Dean stretched before leaving his room. He walked down the hallway to the kitchen and noticed Syd in their newly furnished 'living room.' Really it was just one of the vacant rooms that Dean and Syd had cleaned out. Now it had a TV and a couch; Dean was actually thinking about finding a recliner. Syd was curled up on the couch reading some kind of book.
"Good morning," Dean said and noticed Syd jump a little.
"Morning," Syd replied with a small wave before going back to her book.
Something seemed off, but Dean decided to get breakfast and talk to Sam first. Sam was in the kitchen, drinking coffee and checking his phone. His hair still looked wet, so Dean assumed that he must have already taken a shower. Dean walked into the kitchen, and Sam looked up from his phone.
"What's up with Syd? She's really jumpy today," Dean said and grabbed a mug.
"Rough night, I guess? She said she'd tell us later," Sam replied indifferently.
"Okay then," Dean said and poured his coffee, but he gave Sam a meaningful glance.
"What?" Sam asked angrily.
"Nothing," Dean mumbled, and Sam gave him an odd look. "I just thought… since you and Syd were getting along earlier that you'd gotten over your… issues. You do treat Syd kind of coldly. I don't think she notices, so it's all good. But I just think it's odd."
Sam sighed, "Look, Dean. I just… don't know what's going to happen, and I think we should prep ourselves for the worst. We don't have a very good record of keeping the people around us safe."
Sam looked pleadingly at Dean, and Dean took a sip of his coffee and said nothing. Sam's phone began to ring. Sam gave Dean a look before he put it on speaker.
"Hello?" Sam asked into the phone.
"Um, hello," a familiar voice replied.
It took a few seconds before Dean could place the voice; it was Ranger Dan from the cabin. Giving Sam a quick confused look, he waited for the ranger to explain himself.
"Uh, well, this is kind of… awkward, but Lucifer's after me. I think he wants the book, but I already destroyed it. Please. Can you help me out? A demon captured me a while back, and I don't really have anywhere to run anymore." Dan's voice did sound desperate.
"They caught you? How'd you get free?" Dean asked skeptically.
"Well, I took quite a beating, but I have some spells in place. They killed some of the demons but not all of them. I need your help. Please, just somewhere to hide out for a few days and get my strength back."
Dean sighed before he nodded to Sam. Why not just let everyone inside their super-secret base? But they really needed all the help they could get, and Ranger Dan was a witch. Maybe he could help them find a spell that could help Syd.
"Alright. Where are you? We'll come get you," Sam responded.
"Joplin, Missouri. There was an odd case here. I thought you two might have something to do with it."
"What's going on?" Dean asked more excitedly than he meant to ask.
"Just vampire attacks. I'm pretty sure all of them are dead though. One hell of a vampire hunter must have passed through here."
Dean was kind of disappointed. It had been a while since they had fought vampires, but at least someone took care of business. Sam told Daniel that they'd be there by tonight but to be ready to go; they'd text him when they got close. Daniel gave them his hotel address before ending the call.
"Why didn't you just tell him we can be there in about 6 hours? Joplin's not that far away. In fact, with me driving we can probably make it in about 5." Dean smirked at Sam's look of disapproval.
"I just feel like it's weird. I got his number from one of the college kids, whom just happened to know who we are. He was specifically looking for us, Dean."
"Maybe he thought that we have a safe house or something, or maybe he's just heard of us."
"Yeah, but the timing seems really off," Sam sighed and drank the rest of his coffee.
Dean took another sip before putting his coffee in a thermos to go. Quickly walking back to his room to get ready to go, he decided that they should play it safe. He had some second thoughts about the ranger as well. Dean quickly got dressed and jogged down to the dungeon and grabbed the chains that they had used on Crowley; they had even worked on that witch Rowena. The chains should at least keep him unable to use magic and partially restrained. Dean smiled to himself as he walked back to meet Sam. Sam was standing in the doorway to the living room and talking to Syd as Dean approached.
"We should be back by tonight, but I just thought that I should tell you beforehand," Sam explained to Syd.
"Thanks, Sam. Don't worry about me. Cas volunteered to watch 'The Princess Bride' with me today, so at least I'll be entertained."
Sam smiled and said goodbye. What Dean had said had clearly affected Sam. Dean felt a little guilty, but it was the truth.
"Bye, brat," Dean quipped to Syd as Sam started to make his way toward the car. "Don't burn the place down while we're gone."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Syd said tiredly with a wave.
Dean chuckled and followed Sam out to the car.