CARTHAGE, MISSOURI

Oshea gasped, curving her arms around her stomach as she staggered on the empty street. "Oh… man… I think I'm going to be sick…" She said weakly. The queasiness began to fade, and she straightened a little, looking around. "Wow… this place is… completely empty…"

"I'm glad I decided not to eat anything," Ella said, frowning.

Dean glanced around. "Well that was awfully kind of Jael to just poof us here and then disappear without us knowing what in the hell we're supposed to do," He said sarcastically.

Oshea grunted, pulling out her gun and leaning it against her shoulder as she spun in a slow circle, looking at the empty buildings and the abandoned cars. "Well… I guess we'd better see if there is anyone still here first… maybe we can find out what happened."

"This place looks like a ghost town," Ella said. "Wait a sec, where did my gun go?" She pouted, looking at Sam and Dean, who were both holding shotguns. "So not fair."

Oshea stuck her tongue at Ella with a little smile. "You don't get to have weapons. And no people means lots of lock picking!"

"Jokes on you, because I don't see your fancy little lock picking kit anywhere," Ella said with a smirk. "Matter of fact, Jael didn't even bother to poof anything else along with us, aside from the weapons. How considerate of her…"

"You two cut it out with the bickering, I thought I heard something," Dean said, hearing a low growling noise. He spun around, and saw a dark haired young man standing in the middle of the street.

Oshea turned, her eyes widening as she looked at the young man standing in the street. She glanced to Dean and Ella then looked back to him, lowering her weapon and taking a step forward. "Jonah…? What… what are you doing here?"

"This… this is Jonah?" Dean asked, looking over at Oshea and then back to Jonah.

"Jonah the demon, Jonah?" Ella asked, as she slid her hand behind her back and pulled out the demon-killing knife from her back pocket.

"Now, now," Jonah said, shaking his head at Ella. "I didn't come here alone." He grinned as he looked down at the damp pavement. There was a loud growl and then something invisible splashed into the small puddle of water.

"Hellhounds?"

"Yep, Dean, is it? I've heard they're your favorite," Jonah smirked.

Oshea stiffened, staring at the road by Jonah. "Jonah… why did you bring those here? What are you doing?" She whispered, taking another step toward him.

"What does it look like, babe? We're throwing you guys a welcome to town party. Good to see you again, by the way. What's it been, like two, three months since our last… encounter," He grinned.

Dean clenched his jaw, glaring at the demon as he raised the shotgun.

"You know that won't kill me. Lose your noggin in Hell, did you?" Jonah shook his head.

Oshea blushed deeply and brushed some of her hair behind her ear. "Stop it." She looked to Jonah with a frown. "Jonah… don't do this… whatever you're doing here with your pets… please, for me… just don't…"

"Fine," Jonah said, "But first tell your little boyfriend to let you run along with me, and I'll stop all of this," He shrugged, looking over at Dean.

Dean turned his head and glanced back at Oshea for a few moments, then looking back at Jonah, shaking his head. "I'd rather die."

"So you will," Jonah shrugged. He looked down at the ground beside him and clapped his hands, signaling for the Hellhounds to attack. Oshea looked to Dean,

"Dean… maybe we can talk about this… they're Hellhou-" She gasped as the hounds were sent forward on them. She lifted her gun and fired at one of the places where she could hear the growling. One of the Hounds gave a little yelp and she cocked the weapon again. "Ella, go!"

Dean stood still for a moment, listening for the low growls and the sounds of the Hellhounds paws against the pavement. He fired at one of the invisible hounds and then started running, glancing back every few moments to repeat the process.

Ella looked back helplessly at the group, starting to panic. "Sam! Dean! Oshe-" Her cries were cut off as she was suddenly pushed to the ground and she screamed as she felt something tearing through the flesh of her stomach.

Sam's eyes widened and he rushed forward, shooting at the creature and dropping weapon. He scooped Ella up and started running down the street. Oshea looked from her sister to Jonah. "How could you do this?" She cried as she backed away and turned, running after Sam and Ella. She paused, shooting at the areas where she thought the Hounds were. Sam carried Ella into a small convenient store and laid her down gently, leaning her back against the counter. He took her hand and slowly moved it from the wound. His eyes widened when he saw it and he gave a little gasp before he placed his own hand over the wound. "It… it's not that bad, Ella… it's gonna be fine. You'll be fine, okay?"

Oshea came into the shop, trembling a little as she dropped her gun in the doorway and walked over to Sam. "Oh my God… oh God…"

Dean ran inside the building and pushed the two doors closed. "A little help, Oshea!" He said as he started to chain the doors closed and line the door with rocksalt. Oshea stared at her sister and the blood pooling beneath her. When he shouted at her again, she jerked slightly and turned looking at him with tears gathering in her eyes. She numbly helped him to pull the door shut and grabbed a back of rocksalt, lining the windows and the back door. When she had finished, she dropped the half empty bag of rocksalt and rushed over to her sister's side. Sam stood up and moved away toward Dean. Oshea knelt down beside of Ella. "Ella… I'm so sorry… so sorry…" She whispered as tears ran down her face. She laid a hand over her sibling's wound, looking back to Dean. "We… we have to do something…"

"I know," He said, glancing over at Oshea and Ella. "But how do you plan on us getting by half a dozen Hellhounds, and get Ella to the nearest hospital, without a vehicle?"

"You give me to Jonah like he said!" She said frantically, looking down at her sister's blood bubbling between her fingers and running down her hand. "He said he'd leave if you let me go with him."

"Well we have to do SOMETHING!" Sam snapped. "Something NOW."

"Demons lie, Oshea. If we hand you over to him, he kills us, and possibly you, too. So, no Oshea, we're not going with that plan," Dean shook his head.

Oshea looked down at the blood covering her hand. "We… we need to do something! She's… oh God…. She's bleeding to death, Dean… I'm not going to let my sister die!" Sam walked over, handing Oshea a roll of bandages. Oshea took them and gently peeled back her sister's shirt, beginning to wrap the bandages around her with trembling hands. "I'm going out to Jonah… then you and Sam can take Ella to the hospital…"

"No, Oshea," Ella said suddenly, her voice quiet and weak. "Dean's right. It's a trap, Jonah's lying. You're not going anywhere, except far from here. As for me, I'm-" She winced as they finished bandaging her. "I'm not leaving this spot."

"What are you talking about, Ella?" Sam said, stopping his pacing to look at her. "We're not leaving you here…"

"We don't really have a choice, do we? The Hellhounds, they have all of our scents now. They won't stop coming after us, you know that. But I… I can hold them off, and you guys can get out of here safely."

"Ella, we're not going to leave you here… they'll kill you…" Oshea said, her voice trembling. "You won't be able to stop them if you're dead…"

Ella coughed, spitting up a little bit of blood. "We… we have enough supplies here. Propane, wiring, rocksalt, iron nails. Everything we need."

Oshea's brows furrowed then her eyes widened as she realized what she was getting at. "No, Ella. Absolutely not! There has to be another way! Sam… Dean… come on… there has to be another way." She said between her quiet sobs, her shoulders shaking.

"There is no other way," Ella shook her head. "Either I die, along with all seven or eight Hellhounds, or we all die. It's that simple. No, Oshea, this is the only way. I'm not moving, but this way I can hold them off while you guys get away."

Oshea stared at her sister. "Dean… Sam, get the stuff."

Sam's eyes widened. "Oshea, you can't be-"

"I SAID…," She snapped, closing her eyes. "I said…. Get the stuff… do what she said."