Winchester and Cain

by smeewrites

Remember when Sam and Dean were driving in the Impala on that deserted highway in that pilot episode? You're probably gonna have to think a little bit to remember. They're driving and they almost hit a mysterious girl dressed all in black, standing in the middle of the road - like she has no idea where she is, 'girl in black' sounds like a beloved book character we all know, right?

15. Chapter 15

Winchester and Cain

Chapter 15 – The Benders

Valkyrie's P.O.V

"Look, I know you're just doing your job, but the police have been here all week already. I don't see why we have to go through this again. The more he tells the story, the more he believes it's true." A tired single mother, Mrs. McKay explained as she held onto her eight year old boy, Evan. We had found a potential case in Hibbing, Minnesota, where there had been a few mysterious disappearances around the area for a couple of weeks, the last disappearance was a few nights ago, and there was one witness: eight year old Evan McKay.

"Mrs. McKay, we know you spoke to the local authorities." Sam offered the tired mother a sympathetic smile.

"But, uh, this seems like a matter for the state police, so..." I trailed off and looked at Dean.

"Don't worry about how crazy it sounds, Evan," Dean assured the boy, "Just tell us what you saw."

The boy nodded, "I was up late, watching TV. When I heard this noise."

"What did it sound like?" Sam asked.

Evan frowned as he concentrated, "It sounded like... a monster." I glanced at Sam.

Mrs McKay raised an eyebrow, "Tell the officers what you were watching on TV."

Evan rolled his eyes, "Godzilla Vs. Mothra." He answered.

Dean smiled at the boy, "That's my favourite Godzilla movie. It's so much better than the original, huh?" He said excitedly.

"Totally." Evan nodded enthusiastically.

"You're so sad." I murmured.

Dean nodded, unashamed, "Yeah," Then he looked at Evan and nodded at Sam, "He likes the remake."

"Yuck!" Evan scrunched up his face and glanced at Sam as if he had committed a crime, Dean nodded sadly.

Sam stole a glare at his older brother and cleared his throat, "Evan, did you see what this thing was?" He asked.

The boy shook his head, "No. But I saw it grab Mr. Jenkins. It pulled him underneath the car."

"And then what?" I pressed.

"It took him away. I heard the monster leaving, it made this really scary sound." Evan looked up at me with wide eyes, kind of like a puppy.

"What did it sound like, Evan?" Sam asked.

"Like this... whining growl." The eight year old answered, Dean gave me a look and I nodded discreetly.

"Thanks for your time, Evan." Dean smiled and gave the boy a friendly wink.

T

After a day of inquiring around town, Dean suggested that we 'investigate' at the local bar, Kugel's Keg. The boys were on beers whilst I stuck to soda water, I helped out Sam with the research whilst Dean idly threw darts. "So, local police have ruled out foul play. Apparently there are worse signs of a struggle." Sam announced.

Dean shrugged as he threw another dart, "Well, they could be right, it could just be a kidnapping. Maybe this isn't our kind of gig."

"Yeah, maybe not," Sam muttered as I took a sip of my drink and tapped John Winchester's journal, it was opened on a reference page their Dad had made, I had seen it earlier whilst flipping through it, "Hey, Dad marked the area, Dean," Sam said, Dean held the dart he was about to throw and approached our table, where Sam spun the journal around and showed it to Dean. "Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker." Sam recited the notes.

Dean frowned and looked up from the old book, "Why would he even do that?"

Sam shrugged whilst I studied the police report, "He found a lot of local folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night – grabs people, then vanishes."

"In the statistics report here it says that this county has more missing persons per capital than anywhere else in the state." I supplied, giving Sam the paper I was reading off.

"Huh," Sam muttered as he studied the figures, "That's odd."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Hang on," Dean held his hand up, "Don't phantom attackers usually snatch people from their beds? Mr. Jenkins was taken from a parking lot."

"Well, there are all kinds," Sam shrugged as I took another sip of my drink, "Phantom Gases, Springheel Jacks-," I choked on my drink at the name, "You alright, Steph?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, fine. Just, uh, went down the wrong pipe." I explained, my cheeks reddening a little.

"Look, Dean," Sam turned his attention back to his brother, "I don't know if this is our kind of gig either."

Dean nodded slowly, "Yeah, you're right. We should ask around more tomorrow."

"Right," Sam agreed, then he took out his wallet and started leafing through it, "I saw a motel about five miles back."

"Whoa, whoa, easy. Let's have another round." Dean protested.

Sam frowned, "We should get an early start."

"He's right, Dean. You are so not a morning person." I agreed, giving him a doubtful look.

"So not helping, Steph!" Dean rolled his eyes and I smirked, "You really know how to have fun, don't you, Grandma?" He sighed at his brother, "Alright, Steph and I will meet you outside."

"What? What are we doing?" I frowned as Sam began to gather up his research.

Dean held up the three darts, "If I can get one of these on the bullseye, I get to buy you a drink tomorrow night." He challenged.

I raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "You can try, but, by the look of tonight, you're a bad shot." I teased.

"Then what do you have to lose?" He smirked.

I shrugged and got up from the table, "Alright, if you can get one bullseye, you can get me a drink tomorrow night."

Dean grinned and went to throw his first dart, it was on the board, but not near enough to the target to shake my confidence. His second dart, however, was a little too close to my liking for me to think this was a safe bet. I decided to cheat, when he threw his third dart I lightly nudged at the air as I fixed my hair, the dart was promising a smooth bullseye and suddenly veered off to the left, hitting the eleven.

"What the?" Dean frowned and then looked at me, "You cheated!" He exclaimed, pointing a finger at me.

"I did nothing of the sort." I shook my head and widened my eyes innocently.

"Right." Dean rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around my waist and leant in and lightly kissed me.

T

Dean and I exited the bar smiling and laughing, our hands clasped together and my head resting on his shoulder. We approached Dean's car slowly, giggling and laughing at our idle chatter, when suddenly Dean frowned. "What is it?" I asked, noticing him go rigid.

"Sam's not here." Dean answered.

I unlinked from Dean and walked faster to the car, John Winchester's journal and our research from earlier lay on the desk, but Sam was nowhere to be found, I even checked inside the car to see if he was there. I looked back at Dean and shook my head, he looked back at the bar with a look of confusion on his face. "Where could he have gone?" I wondered aloud.

"I don't know..." Dean muttered, his eyes fixed on the bar.

"Hey, the bar's closing in an hour, why don't we just stick around and see if he comes out with everyone else." I suggested, walking back over to Dean and putting my hands on his shoulders.

T

Almost an hour later, the bar doors opened and the crowd exited the building, Dean and I walked over and split up onto different sides of the group. "Hi, have any of you seen a guy – tall with dark hair and dark eyes? Goes by the name of Sam?" I asked hopefully to four people, they looked at me and shook their heads no and I sighed and nodded.

Disappointed, I turned away and looked at Dean, where he was asking a couple, "You guys been outside, around here in the last hour or so?" He asked, the couple shook their heads and walked away, Dean turned around and I glimpsed the crestfallen expression on his face, he caught my eyes and looked away from me, jogging to the corner of the street and glancing around frantically. "Sam!" He called, "Sammy!"

"Dean." I pointed to the CCTV surveillance camera situated above a streetlight overlooking the bar and it's carpark.

T

"Steph, come on, get up!" I cracked open an eye to see Dean shaking me awake.

I blinked sleepily, "What time is it?" I yawned.

"It's just gone 6, come on, get dressed." Dean stood up from the bed and I sat up, blinking myself awake.

When my feet touched the floor Dean threw my FBI dress and shoes, I picked it up and frowned, "Where are we going?"

"Sheriff's Department downtown." Dean replied, shrugging on his own crisp white shirt and picking up his tie.

I nodded, remembering we were missing Sam, "10 minutes." I promised, before padding to the bathroom and shutting the door behind me.

T

I emerged later with my formal outfit donned to find Dean pacing the room nervously, his head snapped up as soon as he heard the door open, "Ready?" He asked, a little impatiently.

I nodded, "Yeah, let's go."

T

In the Sheriff's Department, a deputy, Kathleen, squinted as she surveyed our State Police ID's that Dean had made for us this morning, "So, what can we do for you, Officer's?" She asked.

"We're working on a missing persons case." I replied as we folded away our badges.

"I didn't know the Jenkins case was being covered by the State Police." Kathleen frowned.

"Oh, no," Dean smiled thinly, "No. There's someone else, actually – it's my cousin. The three of us were having a few last night at this bar down the highway, and we haven't seen him since." He explained, keeping the details brief.

"Does your cousin have a drinking problem?" The deputy asked.

Despite the situation, Dean cracked a genuine smile, "Sam? Two beers and he's doing karaoke," Kathleen smiled, "No, he wasn't drunk. He was taken."

The woman nodded and sat down at her desk, turning on the computer as we sat next to her, "Alright, what was his name?" She asked.

"Winchester. Sam Winchester." Dean answered.

"Like the rifle?" Kathleen typed it in.

I smiled, "Like the rifle." I echoed.

We turned our attention to the screen as it loaded, a picture of Sam appeared and I glanced briefly at the record. Kathleen clicked on a link and Dean's picture appeared, "Samuel Winchester. So, you know that his brother, Dean Winchester, died in St. Louis. And, uh, was suspected of murder."

I glanced at Dean, he struggled to remain nonchalant, "Yeah, Dean. Kind of the black sheep of the family," He sighed deeply, "Handsome, though." He added as an afterthought, it took a great amount of willpower to keep the smile off of my face.

"Uh-huh," Kathleen murmured as she typed into the computer, "Well, he's not showing up in any current field reports."

"Oh, we already have a lead, we saw a surveillance camera just next to the highway near the bar." I supplied.

"The County Traffic camera?" Kathleen asked.

"Right, yeah," I nodded, "We're thinking that camera picked up whatever took them."

"Or, whoever." Dean added.

"Well, I have access to the traffic camera footage down at the County Works Department, but – well, anyhow, let's do this the right way," She got up from the desk and walked over to the filing cabinet, opening the drawer and pulling out some paperwork, "Why don't you two fill out a Missing Persons Report and sit tight over here?" She handed me a clipboard and a pen.

Dean took the clipboard from my hands and made a face as he looked down at it, "Look, Officer, he's, uh, Sam's family. I kinda – I kinda look out for the kid. You gotta let us go with you."

The deputy shook her head, "I'm sorry, I can't let either of you do that."

Dean cocked his head, "Well, tell me something. Your county has it's fair share of Missing Persons. Any of 'em come back?" He gave Kathleen a challenging glance, she bit her lip and looked down, "Sam's my responsibility. And he's coming back. We're bringing him back."

Kathleen stared at us for a long moment, "Can you two wait outside my office for a moment, I'll be with you soon." She walked away without another reply, Dean and I watched her go before I tapped him on the arm.

"Hey, come on. If she doesn't come back I can just kick her ass." I smiled and pecked him on the lips lightly and exited the office, Dean followed close behind. We sat on the pair of metal chairs closest to the deputy's office door.

T

Sam's P.O.V

I jerked awake and rubbed the back of my head with a groan. I was confined in a metal cage in what looked to be an old barn, I looked around for any sign of a threat, opposite my cage was another, a man was laying still with his back to me. I didn't know if he was alive or not. Despite everything, I was happy to see that Dean and Stephanie weren't here with me, it meant that they were out there, probably scouring the Earth looking for me.

T

Valkyrie's P.O.V

Twenty minutes had passed and Dean and I had sat in silence for most of it, I quietly sung Led Zep's Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You as I stared out the open window. "That's a good song." Dean murmured.

I stopped singing and looked at Dean, "Yeah."

Dean rested his head against my shoulder and closed his eyes, "Sing it again for me?" He asked.

I sang the lyrics softly, the words escaping my mouth and barely filling the sound around us, after a few minutes Dean yawned and I paused, "Tired?" I smiled.

Dean nodded and blinked sleepily up at me, "Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night."

I frowned, "Why not?"

He shrugged, "Sam." He answered simply.

I ran a hand through his hair, "We're gonna find him, Dean." I assured him.

Dean opened his mouth to reply, but the door to the office opened and Deputy Kathleen exited, "Greg, I've got something for you and Alice to-," she paused when she saw us, "Oh, am I interrupting something?" She asked.

Dean and I sat up and moved apart, "No no, what do you have for us?" He asked.

She approached us and handed Dean a selection of photos, "These traffic cameras take an image every three seconds, as part of the Amber Alert program. These images were all taken around the time that your cousin, Sam, disappeared.

Dean glanced at some of the photos, then looked up at the deputy, "This really isn't what we're looking for."

"Just wait, wait – look at the next one," Kathleen insisted, Dean turned over to the next photo, it was a grainy night image of a rusty, old truck driving, "This one was taken right after Sam left the bar. Look at the license plates." She tapped the page and I narrowed my eyes and made out the plate, it shone out against the rusted end of the vehicle.

"The plates," I glanced up at Dean, "They look new."

"It's probably stolen." He nodded.

"So, whoever's driving that rust bucket must be involved." Kathleen nodded.

Outside the window, a vehicle drove past, it's engine whining loudly. The three of us all turned to look at it as it passed around the corner, giving a gritty, guttural groan as it did so. Dean tapped me lightly and I shifted my attention to him, "Hear that engine? Kind of a whining growl, isn't it?" He asked, putting emphasis into whining growl.

Whining growl, whining growl... where have I heard that..?

My mouth dropped open a little as I remembered little Evan McKay's description of the so-called monster he'd heard. "Oh." I said.

Dean nodded, "Yep."

T

Sam's P.O.V

I breathed heavy with enervation, I'd spent the majority of my time since coming into consciousness trying to kick down the door to the cage. I really, really wished I had Steph's amazing Elemental powers – the force that using the air was incredibly strong, and if it could break open locked doors, then I was sure it could free me out of the cage. Opposite me, my fellow inmate finally groaned awake, I moved closer to the bars to look through. "You're alive," I said in amazement, the man groaned again and I frowned, "Hey, you ok?" I called to him, my tone filled with concern.

"Does it look like I'm doing ok to you?" He snapped at me.

I ignored his awful mood, "Where are we?"

"I don't know. The country, I think. It smells like the country." The man offered back-handedly.

Something suddenly clicked in my head, "You're Alvin Jenkins, aren't you?" I guessed.

"Yeah." Alvin shut his eyes, I didn't know if it was because he was in pain or exhausted – or both.

I sighed heavily, "I was looking for you."

Alvin cracked one eye open, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

The man scoffed, "Well, no offense, but this is a piss-poor rescue attempt."

I decided to try and comfort him, "Well, my brother and my friend are out there right now. They're looking for us. So-"

"So, they're not gonna find us," Jenkins interrupted rudely, "We're in the middle of nowhere," He paused and pointed to the door, "Waiting for them to come back and do God-knows-what to us."

My eyes widened, "What are they? Have you seen them?" I asked.

Alvin frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"Whatever's got us, what did they look like?" I pressed.

Alvin shrugged, "See for yourself," The large, heavy-set steel door creaked open and two figures wearing dark coats and hats entered. One of the pair moved to Jenkins' cage and kicked it roughly, it made a terrible noise and Jenkins moved himself into one of the back corners of his cage, meanwhile, the other man goes to a panel littered with buttons and inserted a key from his pocket into the lock. My inmate's cage unlocks and the men entered, "Leave me alone! Don't you take me, leave me alone!" Alvin cowered, one of the men crouched and I watched as they placed a plate of food in front of him. The exited the cage and walked over to the panel, I watched curiously as they twisted the key and took it back, with a screeching protest, the cage locked and they left.

"I'll be damned," I murmured as the huge entrance creaked shut, "They're just people."

Jenkins looked up from devouring his plate of food hungrily, "Yeah. What'd you expect?"

"How often do they feed you?" I called out to the dark shadows of Alvin's cage, where he was lurking.

"Once a day." His answer sounded muffled, I guessed his mouth was full with food, "They use that thing over there to open the cage." A hand emerged from the dark and pointed towards the panel.

"And that's the only time you see them?" I pressed.

"So far. But I'm waiting." Alvin replied.

"Waiting for what?" I frowned.

"Ned Beatty time, man." He said craftily, I smiled to myself: Dean had made me watch the film Deliverance once.

"I think that's the least of your worries right now." I shrugged.

"Oh, yeah?" Alvin challenged.

"Yeah."

"What do you think they want, then?" Alvin asked, I reached up and grabbed a long wire which stretched from the top of a pole to the ground, I tugged on it hopefully.

"Depends on who they are." I replied.

"They're a bunch of psycho hillbilly rednecks, if you ask me. Looking for love in all the wrong places." Jenkins voiced, I didn't reply: I was too busy trying to detach the wire from the pole above, silently begging Steph and Dean to find me. Fast.

T

Valkyrie's P.O.V

Dean, Kathleen and I took an officer's car out to follow the truck's trail, Kathleen drove, whilst Dean and I sat in the back. "Ok, the next traffic camera is fifty miles from here, and the pickup didn't pass that one." Kathleen said to us from the driver's seat.

"So, it must've pulled off somewhere. But we didn't see any other roads here as we came into town." Dean leant forward a little in his seat.

"Well, a lot of these outskirt properties have their own private roads." The deputy replied.

I sighed, "Great, so this could take a while then."

Up front, Kathleen's phone beeped and she checked it with her left hand, "So, you two." She called.

Dean and I turned to look at her, "Yeah?" I answered for us.

"While the photos were printing, I ran your badge numbers – it's routine when we're working a case with state police, for accounting purposes and what have you." She explained, Dean stiffened next to me but remained calm.

"And?"

"And, uh, they just got back to me," Kathleen did a sudden hard turn and pulled out onto the side of the road, "It says here that your badges were stolen," We both feigned looks of surprise, "And I have pictures of both of you." She showed us her screen, on it there was a photo of an overweight, balding African-American, the next one showed a middle aged lady with a grey pixie crop.

There was a short silence and both Dean and I chuckled nervously, "I lost some weight, and I got that Michael Jackson skin disease."

"Mmmhmm, and what's your excuse, Alice?" She looked at me.

I smiled sweetly, "Oh, you know, I had some money saved up and splashed out on some plastic surgery, grew my hair out and re-dyed it and what not."

"Oh, and your Irish accent is really shining through, but apparently you were born and raised in California." Kathleen narrowed her eyes.

"Err, it's an old Irish secret – the Irish air keeps you young and strong!" I laughed.

Kathleen clicked off her seatbelt, "Ok, would you both step out of the car, please?"

Dean held his hands up, "Look, look, look," Kathleen paused – much to my surprise, "If you wanna arrest us, that's fine. We'll cooperate, I swear." He promised.

I arched an eyebrow, "We will?" I whispered.

"But, first," Dean ignored me, "Please – let us find Sam."

Kathleen frowned, "I don't even know who you are, or if this Sam person really is missing."

"Ok, ok, Kathleen?" I leant forward into her view, "Look into our eyes and tell us if we're lying about this." I told her earnestly.

The deputy paused as she stared at us, but then scoffed, "Identify theft? Look, you're both impersonating officers."

"Here's the thing," Dean interjected, "When Sam and I were young, I pretty much pulled him from a fire, and ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. Like it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find him fast... please," My eyes widened as Dean's voice suddenly cracked, "He's my family." I stared at Dean in shock: I'd never seen him like this before, it was unnerving to see someone so strong like him scared.

Nevertheless, Kathleen shook her head, "I'm sorry, but you've given me no choice. I have to take the both of you in," She fastened her seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition, "After we find Sam Winchester."

T

Sam's P.O.V

The barn offered no indication of a clock and I didn't have a watch, but I guessed I had been trying to free the metal coil for around half an hour, Jenkins had finished his food a while ago and I could tell he was watching my attempts. "What's your name again?" He asked.

"It's Sam." I replied.

"Why don't you give it up, Sammy, there's no way out." Alvin yawned.

I gritted my teeth, partly because my arm was throbbing from being elevated for so long, partly from my patience wearing down, "Don't... call me... Sammy!" I gasped when the coil ripped free, a piece of metal fell down to the cage floor, along with the wire.

"What is it?" Alvin asked. I crouched and picked it up and studied it closely.

"It's a bracket." I answered.

In the dark and the silence, Jenkins scoffed, "Well, thank God, a bracket. Now we've got 'em, huh?" He asked, his tone laden with sarcasm. Suddenly, Alvin's cage unlocks itself and the door swung open, "Must've been a short," My fellow inmate muttered, his eyes were shining with hope and gratitude as he climbed out of the cage, "Maybe you knocked something loose, even."

I watched Jenkins as he sighed happily and stretched, glad to be able to actually stand up without hitting his head, but something inside me was festering. "I think you should get back in there, Alvin." I advised.

Alvin frowned, "What?"

"This isn't right." I continued, shaking my head.

"Don't you wanna get out of here?" He asked, regarding me with incredulity.

I nodded uncertainly, "Yeah, but that was too easy."

"Look, I'm gonna get out of here, and I'm gonna send help, ok. Don't worry." He assured me, the hope and gratitude in his eyes being replaced with his default arrogance.

I shook my head in disagreement, "No, I'm serious. Alvin – this might be a trap." I warned.

Alvin flashed me a cocky smirk, "Bye, Sammy." He walked away from my cage and pushed open the large door, it gave away and he slipped out without another glance back at me. I sat there and waited, something telling me that that was the last time I'd ever see Alvin Jenkins.

I counted the seconds after the door shut behind my former inmate, not a minute later, I heard Alvin screaming and I knew it was the sound of him dying. I sighed and shrank down in my cage, pleading for Dean and Steph to hurry up.

T

Valkyrie's P.O.V

After going down several roads, which all led to dead ends, Kathleen turned the car around and headed back towards the town, I thought this was the deputy giving up and taking us back to the station to have us arrested, but Kathleen again surprised us by taking us for coffee. The three of us were walking back to the car, all of us holding travel cups of coffee from the nearest café, "Hey, Officer? Look, I don't mean to press my luck." Dean started.

"Your luck is so pressed." Kathleen responded.

Dean smiled a little, "Right. I was wondering – why are you helping us out, anyway? Why don't you just lock us up?" Dean voiced all the questions I had been keeping in all day.

The deputy took a deep breath before she answered, "My brother, Riley, disappeared three years ago. A lot like Sam. We searched for him, but – nothing. I know what it's like to feel responsible for someone, and for them..." She trailed off and took a sip of her coffee, Dean and I exchanged a sympathetic look, "Come on. Let's keep at it." She forced a smile on her face and got into the car.

"Oh God, that's terrible." I murmured.

"Yeah. No wonder she's trying to help us." Dean agreed.

T

A little while later, we were passing by a forest on a single, outback road. Regardless of the coffee I'd had earlier, being stuck in the car next to Dean's warm form all day had me being drowsy. He let me curl up against his chest and use his FBI jacket as a makeshift blanket. I was just about to drift away into the warm, welcoming embrace of sleep when Dean suddenly jerked forward in his seat. My head hit the back of Kathleen's seat and I cried out in surprise mixed with pain, "Wait, wait, wait – pull over here. Pull over," Dean held me carefully and pointed out the window for Kathleen, whilst she pulled the car over I gave him an icy glare, "This is the first turn-off I've seen so far." He explained, although noone asked.

Kathleen nodded and undid her seatbelt, "You two stay here, I'll check it out." She ordered.

"Nu-uh." I protested.

"No way." Dean joined in on my rejection.

Kathleen sighed when we followed her out of the car, I kept Dean's jacket on to try and fend off the cold evening air, the deputy took five steps towards the woods before she stopped and turned around. "Right, sorry, but you're both civilians. And felons, I think. I'm not taking either of you with me." She decided.

"You're not going without us." Dean argued.

Kathleen sighed heavily, "Alright. You promise you two won't get involved? You'll both let me handle it?" She asked.

We both nodded, "I promise." The lie slipped from my lips effortlessly.

"Yeah, sure." Dean smiled, he was almost as good as lying as I was.

The deputy stuck her hand out to Dean, "Shake on it." Dean stuck his hand out and the woman grasped it firmly, whilst they shook hands Kathleen looped one half of a set of handcuffs around his wrist, I stepped forward, but she grabbed her gun and trained it on me whilst she held onto Dean's secured arm.

"Oh, come on." I frowned, raising my hands in surrender. Wearing this stupid dress was useless – I had no protection against anything: the cold, bullets... the stupid front seat.

"Give me your right wrist." She ordered.

Reluctantly, I outstretched my hand. Kathleen snatched it and looped the other half of the handcuff on me. She grabbed the metal chain link and led us towards the police car, when we reached the driver's door and used another pair of handcuffs to attach us to the door handle.

"This is ridiculous, Kathleen," Dean groaned, "I really think you're gonna need our help."

"I'll manage, thank you." Kathleen locked the car and walked away, Dean and I watched her leave.

"I gotta start carrying paper clips." Dean sighed.

I waited two minutes, then shivered and tugged at the cuff, it rattled loudly, but not much else happened. "Come on." I groaned.

T

I felt bad that I had taken Dean's jacket in the car and couldn't give it back to him, but as the sun disappeared and it got even colder, I was secretly happy, even if I was still cold, jacket or not. It had been a while since Kathleen had left us chained to the handle, and we were getting irritable. I tried yanking the chain off with brute force again, "Stupid... fucking... cuffs!" I struggled.

Dean stretched across the bonnet of the car, reaching out to the antenna on the car. We both jumped at the sound of an engine backfiring and looked around frantically for the source of the sound. "Oh, son of a bitch." Dean growled and stretched further.

"Hey, let me try." I offered.

"As hot as it would be to see you bend over the bonnet in that dress, I don't think we have that kind of time." Dean replied as he reached further for the antenna.

"I'd hit you if I wasn't so cold." I mumbled, the heat rising in my cheeks.

After a few minutes Dean gave a sigh of relief and stood back up with the antenna, "Got it." He said triumphantly.

"Great! Now hurry up, someone's coming." I said through gritted teeth. Dean smiled when the cuff around his hand fell free, he massaged his wrist gratefully and I stared at him, "Come on, let me free." I urged.

"Right, right." Dean nodded and went to work at my lock, when the cuff clattered against the door we ran towards woods.

T

Sam's P.O.V

The two men who slaughtered Jenkins came in earlier carrying a woman, at first I was scared it was Steph, but when I saw the victim's face I relaxed, my concern seeped back in when they carelessly flung her in Jenkins' old cage.

When the woman came to she sat up and immediately groaned, her hands reached up and massaged her head. "You alright?" I called to her.

Kathleen stopped working her hands on her head and looked at me, "Are you Sam Winchester?" The woman asked.

Hope blossomed within me, "Yeah." I nodded.

"Your, uh, your cousin and his girlfriend are looking for you." She said.

I sighed in relief, "Thank God. Where are they?" I asked.

The woman faltered, "I, uh – I cuffed him to my car." She answered meekly.

My sigh of relief was replaced with a sigh of annoyance. There was banging on the door and I moved to the edge of my cage to take a peek. There was faint arguing outside the door and it suddenly blasted open, two sets of footsteps entered, one a woman's heels, another a man's. "This place is so fucking gross." A girl's voice drifted towards us as the two figures neared.

"Yeah, but all we need to do is find Sam and Kathleen and get the hell outta here." The male's voice replied.

I smiled, I knew those voices, "Dean! Steph!" I called. The figures moved nearer and I recognised Steph and Dean in the shadows.

"Sam?" I grinned "Are you hurt?" Dean asked.

"No." I shook my head.

"Really? I can't see... Oh my God!" Steph exclaimed and raised her right hand, ready to click her fingers, "I'm such an idiot." She laughed and my eyes widened and I glanced at the woman, Kathleen.

Luckily, Dean was on the same wavelength as I was. He caught Steph's wrist and whispered something in her ear. Behind them, Kathleen frowned in confusion, "Damn," Dean said, "It's good to see you." I could hear the smile in his voice, even if I couldn't see his expression.

"How did you two get out of the cuffs?" Kathleen called to them, Dean and Steph turned around.

"Oh, well, we know a trick or two." Dean shrugged nonchalantly, Kathleen's confusion peaked as she stared at our rescuers.

Steph cleared her throat, I suddenly noticed she was wearing her black FBI dress and Dean's jacket, "Alright," She clapped her hands together and moved towards the door of my cage to inspect the locks, "Dean, locks." She said.

Dean followed and checked out the locks, "Oh man, these locks look like they're gonna be a bitch." He sighed.

"Well, there's some kind of automatic control right there." I supplied helpfully, pointing to the panel with buttons.

"Have you seen them?" Steph asked.

"Yeah. Here's the crazy: they're just people." I replied.

"And they jumped you?" Dean sounded amazed, "Must be getting rusty there, kiddo." He teased as he walked over to the operating panel, he frowned at the assortment of buttons and started tapping away happily.

"What do they want?" Steph asked as she watched Dean.

I shrugged at her, "I don't know. They let Jenkins go, but that was some sort of trap – it doesn't make any sense to me."

"Well, that's kinda the point," Dean said, "You know, with our usual playmates, there's rules, there's patterns. But with people? They're just crazy."

"Did you guys see anything else out there?" I asked.

"Uh, we saw about a dozen discarded cars hidden out behind this barn." Steph replied.

"Yeah, their plates were from all over, we were thinking that when they take someone, they take their vehicle, too." Dean added.

"Did you see a black Mustang out there? About ten years old?" Kathleen piped up from the shadows.

"Yeah, we did, actually." Dean sounded surprised.

Steph moved away from my cage to Kathleen's, "Your brother's?" She asked gently.

There was a loud sniffing noise, and I knew Kathleen was crying, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry, Kathleen." Steph offered, Kathleen didn't reply.

A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, I knew Steph hated people crying, she was trying her hardest to comfort the mourning Kathleen.

"Let's get you guys out of here, then we'll take care of those bastards," Dean said, I looked at him and he gestured to the operating panel, "This thing takes a key. Key?" He asked me.

I shrugged, feeling useless, "I don't know."

Dean nodded, "Alright, I better go find it."

Steph's heels sounded on the floor and she emerged from the gloom, "Just you?" Even from here, I could see she had her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, stay here with Sammy and Kathleen." Dean nodded.

"It's Sam." I muttered, whilst Steph stared at my brother as if he was joking.

"Tell me you're kidding." Steph said.

Dean jumped down from where the panel was, "No, I'm not."

I stayed quiet as she absorbed this, she flicked her long dark hair over her shoulder and folded her arms, the sleeves of Dean's jacket were too big so she'd rolled them up. "I'm going with you." She insisted.

"Steph, why is this so hard? Can't you just do as I ask and stay here for me?" Dean said, his tone exasperated.

"Why is this so hard for you? I don't need protecting." The girl shot back.

"I never said you did!" Dean protested.

"No, but in every single situation we're in – you're always trying to protect me! I'm not some fragile doll, Dean. Like it or not: I can protect myself." She argued.

Dean stalked over to her and she didn't back down, they glared at eachother and I felt uncomfortable watching their dispute, I suddenly felt the need to look away. "I never said you couldn't!" Dean shouted back.

"Then if you think I can in fact protect myself, why are we arguing anyway?" Steph asked, her tone frustrated, she was probably running a hand through her hair right now – like she always did when she got stressed.

I spared a look and was surprised to see them kissing deeply, their passion practically rolling off them in waves. When they eventually broke apart Dean spoke, "I'm sorry." He said, a little breathless.

"Me too." Steph agreed.

I frowned in confusion when the girl allowed Dean to wrap his arms around her neck, "Shall we..?" He asked, Steph nodded and the couple kissed again – this one more ardent than before.

Across from me, the sound of Kathleen clearing her throat loudly caused the two to break apart, "Sorry." Steph apologised to us meekly, it was the first time I'd seen her blush.

Dean took the girl's hand in his, "Let's go get that key." She nodded and they began to leave, Dean was whispering something to her that was making her giggle.

"Be careful." I called out, but my warning fell upon death ears.

T

Valkyrie's P.O.V

Passion. Excitement... Lust.

These feelings bubbled beneath my surface whenever I looked at Dean, and right now they were more fierce than ever. "Right, what's the plan?" I whispered to him in the dark.

Dean shrugged, "Get the key. Get Sam. Live." He answered.

I nodded, "Simple, I like it."

We reached the door to the ramshackled... shack and silently opened the door and slipped in. Everything was dark, and there was no one inside, Dean unlinked his hand from mine and left my side, ten seconds later there was a crash and a "Fuck!" from Dean.

I was glad it was dark – it hid my smile.

"Steph, you got a light?" Dean's pained voice reached me. I clicked my fingers and conjured a flame to light the dark, Dean was stood next to an overturned coffee table.

"Smooth sneaking skills, 007." I smirked and turned away from him and examined the room, the room itself looked to be a lounge of some sort, but with all the dusty old jars everywhere it was hard to tell. Upon closer examination on a small cluster of jars I saw they were filled with various body parts, I blanched and half-ran over to where Dean was stood. I tugged on his arm, "Come on: keys, Sam, live, remember?" I reminded him, he nodded and allowed me to hastily drag him out the room.

We moved out into the hallway and found that the walls were completely covered in hundreds of Polaroid pictures, each photo showed the same two guys stood grinning next to a fresh corpse. I recognised one of the corpses from the research Sam and I had been doing and showed it to Dean, he frowned as he studied it. "Is that... Jenkins?" He asked. I nodded, suddenly feeling queasy: Jenkins limbs had been savagely torn off and the two men were brandishing them like a child brandishes a stick for a play-sword. Dean sighed and shook his head, "I'll say it again – demons I get. People are crazy." He concluded and smiled at me. Upon seeing my nauseous expression he wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders, "Steph? Come on, don't look at it – we'll just grab the key and leave, right?" I gave one stiff, jerky nod and allowed myself to be led up the staircase at the end of the corridor. I took a deep, shaky breath before we climbed the ratty, threaded steps.

Calm, Valkyrie. Focus on the calm, ignore it.

The layout to this shack-house was bizarre: the kitchen was upstairs, for starters. I let the flame in my hand die out as we neared the kitchen, the bright lights that spilled from the room meant we had to stick to the shadows.

There was someone in the kitchen, I heard the methodical sound of a knife and the sound of meat. I didn't want to ask if it was human meat or not. Dean and I strayed away from the bright kitchen and into the gloomy living room, it was as drab and repulsive as the lounge downstairs, but at least there were no unsavoury jars in sight. Instead, there was a coffee table in the corner with a record player on it, the player was on and was playing an old American song I didn't recognise. Dean suddenly bumped into something hanging from the ceiling and it chimed, "What the?" He frowned in the dark as he quickly stopped it from making a noise.

We both moved away quickly and found ourselves sneaking towards the kitchen, I ignored the old man butchering the meat slab and focused on what was in the kitchen. Dean pointed to the counter and I saw a tray filled with keys. When the man turned away from his meat and went out the adjourning door Dean and I seized the opportunity, we crept forward and examined the key tray, none of them were labelled – much to our dismay, next to the tray there was a small collection of mobile phones, some old, some new. Dean picked up one and looked at me, "This is Sam's phone." He murmured.

I nodded and turned my attention back to the tray of keys, "Which one is it?" I wondered aloud, but kept my tone to a whisper.

Dean shrugged, "I dunno."

I sighed and shrugged too, then I picked up the tray, preparing to take it out to the barn, beside me, Dean was examining a jar filled with teeth – I was doing my best to ignore him. The floor creaked behind us and we whirled to find three girls, one was small and looked to be barely over fourteen with her head cocked curiously. Another looked to be around my age with a slightly pointed face and sharp features. The last girl looked to be a little older than me – around her early twenties – with a fierce glare and tight lipped expression on her face as she aimed a sawn-off shotgun at us.

The girls had two things in common: they all shared the same matted, dirty blonde hair and they all had a weapon: the youngest had a wicked looking knife, the one my age had a blood stained aluminium bat and the older one had the gun held up at us.

Immediately, for the second time that day, Dean and I raised our hands. "Shhh. It's ok, we're not gonna hurt you." I assured them.

The youngest girl stepped forward, the gun was removed from us as she stepped into firing range and we relaxed a little, but remained cautious as the young girl approached wielding the sinister blade. "I know." She simply said and suddenly struck, the knife flashed and she stuck the knife into his arm, missing the flesh and pinning him to the counter.

"Daddy!" The girls screamed and I cursed.

"For fuck's sake!" I swore loudly and glared at the girls.

Beside me, Dean was still staring at his arm and what had happened, "Jeez!" He exclaimed, removing the knife and gripping it tightly. I lunged towards the older girls and grappled for the gun, managing to slide my had in and flick off the safety before it blasted a hole through me or Dean. The middle girl swung the bat and I did my best to dodge – it connected with my shoulder and I hissed in pain and snatched the bat from her. The two men from the pictures downstairs came up and began fighting Dean, whilst the oldest forgot about the gun, hit the bat out of my surprised grip and launched at me. We rolled across the floor together, my strength and speed helping but three against one wasn't the best of odds. The youngest girl pinned my arms down whilst the middle one knelt on my strong legs to keep them in place, the older girl was sat on my stomach straddling me. I flinched and screamed as the older girl raked her nails savagely down my right cheek.

One of the men suddenly crashed into the youngest girl and my arms were free, I wasted no time in roughly yanking the older girl off of me by her tattered hair and kicking out with my legs, I got to my feet and backed away, blood cascading down my face and dripping to the floor as I held my numbing shoulder. I backed into someone and I almost jumped out of my skin, but I relaxed when I recognised Dean, we continued retreating and allowing ourselves to be cornered like prey. I sent death glares to the three bitches, "I'm gonna kick your ass first," I pointed at the fourteen year old, my finger shifted to the middle girl, "Then yours," A malicious, malignant smile spread across my face when I pointed at the oldest girl, "And you... I'm going to kill you." I promised.

Finally seeing sense, are we?

Before I could carry out my promises, something hard and heavy hit me in the back of the head and I fell away from Dean and crumpled to the floor.

T

I awoke in a wooden chair in the living room from earlier, I was no longer wearing Dean's jacket and I'd lost my shoes in the commotion, my tights were so torn I didn't think they could be considered tights anymore and my dress no longer had it's shoulder straps. Not that I was too worried about that, instead, my brain focused on the throbbing in the back of my head where I was hit and the pulsing at my temples from my dark side, my shoulder ached and sent daggers of pain up and down my arm as I remembered the metal bat that almost destroyed it. I licked my lips and tasted blood, the searing sting on my right cheek reminded me of my new best friend and her nails. I tried to move my hands and found that they were secured in handcuffs, I almost laughed when I saw them: they were the same handcuffs Kathleen had used on us earlier, my feet were secured tightly to the chair legs with some thick rope, so tight I couldn't even flex my toes for feeling.

The same rope had been used to tie Dean to the chair opposite me in a similar fashion, except his hands weren't in handcuffs like mine were. Dean was still unconscious, his left eye was bruised and he had a torn and bloody lip, he was also sporting a cut above his eyebrow, but otherwise seemed ok. "Let me guess," I managed as I focused on the crowd that had been watching me, "We've found a whole freakshow family, even the little girl," I smiled faintly, my head felt like it weighed a tonne and was swimming, "It's cute, really."

The oldest man, presumably the father smiled at me, he'd lost most of his teeth, "Meet Pa, Jared, Lee, and my three angels," He gestured to himself and then his two sons, "Monroe, Mary-Ellen and Little Missy." He pointed to the three girls, oldest first, in turn.

"Angels," I echoed weakly, my voice brittle, "More like ugly, backward whores to me, but sure, whatever you say."

The men laughed and Jared approached me and grabbed my chin and tilted my face upward, "This one's a fighter, Pa. She sure would be fun to hunt... after we've had our other fun with her." He let go of my chin and I blinked heavily, trying to make sense of his words through the annoying fog, when I blinked again my eyes wouldn't reopen. I just wanted to just sleep forever. That's all. In the dark, my brain lazily told my that someone was stroking my shoulder, when the hand touched my injured shoulder I jerked away and my eyes shot open. It was Jared, he was still standing next to my chair and laughing along with the others, he pinched my unscored cheek and I gritted my teeth at the pain.

Dean suddenly groaned as he slowly woke, he frowned at the sight of Jared holding my cheek and confusion clouded his injured expression, "What the? Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Dean exclaimed as he looked down at his bound hands.

I somehow managed a smile, "Surprise." I joked, the handcuffs jingled as I tried to move my hands.

Dean frowned at me, "Steph?" Everything sounded distant, he looked up at the family, "What did you give her?" He demanded.

"Nothin'. Naw we don't like to... taint the meat. 'Spect her brain's just a lil' scrambled from the ol' knock Pa did on her with the pan." Lee shrugged at Dean, whilst Jared let go of my cheek.

I tried to ignore the head pain and concentrate on the conversation, "Taint the meat," Dean repeated, "What, like... you yahoos hunt people?" He looked disgusted.

Pa laughed and leant in close to Dean, "You ever killed before, Son?"

"Wh- well, that depends on what you mean." Dean replied.

"I've hunted all my life. Just like my father, an' his before him. I've hunted deer and bear – I even got a cougar once," Pa said, something clicked in my brain and I only just realised they all carried a deep, Southern accent, "Oh boy, but the best hunt is human. Oh, there's nothin' like it. Holdin' their life in your hands, seein' the fear in their eyes just before they go dark – makes you feel powerful. Alive."

"You're one sick puppy." Dean smiled.

"We give 'em a weapon," Pa continued, unperturbed, "Give 'em a fightin' chance. It's kinda like our tradition passed down, Father to Son. 'Course, only one or two a year, never enough to bring the law down. Naw, we never been that sloppy."

I frowned slightly: the pain in my temples had somehow worsened, and I half expected myself to experience a full blown aneurysm right here in the chair, meanwhile Dean chuckled, "Yeah, well, don't sell yourself short. You're plenty sloppy." He smirked.

Pa smiled too, "So, what, you with this pretty one right here?" He gestured to me, "You both cops?" He asked.

"If I tell you, promise me you won't make me into an ashtray?" Dean taunted, Lee walked over and punched Dean across the jaw, his head swung back and he managed to maintain his cocky smirk.

"Only reason I don't let my boys and my three angels take you and your girl right here and now is that there's somethin' I need to know – and Monroe really wanted to finish your girl off, 'specially with the state she's in now." Pa matched Dean's smirk and walked over the fireplace and grabbed a hot poker. I tried to ignore the screeching pain and, miraculously, the fog lifted a bit, my thoughts sharpened a little and I concentrated on the fire. Fire. I had fire. And I could use fire.

Dean ignored the hot poker, "Yeah," He said, brimming with arrogance, "Something you need to know? How about it's not nice to marry your sister."

"Tell me," Pa ignored him, "Any of the cops gonna come lookin' for you and your girl?"

"Oh, eat me," Dean sighed, then did a double-take, "No, no, no, wait, wait – you actually might." He scoffed, Jared walked over to Dean and held his head in place. Dean's eyes flickered to me and he sent me a smile, when I returned one, his smile grew wider.

"You think this is funny? You and your Whore bought this down on my family! Alright, you wanna play games? We'll play some games. Looks like we're gonna have a hunt tonight after all, boys," He looked at Dean, "And you get to pick the animal. What'll it be? The boy, the cop or the Whore?"

"Why are you pointing to me when you say whore?" I muttered, "My name isn't Munroe, after all."

Munroe let out a screech of rage and glared at me, I winked back and she stormed to the kitchen and came back with Missy's blade. "Daddy, I wanna play!" She announced childishly.

"Just a second, buttercup." Pa muttered, holding the hot poker dangerously close to Dean's hand, he didn't even blink, Pa let out a low whistle as the pain in the back of my head finally became bearable, "Boy, you sure're one tough son of a bitch. Let's see how your Bitch handles it. Munroe!"

I sighed and looked past Munroe and at Pa as she drew nearer, "Again, with the name calling, it's completely unprovoked and I just th-." A scream suddenly bubbled up from my lungs and overtook priority of speaking. I forced the scream to stop as I clenched my jaw and let out a muffled whimper as I looked down at the knife plunged deep into my left thigh.

"Ok, wait, wait – look, nobody's coming for us, alright? It's just us." Dean cracked.

"If you don't choose, I will." Pa answered, he pressed the hot poker on Dean's once-white FBI shirt, he screamed in pain and I glared at Pa.

"Stop it!" I screamed at Pa, he smiled at me and took the poker off of Dean and I relaxed a little.

"Ah, you son of a bitch!" Dean groaned.

The man waved the poker less than an inch away from Dean's eye, "No!" The word escaped me before I could stop it.

He turned and crossed the room towards me, "Seems I'm sensing a pattern with the two of you." He announced, I eyed the white-hot poker but didn't move a muscle, he lowered it and pulled the knife agonizingly slowly from my thigh, I blinked and gritted my teeth, but didn't make a noise. "No?" He wondered aloud as he dropped the blood-covered knife carelessly to the floor, looking back at Dean, where he stared at me fearfully, Pa circled me thoughtfully a few times. He stopped when he was on my right and moved the poker up to my face, gauging Dean's reaction, I didn't breath when the poker glided a few millimetres above my unmarked cheek, the heat that was coming off of the metal was almost unbearable.

"Alright, the guy, the guy! Take the guy!" Dean yelled, Pa moved the poker away from my cheek and I breathed, still feeling the heat is gave off.

Pa passed the poker to Jared and takes a string necklace from around his neck, a key was hanging off of it. He handed it to Lee, "Lee, go do it. Don't let him out, though. Shoot him in the cage." His son nodded and walked to the door.

"Wait! I thought you said you were gonna hunt him." Dean protested.

"You were gonna give him a chance." I added.

"Lee, when you're done with the boy – shoot that cop bitch, too," Lee nodded and picked up Monroe's shotgun that was propped against the wall next to the door before leaving, "Better clean this mess up before any more cops come runnin' out here." Pa muttered. From across the room, I caught Dean's gaze, he looked even more scared than I felt – and I didn't even think that was possible.

Then it happened.

The pounding in my temples became more than a muted drum, it started to get louder and louder with each moment that passed, I focused on my pain that fed my rage and breathed calmly and shut my eyes and concentrated. I concentrated on her, and her alone. Then, a single gunshot sounded and Darquesse opened her eyes.

T

She tilted her head innocently, smiling a little when the fearless Pa ran to the window and opened it frantically, "Lee!" He called fearfully, when Lee doesn't respond, Pa turned to his possible only remaining Son, "Jared, you come with me. Girls, you watch them both now." The men grabbed their rifles and exited the room. Darquesse knew she could've healed her wounds with a little bit of concentration, but she decided to leave them to serve as a reminder to Valkyrie to call on Darquesse sooner, Valkyrie was a mastered fighter in her own right, but Darquesse knew she had a dark craving for ultimate power – and only Darquesse could satiate from time to time. But Darquesse wasn't a 'time to time' kind of girl – she was a 'full time' kind of girl.

Munroe moved towards Darquesse with a predatory look in her eye, whilst her sister's approached Dean. Munroe glared at Darquesse, unbeknownst to who she really was glaring at, and Darquesse held her gaze without blinking. Then, growing bored of the stand off, she ripped through the metal handcuffs and ropes and stood up, still keeping gaze on the girl. The girl's mouth dropped open in shock and Darquesse allowed a smile to grow on her face. She got up and stalked to the girl, Munroe stood rigid and frozen in front of Darquesse, she then looked straight at Dean, who was staring at her in shock and with an arch of an eyebrow a shadow flitted from across the room and opened Munroe's throat.

Darquesse smiled as the girl blinked and then choked on her own blood filling her lungs, she glanced at Mary-Ellen and reached out curiously with both hands. Mary-Ellen opened her mouth and closed it, reminding Darquesse of a goldfish, before she rested her hands on either side of her head and twisted it, a snap sounded and Mary-Ellen collapsed to the floor, dead like her sister.

Darquesse turned to the youngest girl, who looked up at Darquesse with wide, tear-filled eyes, she was practically panting in fear when Darquesse leaned in, ignoring the pain in her shoulder as she did so. Darquesse stopped when her face was less than inch from Missy's and then she whispered in her ear, "Boo." The girl ran for the door and disappeared, Darquesse watched, amused and then straightened up and looked at Dean.

Dean, oh, Valkyrie's gorgeous Dean looked up at Darquesse with wide, green eyes. "S-Steph," He choked out, "Steph, look at what you did!"

Darquesse smiled and tilted her head as she looked at Dean, for the briefest of moments, she considered killing him and being done with it. But she hesitated, she didn't want to kill him just yet – and since she lost her favourite toy in the old reality, she decided Sam and Dean were to be her new playthings. Until she got back home, at least.

Darquesse turned away from Dean and moved to the open window, a light sigh escaped her lips as she surveyed the view – it was the same, and yet entirely new. She couldn't wait to explore and discover new enemies and threats, she was looking forward to battling another, what was it? Demon again.

But not yet, Darquesse thought, Soon, She promised herself, But not yet.

T

Darquesse blinked and I gasped and was instantly met with blinding pain from my leg, I collapsed and grabbed onto the window sill for support. "Steph, please tell me that's you." Dean called from the chair, I eased myself onto the floor painfully nodded. "Oh thank God," He sighed in relief, I leant my head against the wall and closed my eyes, the exhaustion ready to take me down, like an ocean taking a prisoner. "Steph? Steph! You can't fall asleep just yet!" Dean made me open my eyes and blink at him.

"Dean," I whispered, finally finding my voice. It was weak and pained, but it was mine, "Dean, I'm exhausted." I admitted.

"I know. I know you are, Steph. I just need you to come over here and untie me." Dean replied, I half dragged myself over to Dean, it took a while due to the shoulder, but I eventually made it. "Ok, that's good, now, see that knife? Just reach over and get it for me, ok?" He urged, I glanced at the knife and held my hand out, struggling to find the places where the air connected. It took a few moments but soon the knife jerkily slid across the ugly rug towards me, once it was in my grip Dean's hand took it gently from mine, he cut through his bindings and freed himself quickly. He was next to me in seconds, carefully pushing the hair out of my face, "Steph? Stephanie, can you hear me? I need you with me." A loud voice reached my ears and I frowned in confusion.

"Skul?" I muttered.

"What? Steph, stay awake, please!" It wasn't Skulduggery, this wasn't Ireland – this was Dean, and he needed me to stay awake for something. I forced my eyes to open and found I was in the elder Winchester's arms, we were walking down the stairs of the house from hell. The front door opened before Dean could reach it and Sam stood there, staring at us in shock.

"Dean!" He exclaimed happily, "Oh my God – what happened?" He asked, his joy moulding to shock as he studied Dean's badly beaten face and, well, me.

"We got tortured by the psycho family from hell." Dean answered, he shook me slightly, "Steph, you awake?" He asked.

I nodded into his chest. "Ok, Dean, lay her down here." Sam said, Dean obliged and lay me carefully on the floor.

Sam took of my tights and began ripping them into strips, "What are you doing?" Dean asked as he stroked my hair soothingly.

"Making something to help her shoulder and leg." Sam replied, wrapping one strip tightly around my thigh and securing it, leaving it just loose enough so it wouldn't interrupt blood circulation. "Ok, Steph, where does it hurt most?" Sam asked.

I frowned slightly as I concentrated, "Right... no, no, left shoulder." I answered. Sam got to work in fixing a good enough brace for shoulder, whilst Dean fetched a bowl of water and used an unused tight rag to mop up my face a little. When he was done I woke up a little from the water and sat up slowly, after Dean was done he gave me a smile, but it was drained.

T

An hour later my shoulder and my leg were set and my face was as cleaned up as possible, I wouldn't let Dean inspect them further, they still stung both my pride and my face. Sam cleaned his brother up as best as he could, his own wounds were minor and he was more worried for Dean and I than himself. The three of us were stood outside the house waiting for deputy Kathleen, she eventually emerged from the barn just before sunrise. "I've just called for some backup, they should get back to me soon." Kathleen said as she approached, she glanced at Dean's face and then mine, her mouth fell open in shock, "Are you two alright?" She asked.

Dean's hand found mine and he squeezed it, "We're fine. We've been better, but we're fine." He assured her.

"Neither of you are feeling like your gonna pass out if you do something too fast or anything?" She pressed.

I smiled, "No, we're ok."

Liar.

Kathleen shrugged, "Alright, so long as you're sure."

We were quiet for a few moments as the sun finally rose, the warm morning amber glow touched everything and made it look so pretty, despite where we were right now.

"The, uh, the family had three girls, I don't suppose you know where they are, do you?" The deputy asked.

Dean glanced at me and I stared at the deputy for a long moment before answering, "The two older ones didn't make it, they attacked me. It was self defence," I lied, "Their bodies are upstairs." I muttered, Dean made a noise and looked away.

The deputy stared at me, her eyes flickered to my scored cheek and she nodded slowly, "And the youngest?"

I shrugged, "She's hiding in the house somewhere, most likely upstairs. What about the Dad?" I asked.

Kathleen cleared her throat, "Shot. Trying to escape." She replied, the four of us all exchanged the same understanding looks.

"I think the car's at the police station." Dean changed the subject.

The walkie-talkie on Kathleen's belt suddenly came alive in a mass of static, "Backup unit en route to your location." I woman sounded.

Kathleen held the walkie-talkie close to her mouth, "Got it. I'm on site now." She replied and then glanced at us, "So, that was the State Police – the real State Police," She added, giving Dean and I a look, I smiled a little at the comment, "They're bringing the FBI with them and they're gonna be here within the hour, and they're gonna wanna talk to you three. I suggest that you're both long gone by then." She advised.

Dean nodded, "Thanks. Hey, listen, I don't mean to press our luck, but we're kind of in the middle of nowhere. Do you think we could catch a ride?" He asked hopefully.

Kathleen smirked, "Start walking. Duck if you see a squad car."

Sam nodded, "Sounds great to me. Thanks."

"And listen, uh..." Dean hesitated, "I'm sorry about your brother."

Kathleen nodded solemnly, "Thank you. It was really hard not knowing what happened to him," Her eyes began tearing up, "I thought it would be easier once I knew the truth – but it isn't," She paused and wiped her eyes, "Anyway, you three should go." She gave us a watery smile and we nodded. Dean let go of my hand and loped it around his neck, taking the weight off of my injured leg. We walked away slowly, Sam and Dean kept a slow pace to keep up with my limping speed.

When we reached the edge of the property Dean picked me up and carried me in his arms, my shoeless feet were hurting me anyway, so I didn't object. "I'm sorry I called you over-protective." I apologised as we walked down the quiet single road.

Dean chuckled, "It's ok, Steph," I felt his shoulders shrug, "Besides, I'm more angry at Sam now."

"What did I do?" Sam protested.

"Just, never do that again, Sam." Dean replied.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Go missing like that." Dean replied, but I heard the smile in his voice.

Sam laughed, "Aww, you were worried about me." He teased.

"All I'm saying is, if you vanish like that again, we're not looking for you." Dean responded.

"Uh-huh, sure you wont." Sam smirked.

"I'm not." Dean insisted.

"Give it up, Dean." I piped up.

"So," Sam changed the subject, "You both got sidelined by a few girls, huh?" His tone was still teasing.

I laughed and raised an eyebrow at Sam, covering the guilt I was feeling, Dean laughed to, "Oh, shut up." He dismissed his brother lazily.

Sam shrugged, a cheeky grin on his face, "Just saying, getting rusty there, kiddo." He said, using Dean's phrase from earlier.

I held my hand out at Sam and lightly brushed the air, it shimmered and he stumbled, making Dean and I laugh, "Right, come on. I wanna find my baby before midday." Dean said.

I frowned, "I'm right here."

"You're not his baby, Steph. He's talking about the car." Sam smirked.

"Typical," I tutted, "All I went through with you last night and you care more about your car." I rolled my eyes.

I raised my hand and covered his eyes, "Steph, what are you doing? I can't see." Dean said, a grin began to spread.

"I know," I shrugged my good shoulder, "Just keep in mind that if you drop me, I will hurt you." I joked.

Dean's grin turned cocky and he removed my hand, "No you won't. You love me."

I raised an eyebrow, "I love you? Who told you that?" I faked a scoff.

Dean rolled his eyes and I laughed lightly.

After a few more minutes of walking in silence I groaned, "Could you go any faster? Sam's been one step in front of us for ages." I whined in Dean's arms.

"Hey, you carry yourself and try and keep up with the Stickman over there!" Dean responded.

I slumped my head against Dean's chest, "Your so mean today." I pouted.

Sam and Dean glanced at eachother, "You sure we can't just leave her on the side of the road, and come back for her later?" Sam asked, a smile on his face.

"Sorry Sam, pretty sure she'd kill us." Dean smirked.

"Speaking of, how did you guys free yourselves? I was all ready to go upstairs and save the day." Sam asked.

Dean's smirk fell quickly and I pursed my lips, "It was, well, I think it was Steph. She just kinda... did it." Dean answered.

"It was her, you know when I told you about that... prophecy of the world-killer who turned out to be me? That's her." I replied.

"The one in your head?" Dean asked, looking concerned.

I nodded, "She's me, but she's not. She's much, much stronger and more powerful than I could ever be, but she's evil. When I'm her... it's like being locked away in your head watching yourself like a film." I struggled to explain, "Like, I know what she's doing and I know what she's thinking, but I can't control any of it."

"But you were sure that she wasn't gonna, uh surface." Sam pointed out.

I sighed and nodded, "Well, due to the two dead girls, I was wrong, wasn't I? It's fine, I was just running on an emotional high from watching Dean get tortured, to being tortured and then that gunshot sounded and I honestly thought they'd killed you, Sam. She just kinda, appeared."

The three of us were silent for a few minutes.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" I realised.

Author's Note: Early Update! I've finished the chapter early, for once and I'm so happy, although I did stay up all night last night writing on my laptop because I couldn't sleep. I'm so happy I wrote this out for you guys and I'm posting it early, technically I need 4 more reviews but I'm feeling nice! I really hope you enjoyed what I did in this chapter, it was a little touch and go I'm afraid. I was so excited to bring Darquesse into the story – it took forever to build her up! I hope my writing did her justice and that you all enjoyed reading it. Once I get 12 more reviews and I'll post chapter 16 for you guys! I think the next episode is the one with Meg, I'll have to check.

Until next time!

Blue-Eyed AngelGirl

Word Count: 12132 words – 28 pages