Here we go! As promised. :) Hope you enjoy it!

anna3311234 : Thank you so much!~ I'm definitely getting more and more motivated every day to keep going with this.

CHAPTER 6

Emma knew her time to die had not come yet - particularly because of the throbbing in her head. From somewhere to her left there was a soft beeping sound, and as she moved her head she felt the oxygen tubes brush against her face. Death could not possibly be this uncomfortable. The sterile smell of the room - which you would think would be no smell - told Emma she was in the hospital. "Shit..."

"Agent Harris?" Emma opened her eyes painfully. The light invaded her pupils and caused a searing pain to shoot through her brain. She grunted and shut them again. "Careful of the lights, dear," yeah thanks, "here, I'll turn them down." It was only after a moment that Emma ventured to open her eyes again. The light was down and an older woman in scrubs was standing at the foot of her bed. "Good afternoon," the plump woman said pleasantly. "Do you know where you are?"

"Hospital." Emma mumbled thickly.

"Mhm. I'm Tina, your nurse. Hi." Emma gave a short nod. "Do you remember what happened?" the hunter listened as the nurse rattled on about some electrical shock that had sent her flying and caused her brain to suffer from a shock. "We'd like to keep you here overnight one more night just to monitor you," Emma opened her mouth to protest, "we also found your gashes - they're almost healed. How did those come about?"

"Tree."

"I see, well. The doctor is helping another patient right now, but he will be in here soon. Are you opposed to having visitors? Your agent partners are right outside."

Sam and Dean. "No you can let them in."

Dean was the first to enter, his tall brother peeking in above him. It startled her how drawn Dean's face was. He had bags under his eyes and his mouth was set into a grim line. At the look on his face when he looked at her, Emma assumed she looked just as bad as she felt. "Hey boys."

"Hey," Sam said gently, "How you feelin'?"

"Like you guys are probably waiting for an explanation, huh?"

"I'd damn well like one." Dean growled. Emma flinched a bit and cast her eyes down.

"I - uh - I don't know where to start."

Emma pushed herself up into a sitting position and blocked out the thoughts that entered when she touched the blankets. "How about with your hand problem thing or whatever?" Dean raised his eyebrows. She pushed out her breath and beckoned him closer.

"Okay. Here. Pick up this cup and think about something. Anything." Dean looked wary as he picked it up for a moment before setting it back down. Emma coolly reached over and picked it up.

Uh, okay... uh a flash of uneasiness. "You thought about how odd I am." Emma said with a smile. "And you're wondering what the eff this all means. You also wanted pizza." Dean looked taken aback. Sam only stared. Emma took a deep breath before running a hand through her hair. "I don't know the details about what this is that I can do," she continued, "But basically I can read what someone was thinking when they touched something. Like their fingerprints leave something behind and I can pick it up. I've been like this since I was a kid..." her voice broke and she left it there. Dean ran a hand down his face and sat down at the edge of Emma's bed. When he turned to her, he was grinning broadly.

"Now that is cool." It was a long time before Emma stopped smiling.

Sam stared dumbfounded still, "So that's what happened when you touched the card with the address on it. And when you touched the drawer in the morgue?"

"I'm not sure what happened there." Emma admitted. "There was a lot of pain and anger. It was white hot. My head still throbs."

"Did you hear anything?" Sam asked.

Emma frowned. "It was like a million voices. They were all screaming something." she shivered, "It was awful..."

"What were they screaming?"

Emma lifted her eyes to meet Dean's. "Lilith."

Dean, through a mouthful of chicken strips, gave Emma a recap of the day that he and his brother had had.

+s+s+

"This is the address, and it's Thursday." Dean said grimly as he pulled himself up and out of the Impala. Sam followed suit, and frowned as he looked at the rundown house on the corner. It was obviously an older part of town, if such a thing was possible, and as Sam looked around he discovered that it was pretty much deserted. Only a stray cat walked by. "Welp..."

The ring was long and old and Dean worried about electrocuting his fingers off when he touched the button. They stood there for a while, awkwardly looking at each other before the door opened a fraction of an inch.

"Whadaya want?" an elderly voice called through the gap.

"Uh, hi. We're friends of Oscar's, and we were wondering if we could ask you something about his death?" Sam replied, using his kind charm to work his way into the house.

It didn't work. "I don't know nothin' about what happened, get outa here!" The door started to close, and Dean held out his hand and stopped the door from closing all the way.

"If you'll just listen... or... look?" Dean and Sam both pulled their shirts to the side and displayed their tattoos. The man's eyes widened and he glanced around the street.

"Why didn't you say so? I'm Lester." he asked and beckoned them to come inside. Ten minutes later Sam and Dean were seated on a mothy couch with a glass of lemonade in each of their awkward hands. The old man was seated across from them, wringing his hands as he rocked back and forth in his chair, muttering to himself. "I, uh, I feel for that child." Lester mumbled as he met eyes with each of the brothers in turn. "He was one of my pupils. As were the rest of them. I just... I cant..."

"Uh, listen, um, Lester." Dean cut him off. "What exactly is going on around here?" Lester looked up at the brothers and frowned deeply.

"Why, demonology, of course. Don't tell me you don't know why you got those tattoos." the man looked shocked. Dean smiled and made a shrugging gesture, pouting out his lips. Lester looked left, then right, then leaned forward. "Did you know that demons exist?" he whispered to them. Dean and Sam exchanged shocked looks and leaned forward toward the man.

"What?" Sam asked, feigning shock.

"Those symbols prevent you from being possessed." Lester continued, brushing a bit of long, white hair out of his face. "I was trying to teach those boys everything I knew. One by one they came to me, got the mark, and decided to learn. The apocalypse is coming, did you know?" Sam frowned and leaned back against the back of the couch for just a moment - hopefully Dean would not see his face - before collecting himself and leaning forward again.

"Right, but, why would these kids be dying? If they know about demons don't you think they would be the most likely not to die?"

"Then it's a message." Emma cut Dean off and sat up further, once again pulling her beloved gloves on. "Obviously it's a message. They're saying don't bother. If you start telling people, we'll just kill them."

"That's what I said," Sam pouted defensively. Emma grinned at him and winked.

"But this still doesn't explain why they would take the bodies. What does Lilith want with them?"

"Maybe some kind of public display?" Dean said, wrinkling his upper lip. "You know, like in those old days when they would string up criminals in the square."

"Okay, one, ew. And two, somehow I don't think Lilith is stupid enough to do that. There's not enough information for the common person, how would they know what kind of a message that is. I think this is a warning to hunters. I think this is a warning for us."

Dean opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by his phone ringing in his pocket. "Hello? ... Lester? How did you get ... what? Where are you? Lester? Hello?" Dean looked down at his phone and frowned deeply. "It cut off."

"We should go." Sam said as he stood up onto his feet, and pulled on his jacket. Dean followed suit.

"I don't know where you think you're going." Emma said, standing up onto her legs. Her head throbbed, but she ignored it, and only walked over to where her clothes were piled on a chair. "But if you think you're going without me you're insane." Her jeans were already on. She pulled the gown over her head and Dean pretended to avert his eyes, but she saw when he looked at her as she pulled her shirt and jacket on. With her boots in her hand, she indicated the door. "Let's go boys." Dean grinned and the three of them walked out of the room.

"Agent Harris?" a male's voice cut the three of them off, and Emma turned to look at a man in a white lab coat standing outside of the room, a clipboard in his hand. "Uh -"

"Gotta go doc," Emma said and started walking away. "I feel great. Send my compliments to the chef." And with that, and a huge weight lifted off Emma's shoulders now that she was hunting again, she took off down the hall and toward the elevators, the Winchester boys right at her heels.

Again a little short, but I'm wanting to get them out fast, so here's this one, and another one should be out if not tonight then tomorrow! xoxo Please don't forget to review. I would really like to know how I'm doing. Thanks!