At Hell's Gates

by mrsemmettcullen12

What if Sam had a twin sister? This is the story of Dean and Sam with a sister, Alex.

31. Secrets

This is my first story, so please be nice. Tell me what you think.

I do not own any of the characters (except for Alex) and I do not own any of the storylines.

Chapter 31

That night, Dean was fast asleep in his bed, snoring loudly. Sam sat on the motel room bed that he shared with Alex, his laptop open and on. Sam scrolled down a website page about crossroad demons, looking for a way to save Dean. Alex sighed as she stepped out of the bathroom and saw Sam on his laptop once again. She walked over and sat next to him on the bed.

"Sam, it's late. Get some sleep."

Sam shook his head and Alex sighed.

"Alex, I have to save Dean from this stupid deal."

"You can't," she whispered.

Sam stopped scrolling down the webpage he was currently looking at and looked at her sadly.

"What did you just say?"

"I said, you can't save him. If you save him, you die again. He couldn't live with that, so he made the deal," explained Alex.

Sam cursed and shut down his computer, slamming it closed and setting it on the floor beside his bed.

"I'm sorry, Sammy, I really am," said Alex, looking at him.

"It's not your fault," said Sam.

He pulled her into his side and kissed the top of her head. She snuggled into him comfortably and fell asleep within minutes, while Sam stayed awake, thinking of any possible ways to save Dean.

Sam and Alex sat in a local café, Sam on his phone, talking to Bobby.

"Bobby, we have to save him," said Sam.

Alex looked around the café for Dean, waiting for him to walk in. She smacked Sam's shoulder when Dean walked into the café.

"Uh, okay. Bye," said Sam, ending the call and looking up at Dean as he stood at the end of the table.

"Who was that?" asked Dean.

"No one. Just ordering pizza," said Sam.

Alex sighed, shaking her head at Sam's lame excuse as Dean looked around the café, a smirk beginning to form on his lips as he turned back to look at Sam.

"Dude, they serve food here."

"I know. I just felt like pizza," said Sam.

Dean raised his eyebrows, but sat across from them in the booth.

"I think I got somethin'. Cicero, Indiana. Guy falls on his own power saw," said Dean, handing the newspaper article over to Sam and Alex.

"That's it? One power saw?" asked Alex.

"Well, yeah," said Dean.

"And you think this is a case?" asked Sam.

Alex looked at Dean, drumming her fingers on the tabletop and staring at Dean until he finally caved and told the truth.

"Alright, there's somethin' else in Cicero," admitted Dean.

"And she is?" asked Alex, smiling.

"Lisa Braden," smirked Dean. "I took a road trip about eight years ago when you two were with Dad once. I spent most of my time in Lisa Braden's loft."

"So you wanna drive all the way to Cicero to hook up with some chick?" asked Sam.

"It's my dying wish!" exclaimed Dean.

Alex and Sam looked at Dean, their faces suddenly serious.

"That's really not funny anymore. At all," said Alex.

She threw some change down on the table for her coffee.

"Now, let's go. We've got a long trip ahead of us."

She walked out the door and the boys followed, Dean throwing a fist pump of victory into the air.

A few hours later, Dean pulled up to the local Cicero motel. Sam and Alex climbed out of the car, grabbing their bags from the trunk.

"Don't wait up," said Dean, wiggling his eyebrows and smirking at them.

Alex waved him off with a flip of her hand and Dean quickly drove off in search of Lisa.

Dean parked his car across the street from Lisa's house, glancing at the balloons adorning the mailbox. He knocked on the front door and a beautiful, young brunette opened the door, her smile growing bigger when she took in the sight of Dean.

"Dean!"

Dean's smile grew even bigger.

"How long's it been then?" she asked.

"Eight or nine years. Crazy, right?" asked Dean.

"Yep. So what are you doing here?" asked Lisa.

"Oh, just passin' through. And I couldn't resist."

"Wow. Well, you actually came at a bad time. We're havin' a party."

"Well, I do love parties," said Dean.

Lisa sighed, but stepped aside to let Dean in.

Dean followed Lisa out to her backyard, where kids were running around and where a bounce house was resting in the middle of the backyard.

"So, uh, who's the little party for?" asked Dean.

"Ben, um, my son," answered Lisa.

She pointed out a young boy who was sitting in a white lawn chair, holding a newly opened AC/DC CD in his hands and sticking out his tongue.

"That's him. That's my Ben."

"Um, how old…"

"Eight," answered Lisa.

Dean's face fell and continuously paled as he did the math in his head.

"Dean, excuse me for a moment," said Lisa, putting her hand on his shoulder and disappearing back into her house.

Dean walked further into the backyard and grabbed a small piece of birthday cake off of the small cake table and saw Ben standing off to the side of the table. Dean grabbed the piece of cake, and walked over to stand beside Ben. Ben looked up at him.

"'Sup?" asked Ben, looking up at him and giving him the nod of approval.

"'Sup with you?" asked Dean.

Ben said nothing, just took a bite of his own piece of cake and watched a little girl and her mother walk by the both of them, checking out the little girl. Dean smirked as he saw Ben check out the little girl and took a bite of his own piece of cake.

"Cool party," said Dean.

"Dude, it's so freaking sweet! And the moon bounce is epic!" said Ben.

Dean smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty awesome."

"Chicks dig it, man. It's like hot chick city," said Ben, slapping Dean's elbow.

Dean watched as Ben threw his empty cake plate onto a nearby table and ran off to go play in the moon bounce with all of the little girls. Dean smiled, but when Ben was gone, his smiled quickly faded and counted in his head again, trying to calculate Ben's age with the times he had slept with Lisa, and ran off to find her.

Dean glided smoothly into the kitchen where Lisa stood, looking out into the backyard where all the kids were running around, still playing.

"So I met Ben," said Dean.

Lisa's head snapped to face him.

"Yeah, I can't help but notice that he's, uh, turning eight."

"You're not trying to ask me if he's yours, are you?" asked Lisa.

Dean scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Of course not."

Lisa nodded firmly and she and Dean watched as a woman led her daughter from the party in the backyard and out of the house through the kitchen, not saying a word to Lisa or Dean as they quickly passed them both.

"What's wrong with your friend?" asked Dean.

"Her ex-husband just died in this horrible accident," said Lisa, her tone turning sad.

Dean stood up straight.

"The power saw?" he asked.

Lisa nodded.

"There's just been a lot of bad luck in this neighborhood lately."

Sam sat at a local café, his laptop opened and on in front of him. Dean was still with Lisa and Alex was back at the motel room. As Sam worked to find Dean a way out of his stupid deal, someone sat across from him in his small booth. He looked up to see the blonde woman that had helped them defeat the seven deadly sins not a week earlier.

"Hello, Sam."

She slammed his laptop closed and stared at him, a smirk playing on the corners of her mouth. Sam stared right back at her, his glare almost deadly.

"You've been following me since Lincoln," he stated. "That knife you had. You kill demons with that thing?"

"Sure comes in handy when I have to swoop in and save your ass."

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm interested in you," she calmly stated. "You know the whole Anti-Christ thing."

"Excuse me?" asked Sam, his eyebrows raised as he continued to stare at her.

"You know. Psychic kids, yellow-eyed demon rounds you all up, death match ensues. You're the sole survivor," she answered.

She picked up his glass of ice water and took a drink from it before continuing her story.

"Whoops. Can't forget about Alex, though."

"How in the hell do you know about all of that?"

"I'm a very good hunter, Samuel. So, even though yellow-eyes is now dead, it doesn't change the fact that you're special. With your visions and shit," she said, leaning back casually in the booth.

Sam shook his head.

"Nope. None of that's happened since yellow-eyes died. And don't call me Samuel. Ever," said Sam, sternly.

"I'm thinking you're still a pretty big deal. I mean, after all that business with your mom?"

"What about my mom?"

The girl's bright blue eyes widened significantly.

"You mean, you don't know. Well, you've got a little bit of catching up to do."

She grabbed Sam's right hand and then grabbed his pen from off of the tabletop, writing her number on his palm.

"Call me when you've checked out your mom's pals," she said, standing up from the booth.

Sam watched her leave, but was snapped out of his stupor by his cell phone ringing. He answered it.

"Hello?"

"Sammy. There's a job here," said Alex, who was on the other end of the call.

"Alright. I'm on my way back."

Sam hung up quickly and gathered up all of his stuff, heading back to the small motel.

Sam walked into the motel room to see Alex all sprawled out on the bed that she and Sam shared, wearing a pair of Sam's boxers and one of Dean's old concert tees. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and her feet were bare, her toenails painted a pale pink. She was chewing on the end of a pen, the cap in her mouth as she thought about the case, looking at the papers in front of her that were sprawled all the way across the bed. He chuckled as he saw her wearing his clothes. He threw his stuff on the one and only table in the room, kicked off his shoes, and sat beside her on the bed. She sat up then, crossing her legs to sit cross-legged beside him.

"Hey, sis. What's going on?"

Alex looked at him, a tendril of her curly blonde hair falling into her face as she spoke.

"So the power saw isn't the only unexplained death in this town."

Sam looked confused, so Alex continued talking.

"There have been four others before that, but none made it in the paper until the power saw one."

The door opened and Dean walked into the room then. Sam and Alex turned to look up at him as he threw off his jacket.

"There's somethin' going on with the kids in this damn town," said Dean.

He looked at Alex wearing one of his shirts, but just shrugged, pulling a chair up to the bed and sitting in it backwards as Alex asked them both a question.

"What do you know about changelings?"

"Evil monster babies? Or creepy, stare at you kids?" asked Dean.

Alex nodded. "The second option. There's one in every victim's house."

She looked at a map of the town that she had found, circling a few items before handing it over to Sam and then Dean.

"Changelings can perfectly mimic children. Rumor is, they climb in the window and then snatch the kid," explained Sam.

"There was a mark on every single kid's window when I was investigating earlier," said Alex.

"Changelings feed on the mom for a few weeks until she finally croaks. Anyone who stands in the way of their energy source is killed," finished Sam.

"Fire's how we're gonna kill 'em," said Dean. He stood up and began moving around the room, packing a rather large duffel bag with torches, lighters, kerosene gas, and matches.

"Wait, what about the real kids?" asked Dean, finally zipping up the bag he had fully packed.

"Well, according to lore, they're stashed underground somewhere. Don't know why, but if it's true, the real kids could be out there somewhere," said Alex.

Dean nodded solemnly.

"We have to make a stop. Alex, put on some real clothes."

He walked outside to the car, Sam throwing Alex her clothes to change into before following Dean outside.

Dean pounded on Lisa's front door later that night. She flung the door open roughly, her expression turning from anger to slight confusion when she saw that it was Dean.

"You know, I feel really terrible about not getting Ben a birthday present, so here."

He handed her a black credit card and Lisa just looked at it.

"What?"

"Yeah. Take a long weekend vacation, on me and my family. In fact, go right now. Avoid the traffic," said Dean.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" asked Ben, appearing rather suddenly behind Lisa.

"It's cool, Ben," said Dean, smiling softly at Ben.

Ben did not smile back at all. His expression stayed exactly the same and he didn't even glance over at Dean.

"Mommy, make him go away."

Dean stared at Ben sadly, knowing that it wasn't really Ben anymore and that Lisa was in a lot of serious trouble now.

"Lisa, please," pleaded Dean.

"Get out!" she yelled, slamming the door directly in his face. Dean heard all of the locks click and then he sighed, but began to move, pulling a small flashlight out of his jacket. Dean quietly moved to the back of the house, finding the small window to Ben's bedroom. There, he saw a mark of what looked to be blood on the windowsill, in the form of a handprint. He cursed silently and rushed back to the Impala, where Sam and Alex were waiting for his report.

"They got Ben. He's changed," panted Dean, once he reached the Impala.

"What? Are you absolutely sure?" asked Alex.

"Yes, I'm sure. I just checked his damn windowsill," said Dean, climbing into the Impala's driver's seat and turning the key over to start the engine.

"Blood?" asked Sam, a little incredulous.

"I don't think his blood, but I think I know where the kids are being held."

Dean quickly peeled away from the curb, his tires squealing as he did so.

Dean parked the Impala in the front of the house that was in the process of being built. Sam and Alex hopped out of the car and followed behind him. Dean grabbed a handful of red dirt from the rather large pile that rested beside his right front tire and let it slip through his fingers.

"Red dirt," said Sam.

"That's what was on the window sills. Not blood, thank God," answered Alex, who was quietly standing behind her older brothers.

Dean nodded and went back to the Impala very quickly, grabbing some smaller duffel bags and throwing them to his siblings.

"Alright, you guys take the front and I'll go around."

They split up and each one of them entered the house.

Sam and Alex walked into the front of the halfway built house, Sam obviously leading the way. He quietly began walking forward and up the stairs, Alex following closely behind him. They stepped onto the landing, but heard a small, faint noise. Sam flashed his small flashlight to the left, and then to the right, trying to track down the small noise.

"Back down?" asked Alex, in a small whisper.

Sam nodded and began following Alex's lead this time back down the small stairs.

Dean was currently in the completely unfinished basement, also trying to pinpoint the location of the same noises Alex and Sam had recently been hearing. He rounded a corner and his eyes suddenly widened. In front of him were small cages, but cages big enough to hold small children. In a cage to Dean's left was Ben, his little fingers reaching through the small spaces and upwards towards Dean's hand. Dean rushed over to him, grabbing the top of the cage and pulling on it with all of his strength.

"Ben. I'm gonna get you out of here, alright?"

Alex was still leading the way into another portion of the unfinished house when a woman from the Homeowner's Association stepped up a few feet behind them. They had only seen and met this woman once or twice, when they had first waltzed into town. Sam and Alex both spun around, Sam facing the woman first with Alex partially hidden behind him.

"What do you two think you're doing?" asked the woman.

Sam glanced at her reflection in the window lying on the ground beside his feet and leaning against the wall as she gently inched closer and he saw that she was an adult changeling. He silently gulped and Alex grabbed onto his wrist, seeing the reflection as well. They faced her head on.

"This is private property, I am calling the police."

Sam and Alex just stared at her for a few more seconds, causing her to become very angry.

"Get out!" she yelled.

"Just let us grab our things. Please," said Alex, as Sam reached down to grab the duffel bag he had left on the floor earlier. He quickly pulled out a small lighter and a smaller kerosene tank, lighting the gas on fire quickly and swiftly. He aimed it at the woman in front of them. After a few seconds, he shut it off and the woman was suddenly gone. Sam looked one direction, while Alex looked in the other, but she was nowhere in sight.

While Sam and Alex continued to be on the lookout upstairs, Dean had finally managed to pry open the door of Ben's small cage using a crowbar that was lying around on the floor. He managed to pull Ben out of his cage and then set Ben on his feet right beside him. Dean looked him over, patted his head gently, and told Ben to follow him. Ben did as he was told and as Dean pried and pulled open all of the cages to release the other small children, Ben would hold out his hand, helping each scared child out of their cage gently and slowly. Dean watched Ben carefully help each child out, say a few kind, encouraging words to them, and lead them over to a safe corner against the wall. Dean felt a small, but quick sense of pride towards Ben, but then shook his head and continued on his mission. After every child had been let out of their cage, Dean ran over to one of the many cement walls in the basement, where a small window was locked up. He cursed under his breath to himself, but then looked at the kids.

"Alright, everyone back up!" yelled Dean and the kids quickly obliged.

"Cover your eyes!"

All of the kids turned away, their eyes tucked away into their little elbows as Dean smashed the window open with his metal crowbar. Glass rained down all over the floor and the window sill and the kids uncovered their eyes, looking back up at Dean. Ben suddenly took off his little denim jacket, seeing all of the glass that was still littering the windowsill.

"Here. Use this," offered Ben.

Dean quickly grabbed it, laid it down over all of the glass, and looked at the scared and shaking children.

"Alright, Ben. C'mon, c'mon," urged Dean, eager to get the kids as far away from the dangerous situation as possible.

Ben shook his head and urged another little boy to go first instead just as Sam and Alex came running into the basement.

"There's a mother changeling," yelled Sam.

"A mother changeling?" asked Dean, hoisting the little boy out of the window.

"Yes. So we gotta get these kids out of here, fast," said Alex.

Sam threw their duffel bags to the ground and they slid over into a corner. Sam then grabbed Dean's discarded crowbar, using it to break the lock on the last cage. Sam held out a hand and helped the older woman, the mother, out of her cage, just as Alex handed another child over to Dean. Suddenly, one little girl let out an ear-splitting scream. The mother changeling was directly in front of her. Sam, Alex, and Dean all turned around to look at her.

The mother changeling blew past the children, who all huddled around Alex's legs. Alex put her arms around them, trying to calm them down. The mother changeling headed straight for Dean, throwing him straight across the basement floor. He landed in another part of the basement completely, cradling his head and cursing the monster. She walked towards him, but Sam had grabbed his lighter and gas tank. He tried to hurry, but she turned and kicked the lighter directly out of his hands and then punched him in the face twice. She threw Sam into another wall and was heading for the kids and Alex. Alex huddled the kids behind her, ready to fight for them and protect them as they held onto the back of Alex's shirt and jacket. Dean ran up behind her, but she spun around quickly, punching him straight in the mouth. She threw him down onto the ground and Dean reached over, grabbing a large brick that had fallen down beside him throughout the fight. As he stood up, he looked at his little sister and nodded.

"Alex! Get them out of here!" he yelled.

He swung around with the brick still in his hands and knocked the changeling flat on her ass.

"Okay, stay here, kids," said Alex.

She was too short to reach the window sill to lift the children up safely, so she had to find something to boost her up so that she could reach. She began to panic as she looked around, but she finally saw a white bucket resting against the wall. It was full of extra cement, so she lugged it over to where the rest of the kids still stood. She set it down directly against the wall and helped each child climb up and out of the window, Ben standing right beside her side every step of the way.

Dean continued his fight with the mother changeling, kicking, pushing, and punching the hell out of her. Sam finally got up from his position on the floor as Dean fought the changeling. Sam grabbed the gas tank and found the lighter in the corner. As Dean punched the changeling, causing her to turn and look away, Sam placed himself directly in front of Dean. When she finally looked back towards them, she screamed with terror as Sam lit the kerosene gas tank, the flames finally searing the changeling. She turned into black smoke, burned into a crisp, and was finally gone.

The next morning, Sam was behind the wheel of the Impala as they pulled into Lisa's driveway. Lisa's front door flew open as she ran outside, looking for her son.

"Ben!" she yelled.

Ben jumped out of the Impala behind Dean as soon as Sam had placed it in park and ran into his mother's open and waiting arms.

"Oh, baby, are you okay?" she asked him, holding him as close to her chest as she could possibly manage.

"I'm alright, Mom," said Ben, calmly.

She cried into Ben's shoulder for a few short minutes while the Winchesters looked on, smiling. Finally, she set Ben down onto his feet and looked straight at Dean.

"What in the hell just happened?"

"I'll explain everything, but only if you really want me to because honestly, you probably don't want me to."

He handed Lisa Ben's denim jacket and looked at Ben, gently resting his hand on Ben's small shoulder.

"The important thing is that Ben's safe."

Dean smiled at Ben and Ben smiled back gently.

"Thank you," whispered Lisa, and she hugged Dean hard, crying onto his strong shoulders.

Alex nudged Sam with her elbow and she walked around to the passenger's side door, opening it and climbing inside.

"Um, we're gonna give you all some time," said Sam.

Dean nodded and followed Ben and Lisa into their house.

Dean and Lisa looked on as Ben played in the living room.

"Changelings," said Lisa, almost as if she was testing the word out slowly on her tongue.

"Remember how I never mentioned my job? Well, this is my job," said Dean.

"I so did not wanna know that," said Lisa, looking away from Dean's face and back to her son, who was still playing with his toys.

Dean nodded and looked at Ben too, who was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while listening to music through his headphones. After a few silent moments, Lisa finally broke the silence.

"Do you think he'll be alright?"

"Yeah, I think he'll be just fine," said Dean, with absolutely no hesitation at all.

He glanced at Ben again before looking at Lisa once again.

"But seriously, you're absolutely 100% sure he's not mine?"

Lisa laughed, her gorgeous smile finally popping out for the first time during their conversation.

"Yep. You're completely off the hook. I, uh, did a drug test when he was just a baby. So, yeah. You can definitely relax."

Dean nodded and finally gave Lisa a small smirk.

"Well, good."

Dean looked at Ben, who was currently bobbing his head along with the beat of whatever song he was listening to.

"I swear, you look almost disappointed," said Lisa, looking at the longing that was obviously evident on Dean's face.

Dean looked at her then, his face suddenly turning serious again.

"Yeah, I don't know. It's weird, I'll never have this kind of life with a house or a kid. Some stuff happened to me recently…"

Dean trailed off then and Lisa just looked at him seriously.

"Well, Ben may not be your son, but he wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for you. That takes a lot, if you ask me."

Dean looked at Ben one last, final time before heading backwards for the front door, Lisa walking behind him. Right before he got to the front door though, Dean turned and looked at Lisa.

"You know, if you ask me, you've got an absolutely great son. And I would be awfully proud to be his dad."

Dean shrugged, a small smile on his lips. Lisa smiled back at him and almost skipped the next few steps it took her to reach Dean, launching herself into his arms and planting a huge kiss onto his soft lips, both of them closing their eyes as they kissed. After a few seconds, Lisa pulled away from him, looking down at the floor.

"Look, you're more than welcome to stay for a while, if you wanted to," she offered, looking back up at him.

Dean looked at her smiling, but his eyes held sadness.

"I can't. Believe me, I really wish I could, I do. But I've just got a lot of work to do and this isn't my life anyway."

Lisa nodded, smiling at him gently and Dean smiled back quickly before taking one last look at Ben and Lisa. He turned away then, never looking back at the woman and child he left behind.

Alex was lying on her motel room bed as Sam continued making multiple phone calls.

"Sam. Who in the hell do you keep calling?" she asked, yawning and stretching her arms above her head.

"Um, no one. Hey, would you mind grabbing us some dinner?" asked Sam.

Alex nodded her head and stood up, grabbing the keys out of Sam's palm.

"I'll be right back," said Alex.

Sam nodded to her, indicating he had heard her and Alex stepped outside, heading for the nearest McDonald's. Literally seconds after Alex had left, a blonde woman appeared from out of thin air into the motel room. Sam just looked at her, knowing it was the same woman who had told him to look up his mom's friends a few days ago in the small local café.

"Well, they're all gone. Someone's gone through a lot of trouble to just systematically wipe all of my mom's friends off of the map," said Sam.

"Yep. The yellow-eyed demon," she responded.

"So what's your deal? You show up wherever the hell I am, you know all about me. You know all about my mom."

"I already told you, I'm jus-"

"Oh, that's right. Right, just a hunter that knows more about my own family than I do," said Sam, cutting her off.

They stared intensely at each other for a few moments until Sam broke the silence.

"Just tell me who you are. Seriously!" yelled Sam, right up in her face now.

"Fine."

The girl's eyes flashed as black as a starless night and Sam stepped backwards quickly. He reached for some holy water that was resting atop his duffel bag that was lying on top of his bed.

"You're a fucking demon," said Sam.

"I'm here to help you, Sam. God's honest truth, or whatever," she said, rolling her eyes, which were now back to her normal bright blue color.

"You have to trust me, Sam."

"Trust you?" asked Sam, holding a flask of holy water in front of him now, almost like a shield.

"Not all demons are the same, Sam. Not all of us want the same thing. I want to help you from time to time. And Sam, I can help you and Alex save your brother," she finished.

Sam looked at her, his face suddenly somber and more serious.

"Please leave," he finally whispered.

Dean was driving the Impala down a narrow dirt road much later that night, or early the next morning, since it was currently 4:30 A.M. Sam sat in the passenger seat, Alex sat in the backseat.

"Sam, the second you find out that this Ruby chick is a demon, you go for the fucking holy water, you don't chat!" yelled Dean, glancing at his little brother.

"No one was chatting, Dean."

"Then why didn't you send her ass back to hell?"

"Because she said she might be able to help us out!" yelled Sam, beginning to get frustrated with his brother.

"How?" asked Dean.

Sam was silent then and Dean finally looked over at him again. Alex was also silent in the backseat of the Impala, glancing between her brothers.

"She said she could help you, alright?"

"What in the hell is wrong with you, huh? She's lying and you have to know that. Don't you? She knows what your weakness is, it's me," said Dean.

Sam scoffed and looked away out the passenger side window, remaining silent and not looking at either one of his siblings. Alex sighed.

"What else did she say?" asked Dean, after a few, long moments of deafening silence.

Sam was still silent, so Alex nudged his shoulder gently. She raised her eyebrows as Sam glared at her and nodded towards Dean silently. Dean watched their interaction, their silent conversation a common occurrence between the twins.

"Sam?" asked Dean, getting tired of their silent communication.

"Nothing, alright? Look, I'm not an idiot, Dean. I'm not talking about trusting her, I'm talking about using her. I mean, we're at war, right? And we don't know jack shit about the enemy. Where they are, what they're planning or doing. Now, this Ruby girl definitely knows more than we will ever find out on our own. Yes, it's a huge risk, and I realize this. But we need to take it," finished Sam, his chest rising and falling steadily with his breaths after he spit out his ideas.

Dean said nothing, staying focused on the narrow road ahead of them when a cell phone's shrill ringing broke the awkward and tense silence between all of them.

"It's not mine," yelled Sam, still very angry and frustrated.

"Lex?" asked Dean, but Alex just shook her head.

Dean's eyes suddenly widened and he nodded urgently toward the glove compartment in front of Sam.

"Check the glovebox. It's Dad's."

"Dad's?" asked Alex and Sam at the exact same time.

"Yes, I keep it in there just in case any of his old contacts call."

Sam opened up the glovebox and grabbed the cellphone, which was resting on the very top of all of the papers resting in the glove compartment.

"Hello?" answered Sam, flipping the phone open and holding it to his right ear.

"Yes, this is Edgar Casey," Sam responded after a few seconds. He shrugged at his sibling's weird looks and listened to the person on the other end of the call.

"No, no, no, don't call the police. I'll take care of it myself. Thanks, Um, can you just go ahead and lock it back up for me?"

The caller responded to Sam's question and then Sam asked another one of his own.

"Um, actually, can you give me the address again? I don't have my book directly in front of me."

Alex dug around in the backseat and produced a small piece of paper and a pen, handing it up to Sam as he braced the phone against his cheek and his shoulder so he could write down the address.

"Alright, sir, go ahead." Sam scribbled down an address and then sat up, holding the phone in his hands again.

"Great, thanks."

Sam flipped the phone shut and looked at his siblings.

"Did Dad ever tell either one of you that he kept a container at a storage place?" asked Sam.

"What?" asked Alex.

"Yep. Right outside of Buffalo, apparently," responded Sam.

"No way," said Dean.

"Yep. And someone just broke into it."

Dean sighed and sped the car up, now heading towards Buffalo.

A few hours later, the three Winchester siblings were in Buffalo at the storage building. They were currently on a service elevator, heading down for their Dad's storage place.

"Oh, man. Dad and his damn secrets," said Dean, shaking his head. "I mean, seriously. We spend all this time with the guy and it's like we barely even know the man."

The service elevator stopped then and Sam and Dean opened the doors, pulling them upwards.

"Well, we're about to learn a few things," said Alex.

She followed behind her brothers as they walked over to the storage that had belonged to their father. Dean unlocked the door. He slid the door open and Sam shined his flashlight into the semi-large room full of random stuff. A Devil's Trap was drawn on the floor and bloody footprints were inside of it.

"No demons allowed," said Sam.

"Blood," remarked Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes as she stood behind them. She pushed past both of them and entered the large room. The boys followed, but Alex crouched down in front of them, blocking their path. She held a trip wire between her fingers.

"Check this out," she said.

"Well, whatever was in here must have been attacked," said Sam, looking around the room.

"Oh, good dear old Dad," said Alex.

She pulled out her own flashlight and shined it on the bloody footprints.

"Must have been a two man job. There are two sets of bootprints here," she said.

"And the friend with the shot in him just kept walking," said Dean, pointing at the puddled blood.

Alex stood up from her crouch and gently stepped over the small trip wire into the rest of the rather large room.

"So what's the deal here? Dad do work in here or something?" asked Sam.

"Livin' the high life, as usual," said Alex, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she glanced at the shelves around the room.

They all began exploring separate corners of the large room, shaking their heads at things they found. Dean found a small trophy and blew the dust off of it.

"1995," said Dean and Alex and Sam flocked over to him.

"No way," said Sam.

He took the trophy from Dean.

"That's my Division II championship soccer trophy. I can't believe he kept this."

Dean smiled and walked around Alex and Sam, grabbing a sawed-off shotgun off of a small desk.

"Aww, man. This is my very first sawed off. I made it myself in the sixth grade."

Dean set the shotgun down again once he saw Sam and Alex enter an even smaller room in the storage compartment. Dean whistled as he looked at the small arsenal located there.

"They didn't take the landmines or the guns. I guess they knew what they were after," said Alex.

"Guys, look at this," said Sam.

Dean and Alex walked over to Sam, who was staring at a shelf that held multiple old boxes.

"See those symbols?" he asked them, pointing to one particular box located in the middle of the shelf.

"Yep. That's binding magic. Those are cursed boxes," answered Alex.

"Cursed boxes? Supposed to keep the evil mojo in like the Pandora deal?" asked Dean.

Alex nodded.

"Yeah, they're built to contain the power of the cursed object," said Sam.

"This must be his toxic waste dump," said Alex.

Sam noticed an empty place on the shelf, blood droplets around it. He swiped at some dust that remained on the shelf and watched it fall onto the floor.

"One box is missing," he said.

"Great," replied Alex sarcastically.

"Well, maybe they won't open it," said Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes and Sam sighed, rubbing his hands over the stubble on his face.

Dean was driving down a back alley a few short hours later. He stopped and looked at the license plate on a parked vehicle.

"Connecticut. Last three digits 830," said Dean.

Sam nodded.

"Yep, that's it."

"Dumbasses. Should have blacked out their plates before parking in front of the security cameras," said Alex, blowing a bubble with her gum.

"Alex," warned Sam.

Alex smiled, knowing it drove Sam nuts.

"Sorry, bro," she said, climbing out of the Impala.

"Alright, kiddos. Let's get going," said Dean.

Sam finished picking the lock on the apartment's front door and Dean entered first, his gun raised. The three siblings stood in an entryway, their guns in hand and listening to the two men occupying the apartment speak. When they heard them getting ready to leave, they all stormed into the room.

"Freeze! Freeze!" they all yelled.

The men quickly threw their hands up.

"Don't move!" yelled Dean.

"Please tell me you didn't-"

"Oh, they opened it," said Alex, nodding her head toward the cursed box that was lying opened on the coffee table.

"You opened it?" yelled Dean, holding one of the two men against the wall.

"What was in the box?"

The man said nothing, but his eyes glanced over to the rabbit's foot that was resting on the corner of the coffee table.

"What is that thing?" asked Dean.

Suddenly, the man knocked the gun out of Dean's hand, causing it to go off. A bullet shot all over the room and Alex's eyes widened. Sam and Dean ran after the two men, but ran into each other instead, falling to the floor. Dean crashed onto the coffee table, causing it to splinter and break in half. Sam stood up quickly, but was tackled to the ground by one of the men, while Dean was knocked in the chin with the butt of his own gun by the other man. Alex watched the chaos unfold, but spotted the rabbit's foot next to Sam. She ran over, jumped over the couch, and pulled her sleeve over her hand before grabbing the rabbit's foot. She threw it over to Sam, who saw her throw it, and caught it, and suddenly, he was lucky. Sam kicked the man off of him and stood up.

"Dean! I got it!" he yelled.

"No, you don't," said the other man, pointing one gun at Sam's chest. Sam grimaced, waiting to be shot, but the bullet never came. The gun was out of bullets and Sam opened his eyes.

"Damn it!" yelled the man, throwing the gun to the ground. He walked backwards one step, fell over the broken and splintered coffee table debris, and was knocked out cold once his head collided with the hardwood floor. The other man looked at them, fear evident in his beady little eyes and all over his face. He held the other gun in his hands and aimed it at Alex, who stopped walking as she saw what he was doing.

"Alex!" yelled Dean.

The man was startled at Dean's yell and the book shelves above his head suddenly fell, knocking him out cold, as well. The pistol went flying through the air and landed perfectly in Sam's open palm.

"Well, that was a lucky break," said Dean.

He noticed the rabbit's foot in Sam's other hand.

"Is that a rabbit's foot?"

"Um, I think it is," said Sam, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"C'mon, boys. Let's get out of here," said Alex, leading the way out of the apartment building.

Dean was sitting in the driver's seat of the Impala, holding quite a few scratcher tickets in his hand.

"Dean, c'mon," said Sam, sighing and rolling his eyes.

"Those were quite a lot of lucky breaks back in that apartment there, Sammy. Please, scratch one?" asked Alex.

Sam sighed, but reluctantly grabbed one out of Dean's palm as Alex handed him a quarter to scratch the tickets with.

"Guys, it's gotta be cursed somehow. Otherwise, Dad wouldn't have locked it up," said Sam, scratching the ticket and then handing it back to Dean. Dean looked over the ticket for a quick second before positively beaming.

"$1200. You just won $1200."

Alex smiled as well.

"I don't know, Sammy. It doesn't seem very cursed to me," she said.

Dean nodded eagerly beside Sam and handed Sam another scratcher's ticket. Sam looked at both of them, but took the ticket anyway, scratching away.

Dean counted out all of the scratcher's tickets, laying them all out on the Impala's hood and smiling as he began counting them. Sam was on his cell phone, talking to Bobby.

"Look, Bobby, we had no clue," said Sam.

"You touched it?! Damn it, Sam," yelled Bobby.

"Well, Dad never told us about this thing. I mean, you knew about his storage place at Black Rock?"

"Yeah, I knew. I even built those damn curse boxes for him. But listen here, Sam. You've got a serious problem. It's real hoodoo, Old World stuff."

"It's one hell of a luck charm," replied Sam, leaning down and picking up a solid gold Rolex watch he had just spotted on the sidewalk in front of him.

"It's not a luck charm, it's a curse! It was made to kill people, Sam. Look, you touch it, you own it. You own it, wonderful. You have a run of good luck to beat the devil himself. But, you lose it, that luck turns. It turns so bad that you're dead inside a week," explained Bobby.

Alex was standing beside Dean now, having returned from using the restroom. She was helping Dean add up all of the tickets.

"Alright. So I won't lose it, Bobby," said Sam.

"Everybody loses it!"

"Well, then how do we break the curse?"

"I honestly don't know if we can. Let me look through my library and make some calls. Just sit tight."

Bobby hung up, so Sam closed his phone and turned to face his siblings, his look grim.

"Dude, we're up fucking fifteen grand," smiled Dean.

Sam hardly smiled back, so Alex walked over to him.

"Sammy. What's wrong?"

Sam sighed.

"Look, I'll tell you guys on the way to get something to eat. I'm starving."

Alex nodded and they all climbed back into the Impala.

Dean opened the door of the small town diner, holding it open for Sam and Alex.

"Look, I'm sure Bobby will find us a way out of this mess. But for now, let's just enjoy our meal, okay?" said Dean.

Sam nodded and all three of them walked up to the hostess stand. Sam gently smiled at the older gentleman who was currently standing behind the hostess stand.

"Hello. We'd like a table for three, please."

The man's smile broadened.

"Congratulations!"

He rang an obnoxious alarm and all of the other employees crowded around the little tiny hostess stand.

"You're our one millionth customer!"

He handed Sam a large piece of cardboard made out to look like a huge check that read, "One Millionth Customer!" The employees all clapped loudly, their smiles all matching and huge. The hostess pulled a lever so that confetti rained down upon all of them, and Sam hardly smiled as his picture was taken, along with his siblings.

The Winchesters sat in a different diner, Sam on his computer, Dean chowing down on his food, and Alex sitting beside Sam on the inside of the booth, reading over his shoulder and nibbling on her cold fries.

"Bobby was right. Pure hoodoo," said Sam.

He slammed his computer closed, albeit gently, and handed it to Alex, who stuffed it into his satchel.

"Can I freshen you up?" asked their waitress, pointing to Sam's coffee cup with a smile playing on her pretty face.

"Oh. Um, sure," said Sam.

She began pouring the coffee into his cup, looking at Sam and smiling at him as she did so. Sam gently smiled back at her until she accidentally caused the cup to overflow all over the table.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said.

She grabbed a towel from inside her apron, cleaning up her mess and leaning a little too close to Sam. Alex looked over at her, her suspicions rising slowly, but surely.

"I'm so sorry about all of that," apologized the waitress, finally walking away with one last smile towards Sam.

"Dude," said Dean, his eyebrows raised.

Sam shook his head, grabbing his newly full coffee cup to take a drink from it. It suddenly slipped from his grasp and Sam ended up spilling his coffee all over himself. He stood up rather quickly to clean himself off and turned around swiftly, knocking a waiter's tray out of his hands completely. The waiter looked at all of his food and then glared up at Sam.

"I'm sorry," apologized Sam.

He turned back to his family then, reaching inside his jacket pocket to confirm what they all already knew. His hands came up empty, no rabbit's foot in his grasp. Sam's eyes widened in fear and disbelief. Alex and Dean quickly sprang up from their seats in the booth.

"Son of a bitch," said Dean.

They all ran out of the diner after their waitress, but Sam fell after only five steps. Alex looked down at him, her eyebrows raised.

"Wow. You suck," she said.

She went back over to him and helped him stand up again. His knees and palms were skinned and bloody.

"So what? Now your luck turns bad?" asked Dean.

Sam glanced down at his bloody and skinned knees and shrugged.

"I guess," said Sam.

Dean nodded and then led them forward towards the Impala.

"I wonder how bad," he whispered to himself.

Later that night, the three siblings returned to the apartment where the two men who had stolen the rabbit's foot were staying. Only one man was still alive though, the other having been killed in a freak accident earlier that night since he had recently lost the rabbit's foot to them. The man who was still alive looked up as the three of them walked slowly into his apartment.

"Oh, Lord. What do you want?" he asked.

"Well, we heard about your friend. That's pretty bad luck," said Dean, walking further into the apartment.

"Piss off," said the man.

"Look, fucker. We know someone hired you to steal the rabbit's foot. A woman," said Alex.

The man leered at her, but Alex just glared right back at him.

"And she just stole it back from us," admitted Dean.

The man smiled at Dean's admission and began laughing hysterically.

"Look, man, this is serious-" began Sam as he stepped farther into the room, but he suddenly tripped over an electrical cord and knocked a small stereo system onto the floor. As he tried to catch it, he fell over a lamp and onto the floor, glass shattering as he fell. Alex rolled her eyes and Dean sighed frustratingly.

"Sam. You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm all good," moaned out Sam, beginning to pull himself up from the floor using an end table as leverage. Alex grabbed his arm, helping him finally stand up quickly.

"Now. Please tell us the woman's name. Because otherwise, innocent people are gonna die because of that damn rabbit's foot, including my brother," pleaded Dean.

The man looked at them, sighing.

"Bella. Her name was Bella Lugosi," he answered.

They left the apartment building, Dean's cell phone ringing as they stepped outside of the building. As Dean flipped his cell phone open, Sam accidentally stepped in a small piece of gum on the sidewalk.

"Dean, good news. I found a large cleansing ritual that should do the trick," said Bobby, who was obviously on the other end of the call.

"Bobby, uh, that's great. Um, except Sam kind of lost the foot," replied Dean, turning around to see Alex laughing at Sam as he tried to get the gum off of the bottom of his left shoe.

"He what?!" bellowed Bobby, suddenly angry.

"Listen, listen, Bobby. This super hot chick stole it from him. She was in her twenties, sharp. Obviously good enough at the con to play all of us. Um, the name we got was Lugosi. Probably some alibi," said Dean.

He turned to look at Sam and Alex again. Sam was wiping his shoe on the sewer grate in an attempt to get the gum off of it. Alex was standing beside Sam, no longer laughing, but just rolling her eyes at his feeble attempts to swipe the gum off his shoe. Dean turned his attention back to the phone call.

"Lugosi? Aww, shit, it's probably Bella," said Bobby.

Alex laughed as Sam's show fell down the sewer grate, making a splash as it fell into the sewer water down below.

"Bella Lugosi, that's cute," said Dean, sarcastically.

"Her real name's Bella Talbot. I've crossed paths with her once or twice. She's no hunter, but she certainly knows her way around the territory. But, if it is Bella, I think I can find some people who know where to find her. Just, look out for your brother," said Bobby.

He ended the phone call and Dean flipped his own cell phone shut, turning to look at his siblings. Sam was standing by the sewer grate, looking absolutely and completely miserable, while Alex stood behind Sam, looking somewhat shocked and laughing.

"I lost my shoe," said Sam, pouting like a five year old kid who had just lost his favorite childhood toy.

Dean sighed and headed for the parked Impala, Sam and Alex trailing behind him.

Dean unlocked the motel room's door, throwing the room keys on the bedside table.

"Alright, Sammy. You're staying here so you don't get yourself killed. And Alex, you'll be staying with him," explained Dean.

Alex's mouth dropped open and Sam just sighed, hanging his head sadly.

"I'm not a fucking babysitter," huffed Alex.

Dean nodded.

"I know, but we can't risk Sam hurting himself."

"If he's locked in a room by himself, he'll be fine. Besides, it's probably safer if I help you out, don't you think?" asked Alex.

Dean sighed, but nodded his head, obliging for his little sister.

"Alright, that's fine. Lex, you're coming with me then. Sam, sit down. Don't move, don't blink, and don't even scratch your nose."

Sam sat down in the chair that Dean had pulled out for him from the table and watched both of his siblings walk out the motel room door. Sam moved his face around to scratch the itch on his nose, but when he heard the Impala start up, he slowly reached a hand up and scratched his nose, breaking Dean's rules. Sam looked around the dingy motel room and sighed.

Dean and Alex walked around the side of Bella's house, which was located in Queens, New York, about two hours away from the motel where Sam was located. They quickly snuck into Bella's house, turning off her alarm system before it sounded the alarm and waiting for Bella to show up. Only moments later, Bella walked over and saw the sticky note that they had placed on the alarm system, which read, "Turn Around!" Bella quickly spun around, aiming her gun at the two siblings, who also had their guns raised directly at Bella.

"You left without your tip," said Dean.

Bella just smirked at them.

Sam was still sitting in the chair at the motel, literally twiddling his thumbs. He sighed and just glanced around the room, wondering how long he had been sitting there for. Suddenly, the air conditioning sputtered and completely stopped. Sam threw his hands up in frustration.

"Aww, come on. I didn't even… Ugh," cried out Sam.

He slowly got up from his chair when white smoke began flowing out of the air conditioning and it suddenly caught on fire. Sam's eyes widened and he grabbed the nearest blanket off of the nearest bed in the room, holding it up to the air conditioning unit and putting out the fire. Once it was out, Sam breathed a sigh of relief. He frowned once he smelled something burning though and looked down at his right sleeve, where the flames had somehow leapt over and onto his jacket sleeve. He grabbed the motel room curtains and tried to put out the flames on his jacket sleeve. Once Sam had actually put the flames out though, the curtains suddenly fell down, the curtain rod banging Sam on the forehead and knocking him out cold. Sam fell to the motel room floor, knocked out, and two men looked into the room from the outside, seeing Sam unconscious on the floor.

Alex and Dean held their guns at Bella, walking backwards slowly as Bella walked towards them, her gun mostly aimed at Dean.

"You're gonna give it back," said Dean.

Bella laughed, her smile spreading across her flawless face.

"Sweetie. No, I'm not," she replied, her British accent prominent as she spoke.

"Well, we'll see about that. Bella, is it?" asked Alex.

Bella's eyes flickered over to Alex, giving her a glance.

"That's right. And you're Alex and Dean."

"Just so you know, that thing's cursed," said Dean, nodding to the rabbit's foot.

"Well, you'd be surprised how much people are willing to pay for some of those things. I procure unique items for a secret clientele," said Bella.

"Yeah, you're just a plain old thief, bitch," said Alex.

Bella glared at her.

"Yeah, but a great one."

Sam awoke to find himself being taped down to a chair in his motel room.

"Ohp, he's awake!" called out the man who was taping Sam down to the chair.

The man who was sitting on one of the beds stood up then and both of the men stood in front of Sam.

"Who are you?" asked Sam.

"Well, your old friend Gordon sent me," answered the older looking gentleman.

Sam rolled his eyes at the mention of Gordon.

"He wanted me to put a bullet right through your brain."

"Great. Yep, that sounds just like him," commented Sam.

"But, I've realized something. I'm on a mission from God."

The man smiled, but then he smacked Sam straight across the face, knocking Sam's head back.

"Look, Bella. Our brother touched the foot, so now he's having all kinds of bad luck," explained Dean, his gun now at his side.

"I know how it works," said Bella, her gun also at her side.

"So you know he's gonna die if we don't destroy it," said Dean.

Bella nodded, no sympathy on her face at all. Alex sighed and rolled her eyes. She cocked her gun and pointed it directly in Bella's face. Bella looked down the barrel of the gun at Alex, no ounce of fear on her face evident at all.

"Bitch, give us the fucking rabbit's foot," threatened Alex, her tone laced with venom.

Bella smirked at Alex, looking over to Dean next. Bella's smile faded as Dean held up the rabbit's foot.

"Looks like you're not the only one with sticky fingers. But if it's any consolation, I think you're a horrible person," said Dean.

He smirked and stuck the rabbit's foot in his jacket pocket before he and Alex began running for the front door, making it outside before Bella could even fire off her pistol.

Cold water was splashed on Sam's face to wake him up. Sam came about and the two men looked down at him, his face all beaten up and a little bit bloody as well.

"You were part of that plan to open Hell's gates, weren't you?" asked the same man from before.

"Look, we did everything we could to stop it from opening," said Sam.

"You're such a liar. And now you know what their next move is too, don't you?"

"No, I don't, okay? You are completely wrong about all of this," explained Sam.

The two men were silent for a few moments, looking at Sam thoughtfully before they asked their next question.

"Where are they gonna hit us next?"

Sam sighed, obviously not having an answer, so the man slapped him across the face again. Sam moaned and grimaced in pain, but still said nothing.

"You know, Gordon told me about you, Sam. About your powers. You're some kind of, weirdo psychic freak?"

"No, not anymore. No powers, no visions. Absolutely nothing," said Sam.

The man hit him once again and Sam's head flung to the side yet again, the water from the earlier splash of cold water on his face, dripping from his hair now.

"Now, no more lies, please."

The man pulled out his own gun and aimed it straight at Sam's face.

"Whoa, hold on just a minute," said Sam, pleading.

The other man standing behind the man holding the gun also began to protest, but the gun wielding man blew his comments off.

"This is destiny, Credo," said the gun holder.

He cocked his gun once again and Sam closed his eyes, but suddenly, two more guns were cocked behind the two strange men. The men turned around to look and saw Alex and Dean looking at them, their guns locked and loaded, ready to shoot if the need arose.

"Whoa. No destiny here tonight, boys. Just a rabbit's foot," said Dean.

"Put the guns down, children," said one man.

Dean and Alex obliged, but Dean grabbed a pen from the end table where they had just placed their guns and flung it into the air, where it landed straight into the barrel of the man's gun.

"Whoa! Did you guys see that shot?!" exclaimed Dean, looking at his siblings excitedly.

The man without a gun ran towards them, but Dean and Alex lunged out of his way, so the man ran straight into the wall, knocking himself out cold. The man with the gun pulled the pen out of his gun's barrel, but Dean threw the remote control at him, hitting him directly in the forehead and knocking him out cold, as well.

"I'm obviously amazing. I'm fucking Batman," said Dean.

Alex just rolled her eyes from behind him and stepped over the unconscious strangers, helping Sam out of his bonds.

Much later that night in the local cemetery, Sam added the finishing touches to the small fire they had created to burn the cursed rabbit's foot.

"Alright. Now all we need is the cayenne pepper, the bones…" Sam trailed off as he stood up from his crouch and saw Dean scratching some scratcher's tickets.

Sam rolled his eyes.

"Dean. Seriously?"

"Hold on, like, one second. Daddy's trying to bring home the bacon!"

Dean continued scratching, but Alex reached over and grabbed the tickets out of Dean's hands, throwing them into the flames. Sam hid a small smile, while Dean just glared at his little sister. He reluctantly grabbed the rabbit's foot from inside his jacket pocket and held it up in front of him.

"Put the foot down, honey," said Bella, appearing up behind Dean.

He turned to look at her while Alex and Sam were already looking over at her.

"Look, you're not gonna shoot anyone. You see, I can read people pretty well. I mean, sure you're a thief, but-"

Dean was cut off by Bella shooting off her gun directly into Alex's right shoulder.

"Fuck!" cried out Alex, holding her shoulder as it burned with intense pain.

Sam stood beside her, his eyes wide.

"You- Son of a bitch!" yelled Dean, his eyes wide as he glanced at Bella.

"One more move and I pull the trigger. You've got the luck, Dean, I can't hit you. But as for your siblings, they're fair game. Especially little Alex, whom you always try to keep so safe. I bet she's never been shot even once in her life," said Bella.

"Fuck you, you crazy bitch," sneered Alex, gritting her teeth as the pain worsened and the blood from her wound dripped through her fingers and down her palms.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Dean. "You can't just go around shooting people like that!"

"Relax, I can't aim. It's just a shoulder flesh wound," said Bella.

"There's a bullet inside her shoulder!" yelled Sam.

Bella shrugged and turned her attention back to Dean. "Sorry. Now, please. Put the rabbit's foot on the ground and slowly step away from it."

"Okay, alright," said Dean.

He began to lower the rabbit's foot to the grass, but yelled out, "Think fast!" and threw it over to Bella, who caught it in her free, bare hand.

"Damn," whispered Bella.

She sighed and threw the cursed rabbit's foot into the still burning flames of the fire.

"Bye, folks," said Bella, waving her small fingers and walking away from them.

"You gonna be alright?" asked Dean, looking at Alex, who was now holding a bandanna to her shoulder to slow down the intense bleeding.

"Eh. One of you will have to bandage me up later," said Alex.

Sam smiled widely.

"I've got you, little sister. I'll take care of you for once in our lives."

"Son of a bitch! Bella sold the scratcher tickets I had hidden, that little slut!" yelled Dean.

Alex and Sam looked at each other, rolled their eyes simultaneously, and continued on towards the Impala, Dean grumbling and cursing the whole entire walk there.

Alex held her breath as Dean prepared to pull the bullet out of her shoulder.

"Ready, Lex?" he asked.

Alex nodded, grit her teeth hard, and Sam held her hand in his as Dean began pulling the bullet out. Alex squeezed Sam's hand as hard as she could until the bullet was completely gone and Dean placed it in a small dish before putting some gauze over the wound. He stood up from his chair and grabbed Alex's face, looking into her eyes, which were full of unshed tears.

"I'm sorry, baby," he said, kissing her forehead gently.

"C'mon, you need some sleep. Sam, Bobby, and I will start looking for some new jobs," said Dean.

Alex nodded and curled up on the bed in Bobby's guest room, closing her eyes and falling asleep quickly.

Dean sat with Bobby at Bobby's kitchen table, helping Bobby sterilize and make a few weapons for some hunts. Sam walked into the room, nodding at both of them.

"I found some activity in Ohio. Well, maybe," said Sam, holding up a few papers he had just recently printed off.

"What is it?" asked Dean, his eyes never leaving his handiwork.

"Um, a man commits suicide in a church, another man goes postal in a Hobby Lobby before the police can arrest him," explained Sam, his eyes skimming over the paper before looking back over at Bobby and Dean.

"Elizabethfield. It's some factory town in the middle of nowhere," continued Sam, knowing Dean would ask where the job was as his next question anyway.

"How's Alex?" asked Bobby, working on fixing the Colt up.

"She's doing alright. We're just worried that it'll become infected," said Sam.

"Nah, she'll be perfectly fine. Now c'mon. We're wastin' daylight," said Dean, standing up from his chair.

He grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair.

"Go grab Alex, boys. And if you kids run into anything, call me. Please," said Bobby, looking at the two boys.

"We will, Bobby. Don't you worry," reassured Sam.

He began the climb up the stairs to wake up Alex.

Once they were all in Ohio, Dean rented a motel room and carried Alex into the room, placing her on one of the beds.

"Dean, she looks horrible. Her skin's all clammy, she's super pale. I think her gunshot wound is getting infected," worried Sam.

He looked down at Alex's sleeping form as Dean glanced at her face.

"I know, man. Um, let's leave her a note that we're investigating and we'll be back soon. She'll be okay by herself for a little while, right?" asked Dean, looking over at Sam.

Sam shrugged.

"I don't know, Dean. I think one of us should probably stay here with her."

Dean shook his head.

"No, she'd want us to start on the job. C'mon, Sammy. Let's go."

Sam sighed, but grabbed a piece of paper and wrote out a note explaining where they were going and how long they would be gone.

Dean and Sam walked behind the Catholic priest as he spoke about the young man who had committed suicide earlier that week.

"Well, the insurance companies are done. It was a suicide."

The priest nodded his head towards the balcony above them, his face very somber and sad.

"That's where Andy did it. It was the very first time I'd seen him in weeks. He used to come and be here on time every single Sunday."

"Well, when did he stop coming?" asked Sam.

"Oh, probably about two months ago. Right around the time everything else started to change as well," reflected the pastor, looking back up at the balcony once again.

"Change how?" asked Sam, Dean jotting down notes in his little spiral notebook, standing beside Sam.

"Well, let's just this used to be a town you could say you were very proud of. People cared about one another. Andy actually used to sing in the choir and then one day, he just… wasn't Andy anymore. He was…"

The priest trailed off, not finding the words, so Sam filled one word in for him instead.

"Possessed?"

The priest looked at Sam, nodding slowly.

"You could say that. He gambled away all of his money, cheated on his wife. He even destroyed his own business. So yes, it's like a switch had flipped."

"Father, did you also happen to know the man who killed those folks in that hobby shop?" asked Sam.

"Oh, sure," nodded the priest. "Tony Perkins. Good man."

"Would you say his personality sort of changed one day too?" asked Sam.

The priest stared off in the distance for a while, but then looked at Sam, answering his previous question.

"Well, I guess I've never really thought of it that way. But yes, probably about the same time as Andy, about two months ago."

Dean nodded, closing his spiral notebook and putting it into his jacket pocket.

"Well, thank you, Father. We really appreciate all of your time," said Dean.

Alex woke up in a cold sweat, taking in her surroundings. She saw the small note on her bedside table, telling her where Sam and Dean had gone. She slowly stood up, but had to steady herself against the bedside table as she suddenly felt a wave of nausea and dizziness. Once it had finally passed, she made her way into the bathroom, which was a little too small for her liking. She felt very cold and shivered even more than she already was as her little, bare feet stepped onto the bathroom's tile floor. She winced at a sudden twinge of pain from her shoulder, but pushed it to the back of her mind as she slowly peeled off the gauze bandage from her shoulder. Her gunshot wound was really red and looked like it was swollen and inflamed. Alex reached up to touch it, but it was hot to the touch. Dried blood was caked around it and the skin tissue around it looked almost yellow.

"Fuck," she whispered, realizing that her wound was infected.

She suddenly leaned over the toilet seat, throwing up the contents of her stomach as the pain from her shoulder became too much to bear.

Dean unlocked the motel room's door and frowned when he didn't see Alex on her bed.

"Alex?" he called out, his body suddenly tense and on the alert for any sort of danger.

"In here," called out Alex.

Dean and Sam rushed into the bathroom, where they found Alex lying on the floor, her cheek pressed against the cold tile floor.

"Aww, Lex," said Dean, going to her and helping her sit up.

"I threw up three times in the last hour and a half. I don't feel well at all and my wound's infected," said Alex, pointing to her shoulder.

Dean looked at her shoulder, cursing silently when he saw how infected it really was.

"Okay, it's gonna be alright. We're gonna get this all cleaned up and taken care of. Can you stand up at all?" asked Dean.

Alex nodded and slowly stood up, but she fell against the sink when she felt dizzy.

"Alright, alright," said Sam, rushing over to help her.

He picked her up very gently, holding her in his arms and close to his chest.

"Okay. I'm gonna run to the store really fast and grab some stuff to get this all cleaned up. Sammy, stay here with Alex," ordered Dean.

Sam nodded and laid Alex down on the bed before removing his tie and kicking off his shoes. He then laid down right next to her and held her close to his chest as she shivered, due to her horrible fever.

"Shh," soothed Sam, stroking her hair lovingly.

Almost an hour later, Dean returned to the motel room, holding three shopping bags full of medicine and other things to help Alex heal. He set the bags down on the table and walked over to his siblings.

"Alright, here's the game plan. Sammy, I ran into an old hunter friend of mine while I was out, Richie. He's gotten some intel on this man named Trotta. I guess Trotta basically owns this town and he'll be at his bar tonight. So you're gonna go there while I stay here and take here of my sick little sister," explained Dean.

Sam nodded and stood up from the bed. Alex stirred and opened her eyes as Sam got up from the bed and she sat up. Sam stretched his arms above his head, but leaned over to Alex, kissing her on the forehead. He walked into the bathroom, getting ready to leave for the night. Dean grabbed the three bags full of stuff off of the table and walked over to where Alex was sitting. She winced at the pain in her shoulder as she adjusted her position.

"Alright, little sis. Let's get this all cleaned up."

Dean dug through one of the three bags and pulled out a large bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some more gauze bandages.

"Alright. This is gonna sting really bad, okay?"

Alex silently nodded and grabbed Dean's free hand as he placed the gauze drenched in hydrogen peroxide on Alex's infected wound. She sucked in a huge breath of air through her teeth, gritting them as it stung profusely. Once the pain had subsided, Alex allowed Dean to patch it back up and then she laid back down on the bed on her back.

"Alright, I'm headed out. Be back later. Feel better, sis," said Sam.

Dean threw him the Impala keys and they both listened from inside the motel room as Sam started up the Impala and drove off. Alex closed her eyes then, falling back asleep once again as Dean removed his shoes, jacket, and shirt, leaving him in just a wifebeater. He laid down next to Alex, kissing the side of her head as she laid next to him.

"I'm so sorry, Lex," he whispered, falling asleep next to her.

Sam stood around at the bar, people watching as he scoped everyone and everything out inconspicuously. He was drinking from his beer bottle when he watched one man pull out a gun in the middle of the bar. Sam slammed his beer down on the bar quickly ran through the crowd that was fleeing the scene as fast as possible. He tackled the man before he could shoot himself and quickly used one hand to pull out a small bottle of holy water. He flung a couple of drops on the man he had tackled, but nothing happened, proving he obviously wasn't a demon or possessed by one either. The man lying on the floor beneath Sam's body looked up at Sam, who was still holding him down.

"He slept with my wife," said the man, referring to the other man lying on the floor, whom he had just shot and killed only moments before.

"The bastard slept with my wife!" he screamed.

Sam looked at the bartender, who was staring straight at Sam, shock on her face.

"Call 911!" he yelled.

She nodded, grabbing the phone off of the hook.

Dean woke up to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He slowly sat up and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he answered, his voice still gruff with sleep.

"Dean. Richie's gone," said Sam.

Dean stood up then, suddenly more alert and awake.

"I'm thinking he probably just bailed," said Sam.

"No, Richie's a fucking dumbass. Um, I'll try and track him down. You just follow Trotta," said Dean.

"But Dean, Alex really needs one of us to be with her…"

"Look, Sam. We're here to do a job. Alex can handle herself."

He hung up his phone and began scrolling through his phone contacts, calling Richie. After multiple tries with no answer, he gave up, throwing on his coat and heading for the bar.

Dean walked into the bar, heading straight for the bar and the beautiful bartender standing behind it.

"What can I get you?" she asked him, smiling as he smirked up at her.

"Oh, anything really," replied Dean.

"Hmm. Anything? Well, what about coming back to my place right now?" she asked.

Dean's eyebrows lifted, shocked at how blatantly straightforward she was being.

"Well. Alright then."

She smiled, walking out from back behind the bar to meet Dean in front of it.

Dean walked behind the woman into a dark, musty basement with high ceilings, cement walls, and candles all around the place. She turned to him once they had reached the last step and gave him a small kiss on the lips, smiling as she pulled away.

"Make yourself comfortable," she whispered into his ear.

She stepped away from him and headed over to a corner of the room, throwing her jacket across the room where it landed perfectly on a piece of furniture. Dean walked over and stood in the middle of this huge room and looked at her back.

"Oh. I forgot to tell you, but Richie was a friend of mine. When I realized I could track the GPS in his cell phone, I swung by earlier and uh, gave him a proper burial. It's definitely better than rotting in some skank's basement," finished Dean.

The girl turned around, livid, and ran towards him, but was suddenly yanked backwards as if she had run into an invisible wall. She sat flat on her ass, while Dean lifted up a corner of the large rug she was currently sitting in the middle of, revealing a Devil's Trap drawn on the cement floor under the rug.

"Whoops. Isn't that a buzz kill?"

Dean stood up from his crouch, pulling out his book of exorcisms and incantations, beginning to read one from it, the old Latin flowing off of his tongue easily. She closed her eyes, forcing a tornado like wind to blow through the entire room. Dean's book suddenly flew out of his hands and she caused the only exit from the room to be blocked, leaving them both trapped down there.

"What are you laughing at? You're still trapped, bitch," said Dean.

"Well, yeah, but now, so are you. Bitch," she replied back to him, a gleam behind her eyes.

Sam scanned the bar room, his eyes looking for Dean. A prostitute sitting at the bar looked him over, licking her lips appreciatively. Sam ignored her, beginning to get worried, so he grabbed the male bartender's attention, waving his arm up slightly, flagging him down.

"Yes. What can I get you?" asked the bartender.

"Hi. Um, I'm looking for a guy. He was supposed to be here about an hour ago, probably acting very flirty. Have you happened to have seen him?" asked Sam.

"Well, maybe. That depends."

"Depends on what, exactly?" asked Sam, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

The bartender raised his eyebrows just slightly and Sam sighed, rolling his own eyes.

"Seriously? Jesus, the people in this damn town."

Sam fished his wallet from his back jeans pocket and placed two $20 bills in the man's open palm.

"He left with Kasey about 20 minutes ago. To her place for some Bible study."

"Can I have an address please?"

The bartender looked at Sam and Sam placed another $20 in his palm.

"The corner of Fifth and Clinton. Have fun."

He nodded at Sam before wiping his hands on his small towel and turning to place some drink orders. Sam headed outside of the bar, calling Alex on his way out.

Alex rolled over, wincing as her shoulder slightly burned from the movement. She heard her phone ringing shrilly on her bedside table, so she grabbed it and flipped it open to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Alex, Dean's in some serious trouble. I'm so sorry he left you alone when you needed to be taken care of, but how's your shoulder?" asked Sam.

"It's completely horrible, Sammy," said Alex, her eyes filling up with tears as she realized that her oldest brother had abandoned her just when she needed him the most. She ran her free hand through her long, blonde hair, trying to hold the tears back so she wouldn't seem pathetic.

"I know, baby, I know. But he needs our help, honey," said Sam.

"Where are you?"

"The corner of Fifth and Clinton. Thanks, sis."

"No problem. I'll be there in a few," replied Alex.

She hung up her phone and stood up, wincing again as more pain shot through her right shoulder. She gingerly pulled on a sweatshirt over her black tank top and found a bottle of Ibuprofen in one of the plastic grocery bags Dean had left behind on the table for her. She popped six of them in her mouth, dry swallowed them all, and slipped on her Converse tennis shoes. Finally, she walked outside, hijacked the nearest unoccupied car, and drove off to the address Sam had told her.

When Alex was halfway to the address Sam had given her, Sam called her.

"What's up, Sam?"

"I went to the address, Kasey's apartment. She's not there, but I found some sulfur on the windowsills. But I talked to the priest and he's taking me to some other place where they might be," spit out Sam.

"Um, okay then. Where is that, Sammy?" asked Alex, beginning to sound frustrated.

"I don't know. Track my cellphone, okay, sis?"

Alex sighed, but nodded.

"Got it. I'll meet you wherever."

Alex hung up quickly and began plugging in information into her cell phone to track Sam's own cell phone, just like Sam had taught her to do ages ago.

Sam climbed out of the priest's passenger side of his car, slamming the car door closed behind him as he climbed out. They were parked out front of an old looking wooden cottage with ivy and green leaves surrounding the place. As they walked up, Sam began yelling for his older brother.

"Dean!"

Dean sat across the room from Kasey, looking at her, when they both heard Sam's yelling. Dean smiled, a triumphant smirk permanently placed on his lips.

"Looks like you win," said Kasey, her face showing no signs of emotion.

Dean quickly stood up as banging sounded, loudly, from right above them. Once Dean's back was turned to head up the stairs, Kasey stood up as well.

Sam slammed his fist against the door once last time before sighing and turning away. He looked at the priest.

"You take that way," said Sam, pointing to the left and then heading towards the right.

He walked around the back of this extraordinarily large cottage, hearing Dean's yells.

"Sammy, down here! The basement caved in!"

Sam hurried towards the sound of Dean's voice, leaning over a small grate outside and seeing Dean's face right down below it.

"Hey, hold on, okay? We're coming," said Sam.

"Who's we? Alex?"

"No, I'm here with the father. Alex is on her way to help though," explained Sam.

Dean looked back at Kasey for a few seconds, but her face gave nothing away. He looked back up at Sam.

"Sam, be careful. Please," said Dean.

Sam's eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he stood up from his slight crouch. He pulled out his bottle of holy water and slowly walked around the corner, running into the father. The father's eyes quickly flickered from his regular blue to solid black and just when he raised his arm to fling Sam across the yard, a statue behind them was shot. The two men turned slightly to look and saw both Bobby and Alex standing beside them, Bobby holding the newly finished and refurbished Colt in his grip. The father smirked and flung both of them aside. He then flung Sam onto the top of their cars before kicking the cottage door open and entering the house.

Sam sat up as quickly as he could manage and jumped off the hoods of the cars, wincing as he landed. He rushed over to check on Alex and Bobby.

"Bobby, Alex. Are you guys alright?"

Bobby nodded, but handed Sam the gun, the Colt.

"Just go," said Bobby.

Sam nodded, but then looked over at Alex.

"Sammy, I'm fine, alright?"

Sam looked her over and saw that her gunshot wound was healing, but that her left shoulder was now dislocated.

"Alex, I'm not leaving you like this," said Sam.

"Sam, I've got her. Help Dean," chimed in Ruby, who stood beside all of their cars.

Sam looked over at her and Ruby nodded, so Sam rushed into the house.

Dean stood in the middle of the basement room, watching as the priest kicked and crashed through the rubble that had caused the basement to cave in in the first place. The priest stepped directly into the large room, kicking a few small rocks out of his way as he walked inside. Dean charged towards him, but with just a wave of his fingers, Dean flew against the wall. The priest then broke the seal that still trapped Kasey and she smiled, reaching for him and pulling him in close for a very passionate kiss. Dean managed to stand up as they were both still making out and he looked between the both of them.

"You two? Really?" he asked, motioning between the both of them using his index finger.

"For centuries. We've been to hell and back. Literally," said the priest.

Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Dean by the throat, lifting him off the ground as he began strangling him.

"Don't kill him, let's just go," pleaded Kasey.

She looked to Dean and then back to the priest.

"Please," she pleaded.

As Dean continued to struggle for breath, Sam suddenly appeared, shooting the priest in the shoulder with the Colt. He fell to the ground, dead. Sam then aimed the gun at Kasey, a murderous glare in his eyes.

"Sam, wait!" yelled Dean, but it was far too late as Sam had already shot off the gun, killing Kasey as well.

Dean looked over at his little brother, who still looked murderous and cold.

Sam and Dean climbed out of the cottage and the rubble that had caused the basement to cave in. They ran over to Alex and Bobby.

"Alex! Holy shit, what are you doing out here?" asked Dean.

"Saving your damn ass. Certainly not abandoning you in your moment of need," answered Alex, her face cold as she looked up at her oldest brother.

Dean stepped back from her and Sam rushed in to help her.

"Alex, we have to pop your shoulder back into place. Are you ready?" asked Sam.

Alex nodded and braced herself for the onslaught of pain headed for her. Sam grabbed her shoulder and quickly popped it back into place. Alex let out a scream of pain through her gritted teeth and groaned after it was over. She suddenly leaned over and threw up the contents of her stomach onto the grass beside her. Her eyes closed from exhaustion. Sam quickly tried to pick her up, but Dean beat him to it.

"I've got her, Sammy. Please, let me do it."

Sam silently nodded and began walking towards the Impala with Bobby as Dean picked Alex's limp form up from the grass and hauled her into his arms gently. He looked down at her sleeping, angelic face and leaned down, kissing her temple.

"I'm sorry I left you," he whispered into her hair as he carried her into the Impala's backseat.

Alex awoke the next morning with sunlight streaming through the motel room curtains. She groaned at the pain in her shoulder once again, but noticed that it was more of a dull ache than the burn from the infection she was more used to. She looked over at the sleeping beside her, fully expecting it to be Sam, but instead it was Dean sleeping beside her. She sat up and Dean rolled over, awake as well.

"I'm surprised you're even here with me right now. When I need to be taken care of, you tend to run and hide," sneered Alex, slowly standing up and getting her things gathered so she could go take a shower.

Dean grabbed her wrist quickly, pulling her back to face him.

"Alex, listen to me. I'm so sorry I didn't stay here with you last night. I know you needed me, but I fucked it up. A lot. But please, don't stay mad at me. I only have so much time left with you and Sammy," said Dean, his eyes welling up with tears at the end of his sentence.

Alex's eyes were also filled with tears as she silently nodded and sat on Dean's lap, hugging him.

"I'm sorry, Alex, I'm so sorry," said Dean.

Early in the morning, Dean was driving the Impala into a sleepy little town, arguing with Sam as Alex sat in the backseat, trying to ignore their fighting.

"I don't understand, Dean. Why not?" yelled Sam.

"Because I said so," answered Dean.

"But we've got the Colt now."

"Sam-"

"We can summon the crossroads demon, pull the gun on her, and force her to let you out of the deal!"

"We don't even know if that will work! All you're pitching me right now is a bunch of ifs and maybes and that's not good enough because if you we screw with this deal, you die!" yelled Dean.

"And if we don't screw with this, you die!"

"Sam, enough! I'm not having this conversation!"

"Why? Because you said so?"

"Yes, exactly. Because I said so."

"Well, you know what? You're not Dad," yelled Sam.

The car was suddenly very silent as Dean looked directly at Sam and Alex looked between both of her brothers, her eyes very wide.

"Yeah, but I am the oldest. And I'm doing what's best, so you're gonna let this go, do you understand me?" asked Dean, looking Sam straight in the face.

Sam composed himself, reigning in his anger and frustration and looking away from Dean's gaze and out the window to the dreary world outside. The car was silent for a few more moments until Alex finally spoke up from the backseat.

"Um, so. This psychotic killer rips victims apart with, um, brute-like ferocity. But the lunar cycle's right, so if it's actually a werewolf, we don't have very long. This Friday will be the last time it changes for a whole month."

"Two days. No sweat. No sweat at all," said Dean.

He pushed his foot down on the gas pedal, speeding up.

Dean, Alex, and Sam entered the victim's hospital room and he looked up as they all approached him.

"Hi, Dane?" asked Alex.

The man in the hospital bed nodded and the three siblings approached him.

"Dane, we're detectives. Plant, Page, and Peyson," said Dean.

Dane nodded.

"Yeah, I've been expecting you all morning. You're the sketch artists, right?"

Sam looked confused, but Alex went with the flow of things.

"Yes, of course. Absolutely. These two," Alex motioned to Dean and Sam, "are the best in the business."

The boys shot Alex dirty glares, but she continued on the conversation like it was nothing.

"But before we get to that, we'd like to know how you got away last night," finished Alex.

"Um, I honestly have no idea. I was hiding and he… found me. He was coming straight for me and then he just… stopped. And stared at me with this blank look. After that, he just took off running," finished Dane.

"Okay. Um," Sam pulled out his small spiral notebook and a pen from his jacket pocket, "we're gonna need every physical detail you can remember."

Sam pulled the cap of the pen off with his teeth and waited, listening as Dane spoke.

"Um, alright. He was about six feet tall, dark hair. Maybe blue colored eyes, but I'm not sure. I mean, it was really dark."

Dean and Alex nodded.

"Sure, sure," said Dean.

"Did they seem, um, animalish?" asked Alex.

"Excuse me?" asked Dane, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion.

"What about his teeth? Did you notice anything strange about them?" asked Sam.

"Um, no. They were just teeth," responded Dane.

"Teeth. Alright," said Sam, drawing in his little notebook once again.

"Alright, look here, folks. He was just a normal, run of the mill guy, with normal eyes and teeth and fingernails!" yelled Dane.

He began to get choked up, so the siblings just looked at him.

"Look, those were my brothers, alright? And this man… he killed my brothers. So how would you feel?"

Dane looked over at Sam, who looked down at his notebook for a second before looking back up at Dane's face.

"I can't imagine anything worse."

Dean looked extremely guilty at Sam's admission, so Alex continued talking to Dane.

"Look, I know this isn't easy for you at all, but if you could remember anymore physical details, which would help us catch this man a whole lot faster."

"Well, there was one more little thing. He had a tattoo on his arm of a cartoon character. It was, um, that guy who's always chasing the roadrunner."

"Wiley Coyote!" said Dean, pointing and snapping his fingers at Dane.

"Yep, that's him," said Dane.

Sam nodded and finished drawing his sketch, putting away his notebook.

"Thanks for all of your help, Dane. We'll do our very best to nab this guy for you," said Dean.

Dane nodded at all of them as they left his hospital room and walked out of the hospital completely and into the fresh morning air.

"So it's obviously not a werewolf," said Sam, as they walked away from the hospital towards the parked Impala.

"Yeah, so what the hell is it?" asked Dean.

"It's, uh…"

"Could be a…" began both Alex and Sam at the same time and then they both stopped, neither one having any sort of explanation.

"Yeah, me neither," said Dean.

The next morning, Sam, Dean, and Alex were back at the hospital, but this time, they were there to talk to a young woman. They waited outside the door as the doctor finished talking to her first. The doctor walked over to them and nodded once he was finished talking to the victim.

"Detectives."

"Doctor Garrison," said Dean, acknowledging the doctor.

"What the hell is going on around here?" he asked, his hands now placed on his hips. "My whole town's going insane."

"We'll let you know as soon as we know something," promised Sam.

The doctor nodded and gently pushed past them, leaving the room completely. The siblings walked over to the woman's bedside.

"Mrs. Watson? Hi," said Dean, holding up his badge as they all approached her bedside. "We just have a couple of questions to ask you, ma'am."

"Do we really have to go over this whole thing again?" she asked, her eyes bubbling over with a whole new set of fresh tears.

"Mrs. Watson, can you tell us how you got away?" asked Alex, her face showing the utmost sympathy for the poor woman.

She nodded and looked down at her hands before looking back up at all of them again.

"I didn't eat nearly as much as Kent did. So I wasn't as out of it. When the old woman was… carving up Kent, I shoved her and then she fell and cracked her head open on the stove."

She began crying once more.

"She's dead, right? I, I killed her?"

"Do you have any idea why she would do this to you?" asked Alex, ignoring her questions.

"No. One minute, she's just a sweet old lady and the next minute, she was like a monster."

"Can you remember anything else?" asked Sam, gently.

Mrs. Watson thought for a quick second before answering them.

"Um, yeah, actually. Did you happen to find a little girl there? By any chance?"

"A little girl?" asked Alex, her tone laced with obvious confusion.

"I thought I saw her outside the window. But then she just disappeared, vanished, into thin air. It must have been the drugs or something," said Mrs. Watson.

"Um, this disappearing girl. What did she happen to look like?" asked Dean.

"Um, she had this dark, dark hair and really pale skin. She was probably around eight. It was such a beautiful child, it was odd to see her in the middle of something so horrible."

"We understand. Thank you for being so brave, Mrs. Watson. We really appreciate all of your help," said Alex.

She gave her a gentle smile before following her siblings out of the hospital room.

Dean pulled the Impala up to the old woman's house and climbed out behind Alex and Sam. They all walked in together and began inspecting their separate corners of the small house.

"Well, there's no sulfur over here," said Dean.

"Well, the EMF is going nuts," said Sam, who was standing over by one of the many windows, running the EMF meter over the lace curtains.

"What the hell do you make of that?" asked Dean.

Sam shrugged his shoulders, but Alex piped up.

"Actually, I have a theory. Well, sort of."

"Hit it, sis," said Dean, walking over to his duffel bags that rested on the little kitchen table.

"Well, I've been thinking about fairy tales."

Sam started laughing, but Alex punched him in the arm, hard.

"Oh, that's nice. Do you think about fairy tales often?" asked Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes.

"No, Dean, I'm talking about the murders. A guy and a girl hiking through the woods and an old lady tries to eat them? That's obviously Hansel and Gretel. And then we've got the three brothers, arguing over how to build houses. And then they were attacked by the big bad wolf."

"Three little pigs," answered Sam.

Alex nodded excitedly.

"But wait. I thought all those things ended with happily ever after?" asked Dean.

"Oh, no, no. Not the originals, at least. See, the Grimm brothers stuff was kind of like the folklore of its day. Sex, violence, cannibalism. And it got sanitized over the years, turning into Disney films and bedtime stories," explained Alex, shrugging on her leather jacket.

"So do you think these murders are… what? A re-enactment?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, that's a little crazy there, sis," agreed Sam.

"As crazy as what? Every single day of our entire lives?"

Sam and Dean stopped what they were doing, but then they nodded their agreement.

"Touché," said Dean.

He grabbed a duffel bag from off of the little kitchen table they were resting on and threw it over his shoulder.

"So how's the creepy ghost girl involved?" he asked.

"Um, well. She must have been here for a reason. I'm willing to bet that she was at the construction site too," offered Alex.

"Well, we're off to do some research now, aren't we?" asked Sam.

Alex smiled slyly, nodding her head as she walked over to the front door of the small cabin and walked outside towards the Impala. Dean groaned, rolling his eyes as he followed his siblings out the door.

Alex walked out of the local library branch and into the blinding sun as she approached Sam and Dean, who were waiting outside of the library's front entrance.

"So?" asked Sam, following Alex as she walked ahead of them.

"I checked every record. Found the usual amount of violent childhood deaths for a town this size, but zero were little pale skinned, black haired little girls," answered Alex.

Dean and Sam nodded as they all continued walking onto a small path through a little trail of trees and bushes.

"So please tell me you guys have got something really good because I have just wasted the last six hours of my life," said Alex.

"Well, kind of, I guess. Have you ever heard of Lillian Bailey? She's, uh, a British medium from the 1930's? Well, she had this thing for trances. She would go into these unconscious states, and get this. Her thoughts and actions were completely controlled by spirits," explained Sam.

"Like a ghost puppet master," chimed in Dean.

"Well, alright then. So do we think that's what this girl is doing? Sending wolf boy and grandma into trances and having them kill people?" asked Alex.

"Yeah, maybe. Probably kind of like spirit hypnosis," said Sam.

"Fairy tale trances. Huh. That's pretty weird, even for us," said Dean.

He stopped walking once he saw Alex and Sam looking at the rather large house that rested a few yards away from them.

"Look," said Alex, pointing towards the front porch of the house.

Dean looked over and saw a pumpkin resting on the porch's front railing.

"Yeah, so? It's pretty close to Halloween."

"No, man. It's like Cinderella. You know, the pumpkin that turns into a carriage before midnight, the mice that help her get ready," explained Sam.

Dean looked at him, his eyebrows raised.

"Dude. Could you be anymore gay?"

Sam shrugged, but Alex just rolled her eyes.

"Dean, Sammy had to sit through all of those Disney movies with me because we are twins and whatever Daddy's little princess wanted, Daddy's little princess got," smirked Alex, winking at Dean as she headed toward the house, which was across the street from them.

Dean unlocked the front door of the house using his knife and the door squeaked as Alex slowly pushed it open as she walked inside.

"Hey, Sammy. Who knows, maybe you'll find your fairy godmother," laughed Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes once again and smacked Dean's arm. He pouted his lips, rubbing his arm where she had hit him.

"Suck it up," she whispered.

She headed into one corner of the house with Dean right behind her and Sam stepped into the next room when suddenly, they all heard a noise from farther in the house. All three of them turned around, looked at one another, and then reached inside their jackets, pulling out their guns and locking them into place. Dean shut the front door and followed his siblings farther into the house. They listened closely, following the clinking noises they heard. They were led into the kitchen on the other side of the house, where a young woman was handcuffed to her oven.

"You have to help me, she's a lunatic," cried the woman.

Sam knelt down on the dirty floor beside her to help her, grabbing her wallet from beside her and looking for identification.

"Who is?" asked Alex.

"My stepmom. She just flipped out, screaming at me, beating me up. She chained me up in here and then just left. I think she left, at least."

"Where is she now?" asked Sam.

"I have no clue," sobbed the woman, bursting into tears.

Dean looked over into the hallway for a split second and his eyes widened as he saw the little black haired, pale faced little girl Mrs. Watson had described to them earlier.

"Alex. Sam," whispered Dean.

They all looked over into the hallway and saw the little girl peeking around the corner now. Once she saw them looking over at her, she disappeared back around the corner. Dean and Alex slowly got up, walking towards the little girl's last appearance spot and walked through the living room until they saw her once again, standing in the middle of the next room over, looking straight at the both of them, her face an emotionless mask. Then, she disappeared once again, so Dean and Alex followed her into the sun room. They walked farther into the sun room until they were standing in the middle of the room, only a few feet away from the little girl. She disappeared one last time, and they quickly spun around to see the small girl standing behind them now.

"And so. Who are you?" asked Alex.

The girl just stared at them for a few more seconds before flickering in and out, then just full on disappearing, leaving an apple in her place. Dean bent over and picked up the apple, holding it in his hands.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked Alex.

Dean and Alex waited across the street as Sam helped the woman from inside the house get help. A few minutes later, he jogged over to them from across the street.

"The paramedics just picked up Cinderella," said Sam as he approached them.

Dean threw Sam the apple he and Alex had collected from the little girl.

"So what's this nice, shiny red apple mean, fairy tale boy?"

Sam threw Dean a sarcastic smirk before answering his question.

"I'm guessing that it's probably Snow White."

"Snow White? Aww, I saw that movie," said Alex.

She began walking towards the car's passenger side door when she suddenly stopped.

"Alex. What is it?" asked Dean.

"Snow White, of course! The evil stepmom gives Snow White a poisoned apple, which puts her into a deep sleep. Guys, that little girl we keep seeing must be in a coma, not dead!"

"To the hospital we go then," said Dean, climbing into the driver's side of the Impala.

"Nice job, Alex," said Sam.

He gave her a fist bump as they both climbed into the Impala as well.

"No, I'm really sorry. We don't have any comatose little girls here," said the nurse, who was standing behind the nurse's station desk that the siblings were asking for help from.

"It's mostly old guys. And, well, Callie. But she's been around since before I started here," commented the nurse.

"Callie?" asked Dean.

"Yep, Callie. It's so sad really and poor Dr. Garrison, he just… won't give up on her."

"Is that another patient of his or something?" asked Alex, curiously.

"Oh, no. That's his daughter," answered the nurse.

Alex, Sam, and Dean exchanged curious glances before thanking the nurse and heading towards Callie's room.

Alex, Sam, and Dean watched and listened from the doorway of Callie's room as Dr. Garrison sat beside Callie's bed, reading her fairy tales from a book of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Callie was asleep, deep into a coma, as she lay there in her hospital bed. Her long, black hair was flowing beside her and her skin was as pale as snow. Dr. Garrison looked up, noticing the three siblings standing there in her doorway. He removed his reading glasses, closed the fairy tale book, and patted his daughter gently on the hand before standing up and walking over to the three of them.

"Can I help you, Detectives?"

"Oh. Well, we just heard that Callie is your daughter and we wanted to say how very sorry we are to hear that," explained Sam.

"Oh. Well, thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Doctor Garrison left the three of them and began walking down the hallway and they followed him, only a few steps behind him.

"We're, um, actually headed this way, as well. If you don't mind us walking with you," said Alex, shooting a charming smile his way.

Dr. Garrison smiled gently back at her and nodded his head as they walked along beside him.

"So, um, how long has Callie been like that?" asked Alex, her tone soft and gentle.

"She's, uh, been here since she was eight years old. She swallowed some, um, bleach. Never figured out how she got her little hands on that bottle of bleach. Anyway, my wife found her and got her to the ER. And I was on call at that point," explained Dr. Garrison.

"Uh huh. And your wife. Is that Callie's stepmother?" asked Dean.

Dr. Garrison suddenly stopped walking and looked over at Dean, biting his lip before answering.

"Actually, yes. How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess," said Dean, smiling sheepishly.

"Hmm, yes. Well, Julie was the only mother Callie ever even knew. My wife passed away last year. It's just my daughter and me now. She's all I've got left in this world."

Dr. Garrison looked at them for a second before clearing his throat to break the moment.

"Um, if you'll excuse me…"

Dr. Garrison walked away from them down the hallway and turning the corner.

"We've gotta find a way to stop Callie," said Alex, once Dr. Garrison was out of sight and earshot.

Alex and Sam walked through the hospital while Dean ran around town to save the little girl from the next story Dr. Garrison had read Callie earlier, Little Red Riding Hood. They were in search of Dr. Garrison once again so that he could help them save Callie and everyone else in the small and sleepy little town that was currently being terrorized. The twins rounded a corner and saw him, so they rushed down the hallway towards him.

"Dr. Garrison, we need your help," called out Sam as they both approached him.

"Sure. What can I do for the two of you?" asked Dr. Garrison.

"Well, um, it's actually about Callie. Alright, Doctor. This isn't gonna be easy to hear, but what happened to Callie was not an accident," explained Alex.

"I'm really sorry, but it's true. There are things you don't know, Doctor. About your wife," finished Sam, following Dr. Garrison down the hallway they had just come from as he walked away from them.

Alex and Sam followed close behind him, not letting him get away.

"My wife?"

"Doctor, your wife poisoned Callie," said Sam.

"Why would you say something so completely horrible to me?" asked Dr. Garrison, turning to look at the twins.

"Because. Doctor, we need your help, please," begged Alex.

"Stay away from me and my daughter," said Dr. Garrison, slamming Callie's room door closed in their faces.

Sam opened the door a few seconds later, Alex following him into the room. Dr. Garrison stood up from his chair, coming towards them.

"I'm calling security."

Sam placed his arm out in front of Dr. Garrison, halting his progress towards the door and blocking his way.

"Look, we don't have time to do this gently. People are going to get hurt because of Callie. Callie is going to hurt them," said Sam, his voice menacing and deep.

"What in the hell are you talking about?" asked Dr. Garrison.

"Look, you're gonna think we're crazy, but please, understand me. Your daughter, Callie, is still around here. But she's only a spirit," explained Alex, slowly.

Dr. Garrison glanced over at his comatose daughter lying in her hospital bed. He walked over to her bedside and looked down at her for a few moments before sitting down in a chair closest to her bedside, but also closest to the hospital room's door and looking up at Sam and Alex, who were now standing on the other side of the room and looking over at him and his child.

"So you've seen her too, then?" asked Dr. Garrison.

Sam and Alex stared over at him in complete disbelief.

"What? You've seen her?" asked Alex.

She watched Dr. Garrison stand up and walk over to Callie's bedside, staring down at her.

"I sensed her. Callie, her presence, scent. I even saw her standing at the foot of my bed, but I never… believed in it. I honestly thought I was dreaming, I-"

"It wasn't a dream," cut in Sam. "She looks like she did when she was eight. White dress, red ribbon in her hair. She's been trying to talk to you."

"You're not cops, are you?"

"No," answered Alex.

"Who are you?"

"We're someone who knows a little bit about this type of thing," answered Sam.

"Well, what you said about my wife, poisoning Callie…" began Dr. Garrison, but then he stopped, his eyes welling with tears.

"Sir, Callie told us herself. Not in so many words, but in her own way, she told us," explained Sam.

"My wife loved Callie, so how is that possible? You know what, no, no. I don't, nor won't, believe you," said Dr. Garrison.

"Look, sir. Callie is killing people. She's angry and she's desperate because nobody will listen to her. So you, sir, have to listen to her, you must. Please, listen to your daughter," begged Alex, looking at Dr. Garrison and pleading with him by using her eyes.

Dr. Garrison sat on the edge of Callie's bed beside her feet and began to softly speak to her. Alex and Sam stood close to the foot of the bed in case something randomly went wrong.

"Callie? Callie, it's me, Dad. Daddy. Is it true? Did Mommy do that to you?"

Dr. Garrison paused, his eyes welling up with some more tears before he continued on with his speech to his child.

"I know… I know I wasn't listening before, but I am now, darling. Daddy's right here. Please, honey, is there any way you can tell me?"

Dr. Garrison grabbed Callie's hand and Alex nudged Sam when the little girl appeared from behind Dr. Garrison.

"Doctor," whispered Sam, nudging his chin towards the little girl.

Dr. Garrison turned around to face the younger version of Callie. He reached his arm out towards her.

"Is it true?" he asked her, his voice a small whisper as he stared at his little girl.

The little girl nodded her head silently. Dr. Garrison's tears spilled over onto his cheeks as he looked at his little girl.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, baby. But listen to me, you've gotta stop what you're doing, alright? You're hurting people. I know everything now, okay? I know the truth and now, it's time for you to let go. And it's time for me to let you go," said Dr. Garrison.

He stood up and kissed his little girl on the forehead, listening as her heart monitors stopped beeping completely. Alex grabbed Sam's hand, squeezing it tightly as she watched Callie finally pass away. Sam squeezed her hand back and pulled Alex into his chest, holding her close as he watched Dr. Garrison cry over his little girl now being gone.

Later that night, as Alex and Dean lay sleeping peacefully, Sam was awake and dressed. He grabbed his small backpack and leaned over Alex's sleeping form, gently kissing her forehead as she slept soundly. He quietly slipped out of the motel room, glancing at Dean quickly before he slipped away into the night.

Sam threw one of his many fake I.D.'s into the crossroads box, threw it back into the hole he had previously dug moments before, and shoved all of the dirt back over the top of the hole as he waited for the crossroads demon to appear.

"Well, well. Little Sammy Winchester. I'm touched. I mean, your brother's been to see me twice, but you. I've never had the pleasure. So what can I do for you, Sam?"

Sam pulled the Colt out of the waistband of his jeans and pointed it straight at her chest. She looked down at the gun briefly, then looked back up at Sam, smirking.

"Hmm. That's not the original Colt. Where did you get that?"

Sam continued staring her down and the demon's face turned to one of understanding.

"Ruby. Had to be. God, she is just such a pain in my ass, but she'll get what's coming to her. You can count on that."

"That's enough. Now, I came here to make you an offer," said Sam.

"You're gonna make me an offer? That's adorable."

"You can let Dean out of his deal right now. He lives, I live, and you live. Everyone goes home happy. Or…"

Sam loaded and cocked the Colt, aiming it at her chest once again.

"You stop breathing. Permanently."

The crossroads demon smiled, walking, around the circle and trading places with Sam.

"So much tough talk. And I have to tell you, it's not very convincing. I mean, come on, Sam. Do you really even wanna break the deal?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know. Aren't you tired of cleaning up Dean's messes? Aren't you and Alex tired of being bossed around like snot-nosed little children? You're both stronger than Dean. You're better than him. Admit it. You're here, going through the motions, but both you and little Alex will be so relieved when Dean's finally gone."

"Shut your mouth," yelled Sam.

"You can finally be free."

"Alright, enough of your crap. Let Dean out of his deal. Now."

She shook her head.

"Sorry, sweetheart. But your brother's an adult. He made that deal of his own free will, fair and square. It's ironclad."

"Every deal can be broken," said Sam.

"Nope. Not this one."

"Fine. Then I'll kill you. You're gone and so is the deal."

The demon laughed, throwing her head back as she did so.

"Huh, Well, guess again, lover. Sam, I'm just a saleswoman. I got a boss just like everybody else and he holds the contract. Not me. He really wants Dean's soul, bad, and believe me, he's not going to let this soul go."

Sam sighed, but shot her straight through the forehead anyway, feeling absolutely no remorse.

Dean was driving the Impala to their next job as Alex sat in the back, and Sam was in the passenger seat. Dean snuck a quick glance at Sam before speaking.

"So. There's a bullet missing from the Colt. Either one of you want to tell me how that happened?"

Alex looked over at Sam.

"You went after it, didn't you, Sam? The damn crossroads demon after I told you not to," yelled Dean.

Sam just shrugged.

"You shot her, Sam?" asked Alex.

Sam nodded slowly.

"She was being a smartass!"

"So does that mean I'm out of my deal or what?" asked Dean, hesitantly.

"Don't you think I would've mentioned that little fact, Dean? No. Someone else holds the damn contract," answered Sam.

"Who?" asked Alex.

"She didn't say."

"Well, we should find out who. Our best lead, of course, would have been the crossroads demon, but-" began Alex, but Dean cut her off abruptly.

"It was a fucking stupid risk and you shouldn't have done it, alright?"

Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes, turning to look out of his window once again.

"I would've done it," whispered Alex, under her breath.

She leaned her head against the cold glass of her backseat window and Dean looked at her through his rearview mirror, having heard her little comment. He sighed.

"Well, I don't understand. I already went through all of this with the other detectives," said Mrs. Case, the aunt of the victim whose death they were investigating.

"Right. Well, uh, we're from the sheriff's department, not the police department. You know, two completely different departments," explained Dean.

Mrs. Case gave him a very strange look and Dean's smile faded. He cleared his throat as Alex and Sam continued the questions.

"So, Mrs. Case," began Sam, but the older woman stopped him.

"Please. Miss Case."

She looked Sam over, smiling and licking her lips as she did so, causing Alex to laugh. Mrs. Case then glared at Alex, so Alex dropped her smile and opened up her small spiral notebook to jot down some quick notes about the victim's case.

"Okay, um, Miss Case, you were the one who found your niece, right?" asked Sam.

Miss Case nodded and launched into her story.

"I came home and she was in the shower."

"Drowned?" asked Alex.

"Well, so the coroner says. Now you tell me. How can someone drown in the shower?"

"How would you describe Sheila's behavior in the days before her death? I mean, did she seem frightened? Maybe she said something out of the ordinary," volunteered Sam.

Miss Case thought for a moment and then realization dawned upon her face.

"Wait a second. You're working for Alexa, aren't you?"

Sam and Alex looked at Dean for help answering her question, so Dean nodded and smiled, laughing.

"Well, yep, you caught us. Alexa is our great friend," replied Dean.

"Well, why didn't you just say so? Alexa has been just such a comfort."

Miss Case sat down in her pink armchair, placing the picture of Sheila that she had been holding to her chest and set it back down onto her end table.

"But I'm sorry, I believed the case was solved."

"Uh, well, no. Not quite yet," answered Sam, sheepishly.

"I see. Well, yes, Sheila did mention something quite strange right before she passed. She said she saw a boat. One minute it was there, but then it was gone the very next moment. Like it had just disappeared right before her very own eyes. You think it could be a ghost ship?" asked Miss Case.

"Alexa thinks it could be. A ghost ship, that is."

"Well, um. It could be," said Sam.

Miss Case smiled up at him.

"What a crazy old broad," said Dean, as they walked alongside the harbor.

"Why? Because she believes in ghosts?" asked Sam.

"Aww, look at Sammy sticking up for his little girlfriend. You cougar hound," teased Alex, nudging Sam's shoulder.

"Bite me," said Sam.

He grabbed Alex's arm and pulled her under his shoulder and into his armpit, mussing the top of her head to mess up her once perfectly curly mop of hair.

"Ugh, Sam. I'm gonna kill you!" yelled Alex.

She stopped walking once Sam had let her out from under his arm, but the boys continued walking on, laughing at her. Alex smiled as they looked ahead, getting a running start, and launching herself onto Sam's back. He caught her and she locked her arms tightly around his neck, choking him. Dean looked at them, laughing, as Sam struggled to catch a breath with Alex's arms crushing his windpipe. Eventually, after a few minutes, Alex loosened her hold on Sam's neck and kissed his cheek.

"I love you, Sammy."

"I love you too, Alex."

She gently slid off of Sam's back and took her usual place of walking in the middle, between her two siblings.

"So who's this Alexa kid? We got a new player in town or something?" asked Dean.

"Maybe, maybe not. But it doesn't matter, we're still gonna do our job," said Sam.

"Speaking of our job, this so called 'ghost ship' pops up every 37 years in this small town, just like clockwork. Every 37 years, a rash of weirdo, dry-land drownings also pops up," piped in Alex.

"So whatever's happening here is just getting started, basically," said Dean.

Sam nodded begrudgingly.

"The lore is a whole bunch of death omens. The Griffin, the Flying Dutchman," explained Alex.

"So what exactly happens here? You see this ship and then a few short hours later, you just die? So what's the next step then?" asked Dean.

"Well, we've gotta ID the boat," said Sam.

The three of them hustled up some concrete steps to the curb, where the Impala was parked, but the Impala was no longer there.

"Isn't this where we parked?" asked Dean, stepping into the middle of the currently empty street while Alex and Sam stayed standing on the curb.

"We thought so," the twins said in unison.

"Where the hell is my car? Somebody stole my car!" yelled Dean, walking back onto the curb.

He bent over at his waist, taking long, deep breaths as he began hyperventilating.

"Whoa, Dean. Please calm down. Take it easy," said Alex, helping him stand back up straight.

"A 1967 black Chevy Impala? Was that yours?" asked a woman as she approached.

Alex rolled her eyes when she saw who the woman was.

"Bella," said Sam.

She smiled and then looked over at Dean.

"I'm really sorry, but I had that particular car towed. I mean, it was in a tow-away zone."

"No, it wasn't! But what the hell are you even doing here?" asked Dean.

Bella just shrugged.

"Oh, a little yachting."

Alex scoffed and looked at Bella.

"You're Alexa. You've been working with that old lady."

Bella smiled.

"Gert's an old friend. There's a lot of lovely old women like Gert up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I sell them charms. The comfort I provide for them is very real," said Bella, beginning to walk away from them.

"Scamming poor old women. How do you even sleep at night?" asked Sam.

Bella turned back around to face all of them.

"On silk sheets, rolling naked in money. Really, Sam, it's not that difficult," answered Bella.

"You are such a horrible person," said Alex.

"Really, Alex, I expect the attitude from Dean, but not you."

"You shot me, you fucking bitch!"

Bella just rolled her eyes.

"I barely even grazed you."

"Oh, what the hell ever. You do know that what's going on around here is real, right?"

"Oh, I'm very aware. Thanks for telling Gert the case wasn't solved. Now the old hag's stopped payment until she gets some real answers. So just stay the hell out of my way before you cause any more trouble," said Bella.

She gave a slight wave of her fingers before turning and walking away from all of them once again.

"Come on. Let's go get the Impala," said Alex.

Dean, Alex, and Sam saw Bella interviewing the man whose brother had been killed last night. They quickly walked over to them, flashing their badges right into Bella's face.

"Ma'am, this man's been through quite enough. You should probably go," said Dean.

Bella glared at all of them, her glare and eyes full of hate towards the three siblings before she stalked off down the street. They turned to face the man now, once she was halfway down the street.

"Sorry you had to deal with that, sir. They're like roaches," said Dean.

The man nodded at them.

"So we heard you say your brother had seen a ship. Did he happen to tell you what it looked like?" asked Alex, gently.

"It was, um, like the old Yankee clippers. You know, like a smuggling vessel. A rakish top sail, angel-head figure on the bow."

"Well, that's sure a lot of detail for a ship your brother saw," said Sam.

"Well, my brother and I were night driving. I saw the ship too."

Sam nodded and took a glance over his shoulder. Bella was pointing her finger towards them while she was talking to two police officers.

"Alright, well, we'll be in touch," said Alex, taking off with her brothers.

"God damn it, I hate that damn bitch," said Alex.

Bella smiled as she watched the three of them walk away.

Later that night, the three siblings were parked outside of the dead man's house, watching his brother pack up all of his things into some cardboard boxes.

"Anything good?" asked Alex, leaning forward from the backseat to look over Sam's shoulder.

"Nope, not really. Both brothers graduated from college, neither one of them had a criminal record, minus a few minor speeding tickets. They did inherit their father's real estate fortune six years ago, though," said Sam.

"How much?" asked Dean, looking from the house's windows and over to his siblings.

"A hundred and twelve million," answered Sam, smiling.

Dean's eyes widened as he let loose a high pitched whistle through his teeth.

"Nice life."

"Yep. So why would they have seen this ship? Why did Sheila see it too? I mean, what would they all have in common?" asked Sam, flipping through the files once again.

"There's always something," said Alex.

"Hey, you!"

They all turned to look as the man came strolling down his front lawn, looking directly at all three of them. The three siblings climbed out of their vehicle.

"What are you doing? Are you watching me?" he yelled.

"Sir, please calm down," pleaded Sam.

"There's no way you guys are cops. Not dressed like that and not in that car."

"Look, we are cops, alright? We're undercover and we're here because we think you're in a lot of danger," explained Alex.

"From who?" asked the man.

"If you would just settle down, we can talk about it," said Sam.

"No. Just stay the hell away from me!"

The man ran over to his little car and hopped into the driver's side, peeling the car away from the house as he stepped on the gas pedal. But before he could even leave the driveway, his car turned off by itself and wouldn't start back up, no matter how hard he tried. Alex ran back to the Impala's trunk with Dean right behind her, grabbing their salt filled shotguns and running back over to where Sam stood, tossing him one, as well. Sam quickly climbed over the security gate first and ran over towards the stalled car. He saw the man, Peter, hunched over the steering wheel, dead. Sam also saw a huge, burly looking man sitting in the passenger seat, his hair and body dripping wet. Dean and Alex finally reached the vehicle then and were on the passenger's side, seeing the burly man as well.

"Sam!" yelled Dean, aiming his gun.

Sam flung his body away from the car as Dean shot through the passenger's side window and the mysterious man suddenly disappeared. As soon as he was gone, Sam rushed to open the driver's side door, yanking it open and checking Peter's pulse. Sam looked over at his siblings, shaking his head sadly. Dean slammed his fist down against the car's door in anger and Alex looked away from the car sadly.

The next morning, Sam was reading up on ship wrecks, Dean was cleaning one of his many guns, and Alex was sitting down next to Sam at the table, examining her split ends. A sudden knock sounded on the house's front door, so Dean stood up and walked over to the door. He sighed when he looked through the peephole, but he opened the front door anyway, allowing Bella to walk into the house.

"Dear Lord. Are you people actually squatting? Charming."

She walked over to the table where Sam and Alex were sitting, each one of them glaring up at her.

"So how did things go last night with Peter?"

None of them said anything, and Bella smirked.

"That well, huh? Look, I think the four of us should have a heart to heart talk. I mean, I do come bearing gifts," said Bella.

She unzipped the portfolio she was holding in her hands and handed them an old photo of the ghost ship.

"I've ID'd the ship. It's the Ospirito Santo, a merchant sailing vessel with a very colorful history. In 1859, a sailor was accused of treason. He was tried aboard the ship, found guilty, and was hanged. He was 37."

"Well, that explains the 37 year old cycle," said Sam.

"Well, aren't you just a little sharp tack?"

Bella smirked, digging through her papers for another picture, which she handed to Alex first, since she was closer to her reach.

"Isn't this the guy we saw last night?" asked Alex, handing the picture over to her siblings, who looked at it intently, as well.

"You guys saw him?" asked Bella.

"Yes, except he was missing a hand," said Dean.

"His right hand. He was cremated, but not before they cut off his hand and used it for The Hand of Glory," explained Sam.

"The right hand of a hanged man is a very powerful cult object," said Alex.

"Yeah, but this still doesn't explain why he's chosen the victims he's been choosing," said Sam, handing the old photos back to Bella.

"Oh, that's really easy. I'll tell you why," said Bella.

She put the photos back into her little organizer portfolio, zipping it back up, and then looked at the three siblings.

"Who cares? Find the hand, burn it, and then stop that damn, bloody thing."

"I still don't get it. Why are you telling us all of this," said Dean, leaning back in his chair and looking over at Bella.

"Because I know exactly where the hand is, but I need all of your help."

Alex, Sam, Dean, and Bella were at the Sea Pines Maritime Museum's annual fall gala, dressed to the absolute nines. Bella and Dean were posing as dates, while Sam was paired with Gert Case, and Alex was with a man named Cory that Bella happened to know in the small town. Bella and Dean were currently standing around at the bar, waiting for their golden opportunity to steal The Hand of Glory. They laughed as Sam slow danced with Gert, looking extremely uncomfortable. Alex laughed lightly with Cory on the dance floor as they spun around. Dean and Bella glanced around the room before sneaking up the stairs quickly.

"Room 235. It's in a glass case wired for alarm. Go, hurry. I'll stay here and be on the lookout," said Bella.

Dean nodded and began to leave the room they were standing in when Bella called his name.

"Dean?"

Dean turned back around to face her and Bella gave him the once over, her frown turning into a smile as she met his gaze.

"After this job, we should really have hot, angry sex."

Dean's eyebrows rose slightly at her comment before shaking his head, turning around, and leaving the room in search of the hand.

Alex watched Sam dancing with Gert and laughed as she grabbed Sam's ass. Alex laughed, but decided she better save him. She put her glass of champagne back down on the bar and walked over to them, tapping Sam's shoulder gently. He let go of Gert's hand, saw Alex's face behind him, and let out a large sigh of relief.

"Would you mind too terribly if I happened to cut in?" asked Alex, very sweetly as she batted her eyelashes at Mrs. Case.

Mrs. Case gave Alex the once over before slowly stepping back and motioning to Sam.

"No, not at all. Please, be my guest."

Alex smiled sweetly at the older woman before taking her place in Sam's hold. Gert glared at her back as she retreated over to the bar.

"Thanks, little sis," whispered Sam.

"No problem, Sammy. Although I do think I've probably added another enemy to my long list now."

Alex discreetly pointed over at Gert, who was glaring at the both of them as she sipped from her champagne flute. Sam lifted his head up and looked over to see her glaring at them. He just laughed and pulled Alex closer to him, kissing her cheek.

"Yeah, it probably doesn't help that I just kissed your cheek and have been whispering in your ear all while we've been dancing," said Sam.

Alex threw her head back, laughing, as Sam laughed along with her and then spun her around on the dance floor.

Dean walked back into the room where Bella was standing after a good thirty minutes. He opened the door and walked inside to see Bella slipping her dress strap back onto her shoulder. Dean gave her a weird look, but then let it go, not asking any questions.

"Any trouble?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing I couldn't handle."

She finally slipped her strap back onto her bare shoulder and looked over at him expectantly.

"The hand?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

Dean nodded and removed the hand from inside his jacket where he had hidden it. Bella smiled and walked over to him, holding out her hand, her palm up.

"May I?" she asked.

Dean looked at her.

"No."

Dean took out the tissue that rested in his jacket's front pocket and began wrapping the hand up.

"It might be more inconspicuous in my purse," suggested Bella.

"Nice try."

"Just trying to be helpful."

"Trust me, sweetheart. I don't need your kind of help," said Dean.

He finally finished wrapping up the hand and he placed it back inside his jacket.

Sam was back to dancing with Gert, while Alex looked on, avoiding advances from Cory. Gert was completely drunk, her empty wine glass clutched between her fingers as she danced with Sam.

"Man, this is one long song," said Sam.

"I hope it never ends," replied Gert, sighing deeply.

Sam sighed deeply as they continued swaying to the slow song.

"How's the investigation coming along?" asked Gert.

"Well, these things do take time," replied Sam.

"You know, everyone's talking about those Warren brothers' deaths. I think they had it coming, in a biblical sense."

Sam stopped dancing and Gert looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" asked Sam.

"Well, you must know about their father."

Sam shook his head no and Gert smiled, pulling Sam's ear down to her lips.

"C'mere, I'll whisper it to you. They say that the old man didn't die of natural causes. Rumor is, the boys did it. Nothing was ever proven, obviously, but, uh, people do still whisper."

Sam quickly pulled away from her now wandering lips against his ear and looked down at her once again.

"So, um, did Sheila have any connection to them?"

"Well, none that I know of."

"Did Sheila have any kind of tragedy in her life?"

"Why, yes. As a matter of fact, there was a car accident when she was a teenager. Her car flipped over and, uh, she was okay, but, uh, her cousin Bryan was killed."

Sam nodded and they swayed slowly to the music once again until Gert spoke once again a few moments later.

"Why? Is that important?"

Sam began to speak up, when Bella and Dean walked back into the room, Bella smiling over at them.

"Well. Having a nice time?" asked Bella.

Gert smiled and laid her head on Sam's chest. She walked over to Bella and grabbed her hand, kissing Bella's cheek before leaning in and trying to whisper, but failing.

"He wants me."

Dean looked over at Sam, smirking and raising his eyebrows at Gert's statement, when Alex suddenly joined their small circle, standing on the other side of Sam.

"Well, if it isn't the little woman who had her hands all over my date tonight," said Gert, her eyes narrowing as she took in Alex standing beside Sam.

Dean held back a chuckle as Alex looked appalled and Bella began leading Gert away.

"I'm gonna get Gert into a cold shower. See you at the cemetery."

Once Bella and Gert had left the room, Dean moved over to stand in front of his siblings and looked between the both of them.

"Is there something you should tell me?"

Sam rolled his eyes and Alex flipped Dean the bird as they followed the same path as Bella and Gert, heading away from the party and outside.

The three of them climbed into the Impala in their evening wear, Sam loosening his tie as he sat in the passenger seat.

"Please tell me you got it," said Alex, beginning to take the bobby pins out of her curly hair.

Dean nodded and reached for the hand in his jacket pocket. He pulled out the handkerchief he had wrapped it in and began unfolding it. Alex and Sam waited patiently as Dean unwrapped the handkerchief.

"Fuck me," whispered Dean.

He held up a ship in a bottle instead of The Hand of Glory and they all sighed, cursing under their breaths.

"I'm gonna kill her," whispered Alex.

Back at the house that night, Dean, Alex, and Sam had changed back into their regular clothes. Alex was slowly burning bits of paper by sticking small pieces of it over a candle while Sam and Dean stood by the burning fireplace.

"You know what, maybe slow torture is more appropriate," said Dean, still fuming over Bella.

"Dean. You need to relax," said Sam.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll relax. I can't fucking believe she pulled another one over on us!"

Sam looked up from the book he was holding and stared at Dean's back.

"You."

Alex threw her last pieces of paper into the flaming candle and looked between her two brothers. Dean turned around to look back at Sam.

"What?"

"I mean, she got one over on you, not all of us," said Sam.

Dean just stared at him and Alex waited for his attack on Sam. Sam just shrugged as Dean stared at him for a little while longer.

"Thank you, Sam! That's very helpful," yelled Dean, sarcastically.

Sam shrugged once again before turning back to his books and Alex slightly chuckled at her brothers. A knock sounded on the door a few moments later and they all turned to look.

"Hello? Could you please open up?" asked Bella.

They all exchanged shocked looks on their faces before heading towards the front door, their faces returning to normal and Sam discarding his book onto the table. Dean opened the double front doors and they all glared at Bella. She sighed.

"Please, just let me explain."

Dean stepped aside to let Bella in and Sam and Alex followed her over to the table as she took a seat. Dean shut the front doors and joined them as well, looking down at Bella.

"I sold it. I had a buyer lined up as soon as I realized it even existed."

"So you sold it to a buyer. Go back and get it," said Alex, her arms crossed across her chest as she leaned against the fireplace, glaring with pure venom and hatred at Bella.

"I can't. It's halfway across the Atlantic Ocean by now. Plus, I couldn't get it back in time anyway," explained Bella.

"In time for what?" questioned Dean.

Bella looked down at the floor, her face suddenly becoming nervous and scared. She looked shaken, almost like she'd seen a ghost.

"What's going on with you, Bella?" asked Sam.

Bella still didn't answer. Alex studied Bella's face for a few more seconds before uncrossing her arms and standing up straighter.

"Holy fucking shit. You've seen the ship," said Alex.

Bella looked at her and sadly nodded, almost looking defeated.

"Wow. Well, I knew you were a thieving, immoral, carnivorous bitch, but I did not think you could get any lower," said Dean, standing very close to her and leaning over her shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" asked Bella, turning around to look at Dean.

"Well, we figured out the spirit's motive," answered Sam.

He walked over to the table where he had discarded his books earlier. He pulled one picture out from between the pages of one of the books and held it out to Bella, setting it down on the table, which was right in front of her.

"This is the captain of our ship. The one who hung our ghost boy."

"So?" asked Bella.

"So they were brothers. They were Cain and Abel. Now our spirit is going after a very specific kind of target, people who have spilled their own family's blood," said Sam.

"See, first there was Sheila, who killed her own cousin in a car accident and then there were the Warren brothers, who murdered their father for the inheritance. And now you," explained Alex, stepping up to the table as well to join her family there.

"Oh my God," whispered Bella.

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

"That's none of your business," snapped Bella.

"No, you're right. Well, have a nice life. Whatever's left of it."

Dean slapped Bella on the back and stepped away from her as she remained sitting down in her chair. He walked past the table and grabbed his jacket that was strewn across the top of the table.

"Sam, Alex. Let's go."

Bella stood up then, her voice back to its normal, confident tone as she stood and stared at their retreating forms.

"You cannot just leave me here."

"Watch us," said Dean, continuing to pack his duffel bag and not even bothering to look at her face.

"Please? I need your help," whispered Bella.

"You want help from us? The people you've played for fools over and over again?" asked Dean.

"Look, I'm really sorry, but my actions towards all of you. That doesn't deserve a death sentence," explained Bella.

"That's not why you're gonna die. What did you do, Bella?" asked Sam, very calmly.

"Look, you wouldn't understand. No one did."

She looked at the three of them, their faces showing no emotion and waiting for her to explain herself.

"Never mind. I'll just do it myself, like I've always done."

Bella turned to go when Dean spoke up, watching her walk away from them towards the double front doors.

"You do realize you've just sold the only thing that would save your life?"

Bella turned back to face them, looking directly at Dean and speaking mostly to him.

"I'm fully aware of that."

Dean shrugged then and nodded, while Sam looked at Alex, who was biting her lip and looking over at Sam. He raised his eyebrows questioningly and Alex nodded imperceptibly. Sam took in a deep breath before speaking up.

"Well… Maybe not the only thing."

Sam created the concoctions that they would need as Dean leaned against a tombstone, a gun in one of his hands and Bella standing close beside him. Alex finished drawing on the slab of stone. Once she was finished, both she and Sam stepped backwards and away from the sacred table that they had just finished creating.

"Do you really think that this is going to work?" Bella asked from beside Dean.

"Almost definitely not," he replied.

Thunder crashed as lightning flashed across the sky, which was once calm, but now was raging. Rain began pouring down in buckets and drenching all of them. Sam zipped his jacket all the way up to his neck as Dean stood up straight, moving away from the tombstone he was once leaning against.

"Sammy. You and Alex better start reading," encouraged Dean.

Sam nodded and opened his journal, flipping to the correct page of the book and reading in Latin as Alex looked over his shoulder. Dean looked all around, waiting for the spirit to appear. As Sam kept reading, a candle was blown out. Sam looked over at it, distracting him from his reading for a split second, but then Alex nudged his elbow and he began reading once again. Sam's voice grew louder as the storm raged on. The thunder kept rolling and crashing, the lightning continued flashing, and the storm clouds rolled over the moon. Bella's hair was whipping all about her as she stepped out of Dean's reach for a second. Dean quickly stepped forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her back and closer to him.

"Stay close!" he yelled over the sounds of the storm.

Bella nodded, but when she glanced over Dean's shoulder, she saw the spirit arise right behind Dean.

"Behind you!" she quickly yelled out.

Dean swiftly turned, but the spirit grabbed him by the neck and flung him across the cemetery, his gun shooting off as he flew through the storm. He crashed into a headstone and landed beneath it. The spirit looked at Bella then as Sam stopped his reading to see where Dean had fallen and if he was alright. When Sam saw the spirit approaching Bella, he once again began to read from his book. Dean watched from his spot on the ground as the spirit put his hand to Bella's face. He touched her cheek as Alex raced over to help her, but Alex was way too late. The damage had already been done as Bella began spitting out water from her mouth, hunching over at her waist as the vengeful spirit watched. Bella fell to her knees as Alex finally made it over to her and wrapped her arm around Bella's back, trying to figure out how to help the girl. Sam glanced over at all of them, but still continued reading, even attempting to read at a much faster pace so as to save Bella's life. Dean had made his way back over to them and was on his knees with Alex and Bella, trying to help her as well. As Sam finally finished his reading, the storm weakened and the rain stopped. The clouds moved away from the moon and the thunder and lightning became very distant distractions. Dean, Alex, and Sam looked over at the vengeful spirit, who was now turned to face his brother, the captain of the ship, whom Sam had been summoning this whole time. The captain looked at his evil, vengeful brother with sadness on his face and in his eyes. Time seemed to stand still as the brothers looked at one another. Water droplets fell down Sam's face and onto his jacket, while more water dripped off of the ends of Alex's long and drenched hair.

"You hanged me!" accused the evil spirit, looking at his own brother, who was standing before him.

"I'm sorry," apologized the captain.

Sam looked over at Dean and Alex, who were also watching the interaction between the two siblings, but Bella was still convulsing, with water spewing from her mouth.

"Your own brother!" yelled the evil, vengeful spirit.

"I'm so sorry," apologized the captain.

With a roar, the vengeful spirit lunged at his brother, but fell right through him, dissolving into water droplets. The captain brother also began to dissolve into small water droplets as his brother slowly disappeared through him. Bella stopped convulsing and throwing up water, but rain still dripped down all of their faces. They all looked away as the brothers finally disappeared in a huge burst and flash of bright, white light. Sam looked over at his siblings and Bella then, who was finally sitting up instead of being hunched over. The rain fell from his forehead and down his longish hair as he looked at all of them.

The next morning, Sam, Dean, and Alex were packing up their duffel bags to leave for their next job. Dean was folding some shirts, while Sam and Alex were throwing a few items of clothing into each of their respective duffel bags, when Bella walked through the front doors.

"You guys should really learn to look all of your doors. Anyone could just barge in," said Bella, walking over towards them.

"Anyone just did," said Sam, throwing one of his many precious books onto the top of his duffel bag.

"So did you come to say goodbye or thank you?" asked Alex.

"I've come to settle affairs."

Bella pulled a large wad of cash out of her purse that was around one of her shoulders and held it in her palms.

"Giving the spirit what he really wanted, his own brother. Very clever, Sam. So, here."

She threw all three of them a chunk of cash and they flipped the bills between their fingers.

"It's $10,000, so that should cover it."

After looking down at the money in each of their hands for a few moments, the three Winchester siblings looked up at Bella expectantly.

"What? I don't like being in anyone's debt, alright?"

"So ponying up ten grand is easier for you than just one simple thank you?" asked Dean, disbelief evident in his tone of voice and his eyebrows raised.

Bella said nothing, but just stared at all of them.

"You're so damaged," said Dean, looking back down at the wad of bills in his hands.

Bella smirked at all of them then.

"Well, goodbye, folks."

She gave a slight wave of her hand before turning on her heel and walking out of the house and through the front doors to the outside world. Once she was gone, Dean collected all of the money and threw it in his duffel bag and they hit the road.

"Seriously, Dean? Atlantic City?" asked Sam.

Dean just looked over at Sam in the passenger seat and smirked over at him.

Sam just shook his head, but a smile was placed on his lips and Alex was smiling from the backseat as well.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Dean looked all serious and he looked at his little brother.

"I've done some thinking recently and I just want you to know that I understand why you did it. I understand why you went after that crossroads demon," said Dean.

Sam sighed a very deep and heavy sigh, but Dean still continued on.

"If the roles were reversed, I probably would've done the same thing, alright? I mean, I'm not blind. I see what you're going through with this whole deal. Both of you," said Dean, looking in the rearview mirror and making eye contact with Alex for a split second, so she would know he was talking to her, as well as Sam.

"But you're both gonna be okay, alright?"

Sam scoffed a little under his breath.

"You think so?" whispered Alex, quietly.

"Oh, yeah. You'll keep hunting, you'll live your lives. You're both stronger than me, you really are!" said Dean.

Sam cleared his throat and licked his lips, avoiding looking at Dean. Alex looked over at Sam, biting her lips and drawing her own blood as she bit down so hard.

"But I want you both to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you feel like this and leaving you."

"You know what, Dean? Go fuck yourself," said Sam.

"What?" asked Dean.

"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, excuse me," said Dean, very sarcastically.

"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 shit that you're dying."

Alex winced as Sam used the word dying. She'd already seen her father and one brother die, and she definitely didn't want to lose another, but it seemed almost inevitable at this point. She knew Sam was brought back from the dead by Dean's deal, but now she was gonna lose her oldest brother and she wasn't sure she could handle that. Alex curled up into a ball in the backseat, her brothers not even noticing as they continued to argue up front. She shut her eyes and willed herself to fall asleep.

"So that's it? Nothing else to say from you?" asked Sam, as Dean stared at the road ahead, a permanent smirk placed on his face.

"I think maybe I'll play craps," responded Dean.

Sam scoffed at him once more and turned his attention back to the map that was laid out on his lap in front of him. Alex gently and quietly sighed from the backseat, her brothers not even noticing her silent tears as they fell from her bright blue eyes and down her face. Alex realized that in losing one brother because of his death in a matter of a few short months, she was probably going to lose the other because of his guilt for being alive, and she wasn't really sure how she could handle that.