Problem Child
Demons - part 2

THEN

A fourteen year old Danny was sitting in the RV.

Even though his mom was the one driving, the Assault Vehicle was being pushed to its limit. She was frowning, and her eye in the rear view mirror was looking for more than just cops.

Dad sat in the passenger seat next to mom. A giant map was open in his lap, parts of it covering the dashboard. On top of it were several newspapers, and markers. He was pausing his reading every so often to circle a story. The papers he'd marked went into one neat pile, while the unmarked ones were thrown into a large mess behind his seat. Unlike how he'd usually hum, or chat excitedly about what he'd found, dad was completely silent while working. His hand kept reaching for his gun, as if to make sure it was there if he needed it.

Jazz was ignoring them all, her face hidden in a book. It was a school text on government, and she had a notebook open on the seat next to her, but she wasn't taking notes. She clicked her pen every so often, a nervous tick. She was trying to distract herself, but she seemed to realise she wouldn't be going back to school in time for the test.

Danny was trying to not pay attention to any of that. He was failing.

'This is all my fault.'

His eyes were locked onto his hands. He curled and uncurled his fingers, trying to make sense of the change. Something was different, had been for a while now, that much he was certain of. He just couldn't put it into words, the way the cold was creeping underneath his skin.

An EMF meter that was lying abandoned next to him started to screech.

Danny closed his eyes and took a long breath, trying to calm himself down.

Silence returned to the fake news' van.

NOW

Danny could only stare at the small child in silent awe.

Dean and Sam didn't seem to notice her, even as she walked past them and held out her hand in greeting towards Danny.

"Hi, I'm Danielle. You can call me Dani, with an 'i'."

Danny made no move to take her hand. "You seriously expect me to buy that?"

The Winchester brothers turned around and gave Danny similarly confused looks, but he ignored them.

Valerie craned her neck to see over Danny's shoulder. She was still standing in the hallway outside the bedroom. "Is there something invisible in there?"

Danny nodded.

Dani seemed to realise Danny wasn't going to take the offered hand. She reluctantly lowered it.

"What did you do to the ghost that was in here?" Danny's eyes narrowed, his tone was as accusing as he could make it.

"I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said I was the ghost?"

"And, what, now you're suddenly not a ghost?" Danny raised an eyebrow and kept his tone sarcastic. "Yeah, right. Now tell me what you did to-"

"Tell Dean 'Tessa says hi'." Dani leaned back on the balls of her feet, completely relaxed.

"Erm, 'Tessa says hi'. Whatever that means."

Dean cursed colourfully. "Reapers."

"Reapers are a thing?" Danny was suddenly very happy that he hadn't shaken her hand.

"I helped the ghost that was in here move on move on." She said it cheerfully, like it wasn't meant as a threat of some sort. It still felt like one.

A completely nonghostly shiver went up Danny's spine.

"I'm not here to kill you." As if reading his thoughts, Dani huffed and crossed her arms. He wasn't sure if she was offended or just messing with him.

A part of Danny wanted to reply with 'then why are you here?', but not in front of the Winchesters. He opted for a different question instead. "Why do you look like me?"

"I can twist your perceptions." The last word sounded weird, coming from someone who looked to be twelve. "You wouldn't like my true form, but this might... put you more at ease."

"How big of a narcissist do you think I am!?"

Her grin told him he didn't want to know the answer to that.

"You've obviously got me confused with- with Vlad." Danny threw up his arms as he turned around. "You know what, we're done here. You've already sent away my witness. I've got no reason to stay."

"We're not done." She sounded petulant, like the child she pretended to be.

He ignored her as he walked away.

Valerie joined Sam in investigating the town archives, found in the basement of City Hall. It was big and poorly organized. The lack of proper ventilation made the smell of dust mix with their sweat. Only the fact that it was in the basement made the temperature bearable.

She had wanted to go with Danny, to help him deal with whatever it was that was going on, but the Winchesters had rightly pointed out that neither Val nor Danny knew enough about demons yet to head the investigation on their own.

"What do demons want, anyway?" Valerie leaned back in her borrowed seat, a rickety old chair that felt like it could collapse at any time.

Sam looked uncomfortable with the question. "It varies."

"And just... killing people? Is that an option?"

"Oh yes."

"So, what do we got?"

"Four murders in as many days. We've got 'til tonight to figure out the pattern."

Dean led Danny into the house where the family of the murdered man was staying, while their home was still a crime scene. Unlike the study of doilies, this one actually looked like it was inhabited by more than a grandma. According to the local police, it was the home of the wife's sister.

Going by how jumpy Danny was, the reaper was following them. Still.

That part didn't make any sense. Actually, none of it made any sense to Dean. Why had the reaper stopped to introduce herself? Sure, they'd pretty much walked into her, but...

The way the reaper hadn't left yet was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in his head.

However, he couldn't focus on that. They had a job to do.

Danny stiffened slightly as he saw the woman who opened the door. Two children were holding onto her legs, obviously afraid that if they let her go, she'd leave just like their dad had. They looked to be around four years old.

Dean figured Danny's reaction was either because we was a bleeding heart, an odd trait to hold onto as a hunter, or because the reaper said something.

"Mrs. Hirsch?"

She nodded.

"Hello. Agents Crosby and Young of the FBI, we need to ask you some questions about your late husband."

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Incoming text.

"Just excuse me for a moment, ma'am." Dean pulled out his phone.

She waved it away as she led them into the house.

The text was from Danny. Dean glanced in the kid's direction, but Danny was pointedly ignoring him.

'she looks wrong. txtd val'

There was half a second where Dean took it at face value. It wasn't like he'd known Danny all that long. For all Dean knew, it was perfectly possible that Danny was the sort of person to gossip about people's looks behind their backs.

After half a second, he noticed how stiff Danny was. This was not the body language of someone spreading nasty gossip.

In this case, "looks weird" came from someone who could see ghosts.

And there were two children in the room, holding onto their possessed mother.

When her phone buzzed, Valerie was glad for the distraction.

When she opened the text from Danny, her happiness evaporated like fresh lemonade in the summer sun.

Sam looked up from his research as she let loose a string of curses. "What-"

"Danny sent me an SOS."

Pretending to not see the way the woman's face was covered in smoke-like shadows, or the way her eyes were pure black, was hard. At least his tiny stalker had left them before they got to the house. She had promised to be back, but he held out hope that she'd forget all about him.

Danny sat at the edge of the sofa, ready to jump off it at moment's notice.

Dean seemed less tense, but he was a good actor. His guard was definitely up. Dean must have understood the message. In retrospect, Danny could have sent something more clear, but he wasn't sure the woman was a demon. Maybe she was a smoke-monster.

Dean coughed under his breath, which sounded suspiciously like 'Christo'. As far as Danny could tell, that did absolutely nothing.

"Oh, Dean," she tutted.

Dean tensed at the use of his real name.

"You can stop pretending you don't know. After all, you have that thing with you." The demon sneered the last words in Danny's general direction.

If Danny didn't know any better, he'd say she was disgusted by his very existence. Coming from a smoke monster, that was sort of insulting.

Dean reached for something in his jacket.

"Relax, we wouldn't want something to happen..." She held the children closer to herself.

Dean put his hands on his knees, where they were clearly visible.

"Good." She practically purred the word. "Now, let's just wait for Sammy to show up, shall we? I noticed you texting him."

Danny frowned. Bait. They were nothing but bait. That probably held true for the murders too. "What do you want with Sam?"

If possible, Dean looked more worried about the question than about the demon threatening them.

"Sammy is... special." The demon leaned forward.

Dean bristled at the repeated casual use of what was probably a very personal nickname.

"He, and those like him, are... an experiment, of sorts. One I don't approve of. Too risky, in my opinion." She leaned back again. "But since when do the big shots care about the opinion of the little man?"

Danny shrugged with forced casualness.

"I plan to terminate the experiment. Much like you, it shouldn't have existed to begin with." She smiled like a predator baring teeth.

"Wow, rude," said Danny.

"I won't let you hurt Sam," snarled Dean.

The children were starting to realise something was very wrong with their mommy, but she just adjusted her grip on them to stop them from moving. "Quiet, dearies. Mother is busy."

AN: All in all (including planned chapters), I have more chapter titles that are AC/DC references than I have titles which are just normal titles. I'm proud of myself.