well, this was a speedier update than i thought it would be. thank you all once again for the great reviews, and i hope you all enjoy this chapter. it is a bit shorter than the rest, but i just cant find a better place to stop. as always, let me know what you think.

D: i wish i owned them, but sadly, sam and dean belong to others.

TWILIGHT

Chapter 13

Kerri hesitated for only a second before running to the edge of the rocks, stopping just long enough to drop her supplies before jumping into the dark water. Her body froze the moment she broke the surface, the water far colder than she had thought. It was like being stabbed with hundreds of knifes, each one driving deep into her now freezing skin. It took her several long minutes to even remember to breath, to kick towards the surface before she drowned.

With quickly waning strength she finally made it back from the icy depths, her starved lungs pulling in as much of the cold night air as she could. She coughed for a few seconds, her numb body dipping beneath the water as she struggled to breath in the much needed oxygen. Her heart beat faster and faster when she scanned the lake, the deep waters blacker than the night around her. Sam had yet to resurface, and she knew that his time was quickly running out.

"Sam." She called, hoping that the little boy had surfaced and swum to the shore while she was under the water. She didn't know what calling out his name was going to accomplish though, since her ears were now ringing once more, the pain almost unbearable. The icy water had flooded into her already damaged eardrums, and she was afraid that her hearing would be lost for good.

But at that moment, she would have given up the sense forever if it meant that she would find Sam, safe and well. She couldn't let him be lost, couldn't let any more darkness destroy that small and shattered family. She knew that that little boy beneath the water was all that was holding Dean together and that losing him would be the end of the older boy, and that was something she just couldn't allow. They had both seen too much loss in their short lives, had both suffered through too much pain, and, if she could lessen it, even a little, then that was what she would do.

She swam back to where she saw Sam go under, taking a deep breath before diving back down beneath the icy waters. The cool liquid stung her eyes as she searched the depths for Sam, the inky water making it nearly impossible to see. Her lungs were burning but still she looked, swimming as deep as she could, but fearing that the mountain lake was too deep for her to search properly. She was about to turn back when her outstretched fingers swept across the fabric of Sam's hoodie, his small body floating limp in the wet abyss.

She kicked forward, her lungs seizing, brain growing fuzzier. She had to pull him up, had to bring him back to the surface with her, the little boy sinking further and further with each passing second. She pulled his still body close to her's, wrapping an arm around his waist as she swam as fast as she could towards the surface, but she had gone far deeper than she realized. Just when she was sure that the icy depths would claim them both, drag them down where they would never be found, she felt the cold air on her face. She gasped, taking in as much air as her tired lungs could, still struggling to keep Sam above water.

His head lolled forward, his skin pale, chest still and silent. He wasn't breathing. His heart wasn't beating. Fear quickly turned to adrenaline as Kerri made her way to shore, laying Sam down in the mud and beginning CPR. She could feel tears running down her face as she breathed for him, his skin cold to the touch, lips a deep shade of blue. She couldn't let it all end like this, lost in the darkness of a freezing summer night, alone, and almost forgotten. No, Sam couldn't leave the world like this, she wouldn't let him. After all, he was only seven years old.

"Come on, Sam." She panted as she continued the CPR, her own body growing weak and cold. But no amount of fatigue would stop her. No, the only thing that could do that was Sam's breathing, his heart beat.

"Come on, Sam, please." Two breaths, back to compression.

"Please, Sam." Two breaths, back to compression.

"Sam." Just as she leaned over to give him another breath he began to cough, his body expelling the water he had inhaled. Kerri nearly crumpled in relief, pulling Sam to his side so he wouldn't choke as he coughed. In that moment, it was the sweetest sound she had ever heard.

"You've only staved off the inevitable." The voice that spoke behind her, though she could barely hear it, was bitter and sweet in the same breath, so icy that the young girl felt the water on her skin freezing. She left Sam where he lay as she slowly stood and faced the thing behind her.

It looked like a woman, its face holding all the features that one would expect from a human. But there was something different about her, something so inhuman that it made the young girl shiver. It wasn't that she was dead, Kerri had seen spirits before, no this was something terrifyingly different. Its nails were long and sharp, eyes hungry and red, fang like teeth bared. In all truth, it was more like an animal than a person. But, when it had sung, it had been one of the most beautiful things Kerri had ever heard.

"I won't let you hurt him anymore." The eleven year old spoke difiantly, blocking a whimpering Sam from the monster that was trying to steal him.

"You don't have a choice. Do you really think that you can hold me off till the hunters return?"

"I will if I have to."

"Oh child. Just face it, you've lost."

"Not as long as I'm still breathing, I haven't."

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"Sammy? Kerri?" Dean called again, panic rising in him like white hot fire. He hadn't stopped running since he left the house, his lungs and legs burning as he continued down the trail. They had had an hour's head start on him, but he was determined to find them. He wasn't going to let the darkness steal away another person he loved.

He rounded a corner, each tree looking the same as the last, a dark haze falling thick and suffocating over everything that lay around him. It was almost like stepping onto an alien planet, everything he thought he should know changed in that silent night. They were just trees after all, but there, in that still nothingness, they seemed to be nothing short of monsters.

The deep silence of the haunted forest was suddenly shattered by the sound of water, or rather, a large splash. Dean cursed as he ran, his heart beating faster and faster with every step he took, every footfall bringing him closer to the sound. He quickened his pace even more when a second, larger splash echoed from the distance. Sammy and Kerri, it couldn't be anything or anyone else, and he knew it.

To the terrified eleven year old it seemed like hours before he reached the edge of the lake. He stood on the rocks, searching the area for any sign of Sam and Kerri, his eyes growing wide in horror when he finally saw them. They were on the other side of the lake, Kerri standing between a small, still lump that could only be Sam, and the creature that had been trying to trap them.

He scrambled down the steep stones as fast as he could, his sneakers slipping in the soft mud. He needed to be there, he had to save them. There was no other option, no other choice, he had to save Sam and Kerri if it was the last thing he did. He knew, beyond a doubt, that he would never be able to face Tom, John, or Evelyn again if he failed. He slipped and slid as he ran around the shores of the large, dark lake, voices rising up to meet his eager ears as he drew closer and closer to the three figures.

"Oh child. Just face it, you've lost."

"Not as long as I'm still breathing, I haven't."

"Shut up, Kerri." Dean whispered under his breath as he snuck up behind the watcher, his jade eyes shifting between it, Kerri and Sam. He really wished that she would stop provoke things that were trying to hurt her, it never really helped the matter. And for once Dean knew that it wasn't something that he could be blamed for. No, she had been picking fights with things much bigger than her since the first day he had met her, and he didn't think that she would ever stop.

She was a lot tougher than she looked, which in the hunting world was definitely an advantage. But then, Dean didn't really want her to be a hunter. No, he was hoping that he would grow to be strong enough to protect them all, good enough to keep Sam, Kerri and Evelyn from ever having to hunt. It was dangerous, and it was disturbing, and if he could protect the other three from it, than so be it.

He slowed his steps when the spirit seemed to grow, its icy blue hue changing to one of deep violet. "That can be arranged, child." It spoke, it's voice no longer sweet but hard as diamonds. It was about to attack, about to destroy her right there before his eyes.

"I don't think so." The thing spun at the words, Dean taking aim and firing in the amount of time it took most people to blink. He stood stock still, eyes murderous as the iron rounds ripped apart the creature's throat, her song morphing into a horrid, strangled cry. Dean fired again before the thing could react, the woman disappearing into the dark night as her hollow and unholy eyes turned blood red.

It was only then that Dean Winchester took a breath.

It was one thing to shoot cans and paper targets, but quite another to take down the real thing and Dean couldn't help the tremble that over took his body. It was a mix of adrenaline and fear and he couldn't help but be frightened of it. After all, he had just killed something, a part of his soul should not be excited by that.

He quickly pushed all the thoughts away though, knowing that they were still far from home and far from safety. The recoil of the shotgun pushed him into a kind of autopilot, his only thought, his only goal was to get to Sammy, to keep him safe, to keep him warm. He couldn't let the darkness take him, couldn't let the little boy be lost. He was all he had left, the only thing that mattered to him anymore.

Dean was too busy wrapping Sam in his jacket to watch Kerri. He was too busy comforting his obviously terrified brother to see the bluish purple haze growing behind the cold and shaken girl, too busy tending to his brother to see the blood red eyes. No, it was only when he heard the scream did he remember her, only when he looked around did he see that she was gone, and it was only then that he realized that the iron had not destroyed the watcher.

"Kerri!" Dean screamed, pulling a shaking and cry Sam to his feet. "Kerri!" But the night was silent, still, and empty, save for the two Winchester brothers.