Okay, so I KNOW I haven't updated in a REALLY LONG TIME, but I've had a really stressful, bad couple of months - actually, make that more like a half a dozen months. Seriously, my aunt went into the hospital in August of last year and she was in there for a month and then when she got out she kept going back in because she was really weak - she had surgery, something dealing with her intestines - and then in December she had to go back into the hospital for 40 days. Holy crap, right? Yeah, and that's not it. Nope. Throughout those times that my aunt was in the hospital I had to babysit my little cousin even though said cousin has two sisters that are around my age who could've done it just as easily as I could have, but they wouldn't because they're kind of selfish - uh-huh, there may be a SMALL bitter streak there; I have a reason, they didn't even think they had to go and see their mom in the hospital, yet I was supposed to be watching the little one so they could spend time with their mom. Yup, and even though I knew that I'm nice and a pushover so...I had little time to write. Hence, the very long wait for the update.

Okay, rant over and I hope you enjoy, though this is more of a lead-in to the next couple of chapters and, if nothing goes wrong - I know I'm jinxing myself - hopefully they'll be up next week sometime. Or at least the first one.

Now finally, for those of you who have stuck with me through my unpredictable update schedule. THANK YOU!

Red Sky at Morning
Part Three

After we got used to the fact that Bela had swapped the hand with a bottled ship we began to search for her. Fancy hotels, fancy restaurants, fancy everything. But we came up with nothing. Since we didn't know any of her aliases we were pretty much screwed.

"She's probably on her way back to New York by now," I said. "Or at the nearest airport."

"We've already wasted enough time looking for her, so like you said…she's probably on her way back to New York," Dean said. "We'll have to find some other way to stop this thing."

"Is there another way to stop this thing?" I asked.

"We can always check," Sam said. "I mean, we have to try. Maybe a ritual or maybe the ghost has unfinished business."

"Like what?" Dean asked.

"I dunno. But while I was entertaining my date" - Sam grimaced - "I found out that the two Warren brothers may have killed their dad to get the inheritance money. That's what most of the town's people think."

"Well, if that's true then…Sheila, the first victim - " I began, but Dean interrupted.

"Accidentally killed her cousin. In both cases family members were killed by their own blood." Dean shook his head. "That's the connection."

"Yeah, dead relatives like I said earlier." I bit my lip, thinking it over. "So, what does that mean? That this ghost was killed by a family member?"

"Probably," Sam said. "We'll have to check."

We ended up back at the abandoned house that we were using as temporary headquarters. Sam and I immediately got to researching. I was using the folder of information that Bela - GRR! - had given us; Sam was using his laptop; Dean was pacing back and forth, still frustrated that Bela had tricked him. Sam had actually pointed out that she had got one over on Dean, not us. I didn't say it out loud, but I agreed. I had pointed out several reasons not to trust Bela earlier, but obviously Dean hadn't taken it as seriously as he should have.

"Are you having any luck?" Sam asked.

"Mm-mm. I'm thinking of getting my laptop, too. I can take over for you and you can start looking for alternate ways to stop this thing."

So we switched jobs. It was kind of hard finding information on a merchant sailing vessel. It sank near here, which fit seeing as to how here was where it was haunting. The captain of the ship had accused our sailor ghost of treason and was hanged. Blah, blah, blah, stuff we already knew.

The sailor and the captain…I sighed.

"God, we need new eyes," I said. We'd been researching for almost four hours. "I can't believe we've been reading and it never clicked. The captain and the sailor. They have the same last name. They were family. Brothers probably. The one that is killing people…his brother made the decision to hang him."

"His own brother?" Sam asked, and I nodded.

Dean scoffed. "That's messed up."

"Yeah. But now we know why it's choosing its victims. Sibling rivalry caused one brother to kill another - think Cain and Able - and now the ghost goes after people who kill their own family, whether they do it on purpose or not."

"Well, how do we stop it?" Dean asked. "We don't have the hand and we don't have enough time to track Bela down and get it back."

"Assuming, of course, that she still has it," Sam said. "She might not have wanted it for herself. She may have sold it."

"Oh, yeah, well, that's just…awesome," Dean said, and then clenched his jaw. "God, she's a pain in the ass."

"So, do we know what to do now?" I asked Sam, who may as well have been called Mr. Encyclopedia. Seriously, the things that guy could just randomly pull out of his head was awe-inspiring sometimes.

"I'm not sure," Sam said, grimacing. "I have a few ideas, but I don't wanna say anything 'til I know for sure."

That made sense. Meanwhile, I could worry about something else. Bobby. Lawrence. Missouri. I hadn't forgotten that we still needed to get there. Because the way Missouri had put it…either Bobby was going to be in trouble or he was going to unwittingly cause trouble.

Missouri had said I needed to be there because I could think with a clear head, but I wasn't sure if…that was true. Because up until a week ago…I hadn't been clearheaded at all. I wondered what kind of trouble Missouri was talking about. If it would save Dean…would it be worth it.

Okay, that was poorly phrased. Of course it would be worth it; but would I be able to live with myself after?

The next morning Bela showed up again. Kind of like a bad penny. She's come knocking on the door frantically about two hours after the sun had risen. She'd wanted to explain and because we were such nice people…we let her in.

That's how we all ended up at the table. Sam, Bela, and I were seated; Dean was standing behind Bela, much like the bad cop would in an interrogation.

"So, where's the hand?" Dean asked.

"I sold it," Bela replied. There was something in her voice that caught me off guard. It wasn't apologetic - I was fairly certain she was physically incapable of being sincerely apologetic - but it was…regret? "I had a buyer lined up as soon as I knew it existed."

"So the reason for us going to the charity ball was…"

"I needed a cover. You were convenient."

"Look, you sold it to a buyer, just go buy it back," Sam said.

"It's halfway across the ocean. I can't get it back in time."

"In time for what?"

A wave of fear hit me and I realized it was coming from Bela. The hand that's she'd sold…what did that have to do with…and then I knew why she was so afraid.

"You saw it, didn't you?" I asked. "You saw the ship and now you want us to bail you out."

Bela didn't say anything, she just glanced down and nodded.

I looked at Dean, who was shaking his head. He knew that if Bela had seen the ship then she'd murdered - because with her there was probably no accidental death - one of her family members.

"Wow, ya know, I knew you were an immoral, thieving, con-artist bitch, but just when I thought my opinion of you couldn't get any lower…"

"What're you talking about?"

"We figured out the spirit's motive," Sam said, handing Bela two of the pictures she had brought to us the day before. "This is the captain of our ship, the one who hung our ghost boy. They were brothers. Very Cain and Able. So now our spirit, he's going after a very specific kind of target. People who've spilled their own family's blood. See, first there was Sheila who killed her cousin in a car accident. Then the Warren brothers, who murdered their father for the inheritance. And now you."

"Oh my God," Bela said, eyes widening. Well, whatever she'd done…it was definitely coming back to bite her in the ass now.

"So, who was it, Bela? Hm? Who'd you kill?" Dean asked harshly. "Was it Daddy? Your little sis, maybe?"

"It's none of your business," she said softly, not meeting our eyes.

"It is if you want us to help you," I said. "What'd you do?"

"You wouldn't understand. No one did." She shook her head. "And, frankly, I don't want to talk about it, so are you going to help me or not?"

None of us said anything; I assumed it was because Sam and Dean wanted to know about Bela's…incident. How had her whoever died? What had she done to them? When she realized we were going to answer she stood up and shook her head again.

"Never mind. I'll just do what I've always done and I'll deal with it myself."

She turned to go out the door like she'd expected nothing less from us.

"You do realize you just sold the only thing that could save your life?" Dean said matter-of-factly.

Bela turned back around, shoulders slumped, and for a minute I even felt sorry for her.

"I'm aware." She looked at us all beseechingly and Sam sighed heavily.

"Well…maybe not the only thing."

Both Dean and I looked at Sam questioningly. Had his research paid off?

"There's a ritual, kind of like the one we used on that preacher guy back in Rhode Island that one time. I can tweak it to make it where we can call this ghost's brother. Hopefully, that'll get it's attention off of you," Sam said, glancing at Bela for the last part. "It'll be focused on settling the score between him and his brother. Then hopefully, he'll be finished. His spirit will be laid to rest."

"Will that really work?" I asked.

"Almost definitely not," Dean replied. He turned to Sam anyway. "A'right. What do we need?"

"Blood, anybody's. White candles, and chalk to draw with. The rest we already have. I have to mix a few things together and then tonight we'll need to find a cemetery." He sighed and looked at Bela again. "You should be safe here with us. The others were attacked at night."

"So we're stuck here for the rest of the day?" I asked. "Right?"

"Yeah. Except for goin' and getting what we need."

"Okay, well, I'm gonna call Missouri and tell her we'll take longer than I thought. Hopefully, nothing happens until we get there."

Whatever was going to happen, anyway.

When I called Missouri's number she answered after the second ring and she knew it was me. Not by vibes or energies in the air, but by caller ID. I did have to tell her why we weren't going to be there for at least another day. Or two, depending on how this ritual went down.

Thankfully nothing had happened because Bobby being the thorough guy he was, was busy doing research. It was both Sam's and Dean's life he'd be messing with if something went wrong. So, needless to say, Bobby didn't want anything to go wrong.

Missouri didn't know everything; she only got vibes, energies in the air or something. She knew whatever Bobby was messing with was bad news, though, and she wasn't a hunter. She would need us, as would Bobby.

I'd been in an upstairs bedroom because I didn't want Bela hearing anything; I didn't want her getting any ideas. I sensed Dean before he came into the room - he probably wanted to know what was going on. I was still on the phone, though, so he'd have to wait.

But Dean's presence was distracting. I was so attuned to him even now. There was goodness radiating from his soul and power flowing from his physique. I felt warm, just thinking about it.

Stop it! I told myself. He didn't…belong to me anymore. I shouldn't be thinking about his physique, no matter how perfect he was.

Missouri tried explaining the creepy-crawly vibes she'd been getting lately. Creepy-crawly had been my word, not hers.

"It's not exactly like being buried in bugs or smothered in snakes. It's hard to put into words. It's just a feeling."

"Oh." I leaned against an old dresser, disappointed that Missouri didn't have any solid information to report. "So, you don't know what's going on, just that something is. And you need our help."

"Yes, we will."

"Okay, well, we'll be there as soon as we can. I promise."

After that we hung up and I sat beside Dean on the bed in the room. I so wanted to lean on him, place my head on his shoulder. Just for…a moment. But I knew I couldn't. The lines were blurred between me and him enough as it was without me adding that to the mix.

"Somethin' up?"

"Not yet. She let Bobby know that he was messing with somethin' bad and so he's researching now before he acts."

"Smart," Dean said.

"It's Bobby," I answered. Bobby was usually smart, or at least he was usually thorough.

Two hours later Sam had been to the store and back and we had all the ingredients we needed for whatever we were planning on doing; now we just had to wait.

Bela was here but we weren't paying much attention to her except to make sure she wasn't up to anything. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't doing anything suspicious. That could have had something to do with the fact that we were trying to save her life.

While Sam did his thing with the ingredients I used my laptop to look up William Connors, Bobby's supposed friend. I learned he was a professor as the local college in Lawrence. He held free lectures on parapsychology, but he taught Mysticism and the Occult for a living.

If Bobby did know him then that would explain the whole getting-an-artifact-for-a-friend thing. Maybe it was a favor-for-a-favor thing. Bobby helped him, he helped Bobby. Whatever. Knowing who William Connors was didn't tell us what Bobby was up to. And Bobby wouldn't tell us, so there was no use in asking. But if he'd been telling the truth…the artifact still couldn't be good if demons wanted it like Bobby had said. He hadn't said anything much about that so we'd get the full story once we reached Lawrence.

I just about fell asleep at my laptop because I'd been up for almost two days straight.

"Okay, Bela, I need a little of your blood and a few strands of hair. The ritual is to try and save you so…" She would be supplying the gross stuff.

Bela cut her hand and pulled out a few hairs without hesitation. She knew this ritual was the only chance of her surviving this.

That night we ended up in a cemetery. Sam made sure all the ingredients were in order while Dean drew a pentagram on the lid of a tomb and I lit five candles, which I placed inside the pentagram.

After the drawing was finished Sam got out a bowl - it looked like an old wooden scrying bowl that witches used - and began filling it with the blood Bela had given us earlier. Then he added the hair and the already mixed ingredients.

An hour had passed since we'd begun getting everything set up and Bela had just been standing there like a useless idiot. And I was becoming irritated. I was tired and cold and hungry. To top it all off…it began storming. Thunder, lightning, rain. The sky got even darker and the wind picked up. Water was just pouring down.

"Sammy! Better start readin'."

Sam opened what I was guessing was John's old journal and began reading in Latin. The chanting seemed to cause it to rain harder and the candles were snuffed out from the water.

I pulled my jacket closer around me to block out the cold, not that it did much good. It was frickin' freezing.

The clouds were rolling ominously in the sky, and Bela was inching further away from us.

"Stay close!" I said and then I looked at Sam, who I noticed was finding it hard to concentrate on the journal with all the rain going on.

The next few things happened fast, but I caught them just the same. The sailor showed up, Dean was thrown into a stone monument and then the ghost was touching Bela on the cheek. Bela started coughing up water; it was more like it was gushing out of her mouth. She fell to her knees and continued spluttering. The bad thing was we could only hope this ritual would work; we weren't sure. As of now…I could only pray Bela had enough oxygen and really powerful lungs.

"Sammy, read faster!" Dean yelled as he reached me and Bela. Dean placed his arms around Bela - comfort maybe? I realized that right at that moment Dean didn't see her as a heartless bitch; he saw her as a helpless victim. A victim who had brought this on herself, but still…she was a human who needed help.

I touched Dean's face and projected an image of me flowing life into Bela.

Should I? I asked with my thoughts. I knew I'd have to be careful because Bela having any knowledge at all about what I could do would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Dean nodded once and projected his own thought. Be careful.

I gave him a soft smile and placed my hand over Bela's and was surprised when I got one of her thoughts as well.

Oh, God, I'm gonna die tonight! I'm not supposed to die this way!

After the little bit of telepathy I decided to focus on my job. Keeping her alive. I imagined life as little tendrils of light keeping people attached to their bodies, and then I imagined those tendrils flowing through me and into Bela.

I kept them subtle because I was hoping Bela would think it was her own will to survive that was keeping her alive. Suddenly the storm stopped and Sam's reading was silenced. I hoped he'd finished properly. I was sure I heard what sounded like planks creaking. I wasn't able to look around, though, because I had to focus on Bela.

That's when I noticed Bela was no longer heaving water; she was just breathing heavily. I stopped the flowing energy just to see if it was okay to do so. It was.

That was when I saw that the sailor wasn't alone. His brother was here. They exchanged a few words and then the sailor went through his brother and they both exploded into a huge splash of water. It seemed it was over.

"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked," I said, stunned.

"Yeah, you and me both," Dean said. Then he looked at Bela. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and he let her go immediately. Oh, guess she was a heartless bitch again.

Bela left as soon as she realized she was no longer in danger and even though we - Sam, Dean, and myself - needed sleep, we left too. I curled up in the backseat with a blanket and a shirt I was using as a pillow. I didn't get to doze off, however, because Dean started talking.

"Hey, listen, I've been doing some thinking, um…I want you to know I understand why you did it. I understand why you went after the crossroads demon."

Sam sighed heavily and I could almost hear the 'here we go' run through Sam's head. Then I realized I had heard it. Loud and clear. How had I…I'd never been able to read someone's mind unless I'd been in physical contact with them at the moment. But I wasn't touching Sam now and I had heard his thought as clear as day.

"The situation was reversed, I guess I'd have done the same thing. I mean, I'm not blind. I see what you're going through with this whole deal. Me going away and all that. But you're gonna be okay."

Sam scoffed. "You think so?" I'm not gonna be okay. I'll never be okay. He's gonna die because of me.

"Yeah, you'll keep huntin', ya know, you'll live your life. You're stronger than me. You are! You'll get over it. But I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry for putting you through all this. I am."

Does he not care about himself at all? Sam's voice reached my mind.

"You know what, Dean? Go screw yourself. I don't want an apology from you. And by the way, I'm a big boy now, I can take care of myself."

"Oh, well, excuse me."

"So would you please quit worrying about me? I mean, that's the whole problem in the first place. I don't want you to worry about me, Dean. I want you to worry about you. I want you to give a crap that you're dying!"

I do give a crap, Sammy. Now Dean's voice was in my head. But it was you or me and I couldn't just let you stay dead.

Of course Dean didn't say that because God forbid he actually ever let Sam know how he really felt.

"So that's it? Nothin' else to say from you?" Why won't he let me in? If I were Aly he'd tell me exactly what he was thinking. There was a hint of jealousy in his thoughts and then… Oh, God, Aly! What's she's gonna do when…Dean's dying for me. Aly's gonna hate me forever.

I didn't hate Sam. None of this was his fault. He hadn't made Dean do anything. Dean had been his usual self-sacrificing self. He'd made the biggest sacrifice ever; he'd given up his life, his soul.

About two hours into the ride I asked if we could get a motel room - or two; it was always two now.

"Why? I thought you wanted to get to Kansas as soon as possible"

"I did. I do. I don't feel well. I wanna stop."

"Are you getting sick?"

"No," I said quickly. "No, I just feel off."

Well, that's not good. Whenever she feels off something weird - and usually bad - happens, Dean's voice popped into my head.

I didn't think anything bad was going to happen - yet - though weird was the story of our life. I just felt strange because I'd had over people's voices in my head. And what I'd been hearing was enough to drive anyone crazy.

She's getting sick a lot more than usual lately. I hope there nothing wrong. Maybe she should see a doctor. Then a brief mental image of my pressed up against the wall with my legs wrapped around Dean went through his head directly into mine. Oh, God. That wasn't that long ago. What if she's…

Dean swerved slightly, but righted the car immediately.

"Dude, uh, maybe we all need to stop. We need to sleep. You're becoming a danger behind the wheel," Sam said.

Dean wasn't paying attention to Sam. He had the word 'pregnant' in his head. And then oh, God, no.

God, if she…then it's my fault because I wasn't careful. I don't even know if she was still on the pill when…Damn it!

Dean was worrying for nothing. I'd been on the pill when we'd last been together. I wasn't anymore because I knew we couldn't be together again and I wasn't planning on being with anyone else either, so I was safe. Abstinence was the best form of birth control, after all.

Back to my original point: Dean was worrying for nothing. But I couldn't comfort him. I couldn't relieve his mind without letting him know I was in it, which I couldn't do yet. It would freak him out.

Hell, it was freaking me out and I was the one doing it. I hoped this was a temporary thing or that it was like my other abilities and I could learn to control it in time.

Actually, screw the in-time bit. I hoped I could control it fast, quick, and in a hurry.

Okay, we've always known that Dean and Aly have a connection and when they touch stuff happens. :) But now, now, she's picking up thoughts from other people too. That's would give me a headache, I'm just saying. Obviously this is another ability...or actually it's an expansion of an ability she already has. She's getting stronger so...therefore her abilities become more powerful. Anyway, as always...leave me a review. Also I'm able to get PM's if you prefer that way? Whichever way works for you guys.