More thanks to SciFiNutTX and laceym. Some days I don't know how they handle the crap that comes out of my brain. Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing. One more chapter after this.
Chapter 18
Two weeks later, Katie was sitting in another motel looking for demonic signs while John slept. They were in Warren, Pennsylvania now. The last place they stopped, a demon was waiting for them inside the house. It managed to do quite a number on her before John could trap it. She knew her wrist was broken and she had a couple cracked ribs, but she didn't let on to John how bad her injuries were. They exorcised the demon quickly and then hit the road.
They were getting more and more desperate to stop her father from finishing the game. It had gotten to the point that Katie was afraid to leave him alone for more than a few minutes, if she let him out of her sight at all. Thankfully, she had been taking the brunt of the attacks as of late. Seeing John in the hospital after the thing in Georgia had rattled her. She hated to admit it, but she almost saw John the same way Dean did.
After four hours of watching her new program search for the omens, she decided it was time for a shower. She thought it would help with the pain in her wrist and ribs. When she got out, she did feel a bit better, but decided to wrap her wrist with an ace bandage anyway. She had just come back into the room after wrapping her wrist outside by the truck when the alarm on her computer sounded. She watched John jump up off the bed with a gun in hand.
"It's ok, John." Katie said, "It's just my computer. It found something."
John looked down to Katie's wrist and then over to the computer, which was still going off.
"What did you find?" John finally asked her.
Katie ran over to the computer to see what it had found.
"Holy crap!" Katie exclaimed.
"What is it?" John asked.
"Massive signs. All the way around Chicago." Katie replied, "Looks like multiple demons."
Katie turned the laptop so John could see. She sat thinking for a few minutes. Something about it didn't seem right.
"I think it's another trap." Katie said.
"I think you're right." John said, "Is that the only signs your program picked up?"
"Yeah. Oh shit!"
"What?"
"The boys. They're in Chicago. What if the demons are trying to grab the boys to get to us?"
"How do you know that's where the boys are?"
"I talked to Dean a couple hours ago. He needed a little research help. They're hunting a daeva."
"Get your stuff and get in the truck."
"Yes, sir."
They were three hours outside of Chicago when John's phone rang. He grabbed the phone out of his pocket, but didn't answer it.
"Who is it?" Katie asked.
"It's Dean." John replied.
"So answer it. They need to know something might be after them."
"What if the two things are unrelated? We could be putting them in more danger."
"John!" Katie yelled, "Don't be stupid. There's no way this could be a coincidence."
John looked like he was about to answer his phone when it stopped ringing. Katie stared at him, trying to keep her anger in check. A few minutes later, John dialed his voicemail. Right after he entered in his pass code, he turned on the speakerphone so Katie could hear the message.
"Hey dad, it's Dean. Listen, we think we got a serious lead on the thing that killed mom. So uh, this warehouse it's at 1435 West Erie. Dad if you get this, get to Chicago as soon as you can."
Katie stared from her father to the phone in his hand. She wanted to yell and scream and just smack the old man, but didn't. Instead, she turned to look out the window of the truck as John pushed harder on the gas pedal. Her own phone rang a few minutes later.
"Dean, how's the daeva thing going?" Katie asked.
"We need your help." Dean replied flatly.
"What's going on?"
"We think this has something to do with the thing that killed mom."
"Did you call John?" Katie already knew the answer, but decided to keep her cover.
"Yeah," Dean replied, "I just got his voicemail."
"Ok, I should be there in two hours max."
"I thought you were in Pennsylvania."
"I was. I finished my job and thought you might need a little help since you called me when you and Sam got stuck on the research."
"Alright then. See you in a couple hours."
It took Katie a minute to catch the tone of her brother's voice. There was something wrong.
"Dean, what is it?"
"Just something with Sam. I'll tell ya later."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, it's not really that big a deal."
"It is to you."
"Katie, just get here ok."
She heard the click as Dean hung up his phone. Katie hung up her own phone and turned to John.
"They're not gonna wait. We gotta hurry."
They parked a couple blocks away from the warehouse. They were about to go inside when they heard glass shatter just around the side of the building. Katie spun around John and ran to the corner, afraid that she would see one or both of her brother's lying on the pavement. Instead, she saw a girl that looked like the one Dean had described to her when he called the first time. She didn't know John had come up behind her until he squeezed her shoulder. She turned to look at him and saw that he was looking up. She followed her father's gaze and saw both her brothers standing by the window.
"Do you know what hotel they're staying at?" John whispered into Katie's ear.
"Uh, yeah." Katie whispered back.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
"To your brothers' room. I wanna make sure they're alright."
Katie looked up at her father and then smiled.
"Bout time you stopped acting like an ass." She said.
She laughed as John shook his head and then headed back to the truck. Katie followed close on his heels.