Sam towel dried his hair as he stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a dark t-shirt and drawstring pants. The hot shower had been exactly what he had needed, and he knew the long sleep he was hoping to get would be the icing on the cake. He started heading down the hall toward his and Dean's room when the sound of Bobby's and his father's voices grabbed his attention. Normally, the youngest Winchester wouldn't have thought anything about it, but the urgency in the men's tone was different. He furrowed his eyebrows and quietly edged to the top of the stairs, catching snippets of their conversation.

"No, her parents never told me. I've searched for years and years, put all my feelers out. Nothing."

"We have less than a year, Bobby, and we have no plan."

"We still have time to figure something out without having to get Alicia involved—or Dean or Sam."

"Bobby, we only have the Colt, but one damn bullet isn't going to cut it for this. We're going to need more firepower—a lot more."

Sam raised an eyebrow. He didn't know exactly what the two men were talking about, but he knew it couldn't be good if John and Bobby were discussing himself and Dean, Alicia and her parents, and the Colt in the same conversation. He set his jaw before marching down the end of the hall, knocking quietly but urgently on Alicia's bedroom door. "It's Sam." He heard some shuffling and muffled noises a few moments before Alicia opened the door. Sam saw the hickey on her neck, but tried to pretend he hadn't.

"Hey, Sam," she asked. Dean was gathering up what looked like an empty pie tin and some forks, stuffing them in a plastic bag, followed by a couple of empty beer bottles.

"We need to talk," Sam replied seriously before coming in. Alicia closed the door behind him.

"What's got your panties in a bind?" Dean asked before tossing the bag in the wastebasket nearby.

"Dad and Bobby are still downstairs," Sam answered. "They're talking about something, and I think we should be down there. They mentioned the Colt, all three of us, needing a plan," he glanced at Alicia, "and your parents."

Alicia furrowed her eyebrows. "My parents? As in both of my parents? Are you sure?" Sam nodded. "What about them?"

"Something that they knew but never told him," Sam replied. "Something Bobby's been trying to figure out for years but hasn't." He looked troubled. "It almost sounds like your parents knew something about the demon."

Alicia's expression became more troubled as she sat on the edge of her bed. "Bobby and my father always played dumb about what killed Mom," she said. "He said it wasn't until years later they figured out it was a demon that was after my magic." She looked up at the brothers. "Guys, if my mother knew something about the demon before she was killed—and my father and Bobby also knew—why hide that from me?"

"Maybe they thought they were protecting you?" Sam suggested.

Alicia scoffed, frustrated. "I've had the 'protection bullshit' all my life, Sam, and I've pretty much just just shut up and accepted it, but I draw the line at finding out that my parents knew about this and I was lied to about it." She shook her head. "I'm getting answers. You wanna join me?"

"Oh, hell yeah," Dean replied enthusiastically. He wanted the truth as much as his brother and Alicia, but seeing how much Alicia was itching for a confrontation was turning on Dean a little bit—and the hunter knew that would be very entertaining. He turned to his brother. "Sam?"

"I'm in," Sam replied firmly.

"Good," Alicia said. Before the brothers could even move toward the door, the young woman reached out and grabbed both of their wrists. Her eyes glowed purple and the air around the trio seemed to shimmer before they suddenly found themselves smack dab in the middle of the living room downstairs, books and papers strewn out everywhere—but no John or Bobby in sight. Sam and Alicia appeared unscathed, but Dean wobbled a bit, feeling woozy.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, rubbing the front of his head. He stopped when he realized where they were, and he slowly looked around, trying not to appear too shocked. "Where the hell are we?"

"Downstairs," Sam replied, just as surprised. He looked at Alicia. "You teleported us."

"Element of surprise," Alicia said, shrugging..

Another wave of nausea hit Dean, and he grunted as he leaned against the desk. "Allie, please don't ever do that again," he said, groaning slightly. The young woman put her hand on Dean's cheek, her eyes glowed briefly, and Dean felt his nausea quickly disappear. She gave him a small apologetic smile. "Thanks." He looked around. "Where'd they go?" The trio dispersed around the room, examining various documents and books. Some of the information was about demons, weather phenomenon, witches, supernatural weapons, and other things, but the brothers definitely recognized their father's and Bobby's handwriting on some papers.

"What the hell are you three doing here?"

The trio looked over to see John and Bobby, both carrying books, standing near the entrance to the kitchen. Both hunters looked at the trio frustrated as they dumped the books on nearby chairs.

"We could ask you two the same," Sam said. "What the hell is all this?"

"What the hell is that?" Bobby asked, pointing to Alicia's neck.

"Really?" Dean asked angrily. "You're hiding crap from us, and you're more worried about the love bite on your niece's neck?" Bobby looked right at him, shooting daggers with his eyes, and Dean swallowed nervously before quickly standing next to Alicia, making sure she was between Bobby and himself.

"We're doing research," John replied.

"On the demon," Sam retorted, looking at some of the documents, "on the Colt." He looked at the hunters. "I heard the two of you talking about this stuff—about the three of us being involved in something, about Alicia's parents. What the hell is going on?" John and Bobby glanced at each other, but remained silent.

"Did my parents know about the demon before Mom died?" Alicia asked her uncle bluntly. The hunters remained silent, and the young woman's jaw set. "Guys, I've never used magic to force you to tell me anything, but if you don't start talking right now, I will."

Bobby just stared at his niece for a few moments before exhaling sharply. "Yes," he answered, his tone frustrated.

A flash of hurt flickered across the young woman's eyes. "Why did you lie to me?" she asked.

"Because we didn't know exactly what we were dealing with," John explained. "We knew a demon was involved, and we knew it was after magic, but we didn't realize just how complicated the situation was. That's what I was doing this past year: tracking it, learning as much as I could about what it wanted."

"What did you find?" Dean asked.

"First," John answered, "the demon—the one who killed both of your mothers and Jess—is named Azazel."

"Okay, so now when we gank him, we can put a name to his ugly-ass face," Dean replied. "So far, not seeing a complication here."

"The complication is he has three brothers," Bobby answered. "Dagon, Asmodeus, and Ramiel. They're the four Princes of Hell."

"And that means what?" Sam asked.

"It means they're all powerful sons of bitches," John replied, "and their goal is to open the Gates of Hell to jumpstart the Apocalypse. It requires a spell they have to perform during specific conditions—on the night of a Summer Solstice when the full moon shares the sky with a wandering star."

"A comet," Sam said.

"That's pretty damn specific," Dean replied.

"That's when natural magic is at its strongest," Alicia replied. "And all those conditions fit next year's Summer Solstice." She paused, tilting her head as she finally understood. "That's why they want the magic."

"If the four demons can gather enough and channel it," Bobby said, nodding, "the gates open, and all hell breaks loose—literally."

"Unfortunately, natural magic is rare," John continued, "and it only manifests itself in a few individuals every generation—what Azazel called Special Children. Once they were detected, Azazel would visit them in their nursery when they were six months old, siphon their magic, but if the mother interrupted before he could get all of it he'd pin them to the ceiling and burn them alive. That's what happened with Sam and Max Miller."

"Wait, are you saying I used to have magic?" Sam asked, stunned, glancing at his brother, who looked just as surprised.

"That's why you've had those visions, Sam," John replied. "It's residual magic, and when you've been in close proximity to Azazel or anyone connected with him, it would manifest itself."

"So, why do I still have all my magic?" Alicia asked.

"Because when Azazel showed up in your nursery," Bobby replied, "your daddy got you out while your mother went full on mama bear on Azazel's ass." He looked almost proud, but then his expression shifted into sadness. "Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and Azazel still managed to overpower and kill her."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Alicia asked.

"Because your father didn't want you looking for the others," Bobby answered. "Max Miller's family was all kinds of messed up, as Dean and Sam found out, and," he glanced at John, "Mark wasn't sure the Winchesters wouldn't blame you for Mary's death."

"Why the hell would we do that?" Dean asked. "Allie was just a baby."

"Alicia's mother stopped Azazel from killing Mary once," John answered.

Dean looked at him, stunned. He looked at Sam and Alicia, who both appeared just as shocked. "I'm sorry," he said after a few moments, turning back to his father. "You wanna repeat that?"

"Sam was not the first time Azazel targeted our family, Dean," John replied. "When you were six months old, Azazel visited your nursery."

"Wait, are you saying I also had magic?" Dean asked.

John nodded. "Azazel took it," he continued. "Lily showed up before he could kill your mother and fought him off. I was out of town for a few days, and your mother never told me what happened. Five years later, Azazel made a return visit, this time targeting your brother. Only this time, Lily never came…and your mother never stood a chance."

"Why?" Alicia asked, her voice slightly fearful.

"She was protecting you," Bobby replied. "She knew Azazel was going to come after you one day. He had already come after her five years ago, a few months before he targeted Dean."

"He attacked my mother?" Alicia asked.

"He sent a horde of demons to ambush her and bring her to him," Bobby explained. "He didn't succeed because someone named 'Cass' saved her." He walked over to the desk and grabbed a small leather journal, handing it to his niece. "This is one of your mother's journals, the only one your daddy asked me not to give you after she died. Now, before you get your feathers ruffled, your daddy was hoping to give this to you when he had all the answers, and he was getting close to having them before—"

"Before I killed him," Alicia interrupted softly. She exhaled sharply. "So, who's Cass?"

"We don't know," Bobby replied. "We've searched through every piece of literature and lore available for over twenty-five years, asked around, put every feeler out there we could think of, but no one seemed to know who this person was."

"'Was'?" Sam asked. "Did they die?"

"Don't know," Bobby answered. "Last mention was in an entry Mark wrote the day after Lily was killed, and even then it wasn't much. Whoever this Cass was, they never showed up, dropped a line, or anything. Just fell off the grid, went MIA." He saw the overwhelmed expression on his niece's face. "You okay?"

"I'll get back to you," Alicia replied softly, almost in a daze. Without saying a word, she abruptly headed out of the living room for the stairs, clutching her mother's journal tightly as she hurried up. Dean started to follow.

"Dean, wait," Bobby said. Dean stopped and faced the older hunter. "Just leave her alone right now. She has a lot to deal with."

"Oh, and we don't?" Dean replied, frustrated. "You know, all those times I wondered why that demon killed Mom, I never once thought it was because Sam and I were the Charmed Ones." He looked at John, frowning. "You should have told us the moment you knew."

"You wouldn't have believed me if I did," John replied, "and it doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything," Sam said. "Aside from the fact that Dean and I used to have magic, we thought we stood a chance when there was only one demon. Now, we find out there's four, and we only have one bullet and no other ways of killing them—and less than a year to stop them." He glanced between John and Bobby. "Did I miss anything?"

"One thing," Bobby said, "but it's something that doesn't leave this room."

"What about Allie?" Dean asked. "She's gonna be pissed if she finds out you're hiding something from her—again."

"Let her be pissed, then," Bobby answered firmly. "I mean it, boys. What I'm about to tell you can never get back to her, under any circumstances. Her life depends on it." He looked between Dean and Sam. "Deal?" Dean and Sam looked at each other, then back at Bobby and simply nodded.

(End of Chapter 3)