Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, but I wish I did. It would be so much fun!

Hunted

John Winchester is hunted by more then just demons.

Chapter Twenty Two

John was in Sacramento when he decided it was time to call his boys. He chose to use a payphone instead of his cell phone. He didn't want to take any chances on a dropped call. His son's were worried enough.

Entering the phone booth John dialed Dean's number and waited patiently for his son to answer. He was only slightly surprised when a sleepy sounding voice answered. "Hello." It was not Dean's voice on the other end of the line.

God it was so good to hear his young son's voice. It had been over four years since he spoke with Sam. "Sam," he asked. "Is that you?"

"Dad," Sam asked him, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," he told him.

"We've been looking for you everywhere. We didn't know where you were, if you were okay," Sam said.

"Sammy, I'm alright," John reassured his young son. He could hear Dean's voice in the background asking if Sam was speaking to him.

"What about you and Dean?" John asked.

"Were fine," Sam replied.

Then Sam asked the question that John had been dreading because he knew his son's would not like the answer he had to give them. "Dad, where are you?"

"Sorry kiddo I…," John knew this one was going to start one of their famous arguments, but he had no choice. "I can't tell you that."

"What?" Sam demanded, "Why not?"

"Look," John replied, "I know this is hard for you to understand. You, your just you're gonna have to trust me on this."

"You're after it, aren't you?" Sam asked, "The thing that killed mom."

Damn the boy was smart. He hadn't anticipated the conversation going this route, "Yeah, it's a demon Sam."

"A demon," Sam asked. John could hear the pain in his young son's voice as he spoke about the thing that had killed his mother and Jessica. "You know for sure?"

"I do." John told him. "Listen Sammy, I ah, I also know what happened to your girlfriend. I'm so sorry I would have done anything to protect you from that."

"You know where it is?" Sam asked.

He would not tell his son that he didn't know exactly where to find it, but he knew the signs. He didn't have time for more detail so he said, "Yeah, I think I'm finally closing in on it."

"Let us help," Sam asked.

"You can't," John told him. "You can't be any part of it."

"Why not?" Sam demanded.

John understood his son's need to be involved, but there was no way John was going to allow them to help him with this one. "Listen Sammy, that's why I'm calling. You and your brother you've got to stop looking for me." John knew his next statement was going to cause an argument with Sam, but he'd rather have his son's angry with him then dead because of him. "Alright, now I need you to write down these names."

"Names what names dad?" Sam said fury plain now in his voice. "Talk to me, tell me what's going on." John could hear Dean in the background demanding the phone.

"Look we don't have time for this." John raised his voice, "This is bigger than you think. Even us talking like this, it's, it's not safe."

"No!" Sam insisted, "Alright, no way."

John was loosing his patients. He really was afraid of the length of this call and he needed to end it soon. He didn't know if the demons could trace this, but with them any thing was possible. "I've given you an order." He told his son, "Now you stop following me and you do your job, you understand me!"

Dean's voice suddenly came over the phone. He'd taken it from his brother, "Dad… It's me where are you?"

"Dean, I can't tell you that. But listen, you and your brother need to stop trying to find me. It's too dangerous. You need to make sure you do not stay in one place too long. The thing that killed your mom, it's a demon and it's a bad son of bitch. You and your brother need to be careful."

"Yes sir."

"Now, I need you to write down these names, have you got a pen?" John asked.

"Ah, yeah," his son replied, "I've got a pen."

"These are all couples that went missing over the past three years. All off them were on road trips that took them through Indiana and all of them disappeared in the second week of April. You and your brother need to find out what happened to them and stop or another couple is going to go missing soon."

"What are the names?" Dean asked.

John rattled off the names then said, "Dean, you and Sam… be careful. I'll call you when it's safe."

"You too," Dean replied.

When he hung up the phone John sighed. That didn't go nearly as well as he'd planned. But Dean would do what he asked and he would make sure Sam did too. John had made sure Dean knew how dangerous the situation was. He already regretted the argument with his youngest son, but he had no idea how he could have handled the situation any differently.

John returned to the truck and continued his journey. Until the demon made its next move there was nothing John could do about it. So, for now, he'd take care of anything else he could find. Right now he was on his way to Cannon Beach, Oregon to look into something the locals have taken to calling Bandage Man.

During John's last internet search he'd read the story of a high school student who died on the same stretch of road as the previous incident. While the police are not giving any credence what-so-ever to the Bandage Man the young lady who was with him insists it was the creature that killed the boy.

A/N I realize most of this chapter was straight out of the series, but it was such an important part of the show I couldn't leave it out. I hope you enjoy the slight enhancements to John's side of things. Also, in case some of you haven't noticed the things that I'm sending John hunting are actual Urban Legends, so it takes me a bit longer to post the chapter when I have to research the legend first. Therefore, don't be surprised if the next post takes an extra day. Thanks again for reading and please review!