After the plan and teams were decided, Esme walked over to the back of Duke's truck, grabbed her duffle bag, unzipped it, and began to pull out the items she needed, wincing as she heard Anna’s words. Her first pick was her favorite pistol, which she tucked into her right jacket pocket. Then she took out flasks of salt and holy water, a couple of knives, and extra ammo, all of which she shoved into the pockets of her jacket and jeans. The last item Esme pulled from her duffle was a foot-and-a-half-long steel rod with an intricate inlaid design in iron. She didn't use it often, as it held some painful memories for her and was a gift from a family member. She zipped up her duffle and stepped away from Duke's truck. As she walked away, she ran her thumb over the small engraved letters on its surface:

To my fav cuz, from your fav cuz. Love Ari.

When Duke spoke, Esme looked at him and softly laughed at his mischievous smirk. “Can you ever be truly ready to play with demons?” she asked, giving him a mischievous smirk in return, hiding how uncomfortable she felt. With a quick flick of her wrist, it expanded into a five-foot-long bo staff, the ends made of iron. Esme twirled it in front of herself, over her head, then back in front. “Yeah, the sooner we get it over with, the better.” she replied as she stopped spinning the bo staff and planted one end on the ground. Being this close to so many demons made her skin crawl and feel incredibly uneasy. She hoped to keep herself in check and not lose control of her powers. She knew at some point, she was going to have to find a solution that would help her stay in control of them. Esme felt lucky knowing she wouldn't have to go it alone. She knew Duke would be there to help her in any way he could.

_____________________________

Before everyone started to group up, Esme took that moment to clear her mind and focus on the task and what needed to be done, not what could happen. The longer she focused, the more her white-knuckled grip on her staff loosened. Sarah had come up, sitting next to her, leaning gently against her during this. Esme was determined to maintain control of her powers so that this whole thing didn’t go sideways for everyone. Esme had finally found her happy place by the time everyone had begun to group up. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she lifted her staff off the ground and walked over to the group as Dean started to bark orders. A small smile came to her lips when Duke interrupted Dean on what they could do before Dean could finish his sentence. “Yes, just like the old days.” she breathed, a small smile still on her lips. As the groups went their ways, Esme found a spot that gave her a clear view of everything.

Sarah came over and sat close to Esme while she watched the others move into their positions. Soon, her gaze focused on Natalia, watching as the woman took up her bow, nocked an arrow, loosed it, and hit her demon target. “Seo sinn a-nis.” she breathed as the demons noticed one of their members down. Esme gripped her staff, readying herself to jump in if either group needed help. As she stood there, she felt a knot growing in the pit of her stomach. No matter how hard Esme tried to ignore it, she couldn’t. Bad feelings and thoughts weren't needed at a time like this, not with how many demons were involved and how she had the tendency to lose control of herself. “Fòcas, Esme, fòcas.” she breathed to herself. “Gheibh thu tro seo gun dad uamhasach a’ tachairt.”

Anna glanced over as Nat and Cason spoke, sighing to herself. She knew that Cason was the most careless of all of them, due to him being extremely hard to kill. But with her limited knowledge of demons, she also knew that demons definitely knew how to take each other out. The thought made her nervous, and she turned her head away from them, toward the open field and the barn of chaos they were about to walk into.

Cason tilted his head to the side, not quite convinced by Nat’s words, but her request stuck with him and he took a deep breath through his nose, turning his eyes from her to nod his head. He couldn’t promise her that he wouldn’t come out of this worse for wear. He was already a target to most demons that he knew, and from the smell of things, he knew at least half of the assholes inside that barn.

“I will do the best I can.”, he answered bluntly, with a soft smile, reserved only for Nat. He resisted the urge to pull her back to him, as she stepped away, a gut feeling telling him that she was safer with him, than not. He had to remove whatever this human worry was, and focus. She would either be okay, or she wouldn’t. At this point, there wasn’t much of an option to change any minds.

As she came back, with her weapon of choice, squared up and ready to go, he once again took a deep breath through his nose, part frustration and part concern. But instead of stopping her, once again, he nodded with a fake attempt at a confident smile, “I’ll see you on the other side. Be smart. Don’t get yourself killed.”

——-

At the base of the hill, Cason stepped up in front of the building, in plain view of the demons there. At first they didn’t notice him, and Anna reached out a hand, grabbing his arm and hissing at him, “Don’t. Follow the plan.”

Cason glanced down at her hand, and smirked with a nod, stepping back out of their eye sight, until he turned to look around the side of the building and saw Nat land a good shot against a demon, drawing attention to herself. With gritted teeth, his eyes turned black and an unnatural panic settled in his chest.

“Hey boys! How’s it goin’?! Pretty night we got here!” He called out to the distracted demons in the front. To his surprise, they didn’t immediately attack. Instead, they stood, their knees slightly bent as they watched him closely, waiting for him to attack, or do something. “I think you got a real nice place here. Party? Wake?”

He fake pouted, as he joked, and one of the demons recognized him, growling a little more audibly. Anna, though momentarily frozen in place by Cason’s stupidity, slipped away from him, and behind a tractor nearby. She walked as gently as she possibly could, before jumping onto one of the demon’s back. She covered his mouth and with both hands, wrapping her legs around his waist as he fell onto his back, directly onto her body. The fall knocked the wind out of her, and she saw stars, but she didn’t loosen her grip, as his skin melted and eventually, he wilted into nothing but bones and boiling blood.

She laid there, relaxing her body for a moment as she tried to regain the breath that was knocked out of her. As she laid there, she hadn’t realized the chaos that was beginning to unfold around her. A body entered her field of fuzzy vision, and she reached her hands out to try and defend herself, but the body slumped and fell to the ground, smoke flowing out of its mouth and into the night sky. Cason stood there, nudging Anna’s leg with his foot, “Get up. C’mon! I can’t do this on my own, and neither can your boyfriend…”

Anna growled in frustration and shoved herself off the ground, standing to her feet to get back into the fight. She didn’t even have time to attack anyone, as she was tackled, right back onto her back again.

“What a pretty little thing Cason has picked up and you can melt demons?!” The demon teased her as he wrapped his hands around her throat. His palms began to smoke and he growled in anger, pulling his jacket sleeves over his hands and going right back to the grip around her throat, tightening down to the point that she couldn’t even begin to feel breath trying to enter her lungs. She slapped at his face, trying to make contact with her bare hands, but her arms weren’t long enough as he pressed her harder into the ground. Before she passed out, she felt a glove being placed on each hand, and then everything went black.



Dean reached a hand out, as Nat pulled her bow string back, ready to tell her to wait until they were all in position. When the arrow made the sickening thud, Dean winced, but lifted an eyebrow. It was a good shot. He would have to tell her about it later, as he didn’t want to yell out to her across the barn. Much to his dismay, several demons turned at the sound. The farm was super quiet, and so even the sound of a body dropping onto the gravel was enough to echo throughout the barn.

“Dammit.” Dean groaned, and then heard Cason’s voice echo through the night, like another arrow piercing the air. Dean closed his eyes tightly, having known it would be Cason that would ruin everything. He waited a moment, hiding behind a wall, and a demon passed him, right on cue. “Hey…dickhead.”

And before the demon could even get a good look at him, he reached into his jacket pocket and tossed a handful of salt into the demons eyes. The demon backed up, pawing at it’s eyes while groaning, and Dean stepped forward, pulling another handful of salt. He wrapped his arm around the demon’s neck and shoved the handful of salt in his mouth, holding his mouth shut as he fought like hell.

After a moment, Dean removed his hand, and the demon smoked out, running like a coward. The body fell to the ground and Dean ran toward the girls, not even sure where they ended up. It was then that he remembered he had Ruby’s knife in his hand, as he was tackled to the ground by a large demon. This demon had to have been a football player in a former life. No matter what Dean did, wiggling his body around, he couldn’t free himself from the weight that held him to the ground, until the demon pushed off to draw a punch and Dean acted quick, shoving the knife through his heart. He twisted the knife with his teeth clenched together, as the demon sparked out, and luckily landed to his side, an arm draped over Dean’s chest.

Dean groaned again, hearing the chaos on the other side of the building, and shoved the demon’s arm off his body. But when he stood up, there were two demons standing in front of him, and no sight of anyone else. Most everything around him was quiet, and a sinking feeling began to settle in the bottom of his gut that something wasn’t quite right.



Duke felt relatively confident as he followed Esme behind the rest of the group. All he had to go with was an iron bar, but as long as he was quick on his feet, that wouldn’t be an issue, it never was. As Nat killed the first demon they came across, Duke smiled ear to ear. Maybe this would be successful.

Just as the thought ran through his mind, a female demon ran up and swiped across his face, out of nowhere with a knife. “Holy shit. Jesus…”, he gasped, taking a few steps back from her, before swiping back at her with his iron bar. The woman turned and took a swipe at Esme, which Duke attempted to catch with his hand. The knife slashed Duke’s palm, and he cried out, pulling his hand to his chest with a growl. “Hey! Me and you, sweetheart…me and you!”

The demon woman turned to him, and sneered, her creepy smile sending a chill down his spine as a larger demon speared Esme out of Duke’s eye sight, making it impossible for him to help her with her own battle. He dug his feet into the ground, his heart fluttering as the woman lunged forward with the knife, barely missing his face, and they began a dodge and weave battle of wit.

“That was close…a little slow…but…”, Duke teased as he continued backing up, dodging all of her slashes and attempts to kill him with the knife. He swiped at her hand, a sparking gash forming against her elbow as she growled and stopped her slashing for a moment, “And we found the weak spot.”

“You’re so cute, cowboy. You’ll be even cuter all bloody and yelling my name…”

“Sweetheart…you ain’t my type. I like my girls alive and a little less forward. I’m also not the yellin’ type.” Duke chuckled, but his smile dropped as she screamed and lunged at him with the knife once again, barely missing his chest. The swiping continued until Duke backed up against the side of the barn, and like clockwork, the knife plunged into his abdomen, wedging itself into the wood behind him. The demon, with her strength, pulled the knife from him, and turned, without saying a word, toward Esme. “Esme! Ah…dammit…RUN!”

Duke was reminded mid sentence that he had a gaping hole in his stomach, placing his hand over it, to try and stop some of the bleeding. It was then that Sarah caught onto what was happening, and pounced on the female demon, causing her to scream out, piercing the quiet night air. After a few moments of thrashing her around (which Duke could only see the poor demon’s body flailing and ragdolling) Sarah bit the woman’s head, causing it to implode, and dropped her sparking body on the ground below her, before returning to help Esme.

Duke leaned his head back against the side of the barn, his vision beginning to fade as he stared at the tree tops, trying to count each one. The last thing he could remember seeing before he lost conciousness was Cason’s face, the demon’s voice seemingly far away as he screamed at him.

“C’mon! We gotta group up. Come on. Dammit, that looks bad. You’re alright. Let’s go group up.” Cason shouted at him, before hoisting him off the ground, and attempting to run toward the others with him.

NATALIA AND MIKA

If there was one thing that Nat did notice before they all went their separate ways, it was that Cason didn't or felt he couldn't, promise her not to do anything reckless and come back to her. His words of "I'll do the best I can" rang through her mind constantly which just made her determined to keep to her word that she wouldn't get herself killed or hurt so he didn't feel like he had to do something reckless. She just had to trust that although Sam didn't like him in the slightest, he wouldn't let Cason ruin whatever it was she and him were becoming and keep him alive and safe. If not for Cason, but for her. She knew Sam knew she would never forgive him if something happened on his watch.

Forcing her mind to keep on the present, she smirked as the demon she shot went down like a dead weight, smoke appearing as the coated arrow yip pierced through the host's flesh. She always felt a tad bad for killing the innocent person in the process but time was of the essence tonight and she knew they couldn't save every single human inside. She didn't even think about Dean behind her possibly trying to get her to stop and not take the shot just at that moment. She had an agenda against demons, she wanted justice for everything they had put her through for years and she wasn't going to wait on permission by her big brother. It was solely when Dean cursed and Cason's voiced echoed out to everyone in the vicinity did she remotely feel bad for not waiting on everyone else. With Dean hiding behind a wall, she took to remaining behind a couple of bushes and a tree so she could try and remain stealthy as much as possible, whilst Mika took the other side of the barn's wall.

Mika, on the opposite side to Dean, snuck forward as she saw another demon follow his comrade out of the barn. "Well hey there soldier" she cooed in the ear, making him swiftly spin round without taking any precautions, stepping right into Mika's blade stupidly. "Oh sorry, forgot I had it" she smirked, twisting it and yanking it out as she watched the demon writhe and twitch as the realisation of the blade being coated in salt was coursing through his body, making him smoke out and flee. As the body dropped to the ground, she turned round ready to go back to Nat but she took was cornered by another demon, stopping her from getting to Nat. "Well hi there sweet thing. How about you tango with me without the cheats?" He coyly spoke, stepping towards her, making her back up so she could study his actions. He then started quickly towards her, making it impossible for her dart out of the way in time. The demon gripped her by her neck and sniffed her deeply. "You smell...different. you're not like your team. Interesting...very very interesting!" He smirked, making Mika grimace and feel confused by his words.

She tried to wriggle out of his grip, but all it did was make his grip tighter. She began to gasp for air, raising her hands to try and wrangle herself free. "Get off of her!" Nat threatened, bow raised, arrow nocked and aiming right for his head. Mika stated at Natalia, unsure if she could trust the girl's aim when she was in front of the target. Yet she knew she had to trust Nat with all her might. "Aww the little psycho bitch is proving herself of her title! Tell me, how's life outside of the asylum?" He replied, but that just pissed Nat off even more, making her loose her arrow which struck the demon right in the skull, with only the breeze of the arrow in the air being felt by Mika. "Thanks!" Mika gasped as she regained her breath. "Always" Natalia commented back.

With a nod exchanged by both girls, they began to run round to try and find Dean but they couldn't find him. "What the hell?" They both said in unison. This wasn't making a heap of sense but they had to keep trying holding down the fort for the others. "You go left, I'll go right and keep finding Dean, stay safe" Mika instructed, trusting that Natalia would be okay separating from her. It was risk, but they had no choice. So separating they did. It was only then did Mika find Dean being cornered by two demons. "Shit" she cursed.

Natalia used this moment to climb as best she could go the roof of the barn after finding some haystacks she could use for steps. Reaching the roof, she looked around. She could see Duke and Esme trying to hold down the advantage on their enemies, whilst also spotting Cason, Sam and Anna Beth with their old fight. Lifting her arm over her shoulder to grab another arrow to nock in her bow, she drew the string back once more, debating on who to help first. She turned between Duke's group and Sam's several times before finally deciding on helping Sam's group. Just as she was about to loose the arrow, she got shoved off the roof, her bow flying out of her hands, clambering on the ground as she rolled and smacked her head hard onto the ground. Everything began to go hazy and dark, but she didn't fully black out straight away, not until she saw two feet walk towards her.

SAM

Sam refused to be far from either Annabeth or Cason, but he had his own battles going on. A female demon aimed right for him, as he headed himself up for a fight. He knew just because the host was seemingly a small framed woman, it didn't mean they were going to be an easy fight. He flipped his knife in his hand, making sure he had a good grip on it. "Stop toying with me already" hele said, just wanting this night over with. He hated they were all split up in groups, even though he agreed it was the best plan but it felt like it was all going wrong. Almost as if these demons knew they would go in for an ambush attack. He charged the female demon as she charged him, using the same tricks as Dean by grabbing the salt in his pocket and throwing it right in her eyes, making her scream and s ratchet at her eyes. With her temporarily blinded, he went for the kill, stabbing her right in the heart, forcing the demon to smoke out, whilst the meat suit dropped to the ground dead.

Turning on his heels, he saw Annabeth go down and was ready to run when Cason beat him to it, getting her up on her feet, only to end up back down again and getting knocked out. He saw the assailant and went to charge, but he got hit round the back of his head, falling to the ground. "Shit..." He managed to curse out before he felt his eyes behind to shut. Refusing to go out, he shook the pain off, waking once more and stumbling back onto his feet. "Anna!" He called out, stumbling over to her to try and give her some kind of cover.

Esme did her best to stay aware of her surroundings while she followed along with the group, but not well enough because a female demon almost got the better of her and Duke. She barely had enough time to step back as a female demon came out of nowhere and took a swipe at Duke. She barely had enough time to lean back and take a step away before the woman came for her, which Duke blocked with his hand, causing her to wince as he cried out. Taking another step back and using her staff, Esme regained her footing. She turned to Duke to call out to him but stopped when a giant male demon entered her sight. Esme took a few steps back, holding her staff out to shield herself, causing the demon to grin. “Aww, look. A scared little rabbit to play with.” he teased in a deep tone. Esme gripped her staff tighter, glaring up at the demon, who had to have been a wrestler in a former life. “Scared rabbit? Sure.” she hissed. “I’ll show you a scared rabbit.” she breathed. Esme charged him and swung her staff, which he caught with a gloved hand.

With one quick pull on her staff, the demon pulled her off her feet and quickly wrapped a hand around her throat. “Damnaidh!” she breathed as his grip tightened around her throat. He then yanked the staff from her hand, tossing it to the side and squeezing her throat tighter. She gasped for air and tried to free herself from his iron grip, but it was useless. She looked over his shoulder and saw Duke holding his own. Then she scanned the demon’s body for any exposed skin, but all there was was his face, which she couldn’t quite reach.“How do I always get tangled up with the giant ones?” she questioned herself. Wrapping her hands around his arm, she kicked at him, but he was just out of reach. As her vision began to go hazy, survival mode kicked in, causing her to remember the salt in her jacket pocket. She plunged her hand into her pocket and pulled a handful of salt, throwing it into the demon's face. He howled, throwing her to the ground pawing at his face. “You little bitch!” he growled, kicking her in the stomach just as she got a lungful of air.

She felt the air leave her as she grunted, then rolled to the side to dodge his foot aimed at her head. Coughing, she shakily took to her feet, holding her aching stomach. “Why don’t you just give up? You know you can’t win this.” he sneered. “Never.” she coughed. Esme held her ground, watching the demon with unwavering eyes. He then charged her. She held her ground until the last minute. She moved to the side, dropped to one knee, pulled a knife from its sheath, and threw it at his back. It struck in between his shoulder blades. His howl of pain and anger echoed through the barn. While he fought to reach the blade, Esme took this chance to grab her staff. Once her hand landed on it, the demon had abandoned the idea of pulling out the knife and charged her again. Quickly taking to her feet, Esme charged the demon, then dropped into a slide and swung her staff at his shins, sending him face-first into the ground. Standing, she looked over to check on Duke, only to realize he was not doing well. He had been backed into the barn by the female demon.

Esme wanted to help, but her hands were full with this giant demon. Just before the demon could get to his feet, she ran over and bashed his head with her staff a couple of times. She then pulled her knife from his back and was going to attempt to plunge it through his heart, but stopped halfway through when she saw the female demon stab Duke in the stomach. “Duke!” she cried out, which gave the male demon an opening. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her off her feet. She landed hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. “Aww, the little rabbits Cowboy lost.” he chuckled as he got to his feet. Fighting for air, Esme grabbed her staff and knife, then scrambled to her feet before the demon could land another attack. Placing the hilt of the knife in her mouth, she charged the demon, barely making him out through her blurred vision. Instead of dropping low like last time, she jumped and aimed for his throat with her staff, only to have him duck and dodge her attack. “Nice try, little rabbit. You’re too slow.” he laughed as her feet hit the ground.

Then, she heard Duke yell out for her to run, his tone sending a shiver down her spine. She spun around to see the female demon coming for her. There was no way she could fight off both on her own. Then Sarah came out of nowhere and attacked the female, sending some relief through Esme. Esme went back to fighting the male demon with everything she had. The fight had taken them around to another side of the bar. She had been thrown into some farming equipment and the side of the barn, resulting in her left shoulder being dislocated and her losing her weapons. When Sarah finished with the female, she found Esme on the ground and stood at her side protectively. “You have a Hellhound?.....” he yelled in surprise, looking as if he was ready to bolt. A smirk came to Esme’s lips at the fear she saw in his eyes. “Sarah, if you would.” she said to the Hellhound as she got to her feet. Sarah pounced on the demon and pinned him to the ground, growling. “You’re human. How can you see it?” he yelled. “Sarah, shut him up, please.” she asked the Hellhound softly.

Sarah leaned in, growling and baring her fangs in his face in a threatening manner. He flinched at Sarah’s actions, not daring to look her in the eyes. “How the hell did you tame it?” he asked, lowering his tone. Holding her left shoulder, Esme walked over and peered down at the demon, a smirk still resting on her lips. “Who said I did?” she responded flatly. She then turned and walked off a few steps before turning back around. “He’s all yours, Sarah.” she told the Hellhound. Turning, Esme looked around and collected her weapons quickly. As much as she felt like putting that demon through the ringer, she knew now wasn’t the time. She needed to gather her weapons swiftly and get back to check on Duke and the others. As she gathered her weapons, she could hear Sarah rag-dolling the demon and then crushing his head. Sarah made her way over to Esme and gently nudged her with a whine. “I’ll be fine. We need to group up.” she told her. Esme slipped her knife into its sheath and used her staff to steady herself. The two walked around the barn to where Esme last saw Duke.

He wasn’t there, only a blood stain on the ground from where he had been. “Hellfire!” she hissed. “I hope one of the others found him and got him out of here.” she told Sarah. As much as she wanted that to be true, something told her it wasn’t. “Come on. We need to keep looking for the others.” Esme walked as quickly as she could, using Sarah as support and noting how quiet things had gotten, giving her a sinking feeling in her gut. The two rounded the corner of the barn, and she could see Dean just at the other end. She was going to attempt to get his attention when a rogue demon popped up out of nowhere. Sarah reacted and quickly took it out. “Nice work, Sarah.” she told her softly. Esme pushed on, and Sarah returned to her side, watching for more stray demons to pop up. They were clear the rest of the way to Dean's position, and she couldn't have been happier. “Dean! You good!” she called out when she was within earshot. As she closed the gap, Sarah slowed and hung back a bit, ensuring not to unnerve Dean with her presence.

Once the gap between them had been closed, she stopped, stuck her staff in the ground, and held onto her left arm. She looked around; the others were nowhere in sight. “I’m assuming you don’t know where the others are either.” she sighed, looking back at him. Esme closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it through her nose to get her worry for Duke under control. “How did this go so wrong?” she said mostly to herself, opening her eyes. “We need to regroup. I hope one of the others found Duke during all the chaos. He got stabbed, and I couldn’t get to him because I was in a fight of my own.” she told him. Now that she had that off her chest, she needed to do something about her dislocated shoulder. There just happened to be an electrical pole on that side of the barn. Esme walked over to it, pulled a leather glove from her pocket, and placed it between her teeth. Then, she lined her left shoulder up to the pole. She breathed in and out, giving a few practice rocks towards it to make sure she hit on the right spot.

Taking one last breath, she let it out and slammed her shoulder against the electrical pole, putting it back in place. Esme bit down on the glove and groaned from the pain shooting through her shoulder. She leaned against the pole momentarily before breathing deeply through her nose and pushed herself off the pole as she released it. Taking the glove from her mouth, she shoved it back into her pocket, walked back over to her staff, plucked it from the ground, and looked at Dean. “Come on. Let’s go find the others.” she almost whispered as she rolled her left shoulder back and began the search for the others.

“Ow…”, Anna groaned as she came to. There wasn’t much light around her and her vision was fuzzy as she tried to bring her hand up to her head. The jangle of chains and the resistance against her wrist told her that she was chained to something, and as she flexed her fingers, she realized she had gloves on. “What the hell?”

“Be still.” Cason’s whispering voice rang out in the darkness, causing Anna to flinch. She turned to him, only to see that he was sitting right next to her. At that moment, she scanned his body in the dark, to see that he was bolted to the wall by a bracket around his neck, a bracket she could only assume was made of iron. If he was tied down, and her hands were covered, they were being held by demons. Great. “There are Hellhounds guarding us…”

“Hellhounds? Who the hell has us?”

“That part hasn’t been made very clear. But I don’t think I have to tell you that we’re in trouble.” Cason groaned, tossing a rock toward the Hellhounds Anna couldn’t see. Both the giant invisible dogs growled and stepped forward, their steps kicking up dust as they came to stand at her feet.

“Cason. Where is everyone else?” Anna asked cautiously, watching the Hellhounds footprints appear at random on the dusty floor in the moonlight. Cason groaned at the question, and it was only then that Anna’s eyes grazed over a white cowboy hat in the glare of the moon. There was a smear of blood along the rim, and Anna’s stomach fell. “Duke?! DUKE!”

The hellhounds nearly roared as she lunged forward, testing the strength of the bolts that held her chains. She shuffled backward as the hellhound in front of her breathed against her face, snarling and ruffling the hair on her forehead. Duke didn’t answer. She couldn’t see him and he didn’t answer.

“He was alive last time I saw him.”

“When was that?” Anna asked with a defeated sigh. But Cason didn’t answer. He simply put a finger up to his lips, and held his other hand out to her as the barn door opened and a man came inside. In a quick reach above his head, he pulled a chain and light flooded the room, causing Anna to close her eyes and duck her head for a moment. As she opened her eyes and looked around the room, she noticed Duke’s body in a pile in the corner, near his hat. He wasn’t moving. The scene caused her to stomp her foot and struggle against her chains. The others were nowhere to be found, and from what she could tell, they had killed Duke.

“Oh sweetie. I hate that we had to meet back up like this…” The man in front of her spoke, kneeling in front of her, but far enough away from her feet that she couldn’t kick him. She snarled and fought against her chains, her fingers stretched out as if begging to burn him to a crisp. “But after the little incident last time we met, I couldn’t take any chances. You understand. But won’t she be happy to see…you…”

As he finished teasing, he tapped his finger against her nose, sizzling his own skin in quick taps and with a bright smile, “Ah! No touching, see?”

“I will kill you. Which one are you, hmm?”

“Oh you don’t remember me?!” The man cooed at her, and Anna’s stomach dropped, as Cason called out the man’s name before she even had to shape her lips.

“Alastair.”

“You son of a bitch!” Anna cried out, yelping in pain as the cuff around her wrist tightened suddenly, and the chain wrenched back toward the wall, stretching her shoulder joint. Cason leaned forward, the iron bracket around his neck sizzling his skin which seemed to only make Alastair more amused.

“Oh, you guys are so over protective of one another. I’m not going to hurt any of you! That’s a job for my favorite boys. I just want to have a talk…make a proposition.” He laughed, shushing Cason. “No need to be her attack dog. She could have that handled all on her own, if not for my smarts.”

“I’m not making any deals with you. Where’s Sam?!”

“Oh Sam Sam Sam. All you think about is Sam. It would be awfully adorable if it wasn’t so pathetic. I mean…considering the prophecy and all that. You realize…your purpose…” Alastair began but Cason growled and called out to shut him up before he finished.

“Stop! Stop it right now. They will be here any second and you’re finished, you dumb bastard…”

“And not a word about your sweet, beautiful, fiesty pet human, hmm?” Alastair teased Cason, illiciting a low growl from his chest. “I’m working on that. She seems to have slipped through the cracks. Alive, yes. For how long? Who knows. If you’re a good boy, maybe we will just play with her a bit, and leave…the scraps. It’s not like you’re ever going to see her again anyway, right?”

“What?” Anna whispered in a small and weak voice as she realized the implications of Alastair’s words.

“Oh no..You thought we would let a filthy disgusting traitorous thing like him stay top side? No no no. You, I can’t hurt…much. Him…” He turned to Cason with a sneer, and showed every single tooth as he grinned, “He’s coming home with daddy, sans the pretty body.”

“So you’re going to let me go?” Anna asked innocently and once again Alastair laughed in her face, giving his best fake pout and then shook his head.

“Not exactly, pet. I’m helping you live your destiny! You have known for a while. Lilith is going to take your body and then offer herself…to Sam. I just have to hold you long enough for the Winchesters to fail at saving the seals! Until the time is right. You understand.”

“Sam will never kill me.” Anna whispered, shaking her head as she tilted her head down and stared at Alastair’s chest.

“Maybe not!” Alastair sighed, standing to his feet and wiping his hands on his pants. He then turned, and began to pace around the room as he spoke, “But to choose between a fleeting, bolting, uncommitted, two month relationship or the life of his brother and everyone he has ever loved before her…hmm. That’s a tough one.”

“Anna don’t listen to him.” Cason muttered, and in a blink of an eye, Alastair was on top of him, stabbing a fire poker through his entire body. The iron of the poker caused Cason to scream, his entire body sparking as Anna had only seen when demons were killed.

“NO! Stop it! Stop it please. Please don’t kill him.” Anna begged, struggling against her chains as she kicked her feet at Alastair’s legs. Cason’s desperate growls tore her heart from her chest as she began to cry and Alastair simply turned and smiled at her.

“I won’t kill him, yet. This is adorable, though. The girlfriend of a hunter, pleading for the life of a demon. It’s almost a book that writes itself.” Alastair gave another shove of the poker, wedging it into the wooden wall behind Cason, and then stood once again and walked toward the door, “I need to go check on the others. But when I come back, I’m expecting a bit more cooperation from you, princess. That, or we do things the hard way.”

With that, he left the room and Anna scooted as close as she could to Cason, listening to him breathe, “Are you okay?”

“No. I’m not okay. I’m skewered to the wall, Anna.” Cason’s sarcasm sent a spark of hope through Anna’s heart as she let a quiet sob leave her throat, a mixture of relief and anguish. There was literally no way for them to get out of this. Not a single way. Their only weapon was chained to the wall, sitting in a devils trap. Duke was presumably chained to the wall across the room, but he hadn’t moved in a while. He was likely dead and there was no way the others were nearby. They were probably dead. With another small sob, Anna tried to assess their situation.

“How are we going to get out of here? I don’t think I can break these chains, Cason. Even if I could, I couldn’t get that thing off the wall around your neck. I’m not strong enough. I don’t know what to do.” Anna sobbed, picking up the chain from the floor and following it to the loop it was attached to.

“Try.” Cason choked out, swallowing heavily as his body sparked again. “Just try.”

Anna wrapped the chain around her gloved hand, and then gripped it with her free hand, pressing her feet tightly against the dusty floor. A hellhound nearby growled at her, but she still pulled with every ounce of energy she had left in her body, until she began to hear the wood floor crack beneath the bolts. Suddenly, the Hellhound rushed forward and aggressively bit her shoulder, causing her to scream, echoing through the barn as she fell back and the giant dog released her, its mouth sizzling with its cries. As Anna lay on the floor crying, clutching her shoulder, Cason smiled and let out a chuckle.

“They can’t touch you, either.” He laughed, before coughing. “Come as close to me as you can.”

“Why?” Anna sobbed, sitting up on her elbows and crawling over to Cason, as her shoulder bled through her shirt and the blood began to spatter on the dirty wood floor. Cason didn’t answer, he just kept smiling at the dogs across from him.

“Because it’s time for you to learn a new lesson about your powers. Bite me.”



Dean furrowed his brow as the two demons he had been furiously fighting with suddenly turned, saw something and then ran away as if they had been startled by something in the dark. As far as he could see, there was no one there. He was alone, and the crickets were the only sound he could hear in the pitch black darkness of the farm. He turned in a full circle, trying to catch a sound of anything that could point him to the girls. But instead, he heard absolutely nothing…until…

Esme’s voice called out to him from the dark. His shoulders fell with a small bit of relief, just hearing another voice in all the silence. But that relief was only slight, as he only heard one set of footsteps. “Esme?! Where’s…?”

He broke his words off as she came into view, alone and seemed to have the same questions he did about everyone else. Sighing, he held his hands out and shrugged, “I don’t know where anyone is. One second we were getting ahead. The next second we were ambushed and then it was just quiet…like this.”

Dean looked around a bit, and then settled his eyes back on Esme. Her shoulder seemed pretty messed up and from the looks of it, things on her end had gone just as bad as they had for him. As she elaborated on what happened, however, Dean stepped closer to her and dipped his head, “What?! Duke got stabbed? What about the others. Did you see the others? And are you okay…that’s the big one. Your shoulder.”

His brain was now moving at a pace that caused a buzzing in his ears. The world seemed to be in tunnel vision as he watched Esme step away from him. He watched her with vague vision as she popped her shoulder back into place, and then walked back over to him. What if Mika was gone? Nat? Duke? Sam…

He took a deep and shaky breath as he heard Esme’s voice through the haze in his brain and nodded. “Yeah. Lets um…lets…lets go find the others.”

Dean took the lead in their mission, at least in his stride, walking as fast as he could without running and potentially running them right back into problems. They didn’t know how many demons were still out there, or what they wanted. They didn’t know if this was an ambush, or just a coincidence, but what HE knew, was that the others HAD to be alive. As if fate was answering their questions all at once, he turned the corner of the barn to see Mika, also alone, with demons scurrying off into the night all around her. The sight nearly took the air from Dean’s lungs as he reached down and grabbed Esme’s hand, pulling her along.

He dropped her hand as he reached Mika, and quickly brought both his hands up to her face. Any other time he would have worried about her seeing the blood and nastiness all over him, but right now, he was just happy that at least…the three of them were alive.

“MIKA! Holy shit. Are you okay? What the hell happened?! Where’s Nat?”

NATALIA AND MIKA

As Natalia's eyes closed, the strange feet coming closer the only thing that came out of her lips in a whispery breath was "..Cason...". Then it was lights out. As the two sets of legs reached her, one demon knelt down and rummaged through her clothing. "there has to be something" he grumbled, as the other kept look out for the other Winchesters and their companions. "Just hurry up!" The other gruffer one complained. Seconds later, the leaner one stood back up again clutching a folded photo. Natalia's precious old photo of her and John Winchester. "bingo!" He beamed, "she really shouldn't keep this shit tucked in her pockets. It could fall out and into the wrong hands!" He laughed gleefully before rushing off with his buddy.

Mika kept looking all around, now with no sight of Dean or Natalia and she was really not liking what was happening. How could this go oh so wrong so quickly? One minute she had Dean finally in her sights, then he was gone again. "lost someone?" A coy female voice broke through the silence, stepping out to Mika's viewpoint. "what do you think?" Mika spat back viciously, not in the mood for another fight with another demon but it was clear that she wasn't going to get her way. The female demon, flashed her black eyes and charged Mika rapidly, with Mika just about dodging the attack by a hairbreadth of a gap. "Not tonight bitch" she seethed, pulling her knife out and altering her stance, ready for a fight she didn't want to do. The redheaded demon then charged again but this time, Mika wasn't quick enough to dodge and in a blink of an eye, she was flat on her back, knife across the ground. "Aww with you on your back for me like that, I'd take you if I was that way inclined!" The demon giggled, just pissing Mika off even more. Scrambling to reach her knife, she felt the demon grab her leg and yank her back, lifting her off the ground in a swift swoop by her hair making Mika yell out in pain. Flailing her arms outward to try and break free, she seemed to loose a few seconds of time as the next thing she witnessed was the demon dropping her, scrambling to get away with her arm on fire. "What the hell?" Mika gasped, watching it all unfold around her. It was only then she noticed a scratch down her own arm before hearing Dean's voice yell out her name.

Spinning round on her heels, she saw Dean rush up to her and instantly grab her face, as he always did to check she was okay. "I'm okay...just a scratch on my arm, but okay..." She tried to reassure him, not wanting to explain what she just witnessed and how she doesn't even know who or what or how it even happened. "I don't know where Nat is... We were looking for you and she ended up out of eyesight. I've been trying to look for you and her" she explained.

Yards away from where Mika, Dean and Esme were standing Natalia was on the ground in the dark still near the barn wall, stirring awake. With a grunt and hiss as she checked her head, realising she was in fact bleeding from the back of her head, she slowly stood up, grabbed her bow and tried to shake her blurry vision into focus. "Shit!" She cursed as she stumbled round to find the others, eventually finding Dean, Esme and Mika. "Guys, I'm here" she called out but it was clear she was unsteady on her feet, her vision still swirling. She hadn't felt like this since the asylum when she was drugged up and it was proving difficult to not let those traumatic memories come to the surface.

[B]SAM[\B]

It seemed that shielding Anna just wasn't enough as the moment he got over her to protect, a demon flung him right off of her with a flick of his hand. He went flying across and landed in front of a tree with a grunt. "Get off of her!" He angrily shouted, trying to get up but the demon had managed to pin him in place. "No chance loverboy" was the response before all Sam could do was simply watch Anna get picked up and taken away just like that. "ANNA!!" he yelled as he felt the invisible grip on him drop when Anna and the demon went from his sight. He felt like he was failing her yet again and he could do nothing to help her. Yet despite this failing feeling, he also felt more determined to get her back. Getting back up onto his feet, he dusted his jeans off and ran his hands through his hair, looking around trying to find anyone from their group to come up with a back up plan on what to do. He couldn't see Cason anywhere and wondered if he either broke his agreement to stay with him and Anna to go after Natalia or he just got the hell out of dodge all together and left them in this mess. He was leaning more to the latter even though he felt like that made him an awful brother to Natalia.

"Get to the others..." He ordered himself, forcing himself to take one step at a time as he glanced around to find the others. Still no sight of Cason, Natalia or even Esme and Duke. "This is bad..." He grumbled before he eventually found some of the group together except for Duke and Cason. Jogging over, tucking hair behind his ear he atopped in front of them. "where are the others? A demon just took Anna....I don't like this. Cason is nowhere to be seen" he said, not wanting to look Natalia in the eye when he said those words. "what?" He heard Nat replied firmly, despite her current state. "we got outnumbered and overpowered...." He said matter of factly.

Anna pulled her face back from Cason’s wrist, growling as the blood poured from her bottom lip, spattering on the floor beneath her. Her skin was hot, and Cason was very thankful that the demons had placed gloves on her hands, or his arm would be burning to a crisp at that moment. She released him and sat back gasping for air as the demon blood in her system overwhelmed her senses, and took her breath away. Her head was burning. Even with the microdosing, she had just practically drank Cason dry.

“My head!” She cried out and Cason shushed her immediately, reaching out to touch her leg, but pulling his hand back as soon as he remembered that any open skin would burn him.

“You’re fine! Anna look at me. You’re fine. It’s a lot of blood all at once. The pain will settle, but we may not have time for that. Take a deep breath…” He cooed to her, breaking into a voice that she would hopefully be calmed by, considering he hadn’t used that voice with her since their breakup. She seemed to follow orders, though, and took a deep breath, while clutching her head hard enough to pit the skin on either side of her face. She growled and cried out again, causing the lights in the barn to flicker, which caused Cason to smirk. “Okay. So, I was right…”

“W-what do I have to do?” She whimpered, as Cason’s ears perked up to the sound of footsteps outside. Cason reached his leg out toward her and nudged the side of her thigh with a groan and the flickering lights in his body reappeared briefly.

“You focus. You focus on them when they come for you. You focus as hard as you can and you channel all of that pain into them. I don’t know how exactly it works, sweetheart, but if I’m right, you’re a nuke. You can blast them and we can get out of here.”

“But the iron…” Anna protested, and Cason shook his head, sizzling the skin of his neck.

“Don’t worry about me. You focus. Get out of here. I’ve dealt with worse.” He explained calmly as Anna shook her head. “Yes! You get out of here and you find the others. I’ll find a way out.”

“You can’t get out! That’s the point! You’re sitting in a devils trap with iron around your neck, Cason!”

“And if I die, I die! If I die, at least you get back to the others. You’ll survive and you can bring this whole shitshow down with me. Alright?” Cason did his best to comfort her. “And you find Nat. You tell her…you…”

“That’s why you have to get out of here. How am I supposed to tell her that I left you behind?” Anna whimpered, realizing exactly what Cason was trying to say. He loved her. He loved Natalia, and he couldn’t die. Not here. “You tell her yourself. You’re going to tell her yourself. Please.”

“Anna…”

“I’m not LEAVING YOU!” She cried out, but as she finished her sentence, the door of the barn slid open and the demon lackies walked in.

“You’re not…leaving at all, princess. Your friends are gone. Do you hear them? Are they looking for you. You…What the hell?!” The large demon in the front of the group began to tease Anna, but suddenly his arms were both engulfed in flames, followed by his torso, and with a loud scream, the flames burned him to ash that fell to the ground. The other demons stared with wide eyes at the pile of ash in front of them, and then their eyes landed on Anna. She sat, her hand balled into a fist and a trail of fresh blood flowing from her nose as she glared at them. Her eyes were glazed over in white, and slowly, an evil smirk washed over her face.

“Get her! Go get her!” A smaller demon screamed at the hellhounds in the corner. But they stayed still, whining in defiance, which only caused Anna’s smile to spread.

“They can’t touch me. We have a problem…princess…” She growled, suddenly turning and pressing both her feet to the floor near the chain anchor. With less effort than before, one of the bolts broke free from the wood floor. With an animalistic growl, she kept pulling until another bolt came loose and then she was hit across the back of the head by what sounded like a shovel.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Cason screamed at them, as they approached Anna and one of the demons stopped shy of her head, to point a pipe at Cason.

“I’m about tired of being told what to do by people like…AH!” Cason flinched when the man broke his words and screamed, but the fire that followed his legs up to his neck told Cason exactly what was happening. He turned his eyes down to see Anna biting the man’s ankle, the fire avoiding her as if she was covered in ice cold water. She released him, and spit a bit of his blood on the floor beside him, before turning her attention to the man next to him. As the man’s arm caught fire, he and the remaining demon ran from the room, trying to avoid becoming ash. The room fell into silence once again, and the only thing that could be heard was Anna’s growling gasps for air as she sat on her knees, blood dripping from her chin like a lion fresh off a hunt.

“Anna?” Cason spoke softly, flinching when she turned to him suddenly, that same look on her face. He held both his hands up, and softened his eyes, “Hey! Hey…you’re okay. You’re alright. We’re okay.”

“So, this is the respect I get…” Alastair’s voice chimed from the open door. He strolled in, and clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I wanted to be nice to you, little one. I wanted to be friends. Why can’t we be friends?”

“Now you don’t have your slaves…” Anna growled, focusing all of her energy on Alastair, who cracked his neck, shaking his leg casually to put out the tiny flame around his ankle. He rolled his eyes and Anna concentrated harder, her nose pouring blood until she couldn’t handle the pain in her head anymore, and she collapsed onto her hands and knees, gasping.

“And you…are out of juice. Poor thing. I wish I could have seen you in action again. It was…riveting the first time!” Alastair sang, walking over to a table that Anna could barely see in the dark corner. “But there are consequences for misbehaving. You know that. Dire…unfortunate consequences.”

With the flick of his wrist, he tightened the chain around her wrist, and like a snake, it coiled into the floor, no longer simply bolted there. He strolled across the room, appearing to be headed straight for her with a decanter of water and a knife, causing Anna to tense, and try scooting toward the wall. But before he got to her, he turned to Cason, grabbing him by the jaw so tightly that the bones cracked beneath his touch, and Cason’s mouth was forced open.

“No! No stop! Leave him alone!” Anna cried out, as Alastair began pouring what she could only assume was Holy Water down Cason’s throat. She closed her eyes as Cason began to choke and scream, the sizzles from his body turning Anna’s stomach. “Stop! Please!”

“Shhh. It won’t kill him. But we will learn a lesson. Oh yes. We’re learning…lessons.”, Alastair spoke softly, punctuating his teasing by stabbing the silver knife in his hand into Cason’s shoulder, twisting it slowly as he finished off the bottle of Holy Water.

As Esme walked, Dean overtook her stride, causing her to walk faster to keep up with him. She was sure she held her staff higher on her shoulder as they went so that it was not too close to the ground to trip over. As she walked behind Dean, she gripped her staff lightly and tried to keep her thoughts positive, which was difficult, with Dean’s worry hitting her so strongly. She didn’t have to be an Empath to know just how worried Dean was. He had those he cared for missing, just as she did, as after what they had been through tonight, how could they not be? They had no idea if they were alive, dead, or on the edge of death. It was enough to make anyone sick with worry. And as worried as she was for the whole group, most of her worry was for Duke since she knew he had a significant injury. She prayed that he was still alive and that she wouldn’t find him dead somewhere in the barn. As strong as she made herself out to look, she wouldn’t be able to cope with losing Duke at the end of all this.

Even with her mind racing with all the possible ways they could find the others, Esme was sure to watch for more demons since neither knew how many were still around and if they were planning an ambush as they searched for everyone. Then they rounded the corner of the barn, and there was Mika, alone, with demons running off into the night. A silent sigh of relief escaped her lips. Yes, the two hadn’t hit it off that great, but she was still glad to see the woman alive. When Dean grabbed her hand and pulled her long, it was like a blast from the past, and out of instinct, she wrapped her fingers around his hand. She would have smiled at the familiar action if this had been any other moment. When Dean dropped her hand, she was snapped back into the present. She slowed and slowly walked over to Dean and Mika, keeping a little space between them. While Dean checked on Mika, Esme scanned the darkness around them for any signs of movement. She could see nothing, and she could hear nothing but Dean and Mika and crickets, causing her to chew her lip in worry.

Suddenly, Natalia’s voice called out to them. Esme quickly turned to see the woman in the darkness walking towards them on unsteady feet. She quickly rushed over to Natalia. “I got you.” she told her as she wrapped an arm around her waist and then led her over to Dean and Mika. Moments later, Sam found them and told them what had happened on his end. “What!?” she said almost in unison with Natalia. Esme’s jaw clenched at the news. Anna had been taken, and Duke and Cason were missing. Jamming the end of her staff into the ground, Esme released a heavy sigh through her nose as she closed her eyes and ran her free hand through her hair with worry and frustration. “Where the hell are you?” she mumbled, as it sent pain through her tender shoulder. It took every ounce of her willpower not to pass Natalia to Sam and bolt into the darkness to search and not care about how dangerous it was going alone. Opening her eyes, she looked at each person around her, stopping on Dean as if looking for answers or what he was thinking, knowing his mind was racing from the news.

No matter what was going through his mind, the look in her eyes clearly spoke of what she wanted to do and what she felt she needed to do. She then looked over at Sam. “I couldn’t find Duke after we were separated. The last time I saw him, he was…… Stabbed in the stomach. By the time I could return to where I last saw him, he was gone.” she said, her worry for Duke evident in her tone. She half wished she could go back and rip that female demon’s head off herself. Esme’s fist clenched at the thought of Duke lying somewhere, bleeding out, while she stood there doing nothing but talking about what had happened. She had to find him, and soon.

Dean almost didn’t believe Mika when she said she was fine. He picked up her arm, and began to look it over, making sure that it wasn’t more than a scratch. He looked up from her arm and searched in the darkness for Nat, his heart hammering in his chest at how quiet the night still seemed. It didn’t seem like there were signs of life anywhere around them. As if answering his silent prayer that Nat was okay, he heard her voice. He released Mika and spun around, his entire body numb with relief as tears welled up in his eyes.

“Nat! Oh my god…” He gasped, walking toward her as Esme began helping her to them. He reached out, wrapping a hand around her upper arm to help Esme hold her up, and began to look her over. He winced at the wound on the back of her head as his hand found it, and he pulled it back covered in blood. “Jesus. What…?”

Before he could get the words out Sam also appeared from the dark, and he breathed a quick sigh of relief. Sam was jogging. He seemed okay and at himself. He was okay. Doing a quick inventory of everyone that had shown up, Dean closed his eyes. They were missing three. A pang of worry hit his stomach, seeing that Duke was missing. Duke was known for being the most reckless person he had ever met. Of all the missing, Duke was the one who was most likely dead. The thought wasn’t even something he could entertain as he shook his head and listened to Sam.

When Sam said that they were outnumbered, and Cason was missing. Dean lost it. “Dammit! I knew that son of a bitch would bail on us. I knew it.”

He took some deep breaths, closing his eyes to calm himself, in an effort to not upset Nat more than he had to. He was over emotional. He was worried about Duke. He was lost as to how they lost. How did they lose? This was an easy hunt and they were ambushed. The demons had it all planned, beat for beat. He opened his eyes, and Esme met his gaze, which made things even worse. As she confirmed his suspicions on Duke, Dean gritted his teeth, his ability to contain his emotions almost bursting at the seams. He carefully released Nat, and stepped away from her, growling as he paced for a moment.

“We have to find him. DAMMIT!” He screamed, echoing through the silent empty farm as he failed to process his emotions. “We have to find all of them…and I better not see Cason again. I will kill him myself. I swear to God I will kill him…myself.”



Cason’s breathing was beginning to give Anna chills as she sat as close to him as she could. She held her hand over his shoulder, the knife no longer protruding from his skin, but lying on the floor beneath him. She was shaking with a mixture of fear, unease, pain and sadness as she put pressure on a wound he would have typically healed in less than a minute. As she sobbed, Cason weakly lifted his head and tilted it as far forward as he could, touching the side of her face with his forehead. Anna leaned into the touch and sobbed, squeezing her eyes closed as she listened to his rattling breath.

“Now would be a good time for one of your j-jokes…”, she choked out, her voice breaking into a desperate sob. Cason weakly smirked, and took a shaky breath.

“Imagine the look…on Alastair’s face…when your boyfriend sucks the life out of him.” Cason stammered out, nudging Anna’s face with his forehead. The statement didn’t exactly comfort Anna, as she wasn’t aware of Sam drinking any demon blood. Sam would be a pig to slaughter if he tried to take on Alastair, at this point. “He can do it. And it will be beautiful to watch. I’ll die…watching the boy king of Hell take out the son of a bitch who made me. Beautiful, right?”

“No. Sam would never be able to hurt him. I couldn’t even hurt him.” Anna whimpered, but Cason weakly shook his head.

“He’s more powerful than you know. T-trust m-me.”

“Okay. Just rest. Just rest. Please stay with me.” Anna sobbed, huddling even closer to him. Cason reached a bloody hand out and linked their fingers together, trying to comfort her as she cried. “Please just stay alive.”

MIKA, SAM AND NATALIA

The moment Dean checked her arm himself, Mika knew that he didn't believe she was fine. Truth be told, Mika almost couldn't believe she was fine and got out with as little injuries as she did. It felt unheard of to be in a fight with demons and have such few injuries. Yet the moment he looked up and around her for Natalia, she knew he was satisfied with her own well being and now gone into full blown protective big brother mode. Like Dean, Mika too sighed with relief when she heard Nat's voice call out to them through the dark, but she didn't like how slurred her voice almost sounded. She wasn't in a good way, that much was evident to Mika and it only became more evident when Esme grabbed her and helped her over to Dean and herself. "Shit Nat, you don't look good" she gasped worriedly whilst Dean just completely enveloped her into him and got even more worried when he saw the blood on his hand from the back of Nat's head. "I..." Nat began to reply with what happened to her when Sam's voice came through and interrupted them all.

Neither of the girls liked the information Sam was relaying to them about the others, meaning something even worse had happened to them than what happened to the group around them both. Mika was worried greatly for Duke, he was like another brother to her after all. Glancing around trying desperately to get a hint of a clue to where the missing three were, she saw the fear in Esme's eyes, the woman was terrified of loosing Duke and in that moment she really did feel empathy for the blonde woman. She knew how she didn't cope when Dean got dragged to Hell and as much as her acquaintance to Esme was tense to say the least, she wouldn't wish that kind of grief on anyone, not even Esme. Then came Dean's emotional outburst about Cason, making her wince as she knew that was not going to go down well with Nat, and she was proven right. "he wouldn't do that Dean!!" Nat practically yelled at him, but the loud outburst made her head pound more and her vision go slightly blurry, making her sway into Mika's side. "Ow...." she grumbled, holding her head. "Now isn't the time for arguments, as much as I want to believe you Nat, I have to say Dean has a point sweetheart. Cason is unpredictable and a demon" Mika said soothingly, but it just made Nat shrug out of her comforting arm on principle.

"No, I'm not accepting that theory. We don't know for certain he bailed on us....bailed on me. He wouldn't okay? He didn't bail on me in that hellhole all those years, he wouldn't start now. Not to mention he's been by Anna's side all that time she wasn't with us. Does that really sound like someone who would run at the first bit of trouble?" Nat countered, a lot calmer this time round but it was clear she was still terrified about the possibilities of what could have happened to the other three. Mika listened to Natalia's defence of Cason and as much as she didn't want to side with their young Winchester, she had to admit Nat did make a solid counter argument. She just hoped Dean wouldn't go off on one at her. The girls and Sam all watched Dean begin to growl out of frustration and worry. With Dean's next words, all three of them knew Dean meant Duke and not Cason, until of course Dean mentioned about killing Cason himself if he found him himself.

"Dean don't threaten or promise that around Nat yeah? We need to stick together right now, not drive our girl away when she's clearly the worse off out of us five" Sam commented, placing a hand on his arm cautiously. "So what's the plan? We look for the others all together? Because I don't know about you, I'd rather not separate again as that idea clearly has backfired on us epically." he told his brother a lot more softly than Nat had just spoken to him.

"I'm going to find Cason with or without you, I refuse to believe he ditched us" Nat commented, overhearing Sam's suggestions. "If Nat is doing that, then I'm not letting her out of my sight again, so I agree with Sam, we all go together but chances are the three of them are all together" Mika spoke up, deciding to say 'three' and not 'two' just to keep Nat calm when she has a head injury that needs seeing to as soon as possible. "Has any of us checked the inside of the barn yet?" Sam asked the group, looking around at them all, only to see Nat and Mika both shake their heads. "Only the roof....before I found myself on the floor" Nat explained, whilst also giving the answer that Dean wanted earlier about how she got her head injury. "So inside the barn it is" Sam commented, looking for agreements from everyone.

Dean nearly exploded when Natalia defended Cason. She had no idea the path that she had taken herself down, and there was no way in Hell he was letting her stay on that path. He was just about to explode on her worse, when Sam spoke with actual sense, and his brother’s touch brought him out of his anger for a brief second. Nearly in tears, he wiped a frustrated hand down his face, squeezing his eyes closed for a second.

Then came Nat’s proclamation that she was running off to find Cason on her own. Dean’s eyes snapped open and he glared at her, “You’re not…”, he started, as Mika chimed in and Dean glared back at her as well. She was going to go along with this? Babysit Nat while they went off on what might be a death quest to find a demon…to save him?!

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now. We cannot just go into this half cocked! We don’t have a clue where they are. And of course, Dean knows nothing.” He ranted for a moment until Sam mentioned the barn. Dean nearly spun so hard that he made himself dizzy, as he turned to look at the barn, just across the lot from them. It was hard to believe that any of them were alive, if they hadn’t heard them by this point. The barn wasn’t insulated and you could practically see the light shining through the holes in the roof. But it was the only option they had on the property. Dean sighed in resignation, looking to Sam as he squared his shoulders. “Fine. We check the barn. But first, we regroup.”

He turned to Nat, his protectiveness painted all over his face, “And you. You are going to wait in the car. I don’t need you going off the rails if we don’t find him. We don’t know what we might find.”

He punctuated the sentence by turning to give a fearful and knowing look to Esme, communicating with his eyes that he was worried about finding Duke, considering his injuries that they knew about. He stepped away from the others, as Sam began to group everyone up. He walked carefully over to Esme and let out a worried sigh, “I need you to be prepared for this…for whatever we’re gonna find. You know how Duke is. We both know how Duke is. I’m not prepared for it. I don’t want to see what he’s got himself into. Esme I don’t know if I can handle it this time…”

Dean walked close to her as they began to walk back to the car to regroup, and gather themselves and any weapons they could use. He fully planned to lock Natalia in the car, handcuffed to the steering wheel if Mika would allow it. But Duke was heavy on his mind. He couldn’t shake the chill that was running through his veins. He repeated himself, “I don’t know if I can handle this. Nat’s gonna go off the reservation, and if we don’t find them…”, he couldn’t finish his sentence, just glancing up at Sam’s back with a sigh. They had to find them.



Anna had dozed off at some point, her head laying against Cason’s side. When she came to, she groaned, her head nearly bursting with pain, and realized that her hand was practically glued to his shoulder, the blood having dried to her skin. Snarling her nose, she peeled her hand away from his shirt and groaned, as the blood instantly began to pour from the wound. He still wasn’t healing. He also wasn’t awake, which wasn’t normal. She also could no longer hear his rattling breathing. It all hit her at once. She leaned her forehead against hers, and broke down in tears, now fully convinced that all hope was lost. If Cason died in that barn, she was definitely going to die.

“Please…please…” She begged him, as she attempted to reach her hand up and touch his face. She nearly screamed in frustration, realizing she couldn’t touch him, other than holding his limp hand in her own on the ground. “Please…Cason please.”

“If you keep beggin’ like that, the angels are gonna think you’re praying…” Cason spoke suddenly, his voice weak and raspy,but the sound nearly shocked her out of her body with a flinch. Cason squeezed her hand, a lazy smirk adorning his face, but he didn’t open his eyes.

“Oh my god. I thought you were dead.” Anna sobbed, and Cason instantly shushed her, frowning.

“I just decided not to breathe because it hurts. I mean, I’m skewered. Sam hasn’t shown up, yet…”

“No. I don’t think they’re coming. I-“ Anna started, when she heard a cough from across the barn, and both she and Cason sat a little straighter, turning their heads toward the noise. “Duke?!”

“Shit…” Duke groaned, Anna not able to see him, but hearing his voice sent her heart racing.

“Stay still. Are you hurt?” Anna called out to him, and Duke coughed loudly, dropping Anna’s relieved expression. He sounded awful.

“Yeah. Yeah…it’s bad…” Duke struggled and Anna shook her head.

“Don’t talk! Just stay still. Just wait!” She called to him. She didn’t know how bad he was hurt, but she knew that his cough sounded bad. There was no way he had been out this long from anything other than blood loss, which meant he was likely bleeding out, and unfortunately…or fortunately for him, it was happening slowly.

“Sam needs to hurry. I don’t think we’re gonna last much longer.” Cason whispered, tilting his head back against the wall.

As Esme stood there with the group, her mind began to numb from all her emotions hitting her at once. Anger, fear, and slight helplessness were the strongest. She couldn’t lose Duke, not now. Not after finally having him back. She planned to do everything possible to find Duke and have him back at her side. She wasn’t leaving this farm until she found Duke there or knew where he was taken. Esme swore this to herself. At Dean’s second outburst, she was pulled from her numb mind, knowing precisely who he was speaking of when he said they needed to find him. He was referring to Duke. Then came his comment about Cason. She winced, knowing that wouldn’t sit well with Natalia. And just like clockwork, Natalia yelled at Dean, defending Cason. Then Mika spoke up, echoing her thoughts about this not being the time for arguments. Esme stood there, only able to listen since it was hard to get a word in edgewise. Plus, she felt this was slightly more between them and not her. Esme was close to walking away from the squabble about Cason when Sam asked what the plan was, causing her to sigh silently.

Esme nodded to Sam’s words even though he was talking to Dean. That was the most logical thing for them to do so that things didn’t end up even worse for them. Then Natalia spoke up again. She knew Dean wouldn’t go for that, but Mika chimed in before he could say much. When Sam asked about the barn, she shook her head and mumbled no. Esme had no arguments about going inside the barn. The way she saw it, it was the only option they had. She turned her head to look at the barn, taking in how the light from inside was shining through the holes in the roof and how they hadn’t been heard by anyone with how loud the group had been. She turned her head back as Dean spoke, nodding in agreement to regrouping. She felt she needed more than what she currently had with her. Then Dean turned overprotective brother as he talked to Natalia, which ended with him looking at her with a fearful and knowing look, causing her breath to catch slightly. She understood the look. Her look back echoed the same. She was worried they’d find him dead in the barn.

As Dean stepped away from the other and walked over to her, Esme pulled her staff from the ground. His worried sigh caused her to tense up before she looked at him as he spoke. His words stung, and she gripped her staff until her knuckles turned white. How could he ask her to prepare herself for what they might find? No one could prepare themselves for finding a half-dead or dead loved one somewhere. She softly nodded as he brought up how they both knew how Duke was. Yes, she knew full well how he was. Esme then placed a hand on Dean’s arm out of habit. “I can’t promise you I can prepare myself for this. I don’t know how, but I’m not going to lie. I’m terrified about what we might see in that barn.” she told him. Esme closed her eyes tightly and sighed heavily before continuing. “If we find him……..” she couldn’t bring herself to say the word. “I know I’m not going to be able to handle it. I will lose it.” she said, looking up at him. “I’m not as strong mentally as you always thought I was. I don’t handle loss well.”

As they walked back to the cars, she kept her hand on his arm in an attempt to keep them both somewhat grounded like she used to. Whatever they found in that barn, at least they wouldn’t be seeing it alone. A knot formed in Esme’s throat as she walked alongside Dean towards the cars, Duke’s well-being and Dean’s mental state heavy on her mind. When Dean repeated himself, she gently squeezed his arm. “Dean, we’re going to find them, and then we’re all going to get the hell out of here.” They were going to find them. When Duke’s truck came into view, the knot in her throat grew bigger, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn away from the truck. Esme dropped her head and closed her eyes tightly. She breathed deeply to control the tears that stung her eyes and threatened to show themselves. “Come on, Esme. Keep it together.” she breathed. “You have to stay strong.”

NATALIA AND MIKA

Mika's intent wasn't to side with Natalia in the slightest but she was thinking maternally that if Nat did run off on her own, someone had to follow her to make sure that head didn't worsen and she came back to them all alive. However, in the heighten emotional state Dean was, it seemed he didn't see it that way and all she got was a glare back at even suggesting she would make sure Natalia didn't get herself killed by looking for someone she didn't approve of. She was thankful that Sam was playing devil's advocate and being the calming presence right now and she nodded in agreement with his suggestion of staying grouped together and checking the barn. It baffled her mind to think none of them even thought of it until Sam said something, probably because if the others were in there, surely they would have heard them? Or was this a case of demons playing dirty tricks and somehow soundproofing the barn without any outward signs of that being the case? Either way, she hoped Sam's idea proved to be the case and they could get everyone out of here and saved.

Nat just huffed at Dean's rant, deciding to keep her mouth shut after her little outburst at Dean. Even she could see now wasn't the time to argue with him yet again about what kind of person Cason was. Her head was also absolutely pounding and her vision remained blurry. She was convinced she was going to be sick if she didn't focus on something else as she really didn't want to vomit in front of everyone. She looked down at the ground to try and focus her vision as best she could, staring at her feet the whole time until Dean turned to her and gave an order, making her begrudgingly nod slowly. "....fine" she replied, tightly closing her eyes and reopening them again to stop the world from spinning. Mika looked down at her and knew Nat was not coping with the head injury in the slightest, "It's for the best Nat, you're in no state to go anywhere. We're just worried about you as well as the others" Mika said a bit softer than Dean was talking to her, but there was enough authority in her tone to show Nat she wasn't going to be a push over either. "I said okay....but....I think you're right" Nat said back, swaying ever so slightly on her feet, making Mika grab a hold of her once more.

With everything decided, she began to walk Nat back to the cars across the grounds, taking it a bit slower than the others were for fear of Nat passing out on her. Behind everyone, she saw how Dean looked at Esme and how he spoke to her which made her internally remind herself it was just over Duke and there was nothing there between the two of them. Now wasn't the time to get jealous and insecure yet again when there were far more important things to be dealing with. Of course she was worried for Duke, they all were, but she was also worried about Anna. It also only took one glance at Sam's posture from behind to see he was worried out of his mind.

At the cars, Mika opened the door to the impala, deciding that Nat being in her own car would be too risky. "Sit in here and for Dean's sanity please stay put" she practically begged Nat, as the youngest Winchester got in the passenger side at the front. "I won't go anywhere...just please don't let Dean kill Cason, please Meeko..." Nat replied, looking up at her with puppy eyes, before she couldn't take it anymore and leaned out of the car and was sick, making Mika dart back slightly. "I promise" she said, stepping forward again and tying Natalia's hair back into a ponytail with a hair tie she had on her wrist.

SAM

He knew it wasn't the best suggestion, but suggesting the barn was the only thing Sam could come up with. He didn't have hope in the others being there, but until they checked absolutely everywhere nearby, they couldn't say they've eliminated all possibilities. He hated that the tension was brewing more arguments between his siblings and all he could truly worry about was whether Anna was okay and unharmed. He knew that was probably a big ask- to have her unharmed, but he hoped for it anyway. He sighed with relief when Dean finally conceded and agreed to regroup together, be prepared and check the barn. The looks he and Esme gave each other didn't go unnoticed either but he knew his brother wouldn't be too stupid and it was solely because of Duke.

Walking over to the cars, he was aware how Mika and Nat were lagging behind, more because of Nat's state and he was glad that Dean ordered her to stay in the car and not come with them. He was worried sick about Nat's injury, she didn't look good in the slightest and every fibre of his being wanted to rush her to a hospital now and just protect her but he also didn't want to leave the missing three either. So he remained silent on the way to the cars, deciding to just observe his group instead of speaking much. In his mind however he kept thinking 'I'm coming Anna just hold on for a bit longer, I will get you back'.

At the cars, he watched Mika guide Nat into the impala whilst Dean and Esme spoke more about being prepared to find Duke possibly dead from his own wounds. He didn't want to imagine that scenario himself, the only thing thing keeping him sane was the fact he knew the demons and Lilith needed Anna alive. He couldn't believe that had become a reassurance to him on this night, but here he was being reassured by it. He went to grab some more weapons when he suddenly heard Natalia vomiting out of the car but when he looked over, he saw Mika had it handled just about. Stocking up on knives and reloading his handgun, he waited for the others to be done. When Mika was content that Nat wasn't going to run away the moment she stepped back, Sam walked up to her and knelt down. "We'll be right back, just try and stay awake for me yeah?" he spoke, taking her chin in his hand to make her look at him. "I'll try Sam" Nat said to him honestly, pulling her legs in so Sam could stand up and close the door after her. He then looked at Dean, "You still gonna lock her in?" he asked, "It's clear she cant go anywhere" he pointed out.

Dean’s face broke into torment as he tried to conceal his emotions, especially from Mika. He needed her focused on the case, not him. If she was worried about him, she might go into this reckless. But Esme made it clear that she wasn’t strong enough to handle the loss if Duke was dead, and Dean’s mind went into the space that it always did when she was emotionally compromised…protection. With her hand squeezing his arm, he was reminded that she knew him almost better than anyone. She knew that right now, he wasn’t the strongest in the group. He might be the most protective, but he wasn’t the tough guy. He was terrified.

“We’re all gonna get the hell out of here.” He repeated her, reaching a hand up to squeeze her hand as his eyes also fell on Duke’s truck, and he let out a shaky sigh. The feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn’t one that he was fond of. All he could think of were flashbacks to the many times they had been in this situation. Every one of them, Duke came out on the other side. But this time felt different. “Let’s go find him…Hey. We’re gonna find him.”

He pulled Esme into his arms, pressing her forehead against his chest as he clung to her for a moment, just trying to hold onto anything he could that didn’t feel completely hopeless. It was like being that scared young hunter again. After a few minutes, he loosened his grip, sniffling and pulled back from her, placing a hand on each of her cheeks.

“Stay close.” He whispered to her, before placing a tight kiss to her forehead with a sigh. He then reluctantly stepped away from her, and over to the Impala. Nat puking out the side door hurt his stomach all over again, as her physical state made him anxious. He didn’t want to come back to this car and find his sister dead…especially if they found the worst case scenario down the hill. His thoughts of handcuffing her to the steering wheel were out the window. She would never make it anywhere in this condition. He passed to Sam and began to re-evaluate the weapons on his body, making sure he was full on ammo, Ruby’s knife was tightly slid into his belt, and he still had holy water in the flask in his jacket pocket.

Sam’s voice perked him up as Sam closed the door of the car. Dean shrugged and shook his head, “Not really much of a point, now, right? I mean, it’s not like she’s going to bolt down the hill and go in guns blazing when she can’t even see straight. I think she’ll be fine, right where she is.”

He leaned in close to the window, signalling for Nat to roll it down a bit before leaning close to the gap she made with a sigh, “We’re going to finish this. I need you to stay put. I need you to keep yourself safe and I need you to listen to me…for once. Please. I love you, kid…”



Dean led the group back down the hill, Ruby’s knife held so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were white. He held the knife up to his chest as he reached the barn, and pressed his back to the cold wood, assessing the situation. Peering around the side of the barn, he glanced back at the others, and held up two fingers, letting them know that there were two demon lackies guarding the front door. From what he could tell, both looked terrified, and they seemed to be expecting the group to show up. This could very well be a trap.

He counted down to himself internally, before walking out from the side of the barn, brutality taking over his entire brain. He rushed the first demon, giving the others room to move around him if they wanted, and without missing a beat, he stabbed Ruby’s knife through the heart of the smaller man, causing him to flash and spark before dropping dead on the ground at Dean’s feet. He pulled the knife from the body and turned to take on the other demon, when it suddenly smoked out in terror…or as a messenger.
“We gotta hurry. If they’re smoking out like that, they’re going back to someone. I don’t want to find out who that someone is.” Dean explained simply, gasping for air as his body shook with adrenaline and fear. He ran to the door of the barn, grunting as he slid it open with some effort and his eyes focused in the bright light inside.

Instantly, those eyes fell on Anna and Cason against the far wall of the barn. Dean’s shoulders fell with absolute relief, seeing that she was alive at least. Cason didn’t look so hot. But they were found. He took a deep breath and turned to Sam, stepping aside to let his brother through. At least one of them would have a happy ending, here. As he stepped aside, however, his eyes fell on something that made his stomach fall to his feet, Duke’s hat, lying in the straw, covered in blood.

Staying aside so Sam could get through, he turned to Esme and gave her a knowing look, as Anna began panicking to be let free, and called out Duke’s name. He swallowed heavily, before reaching his arms out to stop her from running through, “Esme. Stop. Let me go in first…”



Anna rolled her head to the side, staring blankly at a hole in the side of the barn as Cason rested, his hand now limp again. She flexed her fingers, trying to see if he was still alive, and as if understanding her internal question, he tapped his middle finger against the back of her hand. She took a deep breath, letting it out in a shaky attempt to not start crying again as she stared. The sound of a body hitting the ground outside, and a familiar grunt perked up her ears.

“Dean?!” She cried out, looking toward the door with wide and hopeful eyes. But then the sound stopped, followed by a horrific scream from one of the demons as it smoked out. The silence was deafening as she waited to see who was going to come through the door. When Dean slid the door open, standing there with Ruby’s knife in his hand, panting for air, Anna’s heart nearly burst with relief. Dean didn’t seem to care for her much, but in that moment, seeing his face was like seeing a spring of water in the middle of a barren desert. Then he stepped aside, and her eyes fell on Sam. All independence and toughness that might have been stored in her brain fell away. She reached out for him, sobbing violently as she stressed the chain around her wrist to try and get to Sam.

“Sam! Oh my god…You’re alive! The demon. That demon. He’ll come back for us. He’ll come back and he’ll kill all of you. He’s…get me out of this, please. Please!” Anna panicked, swinging her arm forward to show him that she was bolted to the floor. “And Cason. We have to help him. He’s dying. Duke! Oh my god Duke!”

Esme vaguely heard Dean’s words when he spoke to her as she stood there trying to collect herself. “I know we will.” she mumbled against his chest. She knew they would find him. She felt it. It was how they would find him that terrified her more than anything, making her feel like a scared child. When Dean pulled her into his arms and pressed her forehead against his chest, she dropped her staff and wrapped her arms around him, sighing heavily. Her mind briefly drifted to when he would hold her like this when she was emotionally unstable, and just like then, even with his own emotions unstable, helped her pull herself together a bit. When she felt his grip on her loosen, she loosened her own and looked up at him as Dean placed his hands on her cheeks and whispered. “I will.” she whispered back, closing her eyes as he kissed her forehead with a sigh. Esme reluctantly let go of Dean as he stepped away from her. With a sniffle, she picked up her staff, turned to face Duke’s truck, and walked to its bed. Sighing heavily, she pulled down the tailgate and grabbed her duffle.

After unzipping her duffle, she collapsed her staff, made sure it was locked in place, and then placed it in her bag. As she stood there, Esme went over a checklist she had on her head on what she would need for this. She had everything she needed but ended up grabbing an extra knife out of her bag and tucked it into an inside pocket of her jacket. Zipping up her duffle and shoving it back, she closed the tailgate, turned around, and leaned against it as she waited for the others. She watched as they gathered themselves and what needed to go into this. Her gaze stopped on Natalia sitting in the Impala. Esme hoped she would be alright with that head injury while they went in to find the others. She didn’t look good at all. She hoped she would listen to Dean, Sam, and Mika and stay put until they returned. Her gaze then wandered to the barn as she absent-mindedly played with the charms on her necklace, rolling them between her fingers. A nervous habit she had never been able to break. “I know you’re in there. I can feel it.” she whispered to herself.


Esme followed Dean down the hill to the barn closely, but not too closely. He had asked her to stay close, so that was precisely what she would do. She had her knife in hand, unconsciously white-knuckling it at how tightly she gripped it. Her movements almost mirrored his, primarily out of muscle memory from all those years ago hunting together. At this moment, her body was just going through the motions while her mind was focused on getting into the barn and finding Duke, Anna, and Cason. Her main focus being Duke, knowing his injury. With her back pressed against the barn, she watched Dean assess the situation, giving a nod of acknowledgment when he held up two fingers to the group. Of course, there would be at least two posted out front, possibly waiting for the group to show up, and possibly more waiting in the wings for a possible trap. Esme waited for Dean to make his move, then moved around him, preparing to take on any demon that came out of the woodwork. By the time she moved around Dean, he had taken out the demon and was moving toward the other, but he smoked out.

Cowered, messenger, or both? She thought to herself moments before Dean made his own explanation. “Right. Neither do I.” she replied. Esme hesitated to move with Dean toward the barn door. She wasn’t ready to see what lay behind that door. It wasn’t until the door was open and she heard Anna call out Duke’s name that she moved. Then she saw Dean’s knowing look, causing horror to grip her heart tightly. As she ran to the door, she saw Dean reach out to stop her and heard him tell her to stop and let him go in first. She couldn’t stop. Not after seeing that look in Dean’s eyes. She blew right past Dean, dodging his arms and running into the barn. She stopped long enough to look around and see Anna and Cason against the far wall of the barn. She was relieved to see her alive, but Cason didn’t look so good. Her eyes soon fell on Duke’s bloody hat, and her stomach knotted in worry. “Duke!” she called out to him. Then she saw him. He was in a dimly lit corner with his back to them. She couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.

“Duke!!” Esme nearly screamed his name as she ran over to him, sliding to a stop on the straw beside him. Her knife fell from her hand as she dropped hard to her knees at Duke’s side. Reaching out, she rolled him over on his back with careful hands, her breath catching in her throat as soon as she saw his pale face and bleeding stomach. He didn’t look good, not good at all, but he was still breathing. “Duke? I’m here. We’re all here. Can you hear me?” she said to him, fear gripping her tone as she tore off her jacket and threw it to the side. Then, she tore off one of her shirts, placed it on his bleeding stomach, and pulled his head into her lap. Tears welled up in her fear-filled eyes as she cradled his head in her lap. “Duke, open your eyes, please. Please…. Duke…. Open your eyes.” she cried, brushing his hair and straw from his pale face. Esme leaned forward, placing her forehead against Duke’s, unable to control the tears now streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t…. Lose you. Not after I just got you back. Stay with me, Bright Eyes.”

“I love you, Duke.” she breathed shakily. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this could be the last time she could tell him, especially with the state he was in. She sniffled and pressed a kiss to Duke’s head, praying for him to open his eyes and say something, anything. She’d even be happy with a little joke. Lifting her head from his, Esme looked down into Duke’s face as she stroked his cheek with her thumb. She felt utterly helpless. She was losing him, and there was nothing she could do about it. Fear and rage bubbled within her gut at the thought of losing Duke and not having the means to prevent it. Even with calling Bobby for help or taking him to the hospital, she knew, in the back of her mind, his chances of survival were slim with the severity of his wound. Even being someone with unique abilities, she could do nothing but ease his pain and keep his mind calm. Yes, it was something, but it wasn’t enough to save his life and keep him with her. Sniffling once more, she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I love you, Bright Eyes.” she mumbled against his lips and kissed him once more.

NATALIA

Nat did truly mean her promise of trying to stay awake while the others were gone. She also was hoping she wouldn't be throwing up anytime soon again. She just wanted to get out of here with the others and more impeotywith Cason. She found herself slumping against the seat, remembering how comfortable Dean's car actually was. Then Dean finally came over after talking and comforting Esme, signalling for her to wind the window which she did, she forced herself to look at him as he leaned in. She listened to his explanation and plea for her to stay out, making her sigh back at him. Yet the one thing that surprises her was him telling her he did actually love her. She couldn't remember Dean ever telling her that before, but maybe that was due to her head absolutely hurting like hell. "...I love you too Dean....I'll stay here, I promise" she told him, wanting him to see she truly meant her words, even if they were slightly slurred. "I don't plan on going anywhere, just trying to stay awake" she added, before letting him lead the group back to the barn.

The silence was unbearable as she rolled the window back up, so she put on one of Dean's cassettes in the hopes that the music would keep her awake. She hated being on her own, she wanted nothing more than to find Cason but she knew she was in no fit state to do so and it tore her apart. "please come back Cason...." She begged into the air, a tear falling down her face. Lifting her hand up, she wiped the tear with the back of her hand before out of habit, running that same hand over her face and through her hair, catching the bloody spot at the back which made her wince and hiss from the pain. "Ow dammit!" She cursed to herself before deciding to lean forward and check Dean's glovebox for anything she could use to put pressure on the head wound. "lease Dean have something in this car" she muttered to herself as she rifled through it.

Initially she found nothing then she found a relatively clean napkin which she grabbed, closed the glovebox and placed the napkin on the back of her head. Leaning back in the seat, her eyes felt incredibly heavy and she knew she had to fight to stay awake until the others got back. She just hoped when they did one of them would drive her car for her as she was clearly in no fit state to drive herself. "How did this go so wrong?" She asked herself but thinking just made her head swim even more.

A short while later when it was clear she was utterly on her own, two figures approached the car. Leaning down and looking into the window they could see Natalia was failing at staying awake, her eyes in a battle of opening and closing. Smirking to themselves, one reached for the handle and tried it, seeing she wasn't smart enough to lock it. "Idiot, didn't even lock the door" the second younger one commented. Cranking the door open, Nat opened her eyes and looked up, "Dean?" She questioned in a foggy manner, not catching that it wasn't her family coming back already. "not this time pet" the broader male replied, making Nat open her eyes a bit wider, "shit!" She slurred, swinging around to try and kick them back but all she accomplished was falling out the car in a daze. "oh this is going to be easy. Davos did a number on her throwing her off the roof" he laughed, squatting down and rummaging through her pockets, pickpocketing her childhood photo, chucking it on the floor beside them.

"Add the wristband and let's get going" the broader, gruffer demon instructed to his comrade as he lifted Nat over his shoulder in an undignified manner. With Nat on his shoulder, her belongings on the floor in front of the impala, they left in the dark.

SAM AND MIKA

Fully equipped, both Sam and Mika followed Dean and Esme back across to the barn. Mika was still mentally fighting off the intrusive jealous thoughts over how close Dean and Esme were being, reminding herself it was just because of Duke and nothing more. She had to keep her mind on the job at hand. Ontop of that, she was also worried about Nat being on her own in the car, a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach about her as well as the others. She also didn't know how she could have promised Nat she wouldn't let Dean kill Cason if he saw him and would bring him back to her. "you okay?" Sam quietly asked her, "yeah...just worried about what we'll find in the barn and worried about Nat. I don't like leaving her alone" she replied back just as quietly. Sam gave a nod, he hated leaving his little sister alone as well but they all knew it was for the best. He also was worried out of his mind about Anna and he was terrified about what the demons could have her doing if they were in the barn. If she was rabid on demon blood it would make their lives so much harder to get her to focus. He couldn't lift his hand off of his gun, too afraid of not being able to grab it quickly enough if they got ambushed.

Reaching the barn, he stopped as did Mika, seeing the signals they both knew all too well from Dean. Two demons. Okay this shouldn't be too difficult they thought, even if it felt a bit too easy. They let Dean lead the way before following behind Esme to see the second demon smoke out after seeing the other one get killed by Dean. He agreed with his brother that having one smoke out wasn't strictly a good sign. Walking round to the front of the barn doors, Sam was ready to help Dean open them but it seemed Dean had it covered before he could help. "Let's get this over with" he told the group, letting Dean go in first as Sam and Mika tried to judge the situation by his reaction. It wasn't looking good. The moment Sam got let in from behind Dean, he rushed in and saw the state of Anna and Cason bolted to the side wall. "Anna!" He exclaimed, running over to her and kneeling down, checking how she was chained to the wall before rapidly figuring out a way to feed her. "you okay? Stupid question...you're not. I'm gonna get you out" he told her, glancing over at how bad Cason was looking. Nat wasn't going to be happy about this.

Following the others in after Esme ignored Dean's order to stay back and rushed in to find Duke, Mika walked in and gasped at what she saw. Looking down she saw Duke's bloody hat on the ground near herself and Dean, before spotting where Esme ran to. "Oh god..." She whispered in shock. She tried to hold her emotions together, knowing how hard Dean and Esme are taking this. A single tear fell down her face, hoping that Duke was still alive. She couldn't handle anymore grieving for people she held dear to her. Forcing herself to remain focused, she went over to Anna and Cason to help Sam free the two of them. "I can't get the chains free" Sam told Mika, his panic overriding his thoughts. "you can do this Sam" she reminded him before he nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. More focused now, he managed to break the chain and feed Anna first. "I got her, you get Cason" he told Mika, something that Mika was hoping he wouldn't have said.

"Right" she simply replied, gulping slightly as she recognised the chain around Cason's neck was made of iron. She stepped back enough to let Sam lift Anna up onto her feet and carry her out of the way before she stepped forward again to Cason. "Cason, you better not be dead or we're gonna have one very volatile Natalia on our hands. Come on man...she needs you right now" she told him, hoping her words would encourage him to respond to her. He was in such a bad way, she didn't have hope he would survive this. She saw how badly he had been wounded and not just by the neck restraint. "Don't make me slap you you son of a bitch...you cannot die on Nat, do you hear me?" She told him sternly, but it was clear she was barely holding it together.

Lifting her hands up finally, she shakily checked how his restraint was bolted to the wall before reluctantly reaching out to touch the iron. She tried to fight through the burning on her hands to unlock it but it was too much, she pulled her hands back quickly, giving them a shake as if she was shaking the trembling away and not the real reason of shaking the burning sensation out. "Dean! I can't get this damn lock! You gotta help!" She called out to him. She didn't want to ask Dean for the help but he was the only one available to help.

Anna continued to try and reach for Sam as he tried to break the chains free of the floor. As weak as they were, Anna was confident that he could break them free, but it wasn’t happening fast enough. She looked all around them, expecting a demon to show up and begin the massacre any second, but as Sam finally broke the chain, Anna’s heart flew into her throat with happiness.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder as he lifted her from the ground, “I thought they had killed you. Cason kept saying you were coming for us, but…I couldn’t feel you or anything. I thought you were dead.”

Anna was shivering, a clear sign that she was both terrified and strung out on demon blood. Her skin was blazing hot and she was drenched in sweat as she shivered in Sam’s arms.



Dean gritted his teeth as Esme pushed past him, punching the air by his hip. Before he could turn around and follow her, he heard as she found Duke. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, preparing himself for this one. This is something he always thought he would be prepared for, Duke dying on him, breaking his heart. He had worked up to this, for years, but having Duke back, a lot of those feelings had fallen away. Duke had changed, even if just a bit. He seemed more careful, more trained up.

He turned with a huff, deciding to play this as stern and tough as he could, but the second his eyes fell on Esme cradling Duke in his arms, his entire mind reverted back to fear and he nearly froze. There was no way Duke could survive that wound. There was no way that he was getting out of here alive. He quietly walked over to Esme and Duke, slowly lowering himself onto his knees beside them, “C’mon man…please…”

It was then that he realized he was beginning to tear up, something he didn’t necessarily want Esme to see, in this moment. He turned his eyes away from them, as Esme tried to wake Duke, and stared over at Sam and Anna, his heart flooding with a little relief, like a cool drink of water. But hearing Esme tell Duke how much she loved him shattered Dean’s heart. Duke had to survive this…

In Duke’s mind

“You runnin’ from your boyfriend?” Duke called out, the sun shining so bright that he could barely see as he looked up from under the rim of his cowboy hat. In the bright sunlight, as he squinted, Esme appeared. She was wearing a dress she would never wear, and she looked almost like an angel…if he didn’t know better.

He sat his knife aside on the tailgate, and looked around. He was sitting in a large field, near the barn he had apparently died in, on the tailgate of his truck. And Esme? Well she was looking too good to be true. He tilted his head as she stepped even closer to him, “Now hold on. If Dean come’s out here, he’s gonna assume the worst. You know that.”

Esme didn’t answer him, but her hand raised, causing Duke to shy away from her touch briefly, as it made contact with his cheek. He could feel her fingers against his skin, eventually knocking the cowboy hat off the top of his head, which confused him to no end.

“I love you, Duke.” She whispered, the sound echoing all through his brain and freezing him in place.

“Wait wait wait…I’m dead, right? I died in the barn? Dammit. I can’t go out like that.”

“But you have to.” Esme suddenly spoke for the first time. And Duke shook his head. “Yes. You can’t argue with death, Jason.”

“You’re not her. Let me guess…you’re a reaper. You’re one of them? Then you let me go back and say goodbye.”

“You know I can’t do that.” She whispered, stepping up to him. Her steps caused him to flinch but she smiled. “And you know I can’t take you unless you agree to go with me.”

“I know. And I ain’t goin’ nowhere, until I tell that girl goodbye.”

“It’s a bad idea, Jason. They will try to save you…and they will fail.” She explained sadly.

“I don’t care. I don’t care because it will give them closure…”

“No. It will leave a hole. It will be a failure. It will be a casualty that both of them will never heal from.” The reaper whispered, brushing his hair away from his forehead as she spoke. Duke shook his head.

“They know how this job is. They know people die!”

“And that’s why it’s unnessary pain. You can go with me. You’ll rest…they can rest.” She spoke softly, but firm. Her words caused Duke to scoff incredulously, shaking his head.

“You think they’ll rest? In case you haven’t noticed, the world is endin’ around them. There is no rest! Please. Please…I’m not goin’ with you. So do what you need to do. I’m goin’ back to them. I’m goin’ to tell that girl goodbye.” Duke said definitely, and the reaper sighed sadly. She leaned in, and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, the sun brightening into a blinding white light. The light suddenly faded, and the world was dark again, but her lips were still pressed to his. Duke kissed her back, not opening his eyes, as Esme’s lips began to feel real to him. He wasn’t leaving yet…

Breaking the kiss, he smirked.

“I don’t even wanna know…how h-hard you’re gonna punch me later…” Duke suddenly spoke, causing Dean to flinch. He turned back to stare at him with wide eyes, reaching forward to his limp hand. Duke instantly squeezed his fingers weakly and Dean sighed, not even realizing he had been holding his breath.

“Oh my god, Duke. Jesus Christ…” Dean shuddered out a terrified sigh, his face scrunching as he fought a sob.

Dean’s entire body jolted as Mika called his name, asking him to come and help with Cason. He came back to reality slowly, and the aggravation and anger bubbled up in his chest as he turned to her. If it was Duke’s life or Cason’s he already knew his choice, even if Natalia would hate him for it. Dean closed his eyes tightly and sighed, standing from Duke’s side and turning on his heel. He looked around the area, and his eyes fell on a crowbar hanging on the wall. He grabbed it on his way by, his aggression heightening with every single step. He then squatted in front of Cason, wedging the crowbar between the iron cuff and the wall, breaking it with ease and releasing Cason’s neck.

He tossed the crowbar aside, and sighed through his nose before grabbing Cason’s jaw in his hand, “I want you to look at me…”

“Why? So you can look me in the eyes, while you kill me? You don’t think I know?”

“Oh I know you do. I know that you know…you’re not walking out of here. Right? You know that there is no part of me that’s going to give you even half a chance to take my sister any further down whatever hell slide you have planned for her.” Dean spoke low, making sure that no one would be able to hear him, other than Cason. Cason shook his head.

“I would never hurt her.”

“Sure. You’re a good lapdog, right? No. See…unlike my siblings, I don’t believe that for a second. I don’t believe for a second that you have some sort of human soul trapped in that meatsuit that is calling your shots out of some sense of what…love? No. No…” Dean laughed incredulously and wrapped his hand around the fire poker that was lodged into the wall through Cason’s body. Cason cried out in pain, reaching up to grab Dean’s wrist. But Dean slapped his hand away and began rocking the poker up and down, seemingly attempting to remove it from the wall. “You almost got them killed. My brother…Anna. What happens…when the chips are down, and you have to choose between Lucifer and my sister?”

Cason growled, his eyes black as he glared back at Dean, once again reaching for Dean’s wrist. Dean slapped his hand away again, and Cason groaned, gritting his teeth, “I protected Anna. I r-rebelled.”

“And a lot of good that did. The demons are hotter on her ass now than they were, and Sam’s. If they take you, they will leave Nat alone.” Dean sneered at Cason but Cason shook his head and coughed.

“No. They will just get to her faster…”

“What do you know? What do you know about Anna and my brother?” Dean asked, rocking the poker again and causing Cason to cry out once again.

“Dammit! I don’t know. I know that Lilith…Lilith wants Sam’s head. I know that…I know that Lilith wants Anna. I don’t know why. It’s not like I can read her mind.”

“But she was your boss. She must have told you something!” Dean growled a little louder.

“Her only orders were…were to keep Anna safe. That’s it. Keep her safe until he comes. She didn’t say why. She didn’t tell me what she wanted from her. And then I hid…I hid Anna from her. I didn’t bring them together…fate did.” Cason gasped out. Without another word, Dean ripped the firepoker out of the wall behind Cason, freeing him, and threw it to the side with a loud ‘clang’. Cason took a deep breath, as if it was the first he had ever breathed, but stayed still.

“If you are some sort of unicorn demon, then fine. If that’s the case, I’m sorry. And if that’s the case, you will understand…why you can’t come with us.” Dean said as he stood up, a torn look between disgust and regret plastered to his face. He turned to walk away, and then turned back to Cason briefly, “Nat will forgive me eventually. Good luck, man…”

Cason didn’t argue with Dean. He simply leaned his head back, allowing his body to slowly start healing as Dean turned, and walked back to Duke’s side. Luckily, Duke was relatively thin, or there’s no way they would have ever made it out with him.

“Let’s get him out of here.” Dean grunted at Esme. He didn’t know if moving Duke was a good idea, but they didn’t really have a choice. He signalled for Esme to help him, and he wrapped one of Duke’s arms around his neck, counting to Esme before hoisting Duke from the ground, “I got you bud. Let’s get you patched up. C’mon…just stay with me.”

As Dean began to walk to the door of the barn, Anna looked back to Cason, and then to Dean and then to Sam and instantly shook her head. She pulled out of Sam’s arms, peeling him off her with her burning hot hands, and twisted in every way she could to get away from him until she was free. “No. No. We’re not leaving him! You can’t leave him!” She cried out, running over to Dean.

“Anna…move.” Dean warned her, his face showing nothing but seriousness and urgency. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he was getting Duke out, even if he had to anger his brother.

“No! We’re not leaving him. Sam. Help me. Please. Mika? Someone!” She cried out, running over to Cason and pulling one of his arms around her neck. She attempted to lift his damaged body with all her might, but they both collapsed on the ground as she whimpered. “Someone help me! Please!”

Dean closed his eyes, sighing through his nose, as Anna’s voice pierced his heart and then turned to shoot a look at Mika, shaking his head to tell her they didn’t have time to save Cason. They had to go. Anna continued to cry out for help, as Dean left the barn with Esme and Duke, his heart heavy with guilt. Nat might never forgive him.

“Sam…Please. Please help me…” Anna begged, her trauma bonding with Cason evident as she shielded his body, covering the wound in his stomach with her hand as it gushed blood. Even with her addiction, her mind wasn’t even focused on his blood, only his well being. He wasn’t healing fast enough to walk out on his own two feet. The lights began to flicker, signalling that the demons were likely on their way back.

Esme had hardly noticed that Dean had come up and kneeled beside her and Duke as she spoke to him. It wasn’t until Dean had talked to Duke that she knew he was there. She wasn’t even aware that Sarah had quietly made her way in and lay across from them. She was so focused on Duke that everything around her had faded out of existence. She wanted, no, needed Duke to pull out of this, even though she knew in the back of her mind it would take a miracle for that to happen. When she felt Duke return her second kiss, she jumped but didn’t pull back until he broke it. As soon as she saw his smirk, Esme released a shaking breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Esem opened her mouth to say something, but Duke spoke first. It was hard for her to tell who that comment was directed toward most, but she welcomed hearing his voice after the silence. As Dean spoke, Esme lifted a hand and wiped the tears from her cheeks, only to jump again as Mika called him over for help with Cason. She instantly felt Dean's aggravation and anger rise.

As Dean got up and walked away, Esme placed her fingers on Duke’s lips. “Shh, no more talking. You need to save your strength.” she told him softly. She moved her fingers from his lips as she sniffled and looked down at him. “Just stay with me.” she breathed as she held him close. She then leaned down and placed a tender kiss on his forehead. Esme tried to pull herself together, she never did like Duke or Dean seeing her in this state, but it wasn't proving easy. Sniffling, she shifted carefully to make herself and Duke more comfortable before wiping away more tears from her cheek. It was then she realized she was shivering and cold, but she didn’t want to move to reach her jacket and cause Duke any pain. To get her mind off being cold, she focused on keeping Duke comfortable and as pain-free as possible by stroking his hair and taking most of his pain into herself. “We’re going to get out of here soon.” she whispered. Then Sarah’s movement pulled her gaze from Duke. Esme watched as she carefully moved around them and over to Esme’s jacket, which she then brought to her.

“Thanks, Sarah.” she told the Hellhound as she took it from her. Sarah gave Esme a soft nuzzle and white before laying down next to her once more. Esme carefully slid on her jacket and returned to caring for Duke as Sarah turned her head to look at Dean and Cason. Sarah fought with herself to go and help Cason, but his words about Esme kept ringing in her ears, so she stayed put at Esme’s side, keeping watch.

When Dean returned to Esme and Duke, Sarah quietly alerted Esme to him. Esme looked up at Dean just as he spoke to her. “Yes, let’s.” she said with a nod. She knew it wasn’t the greatest idea moving Duke, but she knew they had no choice. At Dean’s signal, she helped him get Duke into position to be lifted before getting off her knees with Duke’s other arm around her shoulder, then lifted Duke from the ground on his count, all while still keeping her shirt pressed firmly to Duke’s wound and making sure he hardly felt any pain. She walked with them to the barn door, only to be stopped by Anna. Her eyes saddened for the girl as she realized what was going on, they were leaving Cason behind. As Anna begged, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything to her. Her heart went out to the girl, but they had to get Duke out here. Esme closed her eyes tightly briefly and sighed heavily, Anna’s cries tearing at her heart. When Dean began walking again, she followed along, a sick feeling overtaking her as she walked out with Dean and Duke quietly.

Sarah had taken to her paws and followed quietly behind the three, keeping close but not too close to alert Dean of her presence. When Anna stopped the three, her head kept darting between Dean, Anna, and Cason. She quickly picked up on what was happening, and it became even more evident when Dean and Esme continued to the barn door with Duke. Her head darted between Esme and Cason, a whine escaping her as she felt torn between who to be with. Sarah ran over to Cason and whined, then nudged his arm. His words about Esme rang in her ears again as she looked down at him. With a whine, she nuzzled his cheek and reluctantly followed after Esme, stopping briefly to pick up Duke’s hat on the way out. Sarah quickly closed the gap between her and Esme and took her place just a little behind Esme. As they walked to the cars, Esme kept looking up at Duke to monitor how he was holding up. “We’re almost there. Stay with us.” she told him.

NATALIA

Her eyes began to scrunch tightly as she came to with just as a big headache as she did earlier. Still dazed, she thought for a moment she was in the Impala but somehow was laying down across the seat. So when she opened her eyes and got blinded by a piercing white light, she started to panic. Desperately, she went to sit up but couldn't move, looking down seeing exactly where she was. "no....no no no...not here...not again" she whimpered, trying so hard not to cry as everything she had partially shut off in the back of her mind came flooding to the front. "I can't be here....I can't...." She continued to whimper and cry. Not only was she back here but she was back here without Cason to free her. She was alone, the others no where in sight, only the grime and mold on the tiled walls to be her company.

"About time you woke up" the gruff demon from the barn area spoke up, walking over to her and leaning over her, his black eyes staring into her own hazel brown eyes. She wanted to say something snarky but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't open her mouth. "Cat got your tongue all of a sudden?" He laughed, "well that's just fine.. we can make you speak and we know you know that all too well" he toyed with her, pulling out a surgical blade from his pocket. Nat found herself shaking her head in an attempt to beg him not to do this, even though it was useless. He was right, she did know what they were capable of and making her speak or scream. Lowering the knife down, the demon pressed down on her arm, twisting the knife as if playing with her like she was a doll. Nat started whimpering and whining from the pain. That wasn't enough for her torturer however as he lifted the knife and slammed it into her shoulder hard and fast, leaving it to protrude. This did make Nat scream and sob uncontrollably, the hot seering pain her shoulder felt blinstsbtly unbearable.

"More like it!! What other noise can we get out of you! Let's play shall we?!" He grinned sadistically, waving his arm to his comrade Davos to bring in the equipment. Nat shaking on the gurney as blood seeped out of her shoulder and down her arm. "But let's give you a chance to earn a break, I feel generous" he commented, "I'm not telling you anything" she said with anger, despite the tears falling down her cheeks. "Oh yes you will...why does Cason keep you as his?!" He demanded to know. "he doesn't!" She cried back. Wrong answer. A wet towel got pressed against her face whilst a lot of water got chucked on top of it- waterboarding her. Struggling to breath, she frantically thrashed against her restraints.

[b]SAM AND MIKA[\b]

Sam used his entire arm strength to keep Anna upright, wanting to just scoop her up into his arms bridal style to carry her out, but she was hot and sweating from the demon blood consumption. It broke his heart knowing she was probably forced to do it to try and stay alive and try to escape before they got there. He felt guilty for leaving her in that position even though he didn't deliberately do such a thing. He glanced around him at everyone in an heightened emotional state. Seeing his brother clearly distressed at seeing how bad Duke was whilst Mika was desperately trying to break Cason free with her bare hands due to not seeing the crow at nearby. He kept Anna out of the way beside him, ready to just scoop her up and get her out of the barn before it was too late when Mika's call to Dean to help her free Cason made him snap his head towards her. He saw her shaking her hands and assumed she just hurt them trying to find a way to open the neck restraint. He didn't even notice the tiny bit of smoke coming off her palms as she hid it instantly, but not so quickly that Cason wouldn't have noticed it.

He watched on as Dean stormed over, seeing his anger boil over, Sam knew it was quite possibly game over for Cason. He tried to shield Anna's face from whatever Dean was about to do as he didn't want her to see it. Anna was too close to Cason and she was already distressed enough as it was. He couldn't hear what Dean was saying to the man, not could Mika but they couldn't stop themselves from watching anyway, both wincing as Dean stabbed Cason to make his point, whatever it was, perfectly clear. Mika found herself using one hand to cover her mouth as she watched Dean just be brutal to Cason before freeing him from the wall. Neither of them could see how Natalia would ever forgive Dean for this if she had witnessed what they just did. Watching Dean step away, chucking the bar on the floor and walking back to Duke.

Sam forced himself to focus solely on Anna again, whilst Mika remained close to Sam and Anna to help him if he needed it. They saw Dean get help from Esme to hoist Duke off the ground and begin to vary him out of the barn, when Mika couldn't take it anymore, she HAD to help Cason. Yet as she stepped closer to him, Dean gave her the look and head shake to say 'leave him'. Her heart shattered when she got that silent command, putting her head down and started to follow them towards the barn doors. Then came the desperate pleas from Anna, begging them not to leave Cason, making Mika and Sam both close their eyes briefly to force themselves to not cry and give in. "....I'm sorry Anna .." Sam said sadly to Anna, opening his eyes and looking at her, sadness and sympathy in his eyes as he grabbed Anna, hoisted her up off the ground and carried her out the barn behind Dean, Duke, Esme and Mika.

------

Making it to the cars, something was off. Mika saw the impala door open and something bellowing in the breeze in the window. "Oh no...." She sighed, thinking Nat made a run for it. So she jogged ahead of everyone and ripped the paper out of the window. It was a pamphlet for the asylum Nat was once at. Then her eyes glanced downward and saw what she never wanted to see on the ground. Slowly bending down, she picked the items up before turning the others. "they took Nat" she simply stated with fear in her voice.

Anna shook her head, holding her hands out toward Sam as he bent and picked her up. Over his shoulder, she reached for Cason, trying in every way she could to twist her body out of Sam’s grip as she screamed out to Cason, “Cason, NO! No. Sam we have to go back. We have to go back! You can’t just leave him! He’s the only reason I’m alive. Sam please!”

She continued to scream, until they were almost halfway up the hill and the shock set in that Cason was definitely dead. There was no way he could fight back against the demons that were coming, especially Alastair. And with her gone? They were going to take losing her out on him, 100%. She was silent, sniffling as her head buzzed with demon blood, and her skin seemed to crawl, as if she was covered in bugs.

And for the first time, her faith in Sam was shaken. For the first time, her trust in the entire group was broken…especially the goodness she tried to see in Dean.



Dean hustled up the hill, as best he could with the majority of Duke’s weight against his body. He was trying to hold him as close as he could, both to make sure he stayed alive, and so Esme could keep his wound covered, and hopefully slow some of the bleeding. As they approached the vehicles, Dean scanned between them, trying to decide which car would be best to transport Duke in. He finally decided on the Impala, right as Mika dipped and picked something up off the ground.

He signalled for Esme to walk with him around to the drivers side of the backseat, using his free hand to open the door, and then carefully lowered Duke’s head, turning and laying him down gently on the seat. “You hang on, you hear me?”

“I waited this long…just watch…” Duke choked out, giving his best attempt at a smirk as he struggled to open his eyes.

“Watch the bumps. I know. Rest, man…” Dean stopped him, not closing the door as he jogged around to Mika. He didn’t even look up, not willing to meet Anna’s eyes as she fell into silence, numb. But that’s when Mika’s words sank in. “What did you say?”

“She said they took Nat. So…this isn’t over. We’re not out.” Anna murmured, staring off into space. Dean closed his eyes, his nose snarled, and for a moment, he was tempted to make the trek back down the hill to get Cason. He growled, grappling with the idea before turning his back from Mika with a loud and frustrated scream.

“What the hell is going on?!” He screamed, echoing through the empty farm. He glanced up at the sky, his face anguished as he was tempted to pray. He couldn’t take this anymore. He couldn’t take the losses. It was getting heavy. It was getting too heavy. He placed his hands on his hips and turned to Mika again. “What is that? Where did they take her?”



Cason didn’t fight any of them. He simply resolved himself to dying, until Sarah walked over to him. Such a good girl. The Hellhounds were always the bright light for him, ever since he was tasked with taking care of some of them in Hell. He smirked at her, shaking his head as Sarah leaned her head against him, a silent goodbye. He knew that she would always choose Esme…because he had asked her to.

“I love you too. Go on.” He whispered to her, lifting his hand to scratch behind one of her ears until she reluctantly turned and went after Esme. And then the barn fell into silence, with only Anna’s screams being heard outside.

On cue, the door opened again, after the group was up the hill. Three demons rolled in, their Hellhounds snarling as they padded along beside them. Cason smirked, seeing how large the hellhounds were, and how pissed they seemed. Before either of the demons could approach him, Cason began to laugh.

“What’s so funny? You’re going to die…and you’re laughing?” One of the demons asked with his eyes narrowed.

“A little something I learned from a frenemy of mine, I guess.” Cason groaned, suddenly realizing his legs were working again. He pulled one of them up, causing the smaller of the three demons to flinch, his fists clenching. “And what’s so funny? You brought me dogs.”

“Yeah. Alastair said to make it fun for you.” The demon attempted to tease Cason, but he just laughed louder. “Make sure you didn’t poof your way out of here.”

“Is that so? He knows me…but he doesn’t know me, I guess. See, Lilith trusted me with a lot…including her babies.” Cason explained, glancing down at the Hellhound to the right of the demon who seemed to be in control. “And by babies, I don’t mean her food.”

“Get the dogs out. Right now!”

“Attendite! Discedite nunc, pueri!” Cason suddenly began screaming at the dogs, causing them to growl, their attention focused on him, and then turning in fierce obedience toward the other demons. “Nunc!”

And suddenly the Hellhounds jumped on their handlers, ripping them limb for limb in front of Cason, as he smiled, choking out a laugh. He glanced down, as the screaming continued, and touched the bloody wound to his stomach, pulling both his legs up in front of him. The wound was nearly healed, which meant that if he hurried, he could get up the hill to the Winchesters, and beat the life…out of Dean Winchester. But as he tried to teleport, he couldn’t and he realized very quickly his legs weren’t healed enough to stand. With a sigh, he leaned back and smiled at the dogs.

“Bonum est. Nunc ite. Find Natalia.” Cason ordered them, and the Hellhounds turned and ran out of the barn.





The ER nurses rushed out to the Impala, pushing everyone aside to help Duke after Dean called ahead. They needed him in a bed, getting fixed up as soon as possible, or there was no hope of him surviving, if there ever was. As Dean followed the nurses to the doors, one woman held a hand out, placing it on his chest.

Dean looked past them to Esme, whom they let go in with Duke. Sure, Esme could handle it but he wanted to be there if she got the bad news he was dreading. He looked down at the nurse, opening his mouth to speak but she cut him off.

“He requested his girlfriend. But you? We have questions. Don’t leave, sir.” The nurse snapped at him, and Dean furrowed his brow, watching them wheel Duke inside, out of his reach and eventually out of his eye sight. He turned and walked back with frustration to the Impala, wiping both frustrated hands down his face.

“So what the hell are we doing now?”

“Miss, are you okay?” A random nurse leaned in and asked Anna, who was sitting in the passenger seat of Duke’s truck, leaning against the open window. Anna didn’t answer him at first and he tried again.

“No.”

“Do you need help? If you don’t feel safe, I can call ahead for…” The man continued, insinuating that Sam may have hurt her. Anna winced at the accusation, but shook her head.

“No.”

“I have to insist that you get checked out. If you’re afraid, I can escort you.”

“I don’t need help. I’m fine.” Anna grumbled, rolling her eyes. The nurse could see that she was covered in sweat and her shoulder was bleeding badly enough that it was still weeping down her arm, splattering onto the leather seat below her.

“Well, that shoulder needs attention. If you won’t come with me, I’ll have to call ahead.”

“Fine. Stitches, a bottle of water and I’m out. I just want to go home.” Anna snapped finally, opening the truck door without so much as a look to Sam. She climbed out of the truck and followed the nurse. The nurse didn’t even give Sam the option to follow them, turning to him.

“You stay here. There will be questions.”

Inside, the nurse that had held Dean back pumped the manual respirator they had already set up for Duke, her expression concerned and stern. She looked up at Esme as they walked along and frowned.

“Hes going to need blood, right away. You wouldn’t happen to be O-negative would you?” She asked her, still suspicious of the woman in front of her. Sure it was this man’s significant other, but she had arrived with a man that seemed awfully emotionally invested.

They burst through a set of doors and another nurse came to take over the bag, as the female nurse touched Esmes arm gently, stopping her.

“Let’s um…let’s get that sleeve rolled up so we can help your boyfriend.” She explained, as Duke was rolled back to surgery with urgency. “We can pray for a miracle together, alright? He’s in good hands.”