the strange and impossible things she saw on a daily basis, the dead coming back to life from a gunshot wound was not one of them. Alex wasn't a vampire or a zombie, or any other supernatural creature that came back to life when it died. Alex was a half-demon who had the biggest heart and strongest will of any human ever known and she was gone.

Sarah had come to terms with that fact and in the last few days she had felt Allison's presence with her constantly. It helped her feel like she wasn't alone. As much as she loved Sam and his whole family there was no way to fill the void that Alex's death had left her. She woke up every morning expecting to see her sister and when that moment never came she felt numb inside. Sam's love helped to carry her through the worst of the times but sometimes she felt like it wasn't enough. She desperately sought peace but it eluded her.

She had told Sam yesterday that she had to leave. He had protested at first, insisting that they were stronger together. She had convinced him that this was something she needed more than anything else. The time to heal, the grieving process, and the solitude she needed to seek out peace. The doctor would inform her when Alex's body was found and she would return to bury it properly. Until then she needed space that only leaving could give her. She promised him that she would return, that they would be married and begin a new life together but she couldn't make that leap until this was behind her. She had been relieved when he consented, understanding her need to get away.

"There you go," Dean said, slamming the trunk shut. "You're sure about this?"

"I'm sure," she said. "I need this. You guys will find something to keep you occupied."

Dean smiled slightly, but the smile was empty. "Yeah."

He reached forward and pulled her into a hug and she felt all his pain, loneliness, and guilt in one moment. She wished she could heal him too, but she had to heal herself first. She knew how much he loved Alex and he had his own process to go through. They would each have to make the journey to peace on their own terms and in their own way.

She smiled at him before reaching upward on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"She loved you too, Dean," she offered.

"I know," he said and his voice broke slightly.

"Don't get killed while I'm gone," she told him sternly.

He smiled and saluted her. "I won't."

She turned to John and was surprised when he drew her into a hug as well. It wasn't as long as the one that she had shared with Dean, but it was full of emotion all the same.

"You don't make many friends doing this kind of work," he said quietly. "And it's even harder to keep a family together. I'm so sorry about Alex. I liked her a lot. But you're family now, Sarah. I want you to know that."

She looked him in the eyes and realized how hard it was for him to open his arms to another person. He had lost so much, just as she had, and in taking her in her risked losing her as well as his sons. She appreciated the risk that he was taking for her sake.

"I know that," she told him. "You stay safe, too."

He smiled at her and watched her walk away to Sam. He took her in his arms and held her close as the moments passed. John turned around and finished packing his own belongings into the back of his truck. He was leaving as well to pick up the trail that the demon had left and follow it. Sam breathed in Sarah's scent and swore that he would never forget it. She smelled like lavender and a hint of something more exotic that he couldn't place.

"I love you," he told her.

"Ditto," she laughed. "I'll come back to you, Sam. I promise."

"I know you will," he said seriously. "You just stay safe and call me when you get wherever you're going."

She nodded and pulled away. "I will."

He drew her forth into another kiss, this one shorter and sweeter, before releasing her. She steeled her resolve and walked away to climb into the driver's seat of her new car. She waved as she pulled away before beginning the long drive out of town and up into the mountains where her family's log cabin resided. It was where Alex had retreated to heal after Allison's death and where she would run to now to find her own peace all over again.

Sam and Dean walked out to the Impala a few short hours after John had left again. Sam could see the pain his brother carried but didn't openly show. He knew how hard it was going to be for Dean to recover from this. All of the other Winchester men had lost someone that the loved in a passionate way and now Dean would have to bear the burden as well.

"Dean," Sam said suddenly. "You okay, man?"

Dean stared out at the setting rays of the sun and contemplated the question. He wasn't one for chick flick moments but he knew that if he really needed to let it all out then Sam would be there. Alex was gone from him, but he still felt her beside him from time to time. The hole in his heart would be a long time mending but it would eventually. He would remember the good things and honor her in memory. His heart would never forget.

"Yeah," he answered at length. "I will be."

Sam nodded and opened his door. "Where to now?"

Dean shrugged and climbed in. "Wherever the road takes us."