[h3] Dean [/h3] 

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.

[h3] Anna, Cason and Duke [/h3]

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.