Anna looked up at Sam as they stepped out of the corridor and into the terminal of the airport. She had spent most of the flight curled up in her chair, hoping that no one would notice that she was high as kite. But Sam’s complaint about the leg room caused her to smirk. He had sat behind a particularly rude lady that took absolutely no hints at his need for leg room. Being well over six foot, he had to be sore.

“I’m sorry. I should have switched seats with you. I just couldn’t…not sit next to the window.” She apologized with a wince. Feeling as uneasy as she had, the idea of sitting anywhere but the window seat would have sent her into a full blown panic attack on the plane. She placed a hand on his side, mostly to make sure they stuck together as they walked through the airport and out to the taxis.

The second they were comfortable in their seats, she waited for Sam to give the address and leaned her head against the window, internally groaning at the idea of having to be near Cason, while very high. The last time she was in this situation, she almost drained Cason dry.

“Maybe I’ll feel more excited when we get there…”, she muttered, flexing her right hand.



Dean was enjoying the peace and quiet of having absolutely nothing to do, when suddenly, his phone vibrated. He groaned, and glanced down when Mika did. Pulling the phone from in between them, he held it up over his face and checked.

“Yeah. The kids should be back in about ten minutes or so. That’s a Cason problem.” He huffed, but he knew that Sam would be coming to him. If Anna wanted to talk to Cason, Sam had news. He sat up reluctantly, and threw his legs over the side of the bed, standing with a soft groan. “Sam’s going to come through that door. Something happened while they were gone. And I would assume…”

He stopped and sighed, throwing his hands up in annoyance, “I would assume that something ahs to do with demons.”



Cason paced in the room, glancing toward the window every now and again. The feeling he had in the pit of his stomach told him that they were probably being watched, which meant that Anna had run into some serious trouble. It was the whole reason he wanted to keep her under his thumb. Letting her have all that freedom, and just leaving her to her own with Sam was the worst idea he had possibly ever had.

As he disassociated and stared out the window, a yellow cab pulled up behind the cars in the parking lot. He didn’t bother to go to the door, he already knew what was coming next. He turned and paced back to the back of the room, and like clockwork, a knock at the door came.

“I got it.”, he grumbled, quickly marching to the door. As the door swung open, a very keyed up, very shaky Anna stood there, without Sam. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

He looked around the parking lot, scanning with his eyes, ears and nose for demons or anyone that might be trailing them. Luckily, nothing was out of the ordinary, not even the smell of sulfur. Anna didn’t speak at first, seemingly allowing Cason to make sure she was alone, and then she crossed her arms nervously.

“He went to fill Dean in. Can I come in? It’s getting dark and I’m…I’m not doing good.” She explained with a shaky voice. Anna could barely hear her own voice over Cason’s heartbeat raging in her ears. She was afraid that if she looked at him too hard, she would be able to see the blood pumping through his veins. Cason stepped to the side and held the door open, waving Anna in, and toward Nat at the table.

Anna stepped in and Cason closed the door, locking both locks and turning to stand against it. He then sighed, and ripped the bandaid off. “You drank demon blood.”

Anna’s head snapped to look at him, her eyes filling with tears immediately. In that instant, Cason regretted ripping that bandaid off. He softened his expression as she tried to find her words and finally, she choked out “Yeah. But it’s complicated! I will get there but first I need to know about something that happened at the motel.”

“Alright. Alright…let’s start with one question at a time.” Cason cooed to her, stepping forward, but Anna held up both her hands and shook her head, telling him to stay where he was. Holding up his own hands, he leaned against the door once again, and urged her to continue. “What happened first?”

“Um…Nat’s here.”

“It’s okay. She’s with me and she’s only here to help. She won’t say anything to the others unless you’re cool with it. Right Nat?” Cason encouraged Anna, who seemed reluctant but finally decided to continue.

“When we left this morning, there was this old lady. She was just standing there and she was speaking Latin…but on the outside, from the look on Sam’s face, she was just being a nice old lady.” Anna paused for a moment and Cason tilted his head.

“You said she was speaking Latin. Do you remember any of what she said?”

“I only remember hearing my name and one single line…’Nexis ad luciferum luciferum primo rumpitur.’ I think that’s how it went.” She explained and Cason brought his hand up to his chin, rubbing it as he thought about the translation for a moment. He began to mumble the words outloud and furrowed his brow.

“The intertwined shall be broken at the first light of the morning star…” He murmured, repeating himself a few times. On the surface it made no sense, but the longer he washed over it, the more obvious the message came. Without allowing Anna to go much further, he looked over at Nat and his expression was stern. “Your brother cannot know about any of this. I mean it.”

“What does that mean, Cason? What is the morning star?” Anna asked frantically. Cason turned and looked at her. His expression showed fear, and he only uttered one word.

“Lucifer.”



Duke’s smile only grew as Esme teased him back. All the relief in the world washed over him to feel something other than stress, considering how he thought this night would go. He was about to make that first move, when Esme climbed onto his lap, eliciting a surprised chuckle out of him. He wrapped his arm around her, keeping his hold against her jaw as she leaned in to touch noses. The smile on his face was nearly hurting his cheeks by that point. He stopped the urge to go ahead and kiss her, but when she made her intentions clear, he gave into her completely, kissing her deeply, while pulling her impossibly close to him. For now, this was all they needed…each other.

——-TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER——-

Duke drew little circles on Esme’s shoulder as he stared at the ceiling. He wasn’t thinking. He was simply staring. After a few moments, however, the thoughts of needing to tell the others the truth came flooding into his brain. He pushed them aside quickly, and nuzzled Esme’s forehead with his cheek, trying his best to keep what little rest they had intact.

The sun had began to set outside and the light that peeked through the window was dim and almost seemed ominous, like an hourglass, counting down the time they all had to just exist. As if right on cue, a car pulled up outside the rooms down the way, and a door slammed. Not too long after, two separate knocks at two separate doors rang out, and Duke involuntarily groaned.

“The gang is back together at last…”, he grumbled, bringing his free arm up to place it over his eyes in annoyance. This is why he wanted to run away. This was the feeling he was trying to avoid…the feeling of helplessness, and inevitablity. He wondered if they should give them space, or go and rip the bandaid off, the second they got back. The faster they took care of whatever the mysterious case was that would end up with Dean flat on his ass, the faster that they could stop it and move on. “Should we go over there, or warn them we’re comin’, eh?”

SAM (AND MIKA)

Even if Anna had offered to switch seats with him on the flight, he would have refused. He could see how the window seat was vital for Anna's well-being and to be calm so he wouldn't want to take that away from her. The least he could do was put up with little leg room for a short haul flight. Most of all though, he was just glad that they were finally in the cab and going back to the others, even if he was still working out in his head what he was going to tell Dean about what happened.

He played everything out in his mind on repeat the entire journey, mentally bookmarking which bits to tell him and what bits to leave out. To no surprise to him, he was choosing to leave out the Ruby parts of their little 'adventure'. He wasn't ready to tell his brother, sister, pseudo sister in law and the others just yet about how he had still been visited by Ruby and she was still encouraging him to get back on the demon blood properly to be that extra power beside Anna. Hells, he wasn't even ready to explain it to Anna but the demons had other plans which made him come clean.

---

At the motel, he paid the driver and gave him a tip before getting out of the car and closing the door behind them both. "See you in a bit. Hope you get what you and we need from Cason. Good luck" he told her before letting her leave and head toward's Natalia's room where he presumed Cason would be, at least, if what he left behind was anything to go by. Sighing, he headed to Dean and Mika's room and after a couple of deep breaths to motivate himself, he knocked on the door and waited for one of them to open it. Turned out, it was Mika who opened the door and let him inside.

"You look like shit Sam" she commented, seeing how tired and just downright worn out he looked. "Thanks...I feel it." he replied, deciding to not even quip back like he normally would. "So...?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed so he had the choice of remaining standing or sitting down. Sam chose to sit down at the table and chairs, stretching his legs out before bringing back in again. "It's a long story but the demons knew where we were." He began saying, pausing only long enough to see if either of them would respond before continuing on.

"It started off fine, I found her where I thought she'd be, we got a motel room for the night then this morning things got weird. And I mean seriously weird. She said this lady across the lot from us was talking Latin to her, but to me she was just a lady closing her room door. It caused her great head pain when it was happening, so it was clear they targeting specifically her at the moment. Then it got weirder.." he began explaining, looking up he saw Mika's eyebrow raise.

"Weirder how?" she asked him, so he took another deep breath to gather his words carefully and began talking once more. "The bus we took for the airport was literally ran by a horde of demons..they said they came with a gift from Alastair, whoever that is, and forced fed her demon blood making her drink one of them dry and kill them." he said, not realising that Alastair was the one who tortured Dean in Hell. "So she's still pretty high on demon juice right now but somehow keeping it together" he sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"Wait...where is Anna now?" Mika questioned suspiciously. "Seeing Cason" Sam replied. "You let a high as a kite on demon blood eating girl in a room with a demon and YOUR SISTER!?" Mika question, unable to stop her voice from getting higher on the last two words. "Sammy!" she groaned in disbelief.

NATALIA

Cason's pacing was slightly irritating but considering who they were waiting for and why, she didn't complain and instead just let him continue to pace. Thoughts and concerns were buzzing around her head which was why she had to just stare out the window to see an outside world. Seeing the odd bird fly round and away to the next nearest rooftop was somewhat comforting to her. Before the asylum days she hated birds, now she always envied them always having the option to just fly away whenever they wanted to.

She too heard the arrival of a car, and as she honed in on it she saw it was a cab and knew it had to be Sam and Anna. "They're here" she muttered, more to herself than to Cason but it was loud enough he could have heard her. She let him get the door as she watched Anna walk over to their room and Sam to Dean's. Snapping more out of her thoughts, she decided now was the time to fully be mentally present in the room so she could be there for both Anna and Cason.

With Anna being let in, she sat upright more in her chair, crossing one leg over the other as she let the two of them talk between each other, Anna seemingly taking a moment to realise she was even in the room. Hearing that Anna was on demon blood again made her feel on edge, not for herself but for him. Cason may have declared he'd keep her safe but she also felt she needed to keep him safe. She really didn't want to fight Anna off of him if it came to it but she knew she had to be on guard just in case. So she listened to them both and was thankful when Cason actually defended her presence in the room and how she was trustworthy. "Right, anything you say here stays here. Contrary to belief I can keep a secret" she reassured Anna before letting her decide whether to continue or not.

She listened intently to what Anna was telling them. Some demon contacted her and spoke Latin? She was rusty compared to her brothers but she knew enough to be able to translate in her head what was said. She didn't like it in the slightest. Cason translating for Anna made Nat aware that she translated correctly and it quite honestly sent a shiver down her spine. So when Cason looked at her sternly and told her her brother could not know about this, she nodded.

The fact that Cason's face showed fear proved to her just how dire this truly was. "We're utterly screwed....." she sighed.

Anna winced when Nat spoke her own fears aloud. Cason was scared. Most likely, they were screwed. She folded her fingers into fists, and wiped them aggressively on her bare legs, anxiety flooding her, along with Cason’s heartbeat roaring through the room. But she had to continue, before something bad inevitably happened. It was like being fielded by the FBI. The demons could be anywhere.

“There’s more…unfortunately.” Anna started, pulling the empty vial of blood from her pocket and placing it on the table. She placed both her hands back in her lap as Cason stepped closer, reaching for the vial. “Please don’t come near me! Please…I can hear your heart beating.”

“I don’t have a heartbeat.” Cason muttered, confused. He narrowed his eyes at her, and Anna simply shrugged.

“Well, whatever that really loud buzz is…it sounds like a heartbeat. I can’t handle it anymore. So, stay over there and let me finish and then I need to go. I want to rip your throat out.” Anna snapped quickly, holding up a hand but not looking up at Cason. He took a few steps back, and sighed. The poor girl was in bad shape and there was absolutely nowhere to lock her down, or keep her safe. They were stuck with flimsy motel walls and picture windows…in the presence of a ticking time bomb.

“Go on. What happened next?” Cason urged her, shooting a worried glance over to Natalia. With Anna being able to burn demons alive, there was no way he could restrain her, if she did attack him. He realized, in that moment, that he had made a mistake, allowing Nat to stay. She was currently the only body in the room that could try to handle Anna unless he could disappear from the room, and then Dean would kill him for leaving Anna alone with Nat.

“W-we got on a bus. And when we were getting on the bus, there was this demon that was watching us. He ended up on the bus with us, and literally the second the bus started moving, he and every other person riding, held Sam down and forced me to drink demon blood.”

As she finished explaining, Cason stopped his pacing and held out a hand in confusion, “How exactly were they able to force feed you? Your hands are like acid, right?”

“Only when I’m high. Like…I don’t even know if I can microdose like S-….like others. I have to be high before it works. After the guy was basically drained, I was able to burn all of them. I turned him to ash. That was a new one.”

Anna seemed genuinely confused and scared of her own powers, but also cynical. Cason could only assume it was how high she was, that was causing her to behave this way. But Sam was still drinking demon blood? Sam was using his powers…without drinking from demons. That was the big take away that Cason wouldn’t speak out loud until he and Nat were alone. He nearly flinched when Anna started talking again.

“Then at the airport, a woman followed me into the restroom, and gave me that. It was given like an anxiety pill before I got on the plane. She told me ‘the cowboy has the address’ and ‘it’s either you or one of them’. Sam doesn’t know. They just want me…”

“They’re not getting you.” Cason snapped quickly, cutting her off.

“What other choice do we have?! She made it clear that Sam is to stay alive. They don’t even want Sam. They just want me. I won’t let anyone get hurt for me…not anymore. Sam will just have to deal.” She snapped at him, picking up the vial and fidgeting with it. But Cason wasn’t going to budge on this. His annoyance and frustration with trying to keep humans alive was reaching a boiling point. The last thing they needed on their hands was Sam Winchester, high on demon blood, mourning the girlfriend he had just flown a thousand miles to retrieve. She was making it out of this.

“Give that to me.” He ordered, almost like a father or a big brother. He snatched the vial from her hand, her finger sizzling against his skin as their hands brushed. He unscrewed the lid, and pulled his pocket knife with his free hand. Flipping it open, he jabbed the tip into his wrist and quickly pulled the vial up to drip his blood into it. “This is probably a horrible idea, but whatever they are wanting you to do is going to take a lot out of you, and we need you to be able to kill…every…single…demon that is there.”

“I don’t want to.” Anna whispered, but Cason held the full vial of his blood out to her, and nodded at it. “I don’t want to kill demons.”

“You don’t have a choice, darling.”



Dean sat down at the table, as Mika answered the knock at the door. He figured it would be Sam and Anna, pregaming the group on her plans to meet with Cason, but to his surprise, it was just Sam. As Sam walked in, he could tell that his brother was exhausted, stressed and upset. He looked disheveled and honestly, it was unnerving, to see Sam this way, after what should have been a simple retrieval. Mika took the words out of his mouth, when she urged Sam to speak and Dean leaned back in his chair a bit, waiting for the bomb to drop.

Hearing that they were tailed by demons from the beginning caused Dean’s hair to stand up. Of course they were. The two were magnets.

“Of course they knew where you were. You were separated. It’s the perfect opportunity to get to you both separately…”, Dean groaned. But he waved Sam on and when his brother got to the ‘weird’ part, Dean nearly groaned again. Weird, for Sam, was dangerous. That meant they were both lucky to be alive. Anna hearing voices wasn’t exactly surprising for Dean. She was a little off, and possibly not even human. He would never voice this out loud, for fear of his very tired brother punching his lights out. But the thought was in his mind, until Sam began to talk about the bus. Dean instantly sat up straight. The name Alastair caused a bit of tunnel vision to set in, and his heart began to hammer in his chest.

“So wait. Anna is being targeted by Alastair?” He almost whispered, his voice shaky as he stared off into space. If that was the case, there wasn’t much of a way to protect Anna. Alastair would get what he wanted. He always got what he wanted. Dean wasn’t even 100% sure that there was a way to beat him, even if they had the weapons they needed.

He almost didn’t hear the rest of the conversation between Sam and Mika, but the second Mika scolded Sam for leaving Anna alone with Cason and Nat, Dean’s protective nature flared and he came back to reality.

“She’s high?! Sammy do you remember what happened the last time she got high and was within ten feet of Cason?” He scolded him, standing from his chair. His legs were shaky and his hands were quivering, but he had to push that down. There was a real possibility that Nat could be in danger, and he wouldn’t even have to kill Cason for it. Anna would do that for him. “I’m going down there. If she tries to kill Cason, Nat will try to stop her.”

Without another word, Dean stomped toward the door and then out onto the sidewalk, his heart hammering so hard in his chest that he could hear it in his ears. He had a small hope that Mika and/or Sam would follow him, for some sort of backup. Anna was terrifying when she was high, and unhinged. He knocked frantically on the door of Nat’s room and took a deep breath.

“Nat?!”

Cason hurried and took the empty vial from Anna, as soon as she finished drinking his blood. He capped it and shoved it into his pocket, as Anna wiped her mouth. Taking a chance, he sat down at the table and gestured for Nat to get the door. “I think we’re good, for now. We have a deal, little one?”

“We have a deal.” Anna whispered. She had struck a deal with Cason, similar to the deal that Sam had with Ruby. In return? She had to tell him if she was thinking of draining him, and he would provide.

It felt like a minor accomplishment after climbing into Duke’s lap and getting a surprised chuckle from him before he wrapped his arms around her. Other than surprising the hell out of him after telling him what she was capable of doing, Esme found it hard to surprise him. In the past, she knew she surprised him a couple of times when he realized what lengths she was willing to go to during a case to keep everyone alive and get it done and how much of a beating she could take before finally collapsing. So when a little action like climbing onto his lap surprised him, Esme couldn’t help but feel like she had accomplished something. When Duke gave into her kiss and returned it while pulling her close, she slid her arms around his neck and smiled behind their kiss.


As Esme lay next to Duke, with her head on his shoulder and a hand on his chest, she drew her own circles on his chest to keep his mind at ease as her gaze was fixated on the curtains that covered the windows. At his nuzzle, she took a silent breath, feeling that having the conversation with the others was returning to him. She nuzzled him back and cuddled a little closer. That talk was also on her mind, it was slowly creeping in to disrupt their moment of rest. She did her best to push it from her mind and continued to stare at the curtains, watching the dim colors of the sunset peeking through them. But just as she started to feel completely relaxed again, she saw the headlights of a car flash through the curtains, followed by the sound of a car pulling in.

After the door slammed, she unknowingly held her breath as she listened. At the two separate knocks, she involuntarily flinched and released the breath she was holding as Duke groaned. “So it would seem.” she answered his grumble with a sigh, starting to feel uneasy. Esme felt the same way Duke did, but every time she thought about leaving, something pulled her back in, or something would happen to make her stay like getting kidnapped. The longer she lay there, the more uneasy she became. It wasn’t what she felt coming from Duke, but from what she felt coming from the rooms on either side of them. Duke’s voice breaking the silence almost caused her to flinch. She sighed heavily before answering him. “The sooner we tell them, the better…. But…. It seems those two came back with a lot more than they left with, judging by what I feel coming from the rooms.”

Esme could feel her chest tightening up and just wanted to pull the blankets over her head and hide herself away a little while longer. She knew telling them about her glimpse into the future was going to make things all the more difficult for the group to get through, and be paranoid about everything till that day came. Sighing heavily through her nose, she kissed Duke’s cheek and reluctantly sat up in the bed with a hand on her chest. “We should definitely warn them we’re coming instead of just going over. I think it would be safer that way.” she said, trying to hide the discomfort from her voice. “I’ll leave that to you while I put myself together mentally and physically.” Esme then pulled herself out of the bed to get herself ready for the big talk. Running over how she should tell them over and over in her mind.

After getting dressed, Esme went and sat on the edge of the bed, gritting her teeth, and looked over at Sarah, who was curled up in a corner of the room. “Sarah?” she called over to the Hellhound. Sarah’s head popped up before she took to her paws then walked over to Esme and sat next to her, putting her head on Esme’s lap. Closing her eyes, Esme placed one hand on the hound's head, the other on the hound's neck. “I'm going to need your help too during this.” she whispered. “Emotions are extremely high in both of those rooms. I know I’m going to struggle to keep my own in check being in a room with all of them. It’s highly likely I’ll lose control…. I need you to stick close without making yourself known to the others….. Could you do that for me?” Sarah lifted her head and nuzzled Esme’s cheek softly.

Esme had her answer. Smiling softly, she hugged Sarah for a moment, then opened her eyes as she let her go. She was already feeling better having Sarah so close to her; the pain and tightness in her chest had settled, and she felt like she could breathe again. Standing from the bed, with a hand resting on Sarah, she looked over at Duke to ask him something, but the frantic knocking on the door and Dean yelling for Nat caused her to jump. She knew that tone. “This can’t be good.” she said, her tone holding worry. Esme almost ran to the door, then pulled it open and stepped out with Sarah at her side. “What’s going on!” she asked Dean.

MIKA AND SAM

Mika noticed how Dean seemed to clam up ever so slightly at the mention of this Alastair. Like Sam, she had no idea who this person was but judging by the reaction from Dean, this Alastair was not someone they were prepared for. Yet instead of asking Dean who this guy was, she continued to listen to Sam until she had to give him a lecture which broke Dean out of his thoughts. "She'll be fine! I wouldn't put Nat in danger purposely you know that" Sam replied to Mika, shrugging his shoulders which seemed to not go down well with either Mika or Dean.

"Dean just leave them be! It'll be--" Sam continued to say, but he didn't even get to finish his sentence before Dean was already storming out of the room and heading over to Nat's. "Sam he has every valid reason to be going over there!" Mika told him flatly, following Dean out of the room and across the parking lot. Sam groaned and stood up, deciding that he better follow the two of them over to try and be on the side of Anna and diffuse whatever was going to kick off. He was also confused why Dean was suddenly going into over protective big brother mode when it came to Nat. When he left to get Anna, Dean was fighting with Nat and still in that attitude of 'she's the little sister I never wanted'. Now here he was rushing over to protect her?

"What the hell happened here?" he mumbled to himself as he walked quickly over toward to Natalia's room where Dean was pounding on the door and shouting Nat's name. "Dean just calm down. Anna has it more under control than you think!" he tried to reason with his brother, but he had a feeling nothing he would say would get through to him. Then because of all the drama, Esme couldn't help but come outside and find out what was going on, Duke seemingly behind her.

"He's fretting because Anna is 'high'" Sam explained to Esme using air quotations around the word high to try and make it publicly sound less weird than saying 'high on demon blood'. He knew Esme at least would know what he meant, so he didn't worry about how vague he was being. "And Sam thought it was a good idea to leave her in there with Cason and Nat....alone" Mika added sternly, showing she still wasn't best impressed with him.

"Nat!? Open the door please!" Mika called through a lot more calmly but urgently than Dean was shouting.

NATALIA

The moment Anna said there was more to tell than what she already had done, Nat couldn't help but sigh in concern at what Anna could possibly be about to tell them. She hated that Lucifer was being brought up and even the most normal person in the world knew that name and the weight that it held to those who believed. It worrying, why was Lucifer wanting to be involved? Was this literally going to be the end of days looming for them all? As if things couldn't get any worse.

She listened to what Anna was saying, deciding to remain silent the majority of the time so it gave Anna the time to talk and explain in her own time. Yet the more she was hearing the more her foot was beginning to shake up and down on the spot and she began to bite her bottom lip. Demons were literally following her and Sam around and causing them more problems than normal. Then came the almost slip up, yet it was enough for Nat to pick up on. Anna was about to say Sam. Sam was micro-dosing!? This revelation made her raise an eyebrow, knowing she was never going to forget that bit of information, yet she would not bring it up....yet.

So many thoughts and questions were swirling around her mind as Anna spoke. Mostly the question of how could Sam be taking demon blood like Anna and not tell them!? She honestly felt betrayed by her favourite brother and it would take a lot to get passed. She barely noticed how Anna seemed genuinely confused how she could turn demons to dust. She only focused more on what was being said again when Anna mentioned how a woman in the airport came to her in private and gave her a vial and an ultimatum.

Of course they were willing to kill one of their group if it meant getting Anna. Hunters knew their lives were always on the line, no matter the job. This wasn't going to be any different, however it still stung hearing it be said. She couldn't spare the thought of losing one of her family or friends. She definitely didn't want to lose either of her brothers or Cason. She was about to speak when Cason spoke first, full of determination in his tone.

As Cason snatched the vial and there was a visible fizzing of his skin as it made contact with Anna's, Nat found herself sitting up a bit more, ready to go on the protect and attack if it meant it. She liked Anna but she wouldn't let the woman stand in the way of her protecting Cason. She didn't care Anna knew him probably better than she did, due to her spotty memory on things. She watched him pull out his knife and fill the vial up before giving it back to Anna and they making a promise to each other. A deal. She didn't like it one bit but if it meant Cason stayed alive and safe then she would accept it.

Her mind got shaken out of it's concentration when she heard Dean hammering on the door and shouting her name, full of worry. Groaning, she stood up. "No word about what we just talked about, I'll calm him down" she explained to the two of them, walking over to the door, unlocking all the locks and opening it. "What? We're fine in here and just chatting. What's with all the yelling?" she asked calmly, looking at Dean in the eye, seeing the worry written all over his face. 'was he really genuinely scared about my safety?' she thought to herself. It was after she spoke to her brother and Mika, that she then realised everyone was at the door.

"This ain't some party ya know" she told everyone.

Duke uncovered his eyes, and glanced over at Esme with a raised eyebrow. Sam and the little one coming back with baggage couldn’t be good. Sam on his own coming back with baggage was scary enough. He sighed, and turned back to look at the ceiling, just as Esme leaned over him. He thought she was going to wrap up on him, and tell him to just stay in bed and let the others rest for a while. Instead, she kissed his cheek and sat up, almost pulling an audible groan from him.

He followed her movements, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll go break the news to Dean at least. Maybe he’ll be more…accepting of information if I can calm him down first.”

Duke began to get dressed, slipping into his jeans as he stared off into space, trying to reason with himself on what to tell Dean. He glanced over at Esme as he buttoned his jeans, and reached for a shirt. He could tell that Sarah was nearby, after Esme said her name. He still didn’t know how he felt about getting too close to the hellhound. So, he pulled his t-shirt over his head without approaching them.

After a moment, Duke stepped over to the dresser and retrieved his hat, shoving it onto his head with another sigh. He was dreading telling Dean anything. But he didn’t want Dean caught off guard. That wasn’t fair. Before he had enough time to tell Esme he would be back, he heard Dean’s voice and his fist pounding a door.

“No. That can’t be good.” He echoed Esme, grabbing his pistol off the dresser and shoving into the back of his jeans, before following her out the door. He protectively held an arm out, stepping in front of Esme as they approached the group. He was ready to help Dean, but he wanted Esme back and away from any danger that might be behind the door Dean was trying to get into. “Stay back here. If there is somethin’ going on in there, you need to be with…with Sarah.”



Dean continued to hammer at the door, ignoring all the bickering and chaos behind him. He just wanted to get to Nat. For all he knew, Anna had already ripped Cason’s throat out and had hurt Nat in the process. As Esme showed up out of nowhere, he turned his head, and almost echoed Sam.

“Nat’s stuck in there with…with Anna and if anyone’s killing Cason, it’s me!”

He stepped back from the door, and prepared himself to kick it in, when the door swung open, causing Dean to tilt his head to the side in confusion.

“What?” He asked, fully not understanding what Nat had said. They were just ‘chatting’? He glanced around Nat’s side, and saw Anna and Cason, casually sitting together at the table. The sight made him even more confused, and he squinted his eyes. “Did you know she was high? She looks fine!”

“Because she is fine!” Cason called out to Dean, causing Dean to grit his teeth in frustration. He scanned over Anna’s face, and she really did look…fine. She seemed a bit on edge. Her eyes were a little hollow and dilated. Her leg was bouncing on the ground and she seemed to be keeping her distance from Cason, but she didn’t seem on the edge of murdering the demon, or anything.

“Alright. Well…she’s fine.” Dean spoke flatly, turning on his feet to throw his hands up at Mika. She was the only one who would understand his frustration with being wrong. The last time Anna had access to Cason while she was high on demon blood, she had nearly killed him. He turned back to Nat at the door and sighed, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, “So, what are you guys talking about?”

“Dean. That ain’t none of your business.” Duke groaned, trying to diffuse some of the tension for Esme’s sake. Dean simply shot him a dirty glare, and then turned to Esme.

“And what are you guys doing?” He asked, his annoyance beginning to spill into him attacking everyone, if Mika wasn’t able to pull him back in.

MIKA, SAM, NATALIA

Having Dean practically yell that if anyone was going to kill Cason, it would be him made Mika's eyes roll. This was not the area to go yelling something like that. "Dean, just take a breath, lower your voice!" she exclaimed to him in a hushed tone, not wanting to make things worse by having more raised voices. She understood the worry on Dean's side, she truly did. She was concerned for Natalia's safety just as much as he was because she did not want anything to risk Natalia having another PTSD trigger melt down. Especially over the last couple of days when it became extremely clear to them all just how much unresolved trauma was actually in her head.

Then the door swung open and Natalia was standing there, staring at them all like they were all absolutely insane for being so heightened in emotions. As Dean looked around, Natalia even stepped back to once again, let all of them inside if they so wished to enter. "See, everything is fine. Yes we see she's high but she's fine. We helped her be in a controlled state of mind by talking and being distracted. She's got this Dean! She's stronger than you're giving her credit for currently" Natalia explained, deciding that if she was going to successfully lie to him, she needed to wrap the lie up in a lot of truth.

Sighing with relief as Dean accepted she was fine and no one was hurt, but it was clear that Dean was angry he was wrong about his assumptions, so she just looked at Mika in a silent plea of 'please calm him down'.

Mika understood that look all too well which made her turn to the others briefly, before looking at Dean and placing a calming hand on his left shoulder. "Dean, it's okay....just look at me and breathe with me. In....and out....in...and out...there we go." she instructed slowly and calmly, just like she always used to. She knew what worked with him and what didn't. "Right now let's thank our blessings Nat is perfectly safe and things are under control. Your girl just proved herself really well and has things handled. Instead of being angry, disappointed or whatever, let's be proud of her yeah?" she continued to look him in the eyes, massaging his shoulder as she spoke to stop him leaving her sight.

"You can calm this inner brozilla now. She's okay. That's what is important so let's not have you verbally attack Esme and Duke" she repeated.

All the while Sam looking between all of them, sighing and nodding that for once when he said things would be alright, he was proven correct. "Esme, Duke you guys look like you know something, what do you know?" he asked before turning to Anna, Cason and Natalia, "How much was explained in here?" he asked, worried Anna dubbed him in it. "Just what happened as you guys left the motel and on the bus. How Anna was force fed and killed all the demons" Nat replied, before turning to Duke, "Does anything you know coincide with what we know??" she asked them.

Esme’s gaze went from Dean to Sam as he came up behind Dean and spoke, followed by Mika chiming in. Their words caused her eyes to widen slightly. That would explain why he was so frantic; she couldn’t blame him either. “That explains a lot.” she said mostly to herself as Duke slid himself in front of her protectively. His movements caused her to step back, then look up at him with slightly knitted eyebrows that said, “Really?” when he told her to stay with Sarah. She wanted to tell him she could handle it but knew it wouldn’t do any good, so she stayed quiet. Her attention returned to Dean, who was still beating on Natalia’s door, and then turned to answer her question. His answer, nearly the same as Sam’s, caused her to raise an eyebrow. Being out in the open was no place to yell you were going to kill someone.

As Dean stepped back from the door, Esme was about to say something, and the door opened to reveal Natalia behind it. Looking around Duke, she quietly listened to what Natalia told Dean, then smirked at her comment when she noticed everyone else there. As soon as Dean opened his mouth, Esme looked over at him. Not only could she see his confusion and hear it in his voice, but she could feel it, even with Sarah next to her. As soon as Cason confirmed Anna was alright, Esme felt the frustration that took over Dean. She watched his actions as he realized he had been mistaken, apparently a sore spot for him. She guessed that was something she never fully picked up on when they were hunting together and wasn’t sure how she missed it, especially with how he was acting now about being wrong about Anna.

When Dean questioned the three about what they were talking about, and Duke stepped in, Esme winced slightly at his glare at Duke. Dean then turned to her and questioned her; she could clearly hear the annoyance in his tone and felt attacked, which she didn’t care for. “That’s none of your business either, Dean!” Esme snapped at Dean, glaring at him, barely catching Mika’s words to him. Sam’s voice pulled her attention away from Dean, and she nodded. “We do, but I’d rather not discuss it out here in the open.” she told Sam in a slightly softer tone after he finished talking to the others. Esme could have just blurted out everything right there but felt somewhat uncomfortable doing so. She didn’t know if someone passing by them would hear and get suspicious or how the others would react to the news. So she thought it best to be in one of the rooms out of earshot of those staying at the motel before she and Duke released their bomb.

Anna sighed, her knee beginning to jump aggressively as the arguing went on for what seemed like hours. With every word that Cason said, and with his back turned to her, she struggled not to jump on him. But she had made a deal with him. She had promised, silently, not to hurt him as long as he was willing to work with her. She wanted nothing more than to yell at Dean that she was fine, along with Cason, but the truth was, she wasn’t sure if she was fine. She was struggling not to murder her ex boyfriend, while the rest of her little family seemed scared to death of her. They truly thought she was dangerous…again.

Dean turned to Mika a bit unwillingly, and frowned, staring at her. He followed her breathing and growled, his emotions so heightened that he felt like they would never regulate. He was tired of demons getting to every single member of their group, and as innocent as she looked, Anna seemed to be the problem, to him. She brought Cason to them. She brought demon blood to the surface of the issue. She was high right now! But Mika was right. If he was aggressive, Anna would run, Nat would hate him, and everything would just blow up again.

He took a deep breath, and turned his eyes down. He couldn’t help the chuckle, and the glare that he shot Mika as she called him her classic ‘brozilla’ nickname. He turned to Duke, who was already shaking his head.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just tired of…”

“Don’t worry about it bub. I get it. We got a lot to get to, and a lot to get through. Let’s just figure this shit out, alright?” Duke explained softly, his blue eyes wide and convincing as Dean sighed once again and nodded, placing his hands on his hips. “Now, let’s go inside and see what we can come up with.”

Duke placed a gentle hand on Esme’s back and led her into the room behind Dean and Mika as Nat turned to them. He cleared his throat, and leaned against the wall by the door with his arms folded, “It might.”

Cason didn’t quite like that answer, and he tilted his head, turning his eyes from Duke to Esme, who seemed on edge. He didn’t know Esme as well as he would have liked to, but he knew that she was different. She could feel emotions and was horrible at hiding her own. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head back, “It might? Esme, what do you know?”

Esme signed heavily after things calmed down, though she was still on edge about everything. She knew what she was about to tell everyone was going to stir everyone up again. With guidance from Duke, Esme followed Dean and Mika into the room. Once inside, she found a place near Duke by the door with enough space to accommodate Sarah without the others realizing she was there, Cason being an exception. With Esme in her spot, Sarah approached and sat down, leaning lightly against Esme to comfort her. When Cason addressed her, asking her what she knew, she felt like she was under a spotlight, and her every move was being watched by all those in the room. Esme shifted on her feet, leaning into Sarah more, then stuck her thumbs into the front pockets of her jeans to keep herself from picking at her fingers or clenching her fists too hard.

Esme thought about where she should start, concluding that starting from the beginning would be the best; even if it did take a little longer to get to the main thing they needed to know, it would give some context. Closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath, everything soon spilled from her lips. “By now, I'm sure you've all realized I'm…. Different…. So I'm hoping it won't hit too hard when I tell you how I got the information.” she started somewhat confidently. “This all started this morning after Duke and I had a little tiff. He left to clear his head and get some air. While out, Bobby contacted him and gave him an address to a farm in Western Missouri. Apparently, this farm is crawling with demon activity and has ties with Anna.” she told the group, looking at Anna briefly when she said her name.

Esme continued even though she knew Anna would have questions about what she had just said. Usually, she would have said more so Anna wasn’t left in the dark, but she wanted to quickly get through what she had to say. After Duke returned and we straightened things out between us, he told me about the call from Bobby and then showed me the paper with the address written on it.” Esme paused, only long enough to breathe in, and slowly let it out before continuing. This was the big news of what she had to say, and she was still hesitant even though they needed to hear this. “When I touched the paper, I saw the future.” she said quickly. “What I saw was very broken. I don’t know when or what time of day this will happen or if any of the images are connected in any way….”

“I saw what looked like the inside of an old barn; the only light source was a lamp hanging from the rafters. Next, I saw you, Dean.” she said, looking at him. “You were standing next to a table with an assortment of tools that would be used to torture demons; you looked extremely pissed off. You were talking to someone, but I couldn’t see them or make out what was being said; they were just out of my sight. The last image I saw was of you again, Dean.” Esme closed her eyes tight, that image returning to her and sending a shiver down her spine. Opening her eyes, she looked at the floor. “You were lying on the floor, and you looked like you had the hell beaten out of you, and you were barely breathing. I wish I knew what led up to that, but I don’t.”

Esme fell silent after finally getting everything out in the open, lifting her gaze to a wall at the back of the room, waiting for everyone to process what she had just told them. If they asked her for more details about what she saw, she couldn’t give it to them. Esme had told them everything she had seen after touching the paper. Stepping back to the wall behind her, she leaned against it to keep herself from bolting from the room, Sarah moving with her. She was beginning to regret requesting to have everyone confined to one room now, fearing Sarah wouldn’t be enough to keep her from being overwhelmed by everyone’s emotions that would soon fill the room.

Duke stepped a little closer to Esme as he watched her body language change with the questioning. He didn’t say a word for the time being, deciding that he would step in to fill in gaps if it was needed. But the second she started talking about the note Bobby gave him, he tensed. He had no idea how Dean, who was on edge already, would react to the news. Or Anna, who seemed so on edge that her tension was palpable in the room.

Dean simply tilted his head, his eyes narrowed, as she explained the situation. He didn’t see this as any sort of weird situation. It was a farm…crawling with demons. With the right preparation, they would be in and out within a few hours. But then she mentioned Anna, and he turned to look at her, along with everyone else.

Anna breathed in, tensing and balling up her fists as the entire room seemed to focus on her. She didn’t remember anything about her childhood, or any connections in her life outside of Cason. She opened her mouth to speak but decided against it as the room still seemed focused on her. If Esme continued, maybe they would shift focus.

Cason and Dean echoed one another, turning their heads toward her and raising their eyebrows, when Esme said that she had seen the future. That was new. Even for Cason, that was surprising and opened up a whole new level of ‘what is she?’ in his mind. They both listened intently until she mentioned Dean’s name and he sat up a little straighter.

“Well, I um…It can’t be seeing the future. I mean, what demons do we know that can do that much damage with this big of a group? We have a demon on our side. We have Anna, who seems ready to rip throats. No offense, Anna.” Dean spoke up, rubbing his hands on his pants uncomfortably.

“But you don’t think we should take this seriously?” Duke chimed in, annoyed with how Dean was dismissing what seemed like a very real premonition of his demise. There was no way that Esme was just having some sort of fever dream that detailed.

“Of course, we should take it seriously! But we have nothing to go on. Esme might be able to see the future, which should freak me out, but considering…things, it doesn’t. I say we go and we see what’s there.”

“There’s something bigger there,” Cason grumbled with a sigh. Anna placed her hand on the table near his and he moved it, not wanting to accidentally be burned again.

“What is the connection to me?” Anna randomly chimed in, causing Dean and Cason to turn and look at her. “I mean, I know I’m the weird one here that’s high as a kite. I know everyone is afraid of me but what does a demon-infested farm in Western Missouri have to do with me?”

“We don’t know,” Duke spoke softly to her. He didn’t know Anna, but he knew that she was scared and on edge. He knew that she felt like the ‘other’ in the room, a feeling he knew very well. “But we could um…we could go look.”

“I don’t think we should just go look. We need to find out what we’re walking into.” Cason corrected but Dean slapped the table in front of him and shook his head.

“No. Because every single time we do that, especially when it’s your idea, everything falls apart. We go. We find out what’s going on. We take care of it…kill it.” Dean snapped, but Cason growled and turned to Nat.

“Please talk sense into him. Please!”

“I don’t need my sister telling me anything. And don’t tell her what to do. Don’t forget that you’re only alive because of her!” Dean raised his voice, making it clear that this wasn’t going to be a case that was cut and dry. Working together was already proving to be easier said than done, and with what was coming, they were screwed if they couldn’t fix this.

MIKA, NATALIA AND SAM

Mika was thankful that after a bit of persuading, Dean seemed to start to calm down a little bit and as always, her stupid little nickname for him when he got protective angry over his siblings, made him smirk and chuckle even a little bit. She was glad that he actually apologized to Duke and in turn Esme for snapping at them when it was completely unnecessary. She may not like Esme particularly a lot of the time but she knew she didn't deserve Dean snapping at her when he was so confused angry over Natalia not being hurt or in danger.

She was also glad that Duke accepted Dean's apology and with that, they all one by one seemed to accept Nat's offer to all come into the room and get this chat done. She would have been lying if she said she wasn't nervous about tonight's scouting mission. She hated them, but this one felt so different. It felt...more important than anything else they've done. It felt more doom filled than any other hunt. That sense of dread filled her heart and she wished she knew why.

Then came the start of the explanation of what Esme and Duke knew and the context backstory with it. She leaned against the wall near the front door, arms folding across her chest, left leg over the right, head down as she just listened. She didn't dare look at anyone as Esme spoke about everything she knew, she knew if she did she would want to interrupt Esme and ask a million and one questions which would no doubt be answered if she just listened. Yet something did make her look up and that was when Esme said she saw the future when she touched the piece of paper with the address of the barn on it.

Like Natalia and Sam and everyone else in the room, she rose an eyebrow in confusion and curiosity at the blonde woman. "what else is this girl able to do? First I'm questioning how human Anna is and now I'm questioning how human Esme is...what next? Nat is actually an Angel?" she thought to herself. Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she tried to stay on the topic. One of the other most surprising things however was how Dean reacted to the revelation. He was being way too casual about it for her own comfort. She didn't know whether to ask him if he was actually okay with this or not, she even looked at Natalia and Sam, all three of them exchanging the exact same look of confusion.

Just as they were all wrapping their heads around Dean's assuming calm response and letting Duke question his reaction instead, Dean then made all of three of them flinch as he slammed his hand on the table and yelled at Cason. Nat looked at Cason as he asked her to talk some sense into him like it was her job to do so or she was even able to. Did he forget the latest almost three day argument they had before getting sense to get into Dean's head? She held her hands up in defense and shaking her head. She didn't want to get involved with this, especially as Dean used this moment to remind Cason she was the only reason he was even still alive and with their group.

"Dean...you don't need him or us of that fact" she grumbled, making Sam step forward and place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Now isn't the time to argue with each other and bring up unrelated things. As much as I don't mind you shouting at Cason Dean, now isn't the time. Everyone is right in their valid plans of attack. We gotta just go and scout this barn out but we HAVE to play it smart, not rush in guns blazing and with absolutely no plan whatsoever. That is what will get us killed. So can we PLEASE just think this through logically first?" he spoke up finally, deciding to try and be the reason for everyone.

"Sam's right, we need to be logical over this. I for one am not prepared to have anyone hurt or killed because we rushed in with no plan or thought. Shit is getting real and dare I say it, worse by the minute. There seems to be more and more that crops up to throw a spanner in the works to try and throw us off the tracks. If we're not smart? We're dead." Mika spoke up finally, but not moving from her position against the wall.

"So what's it gonna be? Smart and fast or dumb and dead?" Nat then quipped seriously, looking at them all. "I vote smart and fast" she added, placing a hand on Dean's arm to try and gently coax him into stepping away from Cason.

Dean growled softly under his breath as literally, everyone in the room seemed, in his mind to take Cason’s side. If this was just demons, and he was the only one who was seemingly in danger, that was a risk he was willing to take. He glared up at Sam, as he randomly chimed in on behalf of Natalia, but as they continued, he began to see their point. In the past, they hadn’t exactly taken their time. And in that same past, they lost people…good people.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at Mika and scanned her face to see if she was just trying to appease his worry. But he saw nothing there except logic and reason. Of course, Mika was showing logic and reason. She was the second most logical person in the room, after all this time. He dropped his hand on the table in a fist and shifted to stand closer to Mika, as Nat reasoned exactly what he expected Mika to say. Maybe they were more alike than he originally thought.

“Alright.” He conceded with a grumpy shrug. Cason’s shoulders relaxed and Duke mirrored him, rubbing his sweaty hands on his jeans as the tension diffused. But then Anna shifted in her seat and spoke up.

“If this has to do with me, then they are there for me, right? Like at the airport? You could just drop me off.” She said flatly, honestly exhausted with all of this, at this point.

“That’s not an option.” Cason suddenly snapped at her, shaking his head. “Demon blood or not, whatever this is maybe bigger than you could handle on your own.”

“And if they get what they want, they’ll leave you guys alone.”

“Or they will have exactly what they need to kill us all. We don’t know why they want you. We have a hunch to go off of, and even the hunch is vague. Even if you could take them all, a hundred more will come, and if you’re some sort of contingency plan, giving you up will just play into their hand.” Cason explained the strategy of demons perfectly, almost reaching over and patting her arm, before reminding himself that she could fry him in an instant. “You’re going. But you’re not going alone. I think everyone will agree with me.”

“I agree,” Dean muttered reluctantly. Agreeing with Cason made him want to vomit. But Cason was right. “For all we know, you could be a weapon against the angels. You’re not a weapon. You’re…you. If we can keep them away from you, we’ll do the best we can for as long as we can. No more playing into their hand with the demon blood…”

Anna quickly glanced at Cason as Dean finished his sentence. Dean noticed but said nothing, simply watching their silent interaction, as Cason shook his head, his eyes locked with hers. Dean wasn’t sure what it meant, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to imagine what they were saying with their eyes. He had a feeling Cason was already feeding her. Little did he know, he was right.

“So we pack up and roll out?” Cason finally asked, looking around at every member of the group.

Esme continued to stare at the far wall of the room until Dean spoke up, her eyebrows slightly knitting together when he said, “It can be seeing the future.” and continued. Esme only shook her head at the demon question; she had no idea what demon could do that much damage to the group. If he didn’t think it was the future, what did he think it was? she thought to herself before Duke chimed in, the annoyance in his tone clear. She also wondered if Dean didn’t think they should take this premonition seriously, which only made her wish she hadn’t had to tell him. Esme slowly started to back her way closer to the door, feeling the rise in emotions in the room but stopped at Dean’s reply, her eyes widening with confusion. Her seeing the future didn’t freak him out; how the hell could it not? It did her.

It was clear that she wasn’t the only one surprised by it, and she was about to open her mouth to say something when Cason and then Anna spoke. She listened to Anna and sighed softly to herself when she said everyone was afraid of her; what Anna didn’t know was that she was mistaken. Esme wasn’t afraid of her; she felt a slight connection with her because she could burn demons as well, and she felt like she was the weird one, even if her weirdness didn’t involve demon blood. She would have to find a way to tell her at some point since now was not the time. When Duke and Cason spoke, Esme’s eyes darted to them. She wanted to throw in her own opinion, but Dean slapping the table caused her to flinch and look his way. Esme listened to Dean and Cason, bringing a hand to rest on her tight and aching chest.

She understood where Dean was coming from, but as much as she hated to admit it, Cason was right about needing to find out what they were walking into. Esme continued to listen to everyone talk as she tried to hold it together, even with Sarah near, feeling slight relief when Sam spoke calmly to defuse things. After Mika and Natalia spoke, Esme nodded in agreement with the two women. She definitely preferred everyone to go in smart so that no one was hurt and they didn’t lose anyone. Looking at Dean, she watched him, waiting to see if he would listen to their reasoning, sighing softly when he conceded. From where she stood, she saw Duke’s and Cason’s shoulders relax and felt some of the tension fade, but not enough to help her out. There was so much tension, rage, and frustration in the air it would take more than this to clear the air.

Esme’s gaze shifted to Anna as she shifted in her chair and spoke, then to Cason when he snapped at her. She nodded after the back and forth between them, not liking that she actually agreed with Cason, but what he said was true. Then Dean agreed, which she knew he hated, and continued about how she wasn’t a weapon, and they would keep her away from the demons. Like Dean, Esme didn’t miss the glance between Anna and Cason and wondered what it meant. Was Cason feeding her? She shook the thought from her mind and looked around the room after Cason spoke again. Sighing heavily, Esme looked over at Anna, trying her best to fight through the pain.

“They're both right, you know?” she started in a pain-filled tone as she looked at Anna. “I also consider you a friend, even though we haven’t had much of a chance to really get to know one another, but know this: I’ll fight alongside you and fight to keep you out of the hands of those demons for as long as I can.” Esme took in a shaky breath, looking back to the others in the room, still clutching her chest. She was close to losing control; Dean’s emotions had come close to pushing her over the edge, just like they used to. His emotions always seemed so much stronger than others, and his, with everyone else's, felt like a weight on her, especially in this small room. “I’m also up for getting out of here.” she added. Without another word, Esme turned to the door and left, almost at a run to leave the rage and frustration behind her.

Esme only made it as far as Duke’s truck before her knees gave out, and she fell against the truck's tailgate. Closing her eyes tight, she gripped the tailgate, trying to hold back the release of emotions bubbling at the surface. She couldn’t let them go; this wasn’t the place. She half wished she could throw herself down in a hole so she could release them. Sarah soon came up behind her and whined softly. “I need to get to the room.” Same whispered. With a soft bark, Sarah moved close to Esme’s side. Esme put her arms around her, and Sarah just about carried her to the room door. Once in the room, with some difficulty, they went over to the bed and sat on the floor. Esme curled into a ball and leaned against the bed with Sarah close by her side.

Being out of the room and having Sarah by her side, Esme should have started feeling more at ease by now, but she still felt as if she were still with the others. Which told her she had stayed too long and it would be a long and painful process to get back to normal unless she just released it, which would hit Cason. Esme closed her eyes and moved to curl up on the floor. She remembered what had happened at Bobby’s the first time she was like this. Sarah had shielded Cason with her own body, which worked for the most part. Would that work for her? She was smaller than Cason. Sarah could easily cover her small frame. A wave of pain shot through Esme as she curled into a tighter ball; she did her best to muffle her cry of pain only to have another follow.

Then, as if Sarah had been reading her thoughts, she moved closer and curled her massive frame around Esme’s smaller frame. Sarah softly nuzzled Esme’s cheek with a slight whine before resting her head close to Esme’s. “Thanks, Sarah.” Esme said, almost crying. Just Sarah curled around her did some good; it was slowly becoming bearable, but it was still quite painful; she knew that the group would want to leave soon, and she wouldn’t be able to. So, feeling that Sarah was ready, Esme released what she was holding back, screaming into her hands, even though she was muffled by Sarah. Esme didn’t move afterward. She lay there, trembling and softly crying against Sarah, listening. It was silent save for Sarah’s breathing. “It worked.” Esme whispered before the flood of tears came.

MIKA, NATALIA AND SAM

Nat, Mika and Sam all saw how Dean was hating what they were all saying as a counter point to his ideas. The glare he shot Mika however in particular was what really showed them just how angry he was. It was clear to them all that he thought they were siding with Cason but that was far from the truth. It just so happened that Cason was thinking logically and for once, Dean was not. The glare didn't bother Mika despite this, in fact, she was used to getting this attitude from him to the point it rarely got to her or upset her. All she did do was just look at him with her flat expression back to show no glare was going to change her opinion. She knew he knew she was right and she wasn't going to back down.

Mika also knew that Dean would come to accept the truth soon enough as well. It just took him a bit longer sometimes when he got like this. He was more emotional than he would ever admit and she knew it. What did surprise her however, was Natalia agreeing with her and speaking her mind, echoing her opinion. It caused Mika to very briefly, blink and you miss it, rise an eyebrow in curiosity. "Is she becoming more like me and taking influence from me or is Cason ironically being a good influence on her?" she thought to herself, now slightly aware of how she should conduct herself around Natalia. If Natalia was taking on board her attitude and mindset then she needed to be careful.

With them seeming to get through to Dean, their shoulders started to relax as Dean conceded to the option of going in smart and not stupid. Sam particularly sighed a breath of relief as the last thing he wanted to lose more people in his lifetime if they could help it. It was hard enough knowing that even though he didn't want to lose more people, it was going to happen at some point, he just didn't want it to be anyone in this group. Especially Anna. He didn't just spend all his time travelling around to bring her back just to lose her again.

His thoughts were broken when he heard Anna say she was willing to go on her own and just hand herself over. His eyes went wide and he was about to say something to her outlandish idea when Cason beat him to it. "I'm in agreement with him. Anna you can't just hand yourself over. You're not some monster or piece of meat we hand to the demons on a plate. You're a person, a kind person at that and I for one am not prepared to just lose you like that." he explained, practically in a begging tone, even though he tried hard to not let his begging come across as begging. Looking around, he saw Natalia and Mika nodding in agreement at his statement.

He had to let his opinion know on the idea, even if it was only briefly before Anna and Cason seemed to take a glance at each other which got him worried about why they were making glances at each other. He recognised it all too well. It was the same glances he would shoot at Ruby and vice versa if he needed a hit of demon blood or needed to secretly meet up to get said blood, especially when Dean was in Hell and she swore to him that it was the only way to bring his brother back to Earth. It made him anxious as hoped the others in the room wouldn't be wondering if she was feeding off Cason.

He wanted to try and get back on track with the ideas on how to go about tonight's hunt or scouting mission, but Esme also spoke up about how they weren't going to let Anna go alone. Mika and Natalia found themselves nodding at Esme's words just as they did with Sam's. Mika even surprised herself that she agreed with Esme again, making her want to internally shudder at the very thought. "Okay, so we're agreed. We all go and we go in smart. Scout from a safe distance initially and then work out the gameplan together. No one goes rambo and alone." Mika concluded with the group once and for all. Tonight was the night they began the end of this damn doom ridden hunt.

-----AN HOUR LATER-----

The was night had fully engulfed the skies above the group of hunters, darkness enveloping them in the middle of seemingly nowhere, except for small lights shining in front of them showing them their destination: the barn. Seeing it in person, in front of them, Mika, Natalia and Sam all felt the overwhelming gut feeling of dread even more. The whole vibe of the area screamed 'it's surrounded by demons' and it just unnerved them all to their core.

Nat hated it the most, the last time she was surrounded by this many was at the asylum but she swallowed her worries to try and stay focused. Now wasn't the time to have a PTSD breakdown. "I can do this" she thought to herself, hyping herself up so she wouldn't just bail on the group...on her family. She felt she still had to prove herself to Dean, that she was capable even though she had plenty of times before he got taken from them all. Glancing to her left, she saw Mika pull a pair of binoculars from her duffel and place them infront of her eyes where she scouted the area. "Oh it's surrounded alright, I can see 4 round the front pacing, 4 in the back and...1,2,3,4,5....6 walking around inside just in the open doorway" she explained, lowering her binoculars once more and putting them back in her bag.

"Something feels off about this and not just the demons" Sam spoke quietly, he couldn't put his finger on it but something really felt wrong and more powerful than the demons in the area. Almost like something else was also scouting the area waiting to pounce on them all. He just couldn't figure out what that exactly was. Yet the feeling almost felt familiar in some ways.

"Okay, I agree there's definitely another ominous feeling here but I can't see or think why but we gotta stay on track. With how many there are I say one team goes round to the front and one team focuses on the back. We attempt to take out as many as quietly as possible before entering. What does everyone think?" Mika suggested whilst also agreeing with Sam.

Something was very...VERY wrong about this situation.

Cason picked at his fingers, lazily leaning against the side of Nat’s car as the rest of the group scouted the farm across the way, from them. He was rather annoyed that they weren’t working efficiently. But he was the one who made the whole ‘be careful’ thing happen. So, he had to do ‘be careful’ their way. Becoming fed up with standing around, staring at the demons, he stepped up next to Mika, and placed his hands in his pockets.

“Want me to take care of the guys in the front? It could give you an in…” He offered, pulling his favorite knife. After looking at the knife, he sighed. “Actually, I need a weapon. I need someone or something that can kill demons.”

He turned, and raised an eyebrow to Anna, who was standing as close as possible to Sam, her arms folded and her expression disassociated. However, when Cason turned to look at her, she shook her head.

“I don’t want to burn them.”

“Look. I can cover their mouths. You can burn them out. My burns will heal within a few seconds, and we will have a quiet in. What do you say?” Cason explained to her, but Dean cleared his throat, shaking his head.

“I don’t like it.” Dean muttered.

“Then what is your plan, hm? Run in their with guns and knives that won’t touch these guys? We have one person here that can take care of them…quickly…” Cason started, but Dean spoke up again and interrupted him.

“You go and smoke them out. Take some salt. Kill their meatsuit and take care of it. It will take a while for them to come up with another body.” Dean explained and Anna also shook her head.

“I don’t like that either. We shouldn’t kill anyone.”

“We don’t have a choice right now! Sam? What do you think?” Dean turned to Sam and held out his hands, desperately wanting his brother to agree with him. Cason’s ability to disappear and reappear anywhere he wanted made him a good weapon for at least expelling the demons, and if he did it the right way, he could take care of them quietly.



Duke sat on the tailgate of his truck with Esme and Sarah. He didn’t know what to say to her, knowing that she had fallen apart after the situation in the room with the others. He hadn’t done the best job of taking care of her after the fact, as he had to be the even head that helped bring the conversation to a close. But they were together, now. His job, at this point, was to help her hold it together, and to keep her safe.

“They’re arguing about who the sacrificial lamb is going to be in this one. I can’t imagine that Nat’s going to be very happy with the idea of it being Cason. But there’s no way that Sam is letting Anna go. I’m tempted.” He admitted. He then sighed and shook his head, “But I’m just a human. I don’t know how much damage I could do against four demons on my own. And here I was hopin’ this would be a quick one.”

He chuckled and placed a hand on Esme’s thigh. As good as he was at getting rid of demons, and as outnumbered as the demons were, with all the hunters coming after them at once, Duke had a feeling that they weren’t the ‘main show’ and that a bigger bad was waiting, hoping that the group would tire themselves out so it could attack.

Seeing the rest of the group fighting, Duke called out to them as quietly as he could while also making sure they could hear him.

“I agree with Mika. We outnumber them. We take small groups and we take out as many as we can at once. If one of us is better off than the rest, then you kill as many of their meatsuits as possible…but keep energy.” Duke rambled with a shrug, tilting his head to Mika to silently agree with her, by tilting his hat.

Esme sat quietly between Duke and Sarah on the tailgate of Duke’s truck, listening to the others argue. She sighed inwardly. She never cared for the term sacrificial lamb, especially in such situations. If she hadn’t made such a big deal about not being reckless to Duke, she would have readily volunteered herself, even with the feeling she had of something hiding in the shadows waiting to attack after they tired themselves out. Plus, she wouldn’t be going alone; Esme knew she would have Sarah at her side because she wouldn’t let her go alone. Hearing Duke, Esme looked away from the group, up at him, and nodded. “I wouldn’t be either if I was Natalia. You also can’t blame Sam after all the trouble he went through to get her back.” she said, keeping her voice low. “I’m tempted too, and you should know by now I wouldn't want you going on your own. And as good as we all are, four demons is a lot for one person to handle.”

When Duke placed his hand on her thigh, she put her hand on top of his and squeezed it. “And hoping this would be a quick one was wishful thinking, Bright Eyes.” she added with a little laugh. With everything Esme had witnessed since becoming a hunter, she had learned never to be hopeful for a quick and easy job. So it was very welcomed whenever she got a fast and easy case. She was about to suggest possibly sending Sarah to clear their way, but Duke called out to the others, so she fell silent and listened. Much to her dislike, Esme also agreed with Mika, but it was their best option. Breaking into two teams would give them the best chance of taking out the demons and getting inside to figure out what was happening in there. Releasing Duke’s hand, Esme slid off the tailgate and looked at each group member. With this many, you would think they would have at least a little better luck than a group with two or three, right?

It all depended on whether they could work together as a team, would watch each other's backs, and nothing unexpected reared its ugly head, which almost always happens. As much as she hated to be wishful or hopeful, she could only hope they could work together since there was a little tension between a couple of them in the group. Only time would tell if that tension would dissipate or not, but she saw it taking a lot of work and cooperation from all involved. Esme spoke, keeping her voice low but loud enough for the group to hear her. “Alright, now that that’s decided, let’s group up and move out.” Esme was ready to get to the bottom of this and get out as quickly as possible. She also didn’t like the feeling she got from this place either. The less time they spent here, the better it was for her.

MIKA, NATALIA AND SAM

Whilst everyone continued talking, Natalia found herself listening in and gritting her teeth in disapproval of using Cason as a scapegoat for their plan. She didn't like that one bit and she certainly didn't like using Anna either. She hated the whole using someone as bait, even their own even though it wasn't exactly a rare option for them. Then came the disagreements between Dean and Cason yet again, making her wonder if they would ever come to a realization they don't have to argue about absolutely everything that gets spoken about. She felt so in the middle of the two of them, wanting to keep Dean happy but also wanting to side with Cason. It felt like the two of them without even knowing it were tugging her in two directions and she was about to quite literally be torn in two.

"I don't like the idea of using Anna going in there. I'm down for Cason going in but for all we know, they could easily overpower him. Whoever goes in alone is risking too much or gonna make someone else unhappy." Sam began to speak up more after Dean was very clearly trying to get him on his side. "I'm with Mika too, just like everyone else here. You gotta admit Dean, it's a damn smart plan. Split into three groups and take them all out in one go. Not that long ago it's the kind of plan you or I would have come up with" he tried to get his brother round to their side of thinking.

Mika nodded as one by one, they all were coming round to her side of thinking, it was seeming that it was just Dean and Cason who needed their minds convincing. "Seems you guys are outnumbered in the plan decision making. So how about this...myself, Nat and Dean in one group, Anna and Cason in another group and Esme, Duke and Sam in the third group? Or Sam, Anna and Cason, then Esme and Duke stay together as a duo. Thoughts?" she suggested, deciding that if none of the others were going to take charge of this situation, then she may as well do so.

"I like the idea, it's the most solid one we have. We just need to decide who gets the front group of demons, who gets the back groups?" Natalia replied, she didn't particularly like being thrown into a group without Cason but she understood why Mika suggested the pairings she did. The demon and Lilith's protege/demon killer/whatever Anna was together made sense, they could back each other well, whereas the rest of them were hunters. It was self explanatory why those pairings worked. Sam nodded at the plan as well, "I'm down for that, I'd rather go with Anna and Cason personally though, they need a hunter on their team so all skills are covered for them." he added, looking between Cason and Anna to see if they were okay with that opinion.

"Fine by me" Mika replied, looking at the others one by one as she pulled out of her duffel some weaponry she figured she might need. There may be demons down there, but they didn't know if anything else was and something deep in the pit of her stomach was telling her, there was something else.

Seeing Mika prepare, Natalia and Sam did the same thing as they waited for the others to chime in with their opinions on what was decided for them all. He had to admit, since having Dean back in their lives, it was nice seeing Mika becoming back to her normal self again. Seeing her be the capable hunter she always was was a breath of fresh air after seeing her so miserable and shut off from the rest of them. It honestly not long ago felt like he lost two people during those four months and not just one.

Dean nodded his head at Sam, thinking at first that his brother was agreeing with him to send Cason in, whether on his own or with Anna. But then it hit him that Sam was wanting to protect the feelings of pretty much everyone, regardless of how good Dean’s idea was. He placed his hands on his hips and held out a hand toward Mika, acknowledging that he was giving her idea some thought.

“Fine. We can split into groups. But the groups have to be smart. They have to play on strengths. Nobody gets left behind.” He grumbled, and then nodded with a sigh at Mika’s repeat of the plan, but with specific groups. He preferred her idea of keeping herself, Dean and Nat together. Both girls would be able to back each other up, and would have Dean as a buffer.

Anna furrowed her brow, a little nervous to go with Cason. He was absolutely careless with his own body, and she didnt particularly trust him to protect her, even if she was a powerful weapon against the demons. She started to speak up, but Nat began to ask about which group was going to take which demons. Anna turned her eyes up to study Sam’s face, wondering if he would be okay with letting her go, or if he would want to come with them.

When he spoke up, she breathed a sigh of relief and finally nodded her head, “I’m okay with that plan. I feel better having Sam with us. We could use the muscle and knife skills, in case someone gets taken out.”

Cason and Dean both winced at her words, but Dean reluctantly nodded as well. “I don’t like any of this, but the plan does sound like it will work. Let’s get moving.”



As the group began stepping away from each other to prepare and grab their respective weapons, Anna approached Cason, who shook his head at her immediately, “You are plently juiced up. Any more and your head won’t be in this. You will be more interested in eating them than you are killing them. Keep your head on, and I’ll give you more after we are finished here. Alright?”

Anna opened her mouth to speak, but Cason shook his head again. Anna grumbled under her breath and walked over to Sam to prepare together for what was coming. Cason turned to Nat and scratched the back of his head in annoyance, holding his arms out after, as he brought forward his humor, “Well, it looks like I’m going into this with a pig sticker, a giant idiot…no offense, and a demon melter. Hopefully, they didn’t screw me, here…again.”



Duke sighed as Esme stepped off the tailgate. It seemed that they had finally come to an agreement and honestly, he felt as if he was mostly there for hunter backup anyway. He was a capable hunter but he now had a distraction again. With Esme in the fold, and with her not having full control over her powers, around demons, he was concerned. He glanced up at the sky, the stars seemingly taunting him with how peaceful and clear the blackness was. After a moment, he slipped off the tailgate and began rummaging through his bag in the back of the truck.

He slipped a couple of knives, a pistol, a flask of holy water, and another flask of salt into his pockets of his jeans and his jacket. The last thing he pulled out was an iron pole, that he twirled around in front of his chest like a baton.

He then turned to Esme and gave a mischevious smirk, “You ready to go play with some demons? Might as well get this overwith…”

————





“Alright. Nat…Mika, we’ll take the back. We can ambush them faster that way. Sam, you, Cason and Anna take the front. Duke and Esme can…” Dean barked orders, before Duke held up his iron bar and smiled.

“We’ll roll in to assist whichever group seems to need it. Just like the old days, eh?”

“Just like the old days. Let’s go.” Dean muttered with a smirk. He nodded to Cason, urging him to say his goodbyes or whatever he felt the need to do, giving his sister at least that much respect, while holding his arm out for Mika to join him as he stepped into the tall grass on the side of the hill, with Ruby’s knife clenched tight in his hand.

NAT AND MIKA

Mika didn't think Dean would cave to her plan so easily but it seemed he proved her wrong as he actually gave it some thought and then agreed to it. She sighed with some relief that for once they were actually thinking with their heads and not their fists. She wasn't prepared to lose anyone and that included their very own demon.

She too winced, but not as obviously as the boys did at Anna's choice of words. She didn't think about any of that. No, this plan HAD to work. She lost Dean once, and she didn't want to lose him again or anyone else. She knew if they did she wouldn't take it at all and the thought of how far she'd fall off the wagon again honestly scared her as much as the realization of a possible impending apocalypse. "Okay, with everything agreed, let's head out" she commented after they all decided who takes what group of demon and collected what they desired for the fight.

She too let Nat go to Cason to say whatever she wanted, as well as being proud of Dean for giving his sister that amount of respect. Seeing Dean reach his arm out to her, she gave a nod and reached her hand out, grabbing his arm and headed toward their point of attack to wait for Nat.

Nat was glad that Dean gave her that bit of respect, taking the opportunity gladly as she wasted no time in walking over to Cason. "Sam won't screw you over, he knows I'll never forgive him if he does. Which brings me to my next comment, please don't do anything reckless that would take you away from me okay?" she requested of him. She knew it was probably corny and clingy but she did still have so much to remember and such and she did feel safer with him around her. She felt his presence did help her regain her foggy memory.

She opened the trunk to pull out some backup weaponry consisting of a recurve bow and a couple of iron tipped arrows. It was something she rarely got to use it but it was a favourite of hers. She still remembered having to beg Bobby to agree to help her make the arrowheads. Slinging the bow over her shoulder, she closed the trunk and looked back at Cason. "See you on the other side of this" she told him, placing one hand on his left arm. With a squeeze, she glanced over at her brothers and nodded, before letting go of Cason and reluctantly stepping toward Mika and Dean.

SAM

If Cason wasn't on the scene, then Sam's plan or opinions no doubted would have been different, however there was no way he was going to leave Anna with Cason when she was more than willing to drink his blood. Just the thought in his head made him flip the tiny vial of Ruby's blood in his jacket pocket discreetly between his fingers. He had to keep his wits about him and not cave to any looking temptations to be extra strong for Anna. He needed to be fully aware and coherent about what they were going into.

With the plan decided, he walked to the impala and grabbed what he needed, his usual gun and an extra knife. It may not have been as useful as Ruby's knife that Dean had taken, but it would give them an edge to get this done. He couldn't help but eavesdrop on Nat and Cason's conversation and he really didn't know how he felt about what his sister was telling Cason, but he also knew he couldn't be too opinionated on it when he's had a secret fling in the recent past with Ruby.

Mentally shaking his opinions out of his mind, he walked over to Anna, "ready?" he asked after Dean ordered his group to take the front. It was a solid course of action. He also figured that Dean decided on the back meant he and Mika would be able to keep Nat safer for longer. "lets get this done" he agreed with his brother, holding his arm out to signal Cason and Anna that they should get going.

--------

With it all decided and the group ready, Nat and Mika crept round to the back and when they got close enough but still in range, Nat quietly slipped her bow off her shoulder and nooked an arrow. Raising the bow, she pulled back on the string, closing one eye she got the closest demon to them in her sight. Breathing out slowly, she loosed the arrow effortlessly, letting the bow relax and 'swing' in her grip as she watched the arrow hit her target, the demon going down with a grunt and a thud. "bullseye" she whispered. Mika couldn't help but smirk in pride at the girl's aim, even if she did think she was showing off slightly.

"Show off" Mika whispered, as she watched the other demons notice their comrade was down. "Showtime" she remarked.