JustAnna

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean

Dean was pretty happy with the small smile he saw on Lexi’s face as she took in his joke. But her own joke caused him to flinch, though he knew she was joking. He feigned heartbreak, holding his hand over his chest as if she had shot him in the heart with a gun.

“A little perfume and I lose her hand forever…”, he joked, his eyes closed. He chuckled loudly, and grabbed the side of the cart, following her as she weaved through the isles.

“So since you’re staying…”, he muttered, bringing up the most awkward thing he could think, at the most awkward moment he could bring it in, “How exactly do we balance…the us thing. I mean, not that I think Sam would care, considering he roots for any woman that comes within a mile of me to be in my face and all that. But…I was just you know…wondering.”

He cringed at how awkward the spiel sounded, and cleared his throat, “I guess what I’m trying to say is…do we make this a thing thing? Or just…a thing.”

And again he cringed, closing his eyes and dropping his hand in defeat. Hopefully she would catch onto his line of thought, but he highly doubted it. Mika was always the only one who could decipher his manic moments.

——-

Anya

Anya watched Sam’s face after she turned the pad around, a bit surprised at the opening and closing of his mouth. He was frazzled. Something she had said had frazzled him. But after a moment, he spoke and Anya sighed with relief, but quickly gasped when he asked if she was a hunter. Her brow twitched as she gave quick thought to her next words, but didn’t want to show enough emotion or thought to give herself away, too much.

She pulled the pad back, turning the page so she could write a pretty long explanation, wishing at that moment that she had her laptop or phone nearby, just to make things a bit easier to get out to him.

“It’s complicated. I know of the hunters. I know hunters. And when I asked a hunter I was following about a deal I was offered, and all that…they pointed me to the Winchesters. It took me forever to try and find them, but if you say you know them, I think I’m in the right place. It doesn’t hurt that I like your company.”, she finished writing the last sentence, holding the pen against the paper for a moment as she reread things, and with a small cringe on her lips, she slowly turned the paper toward Sam, not looking up to make eye contact.

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

Cason smirked as Nat began to speak about how corny his words were, scrunching his nose up again, ready for a retort. However, before her thought could even began, she dozed off and Cason sighed sadly. He simply stared off into space for a while, as she slept, not sure whether he should actually stay or if he should sneak out and hope she slept well enough to not need support. Eventually, he made his decision, sliding a hand carefully behind her back to force her body down the bed, until she was lying. He protected her head with his other hand, carefully laying her head against the pillow.

He brushed her hair from her forehead, as her hand fell onto the bed, near his leg. Sighing again, he pulled the covers up around her shoulders and lowered himself back into a seated position against the headboard, his hand falling to rest against her palm.

At some point during the night, while he stared off into space, he felt her stir. Her hand moved from under his, balling into a fist as she whimpered in her sleep. He loosely caught the words, as she relived what he could only imagine was the worst days of her life.

“Nat…”, he murmured, falslely assuming that she would wake up just at the sound of her name, but she continued to dream, and it only seemed to get worse. Not sure what else to do, he scooted himself down the bed until he was positioned with his face not far from her own, “Nat. Hey…you’re dreaming sweetheart. I’m right here. You’re safe. Shh. You’re safe…”

He whispered the words as close to her ear as he could, brushing her hair with his fingers as he spoke. He wished at that moment that he could do some sort of telepathy, and move through her memories to just let her get some rest, but he couldn’t decide in his mind why he cared so much.

“You’re safe with me…”, he whispered one more time, pulling his face back from her ear to settle his nose against hers, hoping the touch would calm her.

Duke

Dukes face changed from a variation of shocked to angry to confused and back to surprise as the group explained what was happening. He knew about Cason. Hell, he had helped save Cason, along with Esme. From what he could tell, the demon cared a great deal about her, considering the pet hellhound.

Then again, the idea of Nat being left with demons, considering the loose history he knew about her time with them made his skin crawl. He cracked his neck, his nostrils flaring as he tried to decide how to react to the news, but as soon as he glanced up at Dean, his face softened a bit.

“We’re gonna keep an ear out…”, Dean explained simply, communicating with his other little brother through his eyes. Duke stared hard for a few seconds, finally coming to a resolve. He sighed, and nodded his head gently as he finished his silent conversation with Dean.

“If you’re sure…I’m sure.”, Duke said simply, nodding his head again.

“Good. Now, we should probably get some rest before whatever happens tomorrow comes. Like Anna said, this isn’t the end of it. It never is.”, Dean said simply, glancing to Anna and then Sam, before wrapping an arm around Mika’s waist, “Everything okay with you and Esme?”

“Yeah. She’s a little banged up. Nothin’ a little rest and whiskey can’t fix.”, Duke chuckled, and glanced back at Esme, “I just gotta convince her to either go to bed or at least be still. She’s…not having the best go at it mentally.”

“Anything I can do?”, Dean asked.

“Nah. I can handle her. You know that. Just gotta get her used to me being around.”, Dean nodded once again, but narrowed his eyes.

“And how long you planning to stay around?”

“I honestly don’t know yet. But I don’t need to go worryin’ her about it tonight. It’s been a day, man.”, Duke deflected, shaking his head. Dean simply sighed, tightening his grip on Mika’s waist.

“Take care of her. Get some rest. We’ll all reconvene in the morning…Sound good?”, he asked, looking around the group.

"From out of Nowhere" - SPN

Dean was awkwardly silent as he and Lexi walked through the store. She didn’t seem to want to talk much, but at the same time, the silence between them was heavy, as if she had something to say. But he let the silence lie for a while, just enjoying the simplicity of grocery shopping for a bit.

However, when she zoned out while near the deodorant, Dean recognized that look all too well. He watched her, before grabbing something for himself, and spritzing it in the air with a smirk, “What do you think about this one? I mean, if you’re gonna be riding around in the car with me, I might as well smell good, right? Unless you’re more of a flowers and…powder? Type?”, he teased, picking up another brand that had more of a soft powder scent. He held it up with his eyebrows raised.

—————-

Anya watched Sam’s face as he began to explain himself to her. She stared between his hazel eyes, knowing that usually she would have instantly pegged him as a man with way too much baggage. But, as he kept talking, she felt the weight of empathy hit her chest and she chewed on her bottom lip a bit.

She could relate heavily to being dragged all over the country for some arduous task of her father, or nothing at all other than him running from his problems. Then, only to find herself continuing that stupid path when she was out on her own. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, wondering if Sam was a hunter. But she quieted her mind and tilted her head to the side at his question.

Pulling her pad, she wrote down her answer, “I can relate. I’m here on a ghost hunt of sorts. I guess.”

She turned the pad to him and sighed, before pulling the pad around to her again, trying to think of how to ask him the next question she had. If she didn’t play her cards right, he might think she was some crazy stalker, or possibly a murderer trying to track down people he knew…or didn’t know.

“Do you know anyone by the last name Winchester?”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anna and Dean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Duke

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Dean Winchester

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cason

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

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

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

Duke

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

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

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

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

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

“You’re safe here…with me.”

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

AnnaBeth and Dean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Dean…i don’t know if that’s…”

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

Cason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Duke

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

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

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

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

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

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

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

But Nat.

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

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

AnnaBeth

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

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

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

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

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

Dean

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

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

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

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

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

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason and Anna

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Duke

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

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

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

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

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

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Duke

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

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

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

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

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

Cason and Anna

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

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

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

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

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

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

Supernatural - Hell On The Horizon

Cason

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anna

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

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

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

Duke

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

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

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

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