Thank you all once again for reading and reviewing! I've decided to try something different this chapter with my beta's advice. Most of you voted that you would like alternating POV's in the sequel. Well, since it won by such a large margin, I'm going to start that now. In this chapter, you will get a glimpse of Dean's POV as well and in the next chapter there will be alternating POVs from Bobby, Sam and Dean. I thought this would add a lot to the story and help readers see things from a different perspective. There are also times when Sam is not going to be in an important scene, so I've decided to start alternating POVs instead of just keeping it strictly Sam's. I hope you will enjoy! :)

Also - This story reached the 300 review mark last chapter! Thank you to everyone who took the time out to write something, each and every review mean a lot to me! You guys are awesome, thanks for making this story so much fun to read, I love hearing your thoughts!

Sam stared in shock at his father, the face he never thought he would get to see again. The last time he had seen John; his father had been a spirit as well. He had shot the yellow-eyed demon and sent a smile toward his sons.

Now, the look on John's face was completely the opposite. He was staring at Dean like he couldn't have been more disappointed or disgusted. Sam had seen that look on his father's face before, many times after a failed hunt, but it was never this harsh or cold.

For once, Dean actually seemed rooted to the spot instead of swinging into action with guns blazing. Since Sam was behind Dean, he couldn't see his brother's face and Sam wondered what kind of expression Dean was wearing at this moment.

Bobby stood behind John, looking shocked, curious and a bit pissed off at the same time.

They were all so stunned that none of them knew how to react.

Ghost John cocked his head to the side with a heartless smirk. "What, have nothing to say, demon? Even scum like you can't lie your way out of this one. I sold my soul, and went to Hell for a worthless demon!"

"Dad…," Dean said, his voice quiet and guarded, something Sam wasn't used to hearing since Dean came back from Hell.

"You can't call me that anymore. You're not my son, you're a disgusting abomination. Look how easily you broke…look how damaged you are…If I was still alive, you know that you wouldn't be standing here, right? I'd kill you the moment I laid my eyes on you…"

"That's enough, you damn asshole!" Bobby suddenly screamed as he came out of his shock and fired his gun, the rock salt not only making John dissipate but also flying onto Dean, causing him hiss and buckle in pain.

Sam kept Dean steady and Bobby rushed over, placing his hands on Dean's shoulders.

"I'm sorry boy; I just couldn't listen to his filthy mouth for one more second."

"Its fine, it's fine." Dean brushed Bobby off and stood up straighter, clutching his arm with a wince. "Didn't do any favors for my damn arm though."

"I'm sorry Dean, I…"

"It had to be done, stop fricken' apologizing Bobby and let's get to the panic room already!"

Bobby nodded and led the way as they hurried towards the basement stairs. In their haste to get down and because of the pain Dean was in, the older Winchester wasn't paying attention to Bobby's wards.

Dean suddenly stopped, almost falling on his butt as he cursed. "Son of a bitch!"

Sam looked down and then up, spying the devil's trap that was sprayed onto the ceiling. Even Sam wasn't tall enough to reach it.

"I'll grab a chair," Sam told them but he didn't take more than three steps towards the kitchen before a figure appeared in the doorway.

It was a woman and Sam recognized her right away from the photos Bobby had throughout his house.

"Bobby, is that…"

"Karen…," Bobby gasped upon seeing the ghost of his late wife within the house in which she was killed.

"Bobby." Karen shook her head, her face set in anger. "I thought you cared about me. Don't you remember how I died?"

"Of course I remember Karen, the demon…"

"That's right," Karen spat. "A demon was in me and you killed me. But still, I wouldn't be so bitter if you weren't making friends with one right now! What is wrong with you? These things attacked me Bobby, brought upon my death, why aren't you killing this one? Why are you letting it live in your house?"

"Karen." Bobby sounded heartbroken. "This is Dean. He's like a son to me, sweetheart."

"I was your wife and yet you killed me, sweetheart!" Karen came rushing forward but before Sam could find out what she was about to do, a gunshot was heard and she vanished as though she was never there to begin with.

Dean lowered his arm that was holding the shotgun. "Not her Bobby, these things are forced to say hateful things."

Bobby shook his head and turned away from the spot Karen had been occupying moments before. He glanced back up at the devil's trap.

"I…I'll go get that chair," Sam reminded Bobby.

"Screw this," Bobby said and simply aimed his rock salt shotgun at the ceiling and fired. The salt embedded itself in the ceiling, breaking the devil's trap.

Well, that was a lot quicker.

Dean didn't waste any time as he stumbled forward, towards the basement. He tucked his gun in his sling and grabbed Sam by the arm to pull him along

They made it down the stairs without any incident but as Bobby was unlocking the panic room, Sam felt a presence behind him.

John was back, starring daggers at Dean.

"How does it feel demon, knowing that your father sold his soul for you and suffered in Hell only for you to turn into a demon."

Dean tensed, turning around at John's words and staring back at him just as coldly.

"Me going to hell has nothing to do with you. I did it for Sammy, and I'd do it again a hundred times over."

John seemed to change course after that, knowing that bringing Sam into the mix would affect Dean more than John ever would. "Do you think Sam honestly wants to be with a piece of trash from Hell? Sammy doesn't love you demon, he'll just abandon you after everything's said and done, just like he always does."

"I'm not going to turn my back on Dean, you pathetic excuse of a father!" Sam yelled, knowing it was pointless but at the same time, he didn't care.

Apparently, John didn't like what Sam said as their ghostly father suddenly charged at the youngest Winchester. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of Sam, John's hand reached out and went into his stomach as Sam buckled in pain. If it wasn't for John's ghostly power keeping him upright, Sam would have been a crumpled heap on the ground.

The pain was so intense, it felt like John was burning his insides and Sam couldn't help but cry out in pain.

One second Sam felt like his stomach was getting sliced apart, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, Dean holding him upright in a sitting position, using only his demon powers to do so.

"And don't you dare hurt my brother again, you son of a bitch!" Dean screamed at the now-empty area where John had just been standing moments ago.

Sam felt a little light-headed, but the pain was quickly diminishing. "What…what happened?" he gasped.

Dean moved so he was in front of Sam, he put his gun down and reached out to place his good hand on his little brother's shoulder. "You alright?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, it hurt like Hell but I don't think it has any lasting affects, the pain's almost gone."

"Good." Dean nodded. "Yeah, as long as you stop them before they burst your organs, you'll be fine. I shot him, but he'll be back and he'll be pissed at me," Dean grabbed his gun, stood up, and then used his powers once more to bring Sam back up to a standing position.

Thank goodness Dean had his powers; they came in especially useful when he was practically missing an arm.

The brothers both turned as the sound of metal scrapping against metal was heard and then Bobby had a hand fisted in the back on both brothers' shirts, pulling them towards the panic room.

Sam got the hint and climbed in. Dean followed, his set in a firm line after what John's ghost had done to Sam. As Dean walked past all the barriers in the room, he cringed a bit as if it was causing him discomfort, but luckily he was still able to step inside.

Bobby walked in last, he turned around only to see that John's ghost had already returned.

"You're lucky you're already dead. Otherwise, I would kill you for treating my boys like that." Bobby then shot his gun at John and then shut the door with a loud thud.

Sam turned around to look at his brother who was holding his slinged arm with his other hand, frowning.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm allowed in here because of the marking, but I'm not supposed to be. All these protections…it's like they're tugging on me, it's not comfortable."

"Is it hurtin' your arm, boy?" Bobby asked. he still looked shaken up from the experience of seeing his dead wife.

"Yeah, whatever. No big deal," Dean grumbled and went over to sit on the bed on the far side of the room across the door. He put his feet up and stared straight ahead of him, away from Bobby and Sam.

Dean continued to simply look at the wall and Bobby kept glancing between the brothers. Sam decided to be the one to man up and speak first.

"What are they? What's going on?"

Dean sighed. "It's not good."

"When you boys started talking about the Apocalypse the first time you came around…," Bobby spoke up. "I did some researching….this is a sign, isn't it? One of the seals breaking…"

Dean snapped his fingers. "Right on the money."

Sam shook his head. "But…didn't you say that the first seal needs to be broken before any other one? That the first seal is when a man sheds blood in Hell and is brought back to Earth human? You never broke the first seal Dean…"

"Exactly. I didn't. If other seals are starting to break, that means the angels and demons found someone else. Someone else shed blood and was brought back human. It wasn't their ideal plan, but they needed some sort of backup if I didn't pan out."

Bobby looked over at Dean. "If they could use anyone to break this first seal, why did they try so hard to get you sent to Hell?"

"Because they wanted Sammy to be desperate without me and go darkside. I would be so broken I wouldn't realize what was going on with him until it was too late and he killed Lilith." Dean carefully chose his words, making sure to never mention anything about demon blood. "I would be so broken that I would say Yes to Michael and without me Sam would say Yes to Lucifer, then…BAM, Apocalypse."

"So they basically wanted to break the bond between you two," Bobby concluded.

"Yeah," Dean huffed. "And they're dumbasses thinking they could do that."

All three men were silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. They realized just what trouble they were in but didn't want to bring it up.

Finally, Sam sighed. "So these ghosts are one of the seals?"

Dean nodded glumly. "It's called the rising of the witnesses. It's a spell that forces the souls of the dead to rise and become pissed off at people they knew. I remember hearing that Lilith especially liked this seal, so I know she's the one that broke it. She wanted to kill off as many hunters as she could while breaking each seal." Dean looked at Bobby. "Once we gank these ghosts, you might want to give all your hunter friends a call. Give Jo and Ellen a ring to see if any ghosts got to them."

Bobby nodded, looking frightened. "I have a phone down here; I'll give them a call. If…if Lilith is sending these ghosts after hunters, why…why did you…"

"Why did I see my father that wants to kill me?" At Bobby's blank stare, Dean continued. "Well, geeze, Bobby. Let's think…first of all, don't you think Lilith hates my guts? Not only did I escape Hell after only 80 years, but I'm helping my brother and I'm plotting to send her back to Hell. Also, just because I'm a damned demon doesn't mean I'm not a hunter. I'm Dean fucking Winchester Bobby, I'm going around killing demons, my 'own kind', don't you think that still makes me a hunter?"

Bobby looked flustered as he began to backpedal. "I didn't mean it like that Dean…I just…I didn't know if the spell would send spirits after demons as well…"

"Well, it obviously does."

Sam walked over to Dean, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Enough, Dean. He didn't mean anything by it, you know that."

Dean shrugged Sam off and continued glowering at the wall straight ahead of him.

Well, this should be a fun time trapped in the panic room.

Dean was in a really pissy mood. Really, like, pissier than he usually was on a daily basis. Maybe it had to do with the fact that, oh, the panic room's wards were tugging on his soul and if it wasn't for the stupid mark Bobby put on his arm, he would be trapped out there with a psycho father that wanted to kill him.

Not that a stupid ghost could kill a demon. Ghosts had a hard enough time interacting with real objects anyway, there's no way John could get the Colt.

Yet…he had back at Cold Oak, when he shot Yellow Eyes. Who's to say he wouldn't do the same to his demon son?

Dean shook his head. Why was he even worrying about something like that? John was an ass, he always had been, Hell made sure to show him that and sear it into his mind.

But for some reason, being back on Earth, back with his little brother…Dean was beginning to feel emotions he thought had long been burned away in Hell. He was feeling guilty and angry about the things John said to him, no demon should be feeling that way.

Or at least that's what they always said in Hell. But most demons didn't have family to come back to, people that accepted you with open arms, well after a few punches to the face and iron handcuffs around your wrists…that is.

Dean was well aware that ever since he had turned into a demon, he had been different than all the rest. However, it still freaked him out to be feeling when he knew it wasn't natural for a demon.

Dean felt eyes on him and glanced over his shoulder to see Bobby looking at him from where he sat at the desk. The guy looked guilty but quickly glanced away when he noticed Dean was looking back.

Stupid Bobby, saying idiotic things to him about not being a hunter.

Dean shifted a bit uncomfortably when he realized that he wasn't as pissed at Bobby as he was moments ago. What was up with that?

Dean was used to his emotions being different with Sam. When Dean interacted with his brother, he felt….normal. As normal as he ever felt. He felt the most like his old self when he was with his brother, it was oddly comforting. But Dean had always known, through all his time in Hell as both a human soul and then a demon, that nothing would change on his part when it came to his relationship with his brother. Dean cared for Sam as much as he ever did, he'd admit that easily. It was Sam's behavior that he had been worried about.

Sam had been a bit of an ass when Dean had come back and that grated on Dean's nerves to no end. It was what he was most worried about, that Sam wouldn't accept him. Dean had felt so at home with Sam that he couldn't understand why Sam hadn't been feeling that way either. It didn't make sense to him and he had no patience at times.

Luckily, Sam had come around and since then, Dean had felt the calmest he'd ever been in eighty years…perhaps longer. He knew that if Sam learned to accept him and wanted to be his brother again, that things would be fine.

But Dean never expected to find himself caring the tiniest bit about anyone else in their past life. He had forgotten what it felt to care about anyone else.

But now, it seemed that he was beginning to remember, a little bit.

Dean didn't exactly enjoy the feeling and tried to push it away at first, but that just made him more agitated. He was slowly beginning to come to terms that he….well he still liked Bobby, he didn't want the guy to get hurt, he was cool.

It probably helped that Bobby was learning to accept him too….and well…Dean kind of liked that…he liked feeling wanted. He didn't know of any other demon that was wanted or liked by anyone….so Dean was pretty lucky.

Ugh, he couldn't believe he just admitted that. For a demon, he thought way too much. But maybe that was a good thing, it kept him out of a lot of trouble, kept him sane and allowed him to make more rational decisions. That could be Sam's attitude rubbing off on him as well, his nerdy little brother.

Speaking of little brother, Sam was sitting on the floor, looking damn uncomfortable as he leaned against the nasty cold wall. Dean figured he should offer Sam the bed he was sitting on.

But the bed was really comfy. Dean missed being comfortable,. Hell sure didn't offer any great accommodations. He deserved to have the bed.

But Sam had that stupid sad puppy-dog face that he probably didn't even realize he was making.

Ugh, Dean scooted over on the bed, moving his legs. "Get over here freak-ass and stop moping." He was such an amazing big brother.

Sam offered Dean a bemused and disgruntled look, otherwise known as the bitch-face, before standing up and walking over. He sat down on the bed next to his brother and rested his elbows on his knees. Great, that was Sammy-sign for 'I'm about angst and express my emotions about what just happened'. Three….two…

"I did kill Madison….and I was gone when Yellow Eyes got Jess…."

Oh for the love of Hell…

Dean rolled his eyes and punched Sam in the shoulder, hard enough to send him nearly toppling over off the bed. Heh, he sometimes forgot about his super-demon strength. Sam was a tough kid though, he could handle it.

"Ow, geeze Dean! What the hell was that for?" Sam bitched.

"Madison ordered you to kill her werewolf-ass and she turned before she even met you, how is that your fault, Sammy? With Jess…Yellow Eyes would have gotten her no matter where you were, just like Mom. Dad was in the house when Mom caught fire, remember? You could have been in the next room and it would have happened."

"Yeah, but I should have looked out for her, I was having nightmares…"

"And keep her on lockdown or follow her around 24/7? Sure she loved you man, but I'm sure that would piss off any woman. You couldn't be with her every moment of every day. It was going to happen sooner or later."

Sam sighed, looking down at his hands that he held in his lap. "I'm just tired of letting people down…I'm tired of the people I love dying. It's like…I'm always there but can't stop it, you know? With Jess and Madison reminding me of it….it makes me think about how I let you down, I couldn't save you…"

Seriously? Sam was really going to start this crap? "You're seriously a pain in the ass, little brother. Can you ever get it through his thick skull that there was no way of stopping me from going to Hell, the angels and demons had this planned out before we were even born!"

Sam huffed, his eyes held determination and sorrow. "Yeah, Dean, maybe they did. But I should have found a way to stop it. I promised you that I would find a way out of your deal…"

"There was no way."

"I don't care! I promised you that and I let you down! You have no idea how much this weighs on me every damn day. You're the person I care about the most and you went to Hell and became a demon because of me. I tried my damnest but I couldn't do a single thing to stop it." Sam looked away from Dean and back down towards the ground, avoiding Bobby's sharp gaze as well. "You're always doing so much for me, saving me all the time. I just want to be able to return the favor. I want you to know that I would do anything for you."

Dean rolled his eyes. "I know that Sam, I know that you would. Even though I'm a damned demon, you still would."

Sam nodded his head solemnly. "I would Dean, without a second thought. You've always been a sort of hero to me, becoming a demon doesn't change that. It actually makes me appreciate you even more for sticking with me after everything you've been through."

Really? Sam couldn't figure out why Dean would want to stick with him? It was the other way around. Dean had always hoped to gain Sam acceptance, but he figured Sam would be more reluctant to join up with his demon brother. He hadn't expected Sam to treat him the same, to treat him as an equal. Having his brother's unconditional acceptance….well that just did wonders on Dean's state of mind.

It had saved him. Huh.

"You know Sam…you might not have been able to ever save me from becoming puppy chow or rescuing me from Hell…but you did save me man, so shut the Hell up."

Sam gave Dean a befuddled look. "What?"

Dean really didn't like explaining this. It made him uncomfortable and irritated. But still, at the same time it felt kind of good. "You…being here and accepting me and whatever. If I didn't have you to come back to, or if you shunned me or started hunting me…that would….it would destroy me, you dumb ass. I'm still me and not some mindless demon because you're still here with me. Having you by my side and just being my brother, as annoying as you may be, that saved me Sammy, alright? So stop moping about letting people down and realize that maybe sometimes you are capable of doing something awesome, geez."

Sam continued to stare at Dean. He seemed a little frazzled after Dean's (pretty freaking awesome) speech. Sam's mouth was open as if he wanted to retort, but couldn't think of anything substantial to deny what Dean had just stated.

Yep, that was an awesome speech, he nailed that.

"Huh," Bobby said from the other side of the panic room. Dean even startled a bit, forgetting that the older hunter had been right next to them and had heard the whole thing.

Dean felt himself feeling….what was that? Embarrassed? He couldn't exactly remember what the emotion felt like. Well, whatever it was, Dean didn't like it, he felt weird.

"What's your problem?" He glared over at Bobby.

Bobby shrugged. "You're a strange one, you know that? You blow up with your weird temper tantrum earlier, and then you sit and mope while staring at a wall for half an hour. Now you're comforting your brother. That was actually nice of you."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "You think I can't be nice? Didn't I just help you fix those cars, old man?"

Bobby chuckled and rolled his eyes, but Dean couldn't figure out what was so funny. "I'm just…I'm really beginning to understand this here. How you're still Dean and a demon at the same time. I had a hard time connecting the two, trying to see you as one or the other. But now…not so much."

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?"

"Of course it is, you idjit. I just see you, who you are now. I'm understanding that." Bobby nodded once before changing the subject quickly. "Now, I found a spell to get rid of these ghosts while you two were having your moaning fest. Take a look at this."

Dean got up, interested in this information and eager to get back in the action of hunting something.

As he stood up though Sam grabbed a hold of his good arm and Dean turned around.

"Thanks, Dean." Sam looked up at him, his eyes watering a bit and a small barely-there smile on his face.

"Shut the hell up, bitch. Make yourself useful and help us get rid of these ghosts," Dean groaned but offered Sam a small smile after he spoke.

Yeah Sammy, you're welcome.