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 Five

John arrived in Ford City Nebraska and started looking into the suspicious deaths that had attracted his attention to the small town. Six people had died. Their deaths were not necessarily strange. What made them strange was that they all died suddenly with no indication of illness prior to death.

Less then a day after he arrived John found The Church of Roy LeGrange a faith healer. On the surface he seemed like the real thing, miraculously healing the terminally ill people who came to him. But not everything was what it seemed. John discovered that for each person that the LeGrange had healed someone else had died of the exact same thing that was killing the person he healed.

What John didn't know and was having trouble discovering was how the man was doing it. How was he transferring the illness and why?

John was sitting in his motel room reviewing the notes he'd made on LeGrange and his miracle cures when his cell phone rang. The caller I.D. told him it was Joshua so he flipped the phone open and said, "Hey Josh, it's been awhile."

"I know John," Joshua said. "But, listen this isn't just a social call. I have some news and you aren't going to like it."

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's Dean," Josh said. "He got hurt during their last hunt."

John's heart thumped loudly in his chest. "No," he whispered. Then what Josh had said clicked he said hurt, not dead. With quiet intensity he asked, "How bad?"

"It's bad John," Josh said. "It's his heart."

"What do you mean?"

"He had a heart attack,"

"That's not possible," John replied. "He's only twenty seven. The boy's got a stronger heart than me." Dean's birthday was just a few days ago. He'd just turned twenty seven this week.

"He got hit with a hundred thousand volts from a Tazer gun. It triggered a massive heart attack."

John sagged in his seat. With a shock of a hundred thousand volts the boy was lucky to be alive now. "What are the doctors saying?"

"John…"

"What did they say Joshua," John demanded as his friend hesitated.

"They said there was nothing they could do. They gave him a few weeks, maybe a month before his heart gives out on him."

"No," John denied. "There's got to be something they can do."

"There's not John. You need to go see him now, while you can."

"No…" John said. "I'm not going to let this happen."

"John…"

"I said no. Not after all this. He is not going to die, I won't allow it." John told his friend fiercely.

"How are you going to stop it?" Joshua said, "You are not a miracle worker."

John was about reply with a rude retort when Josh's words sunk in. He looked down at the research he'd been doing. Hope sprang into his heart and he told his friend, "Listen Josh I've been working a case up here in Ford City Nebraska. A faith healer up here is curing terminal illnesses." John took a deep breath before continuing. "I want you to call Sammy back. Tell him about the man. Do whatever you have to but make sure he brings his brother up here."

"Wait John," Josh asked suspiciously. "Why would you be looking into something like that? There's nothing evil in healing people."

John didn't reply. He knew what the cost would be to heal his son, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered but saving his boy. This man LeGrange was going to fix up his son or John was going to make him wish he'd never been born. He and his son's have been hunting and killing every evil son of bitch they could find to save other people. This time they were going to get something in return. This time they were going to save Dean.

"John…"

"Just do it Joshua."

"You're sure?"

"Dean is not going to die Joshua. I won't let him."

Joshua sighed. He knew there was no changing John's mind and the truth was he really didn't think he should. John and his boys have been through so much. "Should I tell them you're there?"

"No, just send them," John said. "Make sure Sam knows that Dean will not come if he thinks he's coming to see a faith healer. Tell him… tell him to tell Dean he's taking him to see a specialist."

"John," Joshua said, "I'm not sure about this."

"I am," John said firmly. "Please Josh, I won't loose him.. I can't."

"Alright John," Joshua said. "I'll get them there."

"Thanks."

John flipped the phone closed and tossed it down on the bed. He put his head in his hands. "You can't have him," he said furiously to no one. "It's not his time. I won't let it be."

John left the room and walked few blocks to a local roadhouse. He wanted to get drunk. He wanted to get into a bar room brawl. He wanted to beat the living shit out of something. He didn't do any of those things. Instead he sat quietly in the corner booth thought of nothing and everything. He drank a single beer before returning to his room.

His phone was on the bed where he'd left it. The digital display indicated he had one missed call and one voice message. He called his voice mail and listened to the message. It was from Sam.

Hey dad, it's Sam ah… You probably won't get this but ah… It's dean he's sick and ah… the doctors say there's nothing they can do. Um, but ah they don't know the things that we know right um… So don't worry cause I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get him better. Alright, I just wanted you to know.

John could hear the tears in his son's voice. He knew Sam was devastated over what was happening to Dean, but he also knew that Sam would do what ever it took to make his brother well again.

Joshua called him back the next day and told him that Sam and Dean were on their way. They should be in Ford City sometime the following day.

John spent the next few days trying to find out how LeGrange was saving some people and killing others but he kept coming up empty. He knew the man wasn't possessed. He had gone to two of the man's sermons since arriving. The man was an ordained reverend and he spoke the Lords prayer in both English and Latin. There was no way that he possessed. John suspected that something was using the reverend he just wasn't sure how.

John also interviewed two of the people the reverend had healed. Both were now in perfect physical shape with no negative side effects. They had nothing but wonderful things to say about LeGrange. He didn't blame them the man had literally saved their lives and they did not know of the price that was paid to do so.

His boys arrived in time for the sermon the next day. John was already inside saving two seats at the front of the tent and keeping an eye on the entrance awaiting their arrival. He heard them before they came inside Dean was talking to a woman. He could hear him flirting with her. John smiled, trust his son to be picking up the girls while he sits at deaths door.

When they came in John was shocked at his oldest son's appearance. The boy looked weak like it was draining his energy just standing up and walking. His eyes were rid rimmed not from crying, but from exhaustion. John almost stepped towards them. He almost revealed himself, but at the last second caution over road the need for physical contact with his sons.

He was dressed in a long overcoat with the collar turned up. It hid him well. He stepped into the isle and left the two seats he'd been saving. Ducking his head away from his son's he walked past brushing Sam on the way by. Dean attempted to take a seat at the back of the room but Sam saw the two empty seats John had just left and makes his brother follow him up front. John took a seat at the back corner of the tent and watched his children. He would have a chat with the reverend after the sermon and make sure the man healed his son.

LeGrange began his sermon. Preaching about the good and the corrupt, about how the Lord punishes the corrupt. That's when John figures out how the victims are being chosen. He knew one of them was an abortionist and another was a criminal.

LeGrange was saying something about the Lord helping him to choose those he healed when John heard Dean say, "Yeah, that or their wallets."

LeGrange heard what Dean said and replied, "You think so young man?"

John cringed. If Dean messed up his only chance to be healed because of his wise crack John would kill him himself!

"Sorry," Dean said abashed.

"No don't be," LeGrange said, "Just watch what you say around a blind man we've got real sharp ears." The people in the congregation laughed and Dean tried to sink further into his chair. "What's your name son?" the reverend asked Dean.

His son looked around a second before answering, "Dean."

"I... I want you to come up here with me." LeGrange told him.

Dean hesitated then said, "No, its okay."

John put his head in his hands praying his son did not blow this opportunity.

Then he heard Sam ask, "What are you doing?"

LeGrange can't see Dean, but he turns his head to where he'd heard Dean's voice and asks, "You've come here to be healed haven't ya?"

Dean looks around again and John knows he is checking out all the other sick and dying people in the tent. "Well yeah," he answers, "But ah… a maybe you should just pick someone else."

LeGrange chuckles and says, "I didn't pick you Dean, the Lord did."

John was about to go to his son and tell him to get his ass up on the stage when he heard Sam tell his brother, "Get up there!"

Very reluctantly Dean makes his way to the stage. He looks out at the congregation and John ducks his head behind the people in front of him.

LeGrange looks at Dean and asks, "You ready?"

Dean, his hands tucked into his pockets looks like a lost child up on stage. He turned to the reverend and said, "Look no disrespect by I'm not exactly a believer."

LeGrange stared at Dean with unseeing eyes and replied, "You will be, you will be." Then he turned to the congregation and said, "Pray with me friends."

For the first time in a very long time John bowed his head in prayer. He didn't see when LaGrange puts hand on Dean's head, but at the started sounds from the congregation he looked up in time to see Dean sink to his knees and pass out. It took all of his determination not to rush the stage but to sit back and watch.

Sam however wasn't nearly as restrained as John, "Dean!" he shouted running to his brother and taking him in his arms. "Say something."

It only took moments, but to John it seemed like hours then Dean woke. John watched as his son looked in the direction of LeGrange, but not at him. It was as though he was seeing something beside LeGrange. Something only he could see.

"Dean," Sam asked his brother. "How do you feel?"

Dean had an intense look on his face as he looked from LeGrange to the empty space next to the man. But his brother was insistent and Dean always had a hard time refusing Sam. "I'm fine. I feel fine Sammy,"

"Did it work?"

Dean was distracted he kept looking for something that wasn't there but he replied, "Yeah Sammy, I think it did."

That was all John needed to hear and as he left the tent unshed tears of pure joy filled his eyes. He called Joshua as soon as he got in the truck and told him that Dean had been healed. He didn't tell Josh of the consequences. He didn't tell him that someone else had just died so that his son could live.

The next morning John read in the paper about Marshall Hall, the man who had died. He was a teacher. The fact that he was an openly gay rights activist is probably what put him on LeGrange's death list.

John went to the place where the man had died to find out everything he could about the man's death. When he arrived at the swimming club where the man had died he was totally shocked to find Sammy was there. He didn't know how, but if Sam was here then his boys had some how figured out what was happening and were looking into it.

He went back to his motel room to decide what to do. This was going to get a bit dicey now that Dean and Sam were also on the case. He couldn't just go and ask the same questions his son's had asked someone was going to get suspicious. Then it came to him. He knew how to get the information he needed. He knew exactly how to get it.

The next day he watched their room and waited until they left. When he was sure they were gone he picked the lock and entered his son's room to look around. It didn't take long all their notes were on the table and Sam's laptop was opened and on.

"Son of bitch," John said to himself as he glanced at the notes. "A reaper." He had not even suspected a reaper, but it made sense. A reaper could give and take life at will. But to control one that was some seriously black magic. You would have to be a complete fool to try and control a reaper. He knew now what his son had seen when he was lying on the stage, it had been the reaper.

John left Ford City that night. He knew his son's would finish the job. Once they knew it was a reaper all they had to do was find the alter and destroy it. He had complete confidence in his son's ability to complete the job.

A/N Please read and review.