Author's note: Graduation is getting closer and closer and I am counting the days until I am DONE with the class portion of my program. I'm so worn down that it seems like forever away. I have had a very busy few weeks and it has been one soul crushing hit after the other. I had to shift this chapter a good bit to try to make everyone happy. I have a super specific situation coming up that I forget that you guys don't know about. Due to conflicting messages and the realization that I simply can't make everyone happy, I lost my will to write for a little while. I'm a people pleaser by nature and I hate not pleasing everyone at the same time. That being said, if you have strong opinions and hate one aspect of the story, or you really really want another story written, consider that you can write it yourself. I am writing all of this for free and finding time to write when my life is incredibly busy. So, thank you to those who leave reviews and nice messages. You help me keep wanting to write when days get rough. I will no longer be responding to or acknowledging negative (constructive is fine) reviews and messages. Thanks.
(Bobby's house)
Kim followed Kate into the house and smiled at Dean.
Dean got up to greet her. "How'd it go?"
"Great." Kim said.
Kate looked mildly annoyed. "Did you think it was going to go badly?"
"No." Dean said. "Just making small talk." He asked Kim to step outside with him so they could chat.
Kate figured it was about her. "Can't just say it to my face?"
Dean raised an eyebrow.
Kate rolled her eyes. "We just got back. You want to ask her questions to see if I did anything stupid."
"Lose the attitude. I was going to ask how the outing went but I have other things to talk to her about." Dean said.
Kate was focused on the fact that she felt trapped. She had things to work on and just knew he was going to make that difficult.
Dean stepped toward Kate and firmly guided her to the kitchen. "What is your problem?"
"You just assume I went behind your back." Kate said.
"I had not made that assumption but now I am curious what you are desperately trying to hide." Dean said.
"You always make that assumption." Kate shot back.
"Did you do something?" Dean asked.
Kate crossed her arms. "No."
"Then why are you acting like this?" Dean asked.
"It doesn't matter if I don't do anything. You all assume I will. At this point, I don't know why I bother following the rules." Kate bit.
"Snap at me again and I will wear you out." Dean said, quickly losing the patience he had built up while she was gone.
Kate gritted her teeth.
"I assumed you would be less likely to do something with Kim around. I assumed that you would chill out and just hang out with her and Hannah. I assumed that you would get home and not have a chip on your shoulder." Dean said.
"What are you going to talk to her about?" Kate asked.
"If you needed to be part of the conversation, I'd invite you outside as well." Dean said.
"I'm going to my room." Kate said, stepping around him.
Dean stopped her. "After I talk to her, I am going to come talk to you. You are not ending the day like this."
Kate waited for him to move before leaving and heading to her room. So she was being a tad irrational. She was just irritated. She knew that Kim knew about the hunt. She assumed Dean was going to tell her things about the hunt. That assumption got under Kate's skin.
Kim gave Dean a strained look when he got back to the living room.
Dean let out a slow breath and opened the front door. "So, what happened?"
Kim wasn't really sure. "She seemed fine. She had a hard time relaxing and acting like a kid at first."
Dean rubbed his face. "I bet she is pissed about the hunt that dad is on."
"That would make sense." Kim said.
Dean sat down on the porch swing and had Kim sit beside him. "How are you feeling?"
Kim scooted close to him so she could lay her head on his arm. "Tired."
"You don't feel warm but I'm still worried about the line." Dean said.
"The line is okay." Kim said. "My muscles are just tired."
"Did you overdo it?" Dean asked.
Kim tilted her head back to look at him. "Sometimes waking up is overdoing it. I am okay. This is my usual."
Dean didn't like that.
Kim knew he didn't. "Do not worry about me." She smirked. "You are going to anyway. That is what you do."
Dean couldn't deny that.
"I am sick. I feel awful. My head hurts and so do my arms and legs. However, that isn't new. I promise, if it gets worse I will tell you." Kim said.
Dean shifted so he could rub the back of her neck. He spoke to her about the increasing level of danger that she was in and how he couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to get caught in the crossfire.
"I can't be possessed though." Kim said. "I'm protected."
Dean explained how, although she was protected, there was always a chance that a demon could get creative.
"So I can get the tattoo. Then, they can't remove the warding." Kim said.
Dean was apprehensive. "You are in and out of the hospital. A doctor or nurse is bound to see it."
"I don't care." Kim said. "Your angel could carve it into my ribs or whatever he did to you."
Dean pulled a face. "No." He remembered how bad that had hurt and it was enochian, not an anti-possession sigil.
"Hey, now. Don't get bossy." Kim teased.
Dean cracked a small smile. "That was incredibly painful."
"You don't think I can handle it?" Kim asked in a playful tone.
Dean kissed her forehead. "I don't want you to have to handle it."
Kim frowned. "I'm trying to rile you up and you decide to be sweet."
Dean snorted softly. He got a message from John and answered it.
Kim saw his brows furrow and his jaw tighten. Whatever John said wasn't good news.
Dean stepped away and called John. He spoke briefly in hushed tones.
Kim assumed that the near whisper was due to Kate's hearing and her proximity within the house.
Dean ended the call and rubbed his face with both hands.
Kim asked what was wrong but put a hand up before he spoke. "Maybe you shouldn't tell me."
Dean sat back down beside her. "What do you mean?"
Kim sighed. "If Kate is upset about being kept out of the loop, me knowing things she doesn't is just going to add salt to the wound."
"She is being kept out of the loop because she has no impulse control." Dean said.
"I can't do anything to help." Kim said. " Me knowing doesn't do anything aside from make her feel more left out."
Dean just nodded. "I need to talk to her."
"I can talk to her." Kim said.
"She was being disrespectful to me. She has an issue with me." Dean said.
Kim wanted to keep the peace a little longer. "If you talk to her, won't it just blow up?"
"I gave her plenty of chances to chill out. You have talked to her more than once." Dean said. "Part of that call was him telling me to reign her in before he had to."
Kim grimaced.
"I appreciate that you want to help. This is just something that happens from time to time. He got a weird feeling that she was trying to scry or something. If she is, that is a pretty big deal." Dean said.
"Oh no." Kim said, covering her mouth. "Although, that does sound psychic to me."
Dean kind of agreed. "She makes his ears ring when she is mad at him." He paused. "She has done that in the past. I hope for her sake that is not what he was feeling."
"Should I go home?" Kim asked.
Dean chewed his cheek. "You are okay to stay here for now. You aren't in the way."
"If I am here, you are more likely to be nice to her." Kim said.
Dean smiled. "That may not be true anymore. I'm not trying to impress you."
"Maybe you should be." Kim said, lightly.
"You stuck around after the moonshine and Tessa stories. I'm not worried about you leaving." Dean said.
Kim grinned. "You being a dork and you being mean to your baby sister are two totally different things."
"I'm not mean to her." Dean said. "Coming out here to talk to you instead of immediately following her upstairs was very kind of me." He opened the front door and held it open for Kim. He let Bobby know that John had called and gave him a few words to detail what he needed to know. "Hey, Karen."
Karen was folding the rest of the towels she had washed. She carried a large stack to the hallway and smiled. "Yes?"
"I need to talk to Kate. Can Kim hang out with you?" Dean asked.
"He doesn't trust me to be without supervision." Kim said with a grin.
Dean lightly flicked her. "Karen is used to Kate's antics and knows what to do if the lights start flickering."
Karen handed Dean the stack of towels. "Now, making comments like that is sure to get the lights to flicker."
"If she is using her ability to hear what I'm saying, she is crossing a known boundary." Dean said.
Karen understood what Dean was saying. She was well versed in Kate's tendencies but had a soft spot. "Perhaps Kim would like to assist me with groceries."
Kim figured that meant Karen assumed the conversation would go the same way that Dean did. "I can do that."
"Make me a list before you go up there." Karen said.
Dean thanked Karen. He wrote down a few things he wanted and handed the list to her. He kissed Kim and walked her out to Karen's car.
Kim got into the passenger seat. "Be nice to her."
Dean snorted. "Worry about yourself."
(Upstairs)
Kate had prevented herself from scrying and listening into conversations. Her mind was elsewhere. She focused on the digital alarm clock that sat on her desk. She willed the numbers to move. How was she supposed to manipulate time? She knew she could. She had done it before.
She got frustrated and closed her eyes. If she could practice abilities out in the open, she could learn how to control them. She couldn't though. Everyone she loved was going to die because they kept her from getting stronger. They were scared that she would get hurt. They were going to die anyway because they wouldn't let her help them. That would never make sense to her. John was still convinced that he was the protector. She felt frustration building. He couldn't let go of the fact that she was a child. It didn't matter to him that she was so much more.
Kate silently argued with John in her head. Of course, he wasn't there to hear her point of view. That was for the best. He wouldn't listen anyway. She flexed her fingers and cracked her neck. All the things she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. She glared at the clock. If she couldn't do the time thing, she was never going to have a moment to breathe. She blinked and stood up quickly. The numbers had moved. The 4 turned into a 2. 2 minutes. That was a start.
She heard Dean's voice when he stopped to talk to Karen. She remembered that he was going to talk to her and really didn't want him to. If he could just stay downstairs, she wouldn't run the risk of butting heads with him. She heard a car start up and looked out her window. Why were they leaving? Obviously because Dean didn't intend to actually talk. She flicked her eyes back to the clock and heard the car start up again. She raised both eyebrows. She had more control when she was frustrated. She sat back on her bed and closed her eyes. If she argued with Dean and he got mad, she could just rewind time and not make him mad. That was harmless. She figured she was going to make him mad anyway, so what was the risk in testing a theory?
Dean called John back to get the rest of the details John had briefly mentioned during the first call. He ended the call and groaned.
"Kate or John?" Bobby asked, referencing whoever had made Dean groan out of frustration.
Dean rubbed his temples. "I'm going to go talk to her."
Bobby nodded and opened a book. He wasn't needed for that talk and he had more research to do.
Dean knocked once and pushed the door open. "Alright," he said, his voice already carrying the weight of frustration that came with attempting to keep the peace, once again. "Let's have it. What's going on?"
Kate barely acknowledged him. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the digital clock. "I'm tired."
Dean sighed, reminding himself to keep the bite out of his tone. "Not going to cut it."
Kate looked away from the clock. "What is dad hunting?"
Dean knew that was going to come up. "He isn't sure yet."
Kate snorted. "Yeah, right."
"I'm not on the hunt either." Dean said.
"You get to help him though." Kate said.
"I get to answer phone calls and relay information." Dean said.
Kate found it really hard to be angry when he tried to sympathize with her. It was annoying. "Hiding things from me never ends well."
"He has a reason for keeping it from you. He thinks this could be a trap." Dean said.
"No, he thinks I'm a little kid and can't admit that I am strong enough to handle whatever it is." Kate said.
"He has other hunters with him." Dean said.
"So they are going to get rid of the thing?" Kate asked.
"Eventually." Dean said.
"I could solve the issue in five minutes if you would stop hiding things." Kate said.
"You could also sit back and listen to orders." Dean said.
"Why?" Kate asked. "Give me an actual reason."
"You have a target on your back." Dean said.
"Do I have less of a target on my back being in the dark? How does my input change that?" Kate asked.
"The only reason you are pushing back is because he told you no." Dean said.
"Pointlessly." Kate said through gritted teeth. "I'm a freaking nephilian. There is no reason that I can't weigh in."
"You are impulsive." Dean said.
Kate felt her blood boiling. "Not as impulsive as I could be. You all are lucky I hold back 99 percent of what I could do." She clenched her fists and blew air through her nose.
"Dad doesn't need you for this. He doesn't need me for this. He is hunting the thing like he has for nearly two decades. He has other hunters with him." Dean reminded her.
"He is taking unnecessary risks." Kate said.
"He has Tessa helping him." Dean said.
"So he would rather ask a reaper for help than his own family." Kate said, flatly.
"He is protecting you. Tessa can take care of herself." Dean said.
Kate growled and caused the light above the bed to flicker.
Dean looked up at the light. "Have you been in dad's head? He said-"
Kate cut him off. "No!"
Dean took a calming breath. "Do not yell at me. He said his ears have been ringing."
"I haven't been messing with his head." Kate said, glaring at Dean. "Of course you aren't going to believe that because you assume everything is my fault."
"You know that isn't true." Dean said.
"Bull." Kate said. "If anything supernatural happens you assume it is me. Just like when Craig started seeing stuff you assumed I was messing with his head and it wasn't me. It was Taylor."
Dean was doing his absolute best to reign in his temper. "That was during a time where you had just done something similar and we didn't know that Taylor had those abilities."
"So it could be Taylor ringing his ears." Kate said.
"It could be. I will talk to Taylor about it. However, Taylor isn't the person I am talking to right now." Dean said.
Kate knew that Dean was not being unreasonable. She was just so frustrated and wanted to crawl out of her skin. She looked at the clock again. Could she push him and then snap back in time? Why did she want to push him? It was like risking her life without actually risking her life.
Dean snapped his fingers. "Look at me."
Kate's eyes flashed blue.
"Do not use your abilities right now." Dean said.
Kate's eyes returned to their normal shade.
"I did not come in here to argue with you. You are not going to take your issues with dad out on me." Dean said.
Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm not."
"Yes you are. I have given you the opportunity to talk to me and instead, you are huffing and rolling your eyes like a three year old." Dean said.
Kate chose not to look at him.
Dean's slumped slightly from the weight of the tension between them. "Look, dad knows what he is doing. I'm not happy to be on the bench for this. You don't see me throwing a fit about it though."
Kate's eyes flashed blue again as she looked at him.
Dean met eyes with her. He wanted to tell her to calm down and it actually work. How had his family been dosed with grace and he hadn't the slightest power. What he wouldn't give to be able to compel people not to lose their cool. "Everyone is on edge. Everyone needs to cool down."
Kate felt tingling in her fingers. "Then leave me alone." She moved back so he couldn't grab her arm and flicked her eyes to the clock. There was a brief pause and suddenly he was back where he started.
"Everyone is on edge. Everyone needs to cool down." Dean said.
Kate swallowed. It worked.
Dean saw Kate's face change. "What is with the smirk?"
Kate shrugged.
Dean just knew John was going to call him back any minute. "I do not have patience left. I will not let you take your frustration out on me."
"I'm not!" Kate said.
"The tone. The eye rolls and you just shrugging your shoulders instead of answering me." Dean said. "I am trying to talk things out with you."
"I am angry because you guys are being stupid." Kate said. She felt a little bold since she could just undo whatever she said.
(TW)
Dean's jaw hardened as he gritted his teeth. He took another deep breath and reached for her arm.
Kate jerked her arm back and rolled off the bed.
Dean just leveled her with a glare.
"People are going to die because you guys won't let me do anything besides sit on the sidelines." Kate said.
"I'm done arguing. Dad gave you an order. It's as simple as that." Dean said.
"A pointless one." Kate said.
"He has been doing this longer than you have been alive. He has his reasons and you do not know everything." Dean said.
"I know a whole hell of a lot more than you do!" Kate snapped. "I have freaking power and you are just a human!" She regretted saying it but was relying on her ability to make it all go away.
Dean stood up slowly.
Kate took a step back. She frantically looked at the clock, willing the numbers to change. She flicked her eyes back to Dean and swallowed hard. "I didn't mean it." She dug deep for wherever the time travel ability was hidden.
"Come here." Dean said, coolly.
Kate shook her head. "You are angry."
"No shit." Dean said.
"I am just stressed." Kate said. She really was and instantly felt bad for yelling at him.
Dean reached and grabbed her arm, pulling her with him to the bed. "You had your opportunity to get help with that." He tossed her over his lap and put his forearm across her back.
Kate was cursing herself. She should have known the harmless experiment was not going to be harmless. "Dean you don't understand."
Dean brought his hand down hard across her seat. "Yes I do. I don't think you understand that this isn't easy for me either."
Kate sucked in a breath of air. She successfully pissed him off and time was not changing when she needed it to.
Dean swatted her a dozen times. "Do you yell at me?"
Kate tensed. "No."
Dean continued swatting her, paying extra attention to the backs of her thighs. "I have given you a lot of leeway because I know you are stressed. You are not going to take it out on me. Do you understand?"
Kate sniffled. "Yes, I understand."
"I don't know where you got the idea that acting like this is okay. You did mean to say what you said. You can't just blurt things out and claim it was an accident. Not like that."
"I thought I could fix it." Kate said, hoping beyond all hope he was going to stop the spanking soon.
Dean did pause. "What do you mean?"
Kate's eyes widened.
Dean knew the silence meant he wasn't going to like what she had to say. "Katelyn Amelia."
Kate wiped her face with her sleeve. "You will get mad."
"I am already mad." Dean said.
"You won't understand." Kate tried.
Dean went back to peppering her backside until she decided to talk.
"Time travel." Kate yelped.
Dean paused again. "What?"
Kate twisted slightly. "Please let me up."
Dean pulled her off his lap and stood her in front of him.
Kate sucked air through her teeth and fought the urge to rub the sting away.
"What does time travel have to do with this?" Dean asked in a harsh tone.
Kate looked down at the floor so she didn't have to look at him. "I thought…. I thought I could time travel."
Dean tilted her chin up so she had to look at him. "Do not try to mess with me. Now is not the time."
Kate squirmed. "Sometimes my abilities kick in when things are happening. Like I didn't know I could vaporize the hellhounds until lives were at stake." She did not want to explain her reasoning because she realized it was bad reasoning to begin with.
"Report." Dean said.
"I was mad and disagree with you guys but I thought if I was in danger that I could time travel." Kate said.
Dean wasn't sure how to process that. "So that is why you want to be involved. You want to risk your life just to see if you can time travel."
Kate gasped. "No! No, Dean. I…. you…. This has nothing to do with the hunt."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Then explain it to me, Katelyn."
Kate covered her face with her hands. "I thought if you were mad at me it would work."
"Did you try to siphon anger?" Dean asked in a dark tone.
Kate shook her head. "No."
"Why would me getting mad at you equal time travel?" Dean asked.
"I don't know." Kate said. "It is all dumb now. I wasn't thinking straight."
"Does dad need to talk to you?" Dean asked.
Kate frowned. "No." She chewed on her thumbnail until Dean pulled her hand away from her mouth. "I thought the fear of you getting mad would be the catalyst."
Dean blinked a few times. "So you purposefully made me mad for an experiment."
Kate's eyes drifted to the side of the room, anywhere but Dean's face.
"So not only are you being a brat and taking it out on me, you are doing so deliberately so that you can use an ability on me." Dean said.
"I got carried away." Kate said. "I was angry and stressed."
"Did you use me?" Dean asked, already knowing the answer.
Kate looked back down.
"Katelyn, did you use me?" Dean asked.
"Not really." Kate said.
Dean stood up and unbuckled his belt.
Kate stepped back. "No. You got your message across. I made a mistake."
"I don't think I did. I think you are being manipulative and have forgotten that family members aren't test subjects." Dean said.
"I didn't use an ability on you." Kate said quietly.
"You just picked a fight with me to see if that set something into motion." Dean said.
"No. I was really upset." Kate said.
"It doesn't matter." Dean said. "You know better. If all of that was just you throwing a fit, it wouldn't have been okay. Now, I know that you intended to skip time for some reason. Did you just assume you could be nasty and undo it like nothing ever happened?"
"I don't know where my head was at." Kate said.
Dean pulled his belt off.
"Please." Kate whined. "I understand."
Dean sat back down and pointed to the spot in front of him.
Kate chewed on the edge of her fingers. How could she possibly explain that she wasn't really trying to be nasty. She was just stressed.
"Either get over here, or I drag you over here and you'll get the full 12." Dean said.
Kate stepped slightly closer to him. "I'm sorry."
Dean leaned forward and grabbed her arm, placing her back over his lap. "Sorry doesn't cut it."
Kate gritted her teeth as the first line of fire spread across her butt.
Dean brought his belt down three times in rapid succession.
Kate tried to twist away to ease the discomfort but Dean's arm was like a vice across her back. "Ow. I'm really sorry."
Dean gave her two more final whacks. He let her stand up but immediately made her sit in the wooden chair next to her desk.
Kate winced.
"I don't know what to say to you." Dean said.
Kate sniffled. "I wasn't trying to be mean. I don't know why I did it."
"Because you think I'm a safe target." Dean said.
"You aren't a target." Kate said.
"You sure as hell act like I am." Dean said.
Kate felt truly terrible.
Dean opened her notebook. "You are going to sit here and make a list of things you need to talk about. Then, you can talk about them respectfully or we will go for round two or three until you figure out how to act."
"I'm just mad about the hunt." Kate said.
"No. It is more than that. I'm giving you 30 minutes and if there are not at least 10 things on that list, you're going back over my knee." Dean said.
Kate let tears fall across her cheeks.
Dean rethreaded his belt and told her to stand up. He wrapped his arms around her when she did. "Look, I love you. I am still frustrated but I forgive you."
Kate buried her face in his shirt.
"I'm going downstairs. You are not to work yourself up thinking that I am too angry to love you any more." Dean said.
Kate looked up at him. "You are still angry, though."
"Not angry." Dean said. "Annoyed. Stressed. Hurt."
"I'm so sorry." Kate said.
Dean let her go. "I'm sure you are." He sighed. "Sammy told me about your visions."
Kate looked shocked.
"Don't get mad at him for telling me. Do you think he had a choice?" Dean asked.
Kate furrowed her eyebrows. "I mean, he is an adult."
"He is worried about you." Dean said. "No matter what you do, I am still going to love you." He pointed to the chair. "Now get working on that list so I don't have to wear my hand out again."
Kate sat down and scooted the chair closer to her desk.
Dean exited the room, leaving the door open. "30 minutes."
Kate sighed. "Okay."
((ETW))
Bobby looked up from his book as Dean came back down the steps.
Dean needed a drink.
"Is she out of her mood?" Bobby asked.
Dean sat down across from his desk. "She had better be." He bounced his leg. "She was being a brat, taking her frustration with dad out on me."
Bobby shook his head.
"Then, she amps up the angst because she thought me hitting my limit would allow her to time travel." Dean said.
Bobby sat his book on his desk. "Now why would she think that?"
"Something about her life being in danger." Dean said.
Bobby rubbed his scruffy chin. "Well, did it work?"
"I'd say not." Dean said. He looked up at the ceiling, searching for thoughts that were too jumbled to be coherent.
Bobby heard Dean's phone begin ringing. "I'm betting that is John."
Dean looked at the name. Of course it was John. "Hey, dad."
John was gruff. He had a migraine that wouldn't go away and his ears had been ringing on and off all day. The ringing was an awful lot like when Kate rattled his head.
Dean rubbed his face as John spoke. He got up and walked back up the steps, opening Kate's door. "Are you messing with dad's head?"
Kate gasped. "No."
John explained that the ringing had gotten worse. He winced and growled. "That is her."
Kate jumped.
Dean was in disbelief. "Did you just do it?"
Kate licked her lips. "I am not responsible for the ringing. I mean… yeah just now but I wanted to know if the ringing sounded the same."
Dean listened to John for a minute and then put his phone back in his pocket. "Seriously?"
Kate gave him a sheepish grin. "I was proving it wasn't me. He wasn't going to believe me without proof."
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are on incredibly thin ice." He left her room again and walked back down the stairs. He stopped by the kitchen and grabbed a beer before going back to Bobby's office.
Bobby raised an eyebrow.
"He keeps hearing her in his head." Dean explained.
"How?" Bobby asked.
Dean explained that it was the periodic ringing that he had only heard from Kate. It wasn't a brief, sharp, sound that alerted him to danger when she was scrying. It was the long, piercing and painful whine that filled his head when she was particularly pissed off with him.
"Is she doing that to him?" Bobby asked.
Dean took a large drink of his beer. "She said she wasn't and thought it would be wise to rattle his head for a second to prove she wasn't the one doing it."
Bobby wasn't surprised by her audacity. That did sound like something she would do. "Perhaps that hiding wasn't enough."
"I don't have it in me. She did show him that it wasn't her and I guess it sounded a little different." He had his own migraine forming.
"So if it isn't her, what is it?" Bobby asked.
"Hell if I know. I can only handle one crisis at a time." Dean said.
"I'll call Pamela and Missouri to see if one of them can help figure it out." Bobby said. "What do we do if Kate is the one doing it and just changed the frequency."
Dean rubbed his temple. "Let dad deal with her."
"She is ballsy but I don't think she would be quite that defiant." Bobby said.
"No. From the way he explained it, it was happening often and enough to distract him. She wouldn't be distracting him at a time like this." Dean said. He glanced at the clock. "She has 25 minutes to work on a list then she and I will continue our talk."
Bobby nodded. "Alright." He wheeled his chair over to the wall where several phones were positioned. He dialed Missouri's number and put the phone to his ear. "Do you mind calling Karen to get an update on their plans?"
Dean pulled his phone back out of his pocket. He got up and walked outside. "Hey, Karen, Bobby wants to check in." He smiled when she told him that Bobby worried too much. Dean was confident that Karen and Kim could navigate a store without assistance but figured he would put Bobby's mind at ease. He heard Kim in the background. "Well, sounds like everyone is alive and well. I'll let you get back to your shopping."
(Kate)
Kate had to dig for what to put on the list for Dean. She got sidetracked thinking about the ringing. Why was he so sure it was her? He immediately knew when she tested him so maybe the ringing was different. Was it the ringing from the veil? If it was, what would that mean? She chewed on her pencil and tapped her fingers on her desk. If she could read him, she would know what the ringing sounded like. She couldn't read him. She got a weird taste in her mouth and looked down at her pencil. It was metallic. She took her paper downstairs so she could get a drink while working on the list. She called down to let Dean know what she was doing so he didn't get upset at her. She didn't get a response.
She tiptoed down the stairs and could see Dean standing at Bobby's office door. "Dean?" She sucked in a breath of air and looked at the analog clock on the wall. It was still. She had stopped time again. It was the same as when Sam was still at home and she had accidentally frozen things. "Seriously? Now?" She grumbled to herself. The situation would have been far more beneficial about 10 minutes earlier.
(Taylor)
Nate was mid sentence when he froze.
Taylor thought he was pulling a prank but everyone had frozen. Everyone except Taylor. He waved his hand in front of Nate's face. He sent an SOS to Kate, asking if she knew what was going on. He got a response that she had stopped time. Why would you do that?
I wanted to try earlier and it was just delayed. Kate pushed back.
Taylor got Kate's explanation and details of what led up to the freeze. He rubbed his face. She was insane. Unfreeze time.
How, exactly? Kate asked. She expected things to just magically fix itself like it did with Sam.
Taylor wondered how far the freeze reached. Was it just Sioux Falls? The world started moving again and he let out a breath he was holding.
Nate gave Taylor an odd look.
Taylor flicked his eyes to Nate's dad to tell Nate he couldn't explain anything.
Ellie walked through the room on the way to the backdoor and shot Nate a nasty look.
Taylor wanted to roll his eyes. She and Nate had been picking at each other since the guys had returned from laser tag. He got it. He did. He and Kate also did things like that but Kate wasn't a typical girl. She was Kate.
Nate stuck his foot out and caused her to stumble.
Ellie started to smack Nate but Taylor blocked her and motioned toward their dad.
Nate bit back a laugh but shuffled out of the room before his dad noticed anything.
Taylor flicked him. "Dude."
Ellie ran by them and straight to her room.
Taylor followed Nate to his room. "Did something happen to her?"
"What do you mean?" Nate asked.
"She is never this grumpy." Taylor said.
"She gets grumpy. She is probably just being a girl." Nate said.
Taylor looked concerned.
"Are you picking up on something with your abilities?" Nate asked.
"No. I'm picking up on something by not being a jackass." Taylor said.
Nate fell back onto his bed. "You are lame."
Taylor tossed a stray pillow at Nate. "I'm going to go talk to her."
Nate picked his head up. "Dude, why?"
"I'd rather ask her about it and it be nothing than something have actually happened and no one cares." Taylor said.
Nate dropped his head back down. "I don't have to go in there, right?"
Taylor ignored him and walked down the hallway to Ellie's room. He knocked on the door and told her it was him.
Ellie opened the door. "What?"
"Are you doing okay?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah." Ellie said.
Taylor knew that was a lie. "Talk to me for a minute and then I'll get out of your hair."
"There is nothing to talk about." Ellie said.
"I don't believe that. I know you don't feel good but you aren't acting like Ellie." Taylor said.
Ellie did her best to look annoyed.
Taylor gently compelled her to tell him what was going on. It was more of a suggestion but he did want to know.
Ellie sat down on her bed and pulled a stuffed animal into her lap. She told Taylor about some other kids that had hurt her feelings and a boy that made her cry.
"Hold up. He did what?" Taylor asked.
"He made up a lie about me." Ellie said.
"What was the lie?" Taylor asked.
Ellie shook her head. "Don't worry about it."
Nate appeared in the doorway. "What? What happened?"
"Some boy made up lies about her and made her cry." Taylor said.
Nate sat down on the bed beside Ellie. "Who was it? What did he say?"
The boys had to pry the truth out of Ellie as she was embarrassed. She told them that a boy that some of the girls at her dance studio had been making fun of her because she was a goody two shoes. She had seen one of the girls kiss an older boy and it made her uncomfortable. She didn't think they were allowed to do that. They said she was sheltered and immature but she really just didn't want any part of it. That group was always doing stuff like sneaking alcohol and smoking. They threatened her that if she told anyone, they would hurt her. Then, even though she minded her own business, one of the older boys started a rumor that he had gotten photos from a girl and they were of Ellie. Ellie did not send him photos and would never pose that way or show that much skin. Still, people believed him and now she had suggestive photos tied to her name.
Nate stood up quickly. "What? You are 12!"
Taylor motioned for Nate to be quiet. "Who are the photos of?"
Ellie frowned. "I don't know. I haven't really seen them."
"Why would he say they were yours?" Nate asked.
"Probably just to humiliate her." Taylor said. "That is sick."
"Please don't tell mom and dad." Ellie said.
Nate crossed his arms over his chest. "He can't just do that and get away with it."
"I'll get in trouble." Ellie said.
"No you won't." Nate said.
"Nate, I texted them and asked them to stop." Ellie said.
Nate scratched his head. She wasn't supposed to give out her number. "Surely they won't be that mad about that since you asked them to stop."
Taylor offered Ellie a tissue. "Have you texted them more than that?"
"I don't want dad to take my phone and read stuff." Ellie said.
"Let me see it." Nate said.
Ellie snapped her head up. "No way."
"Did you do something inappropriate?" Nate asked.
"I just text people." Ellie said. "Nothing bad."
Nate knew how badly she wanted to fit in. He didn't want her to get in trouble either.
"I am going to call my brother and see if he knows what to do." Taylor said. He slipped out of the room and stepped outside. He waited for Dean to answer and cleared his throat. "If I beat someone up that really deserves it, is that a dad level offense?"
Dean was not prepared for that question. "What does that mean?"
"A boy has nudes of a girl and he told everyone that the girl was Ellie." Taylor said.
Dean sat up straight. "What?"
"He is lying to humiliate her." Taylor said.
"Tell her parents." Dean said.
"She is afraid they will get mad because she isn't supposed to text anyone outside of family and she had texted the boy and some girls, asking them to stop what they were doing." Taylor said.
"So she broke a rule. They still need to know." Dean said.
"I don't even have to beat him up. Nate could do that." Taylor said.
Dean fully understood the urge to kick the guy's teeth in. "No. You know what. Talk to dad. I am at my limit for today and am in no position to hand out advice."
"I am not going to talk to dad about this." Taylor said.
"Might as well ask him his opinion since you asked me if it was a dad level offense." Dean said.
"I thought you would be cool about it." Taylor said.
"Had you just hit him and asked forgiveness later, that would have been a little different." Dean said.
Taylor heard Bobby fussing at Dean.
Dean sighed. "I don't know if I can give you honest advice. How old is this kid?"
"15 or 16 I think." Taylor said.
Bobby shot Dean a look.
Dean threw his hand up in defeat. "You are going to have to either tell her parents or talk to Bobby or dad." He smirked because Bobby pulled a face as his name was mentioned.
Taylor said that he was going to talk to Ellie to get more details and then would try to talk her into telling her parents. He returned to Ellie's room and gave Nate a subtle head shake. "You need to talk to your mom and dad."
Ellie really didn't want to.
"If the girl in those photos is your age, that is really illegal and he could go to jail." Taylor said.
Ellie didn't want to ruin lives over it.
Nate got Ellie's phone and looked through it. "Dang, how many people do you have on here?"
"Not many." Ellie said.
Nate opened a text thread and furrowed his brows. "Complaining about dad being lame in text? Rookie mistake." He deleted the thread and the number since it had nothing to do with Ellie's problem.
Ellie reached for her phone. "Hey, why did you do that?"
"Adding people so that you can ask them not to mess with you is one thing. Do you really want them to see messages you sent for no good reason?" Nate asked.
"But isn't deleting them lying?" Ellie asked.
Nate held her phone away from her. "You are super annoying but I kind of have to protect you sometimes."
"I keep all complaints about my dad out of writing." Taylor said. He offered her a small smile.
"I wasn't really complaining that much." Ellie said.
"You called him lame and insufferable." Nate said. He knew his dad was both lame and a little insufferable at times.
Ellie blushed.
"You are really bad at breaking rules." Nate said. "We are going to have to work on that."
"I don't want to be bad and break rules." Ellie said.
"Well you have to sometimes." Nate said.
Ellie gave him an odd look. "How many do you break?"
Nate made a zipping motion across his mouth.
"Don't ask too many questions." Taylor said. "He is trying to save your skin."
Ellie flopped back onto her bed. "I don't want you to get into trouble too."
Nate met eyes with Taylor. "You know, if I was going to get into trouble, I might as well beat the shit out of him and make it worth it."
Ellie gasped. "You can't say that word."
Nate ignored Ellie. "You and me could just take a stroll down the road."
Taylor wanted to do that. He heard their mom step onto the bottom step. He flicked his eyes toward the hallway and yanked the phone out of Nate's hand and threw it to Ellie.
A moment later they also heard their mom coming up the stairs.
"Do you want some cookies?" She asked.
"Uh, yes, please." Taylor said.
She got to the top of the stairs. "You had better not be messing with her. You know she doesn't feel good."
Nate stepped away from Ellie's door. "I'm not."
"Ellie, is he bothering you?" Their mom asked.
"No." Ellie said. "He was saying sorry."
Taylor gave her a strained smile. "Yeah, I kind of made him because he was being a… he was being rude."
Anna turned back toward the steps. "Well, I'm glad you two made up. I have fresh cookies that just came out of the oven."
Taylor thought about calling John but did he really need to? They had it figured out. Sure, they were fudging the truth a little but in the grand scheme of things, did it really matter? Dean would have covered for Sam.
(The hunt)
John got a break from the ringing and refocused his attention on the hellhounds. They needed to figure out how to get rid of them sooner rather than later. Things were at a standstill and the longer they spent in town, the more the worry ate away at him.
West called the Roadhouse to see how things were going. He spoke to Jo briefly and then to Ellen.
John overheard the conversation and briefly glanced at the other hunter when the call ended.
West noticed the quick glance. He knew John had some kind of history with Ellen and wondered if that was going to be an issue.
"How are they doing?" John asked.
"Good." West said. "Nobody is giving her too much trouble."
The other hunters were elsewhere, leaving the two men alone in the room. John read through information that he had already read through at least three times.
West offered to help. He was quiet for a few minutes. He finally spoke up because he wanted to know if there was going to be tension. "So, Ellen."
John looked up. "What about her?" He could tell West was searching for words. "Jo mentioned you might be sweet on her." He said, indicating that the choice of words were from Jo, not himself.
"Is that. Are you.. You two have a history don't you." West was at a loss for words.
John smirked. "Not the kind you are worried about." He thought West would probably be good for her.
"She doesn't talk much about anything that isn't about hunting or the Roadhouse." West said. "I wasn't real sure about what happened with you."
John sat back in his chair. "Up until recently, she would have shot me for walking through the door."
West looked slightly alarmed.
John rubbed the back of his neck. "I was hunting buddies with her husband, Bill." He didn't need to tell West anything but figured they'd run into each other from time to time. "I was with him when he died."
West studied the other hunter.
"He was a good friend to me and she blamed me for what happened. I was okay with that." John said.
"I'm guessing she forgave you." West said.
"We came to an understanding but she only tolerates me because of the kids." John said, with a hint of humor to his voice.
"Jo told me who Taylor was." West said.
"It is a long story about how he ended up with us." John said.
West just nodded. That was none of his business.
"Poor kid was afraid she would hate him for being his kid." John said.
"Now that doesn't sound like Ellen." West said.
"He heard stories before meeting her." John said.
"He seems like a nice kid." West said.
"He is. He reminds me of Bill." John said.
The two men talked for a bit. West had lost his wife around the same time that Bill had passed. He understood the grief and the anger that came with it.
The other hunters came back to the church, ending the conversation.
Rufus swung the door open, grumbling about teenagers.
The pastor told John and West about a couple of kids that had been out causing mischief. "They are going to get themselves killed."
John was instantly frustrated. Everyone had been told to stay home to keep themselves safe. Of course they were going to have a couple of rogue teenagers bending the rules. He needed to talk to Rufus and the pastor about something that he and West had started to talk about right before they showed up.
A few of the hunters loaded up with supplies and went back out to find a secure location to keep an eye on things as it got later in the evening.
Rufus sat down with a mug of coffee. "What did you cook up while we were gone?"
West deferred to John to explain the train of thought.
"We need to figure out how to get rid of those things. They aren't normal hellhounds. We are running out of time and need to interrogate someone who knows something about them." John said.
Rufus sat his mug down. "You want to summon a demon?"
The pastor looked worried.
"I can't find anything useful. Bobby hasn't found anything. It may be our only hope." John said.
Rufus picked his mug up again. "Sounds like something your girl would come up with."
John rubbed his face. "She is on the bench."
Rufus raised an eyebrow.
John gave him a warning look. "Do you have a better idea?"
Rufus didn't. "I guess we are going to need a devil's trap."
West saw the pastor's worried look and tense shoulders. "Not here. One of those empty buildings."
"Once we summon it, it can't get out." John said.
"What do you do with it?" The pastor asked.
"Send it back to hell or kill it." West said.
The pastor put a hand to his chest. "Summon a demon?"
"We will take care of it." John said. He didn't have time to go over the logistics of how they were going to summon the thing or if they should even do it. For John, a regular demon was just another day on the job.
(Sioux Falls)
Kate forgot about the momentary pause in time because she had to scramble back up the steps and to her chair as quietly and as quickly as possible. She needed to get the list written before Dean returned to her room. She had not heard anything from Crowley which wasn't all that surprising. She was never truly alone. How would a demon get a message to her? He could have while they were at the mall. Wait, she wasn't supposed to want a message from him. She wanted to avoid him. Stay away from demons. What if the demons had all of the answers? What then? She smirked and wrote 'hell's poor communication skills' on the list. She could explain what that meant when he read it.
Dean kept an eye on the time. He wondered if Kim really was alright, considering that she was worn out from shopping with the girls. He decided to call her phone to ask her about it.
Kim answered. "We are almost done."
"Do you need someone to help you?" Dean asked.
Kim chuckled. "I don't think so."
"You didn't feel good after this morning and then got sent on another shopping trip." Dean said.
"I chose to go on another shopping trip." Kim said.
Karen told Kim she could step away to talk to Dean.
"My line is okay. Nothing has changed in the last half hour." Kim said.
"Everyone else is alive right now, so I just figured I'd ask." Dean said, lightly.
"Alive, breathing, all limbs present." Kim joked.
They talked briefly. Dean needed to talk to Kate and Kim needed to help Karen check out.
"Were you worried about her?" Bobby asked.
Dean stretched. "No and that is the problem."
Bobby leaned back in his chair.
Dean cracked his neck and straightened his shirt. "One of those feelings. Waiting on something to happen."
"Kate hasn't given you enough to worry about?" Bobby asked. "Taylor is happy to add on some stress if you need him to."
"Taylor is your problem." Dean said. "I'm all for beating the shit out of the guy doing that to Ellie. Due to current stress levels, I just don't think I should be in charge of telling him not to."
"He sought your advice." Bobby reminded him.
"That was my advice. Talk to an adult that isn't me." Dean said.
Bobby knew that Dean wouldn't blow Taylor off if it was serious. He assumed Taylor would help Ellie talk to her parents and not actually go beat the other kid up. The topic was serious but Taylor's part in it was minimal.
Dean walked back up to Kate's room. "Do you have your 10 things?"
Kate whipped her head around. "Kind of."
Dean's face darkened.
"No. Yes." Kate held up the paper. "Some of these have multiple parts."
Dean sat down on her bed and looked at the paper. "I don't know. You only having 7 things on here feels defiant."
"There are notes to the side of those 7 things, so really, I was being an overachiever." Kate said.
Dean patted the bed beside him. "Nova."
"See, that one is deep. I do want to help her but the situation makes me angry." Kate said.
"The nymphs are on that." Dean said.
"It still angers me." Kate said.
Dean nodded. It angered him to. He furrowed his brows he pointed to the 6th item on the list that referenced hell's communication skills. "You overestimate how thin the ice is that you are on."
"Not that I want to communicate with hell, but lack of contact makes me nervous." Kate said.
"There should be no contact." Dean said.
"I would like to discuss options without Crowley trying to kill people." Kate said.
"So you want to work with him." Dean said.
"It was on my mind." Kate said. "You said write it down. I'm not going to summon him."
He tilted the paper slightly. "Looks like you might have erased something." Dean said.
Kate took the paper from him. "It was the first thing I wrote down and I'm no longer that person."
Dean took the paper back. "Winchester hardassery."
Kate blushed. "I was working through some things."
Dean flicked her but he didn't tell her not to write things like that. He knew the boundaries were hard for her to deal with and yeah, there was a bit of hardassery going on. John was immovable but Dean didn't push him. He wanted to be on the hunt. John didn't want him to be on the hunt. So, he wasn't on the hunt.
(Taylor)
Mark was a little bit like John. He was strict and knew his kids well. He knew when they were hiding something. He loved his kids just like John did and was insufferable (at times) for the same reason. After joining them for cookies and noting the lack of conversation, he sat back in his chair and simply looked at the kids.
Ellie avoided looking at him and focused intensely on her cookie crumbs.
Taylor gave him an awkward smile and told Anna that the cookies were really good.
Nate offered to take plates to the sink and had planned to go somewhere else but Mark stopped him.
"Sit." Mark said.
Nate cursed silently. He sat back down and shot Ellie a look that said to keep her mouth shut.
Ellie's phone chimed with almost comedic timing. They could have played it off like it was Nate's or Taylor's and they just didn't reach for it because they were busy. No, Ellie panicked.
Nate rubbed his face. She folded far too easily.
Taylor was well versed in tense situations. He was used to Kate butting heads with John and Dean. He was a mediator. He put an arm around Ellie's shoulders and gave her a side hug. He glanced at Nate to see if he was going to say anything and the look he got back confirmed that Nate was keeping his mouth shut. "Ellie is upset about something that happened and just embarrassed."
Mark sat forward slightly. "Ellie?"
Ellie shook her head.
"So, some older kids are being mean to her." Taylor said.
Mark tapped the table. "Ellie."
"I think she is kind of too upset to talk about it." Taylor said.
Mark sighed. "Taylor, I appreciate that you are trying to help but this sounds like something she needs to tell us about."
Nate spoke up. "She is being bullied and this one dude is a massive jerk and should probably be in jail."
Taylor thought that Nate folded easily as well. "Can Nate and I explain?"
Mark relented. "Why should he be in jail?"
"So, some of the people at Ellie's dance studio are sneaky. They drink and stuff." Taylor said. "Ellie doesn't. She hasn't said anything to them but they think she will and that she thinks she is too good. She is just really sweet and has really good parents."
Mark and Anna traded looks. Was that last part an attempt to butter them up?
"Over the last week or two, they have been mean to her. Then, one of the older boys got photos of a girl that isn't fully dressed. He told people that the girl was Ellie." Taylor said.
Mark's face darkened in a hurry.
"They aren't! He lied." Nate butted in.
"Ellie asked them to stop and they wont." Taylor said.
Anna opened her arms for Ellie. "Is this why you have been so upset?"
Ellie dove into the hug and nodded her head.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Mark asked.
"She doesn't want to get them into trouble." Taylor said.
"Why do the three of you act like you are facing jail time?" Mark asked.
"We considered beating him up before saying anything." Nate answered, truthfully.
"I texted them." Ellie admitted.
Mark understood. Ellie felt guilty for texting them when she wasn't supposed to. "Let me see your phone."
Nate wasn't sure he had deleted enough.
Ellie reluctantly handed it over.
Mark looked through the phone at the texts to and from that group of kids. He was angry that they were saying those types of things to anyone, let alone Ellie.
"My family is good friends with Jodi Mills, one of the police officers at the station." Taylor said. "I'm pretty sure she could help."
"That is who arrested the two of you, isn't it?" Mark asked.
Taylor stammered. "Well… we… we didn't get arrested."
Ellie couldn't handle lying and blurted out that she had texted other people too.
Nate glared at her.
"Where are those conversations?" Mark asked.
Nate took a deep breath. "I tried to have her back so you could just focus on the fact that she is being bullied."
Mark looked back and forth between his kids. It was obvious they were nervous because they broke the rules but it was a complicated situation.
"You know, my dad is super strict and lets those kinds of things go because siblings are supposed to have each other's backs." Taylor said. He clamped his mouth shut and his face turned red. Real smooth.
"I don't think we need your input." Mark said, motioning to both Nate and Taylor.
"Look at her. She is sad." Nate said. "They were mean to her."
Mark put the phone on the table. "You will be without this for a while since you used it to text people that you weren't allowed to."
Ellie nodded.
"We need to discuss what all happened with those kids." Mark said.
"If the girl in the photo is Ellie's age, it is totally illegal." Taylor said.
"I am aware." Mark said.
"Knowing how these things work out, they are just going to get mad at Ellie for telling an adult and the only real reason to solve this is for me to kick his face in." Nate said.
Taylor nudged Nate. "Now might be a good time to shut up."
Mark informed the boys that he and Anna were going to talk to Ellie about the situation and come up with a plan.
"And she will just lose her phone, right?" Nate asked.
Mark had planned for that to be the consequences for using her phone. He knew that she felt guilty and wouldn't make the same mistake again. If it was Nate, he would be more worried. "Unless you want to talk about hiding things from me."
Nate licked his lips. "Uh, no, I don't want to do that."
"Go somewhere else." Mark said.
Nate reluctantly stood up. "If you need more info about who this kid is, I can get that for you." He sighed. "Leaving now."
Taylor followed Nate outside to the backyard. "Dude, Kate would have made that so much worse for herself."
"Ellie annoys me most of the time by acting like a kicked puppy but she might have a strategy." Nate said.
Taylor called Dean to tell him about their solution.
Dean answered. "Am I dad or Bobby?"
Taylor rolled his eyes. "Why don't you call dad right now?"
"He is busy." Dean said. He was leaving the man alone until he was needed.
"We told Ellie's parents." Taylor said.
"And?" Dean asked.
"They are going to handle it." Taylor said.
"Unless that doesn't work and then I'm going to get violent." Nate said.
Taylor elbowed Nate. "Kate could compel him."
"Kate is not going to compel anyone." Dean said. "She is to focus on not spiraling."
Taylor heard Kate yell from somewhere in the house. He smirked and shot her a thought.
Dean was getting another call. "Don't beat up other kids. Let the adults handle it. I'll pick you up in a little bit."
Taylor shrugged and ended the call. He was getting messages from Kate in his head. He grimaced and put his phone away.
"What is going on?" Nate asked.
"She made things way worse for herself." Taylor said.
"I don't know how you do it." Nate said. "She would drive me crazy. If dad gets mad at Ellie, I am not going to keep my mouth shut."
"Then you would be making it worse. I feel for Kate and try to protect her but she is different from Ellie. You have to remember this is the person that laughed at the devil."
I have met your dad, though." Nate said.
"Good thing he is busy with other stuff right now." Taylor said.
(The hunt)
John threw a match into the bowl and stepped back as a bright light spread across the room. A thick cloud of smoke flowed through the window and spiraled, coming to a rest above the bowl.
A man appeared from the smoke. He started to move away from the bowl but found himself anchored in place. He looked up. "A devil's trap." His eyes turned black and he looked at John.
John had West shut the window and replace the salt line.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" The man asked. He was aware that the two men infront of him were hunters.
"We need to talk." John said, gruffly.
"You'd have to make a deal for that." The man said. "You don't summon a crossroads demon for nothing."
"What are those things out there?" John said, tilting his head toward the door.
The demon allowed his eyes to return to their human form. "Trees. Cars. You'll have to be more specific."
"The creatures." John said.
The demon smirked. "I believe you would call those children."
John flicked his eyes toward the window just in time to see the top of someone's head before the person ducked out of sight. He took several deep breaths and told West to keep an eye on the demon. He opened the door, careful not to disturb the salt line. He stalked over to a piece of plywood that was leaning against a wall. He reached into the shadow created by the piece of wood and yanked someone out by the back of their shirt.
Rufus and another hunter hurried over. "Goddammit. Snuck by us."
The preacher heard the commotion and ran over as well. He knew the person in John's grip and figured, if he was there, his buddies had to be as well.
"How old are you?" John asked.
The boy tried to twist away from John, nearly losing his shirt in the process.
"He is 12." The preacher said. "I know his parents. I'll call them."
John demanded to know why the boy was lurking around, knowing that he wasn't possessed or a shifter.
"We can't just stay inside forever." The boy said.
John let his shirt go so the preacher could grab his arm.
"You have no business over here." The preacher said.
John saw the boy's eyes following something and growled. "Go get whoever else is out here."
The hunters apprehended two more boys and pushed them into a side room of the church. They didn't have ill intentions and didn't know how serious the order was to stay at home.
John was irritated. If kids were able to sneak by the perimeter, what else could sneak by? He didn't think for a second that if the boys were returned home, that they would stay home. He also didn't have the patients or time to deal with explaining anything to them.
The preacher called the town's sheriff and had the boys escorted to the police station to wait for a few hours. Kids running around outside at a time like that was going to get a lot of people hurt.
John returned to the demon and cleared his throat. "What are the hellhounds doing here?"
The demon looked genuinely confused.
West flicked him with holy water.
The demon growled and wiped the stinging substance from his face. "If I had hellhounds here, I wouldn't be entertaining our little meeting."
"They were here before you got here." John said. Interrogation was going nowhere so John pulled up the video of the hellhounds and played it for the demon.
The demon had to watch the clip a few times. "Those aren't mine."
"No shit." West said. "Who do they belong to?"
The demon eyed both hunters. "What are you going to do when I'm done giving you information?"
John raised an eyebrow. "Depends entirely on what you tell us."
The demon had some concerns that outweighed his desire to rip the hunters to shreds. He knew things about hellhounds that they didn't and the ones in the video were no normal hellhounds. If he shared information, he would get kicked back to a deeper pit in hell. If he stuck around and those things attacked, he would be a sitting duck.
"I don't do favors for free." The demon said.
"This isn't a favor." John said. "You don't have a choice."
The demon looked smug. "I always have a choice." He hissed as holy water hit him in the face again. He flicked his hand, intending for things in the room to be knocked around.
"Added a few extra sigils to the warding." John said.
A lengthy conversation had the demon realizing that he was backed into a corner. "Kill me. Oh don't look at me like that. You are John Winchester. Everyone knows you have something on you that can kill a demon."
John hadn't shared his name and West wondered how the demon knew him by name.
"Tell us about the hellhounds." John said.
The demon's shoulders shot to his ears. He could hear one of them in the distance. "They do not have an owner."
John slammed his fist down on the table. He was getting nowhere.
"Give me a piece of paper." The demon said.
West provided him with a piece of paper and a small pencil.
The demon created a crude drawing of a symbol. "The owner's name is on the beast's skin. There are no names on that thing."
"So it is rogue." John said.
"More than that. Hellhounds do not go rogue. They are mindless. That isn't a hellhound." The demon said.
John glanced back at the screen, viewing the footage through his hellhound glasses.
"Used to be a hellhound, sure." The demon said. "Now, I've only been around for a few centuries but things like that do not happen. Even if the owner dies, hellhounds don't turn out like that."
"Who commands them?" John asked.
"The owner." The demon said, looking at John like he was an idiot. "Look, I don't know what caused that."
"What keeps them away?" West asked.
"Goofer dust for a while." The demon said. "I don't think it will work on those though." He shivered. "Now, kill me."
John wasn't done with his interrogation. He did note that the demon looked spooked. He had seen a lot of demons trapped in devil's traps and they didn't tend to look that way. "Why are you scared?"
"Oh, I'm not scared. I'm bored." The demon quipped.
"So if we were to set you outside and wait around for them to visit again…" John trailed off. He moved the computer screen closer to the demon. "You can stay as long as you are useful." It had been one of those days, no, one of those weeks where things had gotten so complicated that the irony of his situation wasn't lost on him.
Rufus was outside when he felt the first drop of rain on his skin. He looked up at the sky and swore. There were thick clouds rolling in and the wind was picking up. He stepped inside. "There is a storm."
The pastor looked outside. "There was no storm forecasted any time this week."
The demon could hear the hounds and shivered.
John held his head as the ringing grew louder, nearly making his teeth vibrate.
Rufus ran across the road to the church. He put his weight into shutting the door as the wind tried to rip it open. He quickly called the other hunters to make sure they were aware of the situation. He stepped into the room with all of the research and cleared his throat. "Your daddy is going to skin you."
Kate looked up from the stacks of research. "No he won't."
"Girl, he told you to stay home." Rufus scolded.
Kate jotted down a few notes. "He told 12 year old me to stay home and 12 year old me is currently at home, with no idea what is outside right now."
"Now you know that isn't going to work on me." Rufus said. She looked like the Kate he knew.
Kate walked around the table. "Oh, Rufus, I wouldn't lie to you."
"You need to get out of here." Rufus said.
"I will, after this all blows over." Kate said.
"What are those things?" Rufus asked.
"Mutated hellhounds. There are three of them. Someone got creative and wanted to see what would happen if you tried to kill one with freak DNA." Kate said. "Wasn't one of us."
"Please go home. John will not be able to focus if you are here. You know he loves you." Rufus said.
"He is stubborn." Kate said. "He doesn't need to know I'm here."
Rufus got a call.
Kate rolled her eyes dramatically.
John asked Rufus where he was and wanted tabs on every hunter and civilian they were working with.
Rufus kept an eye on Kate. He updated John and cleared his throat.
Kate couldn't afford to have Rufus rat her out. Not only would it ruin her plan, it would distract John. She was another year wiser and more careful than she had been. She silently compelled Rufus to not tell John she was there.
John confirmed that everyone was headed to their safe spots. He hung up and returned to his conversation with the demon.
The demon didn't have a lot to add but was aware of the power that was radiating from the church. "So, who is the girl?"
John locked eyes with the demon. "What girl?"
"Blondie." The demon said, knowing he struck a nerve with John.
John didn't need the demon to confirm who he was talking about. He just knew.
Rufus saw Kate double over, holding her head.
Kate hissed and gritted her teeth. The force in which he kicked her out of his head caused her own brain to rattle. "Bull shit he isn't psychic."
The door swung open a moment later John stalked through the church. He met eyes with Kate and he clinched his fists, trying to cool his anger.
Kate swallowed hard. She couldn't explain that she wasn't 12 year old Kate. He had nearly skinned 19 year old Kate so nearly 14 year old Kate had absolutely no hope of getting out of that situation without him killing her. She snapped back in time a few minutes and found herself, alone, standing at the table. Her legs felt weak. Thank god that actually worked when it was supposed to. She heard Rufus open the church door and cleared the area immediately.
The demon had felt Kate's presence as soon as she got to town. He also felt her leave just a moment before. He waited for John to talk to Rufus about where the other hunters were. With his demonic abilities, he had gotten a brief glimpse of the conversation inside of the church and smirked. Had he found a weak spot? "So, who is the girl?"
John locked eyes with him. "What girl?"