Even though he was tired, he found it hard to calm himself down. Inside, he felt his mind racing, going though all the information, ideas and possibilities again and again. He felt dizzy but he couldn't stop. Trying to breathe normally, he sat down onto Lucy's bed and watched her for a moment which seemed like an eternity to him. Suddenly, he felt a wave of nausea rush through him and he felt his head spin. Bending down, he put both hands to his head and tried to breathe but he could only drew in breath raggedly and for a moment he thought he was going to suffocate. Then, he coughed and spat out a dry lump, crusted with a black something – which tasted like blood – almost covering the something inside. It was a piece of paper, parchment, old with the edges burnt as if someone had tried to destroy it without succeeding, as Sam found out after scratching away some of the blood. He knew that it wasn't his own blood because it was dry as a bone and when he probed his mouth with his tongue, he could not taste any more of it. With care he pried the ragged paper and tried to read what was written on it. The letters were faded and barely readable but what he read suddenly made perfect sense. This piece of parchment was an instruction on how to summon a red-eyed demon, a demon similar to the cross-roads demon but this one required much more knowledge and definitely a lot more payment.

As another wave of nausea rushed through him, he felt as if the room around him would collapse and crush him. The paper in his hands crumpled and disappeared into nothingness. All that was left was the blood which suddenly turned liquid and stained his hands. The temperature rose until it reached a nearly unbearable level and Sam found it hard to breathe.

"It's just a dream…" he kept reminding himself but his visions had never felt like a dream. Trying hard to focus and find a way out of this nightmare, he braced himself against the heat and stumbled forward, crouched on all fours. Even though he thought he was moving quickly, he felt as he was covering no ground at all. Like an insect caught in a spiders web, Sam saw no way to escape this inferno. With every step he took, with every touch of his hand against the floor, he felt more blood, warm, thick, sticky, almost flowing upwards on his hands and arms. Soon, he was covered with blood that was not his own. He tried to stand up, despite the heat of the fire, despite the biting smoke, despite his mind telling him to stay down. This must be a vision, he told himself. The motel room could not be on fire. Once he stood, he squinted his eyes and tried to look through the smoke to see…to see anything at all. His brother, Lauren…Lucy. But they weren't there. He was alone in a strange room. And then he noticed the windows, the tiles, the panels covering the walls. This was the same room he had been in the first vision. And now that he had the information he and his brother had gathered before, he put together a few of the pieces of the puzzle that was their case. The room he was in must be a room in the Stevenson's old mansion. And once that thought realized itself in Sam's mind, the fire fell away, as did the smoke and the blood. An instant later, Sam stood right where he had stood before, in front of the bed Lucy lay on. There were no traces of a fire or blood on his hands. Everything was normal again.

He swayed a little as he breathed in the cool air of the motel room and dropped onto the bed when he felt he couldn't keep his balance. He closed his eyes for a moment but opened them again quickly because he feared being overwhelmed by another vision. But when he opened his eyes, he saw that Lucy had woken up and now half sat in the bed, watching him. The bruises on her face made him flinch even after this terrible vision experience but the look in her dark reddened eyes made him want to cry. She tried a smile but it seemed to hurt so she merely extended a hand, slowly, carefully. Sam followed her silent and timid gesture, and crawled onto the bed. Why his limbs moved, Sam didn't know, because the little voice in his head was screaming not to do so. Lucy moved a bit to one side so that Sam could slip under the blanket. The sudden warmth he felt there made him dizzy once more but this time it felt good. The girl had almost fallen back to sleep but as he settled himself into the cushions, she gently cuddled herself against him.

It was the unusual sound of a beautiful morning that woke him. He wasn't used to birds singing and sunshine tickling his skin. Sam breathed in slowly and noticed a faint scent of warm sweat next to him and when he opened his eyes, he looked into a face framed by black hair. Lucy's paleness was so clearly visible now that the sun lit the room, making the bruises bloom bright on the nearly transparent milky white skin. Unconsciously, he raised one hand and let his finger trail along her cheek and jaw. She moved a little under his touch and he realized that he was holding her in his arms, that she had been sleeping with her head on his shoulder. Slowly, she opened her eyes and there it was again, that shy smile that nearly broke his heart. What was happening here? His mind battled with his heart when he wondered if he should let her out of his embrace but she didn't try to struggle free. For a moment they stayed like this, close together, simply enjoying each other's soothing company, then Lucy sat up in her bed as if the memories of last night's terror came back all out of the sudden. She frantically scanned the room and Sam could almost hear her draw in breath after a moment of total silence when Lucy saw that Lauren was still sleeping, safe and protected by Dean. Both were still sleeping, so Lucy fell back against the cushions, sighing. Sam moved a little away from her to give her enough space but she turned to him. Her brown eyes seemed so deep and dark in that Sam thought they were of the bluest black he'd ever seen. For a moment he lost himself in these eyes but then he remembered how much the bruises in her face and on her body must hurt. He quickly lowered his gaze and looked away.

Lucy moved uneasily now, trying to sit up in the bed. Sam also moved to give her the space she needed and helped her a little. Her movements were slow and her face clearly showed the pain she felt while moving. A cry of pain escaped her mouth and another followed, this time a cry of anxiety, when Dean jumped up and out of the bed, his gun ready at hand, having been woken by the first cry.

"Die, you bastard!" Dean shouted, pointing his gun aimlessly into the room, his eyes still half closed with sleep. Then, he noticed that no demon had forced entry into the room. He lowered his gun and wiped his eyes. "What is going on here?" he demanded while slumping down onto the bed, which in return woke up Lauren. She seemed a lot better than Lucy because she moved without pain, or so it seemed. She was such a brave little girl, Sam thought. He slipped out of the bed and took a few steps towards his brother. When he turned around, he saw that Lucy was trying to get up. He rushed over to her and pushed her back.

"You need to rest…" he said and smiled lopsided.

Lucy raised one hand and put it onto his for a short time, then she felt the bruises on her face. Sam winced under her questioning look.

"Do you know who did this? Did you see their faces?" he asked after a moment.

"No!" Lucy sobbed. "No, I don't know!" She was desperate. "Maybe those three guys did that? I mean, they've been lurking around the house since…"

Dean shook his head. "No…"

"What? How can you know?"

"We know…we saw them at the police station." Sam said and hung his head.

"But what…" Lucy sounded desperate so Sam turned to her. He looked her into the eye and sighed. "We saw them there while you…while this happened to you. It was not their doing." Lucy's eyes were full of question.

Dean was losing his patience. "Those three guys that live in the Stevenson's house, they are demons and it seems as if they didn't want you to leave this house…" Dean stated without thinking much about it. In the silence that followed, he watched Lucy's face and saw her eyes widen. But she remained quiet. "D'you hear me?" he asked again, this time with a bit more force. Sam gave his brother an odd look but he understood why Dean was pushing the subject.

Lucy frowned at him and nodded. "I heard you alright… but demons…? You gotta be kidding me!"

"Yeah..demons. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and only insecurely controlled." Dean tried to explain while Sam rolled his eyes. "But in general, they're just really bad boys. One thing is strange, though…we don't know why they're here or what they're after, but it seems clear that they need Lauren for whatever it is they are about to do."

"Need Lauren? Not wanting us to leave the house? What does that all mean?" Lucy buried her head in her hands.

"We haven't figured that out yet, but these guys are here for a reason…" Sam said, letting his voice trail off.