**GUESS WHAT?! I STILL do not own Sam and Dean Winchester.**

SEVEN

Sam paced the length of carpet in front of the window for a half-hour before Dean showed up at the Martin house, with Amber and Tana on his heels. Claire had prepared a salad and mini sandwiches for lunch, which Sam insisted was totally unnecessary, but she protested because she said her family ate everyday at this time. Sam couldn't argue with that, but he had to remind himself to tell Dean not to go crazy with the food.

There was the knock, but Sam was already there, opening the door and letting the group inside. When he and Claire had arrived back at the house, Marina and Rose had already come home. So the whole army was there, basically. They congregated in the kitchen, where they brought three extra chairs to the table so everyone could sit.

Sam thought it was a little weird that they had to pull up a chair for Tana to sit, along with them, but he let that pass. He did notice that Tana sat beside his brother. Dean didn't seem to find it all that strange though. He just sat and helped himself to a sandwich.

"So, you said you found something, something important?"

Dean swallowed and pointed a finger at Sam, "You called me. You go first."

"Alright," Sam looked around the table. Six eager faces stared back at him. "Claire and I went to the library this morning, as you probably know, and we found that symbol that was carved into the foreheads of that couple in the park. Now, before you get all excited to go dig up a body or something-" Dean smirked at this, but all the girls in the room wrinkled their noses in disgust, "that's where the interesting information comes in."

He paused for dramatic effect. Dean didn't seem to appreciate it as much as the others; he waved his arms around empathically when he couldn't speak because his mouth was full of bread.

"Fine," Sam huffed, "The symbol belongs to a cult that started way back when they still believed in animal sacrifice and human sacrifice, for that matter."

"So, a long time ago?" Dean asked just to clarify.

"Yes, Dean, a few hundred years ago. The thing is, that symbol was what they used to symbolize their superiority to others. It was an honour to wear it." Claire and Sam exchanged a glance.

Dean cut in, frustrated with all the pausing, "So, there are some descendants of this cult living here who want others to know that they're superior to everyone else? So, the Hitler family then?"

Sam shook his head with a small smile, "Actually, after we found that out we checked the blood lines and it looks like the Sparks family are almost directly linked to the first members of the cult. Talk about your coincidences." Claire and Sam smiled at each other, but Dean gagged. He was very testy today.

"How can someone be almost directly related to someone?"

"If you must know, they are the second cousins of the first members, but that doesn't matter. Then we looked up the article in the newspaper again, with the deaths of the couple in the park. You want to guess the names or shall I just tell you?"

"Just tell us,"

"Burt and Julie Sparks."

That caught the table off-guard. Dean almost dropped his lunch.

"Wait," He held up his free hand, "They killed their own family to maintain their superiority?"

Sam shook his head, "No, according to early recordings of the cult, in order to 'maintain their superiority', as you put it, the ritual sacrifice has to be two willing hosts, one girl and one boy. Who's more willing to die for their family name than members of the family?"

Dean cringed, "So Burt and Julie carved the symbol on their own foreheads and died for money that they don't even get to see?"

The younger Winchester looked just as confused about the concept, "Looks like. I don't understand it either, but they're not hurting anyone else. It's just money and they are willing sacrifices..." He trailed off.

"Oh no," Dean tilted his head towards his brother slightly and narrowed his eyes, "You're not suggesting that we leave them be?"

"Well," Sam shrugged, "according to the book we found all this in, they only do it once every thirteen years and it's kind of their business if they're doing it willingly, isn't it?"

Dean thought for a moment and then sighed, "Okay...fine. I see your point. There's nothing we can do. Some people are just crazy. At least they've got money." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but stopped with his mouth hanging open and then clamped it shut and looked towards the ceiling, deep in thought.

"What?"

"Oh," Dean smiled as he came back to the table, "I was just thinking. What happens when they run out of family members?"

Sam chuckled. The group at the table all laughed and the tension in the air suddenly calmed and became more relaxed. Even Tana laughed, which surprised her sisters and Sam. Dean turned to smile at her, but the rest of the table, minus Sam, were exchanging guilty glances.

"Alright," Dean turned back to the table and looked around at all the faces, "I guess it's our turn then now that we've got one symbol down. Amber, Tana and I went to the church this morning, where the priest died."

"Father Kevin," Claire interrupted and put her elbows on the table to hold her head up with her hands.

"Right," Dean nodded, "So we know that the symbol that was found on him was on some kind of motel stationary, but we don't know what motel." He turned to Amber for confirmation and she nodded solemnly. "The symbol looks like this." He put the drawing Tana had made on the middle of the table.

"You should've called earlier," Sam said, eyeing the drawing, "We could've looked this up."

"No need, we already know what it means."

Amber took a deep breath and looked to her sisters, "It's the symbol mom told us represents us, the elements."

"Well, we know that," Marina chuckled nervously, "But why's there a line through it?"

"It's a threat," Claire sat up quickly, "Why didn't you tell us about this, Amber; you were there when they found this. You must've seen it."

Amber was about to argue back, but Dean held up his hands, "Now's not a good time for fighting, guys- or girls...but she didn't tell you because she didn't want to believe this was a threat. Tell me any of you would've seen this and wouldn't have been scared?"

The table fell to silence. Claire gave Amber one last scornful look and then turned to Sam, "What do we do? Someone's after us, but why on earth would they kill Father Kevin?"

Sam shrugged, "Maybe because he didn't tell whoever it was what they wanted to hear."

"Yeah, but listen to this," Dean leaned over the table a little and addressed Sam, "Cause of death: his brain liquefied. That doesn't sound normal does it?"

"Not even a little," Sam agreed.

"So what? A demon?" Marina cut in. Her green eyes turned to her sisters. All five pairs of eyes reflected fear, not that any of them bothered to look at Tana. She didn't have any powers so why did she have to be scared?

"What do we do?" Claire turned to Sam again.

Sam shook his head slowly, "Until we know which demon did this and what they want, I don't really know how to answer that question. You girls should probably stay in until we know, stick together. You're more powerful that way."

More than one pair of eyes watered then, but they blinked back tears and put on their brave faces. They nodded in unison. That was when Tana got up, her chair making a loud scratching noise on the floor, and left the room. In the silence they could all hear the sound of her feet pounding up the stairs and the creak of her door, the slam when it shut behind her.

"Okay," Sam got up too, "Dean and I will take care of this. Don't worry. Just stay here and watch out each other. Don't leave the house."

"Wait," Claire stood and took Sam's hand, "Stay here. Please, I don't want anything to happen to them."

Sam looked into her eyes and saw the concern for her family, but he also saw her own fear. She wanted him there for protection. For herself. He was tempted to say yes, but he caught Dean's expression and knew that if they wanted to get anything done, they needed to get out there and do what they did best.

"I'm sorry; I have to go deal with this. You'll be okay. You've got your powers and we'll even help you salt line all the doors and windows before we leave."

"I'll draw a devil's trap over the living room if you want," Dean suggested, standing up as well. The remaining sisters around the table did the same.

"Better put it under the carpet," Sam countered.

Dean nodded and headed outside to where his Impala was parked curb-side.

They spent the next hour doing everything they could to demon-proof the house and reassure Claire and her sisters that they'd be safe if they stayed inside. So Marina and Amber called work and took their vacation days, Claire owned a small, but thriving, wind-chime shop downtown (everyone thought that the sounds they made were amazing, they always seemed to be moving and making music in the wind) so she would just close shop until further notice. Rose called her boyfriend and told him she had a family emergency to deal with and wouldn't be able to see him for a while.

Everything was set and all that was left was for Sam and Dean to find the actual demon responsible. Sam said a reluctant good-bye to Claire and Dean even seemed to be growing fond of the family flirt, Amber. They exchanged knowing smiles and he said something about a hairdryer to Claire, which Sam didn't understand, and then Claire clutched Sam's hand for the last time, before he and his brother were off in the Impala, back to the motel.

"Dude," Sam turned to his brother once they were about a block away, "What's with Amber? She seemed almost-"

"Normal?" Dean smiled, "Yeah, that's what I thought too. She's a firefighter." He laughed and Sam cracked a smile, but then Dean grew serious, "I'm kinda sad that I didn't get to say good bye to Tana though. Did you remind Claire to set up the salt lines in her room when she lets them in?"

Sam nodded and the rest of the ride was silent.

Back at the motel, Dean wanted to take a shower, he said he felt pink, and Sam opened his laptop to start searching for something, anything, that might help the hunt. The first thing that popped up was a little bubble on the bottom right corner of the screen. "You've got Mail".

Sam wasted a second being confused, not many people sent him emails, so he clicked on it and opened it despite the fact that he didn't recognize the address that'd sent him the message.

The message read, in light blue, "I miss you already." It wasn't signed, but Sam smiled, assuming that it was Claire. He emailed a reply. Short and simple, "Hang in there. We're working on it."

"Try the cemetery. All sorts of creeps hang out there." Was the answer he got back and then Dean stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed the bag he'd previously stuffed his shotgun and other such weapons in.

"So, where to now?"

Sam closed his laptop, "The cemetery."

In a matter of minutes, the Winchesters were back in the Impala headed off to the cemetery, ten miles away from civilization as the Martin sisters sat in their living room under the devil's trap, not daring to move.

"You think they're going to get the thing?" Amber asked, nervously. She'd drawn the curtains closed earlier, but she still kept glancing towards them as if she could see through them.

"I don't know," Claire shrugged. She looked over her shoulder to the stairs. Tana was still upstairs and refused to come out or come sit downstairs in the living room with them, where they'd been since Sam and Dean had left. None of them had done anything but sit there.

I really hope they know what they're doing, Claire thought as she curled into an even smaller ball on the couch.