MIKA

If Mika was honest with herself, the majority of her mind was convinced that this would be the first time ever that he would shut her out and not talk in the slightest, meaning she would have to give him the olive branch to say that whenever he was ready to talk, she would be there. Yet it seemed just being in front of him and touching him was breaking him down and he was going to talk. The moment he began crying saying he didn't want her seeing him the way he saw himself, she sighed discreetly wondering how bad Hell truly was for him.

At his admittance that he remembered everything from his time in Hell, she nodded softly feeling like she was getting somewhere with him. Normal conversations she would have replied to this first admittance, but this was a time to let him just speak everything he possibly could, then and only then, would she reply to him. To her it was clear that it was more important just to let him spill everything off his chest that he felt he could get off his chest.

As he started talking about what happened to him she covered her mouth with one hand. She could feel the tears threatening to spill over her lower eyelids. So much hurt and pain and sympathy came rushing over her for him. Yet it was when he said it was the fact he liked torturing other souls that shocked her to her core. Those words made her tears flow down her face, but surprisingly enough they did not make her think any less of him. He lasted years before he accepted the offer to be off the racks, that was longer than anyone else would have lasted.

As he finished and looked at her in the eyes, she looked at him back, wiping her tears then instantly pulled him into the tightest hug she could muster. "Dean..." she whispered, kissing the side of his face and continued holding him. "You lasted decades longer than anyone else would have lasted. Anyone would have taken that offer within days of being in Hell. It's what that place does, it twists even the most strong willed people to do what it wants, or in this case Alastair's wants. I can't think any less of you for that Dean, I just can't" she told him honestly. She then heard the others returning and pulle daway from him, wiping her face of the tears and then wiped his tears. "We can take a moment to gather ourselves out here then go in and see the others" she suggested to him.

SAM AND NATALIA

Inside Sam hugged Bobby back, nodding as he explained the other two were outside talking, which he did indeed know was pretty normal for Dean and Mika. He did however think and worry about what went down that meant they needed their private moment to talk. The two of them only ever did that if it was something major and he couldn't help but glance toward the back door for a split second before shaking his concerns out of his head and looking out at everyone else.

He watched on as Bobby let Cason come in but not without a firm warning, which actually made Sam smirk slightly as like Annabeth, he did find it amusing that Cason was stuck in a devil's trap even if he didn't know it was for the second time. He also noticed how Natalia sniggered at the sight also. Unlike Bobby however, neither of them could fully see how much like Mika's childhood Annabeth was when she asked the question about being safe in this house.

"Bobby's is the safest place we know when it comes to an actual house. Mika grew up here" he told Annabeth, "and if she could survive in this old house than anyone can" he smirked quietly to her.

Natalia instantly went over to the desk where she saw the bottle that Bobby had on it, picked it up and poured herself some in one of the glasses. Putting the bottle down but picking up her glass and taking a sip despite it still being relatively early. She didn't care, she had finished her coffee a while ago and wanted something to drink but didn't want to go into the kitchen. "So what have you guys found out?" she asked, glancing around at the books and printed out articles in the living room on the two tables.

Dean almost didn’t hug Mika back when she hugged him. He felt like she should have run a million miles away from him, and that the hug was what she felt would make him feel better. But it did make him feel better. He needed someone to tell him that what he did wasn’t his fault, and that he deserved to be in the position he was in. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her shoulder, letting out a small sob that he wouldn’t dare let anyone else hear. Every word she said caused more tears to come, “Thank you…”

When she pulled away and wiped both their tears, he gave a sad smile, doing what he was best at, pushing things down. In this case, he was pushing it down so the others wouldn’t think anything was wrong. He nodded briefly, glancing up at the sky for a second and then shaking his head roughly.

“I’m good. But Sammy can’t know…Mika I mean it. I don’t know if I’ll tell him, but right now, with everything going on, I need him to think I have it together. If he found out about any of this, he would want to lock me up, or at least would be so paranoid about my head that he wouldn’t want me to do anything.”, he explained, hearing the voices coming from inside the house, as one of the windows in the kitchen was wide open. He smiled a bit at the thought of Sam being safe, and at the house.

There was never much time to cry, anymore. Things happened so fast, that stopping to mourn, or just to feel any emotions seemed like a waste of time. This felt like one of those moments, as he started to walk back to the house, before stopping and reaching a hand out, “Whenever you’re ready…”



Cason stepped out of the demon trap happily, simply nodding his head at Bobby. This was Bobby’s house. If anyone was going to make him wish he was dead, it was this old drunk. He stretched his shoulders, glad that the power of the trap was no longer weighing down on him, and turned to Esme as she spoke to him.

“I’m well aware. There’s no telling what kind of traps and sticky bits are around this house. I think I’ll take a human with me everywhere I go…”, he wiggled his eyebrows at her, leaning in close to speak to her, “Good thing I have a human, right?”

He then turned toward Bobby as the old man walked back to his desk and poured himself a drink, snatching the bottle out of Natalia’s hands. Bobby smirked at Natalia, shooing her away from his desk as he took the bottle from her, “Now don’t you come up into my place drinking all of my booze. I’ve got one drink tank already living with me…costing me a fortune with his self pity…”

He spoke with a smile on his face, before reaching up to Nat’s cheek and running a hand along her jaw bone, followed by a soft pat, “Good to have you here, kid…There’s food in the kitchen, if you’re hungry. Mika’s a picky eater. So, I’m sure you’ll find something.”

He then turned to Sam and sighed at Nat’s question of them finding anything, “Oh we found a few piles of shit, honestly. The summoning turned out pretty eventful. I was asleep through most of it, but Dean can tell you everything. Or he wrote it down, here…”

He handed Sam a manila envelope of Dean’s notes about Castiel, “It feels like the end of days, if I’m honest. Angels. Demons scared half to death of angels. Something big is coming, and you guys are right in the middle of all of it.”



Annabeth stood close to Sam, feeling a bit safer, since he trusted Bobby. She only broke her attention away from the group when the voice from earlier flashed through her brain again.

Hello, love.
I think we should speak. There is a crane in the back of the house. No dogs, no men. But if you don’t come speak with me, I might have to show you how much I don’t like the word, ‘no’.
You have five minutes.
Or Sam’s femur goes…pop.

Annabeth gasped, pulling her hand away from Sam sharply as she took in the words in her mind. She knew she couldn’t tell him what was going on. She didn’t even know, herself. But she knew that the person who owned the voice would kill Sam.

Plastering a fake smile, she glanced over at Bobby and cleared her throat, “Um…is there anywhere outside I can take a breath? That was a long drive and…with…my eye situation it was a bit stuffy.”

Bobby nodded lightly, and gestured toward the back door, on the other side of the yard from where Mika and Dean were talking. Smiling at him she thanked him silently, not touching Sam as she walked away and out the back door. Almost as soon as she stepped out the door, she felt a warmth step up to her side, breathing against her cheek like a dog. She brushed it off, figuring it didn’t speak and kept walking, until she saw a tall man in a designer suit standing near a tow truck. He stood motionless, his hands behind his back until she approached.

“Who are you?”, she asked him, causing him to give a relieved smile and turn around to greet her. His eyes were bright white, with no irises. His smile was more of a sneer and he reached a hand out.

“There’s my little girl…”, he sang to her, stepping up to brush her hair from her face and behind her ears. As he pulled his hands away from her ears, he took her glasses from her face, his face turning to sadness and empathy, “Oh dear. Oh, my poor baby. What did those mean old angels do to you?”

Annabeth didn’t know how to respond to the man. She could feel that he was different, and smelled familiar, but his touch didn’t give her any feelings at all. She took a step back from you.

“Oh. Have you talked to Dean? I’m sure he has just the nicest things to say about me…”, he continued, “But you. My sweet, little murder machine. I need you in one piece, before we can start our work…and there’s just one thing I need in return.”

“And what is that?”, she asked innocently, now not able to see at all, only to follow his voice.

“I need you to realize your worth to the Winchesters is your allegiance to me.”, he started, elaborating, “They want you, because you may be a weapon. Oh yes. Even Sam. But I want you to be great. I want you to fix all of this. The apocalypse? That’s no fun, right?”

Annabeth sneered at him, part of her chest feeling like was right. The thoughts had been in the back of her mind the entire time she had known the Winchesters. But, she couldn’t leave them…

“And what if I don’t?”, she whispered, causing Alastair to close his eyes and groan.

“Then I kill them all. Right now. I’ll make sure to save your Sammy for last, of course. But hey! I’ll let you say your goodbyes, before we go. What do you say? 24 hours? Get all that lovin’ in that you can, and then we’re out of here.”, he finished, causing Annabeth to pause. She knew that Sam would come after her. They all would. But she did want her eyes back. Maybe she could tell Sam, and they could fix this whole thing.

“Deal…”, she blurted out, which caused Alastair to simply step forward, brushing his hands over her eyes. When he pulled his hand away, and disappeared, her blue eyes were perfectly intact, and working, “Oh my god…”

She turned and ran back to the house, both scared to death and excited as she stepped back through the door, and ran back through the house. She had no way to explain to them what had just happened, and now she didn’t have her glasses to cover her eyes. She skidded to a stop, audibly before she reached the group, and tried to decide on what she could tell them…simply hoping Sam wouldn’t turn or Bobby wouldn’t catch a glimpse of her standing there.

Esme couldn’t hold back the grin on the remark about Bobby’s house, but had to agree he’d be wise to have a human around. At his eyebrow wiggle and last statement, her eyebrows shot up. “And who says the human would want to go or have you tag along with them?” she asked. Her attention shifted to Bobby as he went back to his desk and spoke to Natalia. She wouldn’t say it aloud, but she felt slightly out of place here. Maybe it was because she had spent so much time alone and she was having to adjust to having others around her.

She moved back and found an empty wall to lean against, crossing her arms over her chest. She listened as Bobby spoke to Natalia and then to Sam, passing him a manilla envelope. She sighed heavily as Bobby explained how it felt like the end of days, angels and demons, and that something big was coming, and they were all in the middle of it.She dipped her head and closed her eyes, thinking about how they were going to stop whatever was coming.

She knew one thing, it would more than likely take all of them to do it, and some of them might not make it through it. They would all have to stay on their toes and be ready for anything. They were dealing with demons and angels now, and there was no telling what else might rear its ugly head. Esme was so deep in her thoughts she didn’t even hear when Annabeth returned after leaving to get some air as she had said.

MIKA

As Dean hesitated to hug her back at first, Mika just let him take his time to process everything she said to him as well as the fact she was holding him protectively and lovingly. As he did slowly start to hug her back, she kept her arms around him and just let him sob into her shoulder, one hand lifting to the back of his head and holding his head softly, kissing the top of it. "Always Dean, no need to thank me for doing what I'd always do. We're equals and in this together remember?" she reminded him, with a soft smile in her tone.

Pulling away and doing what she did, she looked at him to make sure he would be okay, but something told her he wouldn't be okay for a long while but what she did know was that she would remain by his side the entire time through this. For her, it'd have to be something really major to make her walk away from him and with their lives, that was indeed saying something. She listened to him request that she did not tell Sam what he told her and as much as she didn't particularly like the idea of hiding something like this from Sam, she nodded her agreement. "okay, I won't tell him" she promised.

She then followed him toward the house again as he went on ahead before holding his hand out that she gladly took, interlocked their fingers and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "You got this Dean and I'll always be by your side." she reminded him before walking inside with him.

SAM AND NATALIA

When Bobby snatched the bottle of whiskey out of Natalia's hand, she couldn't help but smirk at his retort about Dean, even though she knew deep down a lot of it was actually probably Mika. It was no surprise to her or Sam that Mika turned to drink when she was in the grieving stages of losing Dean and no matter how much they tried to stop her from drinking everything that Bobby owned or even stopping her from going to the shop to buy even more booze, Mika just continued anyway.

As he ran his hand down her jawbone and patted her face she smiled softly at him. "I'm alright thanks Bobby and I'm not surprised she is still being a picky eater, if she even eats anything at all" she remarked back. She was always so thankful that Bobby welcomed her so well as one of the crazy ass family that was the Winchesters.

She and Sam both listened as Bobby explained what went down with the summoning, both raising eyebrows at his remark about being asleep through most of it but the moment he mentioned Angels, both their interests were and truly piqued as Sam took the envelope from him and opened it to glance through the notes before Dean and Mika made their way back into the house.

"Seems we both had to deal with Angels then. It was an Angel named Samael who took Annabeth's eyes. He just came out of nowhere and started torturing her then took her eyes from her." he explained to Bobby, not noticing at first that Annabeth had snuck off out to the backyard as he was so focused on looking at the notes and sharing information with Bobby.

It was when however she came skidding back into the room that he looked up to see she was in another part of the room than she was before and she had her eyes back.."What the hell!? How do you have your eyes!?" he asked her in shock, shoving the envelope and notes into Nat's chest and walking right over to Annabeth, checkign her face for any sign her eyes were ever missing, looking at her with complete and utter shock and bafflement.

"What's going on?" Mika asked seeing the frantic commotion suddenly starting up in the main room.

Dean smiled softly, still fighting a lump in his throat as Mika reassured him. He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles as they walked back toward the house. He couldn’t justify in his mind why she didn’t just run away from him. In his mind, the things he had done in Hell were unforgivable at best, and at worst, he definitely didn’t deserve to leave the pit.

“Let’s go see what my brother has brought home…”, he muttered with a smirk, finding exactly what he was afraid of when they stepped into the room. The tension and panic made him raise both his eyebrows, holding Mika’s hand a bit tighter as he looked between the people in the room, “Yeah um…is everything okay with you guys? Sam? You good?”

He asked his brother if he was okay knowing he most likely wasn’t, but he wanted Sam to know that now that they were back together, he had his back, if anything crazy was going on.



Cason frowned at Esme still shooting him down every time he decided to shoot his shot and flirt with her. He stepped over close to her as the others discussed what was going on. Most of the information they were churning out, were things he had heard through the grapevine anyway. So, none of it really surprised him.

However, when Annabeth skidded into the room, a familiar smell flooded his senses, and he turned to her. Before he could go over and shake her for being an idiot, Sam was there, checking her over.

“What the hell did you do?”, he asked, the tone of his voice portraying the full devastation he was feeling at seeing her eyes magically back, while she smelled like literal Hell. His eyes turned black, as the smell was no longer something he could just get past and growled.



Annabeth stared at Sam, surprised and thankful to see his face again, as he checked her over. She let him, almost smirking, until she realized that the look on his face and everyone else’s faces was not that of happiness, but worry or fear.

“Um…that’s hard to explain.”, she whispered, her large blue eyes staring up at Sam, begging him not to test her ability to keep a secret. She knew that with him, she would fail miserably.

When Cason asked her what she had done, she closed her newly repaired eyes and looked down at her feet, which caused him to sigh in another show of his devastation, throwing his hands up and then bending as if he couldn’t breath, placing his hands on his knees.

“Listen…I didn’t know what else to do!”, she pleaded with the entire room, barely acknowledging that Dean and Mika were back in the room, until Cason spoke up again.

“She made a deal…with a demon…”, he gasped, feeling sick, “After all this time. Why didn’t you come get me? I have half a dozen dogs out there. They could have ripped Alastair to shreds…”

“You did what?!”, Dean erupted, causing Annabeth to jump, her hand instinctively coming to Sam’s arm as she forced her eyes closed again, “You made a deal with Alastair?! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”

“HE WAS GOING TO KILL SAM!”, she finally snapped, knocking the wind out of Dean’s lungs with her sudden outburst of frustration, and causing him to clutch his chest as she gripped Sam’s wrist, “He was going to kill Sam. I didn’t have a choice…”

As Esme leaned against the wall, she continued listening to what they discussed in the room. When she heard they had also dealt with an angel, she closed her eyes tighter. So, that’s what was trying to contact Dean. she thought to herself. She sighed heavily at the thought of more than one angel being around them. So, they knew of two angels at the moment. How many more would they come in contact with? She was pulled from the thought when she was hit by a wave of emotion, it caused her to gasp and hold her chest as pain flooded it.

She opened her eyes just as Sam’s shocked voice rang into the room. Esme’s eyes followed him to the kitchen where Annabeth stood. Esme’s eyes widened in shock as she saw she had eyes. “How in the hell?” she whispered. She cut her eyes over at Cason as he spoke to Annabeth. Not only could she hear his emotion she could feel it too. She pushed herself off the wall and stepped forward as Annabeth started to explain. She saw Dean and Mika enter the room, but her eyes didn’t leave Annabeth.

When Cason took it upon himself to announce what she had done. “You what?!” she got out at the same time Dean spoke. She closed her eyes as more pain took her over, now spreading to her head. She opened her eyes just as Dean finished speaking, and Annabeth snapped. Annabeth’s sudden outburst of frustration hit her hard. Esme gasped and tightened her grip on her chest before falling to her knees. She had the wind knocked from her lungs. She had never felt such a powerful wave of emotion before.

She used one hand to hold herself up. She felt sick and shaky. She looked up at Annabeth, pain clearly visible on her face as she fought for air. “We could……. Have still…..Helped” she gasped. “We’re in….. This together.” Esme curled in on herself as the pain spread more.

MIKA, SAM AND NATALIA

Mika's justification for not just giving up on Dean was purely because she had sworn ever since she came clean to him to who she was that she would never walk out on him again. She wasn't going to just up and leave him no matter and whatever terrible things either of them did, she would be by his side. Sure, it was a serious shock to her to hear what he did and how he liked doing it, but she couldn't say she wouldn't have done or felt the same way if she was in his shoes. Hells, she probably wouldn't even lasted as long as he did and that in her eyes was admirable that he held out for as long as he did alone. She also fully believed that despite everything, he could be redeemed for what he did, that it wasn't his fault. Not only that, she loved him with all her heart and soul and after he did everything to not give up on her, even when she drove him near damn insane making him believe she was someone else and was infact dead, he kept persuing for the truth and to get her back. So the least she could was the same damn thing for him whether he thought he deserved it or not.

"Lets" she replied, before she walked inside with him and saw the scenes before them both. She felt like they had been gone for five minutes and all shit broke. She let him hold her hand a bit tighter when he saw the sight before him as well, knowing he was only going to get instantly about Sam despite everything that was going on. She was just massively confused, they told them that Annabeth didn't have her eyes, but here she was standing in front of them all with her eyes very much intact.

"I'm fine, but confused!" Sam replied to his brother, wanting to ask him if he was okay as he recognised when his brother had been crying but he knew this wasn't the time nor the place to do so, not to mention he was solely focused on Annabeth right now. He glanced back at Cason as he also asked Annabeth what happened and how it happened, when she started to say how it was difficult to explain, "Try me" he replied to her, not wanting the simple 'difficult to explain' excuse to be her only answer. That wasn't good enough for him, but it seemed to took Cason to figure it out for him to get the answers he was asking her. Ontop of that, Cason gave a name to the demon responsible, a demon name that he didn't recognise but looking at Dean and how he was reacting, it was evident that he did recognise the name.

As Dean reacted the way he did, Mika also felt shocked to hear Alistair's name said not once, but twice in a space of five minutes. Alistair was here!? If she had known, she would have loved to have the opportunity to go after the son of a bitch that tortured and turned Dean into a torturer, even if it would prove the stupidest idea known to man. She found herself feeling shocked at the outburst of Annabeth's. It made her step back slightly in surprise but not ocne did she let go of Dean's hand to give him that moral support he clearly so needed.

Natalia also found herself being frozen to the spot she was standing in when Annabeth admitted she got her eyes back from a demon named Alistair and if she didn't, he would have killed Sam. This information froze her in her tracks, but she also felt incredibly angry that Annabeth could have fallen for such a callous trick by a demon. She was beginning to wonder if believing demons was a common trait for the girl. "I can't believe you would believe a bloody demon over that!? Don't you get it? They'll say anything to get you to do what they want you to!" she couldn't help but scold the girl. It was then she saw the state of Esme, and it was becoming evidently clearer to her that Esme was a natural empath. Looking back at Annabeth, she waved her arm in the direction of Esme, "She's right, we could have helped! Dean, Mika and Bobby haven't been slaving away trying to find answers just for you to go and make deals with a bloody demon!" she sighed exasperated.

She had to pinch the bridge of her nose to make herself calm down and not punch the nearest thing. She was so incredibly done with demons twisting people's arms to get what they wanted. She herself was a victim of such a manipulative action so it always rubbed her wrong way when she saw others fall for the same game. Sam, as much as he was touched by the fact everyone was so quick to jump to his defence in a round about manner, he did think they had a point but he also had to question if they would have done things all that differently if they were in Annabeth's shoes. "Anna I'm glad you got your eyes back and you took the deal trying to do the right thing to save me, but they do have some valid points. Making deals like that, so abruptly never ends well for anyone. Esme is right, we could have found another way, or at least a way to do it together so you didn't get tied to Alistair through a deal" he told her, alot more calm than how the others were talking to her.

"I think everyone needs to calm down" he then said, looking at everyone in the room and seeing more and more how the name was affecting Dean, which got him thinking, how did he know this demon?

Annabeth took a deep breath, gasping for air after the outburst as the entire room seemed to be scolding her for something she didn’t even know she had the choice to say ‘no’ to. She closed her eyes, letting their voices wash over her, to get the brunt of it off their chests as she stood still.

Cason, on the other hand, crumpled to the floor beside Esme, pulling her to him and rubbing her back to try and get the worst of the shockwave out of her system, before a question burned his mind. He let Natalia scold her, as Annabeth seemed to respect her, and he hoped maybe she could pressure some answers out of her. But when no answers came, and Annabeth stayed silent after Sam finished speaking, he decided to ask the burning question.

“What did it cost?”, he asked her. His voice exasperated and heartbroken. She didn’t answer him at first, only keeping her eyes closed, “Tell me! What did it cost…your soul?”

“I have to…”, she started, opening her eyes and peering up at Sam before letting out a small sigh of panic.

Dean had gathered himself by then, standing up straight and glaring at her. He didn’t want to hear what was coming next, but he almost knew the answer.

“I have to go with him. He gave me 24 hours.”, she whispered. Cason’s gasp and groan pierced the near silence in the room as he ducked his head again, “He threatened horrible things. There was nothing any of you could do. Sam would have just broken into pieces in front of all of you, if I had said no. This wasn’t a ‘go get the others and see what they can find’ situation. He didn’t even explain why he needed me, only that my choices were stay here…and Sam dies horrifically. Or I go with him, and you’re all safe, as long as you don’t come after me.”

She looked over at Natalia, her eyes heartbroken and red, “I didn’t make a deal for my eyes. That was just his first good faith payment or something. I made the deal because he could have snapped his fingers at any second…and blown any of you to pieces.”

Dean cleared his throat, “She’s probably right. Alastair is someone I have heard of, recently…and lets just say he’s Lilith without the moral compass. If she says he would have killed you, Sam…he would have, in a heartbeat. He’s creative, too.”

Annabeth sighed with relief that Dean understood her motives, if nothing else. She looked up at Sam, knowing that this news wouldn’t be what he wanted to hear, and brushed his hair behind his left ear, “You can’t come after me. You hardly know me, right? This way…you guys won’t have me to worry about. I’ll be his problem. And if I get the chance to run, I’ll run.”

Bobby took a deep breath, now that everyone was starting to simmer down and held his hand up, as if he was in class, “We can use my vault, to buy us time, but I can’t guarantee he won’t come and kill all of us anyway. If we protect Sam and the girl, maybe we can find a way to kill Alastair?”

Dean raised his eyebrows, holding a hand out toward Bobby to see if the others agreed with him, as he did.

Esme remained curled in on herself as Cason came to her aide. She didn’t have the strength to even try to push him away when he pulled her to him. She could hardly breathe, her chest was on fire, and she was shaking badly from all the emotions that surrounded her in the room. She clutched her chest and tried to take in slow deep breaths and let them out as she listened to everyone talk. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Esme struggled to lift her head to look at Annabeth as she continued to explain what she had to do. Annabeth felt she had to make the deal to keep Sam alive, and even feared this demon would kill them.

If she had the air, she would have sighed at the thoughts swimming in her mind. When Dean cleared his throat, she looked at him. His words surprised her. She couldn’t help but wonder how he’d known of such a demon. Her attention went back to Annabeth as she spoke to Sam. She closed her eyes tight when she said he could go after and they wouldn’t have to worry about her. Those words hit her hard. She didn’t like just letting her go off to fend for herself against a demon, even if it was to keep them alive. At Bobby’s voice, Esme opened her eyes and listened to his plan. She had to admit; it sounded better than Annabeth going off with this Alastair.

When she saw Dean agree with Bobby, she fought to pull herself away from Cason and sat with her legs under her. She didn’t attempt to stand, even though she wanted to. She knew she would just collapse back to the floor. So, she stayed sitting and silently nodded in agreement to use Bobby’s vault to protect Sam and Annabeth. She ran a shaky hand through her hair to get it out of her face, then looked around the room to see who else agreed with the plan.

MIKA, SAM AND NATALIA

All three of them couldn't believe what they were hearing. Natalia didn't want to scold Annabeth but she just felt the need to after everything the girl had just gone through, she felt like she needed protecting on a bordering on overprotective scale. She didn't want to think of Annabeth as the selfish type to just make a demon deal for her eyes, but until it was explained why it was made, it was all she could possibly think of. Hells, it was the only thing it was coming across. Now Natalia was not the sentimental type in the slightest, she wasn't one to feel like she needed to protect anyone and everyone that came across their group or grow attached to the person she had to save. Victims were just a job that needed sorting out to her, but Annabeth seemed to get under skin as she clearly did with Sam as well. She didn't understand it personally, but was wondering if it was because Sam was attached to the girl and seemed to recognise her from somewhere else or some moment in his past, when she wasn't in his life herself.

When Annabeth explained what Alistair wanted to do to Sam, Nat clenched her fists tightly closed by her sides. She may be the newest in the great scheme of things Winchester, but both of them were her weakness, especially Sam. If how she treated Dean's death and going to Hell badly, it didn't take much to imagine how badly she would take Sam dying. "son of a..." she muttered under her breath, teeth gritted tightly closed, almost grinding them together.

They all listened as Dean confirmed that Alistair was a demon that would fulfill his threats and enjoy doing so more to the point. Sam wanted to know how Dean knew this demon, but his mind was racing over how to protect Annabeth at the same time, making it very difficult to fully comprehend and prioritise his thoughts into some kind logical order to make some kind comment. He looked at her when she brushed his hair behind his ear, bringing those memories of their childhood meeting back to the foreground of his mind yet again. "Anna....I can't let you go out there and be in danger" he told her. "Not again..." he mumbled under his breath, loud enough for only her to hear him.

Mika stayed beside Dean, in the hopes that her being close to him would be of some kind of calming influence but with his anger practically radiating off of him, she was beginning to feel pretty much useless in helping him in any manner. She watched how Annabeth was with Sam and vise versa making her get assumptions that Sam had met this girl before, still not realising she was the kid they found Sam had run away with into a cabin in the woods in Minnesota.

Natalia walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Anna, you have never been a problem. Don't ever think that" she told the girl a lot calmer than when she scolded her. She also couldn't help but make the odd glance over at Esme and Cason to see how they were handling the news that Annabeth just dropped on them all, before looking at Bobby as he gave an idea and nodded.

"It could work, I'm all for it. We can't let Alistair just have her so easily" she commented, Mika also nodding her agreement. "I'm in agreement also. It's worth a shot surely" Mika replied. Sam had to think it through for a brief moment before nodding his agreement as well. "I agree too" he spoke out.

Cason sighed, pushing some of Esme’s hair out of her face for her as he adjusted to sit himself on the floor near her. He knew that the plan to hide Annabeth and Sam would only be a temporary bandaid solution. If they were lucky, the Angels would come and take him, or harm him, and forget Anna was there. On the other hand, the angels could come, get in, and kill her.

“I agree, for now. But we need to try and find a plan B. The odds of the angels coming for him are decent. The odds of the angels showing up and only dealing with Alastair are slim. They’ll most likely come for Anna, and we’ll all be collateral, all but Sam.”, he explained, as he stared around at all of them. He turned to Dean, who was surprisingly willing to listen to him, “We are going to have to make her untouchable, somehow…”



Dean watched his brother with Anna, his brain recognizing the girl from her mannerisms, the way she looked with Sam and just the general vibe they had toward each other. But even hearing her name, the full memory of her being with them was so faded, he couldn’t bring it up fully in his mind.

But seeing how committed Sam was to her safety, he couldn’t help but find himself rooting for her. She seemed to just be naive, or potentially brainwashed. Something was off about her situation, and it was something he could probably get out of Alastair, if he could get him alone.

He turned to the Demon on the floor, before the others had a chance to chime in on the idea. He nodded to him, turning to everyone in the room as they declared their support for locking them in a vault. However, he had to wonder if the vault was out in the barn.

“And Bobby, just where is this vault?”, he asked Bobby, now satisfied that they could at least buy some time.

“It’s in the basement. Duh. You think I would live in a house without some protection? I had a weekend off, and I built a panic room. C’mon. I’ll show ya.”, Bobby said proudly, strolling past all of them to head downstairs. Dean allowed everyone to finish calming, stepping toward the basement stairs.



Anna gave Sam a sad smile, feeling as though she wouldn’t have much of a choice, regardless what they decided to do. She let her hand fall from the side of his face, down to his hand, her much smaller fingers linking with his as the familiarity of the current stance mesmerizing her brain.

“I’ll stay and try. That’s all we can do.”, she muttered back to him, not truly believing it, but wanting Sam to.

As Nat approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder, she simply nodded. She was feeling the self sacrifice angle would be best, and she silently wished that she had just gone with him straight away, and none of this would be an issue. She could have just disappeared, and none of them would have known what happened. Cut and dry.

“I can bring two of my dogs in from outside. Yeah, Dean. I know.”, Cason started, glancing over at Dean as he spoke and seeing how scared he looked, “They won’t hurt you, unless I ask them to.”

“And what about Angels?”, Annabeth asked, looking up at Sam with a bit of fear in her eyes. She was much more worried about the Angels than the demons. She started walking toward the basement stairs with the others, holding Sam’s hand tightly.

Bobby was already at the bottom of the stairs, and had opened the giant iron door to the vault, causing Dean’s eyes to turn into saucers as he saw the door, “Bobby. You’re awesome!”

Cason turned his head to pull Esme's face toward him, so he could look her over. He was happy to see that she wasn't injured from the energy blast, only emotionally tired, and looked like she had been through Hell again. He felt slightly helpless as he scanned her eyes. He wanted her to hide in the vault, too, even if he couldn't get to her, or at least to sleep somewhere where his dogs could keep watch under her window.

He decided to strike up conversation to try and get her to smile, but also to check on her, "So what's going on with you? It seems like you're just sucking up all the negative in the room, or something. Being around this group, that'll be pretty much a full time job..."

He smirked, dropping his hand to pick up hers, seeing if he could transfer some of his 'chill' into her, only for her, it wouldn't cost her anything, like so many of his clients.

Esme was pretty much out of it by now. She hardly noticed when Cason moved hair from her face, she just barely took in what he said to the others. She dipped her head and closed her eyes, trying to compose herself from the massive amount of emotions to hit her all at once, not to mention the blast that came from Annabeth. When that hit her it was excruciating. It had felt as if her chest was going to burst. She could just make out them talking about the vault and where it was, giving a small smirk at how Bobby answered Dean.

When Cason mentioned bringing in his dogs, she thought about it and almost jumped at the thought that came to mind. He didn’t mean Hellhounds, did he? She pushed the thought from her mind for the moment and concentrated on her breathing, trying to keep it slow and steady. She heard several sets of footsteps leave the room to check out the vault, and she knew Cason was still at her side. Esme opened her eyes when he pulled her face towards his. She watched him as he looked her over.

It was still weird to her having a demon worry about her wellbeing. By the way he was giving her, she knew she must look pretty rough. Possibly worse than she did at the hotel. At his words, she looked away and closed her eyes. “Ha, so you noticed that?” she asked tiredly, with a smirk. She opened her eyes again and looked at a book that happened to be on the floor. “I’m starting to realize that as well.” She sighed heavily and shook her head gently.

“They’re going to be the death of me, not some monster or angel.” she mumbled in the same tired tone as he picked up her hand. She shifted to the side and moved her legs out from under her. She stretched her left one out and bent her right. Esme then leaned forward, crossing her free arm over her knee and rested her chin on her arm. It was then she fully realized that he had her hand. She looked down at their hands, then at him with a raised brow. “Have you figured out my secret?”

MIKA, SAM AND NATALIA

When Dean asked where Bobby's vault was, Mika couldn't help but smirk, wondering how long it would take him to actually ask that question. Due to this being her home as well, she knew of the vault and was there when he built it over one weekend, despite it almost feeling like months as it felt endless. She remembered how she would complain from the noise only for her to be called an utter hypocrite by her Uncle which she thought was fair enough, but it didn't stp her complaining when she was trying to either study or read in general and all she could hear was him banging, weilding and scraping who knows what as he built the damn thing.

She walked with Dean, letting go of his hand so they could all go downstairs one by one as the staircase really wasn't wide enough to walk side by side with anyone. She let him go first as for him, Nat and Sam it was more of a momentous moment than it was for her. She watched as Dean's eyes went wide and his mouth practically dropped to the floor before declaring Bobby was awesome, making her smile smugly that her uncle managed to get such a reaction from Dean. "Told you he'd react like that when he finally saw it" she told Bobby, "Surprised it's taken him this long though" she added cheekily.

Natalia walked down behind Mika after giving Annabeth a pat on the shoulder to not only sign to her that she was sorry for scolding her (she was awful at apologies), but she also was rooting for the two of them and to take their time before coming downstairs. She thought over what Cason said about having his hellhounds look out for them both, and like Dean, she wasn't entirely comfortable with that news. Dean may have been the one ripped to shreds by the hellhound, but those memories of seeing it completely destroyed her emotionally.

By the time she got downstairs, she looked impressed and walked over, stepping inside when the door to the vault opened and looked around, "Damn Bobby! This place is fully kitted out and everything!" she beamed, until her brain at a delayed moment, realised what Mika said, looking at Dean then at Mika and Bobby again. "Did she just....?" she began asking, pointing her thumb in Mika's direction whilst aiming the start of her question toward Dean. Looking back at Mika, she saw the woman start to laugh and nod. "Yes, I knew all about this vault" Mika confirmed.

"We'll figure the Angels out, just like everything else" Sam tried reassuring Annabeth, not wanting her to be afraid over them even though he was partly afraid of them himself, especially after he witnessed their power for himself. "For now, lets try and keep us both safe and figure something out, even if we let go we have to have some kind plan in motion as well" he told her, before walking behind her downstairs and seeing the vault himself. "This is impressive Bobby" he remarked with a smile.

Bobby smirked and shrugged his shoulders as Dean complimented him on the vault that he had built for his own safety, if he was honest. He shifted his eyes to Mika with a proud smile on his face as he stepped into the vault with Dean, allowing him to look around the place.

“Mika’s pretty familiar with the place. It’s got solid iron walls, coated in salted holy water. Devils traps on the floors. There’s warding for just about any thing that we’ve ever known how to ward against, other than angels. Even the ventilation is a devils trap. From 10 am to about 7 pm, the entire room is a devils trap, due to the shadow.”

He explained his handy work excitedly, pointing around at various things as he described them, “And there’s enough food, water and medical supplies in here to last a few months at least.”

He turned back to Dean who was still smiling brightly, as Natalia stepped into the room as well, seeming excited. For a second, Bobby forgot the reason he had needed to show them the vault/panic room in the first place, as he watched the ‘kids’ he loved freak out over something HE did. Then it struck him that they were on a time schedule, “I figure we can bring one of the mattresses down, if needed, or a bunch of blankets and pillows. I don’t figure many of us are gonna be sleeping in the next day or so.”

Dean nodded to him, his smile fading just a bit as he thought of Sam being essentially locked in a cage, waiting for the worst. He ran his finger along the salt crusted walls as Sam stepped into the room and made his comment.

“Yeah, well…this is your home for the next 24 hours.”, he responded to his brother, giving him a cheeky smile as Bobby patted Sam on the shoulder, “Let’s get started on the prep, I guess. Like Bobby said, this sleepover party is going to need a bunch of blankets, some beer, some food, and maybe something for you guys to do…”



Annabeth smiled softly at Natalia as she passed, appreciating the small gesture of good faith and kindness. She realized at that moment that the understanding of what she had done was slowly sinking in for everyone, which caused her shoulders to not be quite as tight. She glanced up at Sam, listening to him explain that they would figure out the angels. She gave him a sad smile, almost telling him with her eyes that what he was saying wasn’t possible.

But she couldn’t help go along with his optimism, nodding to him as he at least admitted that this might not work. She sighed, before they turned to go down stairs, “As long as you’re realistic, Sam…this might not work. I need you to prepare yourself for that.”

She kept hold of his hand, walking down to the vault and stopping at the door, releasing him as they arrived, so he could join Dean and Bobby inside. She peered around the room, noticing how blank it all was, but after listening to everyone talk about the protective properties of the room, she felt instantly safer. As Dean spoke about a sleepover, she couldn’t help laugh quietly, and look down at the floor.

“Sam doesn’t strike me as the sleepover type…”, she spoke up, catching Dean’s attention as she did so. For the first time, since they had met, Dean smiled at her. He was amused, and cut his eyes to Sam, and then back to her.

“You have no idea. Sammy used to LOVE sleepovers. Little pillow forts and flashlight stories. Oh the works…”, he told her brightly, stepping over to slap Sam on the chest as he finished, and Annabeth laughed.



Cason kept his hands on Esme’s arms as she adjusted herself, sliding them back down to her hands as she got comfortable and asked if he had figured out her secret. He nodded with a small frown, before turning up the corners of his lips into a sad smile.

“Yeah. You could say that. Believe it or not…when I was human, I was a bit of an empath. Being around people like Dean, for example would have put me out for days at a time.”, he muttered, as he concentrated a bit of heat into her hands, “To answer the burning question of how I went to Hell, way back in 1785…I sold my soul, like most, to a demon. When talks of revolution started in New York, I was just a 30 year old drunk.”

He turned her hands over, happy to see that their hands were a bit connected, as he worked what little magic he had cared to remember, in terms of helping people.

“I met this guy in a pub. He was spouting off about helping with freeing the colonies, but he needed payment. I was too drunk to really know what I was doing, and I signed up. The looks on the faces, when a handful of drunk grown men kissed the stranger…phew. I became one of the fighters on the front line, right along side Alexander Hamilton and the other big dogs.”, he smirked, “All was well, the war was won…and then my time came up, and what was it all for? I assume that the nature of why, lead to me being a piss poor demon with a flicker of a soul.”

He gave a small laugh, pulling his hands from hers. He placed her hands gently on her lap and pulled his legs up to wrap his arms around them in front of her.

“But yes. I know you’re an empath.”, he admitted. He then sighed, as he readied himself to tell her his plans for her, in the next 24 hours, “I um…I would like for you to be guarded. I know how most of the people in this house feel about Hellhounds, but my girls answer to me. They would never hurt you. They won’t even come near you, if you would rather they stay away. But I would be a lot less distracted when the demons show up, if you were safe with the dogs.”

Esme lifted her head from her arm and sat when Cason took her hands again and watched as his frown became a sad smile at her question. As he spoke, her eyebrows went up a little, that’s not something she expected to hear from him. Hearing he was a bit of an empath when he was human was strange for her to hear. She was about to say something when she felt the heat in her hands, but he started talking again, so she listened. As he turned her hands over, she looked down at them.

She could feel the little magic he was working, so she let him continue. Any other time, she would have pulled her hands away, but she could clearly see how much he was trying to help her. She looked back up at him as he spoke again, going into a story about his past. Never would she have thought he would reveal his past to her or how he became a demon. When he finished, she had no words to respond with as he laughed and put her hands in her lap.

What was it about her that made him reveal that part of himself to her, other than helping Annabeth? She was pulled from the thought when he made himself comfortable in front of her. Esme pulled both of her legs up and crossed her arms over her knees, then rested her chin on her arms as he confirmed he knew she was an empath. At his sigh, she knew he was preparing himself to say something. As soon as he told her he wanted her to be guarded, she closed her eyes. She should have known that was going to come up.

Esme remained quiet to hear him out. She tensed up when he mentioned the hellhounds. Hellhounds were one thing she had never planned to come in contact with. She was well aware of the stories revolving around them. She sighed heavily as he finished, opening her eyes to look at him. “If I refuse. I’m assuming you’d say you’d like me to join Sam and Annabeth in the vault.” she stated. She looked away and to the book on the floor she had been looking at before. She rolled the options around in her mind.

She didn’t much like either option, but she didn’t want to be locked in the vault feeling like a prisoner. She felt bad for wanting to go with hellhounds, knowing how Dean and the others felt about them, but she really didn’t want to go into the vault. “Fine.” she sighed. “I’ll go with the dogs. I just don’t like the fact I can’t see them.” She turned her gaze back to him. “Knowing there's something there watching me I can’t see is a bit unsettling.”

MIKA, SAM AND NATALIA

As Bobby looked esctatic over the face that the others were showing interest and excitement over the iron vault and how much work Bobby put into it, Mika smiled also giving Bobby simply a nod of knowing that this was how they were going to react. As Bobby stepped forward to step inside and do the full break down of what the vault consisted of, she simple just stepped up to the door and stayed outside of it as she looked in, watching Natalia and Dean with curiosity as they touched the kit, the walls and looked upwards at the skylight.

She stepped out the way as Sam made it downstairs and wanted to step inside to check it out for himself, to which she let him go inside and then Annabeth following on behind him. He gave her the look of 'you not coming in?' and she just simply shook her head. "This isn't anything new to me Sam" she replied, seeing no need to step inside. Nodding at her words, SAm thought nothing out of character with her answer, thinking it just made sense that if she lived here then sure, she would have known about the vault and probably would have seen every inch of it more times than she deemed necessary.

Mika and Natalia both started sniggering at the sleepover comment from Dean towards his brother, Nat shoving her hands into her jeans pockets casually, "trust you to make it sound like a sleepover" she remarked under her breath as he replied to Annabeth's comment at not seeing Sam as the sleepover type. "Dean's right, he was always for it when we were kids. Though Dean didn't exactly object to them either. I can tell you many times he used to hide under my bed to hide from my dad" Mika smirked, feeling more than happy to tell those embarrassing stories infront of Bobby, Sam and Natalia for amusing Annabeth.

"Wait...Dean...that one right there was scared of your dad?!" Natalia asked, shoving her hand in the direction of Dean this time, eyebrows raising high into her forehead in surprise. "Oh yeah!" Mika chuckled. "But those stories can be for another time." she added.

Sam smirked remembering the night Dean ran all the way back to him and John panting for dear life because of Papa Chambers. He then found himself glancing down at his chest as Dean slapped him there before looking up. "Okay, so...you still keep the blankets in the same Bobby or are they elsewhere?" Sam asked, not sure he liked the idea of being down here but it was a good option to keep Annabeth and himself safe overnight, whilst they tried to come up with some plan. If they could stop Annabeth going, then maybe they could do something to know where she would be the entire time and use it to get to Alistair and get Annabeth back again.

Natalia eventually stepped out of the vault again and stood near Mika.

Dean smiled brightly at the reactions to his sleepover comment, until Mika brought up the times he had hidden from her mom and dad. He frowned, and raised his eyes to the ceiling briefly, before glaring at Mika for bringing up embarrassing stories. Only he was allowed to do that, “Yeah yeah. We’re not talking about me, here. We’re talking about Sammy, his love for facials and teddies…and keeping him safe for the night.”

He gave a small smirk and then laughed, “I’ll go grab the blankets and some sleeping bags. I know where everything is, Bobby…don’t worry about it.”

Bobby nodded to the boys, as Dean patted him on the back on the way out of the vault. His stomach hurt, the more he thought about this whole mess. It wasn’t a pang of optimism, but at the moment, they didn’t really have the luxury of worry.

“There’s a cabinet over there with guns, knives, and about a gallon of holy water. Hell, I think there’s even a few rosaries in there, if you want to give your lady friend some jewelry.”, he explained to Sam, giving him a ‘loving father joking with his son about a new girlfriend’ look, “I’m gonna go upstairs with the girls, and see what we can come up with for defense up there. I have a few ideas, but I need some extra hands.”



Annabeth stepped around the room slowly, as the room began to clear. She went over every crack in the wall, and what Bobby filled it with, as well as the paint of the sigils that were meant to protect her. She laughed lightly at a few of the things that were said, as she studied everything.

She finally made her way across the room, as one by one, everyone ended up leaving the vault, leaving only herself and Sam. She couldn’t help break the silence in the echoing room, even if it changed the mood a bit. It would possibly be the last time she could speak to Sam, before the timer started, and her words became muddled in anxiety.
“I think it’s time for us to have a talk, about how this should go. I’m going to put it bluntly…if this doesn’t work. If it doesn’t…you have to be able to let me go. I feel what you feel, like I’ve known you, missed you, and maybe even in some ways have been attached to you pretty much forever. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m ‘like you’ with whatever is going on with us…or…or maybe it’s something else that I don’t remember…But promise me that if I have to go, you’ll close your eyes, and let me go.”

She spoke the words with a bit of extra clarity, compared to her normal nervous demeanor. It was as if the nervousness and fear were bringing out a bit of clarity. She reached her hand up to Sam’s cheek, brushing her thumb down the bridge of his nose, and over his lips, “Promise me.”



Cason continued to scan Esme’s face, a bit worried that she was going to say ‘no’ to all of the above options. When she asked the question about being locked in the vault with Sam and Annabeth, he didn’t nod or shake his head, simply staying silent to let her know that his options for protecting her were very limited.

When she finally agreed to the dogs, he smiled, nodding his head, “I can take care of that. I can’t do it for the dogs I’m unattached to, but I can for those that are mine.”

He reached forward, carefully finding a bit of skin on her hand to place his finger on. As he touched her skin, a small black mark appeared, and he pulled his hand back, “I’ll have to talk to them, and you’re welcome to come with…but now, you’re basically marked. They can see you. You can see them. And anyone that comes near you, that doesn’t smell like this house, will be a pile of guts on the floor, before they know what hit them.”

He glanced toward the window, hearing one of his hounds howl, as she grew restless simply standing out in the junkyard. If he gave them something to do, any one of the five would be ecstatic.

“Let’s go get you acquainted with my girls. Sarah is sitting right outside the window over there, and I think Violet is nearby. They’re my biggest two, and I think they’ll love you.”, he joked with Esme, slowly unfolding himself and standing from the floor. He held his hand out to her, “And I’ll remove that mark when we’re through this.”

Esme’s eyebrows raised when he said he could fix the problem of her not seeing the hellhounds. She couldn’t help but wonder just how he could make that possible. She watched him reach forward and touch her hand with his finger, feeling a strange sensation when he did. When he pulled his hand back, she lifted her hand and looked at the black mark that was now on her hand. It was strange to know that this mark would help her see the hounds and basically serve as a mark of protection. As she sat there, she could only imagine what the others would think once they found out she had agreed to have the hounds protect her.

They’d she was crazy, more than likely. And poor Dean. He’d probably not want to be anywhere near her. She wouldn’t blame any of them for not wanting to be around her. She came back to reality when she heard one hound howl. She couldn’t hold back the shiver that ran down her spine at how eerie and massive it sounded. She almost didn’t want to follow his gaze to the window, to where he said one was sitting outside it with another possibly close by. Biggest two? They’ll love me? she thought to herself as she looked towards the window.

In her mind, that could be a good thing or a bad thing, even though he could tell he was joking. If Esme was honest with herself, this was extremely unnerving to her. She could see a part of the hound's head and a pair of ears just over the window seal with tendrils of smoke coming from its head. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cason stand and hold his hand out to her. She hesitated before finally taking his hand to let him help her up off the floor. She was sure her face showed how nervous she was, but she didn’t care.

She had every right to be nervous about coming face to face with a hellhound, even if she was told they would protect her and not harm her. “Alright, let's do this.” she said with a nervous sigh.

Cason smiled, pleased that she agreed to take his hand. He pulled her to his side as she stood, seeing the nervousness on her face, “I promise…I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

He spoke the words with a serious look on his face, reaching a hand up to quickly brush his thumb down her chin in an attempt to elicit a smile. He then turned to the front door, bringing her along with him as he turned the door knob, and swung the door open.

Sarah quickly turned her head, and peeked around the door facing as they approached. She stood about a half a foot below Cason’s eye level, her smoky hair whipping around as the chilly night air washed over them.

“Hey, darlin’.”, Cason almost cooed to her as he stepped over the threshold of the door, and onto the small porch. She backed up as he pulled Esme through the doorway with him, bringing her in front of Sarah. Her appearance was akin to a Doberman Pinscher, made of smoke and glowing red eyes as she pulled her lips back to show her teeth, “This is Esme. I know…she’s a human. But you need to protect her, at all cost. No matter what you see. No matter where I go. You watch her.”

Sarah turned her gaze to Esme, stepping forward with a small thud and bowing her head. Cason didn’t stop his orders as she did so, bringing his hand to her snout, “And anything that tries to get into this house, or near her, that doesn’t smell like I do…destroy.”

Sarah growled, almost excited at the permission to kill something. She kept her bowed stance in front of Esme, as Cason reached down for Esme’s hand. He yanked her forward, placing her hand amongst the wisping smoke atop Sarah’s head, allowing her to pet the hellhound, something humans never were allowed to do, or they would be torn to shreds.

“She can’t hurt you now, even if she wanted to. Even the guy I stole her from, as a puppy, has no say, here.”

Cason’s words didn’t bring Esme much comfort. She didn’t give a smile at his attempt. She followed him to the front door, her eyes trained on it as he opened it and swung it open. She saw Sarah peek around the door as they approached. Esme’s eyes went wide at her size. Her eyes didn’t leave Sarah as Cason spoke sweetly to her as they walked out onto the porch and in front of Sarah. Esme took in Sarah’s appearance, noticing how much she looked like a Doberman that was made of tendrils of smoke.

The most startling thing about her was her red eyes, followed by the showing of her teeth. Esme took a few steps back at the action as Cason spoke to Sarah. She couldn’t lie to herself or hid it from her face. The hellhound that stood before her absolutely terrified the hell out of her. She froze as Sarah turned her red eyes on her and stepped forward and bowed. She listened to what Cason told Sarah as he placed a hand on her nose. Sarah’s growl sent a shiver down her spine.

Esme gave a yelp as Cason grabbed her hand and yanked her forward to Sarah, only to set her hand on Sarah’s head as she closed her eyes tightly. She felt that her hand was on something solid, but she dared not open her eyes even at Cason’s words. Was her hand truly resting on top of a hellhound's head? Was she still standing on Bobby’s porch? Or was her mind playing tricks on her? Esme barely opened an eye to peek at her surroundings and Sarah in front of her, her hand was in fact resting on her head.

“Holy hellfire!” she said in barely a whisper that was shaky. Esme finally opened her eyes fully and looked at Sarah, still not believing she was actually standing in front of a hellhound and had her hand on its head. This is stupidly crazy. she thought. Sarah still had her terrified, but she was slowly gaining control of herself and gaining color back to her face.