Eighteen

Sitting out in the sun at the small cafe, I stretched my legs, after a few days of fighting and being slightly cramped up in an unfamiliar car, it felt good to get some of the tightness out of my muscles. I had spent the last day avoiding Dean, I stayed in my room mostly, reading up as much as I could on the effects of demon blood on people, there wasn't much to go on. According to some texts demon blood, if given regularly from a young age could give a person psychic abilities, others say that it had to be first administered before a child's second birthday and then again when they came of age and they would gain the abilities after that. Neither of those things explained the events at the barn or my dreams that I had been having as long as I could remember. I knew I should ask Sam but the prospect scared me, we weren't exactly best buds. Eventually I bit the bullet and waited until Sam was alone in the kitchen on his laptop.

"Hi Sam." I said quietly as I sat down across from him at Bobbys scratched kitchen table.

"Hi." he looked up, clearly wondering why I was there.

"Sam, I wanted to ask you something..." I started.

"About the demon blood?" he asked and I nodded.

"You seem to know a fair bit about it, I have spent the last six hours doing research and everything I find seems like guesswork on the part of the writer. I don't want to pry but I am driving myself crazy here." I rambled. Sam sighed, I could see it was a fresh wound that I was threatening to reopen with my questions.

"When I was a baby, a demon fed me his blood, when I was twenty two I started seeing things, the future, then I joined forces with a demon called Ruby who said she was trying to help and she showed me the more blood I drank, the stronger my powers were. I was able to exorcise demons without saying a word."

"You and Dean worked with a demon?" I asked incredulously. Sam sighed heavily again.

"Not Dean, just me, she helped us in the past, saved our lives more than once, in fact the knife Dean gave you that was able to kill those demons, that was hers. Dean went to hell and I was all alone, I latched on to her. It was a mistake, she used me to start the apocalypse, which we have been trying to stop. But the demon blood, it was an addiction, it makes you feel powerful, especially when you can kill a demon without killing their host, you feel like nothing can stop you, but it's a slippery slope, with every drop you drink, you become more and more like them." Sam looked at me intensely. I sat in silence, it was a lot to take in.

"Dean went to hell?" I asked and a look of pain shot across Sam's face.

"I died, so Dean did a deal with a crossroads demon to save me. Unfortunately this was one demon we had pissed off a few too many times, she was willing to deal, but instead of the usual ten years, he got a year. He was in hell for just over four months until Castiel pulled him out." the pain in Sam's voice was palpable.

"Oh Sam, that must have been awful for you both." I touched his hand and he looked at me surprised.

'Yeah it was... Rough," he said quietly, "that's why I freaked when I saw what happened, I'm still recovering, I can't afford to fall off the wagon. Rayne I know we just met and we didn't exactly get off to the best start but my brother seems to care about you and Dylan and Bobby love you, please don't make the same mistake I made. Don't do that to the people who love you, don't do it to yourself." Sam squeezed my hand. I didn't say anything but I gave Sam a small smile. At this moment Dylan and Dean came into the kitchen, Dylan was wearing a singlet top with the Batman logo on it, I smiled, that girl always did have a special affinity for the caped crusader. I had to laugh at the similarities, both had secret identities, special abilities and looked pretty cool while kicking ass.

"Hey you two!" Dylan grinned. Dean looked at Sam and I and glared, Sam looked confused and then he seemed to remember he was still holding my hand, he dropped it as if it was red hot.

"Sam what the hell?" Dean growled continuing to glare his little brother. Sam sputtered but I cut in angrily.

"Not that's it's any of your business, but we were talking about demon blood, Sam was trying to help, unlike some people around here, who I apparently mean nothing to." I sighed frustratedly as Dylans mouth dropped open.

"Dean!" she yelled, "what the hell did you say?"

"Oh nothing, just that I mean nothing to him, so he assumed he meant nothing to me. No biggie!" I fumed and Dylan slapped Dean on the back of the head.

"When I said don't fuck with my best friend, I meant emotionally as well as physically, ya idjit!" she shook her head. Dean rubbed his head and Sam put his had over his mouth, I was pretty sure he was trying not to laugh at the fact Dylan had sounded exactly like Bobby when she said that. As if on cue Bobby came into the kitchen and poured himself a coffee, Sam and I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it, Bobby stared at us like we were lunatics.

"What's so funny?" he grumbled but we were laughing so hard neither could answer, he rolled his eyes, "idjits!" he grumbled again, this made Sam and I laugh harder, we were almost hysterical at this point. Dean, Dylan and Bobby continued to stare in bewilderment until our giggles died down.

"Well that was... Interesting," Bobby took a sip of coffee and pointed to Dylan, "that shirt brings back memories."

"Oh Dad no!" Dylan moaned.

"Really? What Bobby?" I asked, knowing whatever he had to say HAD to be embarrassing.

"When Dylan was four her mother had her all dressed up as one of those Disney Princesses, Brenda or Barb or something...?"

"Belle, it was Belle." Dylan corrected looking at me, I shrugged, I had no clue about anything Disney.

"Anyway, she was all done up in this yellow gown, hair perfect, make-up, the whole nine yards and her mother was proud as punch. Well here comes little miss cranky down the stairs, screaming her head off because she wanted to be Batman. She screamed for two hours straight until her mother made me go out and get a Batman costume." he chuckled as the rest of erupted into laughter as Dylan scowled.

"Batman, really?" Dean scoffed.

"Hey Batman is awesome!" I countered.

"Indeed I am." Dylan replied.

"Dylan, you realise you aren't Batman right?" Dean asked her.

"Yes I am!" she responded and Dean snorted, "Well Mr smarty pants, have you ever seen me and batman in the same place at the same time?" she questioned.

"Well, no..." Dean began.

"Exactly!" she smirked and Dean rolled his eyes. Bobby chuckled at his daughter before turning to me.

"You meeting Thomas today?" he asked and I nodded, "well be careful darlin'" he touched my shoulder before heading out of the room. There was another loud bang from upstairs and Dylan laughed.

"Oh jeez, if that was one of the cats Dad is going to kill me!" she laughed as she bounded upstairs. Sam closed his laptop and followed her out, leaving just Dean and I in the room.

"You know I didn't mean it that way." Dean began.

"Do I?" I snapped.

"Rayne..." he stepped towards me and I jumped up out of my chair to head for the door. He caught my arm and pulled me towards him, I didn't resist but I wasn't exactly happy about it either.

"Dean, what are you doing?" I asked frowning. He pulled me to his chest and hugged me.

"Rayne, I didn't mean it how it came out. Of course you mean something to me, I hit my own brother for you!" he squeezed me tighter.

"I never asked you to do that!" I snapped pushing him away, "I hate the fact you did that on my account, he's your brother, he loves you, you should see his face when he talks about what you did for him, going to hell, trading yourself for him. I would never want to come between you guys, ever!" I felt my face going red, " no Dean, you were right to put that wall up between us, we barely know one another and we were talking like we were in love or some crap." I knew I was hurting him but I couldn't stop myself, I knew if I let myself reciprocate one of us would just end up hurt.

"Rayne, I, I, do, I mean, I think I..." he stuttered.

"Dean, I have to go meet Thomas." I cut him off and left before I said anything else I would regret.

I had been sitting by myself for a full hour when Thomas finally showed up, I had been worried that seeing me after the last few days events was a bit too much. He dropped down heavily into the wicker seat across from me, he looked completely exhausted.

"Rayne, I'm so sorry, things took longer than I expected." he yawned loudly.

"It's ok Thomas, I'm just glad you're here now and you are ok. Did you want a coffee or something, Bobby said they do pretty good espresso here, I wouldn't know, I don't drink coffee, but their chai is decent." I smiled, Thomas straightened up in the chair and grabbed my hand.

"Rayne, I wanna show you somethin', but I'm worried you will get mad or your boyfriend might not like it." he looked at me with an intense expression.

"Boyfriend?" I was totally confused.

"Dean, he seems somewhat um stormy, especially regardin' me an you."

I shook my head, "Dean isn't my boyfriend, so go ahead and show me."

Thomas smile widely and pulled something wrapped in a brown paper bag from his knapsack at his feet and placed it on the table between us. As he slid the paper bag down I could see it was a glass jar full of some kind of deep red liquid.

"Thomas!" I croaked, " is that what I think it is?"

"You betcha it is!" he nodded still grinning as I picked up the jar, "genuine demon blood."