The three of them were packed back into the Impala and back on the road again. Dean kept glancing back at Nadia and she was about to snap at him. Instead, she closed her eyes and tried to find Aidan. Like earlier, there were short spurts when Nadia felt twinges of emotions—mostly sarcasm—from Aidan but it had been a long time since she'd actually heard her speak.

Nadia relaxed herself one muscle at a time. It was a slow process. Finally, when she felt like she was verging on falling asleep, she combed through her head like she was flipping through a filing cabinet. She jumped to everything she could remember about the last time they'd talked before the dream. She thought back to the police station when she and Aidan had been commenting on Officer Carter's violent and perverted thoughts. Aidan had felt so present then, where could she have went? What could have happened to her since then? There was only so much space for her to hide in a brain.

Nadia quit trying to think of her brain as a page in a Where's Waldo book and instead focused on what she always felt coming from Aidan. Sarcasm… Annoyance… Excitement… Hate… Bloodlust… Darkness… Something pulled at her from somewhere to her left. Her eyes flew open and she didn't know what it was that pulled at her; but she knew it wasn't coming from inside her. Something attracted her from somewhere close by. "Stop the car," she mumbled while looking around the landscape outside of the car.

Dean glanced back distractedly, "What?"

"Stop the car."

"What? Why? What's wrong?" Dean slowed the car but didn't stop it.

"I don't know, just stop the car." Dean started to ask why again but Nadia said, "Stop the car,' with more force this time.

"No. Not until you tell me what is going on," Dean growled.

She threw up her hands and clenched her teeth together. She glared at him in a way that made his heart ratchet higher. "I'm giving you one last chance, Dean. Stop the damn car." Her voice was ice.

Instead of slamming on the brakes like she wanted him to, he opened his mouth again and she'd had enough. She slammed her hands down on the shoulders of the front seats and yelled, "Stop!" Sam's arms shot out in front of him, bracing him against the dashboard, like he knew what was coming. The car stopped on a dime, causing them all to jerk forward. Nadia's and Sam's arms stopped them from smashing into anything but Dean wasn't so lucky. His forehead slammed into the steering wheel, almost knocking him unconscious.

"Son of a-!" Dean yelled, his hand lying across his forehead. A couple drops of blood dripped down beneath his fingers and down the bridge of his nose. "What the hell, Nadia!" He spun around to face her.

The heat that had flashed through her had receded, leaving her short of breath. She blinked a few times to clear away the feeling of rage and then she noticed Dean's face. A drip of blood hung off the tip of his nose and her stomach dropped. Her voice came out shaky, "Oh God. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…to hurt you." She glanced at Sam because she usually saw comfort there but he looked as aghast as Dean. Her eyes dropped to her hands which still gripped the seats. "You wouldn't stop…" she said softly.

Words seemed to be bubbling up from Dean's throat unconsciously, "Shit, Nadia!"

"I'm sorry," she replied. "Are you okay?" Her hand reached out to gently probe his forehead but he jerked away from her and she froze; it felt like he'd just slapped her across the face.

Dean stared at her for a beat or two before throwing the door open, "Shit." He slammed the gear shift into park and climbed out.

Nadia watched him get out and then glanced over at Sam who was also watching his brother. Sam slid his gaze over to look at her out the corner of his eyes. She looked away and slid over to follow Dean out onto the empty asphalt. She carefully shut the door behind her and leaned against it, watching Dean pace away from her.

"If you'd just stopped," she sighed.

He spun around, astounded. "Are you kidding me! I'm bleeding and you want to say it's my fault?"

"Of course not!"

"Really, because that's exactly what it sounds like you're saying."

"I'm not. It's just…I asked you to stop. I asked you again and again," she pounded the side of her hand into the palm of the other, "but you wouldn't do it."

"Because you wouldn't tell me why!" He threw his hands up and slammed them down against his hips.

She pushed herself off the car and took a couple of steps toward him. "Because I don't know why! I felt something and I needed to go and see what it was; but I couldn't tell you why I wanted—needed you to stop."

"God, Nadia, I so tired of trying to…pry things out of you. I'm tired of hearing you say those same three words all the time. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know!"

"Well, I'm sorry but that's all I have."

"That's it?" He looked at her hard, "You're being completely honest? You're not hiding anything from me?"

She looked him right in the eye but it took just a second to long for the lie to work its way out of her mouth. "No."

His eyes narrowed in accusation, "You're lying to me. It seems like that's all you do; tell me lie after lie. Is it about the angels? Aidan? The deal? Everything?"

"You're one to talk! You didn't say anything about the deal you made for Sam. If he hadn't told me, would I have ever found out or would you have just taken off?"

"You mean like you did?"

Nadia looked away and watched the weeds move in the wind for a little while. She looked back at him, "I'm here now."

"Yeah," he laughed humorlessly. "With a trail of bodies and," he pointed at his forehead, "blood behind you."

She gasped, it felt like she'd been stabbed in the stomach. Hot tears formed in her eyes but she bit down to keep them back. She swallowed thickly, "Don't worry, next time you make a deal at a crossroads, I'll be sure to let you die."

She saw Dean squeeze his eyes shut and his whole body sag before she spun around and started to walk away. Her body was shaking and darkness seemed to be pressing in around her, she could see it out the corners of her eyes. She was barely keeping it at bay.

"Nadia, I didn't mean-" Dean started but she spun around to face him again.

"No." She could feel her palms growing warmer and warmer; any minute now and the flames would come. "What is it that really upsets you, Dean? The fact that I can't tell you what I don't know or that I stopped your precious little Impala with a thought? Ever since I left you have hated everything I'm discovering about myself more and more as I figure it out." She licked her lips but didn't take her penetrating gaze from him. "You can tell me how you trust me and love me all you want; but when it comes down to it, with you, I'm not human. To you I'm just a demon."

She hesitated, hoping he would say something; tell her she was wrong…something that would change it. He said nothing. He did nothing. Like a sudden gust of wind, all the darkness whooshed out of her and she felt empty. She looked away and laughed morosely through her nose. When she looked back at him, he looked away. She stared at the side of his head before blinking and walking away.

It wasn't their first fight, it wasn't even their first fight about this very subject, but it felt different. While the darkness and rage had been flooding through Nadia, images had flashed through her head; Dean covered in flames she'd thrown at him, Dean sailing through the air before falling to the asphalt, killed by the blow to his head, Dean dropping dead by a single thought. It was always Dean dying and it was always her killing. She was still shaking with the effort it had taken to shut out those urges. Something was definitely wrong and it wasn't just Aidan who was being affected.

Dean watched Nadia grow smaller and smaller as she walked away down the side of the road. His chest was still heaving from the anger and frustration she had brought out of him. He could sense Sam staring at him and it made him want to just walk away too. "Shit," he spun around, kicking at the immobile asphalt and clutching his head in his hands.

After a short time he growled a sigh and stomped over to the car. He yanked the door open and dropped himself inside. Sam inhaled and Dean threw up his hand to stop him, "Don't."

Instead of words, Sam's breath turned into a sigh. Dean pulled the car off the road as much as he could and they sat in silence for a long time. "Dean-," Sam started.

"I don't want to hear it, Sammy."

"Dean, she's walking down the side of the road in the middle of nowhere."

"What's your point?" Dean was sitting with his head back against the seat and his eyes closed.

Sam turned in the seat to better face his brother. "She said she felt something, Dean. Who knows what that could be?"

Dean snorted, "Not her that's for sure." Sam rolled his eyes. Dean peaked out the corner of his eyes. He groaned, "What are we supposed to do about it? She can create fire in the palms of her hands, throw an axe across the room with only her mind…she can freaking teleport, Sammy! What does she need us for?"

"Ah," Sam tipped his head back, "so that's what this is about."

"What?"

Sam shrugged, "She makes you feel unneeded. Emasculated."

Dean's hand flew up, "Whoa! What?"

"Come on, Dean, this isn't the first time you've brought up this same question. You're used—we're both used to being needed; to being the one to save the day. Now the girl you feel the most obligated to save, doesn't need you to save her. She can save herself and she can do it faster and clean than either of us could."

Dean's jaw muscles jumped. "That's not the problem. I know she can take care of herself, big deal. I don't have a problem with that," he avoided looking Sam in the eye. "It's refreshing." He looked out the windshield after a quick glance in the rearview mirror. "She's hiding something from both of us. I mean, the apocalypse, Sammy?"

"How many times have you kept things from me? Or I've kept things from you? And we've almost always done it in an effort to keep the other safe. Do you really think she's keeping whatever it is from us to hurt us?"

"Yeah, we've kept things from each other before. And look how it's always turned out. Our entire family has always kept secrets from each other and now all that's left of us, it you and me."

"Okay so," he ticked off on his fingers the points he made, "not being needed, keeping secrets…not being human. Did I miss anything? Cause, Dean," he hesitated, "you just described me."

"Dammit Sammy, you're human! How many times do we have to go over this?"

"Dean, I've known complete strangers were going to die before it actually happens. I may not be half demon, like Nadia, but I'm a freak just the same. And I've keep things from you. And I…kick ass all by myself. Nadia and I aren't so different."

Nadia walked along the road, kicking gravel and mumbling things to herself she wanted to say to Dean. When she looked up she saw that she was only a few yards from the road she'd been pulled to turn onto back in the car. This was where Dean should have stopped, she told herself. A quick glance down the dry dirt road showed her an old white farm house about a mile or two away. She jumped across the ditch and short-cutted across the corner of a field.

Aidan? She fixed her ponytail and wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. "What the hell did they do to me?" She asked herself. Halfway to the house she looked back over her shoulder and the Impala was still parked where she'd left it. Resolutely, she focused back on the house in front of her.

Like a flickering memory lurking just out of reach, that same dark pull nagged at her as she placed one foot in front of the other. The closer she got, the darker the feeling grew and she started to second guess her blind determination; who knew what she was walking into? Annoyance settled over her because of the realization being so close to what Dean had kept pointing out. She didn't know what this feeling was and she didn't know what awaited her once she stepped onto that porch.

With a frustrated sigh, she stepped back down into the ditch and sat on the side facing the road. Her hand distractedly twisted her hair around and around her hand while she thought. She collapsed back onto the grass, the slope of the ditch still keeping her somewhat upright. Thunk, an idea dropped into her head. Duh, why didn't I think of that before?

She cleared her throat and cautiously called out, "Themi?" Nothing; she repeated herself more assuredly but still got nothing. She closed her eyes and relaxed herself just like she'd done in the car. Themi. She pictured her mind stretching out like radar, further and further out until a faint blip appeared. Just like what she felt coming from the old farm house down the road, Themi's blip was dark and suddenly Nadia had a fairly good idea of what was drawing her to that house.

The blip disappeared and just as quickly, the smell of sulfur filled her nostrils. When she opened her eyes, she was met by the appearance of Themi standing at her feet and glaring at her.

Her voice dropped low, "You rang." She was hiding her natural orange eyes under an artic blue. This new body was younger than the last one; dressed in tight jeans and a loose blouse covered in large purple flowers. The wardrobe in contrast to what she was almost Nadia want to laugh.

Nadia jumped up and brushed off her hands and the butt of her jeans. "You came."

She lifted one brow, "You called." The way she replied made Nadia feel like she was an idiot to think she wouldn't have come.

"Right," she sighed and glanced down at her hands, still stained with damp dirt, "my dad."

Themi groaned and turned to drop down onto the grass right next to where Nadia had been when she'd arrived. "How you've survived this long is beyond me." Nadia scowled at her and sat down beside her. "I didn't come just because of the promise I made with your dad. You're the Antichrist, Nadia. To the demonic world, that means something. When you called like you did, I had no choice but to come. None of us would."

Nadia stared at her, "You mean I can…summon demons to me? That easily?"

"Yup and if anyone else finds out that you've realized you have this little quirk, you'll have a lot of trouble coming your way." Nadia looked questioningly at her and Themi rolled her eyes. "You're sleeping with the enemy and you have the ability to summon demons to you with the flip of a switch…"

Her shoulders sagged, "Right." Then Nadia remembered, "But they can't come after me. I specifically said so in the deal I made. They can't come after me, Dean, or Sam."

"True. They can't come after you specifically to stop you from completing the deal. They can't go after Dean to kill him before the deal goes through. And they can't go after Sam because…well, because you have a bleeding heart."

Nadia's mouth hung slack while she stared across the road and the field beyond. "But they can hunt me down for other reasons."

"Which they wouldn't have reason to do if you weren't bumping uglies with the Winchesters."

She cringed, "It wasn't both of them."

Themi perked up, "Wasn't? As in past tense?"

Nadia ignored her and looked at the house, "There's something in there." Themi looked over her shoulder. "I feel it, like I felt you, but it's different."

"Different how?" She looked genuinely curious.

"You were just like this…spot somewhere. What I feel from there is like a pull; an urge to go there. I was on my way there when I realized I had no idea what I was feeling or what I could stumble into. So I called you."

Themi kept staring at the house, "Well, I can't tell you what's in there or what you're feeling because I can't feel it; but I can say that the only way you can find out is to go see for yourself."

Nadia swallowed hard, "I kind of thought you'd say that." She turned to Themi, "Oh and by the way, I also have angels after me too, so…"

Themi's brows lifted, "Already?"

"What do you mean 'already?' How long have you known about this?"

"Pff, they've been talking about the Apocalypse for, like, forever now. I was starting to think it wasn't ever gonna happen."

"And you didn't think to mention this before?" Nadia asked, aghast.

Themi glared, "I've been around awhile and I've heard a lot of things and most of them have came and went. It's like the Loch Ness Monster; you hear about it and see the so-called evidence and you watch closely for a long time thinking, 'it'll happen, they'll find it someday.' And then years and years pass without anything more than pictures and you change to, 'if they haven't found anything by now, there must not be anything to find.' The talk becomes nothing more than background noise."

Nadia narrowed her eyes, "Are you really comparing the end of the world to the Loch Ness Monster?" Themi shrugged and Nadia shook her head and laughed morosely. Nadia grew serious, "What about Dean and Sam?"

Themi sneered, "What about them?"

"The angels said that they're real important to this whole apocalypse thing. Do you know why?"

"No. The only way a human would be important to the apocalypse, is meat suit."

Nadia thought of Castiel and Uriel. "You mean like, a vessel?"

Themi shrugged, "That's what they call them. Personally I think it's a little posh for well, what they are."

"Vessels… Why does it have to be them though?"

"Well," Themi stood and wiped her hands on the thighs of her jeans, "angels can't rent out just any one. You have to have a certain, je ne sais quoi. That is one hitch we don't have to worry about."

Nadia was staring at the ground and chewing on her thumb nail. She froze, "Lucifer is an angel."

"Technically," Themi replied distractedly but her curiosity was piqued.

"Who's Lucifer supposed to fight?"

"Michael… Wait, you don't think they're, thee vessels do you?"

She looked up at the demon, "Would you know? If they were?" Themi stared down at her but didn't respond. Nadia jumped up to get in her face, "Did you know!" Her palms tingled and heated and Themi took a step back. Her eyes shifted to orange.

"Things like this get planned very, very early, Nadia. I'm old, yes, but I didn't have a hand in everything that's ever happened."

"You said our family runs hell!"

"Not always. It's like a constant cock fight down there; changes in power happen all the time. Besides," she pushed right back into Nadia's face, "it's not like both got together to plan everything out. The only time they put us into play, is the end. Now," she added tersely, "if you're done, I'll be on my way."

The heat from Nadia's palm moved into her chest and grew. Her body was as tense as the muscles on an angry bull, "Then go!" With her words, the heat flew out of her and Themi flew back as if she were strapped into one of those harnesses stunt men use in movie explosion scenes. She was gone.

Nadia mumbled, "I'm such a freak."