We end up staying in Colorado and use Elkins' cabin as 'home base' for now. John sets up all of his research on the yellow eyed demon and what to look for as signs of his presence. Sam, Dean and I look around at the papers and pictures on the walls. I stand to John's right as I look at a few pages on the desk. Dean does the same on John's left, and Sam stands on the opposite side of the room waiting for John to explain. I pick up a picture of a weather pattern chart as John begins explaining.
"So, this is it." John tells us. "This is everything I know. Look, our whole lives we've been searching for this demon, right? Not a trace, just nothing, until about a year ago." He looks around the room, meeting each of our eyes. "For the first time, I picked up a trail."
"That's when you took off." Dean points out.
"Yeah." John answers. "That's right. The demon must've come out of hiding or hibernation."
"Alright, so, what's this trail you found?" Dean asks as he makes his way in front of the desk.
"It starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California." John says. "Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us."
"Families with infants?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, the night of the kid's six month birthday."
"I was six months old that night?" Sam asks.
"Exactly six months." John answers. "Just like Shel."
"So basically this demon is going after these kids for some reason," Sam scoffs. "Same way it came for me?" No one says anything. "So mom's death, Jessica...it's all because of me?"
"We don't know for sure, Sam." I say.
"Oh really? 'Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure." Sam says as he starts waking towards me, almost threateningly. Dean steps in the way even though I'm behind the desk. "And what about-" Sam motions to me as he looks to my abdomen.
"Don't you even dare." Dean seethes. John lifts his hand up to rub my back as what the yellow eyed bastard did to me.
"What happened to all of them is not our fault, Sam." I say with a slight wobble in my voice.
"It may not be our fault, but it is our problem!" Sam yells.
"It's all of our problem! This isn't just on you and Shel!" Dean yells back.
"Okay, that's enough." John says as he stops rubbing my back and stands up. With that, Dean comes over to me I can tell he's making sure I'm okay.
"So, why's it doing it?" Sam asks. "What does it want?" Dean kisses my temple before going to look at more of the papers on the desk. John makes his way between the desk and Sam.
"Look, I wish I had more answers. I do." He tells us as I look at more of the papers on the wall behind the desk. "I've always been one step behind it. Look, I've never gotten there in time to save..." His words drop off and we all know what he means.
"alright, so, how do we find it before it hits again?" Dean asks.
"There are signs." He tells us. "Look, it took me a while to see the pattern, but in the days before these fires, signs crop up in an area...cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms." I look around at all of the weather maps and data, and they prove what John is explaining. "And then I went back and checked, and..."
"These things happened in Lawrence." Dean finished his dad's thoughts.
"The week before your mother died." John confirms. "And in Palo Alto..." He says to Sam. "Before Jessica."
"My dad always said he should have known something bad was going to happen." I say. "A lot of these signs are things he said were bad omens. I just thought he was reading too much into things."
"These signs...they're starting again." John informs us.
"Where?" Sam and I ask in unison.
"Salvation, Iowa." John answers. I chuckle at the irony.
We head to Salvation, Iowa. John pulls off the road once we pass the town line and we follow him. We all get out only to hear John curse.
"Damn it."
"What is it?" Dean asks.
"Son of a bitch." John says as he hits the back of his truck.
"What is it?" I repeat Dean's question.
"I just got a call from Caleb." He says.
"Is he okay?" Dean asks.
"He's fine." John answers. "Jim Murphy's dead." My face falls at this information.
"Pastor Jim?" Sam asks. John nods in confirmation. I put my hands on my hips and focus on my breathing. "How?"
"Throat was slashed. He bled out." John answers. A slight pause ensues before Sam sighs in distress. "Caleb said they found traces of sulfur at Jim's place."
"A demon." Dean says. John nods.
"The demon?" I ask.
"I don't know. Could be he just got careless. He slipped up." I can tell John is getting a bit emotional. "Maybe the demon knows we're getting close."
"What do you wanna do?" Dean asks.
"Now we act like every second counts." John answers. "There's two hospitals and a health center in this county. We split up. We cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's gonna be six months old in the next week."
"Dad, that could be dozens of kids." Sam points out. "How the hell are we gonna know which one's the right one?"
"We'll just have to check 'em all, Sammy." I say.
"That's my girl." John says. "You got any better ideas?" He asks Sam.
"No, sir." Sam answers. With that we start to get back into the impala. I look back to see John pausing at the back of his truck with his back to us now.
"Dean." I whisper to get his attention. When he looks to me I nod my head in the direction of his dad.
"Dad?" Dean tries to get his attention.
"Yeah." John replies before turning back around. "It's Jim. You know, I can't..." There is a long pause as we wait for him to finish his thought. "This ends now. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes." He turns back around and get's into his truck. Sam, Dean, and I look at each other before finally getting back into the impala. We follow John back onto the road and head further into town. Dean and I drop Sam off at the medical center, and Dean and I head to one of the hospitals. We park and head inside.
"Alright, where should we start?" Dean asks as we pause in the entrance.
"How about the desk." I say gesturing to the check-in desk to our right. We head over to a beautiful receptionist as she smiles at us.
"Hi, is there anything I can do for you?" She asks us.
"Oh, God, yes." Dean says. I elbow him in the ribs. "Ow!" The woman smiles and softly laughs.
"We're actually working right now." I say as I hold up my fake cop badge and ID. Dean quickly copies me.
"I didn't think they allowed couples to be partners." The woman says.
"They usually don't but my partner's out with the flu, so they gave me him for the week." I tell her.
"Cute." Se says, continuing to smile. "What can I do for you, officers?"
"We'd like to look through all the birth records from the last six months." Dean says. The woman scrunches up her face.
"Why would you need to do that?" She asks.
"There's been cause to believe that someone has stolen the identity of an infant to file their taxes." I tell her. "We were warned by the FBI, who were warned by the IRS. It's hard to keep track of the chain of events. I just know, for sure, what I was told and that was to figure out who was born and when."
"Of course, follow me." She says as she leads us to a back room. We sit at the table as she goes to get the files we asked her for. I look across the table to see Dean just staring at me.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothin'." He replies. "You're just amazing is all." I smile and shake my head as the woman comes back with a stack of files in her hands.
"These are from six months ago." She tells us. "I've still have a couple more trips I have to make."
"Thank you." I say.
"Keep 'em coming." Dean tells her. We're stuck there for hours, writing down names of babies and when they were born. When we finish we thank the woman and head back to the impala. I call John and he tells us to meet him at one of the hotels in town. Then I call Sam to make sure he knows where we're all meeting up. He starts freaking out about a train and a music box, so I tell him to head to the hotel and he can tell us when we're all together.
Once we're all together Sam tells us about the visions he had after he left the Medical Center. He hasn't had them since I've joined them, but Sam had told me all about it when we were trapped in the barn cages of that people hunting family. All the way through his explanation, Sam kept trying to massage his forehead to dull the pain in his head.
"A vision?" John asks, skeptical of the explanation. I stand in front of Dean and hold out my hand. He looks at me funny before realizing what I'm asking for. He hands me some Advil and I grab a new bottle of water I had in one of my bags. I bring them over to the youngest Winchester, and he takes them graciously.
"Thanks." Sam says to me. "And yes." He answers John. "I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling."
"Alright, and you think it's gonna happen to this woman you met because?" John asks.
"Because these things happen exactly the way I see them." Sam answers. I pull out the chair across the small table from Sam, so I can sit down.
"It started out as nightmares," Dean explains as he walks over to the side of the room with Sam and I in it to get some coffee from the kitchenette. "And then he started having them while he was awake."
"Yeah." Sam agrees. "It's like...I don't know. It's like the closer I get to anything involving the demon, the stronger the visions get."
"Alright, when were you gonna tell me about this?" John asks. All three of us look over at him
"We didn't know what it meant." Dean answers for us.
"Alright, something like this starts happening to your brother, you pick up the phone, and you call me." John says to Dean. I grab a hold of Sam's hands to stop him pressing on his eyes. I know it probably feels like it's helping, but it's not. I know from experience. Dean puts down the mug in his hand before walking over to his dad.
"Call you?"
"Dean." I warn him.
"Are you kidding me?" I shake my head as Dean starts with the stupid questions. "Dad, I called you from Lawrence, alright. Sam called you when I was dying."
"Wait what?!" I look to Sam who is avoiding eye-contact with me. I let go of his hands. "You never said that he almost died."
"I must have forgotten." Sam says.
"Yeah right. Who forgets that their brother almost died?"
"I know Shelby's called you loads of times, and she's the one most likely to actually get you to pick up." Dean continues. "I mean, getting you on the phone-I got a better chance of winning the lottery." We all look to John to see how he'll react.
"You're right." He says. "Although I'm not real crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. I'm sorry."
"Look, guys, visions or no visions, the fact is, we know the demon is coming tonight." Sam says. "And this family's gonna go through the same hell we went through."
"No they're not." John says. "No one is...ever again." Dean finishes grabbing some more coffee. Sam's cell phone rings on the table and he picks it up.
"Hello?" He says. I can't hear the person on the other end, but Sam tenses up. "Who is this?" Another pause for the other person to talk. "Meg." He says the name and we all tense up. John comes over to the table. "Last time I saw you, you fell out of a window...Just your feelings? That was a seven story drop." Sam then looks to John. "My dad. I don't know where my dad is." Sam lies. John holds out his hand and Sam gives him the phone.
"This is John." He greets the bitch. He walks away then stops. It must have been because of something she said. "I'm here...Caleb?" Sam, Dean and I whip our heads to look at John's back when he said that. "Caleb...You listen to me. He's got nothing to do with anything. You let him go...I don't know what you're talking about...Caleb. Caleb!...I'm gonna kill you, you know that?" He paces the room, and he's making me anxious. John pauses a long time. "Okay...I said, okay. I'll bring you the colt." All three of us look at him in confusion. "It's gonna take me about a day's drive to get there...That's impossible. I can't get there in time, and I can't just carry a gun on a plane." There's a short pause before he takes the phone away from his ear. John explains to us what Meg said, and what he thinks her motives are.
"So, you think Meg is a demon?" Sam asks as we all stand near the center of the room.
"Either that or she's possessed by one." John answers. "It doesn't really matter."
"What do we do?" Dean asks.
"I'm going to Lincoln." John says.
"What?" Dean asks. I'm a bit surprised at his decision, too.
"It doesn't seem like I have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people die." John says. "Our friends." I can't help but think about Bobby. Does Meg know where he lives?
"Dad," Sam starts. "The demon is coming tonight for Monica and her family."
"That gun is all we got. You can't just hand it over." I add.
"Who said anything about handing it over?" John asks. "Look, besides us and a couple vampires, no one's really seen the gun. No one knows what it looks like."
"So, what, you're just gonna pick up a ringer at a pawn shop?" Dean asks.
"Antique store." John corrects.
"You're gonna hand Meg a fake gun and hope she doesn't notice?" Dean asks.
"Look, as long as it's close, she shouldn't be able to tell the difference." John says.
"Sure, John, but for how long?" I ask. "What happens when she figures out it's a fake?"
"I just...I just need to buy a few hours, that's all." John answers.
"You mean for the three of us." I point out.
"You want us to stay here." Sam say as he realize what I already figured out. "And kill this demon by ourselves."
"No, Sam." John says. "I wanna stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school. I want, I want Dean and Shelby to have a home." I start to tear up as I hear the frustration in his voice. He turns away from us. "I want Mary alive." The emotion is clear in his voice now. I can't help the tear rolling down my face. I wipe it away as quickly as I can. "I just...I just want this to be over." He says as he turns back to us. I nod, agreeing with him.
"So," I say, clearing my throat. "What's the plan?"
"Well, I have to go out and get a gun before I leave." John says, also clearing his throat. "We'll meet up at that bridge on the edge of town, before I go." We all nod in agreement. "Why don't you some with me Sam?" We all look a bit confused. "Let's let the lovebirds have some time alone." I roll my eyes at his words.
"Why not?" Sam says. John and Sam leave to get the gun, and that just leaves Dean and I alone in the room.
"So, how do you wanna kill time?" Dean asks.
"How romantic?" I chuckle as I collapse on one of the beds in exhaustion. I hear Dean chuckle a bit too. "I am so freakin' tired." I say as I begin to close my eyes.
"Finally." He says as he lays down in the bed next to me. He pulls me into his chest and I bury my head under his chin. "Get some rest, babe. Were gonna need you at peak performance." I feel him chuckle at his words as I fall into a deep sleep.
Dream
I'm in a black void, but I know I'm on solid ground. I reach out to try and search for something, anything. I can't even see my own hands and arms. Suddenly I see him. Yellow eyes and all. He's smiling at me and it's unnerving.
"Tisk, tisk, Shelby." He says to me. "Do you really think you can get rid of me so easily?"
"We're going to do whatever it takes to kill you." I snap back at him. "And I will love every minute of it." He takes in a deep breath before letting it out.
"You know, you're my favorite." He tells me.
"What?" I ask.
"You're my favorite, and I just want you to get to your full potential." He elaborates. "That's why I had to take that distraction away from you, my sweet." I cringe at the information and the nickname he has now given me. "And don't think I won't take the same distraction away if it pops up again." Tears prick my eyes as he comes closer to me. "Don't cry, my sweet. I need those eyes of yours to help me."
"What are you talking about?" I aks him. He chuckles at my concern.
"You will be my deffense, my warning." He then backs away as sight comes back to me. I call out to him to tell me what he really meant by his words, but his image fades away.
I wake in the hotel room, and I can hear Dean snore in my ear. I smile to myself and begin to sit up in the bed. It causes Dean to wake and he pulls me back to him.
"How did you sleep?" He asks me in a sleepy voice.
"It was better than other times." I speak the truth.
"Good." He says. I feel him kiss the top of my head before my phone starts ringing. I pick it up to see Sam's number on the caller ID.
"Hey, Sammy, everything all set?" I ask him.
"Yeah." He answers. "You two ready to meat up?"
"As ready as we'll ever be." I say as I stand from the bed and get ready to leave the hotel. Dean follows my lead.
"Alright, We'll see you soon." Sam says before hanging up.
Dean and I drive down to the meeding spot under the bridge. We get out of the impala and walk over to Sam and John.
"Did you get it?" I ask. John pulls out a paper bag, and takes out a gun that looks remarkably close to the real colt.
"You know this is a trap, don't you?" Dean asks him. "That's why Meg wants you to come alone."
"I can handle her." John says. "I got a whole arsenal loaded, holy water, mandaic amulets-"
"Dad," Dean interrupts him.
"What?"
"Promise me something."
"What's that?" John asks.
"This thing goes south, just get the hell out." Dean answers. "Don't get yourself killed, alright? You're no good to us dead." John looks down to the ground before replying.
"Same goes for you." John says. "Alright, listen to me. They made the bullets special for this colt. There's only four of them left. Witchout 'em, this gun is useless. You make every shot count."
"Yes, sir." Sam says.
"I've been waiting a long time for this fight." John comments. "Now it's here, and I'm not gonna be in it. It's up to you three now. It's your fight. You finish this. You finish what I started. You understand?" He tells us as he shifts his gaze to each of us. I nod my head in understanding. John hands Dean the colt.
"We'll see you soon, dad." Sam states. John nods his head.
"I'll see you later." He smiles and pats Sam on the shoulder before heading to the driver's side of his truck. We watch as he gets in and drives away.
"Later." I hear Dean say. I turn to him and rub his arm comfortingly. We only stand there a couple more minutes before heading out to stake out the family we believe Yellow Eyes will attack. We try to figure out how we're going to get the family out of the house.
"Maybe we can tell them there's a gas leak." Sam suggests. "Might get them outta the house for a few hours."
"Yeah, and how many times has that actually worked for us?" Dean points out.
"Yeah." Sam agrees. "Could always tell them the truth." Sam offers another idea. Dean and I look to the youngest Winchester. I laugh.
"Nah." Dean answers.
"I know. I know, I know. I just...with what's coming to these people..." Sam trails off.
"Sam, we only got one move and you know it, alright?" Dean says.
"We gotta wait for that demon to show itself, and then we get it before it gets them." I add. We all look back to the house before Sam asks a question I didn't want to think about.
"I wonder how dad's doing." He says.
"I'd feel a lot better if we were there backing him up." Dean says.
"I'd feel a lot better if he were here backing us up." Sam comments.
"I just wish we weren't in a mess like this." I say. "I wanna go home." I lean back in the back seat as I continue to look at the house.
"This is wierd." Sam says as a few more minutes go by.
"What?" Dean asks.
"After all these years, we're finally here." Sam says. "It doesn't seem real."
"We just gotta keep our heads and do our job like always." Dean tells him.
"Yeah, but this isn't like always." Sam points out.
"True." I agree.
"Dean, uh..." Sam says to get his brother's attention. "I wanna thank you."
"For what?" Dean asks him.
"For everything." Sam answers. "You've always had my back, you know? Even when I couldn't count on anyone, I could always count on you. And now...I don't know. I just wanted to let you know, just in case." His words cause me to sit up and look at him.
"Woah, woah, woah. Are you kidding me?" Dean asks.
"What?"
"Don't say 'just in case something happens' to you." I say.
"I don't wanna hear that freakin'speach, man." Dean says.
"Nobody's dying tonight." I say. "Not us, not that family, nobody except that demon."
"That evil son of a bitch isn't getting any older than tonight." Dean adds. "You understand me?" Again, we look back to the house to keep our eyes peeled for the demon. About an hour goes by and Dean gets a little antsy about John, so he tries calling him, but he doesn't pick up. "Dad's not answering." He tells us.
"Maybe Meg was late." Sam says.
"Maybe cell reception's bad." I add.
"Yeah, well..." He turns back to the house when the silent radio turns into static.
"Dean, wait." Sam says. "Listen." Sam plays with the tuning dial and tries to clear it up. The winds begin to pick up and lights all around the neighborhood flicker
"It's coming." I tell them. We get out and head to the house. Dean picks the lock and we are able to get in. We quietly walk farther into the house. As we get to the living room Dean calls out to Sam as the man of the house swings something at Sam.
"Get out of my house!" The guy yells. Sam dodges the swing and the guy hits the lamp off the coffee table. "Get out of my house!"He goes to swing again, but Dean stops him. He struggles with the man and pushes him up against a wall.
"Mr. Holt, please." Sam says.
"Be quiet and listen to me." Dean says. "Be quiet and listen to me. We're trying to help you, okay?"
"Charlie," We hear from upstairs. "Is everything okay down there?"
"Monica, get the baby!" Mr. Holt shouts to the woman. His shout makes me run up the stairs.
"Don't go in the nursery!" Sam shouts as he follows me.
"You stay away from her!" Mr. Holt yells at us. I see her at the top of the stairs. When our eyes meet she runs to the nursery.
"No!" I shout. When I get to the top of the stairs I see that she's already opened the door. I look past her and there he is. She's immediately slammed against the wall of the nursery. I charge forward until he turns his sights on me. He holds his hand up to me and my world goes dark. I just stand in the same spot as I try to understand what's going on. I feel Sam brush past me before I hear a gunshot. "Sam!" I shout to him as I hear the woman drop from the wall.
"Where the hell did it go?" Sam asks. How am I supposed to know?
"Shel, what happened?" I hear Dean ask as he comes up to me.
"I don't know, I can't see!" I shout. I feel him put a hand on either side of my face.
"Shit!" He whisper yells. "Stay here, babe." With that he leaves me in the hallway. I hear them all yelling to get the woman and the baby out of the house. "Sam, have her take the baby and get them out. I need to help Shel." There were no more words. I felt the warmth of a flame then the woman and Sam running by me. "Alright, babe." Dean says as he picks me up bridal style. "Hold on tight." I loop my arms around his neck and hold on to him for dear life as I feel him run down the stairs and out of the house.
"You get away from my family!" I hear Mr. Holt shout at us.
"No, Charlie, don't! They saved us." His wife tells him. "They saved us. Thank you." She says to us. Dean puts me down and grabs my face again.
"What the hell did he do to you?" Dean asks me. "Your eyes are all foggy."
"It's still in there!" I hear Sam say. Dean lets go of me and turns to Sam.
"Sam. Sam! NO!" Dean shouts. I hear them struggling, and I feel so helpless.
"Dean, let me go! It's still in there!" Sam shouts.
"It's burning to the ground!" Dean tells him. "It's suicide!"
"I don't care!" Sam yells back.
"I do!" Dean yells. "Shel does!" The struggling stops and slowly I start to gain my eyesight back.
"Dean!" I shout. I see a blur coming towards me and grab my face once again.
"The fog is going away." He says with a smile. I smile in return as my vision comes back completely. He pulls me into a kiss filled with passion and longing. God, how I love this man.
Once everything was dealt with at the house the boys and I go back to the hotel. Dean starts calling John to inform him of what happened, but there's no answer. This puts all of us on edge as he continues to call John's phone.
"Come on, dad. Answer your phone, damn it." Dean says. He brings the phone away from his ear. "Something's wrong."
"No shit." I say as I rub my face, hoping it'll get rit of my anxiety. Both of us end up looking to Sam, who hasn't said anything.
"You hear me? Something's happened." Dean repeats to Sam.
"If you had just let me go in there," Sam starts. I look at him in confusion. "I could have ended all this." Dean and I look to each other before looking back to Sam.
"Sammy, the only thing you would have ended was your life." I tell him. He turns to look at me.
"You don't know that." He tells me.
"So what?" Dean asks. "You're just willing to sacrifice yourself? Is that it?" Sam stands from the bed.
"Yeah." He answers. "Yeah, you're damn right I am." I sigh at this confrontation and bury my head in my hands.
"Yeah, well, that's not gonna happen...not as long as I'm around." Dean tells him.
"What the hell are you talking about, Dean? We've been searching for this demon our whole lives. It's the only thing we've ever cared about."
"Sam, I wanna waste it, I do, okay?" Dean tells him. "But it's not worth dying over."
"What?" Sam asks.
"I mean it." Dean says. "If hunting this demon means you getting yourself killed, then I hope we never find the damn thing."
"That thing killed Jess." Sam points out. "That thing killed mom."
"It killed my mom, too, Sam." I speak up from where I'm sitting. "I still don't wanna loose you to it." There's a pause before Dean speaks again.
"You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone. And they're never coming back." I watch as Sam grabs Dean and backs him up agains a wall.
"Sam!" I shout as I stand up and run over to them. He ignores me and focuses on Dean.
"Don't you say that! Dont you...not after all this, don't you say that."
"Sam, look..." Dean starts. "The four of us...that's all we have." I hear the emotion coming through in his voice. "And it's all I have." I look to Sam and see that his anger is sgoing away and the true emotions are making his eyes glassy. "Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together, man. "With out you, or Shelby, or dad I..." Sam lets go of Dean, and I can see realization flash across his eyes.
"Dad." Sam says as he turns away to walk across the room. "He should have called by now." He says as he turns back to us. "Try him again."
"Let me call." I say as I pull out my phone. I dial his number and hold it up to my ear.
"You three really screwed up this time." I hear from the other end of the line. My face drops and the boys look to me with concern.
"Where is he?" I ask the bitch, anger seeping through my voice.
"Those boys are never gonna see their father again." She tells me. "I suppose he would be a surrogate father for you. Isn't that right, Slugger?"
To be continued...