Esme watched Duke as he shrugged and made his way back over to the bed, her smirk staying on her lips as he set the pizza on the bedside table and spoke. Her smirk soon grew into a smile as she listened to his words, especially the last part. Was he questioning his own method of how to seduce her? As he laughed, so did she. It was hard not to. His laugh was contagious, especially when he had a smile that met his eyes. His nervous glance over at Sarah didn’t go unnoticed but was glad that his smile never faded from his face. As his eyebrows rose and he leaned in close, one of her own eyebrows went up, but soon fell at his words, a soft blush taking over her cheeks at his words, and leaving her at a loss for words. She gave a small laugh as her eyes dropped to look at the bed as she searched for her words and memories danced in her mind.

She could remember well how he would act around her at the simplest of touches on his arm, shoulder, or even hand when she would ask him something or thank him for helping patch her up. Even when he was helping patch her up, things became a little awkward. After the memories faded, she lifted her gaze to look back at him, a warm smile resting on her lips. “It might work.” she teased softly. Her smile turned into a smirk once more, even with the blush remaining on her cheeks. “I remember well how you were then. That’s why if I touched you, it was mostly on your shoulder or arm. That’s also why I didn’t hug you too often.” she told him with a small laugh. She then watched him as he flipped open the pizza box, picked it up, and carried it as he crawled over the bed and sat in front of her. When he dropped into the pillows and laughed, she couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped her from his contagious laugh.

At Duke's next words, Esme’s smile grew warm, and she placed her free hand on his arm, giving it a gentle and loving squeeze. “Other than being extra hungry from smelling that pizza….” she smiled more. “I’m feeling much better, thanks to you.” She gave his arm another squeeze before releasing it and pushing herself up further on the pillows, so she could eat sitting up rather than laying down. “So, there’s no need to worry.” she added warmly as she pushed herself up. Once where she wanted to be and comfortable again, her smile never fading from her lips through the entire process, she looked at Duke, her hand coming up to rest on his arm again. She then leaned into him and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Pulling back slightly, she nuzzled his nose with hers, then gave him a peck on the lips. “Now, how about passing me a slice, Bright Eyes.” she said warmly as she smiled at him.

NATALIA WINCHESTER

Natalia was hyper aware that Cason kept looking over at her and she couldn't fathom out why still. It baffled her that he was constantly seeming to want to get through to her when no one really could. Despite that though, she did have her head on straight, at least, as straight as she ever does. She walked partially over, standing between the two cars when Dean got out of the car, then proceeding to see Mika and Sam follow suit but remained pretty silent on everything. She instantly sighed and rolled her eyes when Cason agreed with Anna about splitting up, whilst also starting the whole annoy Dean stint all over again. The way they were talking, or more to the point, threatening each other, back and forth, she looked around their surroundings, determined to look anywhere but at any of their faces.

It was Anna's scolding of them both that made her actually at them all, folding her arms across her chest in the process, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately. "Nat you good with the plan?" Sam asked her, being aware of how silent she was still being, and like Cason, was concerned about where her head was at. "I'm good, I just wanna get this job done" she replied to him, as Anna managed to pull Cason back toward her. She could tell that Sam was asking again with just his eyes, seeing him so concerned about her always hit her hard and if they didn't have a job to do she probably would have just walked over to him, wrapped her arms round him and broken down into tears before admitting why she was being so off with everyone.

"Meet back here if all goes well and we don't get to meet up before hand. If all goes to shit? Well, y'all know about it!" she said to them before looking at Cason, "He won't slit your throat if you stop egging him on and making him angry." she pointed out back to him as she started walking away from her brothers and Mika, toward where they needed to be. "But as much as I wanna get blind drunk, we do still have to have our wits about us yeah? Despite my demeanour right now I don't plan on dying tonight" she told Cason and Anna.

---------------***********************-----------------

The three of them had been at the frat halloween party for a good couple of hours with not much going on which was baffling Natalia. Normally by now on most hunts something had happened, and the fact it hadn't set Nat on edge. She had drunk at least two too many cheap drinks and was ever so slightly tipsy, but still on the look out for anything or anyone that seemed out of place whilst she mingled with Anna, Cason and the other students. She used the time to suss out the students whilst on the dance floor, the alcohol in her system slowly letting her loosen up.

"I'm not finding anything out of the ordinary" she said to Cason as he was closest to her and she went against her standards and danced closely to him sos he could talk to him about the case without being overheard by someone else and causing a very awkward situation.

She also found herself wondering if the others were being any more successful than they were but in her tipsy state those thoughts soon vanished from her mind as she grabbed another red cup of beer from a student's hand, not caring that she just stole from them and downed the beverage before scrunching the cup up and throwing it on the floor. "Answer me this Cason, why did you say what you did in the motel? Are you trying to get under my skin or something?" she asked him, changing the subject. The question had been on her mind for far too long and now she had an adaquet amount of alcohol in her system, she couldn't help but ask him outright.

"Why do you care what's going on in my head?" she then asked straight after, properly looking at him this time and not trying to avoid eye contact.

Cason scanned his eyes across the crowd of teenagers, his nose scrunching in disgust every now and then as she shrugged the young girls away from him. He flinched uncharacteristically as Natalia’s voice broke through the chatter, a bit louder than he would have expected. Realizing the volume change was likely because of the alcohol in her system, he scooted a bit closer to her. He scanned the area behind her, over her head, and then turned his eyes down to meet hers with a smirk.

“I mean, it’s not like demons are just going to announce themselves out in the open, you know. They have to make sure you’re thoroughly…”, Cason started, reaching his hand out to attempt to block Nat from grabbing another cup of anything alcoholic. But before he could take it from her, she had already downed the entire cup. Wincing slightly, he rolled his eyes, “Drunk…”

Shifting on his feet, he straightened his jacket, shaking his head discreetly at another teen coming to offer Nat more beer, but his attention was pulled straight to her as she asked a question he really didn’t want to answer. He had honestly hoped she was either too stressed or too drunk to remember anything he had said at the motel. But in the same respect…he hoped she remembered it forever, in case she needed him.

“I um…”, he started, scratching his head awkwardly, “No! Getting under your skin would be the last thing on my mind. Demon…remember? I don’t exactly have the luxury of just messing with you.”

He met her eyes again, finally, and his gaze softened into something that resembled sympathy, “I just know that demons have a particular way of fucking over humans. From the inside…or from what I gather in your case, the outside. You don’t seem like a bad person and…”

Cason winced again, awkwardly glancing above her head, “You intrigue me. I’ll protect you if you’ll let me. That’s all. I want to know why.”

As he finished speaking, he turned his eyes down to hers once again, scanning them deeply as if he could read her mind somewhere behind them. Suddenly, a rowdy and very drunk teen shoved into Nat’s back, giggling the entire time. The action pushed her close enough that Cason had to shift his head back to avoid crashing noses with her, but he smirked, catching both her arms to keep her from completely losing her balance.



Anna stood, her arms crossed as a guy near herself and Mika mumbled on about some issue he had been having in school. She rolled her eyes, and leaned in close to Mika as she scanned the crowd for any sign of Sam or Dean…or even Cason in the chaos.

“I’m about to die. I swear. I’ve apparently killed people for less than boring me this badly…”, she grumbled over Mika’s shoulder, her eyes falling on Cason and Nat finally, “And I’m starting to feel like we’ve been cast aside so they can…mingle. What’s that about?”

She nodded her head toward them, and sighed, raising her eyebrows at how close they became in a split second from the shove, “And are we about to see an explosion? I feel like we’re about to see an explosion.”



Duke sighed with a wide smirk, carefully kissing Esme back as his heart fluttered. Whatever was happening between them was more than unexpected, but in his eyes, it was a long time coming. At this rate, he would end up staying…again…

He pulled the pizza toward him as his cheeks slowly turned red from the use of his nickname, somehow sounding different with him being the only one in Esme’s sights. It felt more like an actual loving nickname and less like a little fun poking at him, and as he pulled a slice of pizza and carefully handed it to her, he bit down on his bottom lip, “You don’t know how much I missed that nickname. I hate nicknames. But I guess it’s just you that gets away with it.”

He laughed softly, pulling his own slice and taking a large bite from it, “So, with everything I just learned about you, I almost feel the need to reintroduce myself or somethin’.”, he teased, trying to make sure the mood stayed light.

“Like…hi! Name’s Duke. I’ve traveled the world huntin’ all the monsters the locals don’t understand. Terminally single. Doesn’t normally work out well for girls in the industry…bein’ around Winchesters, I’m sure you get that. But now I’m back in the states and I don’t know where the hell I’m goin’. Can I stay the night?”, he rambled off with a laugh, his bright blue eyes lighting up as he tried his best to show her that he was completely relaxed with the entire situation, at this point. It was a lot of information to process, but honestly, their entire relationship had been ups and downs of mass info dumps, “Particularly good at protecting people from all the creepy crawlies, even of the demon ex boyfriend variety.”

When Duke carefully kissed her back, Esme’s heart skipped a beat. She still couldn’t believe that she was letting herself get this close to Duke after everything that had happened and knowing that he wasn’t planning on sticking around that long. Then again, somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it was bound to happen. After everything they went through together in the past, it had always been hard shoving down the feelings she had and not thinking about them after she left, and she had succeeded in doing so. Though, the moment she heard Duke’s voice when he found her and Cason being held captive by the demons, all those feelings came rushing back, along with memories she thought she’d forgotten.

She smiled more when she saw his cheeks flush as he pulled the pizza closer to him. Even before he said it, she could tell how he felt about the nickname she had given him, and if she was being honest, she missed the nickname he had given her. “I know you don’t, but it fits you. It always has. It always surprised me you'd let me get away with calling you that.” she told him with a small laugh as she took the slice of pizza from him. She never meant for the nickname to appear if she were poking fun at him. She always spoke it with fondness.

Lifting the slice of pizza to her lips, she took a bite, holding back the sounds of enjoyment as she chewed. She felt like she hadn’t eaten in days and was starving. Duke’s voice pulled her back, a laugh escaping her at his teasing and trying to keep the mood light. She also couldn’t blame him for feeling that way after everything she had dumped on him since meeting back up. As he continued, her inner voice spoke to her. What the hell are you doing, you stupid girl? He’s said he doesn’t plan on staying long. Why are you letting yourself get so close to him? Esme tried to keep from listening to the voice but it was hard to ignore, but she forced it back as she always did to focus on Duke’s words once more. Her smile grew, and she laughed softly as he went through his rambled introduction and tried to show her he was alright with everything she’d told him. She gave a thoughtful noise in response to his, “Can I stay the night?” question as she went to take another bite of her slice of pizza. At the words, “demon ex boyfriend variety” she stopped mid-bite and her eyebrows shot up. She stayed like that for a moment before she closed her mouth and lowered her slice of pizza.

She knew he had to be playing around but she still couldn’t hide the surprise from coming to her features, and little did he know just how close he was to speaking some truth. Which caused her to lose her appetite. Movement could soon be heard at the end of the bed before the bed gave a light shake, quickly collecting herself as best as she could and forcing the surprise from her features and replacing it with seriousness, she held up a hand to stop Sarah from coming up further on the bed. Sarah immediately stopped with one hind foot hovering just over the edge of the bed. She watched Esme for a moment before slowly getting off the bed, causing it to shake once again and laid back down with a heavy sigh. Lowering her hand, Esme looked over at Duke, seriousness still written on her face. “Demon ex boyfriend variety, you say?” Esme tried to keep her tone serious and unwavering. She wasn’t ready to answer questions he may have if he noticed how much the words affected her. “You’re not implying what I think you are, are you?” she asked, meeting his gaze. Yes, it was obvious that Cason had a thing for her, but that was because she had helped Anna after they had their encounter with the angel and he felt indebted to her. Was he her boyfriend? No, he wasn’t. Could she admit ‌she was beginning to trust him? Yes, she could because of what he has done for her.

NATALIA WINCHESTER

Despite having earlier saying that she wasn’t going to get blind drunk and be professional, it seemed what she was drinking was making her do the complete opposite. She didn’t give it a second thought that if Dean caught her getting drunk right now he would be unbelievably annoyed with her and would no doubt scold her like she was a child for it, but right now she didn’t care. She needed to do her job and forget about everything that was circling in her mind this evening. When Cason said it wasn’t like demons would just be out in the open, she rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact that he tried to stop her drinking, when back in the motel he was encouraging her to go against Dean’s wishes and make her drink. It actually baffled her in some ways, but she wasn’t going to bring focus to it, instead just focus on what he had to say. “I just want this job over with already, if this witch, demon or whatever is gonna make a move, then they should just so it already” she commented, when a drunk student slammed into her back, shoving her right into Cason and laughing about it, as she quickly grabbed onto his jacket to try and steady herself.

She felt glad that Cason actually grabbed her to keep her on her feet, and by doing so he inadvertently stopped her from starting a punch up with the student. She did however use the moment to quickly shoot intense daggers at the student behind her before looking back up at Cason, seeing him intensely looking at her wondering what he was thinking as he stared at her. She was completely oblivious that Annabeth was watching them from afar and that Mika had at some point left the brothers and came to watch over them like the mother figure she was capable of being when it suited her. Every part of Natalia wanted to scream and shout and protest at Cason touching her, to shrug him off and tell him to fuck off, but the cheap beer in her system was preventing her from doing so. “bloody teenagers...” she grumbled in annoyance to herself, “you can let go of me now” she then told Cason quickly after, but making no effort to remove herself from his grip either, instead just constantly looking up into his dark eyes fully aware that she was still holding onto him also. Her mind was a mess, filled with traumatic memories and alcohol making her not think straight in the slightest. The traumatic memories telling her to run from Cason, the beer telling her to stay in his grip.

In her slightly drunken state she could see why Mika slept with him, even if it was under Cupid’s spell, the guy was attractive, she couldn’t say otherwise but she also couldn’t get passed what he was. He wouldn’t be the first demon to pretend he actually cared about her welfare before backstabbing her.

MIKA CHAMBERS

Mika did start with the brothers but the idea of Natalia and Anna alone with Cason just concerned her far too much. She couldn’t get Natalia’s behaviour at the motel out of her head and was convinced if someone wasn’t there with them, something would happen that not even Annabeth could stop alone. So she told the brothers she was heading to where the party was and if they needed her to call straight away and she’ll run back to them. Sam agreed it was a good idea as he too was highly concerned about his sister’s rapidly declining behaviour. Sure, they had seen her have bad days with her PTSD before, but nothing like on this hunt.

Mika had been at the party long enough to see that Natalia was trying to drink far too much to be fully coherent as a hunter. It was concerning her greatly and she knew deep down she would have to send the boys a warning text sooner or later. For now, she just stayed near Annabeth and observed the whole situation with her when she saw how Natalia was getting terribly close to Cason. It made her grit her teeth and cross her arms in front of her chest, not out of jealousy but out of annoyance that it didn’t seem like Cason was doing much to push her away. From where Mika was standing, it looked like Cason was just taking advantage of Natalia’s state.

Then came the shove. The shove that pushed Nat right into Cason’s arms and the two of them looking at each other deeply. “I bloody hope not, but with how Nat is behaving it’s entirely possible. Just get ready for anything, when she’s remotely like this she can lash out really badly.” She warned Annabeth. Yet no attack was occurring, just a lot of staring and that unnerved Mika all the more, she knew of Natalia’s habit of getting drunk and having one night stands, and she prayed that Cason wasn’t going to be another one of those situations. “please don’t do anything stupid Nat...please for everyone’s sake and Dean’s blood pressure, don’t do anything stupid” she commented and prayed. “AB we better prepare for calling the boys for backup. Those two are putting me more on edge than this hunt is” she told the other sober and sane woman in the crypt.

Duke took a bite of a slice of pizza he had pulled for himself, just as Sarah’s weight shifted the bed. Stopping himself from flinching, his heartrate sped, he glanced up at Esme’s face. He glanced back at Sarah, as if he could see her, and not just an imprint of her paw on the bed. The thought that this murder machine of a Hellhound was just listening to Esme made all of this even more jarring. He quickly turned his gaze back to Esme’s face. His smirk began to fall as he noticed that Esme had lowered her pizza slice and now had a seriousness to her face that he couldn’t quite place. Swallowing his bite, he followed her eyes, all the way to Sarah, and then back to her. He scanned her face carefully and tightened his jaw as she spoke, “That wasn’t meant to be a serious…I didn’t mean…”

He cut his words off to make sure he wasn’t interrupting her as she finished her questions and his chest tightened. Memories of Cason’s not so happy reaction to him ‘saving the day’, as well as the absolute paranoia the guy seemed to show for her flashed through Duke’s brain. Cason seemed absolutely enamored by Esme, even if she didn’t reciprocate, there was no missing his side of things.

“Well…I mean, I just assumed. I never put anything past anyone in this little family, to be honest.”, he answered her honestly, glancing down at her lips for a moment, before shaking his head, “I ain’t here to pry into whatever’s goin’ on. I don’t know what he has in his head about you guys…or what he thinks you are, but I’ll be honest. It’s written all over his face every time he looks at you. I know that look…”

Duke took a deep and nervous breath, letting the sentence linger in the air, in fear of pushing further and potentially wearing out his welcome. The last thing he wanted to do was bunk up with either of the boys, after a night of partying/working.

“But by the look on your face, you’re both not convinced one way or another how you feel about him.”



Cason smirked as Nat turned to shoot daggers at the teen, his hands gripping her arms a bit tighter to make sure she didn’t stagger away from him to beat the kid to a pulp. When she turned back to him, however, her eyes showed both her annoyance and what he could almost read as intrigue, “You could just step back, you know…I don’t think you’re that drunk.”

He chuckled, tilting his head up just enough to brush the tip of her nose with his. A rush of screams suddenly erupted from a crypt not too far away, catching Anna’s attention immediately. She turned her head, watching the teenagers run, as she heard Dean’s grunts from a distance, as he worked at the door.

“We really should help them. But at the same time, would they be pissed if we ran to help them…and left her alone?”, Anna asked Mika casually, shifting on her feet, “Hard choice. Well maybe not so hard…Oh no…”

As soon as Anna turned her head back toward Cason and Nat, a look of absolute disgusted disappointment covered her face. She pointed with her chin, snarling her nose at the way Cason was wiggling his way into Nat’s head…one nuzzle at a time.

Cason smirked a bit wider, the kids screaming and running around him barely phasing him in the slightest, as if he had seen it a million times before, and this was just another party of demons. Taking Nat’s inability to will herself to step back from him as an opportunity, he tilted his head a bit, and covered her lips with his. He wrapped an arm around her waist slowly, pulling her closer as he kissed her, his other hand coming up to cradle her cheek.

“Oh no. Mika…should I burn him? I can burn him…”, Anna groaned, balling up her fists, but having no clue what to actually do with them in this awkward situation.

NATALIA AND MIKA

Truth be told, Natalia did indeed want to beat the teenager to an utter pulp just to get her annoyance at him bumping her into Cason and to let out some of her frustration and hurt she was currently being overwhelmed by. Yet here Cason was tightening his grip and stopping her from using the kid as a punching bag. She knew deep down she was beginning to spiral and it would no doubt mean she will get the biggest lecture from Dean about her behaviour. "I think we both know if I do, I'll go straight for that asshole" she muttered, just before she felt his nose brush against hers, 'what the hell is going on? Nat get away from him!' she screamed in thought at herself as the sudden rush of kids running and screaming began. Something was wrong, something was seriously wrong and she had to get back to the case, but Cason was keeping her well and truly planted on the spot in front him. She could only just about hear Dean's grunts in the distance, but not enough to fully break her out of whatever this was.

Mika watched the two in front of herself and Anna, every time Cason touched Natalia she wanted to storm over there and punch him or shove him away from her, but she knew she had to trust Natalia to fight this one all by herself. Hearing Dean clearly having a bigger fight on his hands than they anticipated, making her want to go help him but Anna was right, leaving Natalia alone with Cason wasn't the greatest idea she had ever heard. An idea that only sounded even more deplorable when Anna said 'oh no', making her look over, making her jaw drop as well. "Oh no bloody way! Nah ah! That is NOT happening on my watch! If Dean or Sam see that people will wanna wish the apocalypse did happen" she commented, narrowing her eyes at what was quickly unfolding.

Nat was about to gain the motivation to move away from Cason when she suddenly felt his lips smashed against hers in a blink of an eye. In her drunken state, she initially returned the kiss but her common sense rapidly clicked back into place and she shoved him away from her forcibly. "What the actually hell Cason!?" she yelled at him.

Mika watched it all happen with Anna, seeing her balling up her fists. "Not in public" Mika replied to her as she saw Natalia shove Cason with great force away from her. "besides, I think she's handling it" she said, trying to avoid all the rushing kids heading to the door before she suddenly looked to her left and saw why everyone was screaming and running for the exit. "You've got to be kidding me....zombies!?" she exclaimed and exhaled a sigh of annoyance. "Go try and help Dean get the door open from this side, I'm dealing with Nat" she told her, her tone conveying that it wasn't an order as such but forceful enough to let her know that she wasn't taking no for an answer.

She began to storm over to the two people that she was incredibly angry with on this hunt, but nowhere near as angry as the boys would be. She pushed teenagers toward the door as she stormed through and quickly stood between Cason and Natalia. "Keep away from her Cason! I mean it!" she warned him, "Mika I can handle this myself!" Natalia sneered, crossing her arms across her chest. "I don't care Nat, we got bigger problems right now! If you two hadn't noticed, the dead are literally coming out of their crypts!" Mika scolded, refusing to take her eyes off Cason to make sure he didn't try and grab Nat again.

Natalia looked passed both Mika and Cason and saw that Mika was indeed correct, the dead were coming out of their crypts. "Shit!" Nat cursed, pulling out her blade she had concealed in her outfit.

SAM WINCHESTER

Sam was desperately trying to get the door open with Dean, he could hear the screaming from inside and he knew if they didn't hurry not only would they have a ton of teenagers dead in there, but also the girls (and he supposed possibly Cason's meatsuit, but he didn't care too much about him). "Dean I don't know how we're gonna get this damn thing open! This is the one the girls are in!" he, grunting as he tried every which way to get the door open. Pulling it, pushing it, hells, even lifting it.

"ANNA! NAT! MIKA! CAN YOU GIRLS HEAR ME!?" he shouted through the door, hoping one of them would be able to hear him and there would be a latch on the inside to open the door. He was just panicking that it might be magically sealed and they'd have to find a non conventional way to get it open again. He was also still annoyed at himself for getting the suspect of who the witch was oh so wrong. He was convinced it was the teacher, but for it to turn out to be the student, then the teacher becoming Samhain completely made his mind do an utter 180 on himself.

He was just thankful that he remembered about the whole costume and masks idea to hide from Samhain and told himself and Dean to cover their faces in blood.

Esme watched Duke as he spoke, then cut himself off as if he was interrupting her. She tried to ignore the emotions she felt coming from him, but it was a laborious task as she waited for him to continue speaking. She watched as he seemed to think back on a moment that she could only assume that it was about Cason, since that was who they were talking about. At his words, she dropped her gaze to the bed and sighed inwardly with a shake of her head. Duke wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know about how Cason felt about her. She could feel every time he got close to her. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know if his feelings were all because of what she had done for Annabeth or if there really was more to it than that. The more she thought about it, the more it made her head hurt and spin with slight confusion. She soon pushed the thoughts from her mind and sighed heavily as she ran her free hand through her hair. Looking at the slice of pizza in her hand, that was only the crust now, she tossed it towards the end of the bed to Sarah, who caught and ate it.

Lifting her gaze slightly, she sighed once again. “You never were one to pry.” she breathed as she closed her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend, though you are right. I can honestly admit I don’t really know how I feel about him. Maybe it's because I’m still trying to process that we have teamed up with a demon instead of sending them back to Hell. Any other hunter would have sent them back to Hell in a heartbeat without a second thought.” Bringing up her knee, she leaned forward a bit and rested an elbow on it and leaned her face into her hand. “I’ve always seemed to attract strange individuals but a demon being drawn to me, that’s still a little hard to swallow, especially with one giving me a Hellhound as a bodyguard.” She fell silent as many things rolled around in her mind, many of them sending a shiver down her spin. After a moment, she broke the silence by clearing her throat as she gently shook her head clear of the thoughts invading it. “Am I crazy for feeling comfortable having a Hellhound around?” she said in a hardly audible whisper, which was more of a thought than a question to Duke. “Are we all crazy for teaming up with a demon?” she said, thinking out loud again.

Falling silent once again, Esme shook her head in her hand, releasing her sigh through her nose. She couldn’t help but think of what would have happened if she would have just stayed in her room that day and hadn’t ventured to the room down the hall where all the commotion was coming from. For one, she would have never heard the name Winchester. Two, she would have never met up with a demon and the girl that was his girlfriend at the time. Three, she would have never learned that Dean had come back from the dead. Four, she would have never been a part of what followed afterwards, found out she was psychic, and would have more than likely missed her chance at meeting up with Duke again. Was it fate that it all happened? Or was this all some sort of dream and she would wake up to being alone once again? Would she have the rug pulled from under her crash back into reality? All these thoughts were making her head spin and hurt, her stomach to knot, and her chest tighten as well. As she sat there next to Duke, a part of her still wondered if she should have stayed away and not followed Natalia back to where Sam had been staying.

God! Now she felt like she needed a good drink at that moment. She was being overtaken by her own emotions, which was something that rarely ever happened to her. It was always the emotions of others that overwhelmed her. “Hellfire. A bheil mi truagh an-dràsta no dè?” she breathed to herself with a quite forced laugh. “Tarraing thu fhèin còmhla. Tha thu nas fheàrr na seo. Na leig leat fhèin tuiteam às a chèile a-nis, às deidh na h-ùine seo.” For a ‌moment, she had completely forgotten that Duke was there and was witnessing her fighting with her own emotions. Lifting her face from her hand, she ran her hand through her hair, then rested her arm on her leg. “I’m sorry, Duke. Don’t mind me and my incoherent rambling. I’m mentally tired from everything that’s happened the past few days. I need ‌to forget about it and keep it from lingering in my thoughts.” she told him as she opened her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him after her minor breakdown. So instead of looking at Duke, she looked at Sarah, who had her head resting on the end of the bed and was now intently staring at her. It was evident that Sarah knew exactly what she had said and was now speaking to her with her eyes, which made Esme smile slightly. I should’ve known she’d understand. Esme thought to herself.

Anna whipped around, seeing the bodies slithering out of the crypt, and gasped lightly. She began to protest, as Mika told her to go help the boys with the doors, but quickly decided against it, as she scanned Mika’s face. The last thing she needed was a new reason for Dean to treat her like dirt, and pissing Mika off would likely help with that.

Cason frowned as Nat suddenly pushed him away from the kiss, scanning her eyes with a mixture of annoyance and confusion, “Well, that’s not…I didn’t expect. What do you mean?! You didn’t seem to mind being snuggled up to me a couple of seconds ago, and I…I misread that somehow? I mean…”

As he spoke, Mika stormed over, causing Cason to place his hands on his hips with an exasperated sigh. Always a Winchester of some sort to come in as a knight for another. Typical.

“I did nothing. I only obliged to…”, he started with a half annoyed smirk, “And aren’t you supposed to be watching our little weapon you guys so helpfully brought with us? Where is she? Maybe someone should go get her…”

He raised his hands, intending to poof out of the crypt, to break into the crypt from the outside…but he couldn’t. Growling, he glared at Mika, “And that’s just great. I’m going to lose my body because of this stupid crypt. The bars are IRON! I have to walk…”

Brushing past both Mika and Nat in a huff, Cason began shoving his way through the crowd.

Anna ran across the crypt, dodging teenagers, a couple of which ran into her with enough force to nearly knock her off her feet. Over the roar of the screaming kids and the growling zombies, she caught the sound of Sam’s voice, standing on her tiptoes to try and see him.

“SAM?!”, she cried out over the group, ducking a little lower to avoid elbows and shoulders as she moved. Stepping by one teen, she yelped as he reached for her, clawing at her arms.

“HELP ME! PLEASE!”, he cried out, before being sucked into one of the ‘empty’ crypts. Anna froze, staring with wide eyes, as a river of blood suddenly rolled out of the dark, and puddled around her fingers on the ground. Scrambling on shaking hands, she began crawling faster toward the door, and toward the sound of Sam’s voice again, trying to ignore the zombie that crawled out, after maiming the poor kid.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her arm with enough force to cause her to cry out in both pain and terror, yanking her from the ground, to her feet. The attacker swung her around to face them, and Cason’s nose nearly brushed hers as he shoved her back to make her walk, “Move. If we don’t get that door open, we’re all going to die. Well…you’ll all die. Move.”

Narrowing her eyes in a dazed confusion, Anna stepped back and began to stumble with Cason, barely noticing the massive bruise that would be left on her arm from his grip.



“You don’t think I’m damn aware of what the stakes are here, Sam?!”, Dean snapped at his brother, as he grunted, trying to pry the door open with a crowbar. Pulling the crowbar back, it was bent almost in half. With a growl, Dean threw it to the side, stepping back from the gate, “Step back.”

Leaning back on one foot, he kicked at the lock with the other, trying everything to get it open, but it barely budged, groaning as the old metal bent but didn’t break open. Making matters worse, he caught Anna’s voice over the chaos, and his heart plummeted. It started loud and clear, and suddenly dropped, and silenced, as if she was taken down by something.

“C’mon. Break open you son of a bitch…”, he grumbled, panicked. He heard Anna’s cry again, this time full of pain, and a mix of regret and panick filled his chest, as he kicked the door again. After a few more kicks, the door was suddenly forced open, ripped from its hinges, causing Dean to gasp, “What the hell?!”

“There. Did my job. I’m leaving.”, Cason snapped, shoving Anna toward Sam as he passed through the door, followed by a wave of teenagers. He disappeared, and Anna wiped her bloody hand through her hair, barely noticing that she was smearing blood, in her panic.

“So, whatever the hell that was…”, Dean grumbled, scanning Anna’s body for any obvious signs of damage.

“Zombies…”, she almost whispered, pointing toward the growling shamblers that were now filing out at a rate that would take a while to subdue. Dean followed her pointing, and groaned, bending down to his bag that sat on the ground.

“Get the girls rounded up. Get them out. I’ll call you when I’m done.”, he ordered to Sam, pulling two large silver stakes from the bag. He turned and without another word, he stepped into the crypt and began slaughtering zombies, one by one.



Duke shook his head as Esme spoke about teaming up with Cason as something ‘crazy’. It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea, in his mind, to team up with some sort of monster on the right side of things. It just so happened that demons didn’t tend to fight on the right side of things, which complicated the whole ‘working relationship’ with them. He glanced down at Sarah again, although he couldn’t see anything other than an indentation.

“I don’t think it’s crazy. I think it’s smart. I mean…who’s gonna mess with you, with a Hellhound around?”, he asked with a thoughtful look on his face, thinking back to how he found her in the warehouse. A million questions came into his mind, over Sarah’s whereabouts during that entire thing, but he quickly shook them from his mind, “And teaming up with a demon is a…it’s a strange one, ‘specially for Dean. I can’t imagine they’re buddies…”

As Esme fell silent, Duke almost fell into a state of worry, afraid he had said something wrong, or set of some chain reaction of memories, until she started rambling. His mouth ever so slightly turned up on one side, in a smirk as he scanned her face, "Gaelic?".

He followed her eyes down to Sarah once again, and sighed, “Well, how bout this. I’m here until you want me to leave…or until you agree to go with me. So, why don’t we rest? The others will probably let you know when they’re back. You heal better when you can sleep…and we have a pretty good guard dog. As long as she agrees to not kill me in my sleep, I’m down for a nap.”

As he spoke, he smiled a bit brighter, slowly closing the pizza box. He slid off the bed carefully, carrying the pizza box to the dresser, and then quickly returned, slipping under the blankets and offering his arm to Esme, “Just…keep your hands to yourself…if you want.”, he teased with a chuckle.

NAT AND MIKA

The only thing that Nat was thankful about Mika's interruption was that it meant she didn't have to explain herself to Cason's words about her 'snuggling up to him a couple of seconds ago'. She was drunk, possibly a little more drunk than she would like to be or should be, certainly enough for her to be scolded by her brothers once they see her state, but not so drunk she can't get behind her steering wheel and drive back to the motel (though it probably should be someone else anyway due to her emotional and now stressed out state). She wasn't however going to let Mika know such a fact. Instead she watched on as Cason attempted to just disappear and exit the crypt in his usual flare, only to find he can't and has to try and exit like the rest of them. She watched him storm off through the crowd and find Anna, whom he dragged over rather roughly. She then too turned to Mika and glared back at her, fiercely shoving her arms out and toward where Cason was, "are you quite proud of yourself now!? Urgh, you're as frustrating as my brothers!!" she complained, storming off, battling between the students whilst pushing some of them ahead of her in the hopes that she could use all their bodies as a glorified battering ram on the gate.

"Nat!" Mika called after her, whilst pulling out a silver stake from her belt's back casing and stabbed it through a zombie's head via it's left temple, pushing it backwards and making it stumble backwards into others, knocking them over like bowling pins. She then made an effort to get through the crowd with the others when she finally caught sight of Sams hair on the outside and could suddenly hear him call out. "WE'RE ALL HERE!" She shouted back, in the hopes it would relieve some kind of worry to know they were all at least unharmed and alive. Looking around, she finally spotted Nat again after losing sight of her briefly due to he focusing on trying to let the brothers know they were all still okay. She saw how Nat was using the students as a battering ram and if they were in any other non life threatening moment, Mika would have found herself pinching the bridge of her nose in disbelief, but as it stood right now, she didn't have time for that.

"get out of my way bitch!!" one male student shouted at Nat, being fed up of her using him to break free. He saw a zombie coming and shoved Nat back towards it which made Mika see complete red, pushing through the students to get to Nat whilst also taking this brief moment to punch the student right in the nose, hearing the bone crack even over all the screaming. "Touch her again and I'll feed you to these monsters myself!" she growled at him, freaking the boy out so much he could have sworn he saw fire burn in her eyes, but figured it was just the fear of the situation making him see things.

Eventually Mika's attention turned to the gate and seeing it shake on its hinges- Dean was about to knock it down and people would be collateral damage if they didn't budge. "EVERYONE MOVE! THE GATE IS COMING DOWN!" She yelled just in time as the gate came crashing down and Dean came barreling in in what seemed like a blink of eye, but in reality it wasn't. He saw Anna and Cason exit, took that brief moment to get a weapon or two before rushing in.

"Nat let's go!" she yelled, grabbing her pseudo sister in law by the arm and pushing her outside and over to Sam....

SAM

Sam hated that he could hear Annabeth one moment then not the next. He glanced over as Dean was deciding to go 'old school' with his methods of breaking into the crypt. He kept looking out for the girls and Cason when he saw Mika's hair for a brief moment as she punched a student square in the nose and it visibly made him wince, wondering what caused her to do such an action, but didn't wonder about it too long as he had more important things to be thinking and focusing on. Anna's scream and then nothing freaked him out more, all of the worst scenarios soaring through his head until he saw Cason grab her.

He didn't stop keeping his eyes on the crowd and trying to find the girls until the gate came down and Cason had shoved Anna into him. He instantly grabbed Anna to check on her when he saw her run her bloodied hands through her hair, just as Dean was. He looked at his brother as the orders were practically barked at him. He wanted to protest, he wanted to tell Dean that he wasn't to do this alone, that it was practically a suicide mission, but he knew just by looking at Dean's facial expression, it wasn't the right thing to say and it was better to just nod and comply.

"Anna stay out of the way back there, I'm grabbing the other two girls" he told her, looking her in the eyes to truly make sure that she was really unharmed. He stepped forward and looked around, letting students go passed him when he finally saw Mika and Nat once more, reaching out for them both. "GIRLS! HERE!" He shouted, making them both turned toward his voice and ran toward him. "We should help Dean!" Mika told him once she reached him, but Sam shook his head, "No, I need to get you all out of here, he can handle this! His orders!" he replied, "Fine by me!" Nat replied, coming in quickly and running straight out of the crypt and over to where Annabeth was.

Sam got Mika out and walked over to everyone when they were in the clear, checking them all over and the first thing he noticed was Nat's eyes slightly glazed over. "How much has she drunk?" he asked Mika and Anna, waiting for one of them to answer. "Enough to be not insanely drunk, but more than just tipsy" Mika explained. "so what if I'm ever so slightly drunk! I still managed to do my job without being a problem!" Nat snapped back, folding her arms in a huff. Sam wasn't impressed and he knew Dean would lose his shit if he saw the state of her. "I'm driving your car back to the motel Nat" he said sternly, then turned back to Annabeth.

"Now...are you truly okay?" he asked her worried about her, checking her over himself and seeing the red mark on her arm that Cason left. He found himself checking it for any bite marks or breaking of the skin in general but found himself sighing with relief as he saw nothing that would cause a problem. "Right, lets get you back to the motel" He suggested to everyone, to which Mika nodded at the plan, even though she didn't particularly like leaving Dean alone, and Nat just huffed in response.

He lead them all to the cars and silently gestured to Nat to hand him her car keys. Initially she refused but he gestured slightly more sternly at her which made her hand them over. "Anna, in the front, Meeko you keep an eye on Nat in the back" he suggested to them, he was not in the mood to deal with Natalia right now. Walking around the car to the driver's side he unlocked the car and got in the driver's seat, waited for the girls to get in and when everyone was in, he began to drive back to the motel.

Cason appeared back at the hotel, in Nat’s room. He growled in frustration as he shrugged his leather jacket off, and brought his still sizzling hand up, looking it over, “Fuckin’ Winchesters. Use the demon as bait. Great! Use the demon as a battering ram. Great! Let the demon get close to a single human, and he gets attacked like a feral dog…”

As he grumbled, he stepped into the bathroom, and turned on the faucet. Hissing, he shoved his hand under the cold water, letting the iron shavings wash away from his skin. Slowly, the color began to calm, and his palm healed. He took a deep breath, wiping the water from his hands with a nearby towel, “And now I’m in her room. They’ll get back and start screaming at me, like a child that spilled his milk on the floor. Just move on…you can leave them. It’s not like any of this has been anything other than a shit show, since you showed up.”

He continued grumbling to himself, walking back over to the table, where he had dumped his jacket. He paced for a few seconds, his mind going over all of the scenarios if he left, without saying a word. Would they be okay with Anna? Of course they would. She barely even wanted anything to do with him, as it was. Would Esme be okay? Of course she would, she was on to the next blonde shiny thing. She didn’t need him.

But Nat.

What felt like a hand gripping his chest knocked a bit of wind from him as he thought about apologizing, which was a rare occurance for him. She seemed the only one in the group that, after letting her walls down, would actually see him as her equal. She was already opening up to him, despite her past. He was the only one of them who knew any of the major details of her past, and he was someone she could truly lean on…if she would let him in.

“But she won’t…”, he scoffed, shoving his arms through his jacket sleeves. He then disappeared, reappearing in a bar nearby to clear his head.



Anna was shaken from her thoughts by Sam’s voice, suddenly realizing that he was right in front of her. He was safe. She was safe, at least for now. As his words registered, she met his eyes and nodded, “I’ll be here…”

She followed him with her eyes as he ran back in after the other two girls, wincing at Dean stabbing one of the zombies in the head, before throwing one of his stakes at another. As Nat walked over to her, she stayed quiet, stepping closer to her to wait for Sam and Mika to eventually join them, and when they did, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Even though it seemed the family drama was only just beginning, at least they were all alive.

At the mention of Nat being drunk, Anna turned to scan Nat’s face, seeing more than just drunkeness. She wouldn’t dare mention anything, at the risk of potentially sharing anything Nat didn’t want the boys to know, but the temptation was strong. Cason was magnetic, and being drunk…and a hunter made what happened all the worse.

“I think I’m fine. Cason has a pretty strong grip, when he’s pissed…and he seemed really pissed.”, she explained to Sam, scanning over the skin on her arm, as he checked her for bites. Once he seemed happy that she wasn’t on deaths door, she smirked and wrapped her arm around his, needing any comfort she could grasp with the tension in the air.

As they walked back to the car, Anna stayed silent, but as soon as she sat down in the front seat, she leaned in close to Sam, “I’m really afraid all hell is going to break loose back at the hotel…especially if Cason went back…”



Dean jumped, stabbing the last of the shamblers in the forehead, following it to the ground, where he straddled it, and twisted the stake with a growl. The crypt fell silent, now that everyone was cleared out, and the shamblers were dead.

“Son of a bitch, I’m too old for this…”, he groaned, standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans. As he walked toward the open doorway, he caught the blue and red lights on the wall behind him. He sped up his walking a bit into a slow run, swiping his duffel on his way through the doors. He made it back to the Impala, and revved the engine, driving back to the hotel with a million questions in his mind. What had happened with Cason that had him so aggressive toward Anna? Why were the girls so slow to react to such an obvious problem? Was the hunt over? Did they lose?

The whole way back, these thoughts plagued his brain, and he feared that the angels might have already gotten back to the girls, causing him to step on the gas just a little harder, to make it back.

Dean climbed out of the Impala, glancing at Esme’s window as he did so. Seeing the lights off, he assumed she was probably fine. She seemed alright with Duke…at least for the night, and although back in the day he would have knocked his teeth out for even glancing at her, at the moment, he was glad they had each other. He scanned over the other three rooms, until his eyes landed on Nat’s room…the only one with a light.

“Sammy, they better be in good shape, or so help me…”, he muttered to himself as he reached for the doorknob, and slowly cracked it open, preparing for the worst.

As Esme sat on the bed, she hid a light smile that tried to come to her lips at Duke questioning if she was speaking Gaelic, to which she nodded slightly. It was a little surprising that he knew it was Gaelic she had spoken. She continued to look at Sarah as Duke continued to speak to her and when he slid off the bed. At that moment, she was at a loss for words to respond with, though she was relieved to hear he’d stay as long as she wanted him to or she decided to leave with him. Even if she was slightly afraid to let herself fall back into that place she was once in with Duke again or further, it was still nice to hear those words. Even with that fear, she couldn’t deny that there was definitely something there, especially since she had kissed him back after he had kissed her earlier. All that knew her, knew she wasn’t one to openly admit her fears, especially to those she cared about most. They had to be pried or coaxed out of her, sometimes with a promise that it wouldn’t be held against her or used as a playful joke. Then again, there wasn’t much she was afraid of. Esme watched Duke from the corner of her eye, thinking about what he had said, and knew he was right. Right now, sleep would do her a world of good and would help her forget about the memory creeping back into her mind, which was something she was all for. She didn’t want to think back on that time of her life again, it made her feel weak and stupid for letting it happen and not seeing the signs.

When Duke returned to the bed, the slight tug of the blankets pulled her from her thoughts and she turned her head slightly towards him as he spoke and offered his arm to her. “I could tell you to keep your hands to yourself as well.” she almost whispered as she dropped her head slightly with a slight smile and a soft sigh. At any other moment, she would have laughed at him telling her to keep her hands to herself if she wanted, and she knew he knew that. Though at that moment, she felt her mind was swimming with every thought under the sun and she could feel herself tensing up again from Duke offering her his arm. Her fingers found the blankets and gripped them tightly before she brought her head up and looked at Duke’s offered arm. Fighting with herself, she forced herself to release the blankets but still hesitated a few moments before slowly taking Duke's arm. She then laid down with him, still holding onto his arm as she laid her head on the pillows and the side of her face rested against his arm. Once he turned off the lights, she could feel her exhaustion settling in and her body feeling as if it were made of lead. Sighing heavily, she adjusted her head slightly and closed her eyes. “Don’t worry about Sarah.” she whispered to him. She lifted one of her hands from Duke’s arm to pull the blankets up more around her, then placed her hand back where it once had been. “She won’t do anything to you. I promise.” she added tiredly. It wasn’t long until Esme sighed softly as she nuzzled into Duke’s arm signaling that she had fallen asleep, just like she had always done back when it was just the three of them.

Esme fell into a deep sleep, one of the deepest she’d ever had. It started out peaceful and dreamless but after a while, that changed. She began to dream about the good times she had with Dean and Duke and some of the cases they had taken on. She dreamed about a time they had taken on Ghouls in a sleepy little town’s cemetery that turned out to be a little more than they had expected. Instead of just one or two Ghouls to take care of, it turned out to be four. They came out battered and bruised but they did get the job done, then headed back to their motel room to get cleaned up before going out for a drink. The place they picked just so happened to be having a Karaoke night, which of course was something they couldn’t pass up taking part in. Esme loved singing Karaoke and just singing in general, especially on those long road trips. As soon as they walked into the bar, her and Duke went over and signed up to sing for the night while Dean went and found a table. After signing up and meeting up with Dean at the table, they both received a look from him that said “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” which made them both start to laugh. “Nope, we sure couldn’t.” Esme answered for both of them with a huge grin. The three laughed and Dean helped her into a chair at the table, then he mumbled something about having to sign up too since they did. Which just caused more laughter as he walked off to do just that. “You know you love it! Don’t you dare deny it either!” she called after him. He responded with a shrug of his shoulders as he walked away but it was clear to her that he was smiling as he went.

By the time Dean had made it back, the drinks had been ordered and were on the table. Dean took his normal spot next to Esme and Duke sat across from them. The night went on smoothly with talking and laughing as people got up to sing for the crowd, by the time Duke’s turn rolled around both boys were already drunk but that didn’t stop Duke from downing the last of his drink and marching up to the stage that had been set up. He got up there and sang his country heart out and the whole bar absolutely loved it. Playing to the crowd, he tipped his hat to them before walking off the stage and back to the table. Before Esme could comment on his singing, the next singer's name was called, “Nightingale”. She smiled then pushed back her chair and stood, it was the name she always used when it came to Karaoke ever since a friend of theirs called her it after singing one night, it just kind of stuck. Plus, she never liked using her real name during these things. “Wish me luck.” she teased as she walked around Dean’s chair. Both made a comment about her not needing luck as she made her way to the stage, causing her to laugh softly to herself. Once on the stage, everything around her faded away other than the music. She stood there and sang her heart out, not for the crowd but for herself, and a little for Dean and Duke. When the song ended, every sound came rushing back along with the bar erupting in applause and cheers. Esme took a bow and gave a smile before walking off stage and back to the boys. After sitting down, they talked about her performance as well as Duke’s as another person was called up to sing.

Next was Dean’s turn, who was definitely drunk by now, though he got up and made his way to the stage to sing. And sing he did even with some of his words slurred in his drunken state. Half the bar hated it, the other half loved it. Dean’s singing gave Esme and Duke a good laugh and they cheered him on. As Dean made his way off stage after his song, the dream began to fade away, then completely when he made it back to the table, sat down, and put his arm around her shoulders. Her dreams settled a little after that, giving her small bits of memories here and there from the past and the past few days before lingering on deeper moments of her past.

SAM AND MIKA

Starting the drive back, he was grateful he knew how to drive Nat’s car as it was a different feel to driving Baby. He let Anna lean into him none the less as he drove, noting how Natalia especially was being rather silent in the back whilst Mika kept a close eye on her, albeit discreetly. Yet in the pit of his stomach, he just knew it would be any moment when Nat would kick off and after this day and evening he wasn’t sure he was particularly ready for it, or how it was all going to go down once Dean caught up to them. “I’m worried about it too honestly, I’m just waiting for someone to kick off and I don’t know if I’m mentally prepared for it” he replied to Anna quietly for almost fear of upsetting Natalia even more. Something told him there was so much more to this whole situation, he just didn’t know what and it frustrated him that his sister never let him in and just closed them all out. He knew just as well as Dean and Mika did that she favoured himself out of himself and Dean so it hurt him greatly that she shut him out particularly. It seemed however that he wasn’t quiet enough as he heard the familiar scoff from Natalia behind him, but no other words were exchanged....

The drive was absolute hell for him, and he had no doubts that it was uncomfortable for the others as well. Pulling up to the motel and pulling into the car park, he parked outside Natalia’s room as the space was still empty, he found Nat didn’t even wait for him to fully turn the ignition off before she dived out of the car and headed to her room, opening the door and walking in. Sam found himself sighing and running his hands through his hair after he pulled the keys out and put them in his pocket. “She’s gotta open up...she can’t keep doing this, it’ll get her killed” Mika said sadly, genuinely concerned for the young woman’s mental state. “I know, but you know what she’s like, she’ll shut us out quicker than Dean can say ‘pie’.” Sam countered.

“Well this time we don’t let her shut us out. Because tonight was the last straw. She said she wouldn’t get drunk, she promised Dean she wouldn’t drink, but she still did. She let her guard drop which in turn made mine and Anna’s guard drop because we were too concerned about her.” She told him bluntly. “what do you mean?” he asked, turning to face her in the car seat, “she got drunk and got close to Cason.....he kissed her” she said, not wanting to snitch on Natalia but she saw no other way. It had to come out at some point and she knew Sam would nag until she told him the truth anyway. “what?!” he exclaimed, trying to stop his blood from boiling. With that he said no more and got out the car, and stormed into Natalia’s room, leaving the door open for the girls.

NATALIA

“You let Cason kiss you?!” Sam questioned Natalia angrily and a bit too loud. Natalia span round as her back was facing him initially as he came bounding into the room. “are you serious right now?! That’s what you wanna lecture me on?! And for the record Sam I didn’t let him do anything okay?! I shoved him off when he made the move! You really think I’d let some bloody demon get that close to me?! After everything I’ve gone through at the hands of his kind?! I’m sorry but you don’t get judge me!” She yelled back at him as she removed her hooded jacket, throwing it on her bed and not even paying attention to the signs that Cason had been in her room. “I’m not judging you Nat! I’m worried about you! We all are! But you put everyone in that crypt at risk because you’re drunk and focused on Cason, who shall I remind you is already on bad terms with Dean!” Sam replied with a greatly raised voice. Mika had walked in behind him with Anna and placed her hand on Sam’s shoulder, an action that Nat took as Mika picking sides. “oh what a damn surprise! You take the brother’s side on this!” Nat practically spat. “I’m not taking sides Nat, I’m trying to get you both to lower your voices” Mika replied quietly.

“Let me guess it was you who snitched on me! You need to keep your god damn nose out of my life! You may be dating my brother but that don’t give you a damn right to police my life!” Natalia spat with drunken malice. Mika wanted to say something back but Nat’s words just left her speechless. Nat at this point was on the brink of tears and like hell was she going to let the three of them see her cry. “don’t talk to her like that! Just open to us, please!” Sam scolded and begged of his baby sister. “I’ll talk to her however I damn please!” she yelled at him before storming off into the bathroom and slamming the door shut, locking it. “Nat come on!!” Sam called out, walking over to the bathroom and knocking on the door.

Nat just slid down the door after noting the dirt in the sink and knew Cason had been there. She held her head in her hands as everything overwhelmed her in her head, the alcohol making her head spin on top of it all. The tears then ran down her face, feeling lost, confused. She listened as Sam kept begging her to open the door but she just couldn’t bring herself to. She even found herself wishing Cason was there to diffuse the situation, but then she hated herself for wishing that as she still had her negative feelings towards him because of what he was. Sam was trying for what felt like forever until he turned his head and saw Dean opening the door. “she’s locked herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out” he explained to his brother. “Tell Dean to sod off!!” Natalia shouted through the door, not in the mood for Dean’s scolding either. “you know he ain’t gonna do that Nat! Neither are the rest of us!” he countered truthfully.

She knew he was right, they were being even more stubborn than normal and deep down she knew it was pointless in trying to avoid the big conversation for much longer. Yet she held off for as long as possible before she couldn’t anymore. She slowly climbed back onto her feet from the floor and walked over to the sink, turning the tap on and splashing her face to try and sober up. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few moments before slowly walking to the door and unlocking it which caused Sam to step back. Natalia then slowly opened the door and stepped outside, sitting at the table that previously had Cason’s jacket on. Sam was about to speak but Natalia stopped him before he could actually speak. “firstly...I’m sorry for making you Mika and Anna drop your guard because of me. I let Cason convince me to drink even though I promised I wouldn’t. I guess...I guess I thought it would make having to work with him all the more easier to accept...” she began, refusing to look at any of them. She just stared at her feet the entire time so she could actually get her words out without stumbling too much.

“I know every hunter has their.....issues with demons but mine runs deeper than any of yours. It was demons who ran that institute, took it over and ran it as some torture chamber. Sending me there was thought to be the right decision....we all know anyone outside of this world would think of us insane, so I don’t blame my adopted family for making that decision...but once there it went from bad to worse every day..” she began explaining, trying so hard not to cry and muffle her words all over again. “it started off as mind games, pretending they’re human, they’re friends so to speak....saying they’re there to help me. I just had to talk...but I didn’t know them, I didn’t trust them with my story. Then they got impatient. Drugs started getting pumped into me....relaxants to make me loose tongued, drugs to make me sleep so they could chain me to the sorry excuse of a bed in my room at night, so I wouldn’t try and escape...all kinds of shit. Then it got worse than that, they started locking, literally, me into ice baths for an hour at a time to begin with, only unlocking me and taking me out when I was close to hyperthermia. One time my heart stopped, was considered dead for a whole minute and they had to revive me just to do it all over again the next day.” She said, struggling to get the words out of her mouth.

“Ice baths then turned into electroshock therapy. Chained to a chair, electrodes all over me, shocking me in the head and chest, only comfort I got was the bite gag in my mouth to stop me from swallowing my tongue. They were convinced I knew about the whole Winchester family the moment someone found out my real father was John. But I didn’t and no matter how many times I begged them to stop because I didn’t know any Winchester other than dad, they amped up the wattage. Nothing I said or did was right to them...” by this point she was crying all over again.

“if it wasn’t ice baths or electroshock therapy, they were tying me to chairs, slicing through any part of me they wanted to try and make me talk. Healed me up then started all over again. One time they even whipped me for kicks, whipped me so hard the scars you’ve seen today are my reminder of it. Then there this was one guy, who pretended to be on my side the whole time. That was almost worse than the physical torture. He falsely planted in my head the chances of hope of freedom. Said it would be over soon, that if I said quite literally anything it would set me free...but it didn’t work. I lied to and try an earn my freedom, but they researched my words, found out I lied and as punishment starved me until I could barely hold my head up or walk then burned me at the nape of my neck with a live wire. Yet I kept hoping dad would come for me, come save me from that hell but he never came. The only thing that ever came back for me was the torture, the pumping my bloodstream of drugs making me so docile I couldn’t fight back. If it wasn’t for you Dean, Sam...I’d have never gotten out...I—” but she couldn’t go on.

The crying overtook her and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. As she finally opened up what she endured, it all flashed through her mind like she was watching it on a TV screen. She hoped now it was all out in the open, they would finally understand why she was so flippant with Cason, why she was so adamant on not telling Dean and Sam what they had truly saved her from all that time ago. She still couldn’t look any of them in the eye so she couldn’t see the pure look of horror and sadness on their faces.

Anna leaned up at a point during the trip back to the motel, scanning Sam’s face as he drove to try and gauge what sort of situation they were running into when the returned. But nothing she could find on his face gave any answers. It was obvious he was struggling with his emotions, and he didn’t even know half of what happened, outside of the girls obviously being too distracted to complete the mission without nearly dying.

As they arrived back to the motel, she sighed, glancing down at her lap as Nat jumped out of the car, starting what was definitely going to be a long and rough night of possible fighting betweeen everyone. She watched her close the door, hearing the familiar rumble of the Impala engine in the background as Mika and Sam discussed what had happened, their voices muffled in Anna’s busy mind.

Sam’s raised voice at Mika admitting that Nat had kissed Cason caused Anna to flinch. She quickly came back to earth and snapped her head to read Sam’s face, but he was already out of the car, “Sam, wait!”

She quickly scrambled out of the car, as the Impala rumble grew louder. She followed Sam into the motel room, scooting to the side for Mika to get through, just as the fight seemed to be revving up.

“Can we just calm down?”, she asked, a little quieter than she originally intended, feeling quite small. As Mika attempted to diffuse things, and Nat stormed off to the bathroom, Dean casually burst through the front door.

“Oh Jesus Christ…Hell would be better than this…”, she groaned as Dean dropped his bag heavily on the floor and his eyes instantly fell on Sam, knocking on the door to try and get Nat to open up.

“What’s going on with her?”, he asked, turning in almost a circle to ask the girls with his eyes what the hell was going on. Anna, being the innocent spectator saw no reason to delay the inevitable, and she took a deep breath, quickly glancing at Mika.

“Nat and Cason kissed…”, she blurted out. Dean completely froze, his brain physically shaking to try and change the words that had left her mouth. No matter what gymnastics he tried to do in his mind, the words didn’t change.

He turned, walking to the door of the bathroom, where he tried the handle, as if she wouldn’t have locked the door, “Open the door. Now!”

“Dean…i don’t know if that’s…”

“Shut up. Nat! Open the damn door or I swear I’ll kick it in and drag you out myself!”, he screamed over any protest.



Cason cradled his tenth glass of whiskey in his hand, staring into the mirror behind the bar, as if looking into his own eyes would tell him what to do about this whole scenario. Undoubtedly the Winchesters would never allow this to lie, even if he just wanted to befriend Nat. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t already stuck his hand into the pool with every girl they knew…except her. It wasn’t as if his relationship with the girls didn’t already seem a little sketchy on the surface.

It wasn’t as if he wasn’t already the nuclear option. The reluctant ally. The one they could kill at any moment, and just find another…likely Ruby, if Dean would allow it. Hell, of course Dean would allow it.

But he felt something, in the pit of his stomach, that felt like guilt. He had acted on impulse, something demons were already known for. He had put all of them in danger, including his own body. He took a deep breath, raising his glass for a refill, but the bartender shook his head.

“Son, I have to cut you off. I don’t know where you get the stamina, but I’m half worried you’re gonna take out every table in this bar when you finally get off that stool. Go home. Deal with…whatever this is. No use in killin’ yourself over it.”, the old man explained with sympathy. He took the glass from Cason’s very sober hand, and wiped the bar in front of him, before walking off. With a low growl, Cason stood from the stool, shrugging his jacket back onto his shoulders.

Without thinking about the possibility that the others were already back at the motel, he disappeared and reappeared next to Nat’s bed, beside Anna, who flinched with a small yelp.

“What the HELL Cason?!”, she cried out, causing Dean to spin around with fire in his eyes, “Oh no. NO NO NO!”

But before Anna could block him, or even get Sam to step in, Dean already had a hand wrapped around Cason’s throat. He slammed his head back against the nearest wall, growling loudly as he came nose to nose with him, “I should kill you for even THINKING about touching her, after what you’ve done. Why are you here, huh? Did you think she was the weakest one? The one with the least to lose? The one that would take the most risks? What is it?! You’re gonna use her against us, like you tried to do with Mika?”

“Choking me is a bit antithetical to the whole…answering you thing…”, Cason wheezed with a wide smile, sneering down at Dean. He could tell Dean was too angry to even attempt to reason with, as the grip on his throat tightened, and he smiled bigger, “M-Mika made her decisions…and with magic. Angels…whatever. I’m n-not…here to…break up your gang…”

“Sure you’re not. Of course you’re not. You just want to protect them, right? But you won’t tell anyone why. Well, tell me. Tell me why, or I’ll slit your throat.”, Dean sneered, pressing himself against Cason even harder.

“STOP THIS!”, Anna called out to them both, grabbing Dean’s wrist. Her eyes faded to a pale white as she tightened her tiny hand around his arm. Dean didn’t budge at first, but with the growl that left Anna’s throat, both Cason and Dean glanced down at her face, “Dean Winchester, step back or I’ll snap your wrist. Step back…”

Dean frowned at Anna, glancing back at Cason in disbelief that she would still take his side after everything. He turned his eyes back to her face, and gritted his teeth, “You still want to protect this DOG?”

“No. I don’t want your sister to come out of that bathroom to find out that you’ve killed him. She’s fragile…and you’re just going to make everything worse if you kill him, no matter how she feels about him. And you’re worthless to all of us with a snapped wrist…”, Anna explained simply, tightening her grip to a point that made Dean wince, “Let him go, and focus on your sister…”

Dean winced with a small groan and finally released Cason, taking a step back. Cason chuckled, and rubbed at the fading bruise around his throat, the sound causing Dean to turn on his heel, punching Cason in the nose with a loud crunch. The punch caught Cason of guard enough to pull a loud groan from his throat, and he leaned over, holding his bleeding nose as the blood pooled on the floor.

“He deserved that…”, Anna said simply, her eyes fading back to normal, as the bathroom door opened. Cason sat down on the floor, in the corner behind the bed, wiggling his nose around to attempt to heal it, as Nat walked over to the table.

Dean crossed his arms, expecting a thousand excuses for Nat’s bad behavior, like they had heard a million times before, with no explanation. Just excuses. But instead, she actually began to open up. As she spoke, Dean’s expression began to soften, his eyebrows stitching together in worry for his sister, but also a new form of rage.

As she spoke about the demons’ manipulation, he turned slowly to glare at Cason, who was beginning to click the pieces of his nose back together, completely withdrawn, but seemingly bothered by Nat’s story. Of course, Cason already knew most of her story. He was in the same group that had captured her. He was part of the same group meant to take down the Winchesters…until he rebelled.

As the final pieces of his nose clicked back together, he stood slowly from the floor and Dean hardened himself, just as Nat began to finish. There were tears in Deans eyes, processing what his sister had been through, in a wave of emotion. He wanted to tear every demon apart, but also wanted answers. On a separate hand he felt ashamed, and guilty.
As Cason stepped forward, Dean reached an arm out to block him from getting any closer to Nat, his eyes threatening, wide and devastated, but Cason shrugged him off, sitting quietly down on the bed next to Nat’s chair.

He didn’t reach for her. He only sat there, while Anna sat heavily at the foot of the bed, taking a deep and shaky breath to keep herself from bursting out in tears. They all sat in silence for a few moments, before Dean finally spoke up, “If you had told us sooner …a lot of this would have made more sense. I mean… I still wouldn’t understand trusting the most sketchy member of our crew, but…Nat, you know you could have told us, right? It didn’t have to come to this.”

As Dean spoke, Cason gently reached a hand out and slipped a strand of hair behind her ear, careful not to touch her too much, but wanting to wave a white flag. The action caused both Anna and Dean to flinch, wanting to stop him, but he quickly dropped his hand after the simple gesture and turned his eyes down to the floor. Anna narrowed her eyes, because she knew that look. He had something on his mind…a secret or feeling that he needed to say, but he wouldn’t…



Duke smirked as Esme asked him to keep his hands to himself, as if that was truly possible now that she was snuggling up to his arm. He snuggled down against the pillow, allowing her to wrap around him as much as she needed to in order to be comfortable. And as she mentioned Sarah, he glanced down toward where she was curled up, taking a deep breath, “I’ll just…let her keep guard for a while. No biting at my feet though.”

He chuckled, and reached his other hand up, stroking it through her hair as she nuzzled into him.

“Get some sleep. You’re safe now…”, he whispered softly, feeling her breathing even out as she fell asleep. And as soon as he was positive she would rest, he also closed his eyes, leaning his face down close to her hair and fell into a deep sleep.

NATALIA, SAM AND MIKA

When Dean had arrived into the room Mika knew all Hell would break loose and so when it did, she wasn't in the least bit surprised. She hated that when Cason came back, Dean just absolutely lost his composure even if she couldn't blame him for doing so. She was far from happy about Cason moving in on Natalia when she was slightly drunk herself but she was done with the fighting. She watched on with concern and slight fear as Anna managed to get Dean to let Cason go and focus yet again on Natalia. She couldn't even get a word in whilst Anna lectured Dean on putting all of his focus onto the wrong person at this very moment in time. She was right, that much Mika could think of and when everyone resettled down once more she sighed with some sort of relief. She didn't even pay attention to how Sam was reacting to this whole situation, but it seemed Sam had in fact at one point turned from the bathroom door and was watching everything unfold.

When things settled, he turned back toward the bathroom and kept hoping that Natalia would just open the door and come on out. He also hoped that Nat hadn't heard any of what was being yelled at but he knew motel walls were hardly thick enough to be sound proofed, so chances were she did hear absolutely everything. Yet unbeknownst to him, Natalia didn't pay attention to any of what was going on in the main room. She was so swallowed up in her own thoughts in the bathroom she really didn't know what was going on and just assumed that her family were fighting amongst themselves for letting her go out on the hunt in the state she was in. She didn't even think that Cason would have come back to the motel, let alone her room. Why would he? She drunkenly did give him the impression she was flirting with him after being pushed into him, then pushed him away and did have a habit of speaking to him like shit because of what he was.

Then Natalia had come out of the bathroom looking like an utter wreck. Sam and Mika both knew this was more than drunkenness affecting the youngest Winchester in this moment as she stepped out and went to the table and chair without even looking at any of them. Both of them wanted to go over and comfort the woman, but both knew they'd be pushed away if they did, so they remained stood where they were, Sam having stepped away from the bathroom door and by the wall and Mika near the main door. They listened to Nat speak of why she was being so unpredictable and reckless and as she spoke they found themselves getting more and more shocked and heartbroken. Sam couldn't stop the silent tear from falling down his face as he wiped it away and listened, staring at the ground as he did so he could take in absolutely every single word Natalia said. Mika stared at Natalia as she spoke, seeing no sign of a lie being spoken, just a broken girl sat in front of them all. A broken girl that she hadn't seen since they day the boys rescued Nat from the institute.

Both could remember that night far too well. Sam had been looking any other people to be saved at one end of the hospital, whilst Dean was at another end. That was when he found her- Natalia. Stumbling out of her room, drugged up, dangerously thin and scared almost to death. She was mumbling about how she got let free by something or someone and back then he just assumed she was mumbling about nothing because she was so high on the drugs in her system but over the time they had been with her, he had to admit he did think about what helped her get out of her room more and more. It was a question he always had on his mind but never expressed openly to either Natalia, Dean or Mika. He remembered he had to pick her up to carry her out whilst also fighting his way through demons at the same time and she weighed next to nothing. He was certain that night she wouldn't survive the night but she somehow did. She survived, remained mute for the longest time whilst she healed up, gained weight and began to look healthy. He saw there and then what a fighter she was, but it was also during that time he found her only item she owned, a polaroid photograph that was in her filthy jogging bottoms of her with their dad.

Snapping out his own memories he saw how Natalia finished talking and was just crying and shaking. He looked up when Cason stood up from the bed and began to walk over to Natalia, only to have Dean try and fail in stopping him. He watched the man's demon's movements carefully, clenching his fist as Cason just sat there, like they all seemed to be doing- in silence. He, like the others for a while didn't know what to say to her story. All he knew was that if he ever came face to face with any of those demons again who were part of hurting his baby sister, he would gladly dish out torture ten times worse than what they put on her. Little did he know Cason was partly to blame for Natalia's time in that hospital. If he had known, he would have gladly punched him so hard he'd have broken the door and had Cason on the floor outside.

He was glad when Dean finally found the words to say, saying what they all no doubt were thinking to some degree or another. All he and Dean had ever wanted out of Natalia was for her to open up to them. Yet the moment Dean mentioned about trusting Cason, he braced himself for the blowback those words were about to cause. Natalia looked up at Dean, her eyes narrowing dramatically as she wiped the tears enough so she could bring herself to talk once more. He didn't have to see Cason sweeping some of Natalia's hair behind her ear to know Cason touched her in some way as both Anna and Dean flinched. "Are you serious right now!? I never once explicitly said I trusted Cason! And sure, I could have told you all of this forever ago but do you realise how difficult it is to say those words!? To say in detail how I was tortured because our good for nothing deadbeat dad dared to have me and give me the bloody Winchester name!? All I have ever wanted is to live a life where i'm not crippled with the ptsd of what I went through! You should know Dean! It's not like you've ever truly opened up about life in Hell is it!?" she spat with drunken venom. She was hurting and aiming her hurt at him wrongly, but she didn't know who else to aim it at in this moment.

"Now that's enough Nat, it's not Dean's fault. Like you said, he and Sam saved you that night" Mika finally stepped forward and spoke up, unable to remain silent any longer. Her voice remained calm but it had an essence of firmness to it to show she wasn't going to stand for any more raised voices. "Just get out...all of you...GET OUT!" Natalia spat back, she didn't want to feel crowded in any longer. It was too much for her to handle, her head was swimming, she was exhausted and in mental pain. "Nat..." Sam started to quietly and calmly protest, "I mean it! OUT!!" She demanded once again, showing she wasn't going to be changing her mind on this. With a sigh Sam nodded and started to head toward the door to leave, he gave a glance around at absolutely everyone, a look that said 'come on- let's just leave her alone'. He then became the first to open the door and exit even though every part of him was just wanting to stay and scoop her up in his arms and hold her protectively.

He waited outside for the others, curious to what everyone thought they should do. As they all exited Natalia then looked up and grabbed Cason's arm. "wait....don't go....please" she quietly begged of him. His touch from earlier giving her a sense of familiarity....of weird comfort.

As the deeper memories unfolded in Esme’s dream, she fell into a deeper sleep, one deeper than most she had ever drifted into. Which was pretty much to be expected after meeting up with the group, everything they had gone through together, her kidnapping by demons, and her lack of a good sleep. Yes, she wasn’t a stranger to sleep deprivation but it was nothing compared to what she had recently gone through. Her powers of empathy being in hyperdrive, becoming a demon nuke, and dealing with angels hadn’t come into play back then. It had all left her mentally and physically exhausted. So, with her mental state being weakened, and that wall she had built being weakened, no wonder traumatizing events from her past would be coming back to haunt and torment her. Events that caused her to flinch away from a small touch, or freak out after waking up after falling unconscious. One of those events she hoped Dean and Duke would never hear about, for she knew it would hit them hard emotionally. She also knew they would mentally kick themselves for not being there for her during that time to help her through it or out of it. But when that event came around, Dean and Duke had already gone their separate ways, and she didn’t have any idea where either of them were. Even after escaping the situation, she couldn't bring herself to call either one of them to help her through the trauma she was going through from the ordeal.

The first memory to rear its head was the Vampire hunt in Toledo. Where she and Duke were trapped in a cellar and Duke gave her his deathbed love confession. Telling her that he had loved her since the first day she had shown up all pissed off and ready for a fight. The confession wasn’t anything she hadn’t already known but he had never been in on knowing she was an Empath. When he told her, she tried her hardest not to react any other way then strong in the situation. In fact, she had been quite hard on him while trying to keep her emotions in check by calling him by his full name and telling him not to give up on her. With no one one really knowing where they were, she was in overdrive mentally and emotionally, especially since Duke was out of it, bleeding out on the floor, and a horde of bloodthirsty bloodsuckers were outside the door trying to get into the cellar. After using one of her shirts to stop the bleeding of Duke’s wound, she stood up and tried to collect her thoughts the best she could. After turning back to Duke and telling him they were both going to make it out alive even if she had to take on everyone on her own, she knelt down and grabbed his machete with her free hand. Now with a machete in each hand, she turned back towards the door and stared at it, watching it shake, bow, and creak as the Vampires tried to get through the door. Esme took a battle stance, her knuckles going white as she gripped the machetes tighter. “Alright you horror film rejects, come and get it!” she yelled at the cellar door. The door was ripped from its hinges and the Vampires spilled in, Esme charged forward slashing at every Vampire she met and projecting emotions to confuse them to get the upper hand. The memory faded just before she reached the door of the cellar. Her grip on Duke’s arm tightened.

Esme got a small break before the next memory began to play out behind her closed lids. This one took place awhile after she had parted ways with Dean and Duke and teamed up with her father and some family. Which she soon regretted because she missed the boys so damn much but she couldn’t bring herself to go back and admit that she had been wrong and slightly scared by Dean’s plans for them. It started off with her, her father, and aunt sitting in a motel room in Tulsa, discussing their next case, a haunting taking place in an old house that was being renovated about a mile down the road. “What is with all these Ghosts lately?” she said thinking out loud. “We just took care of two the day before yesterday and the week before that.” She sighed heavily and looked at her father and aunt to see if they had anything else to say. “I don’t know, but the increase in restless spirits seems to be unusually high.” her father chimed in. Esme and her aunt nodded in agreement, then she took her to her feet and grabbed her bag. “Daddy, Aunt Davina, let’s get going before it gets too much later in the day.” she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. They had already changed into their federal suits, so they could begin questioning witnesses as soon as they arrived. Once the questioning had been taken care of, and they had the information they needed, they changed into their normal clothes and were about to head back when her father received a call. As he spoke, his emotions rose more and more. After the call, he looked at Esme, worry shown in his eyes even though he tried to hide it.

“Well, my little wolf, you’re going to have to finish this one on your own. Davina and I are needed somewhere else right now. I know you can get the job done on your own.” he said, forcing a smile onto his face. “But Daddy, I can…..” she was cut off as he placed a hand on her mouth. “You’re an amazing hunter, I know you can help us but someone has to stay here and take care of the Ghosts.” he told her, slowly removing his hand from her mouth as he spoke. “Your aunt and I will be fine. We’ll meet you back at the motel when we’re done. Okay?” Esme reluctantly nodded to her fathers words. “Okay, just be careful and try to come back in one piece.” she told them. Dropping her bag, she hugged them both and kissed their cheeks. “I love you, both of you.” she told them as she stepped back against her car. “Love you too.” they said in unison. They turned and walked away from her, Esme hesitated to get in her car, watching them go. “What’s going on Wesley?” Davina asked in a hushed tone as they walked to his car. He sighed heavily and shook his head. “I’ll tell you on the way, Davina.” he replied in a similar hushed tone. Once they got into Wesley’s car and pulled out of the parking lot, Esme snapped out of it and got into her own car with a heavy sigh through her nose after putting her bag in the trunk. “With everything that’s been said about this place, it should be an interesting case.” she told herself as she pulled the car door shut.

Things skipped ahead to after the Ghosts were taken care of and Esme was coming out of the house a bit battered from being tossed around the house. Reaching her car, she unlocked, opened the door and threw her bag into the backseat, not taking the time to put it in the trunk like she normally did. Once in, she pulled her phone from her jacket pocket, noticing she had a missed call and voicemail from her father. Sinking into the seat, she held the phone up to her ear to listen to the message, a knot forming in her stomach as she listened to her fathers voice and gunshots in the background. “Looks like you’re still dealing with the Ghosts.” he sighed. “Well, it looks like you were right again. We should have all gone into this together but I was afraid for your safety even when I know how capable you are as a hunter.” He sighed heavily then cleared his throat before continuing. The knot in Esme’s stomach tightened more at hearing the pain in her father's voice, the screaming, and more gunshots in the background. She could feel her fear for them creeping up on her as well as tears beginning to burn her eyes. “I’m sorry Esme. My daughter. My little wolf. I never thought it would end this way, not with all of us here on this one. “I…… Get back you son of a…….” Wesley trailed and rapid gunshots followed, then a yell of agony. “I’m sorry….” he grunted before the voicemail ended. “NO! YOU DIDN’T TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE!” Esme yelled as she yanked the phone from her ear. She quickly went to her recent calls and selected her fathers name, then put the phone back to her ear, tears streaming down her cheeks as she listened to the call connecting.

“Come on…… Come on, pick up.” she cried. The call was finally answered but no one spoke. All that could be heard was heavy and wheezy breathing that gripped Esme’s heart. “Daddy?!…… Daddy, tell me where you are so I can come to you!” she demanded. “No!” he snapped weakly. “It’s not safe….. To come alone, even with your gift…… Get out of town now and don’t look back….. Don’t come looking for us….. We love you. I love y…..” Wesley trailed off and fell silent. “Daddy! Daddy no! Don’t you leave me! Not like this!” Esme cried into the phone. She received no answer back, though she could hear heavy footsteps on the other end. “Whoever or whatever you are!” she yelled into the phone. “Know that I’ll be coming for you!” Deep maniacal laughter from several individuals came through the phone that sent a shiver up Esme’s spine, then the line went dead. She then remembered she had snuck a tracker on her fathers phone because he had the tendency to run off from time to time to take on a case he thought would be too much for her. After going through the steps to find his location, she found out he was on the east side of town in an old flour mill. Starting the car and putting it in gear, she pushed the gas pedal to the floor and sped the whole way there. Pulling into the place, she slammed on the brakes causing the car to skid a couple of feet next to her fathers car, killed the engine, grabbed her gear, and headed inside. The place seemed deserted and it was eerily quiet compared to what she heard over the phone. It was like whoever or whatever was here didn’t want to wait around for her.

Keeping her gun and flashlight pointed straight ahead, she carefully and quickly made her way through the building searching for her family. When she made it to where they were, she wasn’t prepared for the scene she came into view. She was stopped in her tracks, she couldn’t breath, she couldn’t even make a sound. What she was looking at looked like a scene from a horror film, it couldn’t possibly be real. Blood was everywhere she looked, the bodies were spread out like a child's toy collection in their playroom. Esme’s eyes darted around looking for her father, until her eyes landed on his hardly recognizable body. She ran towards him, passing by other bodies she could barely recognize. Each one was torn up pretty bad by something with huge claws, which could be a Werewolf or something else. When she reached her father, she dropped to her knees next to him, her gun and flashlight hitting the ground beside her. She checked for a pulse but didn’t find one, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his torso into her lap, holding him close as she broke down in uncontrollable sobs. Resting her cheek against the top of his head, she looked around at the rest of her family that lay torn and broken on the floor of the mill. Her entire family had been taken out in one night by who knows what and she wasn’t there to stop it. “Why did you have to do this without me?” she sobbed. “If it was time for the Stirling's to go out with a bang, we could have gone together.” With a trembling hand, she pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed the first number she could think of, before calling the number, she tried to control her sobs so she could be understood.

The line rang a couple of times before a woman’s voice answered. “Esme, Sweetheart, it feels like it’s been ages since we’ve talked. How are you, Sweetheart?” the woman asked in a cheerful tone. When she heard the familiar sound of Esme holding back tears, her tone changed to one of concern. “What’s wrong, Esme? What happened? I know it has to be big for you to be crying like that. You don’t cry like that for nothing.” Esme took a deep breath and stuttered a bit before the words finally came out. “They're gone, Seraphina….. They’re all gone.” Esme choked out. “I….. I need your….. Help.” Seraphina’s gasp was loud and she was shocked into brief silence. She cleared her throat before speaking again. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. I’ll be there with help as fast as I can. Where are you?” Esme choked out where she was and Seraphina said she was on her way, then the memory faded away. The memory had caused her to curl into Duke and hold onto his arm even tighter as tears escaped her closed lids.

The next memory was one that was relatively fresh in her mind, for this one happened a little over two years ago. Sometime after the loss of her family, she teamed up with three others for a short while to help them on cases of their own. The four were in a room pouring themselves over dozens of books, researching information for their next case. “Any luck, Liz?” he called over, looking up from her book. “Nope, nothing yet.” she replied with a shake of her head. “Brad, Ty, how about you?” she asked. Both shook their heads to her question. She mumbled something under breath before standing from her chair. “Well, I don’t know about you three but I need a break.” she said with a stretch. Lifted her left wrist, she looked at her watch and sighed heavily. “We’ve been about this for hours, five to be exact. I’m going to get some food and drinks. Anything special I can get for you guys.” They all shook their heads with a smile. “You’ve been with us long enough to know what we like. We trust you not to screw anything up.” Brad teased with a chuckle. “Haha, very funny Brad.” she replied, mocking being annoyed. “While I’m out, why don’t you three take a break from pouring over all these old books and walk around a bit. Go outside and get some fresh air. “Yes, mother.” they teased in unison. Esme shook her head as she walked over and grabbed her jacket, opened the door and walked out. There was a little diner within walking distance from the motel they had decided to camp out and do their research. Once across the street and in the diner, she looked over a menu and flagged down someone to take her to go order.

Ten minutes later, Esme returned to find Liz, Brad, and Ty outside as if they were waiting for her to return. She looked at them with a single raised brow, thinking it a tad odd for them. “What? Were you afraid I’d eat and drink your stuff too?” she asked with a light laugh. None of them cracked a smile at her joking. “Are you three alright? You’re acting a little off.” That’s when the three turned to her and nodded. “Yeah, we’re fine. Just tired after pouring ourselves over all those books today.” Ty answered quickly. “If you say so. Did you figure anything out about what we’re after?” Esme replied. “Actually we did.” Liz chimed in. “Looks like we’re dealing with a young shapeshifter who’s still learning the ropes. “I guess that does make sense with everything we’ve heard. Which means it shouldn’t be too hard to take care of……. Anyway, let’s get inside and eat. I’m starving.” Things skipped ahead a week, the group were in a diner grabbing a bite to eat after taking care of another case, this one involving a Siren. She felt the Siren was taking care of a little too easily but she didn’t question it for the job was done. After eating, they all went back to the motel, hung out for a bit in Esme’s room, before they left for the night. Later that night was when everything went to hell for Esme. Ty, Liz, and Brad got into Esme’s room as she slept and attacked her in her sleep. Esme woke and put up a fight in her groggy state. “What in the hell are you three doing?!” she yelled at them. They said nothing as they continued to fight her to tie her hands and feet and were surprisingly strong.

“Ty, Liz, Brad! Why are you doing this!” Once again they didn’t answer, they only looked at her and grinned, their eyes flashing black quickly then going normal. Esme’s eyes went wide in shock as she continued to fight them, mentally kicking herself for not seeing the signs. The harder she fought, the more of their strength they used before one held out a hand and drew his fingers in and started choking her. Gasping for breath, she began to project fear onto them to get a leg up in the fight, and she could see it starting to work. “What the hell?” Demon Liz called out. Confuse was written plainly on her face, she loosened her grip and pulled back a bit, then you could see it click. “She’s a damn Empath! Did you two know about this?!” she cried out. Esme was just getting a leg up when Demon Brad shook his head. “We can’t have any of that now.” he growled. Turning he grabbed a heavy object and bashing Esme’s head with it, knocking her out cold. When she came to, she found herself stripped down to her bra and underwear in a strange place, tied tightly to a bed with a pounding headache, and tubes attached to her. She fought against her restraints, which only made them dig into her flesh causing her to hiss. Her head snapped to the right at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Well, well, well. Looks like the last of the Stirling's is finally awake.” Demon Ty sneered. He stood in the doorway with a large grin plastered on his face as he looked over at her, he got a glare in return from her. “Release my friends before I make you.” she demanded. He chuckled and shook his head, taking several steps towards the bed. “Oh, you stupid girl. Those three have been dead for at least a week.” he told her with another laugh. “They were so weak, it was easy to kill them and take over their bodies.” Esme clenched her fists and jaw as he grinned down at her then called to the others. “She’s awake! Get in here!”

The other two came in and leaned against the wall next to the door, smug grins rested upon their faces as they looked at her. Esme’s eyes darted between the two at the door and the one near her, a low growl building up in throat. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done.” she growled. All he did was laugh then closed the gap between him and the bed, then leaned in close to her. He brought up a hand and brushed some hair from her face, then took a hold of her chin when she pulled her face away from him. “We were going to kill you quickly with you being a Stirling but….” he grinned mischievously, leaning in close, his nose just inches from hers. “After finding out what you are. We’ve decided to have a little fun with you first and get you to help us with some things.” Esme tried to pull her face from his grasp and away from his face but he only held on tighter. “I’ll never help you.” she spat. She then slammed her head into nose, hearing the sickening crack of it breaking. He cried out in pain pulling his face back, holding his nose with one hand, he used the other to backhand across the face. Working his nose back into place, wiping the blood from his face, and blinking the tears from his eyes, he glared down at Esme who was glaring back. “I thought you’d say that. We have ways of making you more compliable.” With a new grin plastered on his face, he looked over his shoulder at the other two and held out his hand, and one of them quickly put a syringe in his hand. Close his fingers around it, he brought it around and examined it, almost playing with it to see if he could get a reaction from her.

He didn’t receive the reaction he hoped for but could feel a change in his emotions, he could feel fear creeping up on him and laughed. “Trying again I see. We're going to have to put that to better use. Into something more productive.” Holding the syringe in his fingers, he thumped it a couple of times. Pushing the plunger lightly, some of the liquid shot from the needle, then he injected it into the tub coming from her arm. “You son of a bitch. When I get out of here, you’re going to pay for what you’ve done.” she managed to get out before she started to feel light headed. She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear it but it did no good, making the already spinning room spin more. They had given her some kind of muscle relaxant and she soon couldn’t hold up her head. Her body felt as if it were made of lead. He then took the opportunity to get another syringe and inject it into the tube as well. “Alright, now that you’re mellowed out and can’t play with our emotions, it’s time for some fun.” Whatever he’d given her was hitting her hard. It was making it hard to concentrate on the situation but she was determined not to give in and become a puppet of theirs. She wasn’t going to become a Demon's plaything, she was strong enough to fight this, strong enough to fight against whatever they pumped into her. “I’ll never do what you want.” she said, her words coming out slurred. “I beg to differ.” he laughed. “You’ll lose this fight like so many others and become putty in our hands.” He turned to the other two, giving them a quick nod, they returned it with matching smirks.

The days passed by slowly and soon blended together, making it hard to know just how long she had been held captive. The room had no windows, smelled damp, and was cool, making it seem like she was in a leaky basement or a cellar. The only source of light she had was from the lamp the Demon’s brought with them when they would come in for their daily torture session and to pump her full of drugs. Every day they were relentless in their methods to break her and bend her to their will, but they failed. They soon started to get more inventive with their methods, adding shocking, burning, and starvation to the mix. When that didn’t work, they went more personal with their methods. They were holding back on one last option, they were sure it would work but didn’t want to go there just yet, just toe that line for a while. The Demon’s soon became frustrated after breaking through Esme’s wall only slightly after all the time they spent working her over during the weeks they had her. Even with how physically weak she was, they couldn’t understand how she could keep fighting against them. They were sure she couldn’t take much more before she finally broke or they killed her during the process but they still wanted to use her gift for their own gain. More days passed and they hadn’t made any more progress in breaking down Esme’s wall. Now, more frustrated than ever, they felt they had to play their last card, which had worked every time on strong willed human women.

All three came bursting through the door, startling Esme out of a sleep she had drifted off into, then blinded by the lamp when they turned it on. “Alright Stirling! No more games! Today is the day we finally break you!” the female Demon exclaimed happily. Both men rushed to the bed, one at her hands, the other at her feet and untied her from the bed. Esme tried to fight them off but was super weak from the lack of food and everything else she had been put through. As they maneuvered her, it clicked in her mind, she knew just what they were planning to do and her eyes turned into saucers. Never did she think this was something that would happen to her, especially at the hands of Demons. She continued to fight and try to project other emotions, but it was no use in her weakened state, they were unfazed and carried on with their plan. They both forced themselves upon her, one covering her mouth to silence her screams of protest. It was only seconds, but to Esme it felt like hours went by before someone came rushing through the door. “What the hell? How did you find this place?” she heard the female Demon cry out. The men jumped up and spun around just as a handful of others came through the door, giving Esme the chance to see who had entered the room. “Seraphina.” she said weakly. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. We’re going to get you out of here.” Seraphina told her. In the blink of an eye, a fight broke out in the room. Esme curled up close to the bed to stay out of the way since there was nothing else she could do. Seraphina made her way to Esme, knelt down and covered her bare form with a jacket causing Esme to flinch harshly. “Easy, Sweetheart. It’s just me.” she said softly to her.

The memory ended and Esme woke up with a start, covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. Forgetting who she was with and feeling the touch of another in the dark, she scrambled off the bed, falling slightly over the edge and tripping over Sarah as she tried to get out of the room, causing her to growl low. She stopped seeing it was Esme in a panicked state. Taking to her paws, she gently pushed Esme over into a chair before she could go anywhere, then placed her head in Esme’s lap. Sarah gave a whine feeling how badly she was trembling and how tense her muscles were. Lifting her head, she moved her body closer to the chair, wrapping her large body around it and Esme to comfort and calm her down. Now remembering where she was, Esme dropped her face into her trembling hands, rested them against Sarah, and silently cried into them, not aware of Duke or what was going on in the next room.

Dean flinched once again, the second that Nat began to speak. He hadn’t expected the venom that was leaving her lips, and yet, he also found it familiar and almost comforting. If she was angry, she was at least…okay. But when she mentioned Hell, he froze. His entire body tensed, and the color left his face. Some of the memories from his time in the pit flooded back, and he zoned out, until Nat suddenly raised her voice, kicking them out of the room.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she yelled again, and it almost felt as if Bobby himself was yelling at him. She seemed ready to fight them all out onto the pavement if they didn’t leave, and reluctantly, he turned his eyes to Mika, and then Sam, giving an understanding nod.

“Just…don’t go anywhere. We’ll um…we’ll talk about this when you’re sober.”, he muttered, her comments about Hell having him feeling a little less than polite toward his sister at that moment, but she was still his sister.

Sighing, he watched Anna quickly follow Sam outside, her face defeated, but also relieved that they could reconvene and figure out how to handle the situation. Once she was out the door, she quickly placed a hand on Sam’s arm, and glanced back in at Dean and Mika.

Dean wrapped his hand around Mika’s upper arm, turning her toward the door and shoving them both through, without closing it. After getting out of ear shot of the door, he turned to her, “What the hell are we supposed to do with her, now? Now that the cats out of the bag, she could run off. She could snap and go off on some sort of suicide mission or…she could sleep. Do we trust her to?”

As he spoke, he quickly looked up at Sam, the corner of his eye waiting for Cason to leave the room. When the door closed, and locked, he frowned, “And now he’s staying behind?!”



Cason internally groaned as Nat admitted that she didn’t trust him. Hopefully she was just lashing out, because of how the situation seemed to the others. Hopefully, she trusted him enough to not shove him away, right as he had begun to make amends for the one thing in his long life he regretted…felt responsible for. He sighed and crossed his arms as she sparred with Dean, but raised his eyes back to scan her face, as she started to kick everyone out of the room. He was tempted to just disappear and go find another bar to drown himself in. The last thing he wanted was to give Dean any other reason to kill him, tonight. But as he turned and prepared himself to disappear, he felt a hand on his arm, and he quickly looked down at Nat’s fingers.

Her voice hit a place in his chest that he didn’t even recognize. It hurt, but in a way that almost felt human. He couldn’t say ‘no’, not now. Glancing toward the door, he took a long and deep breath, pulling his arm from her hand, letting her fingers trail down until he could catch them in his own hand.

“This is a bad idea…”, he muttered, releasing her hand and stepping over to the door. As quietly as he could, he closed the door and turned the lock. He then turned back around, walking over to the table as carefully and slowly as he could, “Do I even want to ask why you’re asking me to stay, after what happened? I mean…I kinda started this whole mess, tonight. And you look exhausted.”
He watched her face intently, his bright blue eyes trying to reach every feature, scanning for signs of her motives in every tear stained inch. Then, those blue eyes settled on her eyes, “What do you need me to do?”



Duke slept soundly for the most part, his travels and the nights events having his already tired muscles in full shut down mode. In fact, he barely dreamed of anything, other than a few glimpses of rivers, or riding horses. But suddenly, he felt a gasp from beside him, which he quickly realized wasn’t a part of his dream.

Somehow, he had managed to sleep through the majority of Esme’s dream, but now, he was covered in sweat from sleeping so closely to her. As he came to his senses, he quickly threw the covers off, patting the bed beside him until he saw Esme scrambling toward the door, “What’s goin’ on?!”

He looked around the room, quickly pulling the covers completely off himself and standing from the bed. He snatched his gun from the table nearby, shoving his hat to the side, before Sarah forced Esme to settle, and the presence of the Hellhound calmed his fears. Relaxing his shoulders a bit, he placed the safety back and sat the gun aside, tightening the towel around his waist, “Shit…”

Sarah didn’t even growl, as Duke slowly stepped up to the chair and lowered himself into a squat in front of Esme, carefully placing a hand on her thigh, “Hey…hey tell me what’s goin on, sweetheart. Look at me. You know I ain’t never been scared of a nightmare, which I have to assume is what this is about. Hey…I’m right here. You’re safe. Look at me…”

As he cooed to her, he carefully broke his eyes away from her face to look for any signs that she was bleeding, or had hurt herself. Most of that exam would have to wait until she unwrapped herself and calmed down, but Duke was paranoid. More than paranoid.

“You’re safe here…with me.”

NATALIA

The moment she saw Dean flinch at her harsh words, Natalia knew she went too far but in her state she couldn’t even bring herself to apologise. Instead she just made a mental note to try and remember in the morning when she was sober. The only thing she didn’t feel the need to apologise for was telling at them all to get out of her room when Mika tried to be the consoling and controlling mother in the situation by telling her to not to lash out at Dean. As they started to exit her room, she knew she had hurt the lot of them in her drunken outburst, she could see how Sam wanted to refuse and stay with her in particular, just like he did that night at the asylum when Dean wasn’t even sure she was trustworthy to keep with them. It was one reason she almost found Sam to be her favourite brother. Instead all she could do was stop Cason from leaving at the very last second, listening to herself begging him not to leave her alone when mere moments ago that’s all she wanted. To be left alone.

She didn’t want to let go of Cason’s arm, she found herself strangely feeling clingy which wasn’t in the slightest bit a normal characteristic for her. ‘what sober couldn’t say huh Nat?’ she thought to herself as she watched Cason stop, turn and run his hand down to make her hand go into his own. “I don’t care....” she mumbled back at his retort about it not being a good idea. Hells, she knew it was a terrible idea and that her brothers would absolutely detest her wanting Cason with her over them, but she was hardly in the right mindset right now. Or was she? She stared at the floor as Cason walked over to the door and quietly closed, she presumed in an attempt to be discreet so not to cause more drama with Dean but she couldn’t let herself focus on that right now. As he walked back toward her slowly, she could practically feel the caution he was taking radiating off of him, making her slowly look up at him. She shrugged at his question about whether he should know why she picked him over her own family. “I don’t know why....sure you started this, but....you’re also the only one who didn’t yell at me like a child. You’re the only one who didn’t push me into giving answers I didn’t want to give...and...” she paused mid sentence to take a deep breath and use the back of her wrist to wipe the remaining few tears that fell silently down her already tear stained face. “I don’t know...there was a...a... familiarity to your actions toward me just now. It’s calming in a way, like..I've felt you do that before to me. I don’t know, I don’t think I’m making any kind of sense right now....” She told him as she managed to finally make full eye contact with him.

“I’m terrified Cason. Terrified they’ll treat me like I’m chipped glass about to shatter any moment all over again from the pressure on that chip. So I guess... I just need you to stay with me. Make sure I stay put, I at least trust you to rat me out if I do anything stupid.” She admitted, finally letting him know she may trust him on some things a bit more than she previously let on. Maybe there was something to him like Annabeth had mentioned before, it was just taking her to finally open up to everyone in the room for her to actually see it. “as for your other observation? I am exhausted. I’m not one for being openly vulnerable like this...it’s taking it out of me.” She said one last time with another sigh escaping her lips. It was a couple of minutes before she made herself get up off the chair and walked over to the bed to lay on, deciding if she did pass out from exhaustion, it was better to do so on the bed than sitting upright on a chair. Looking back at Cason, she thought about the question that was swirling around her head over and over again, the one she was desperate to ask him but didn’t know if she should ask him. “Cason...?” she began to ask them talked herself out of continuing, “..never mind”.

She pulled her hooded cardigan type garment she was still wearing right around her small frame in an attempt to hug herself, afraid to admit that she did want to be held right now. Pulling her feet and knees right up to her chin, she stared at the bland covers on the bed.

MIKA AND SAM

Sam let Annabeth cling onto his arm as they exited the room, also seeing just how deflated she was feeling about everything she had heard just now. Yet there was also something comforting about that for him as it told him Annabeth clearly had some kind of attachment to Natalia already that she was feeling anything about this whole debacle. He also knew they had to do something about the information overload they all heard, and that didn’t even include the harsh truth Nat spat out at Dean about his time in Hell. He had thought the same thing as his sister, but he had the experience to know you don’t just say shit like that to Dean. The firmness of his brother’s final words before they all filed out the room also didn’t go amiss on him. Dean was more pissed than he was letting on and he had to give his brother credit for not absolutely ripping into Natalia, instead choosing to go down the almost disappointed paternal route of ‘this will be discussed when you’re sober’ instead. He knew if this was himself in Natalia’s shoes, Dean wouldn’t have been nearly as forgiving as he was tonight with her. Silently, he placed his hand over Annabeth’s hand and gave it a reassuring light squeeze but whether it was for her reassurance or his own he couldn’t fully say. He watched on as Dean pulled Mika out of the room by her arm, an action he was all too used to seeing with those two.

“I don’t know Dean, we all know she’s capable of either of those options but if I were to take a gamble on what we’ve seen of her state? I’d like to trust she’ll go to bed and sleep all of this off. She certainly needs to, I know she's been venomous with her words before, but tonight was something else.” Mika replied to Dean when out of earshot. She thought over everything they had witnessed, a hand to her lips as she pondered their next actions on how to deal with Natalia. It was clear she was worried about the youngest Winchester, and everything they were finally told had left a haunting stain on her mind, just as it had with the rest of them.

She was then about to say something when she looked up and saw Cason closing the door and not exiting the room, an action that made her raise an eyebrow in curiosity and confusion. “well that’s an interesting change of events” she remarked, then looked back at their remaining group that was outside. “the way I’m seeing this, we have two options. 1) we take it in turns to stay up in one of our cars to watch her room to make sure she doesn’t go all Houdini on us or 2) we trust that she’ll stay in the room and if she does try to leave Cason will have the sense to rat her out to us. I know we don’t particularly like or trust the guy but there’s no denying how soft he is around our girl in there. I could have sworn I saw a look of guilt or sympathy and empathy on his face in there. Almost like..he knows more about her story than he’s letting on.” She explained her earlier observations, her tone showing her rare maternal motherly side.

“She didn’t flinch when he touched her, another interesting action I noticed. So putting all of that together I trust that he’ll stop her from escaping or if she does, he’ll risk experiencing your wrath Dean to rat her out and have us go looking for her. So my money is on option 2, rather than option 1.” She said looking at him whilst gently rubbing her hand up and down his upper arm. “She’s got a point Dean” Sam spoke up, having silently listened to everything Mika was saying. “I don’t like him being in there over me, but Mika has made some very valid observations. She’s not the mother of our group for nothing” he commented with a sad smile creeping into his lips briefly before disappearing again. Sam’s words made Mika look down with slight embarrassment and a sense of humbled thanks toward him. She was used to him seeing her as his pseudo sister in law, but wasn’t used to him calling her the mother of the group. Yet she could see his logic, especially when she thought back to when she lectured Cason in the crypt for hitting on Natalia. It was a perfect example of her going into ‘mom mode’ and needing to protect the youngest of their group.

“so what do you and Anna say? Agree with me and Sam or disagree?” she asked Dean softly, keeping an hand on his arm which proceeded to sliding her other arm through his, wanting to be the voice of reason but also wanting to be simply Dean’s girlfriend who was supportive of him. She knew what Nat said to him must have hurt like a ton of bricks hitting him, as there was no denying Nat had a very sharp tongue when she was hurting or angry (or in this case: both). There was just something about how Natalia was behaving that told Mika Natalia wouldn't try and run off on some suicide mission. If the girl wanted to go on some suicide revenge mission, surely she would have done it by now?

Esme was completely unaware of Duke’s actions as she was curled up in the chair with Sarah wrapped protectively around her trembling form. Keeping her face in her trembling hands, she pressed herself more against the large Hellhound as she cried into them. It had been some time since the memories she had managed to bury had affected her this much and caused her to lose control of her emotions. Though in the back of her mind she always knew they would come back to haunt her, but not in a way like this. She never thought she would find herself this mentally and physically tired, or even face what she had after meeting back up with the Winchesters. Hell, she never saw herself meeting up with them after hearing about Dean’s death. She wasn’t even sure she’d ever meet back up with Duke with how long it had been, but here she was, back with all of them, a Demon, and friends with a Hellhound. Was this just the sort of events and creatures she attracted? Was she more than what she was led to believe and that’s why Demons were so drawn to her? Was it the Winchesters that attracted it all? Was it both of them? Did other hunters come across half the crap they did almost on a daily basis?

Esme gave a quiet thank you to Sarah as she shifted against her and curled in more on herself feeling cold before Duke squatted in front of the chair. When Duke placed his hand on her thigh, she nearly jumped out of her skin, even with how carefully he had done it. Thankfully there was a wall behind the chair to keep it from falling over and to keep her from scrambling out of it, and also Sarah to keep her in the chair. When Esme heard Duke’s voice, she calmed a bit, but didn’t pull her face from her hands just yet as he spoke. After a moment, she finally pulled her hands from her face and wrapped her arms around herself. Sarah pulled back a bit and looked down at her, noticing that Esme was no longer wearing the towel she had earlier. She gently nudged Esme so she was leaning more against the back of the chair before she carefully pulled herself away. Padding over to the bed, Sarah pulled the blanket from the bed then brought it back over to Esme. Doing the best she could, Sarah placed the blanket on one of Esme’s shoulders. When Esme took hold, Sarah released it then grabbed another mouthful of blanket, placing it on Esme’s other shoulder. Once Esme took hold, Sarah let go and watched her as she pulled the blanket around herself and stared at the floor. Esme took in a deep breath and slowly let it out through her nose as she slightly turned her head towards Duke. She wasn’t looking directly at him, but he was in her line of sight.

“It’s not just a nightmare.” she breathed, finally breaking the silence. She closed her eyes briefly as she pulled the blanket up more around her still trembling frame. His paranoia wasn’t helping her any, but she pushed past it the best she could. “It’s horrible memories I thought I had pushed out of my mind to never think about again and had gotten over.” she told him. If she were in the right state of mind, she would be kicking herself for letting Duke see this vulnerable side of her. “Three of the worst days of my life have come back to haunt me once again, and right now, I’m not mentally strong enough to block them out like I have before.” she admitted. Adjusting herself once more in the chair, she adjusted the blanket before running a hand through her hair, to get it out of her face, then wrapped her arms around her legs then laid her cheek on her knees. She sniffled and turned her eyes back to the floor and Sarah’s large paws as tears welled up in her eyes. “One is that time in Toledo where you had given up and I thought I was going to lose you. The second is the day I lost my family to some unknown monster. The third…… Is the worst of all. It’s when I was tricked……” She swallowed hard and wrapped her arms tighter around her legs. She was about to tell him something she hadn’t told anyone, and it was quite difficult to get out. “When I was tricked, kidnapped, and tortured by a group of Demons.” The words flew quickly from her mouth, not giving herself time to stop them again. She closed her eyes tightly to focus on not breaking down again, forcing the welled up tears to finally fall.

Esme drew in a shaky breath, slowly letting it out as she opened her eyes to stop the memories from playing behind her eyelids. “If you think or name a type of……. Torture. It was probably done to me. Before I was found….. They were close to…… Close to….” she said softly, stopping before saying the last word, it was too hard to say. She still couldn’t bring herself to look directly at him, especially after trying to tell him what happened, and having conflicting feelings. She really didn’t want to be touched by anyone, but she also wanted to be wrapped in a warm embrace and not be let go. Though she also felt the need to step outside to get some fresh night air to help her calm down and collect herself. Sniffling, she turned her head away and brought the blanket up over her head, covering her face realizing what she had done. She had unloaded on him for the second time that night and she figured this news would hit him much harder than learning what she was. “I…. I’m sorry, Duke. I’ve dropped a bomb on you again. One I’ve never told anyone.” she said with a sniffle. She didn’t want him to feel sorry for her, but knew he would after hearing what happened to her while she was on her own, his heart was far too big for him not to. She felt horrible for dropping a bomb on him for the second time that night and for causing him to become paranoid. It seemed like she had a knack for making those around her paranoid, worry about her, and wonder what kind of bomb she might drop on them. Esme fell silent under the blanket, other than sniffling every now and then.

Sarah gave a whine as she looked at the blanket Esme was under, then nuzzled her head against Esme’s back before keeping it there. Esme sighed heavily, feeling Sarah’s head on her back, but she didn’t remove the blanket from her head. After taking some deep breaths and slowly letting them out, she finally removed the blanket from her head, feeling she wasn’t going to break down again anytime soon. Turning her head back towards Duke, she looked down at Sarah’s paws once again. Sarah lifted her head from Esme’s back giving another whine, then gently nuzzled her cheek before Esme softly shook her head. “No Sarah, I don’t want you to leave.” she breathed. Esme pulled a hand from under the blanket and placed it on top of Sarah’s large head and scratched it. “I may have a problem with Demons, but I don’t have a problem with you.” she continued as she scratched between Sarah’s ears. Sarah leaned into Esme’s hand a moment before nuzzling her cheek once again, which brought a weak smile to her lips. Esme slowly uncurled herself, set her feet on the floor, then turned her body so she was sitting normally in the chair. She then lifted her head just enough to see Duke’s face, but not enough to make eye contact, and focused on the lower half of his face. “I don’t want you to leave either.” she told him. “I need both of you to help me through this and make sure I don’t do anything reckless if I go through this again.” she admitted. Gathering the blanket, she took to her feet as did Sarah to steady her. She took a few steps away from the chair then slightly turned to look back at Duke as she held the blanket around her.

“I also feel that you’re the only one that can help me stop flinching when I’m touched.” Her gaze dropped briefly before she turned it to the door, then back to him. “I’m going to step outside for a bit for some air. You’re more than welcome to join me if you like.” she said then walked to the door, Sarah close to her side. She unlocked the door and opened it, Sarah went out first then Esme stepped partially out and looked back at Duke. “And don’t worry, I don’t plan on running.” she said with a small smile. Before walking out the door, she pulled the trash can into the doorway so she could get back in incase he chose not to join her outside to think about what she told him. After making sure the trash can would hold the door, Esme walked away from the door a ways before stopping and looking out over the parking lot, noting she was still without a car. Using the blanket she wiped away a few stray tears from her tear stained cheeks, closed her eyes, and tilted her head towards the sky and breathed in the fresh air. She could feel herself wanting to break down again, but she fought to keep control. “Come on, hold it together girl.” she told You’ve cried way too much these past few days. Suck it up and shove it all back down into that box in the back of your mind again.” She continued to breathe deeply and slowly released the breath to calm herself and stay in control of herself and not tear up again.

Cason continued to watch Nat carefully, crossing his arms across his chest. He didn’t want to sit down, in case he needed to grab her for some reason, but at the same time, he was tempted to lower himself to her level…even them out. As she spoke about her reasons for asking him to stay, he furrowed his brow, a little more than confused. But when she mentioned his actions being familiar, he took a long and deep breath, tightening his arms around his chest.

In truth, there was plenty of reasoning for his actions feeling familiar. Hell, it all felt too familiar to him, as much as he had tried to keep her at arms length, just in case. He thought back to how thin she was when he walked into the room to release her straps, just in case her brothers showed up…which luckily, they did. He vividly remembered the look on her face. The fear, but apparently, she didn’t remember it was well as he did.

He didn’t know what to say, but as she stood from the chair, he stepped back, watching her closely as she crawled onto the bed. His name rang out in the room like a gunshot, and he turned his eyes up to her face…only to find that she wasn’t looking at him. She was simply staring down at the bed, wrapped up on herself like a little girl. The sight brought back even more flashbacks and he took another deep breath, releasing it in an aggressive sigh.

“I’m not um…going to explain much tonight. Judging by how droopy those eyes are, I doubt you care. But we need to have a talk, when you’re more at yourself, in private.”, he explained carefully, dropping his arms to his side. He fidgeted with his fingers for a moment, weighing his options, before kicking off his boots, one by one with a sigh. He shrugged his arms out of his jacket, and tossed it onto the table, before cracking his neck and stepping toward the bed.

Walking toward the bed felt like he was disarming a landmine, tentatively placing one knee onto the mattress, and watching it dip. He stopped, watching Nat for one split second, before dropping his weight onto the bed beside her, his back leaning against the headboard.

“Um. I don’t…really know how to do the whole ‘there there…life doesn’t suck’ bit. It’s not in my nature to lie without there being gain, and all that…”, he started awkwardly. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders before reaching a hand over, brushing a piece of Nat’s hair from her face with the back of his fingers, “But I meant what I said. No one will ever hurt you while I’m here. I’ve killed bef-…I won’t let it happen. You can punch me in the face. You can tell me how horrible I am. You can run away from me, and I’ll still be there if you call…”

Pulling his hand back, Cason made a grossed out face, and then chuckled, “And if that ever leaves this room, I’ll ruin your life.”



Dean reluctantly listened to what Mika and Sam had to say, letting out an annoyed sigh at the sense they were making. At the least Cason wouldn’t allow her to leave. And if he tried anything, Nat would definitely kill him or at the very least make him wish he was dead. But he couldn’t shake the feeling of Cason manipulating her out of his mind.

He turned his eyes down to Mika, taking in the fact that Cason was honestly pretty gentle with Nat. And she seemed to trust him. Glancing over at Anna, he scanned her eyes for confirmation, and Anna simply shrugged, signalling that it wasn’t the worst idea.

“I um…Alright. I’ll agree to the idea that Cason seems to be less demon-like when he’s around Nat. I don’t trust that this isn’t just another one of his tricks to get close to the women in this group. He sees you guys as weak and you know that…”, he spoke up, and Anna frowned, raising a hand to speak which Dean waved away, “But we’re not far away, right? Right?”

“Right.”, Anna spoke up, rolling her eyes.

“And we have more than enough manpower to take him if we need to, right.”

“Dean…”, Anna argued but Dean held a hand up again.

“Let’s…get through the night. Mika usually…she usually has the sight when it comes to crap like this. I can’t believe you’re trusting him, considering. But, if you do…I’ll…allow it.”

“Allow it, huh?”, Anna murmured with a scoff, causing Dean to shoot her an annoyed look. Anna simply rolled her eyes and glanced up at Sam, “Dad says we’re trusting him. I think we should all get some rest. What happened tonight isn’t the end of it. I never is.”



Duke also jumped as Esme flinched at his touch. He wasn’t sure what made her react so strongly to touch. He was learning about her all over again, at this point. But he pulled his hand back to his own leg, and simply watched her face, trying to judge what she needed from him. But it seemed she just needed to get some things off her chest. He didn’t say anyting. He simply listened, his eyes diverting every now and then to whatever area seemed to move with Sarah’s weight. His stomach lurched every time he remembered she was there, but he knew Esme needed her.

When she mentioned Toledo, Duke’s nose scrunched and his eyes became a bit misty as he drew in a deep breath. He remembered that day a bit more clearly than he wished he did. He was dying. He knew he was dying and the only thing he could do was prepare her for his death, and let her know how he felt about here. Neither of those things seemed to matter at the time, and yet they had ramifications that obviously were still being felt today.

He tried to decide what to do with his hands as she explained everything, a single tear falling down one of his cheeks as she finally broke and covered her face from him, offically making him feel powerless, “Don’t hide…”, he whispered, unsure if she could even hear him.

But after a few moments, she turned, and his eyes left the far off place they were staring at, and fell on her face again, “I’m not going anywhere…”, he reminded. He didn’t know what else to say in that moment. He couldn’t promise her that she would be okay, this time. He couldn’t promise her that he would stay forever. Who knew how Dean would feel about all of this.

And like that, as he zoned out, she validated his existence. He did help her. He was what she needed. But in the same moment, she mentioned stepping outside. Duke instantly stood up straight, placing a hand on his hip to argue with her, but she offered him a place outside with her.

“I think um…I think a little air might be good for everybody.”, he drawled out, exhaustion lingering in every word. He picked up his hat, despite still wearing only a towel, and slipped his feet in his boots, before following Esme slowly out the door. As soon as he gently sat the door back against the trash can, he glanced to the side, seeing everyone in their meeting. He was tempted to check on them, but wasn’t sure if he should leave Esme alone.

“Darlin’. I’ll be right back.”, he muttered, stepping up to Esme. He gently reached a hand out, brushing his thumb across her cheek, before placing an all too gentle kiss against the tip of her nose, “Don’t…Don’t go anywhere. Pretty please.”

He then stepped away from her, jogging over to the group with a firm grasp on the towel around his waist. As he approached, he tipped his hat back on his head to see everyone clearly, “And just what the hell is goin’ on out here, y’all? Seems like there’s some tension and…stuff. Where’s Nat?”
Dean groaned at Duke’s appearance, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, and waved a hand at Mika for her to explain, “I’m not even going to ask…”