[h3] Anna [/h3] 

As Sam and Anna walked out of the motel room and onto the narrow sidewalk outside, Anna frowned at the sight of a woman standing there. She was barefoot, staring straight at the brick wall in front of her, and she seemed to be mumbling in…Latin. Anna stared at her for a few moments, as a ringing began in her ears. In the ringing, there were slight whispers in various ancient languages, of which she could make out her name a few different times. 

Entranced, Anna’s eyes dilated, and she began to rock on the balls of her feet until the woman turned and looked at her. At first, the sound out of her mouth was a loud hiss, which caused Anna to flinch, stepping closer to Sam. But the woman simply smiled and spoke softly.

“Such a lovely couple…”, she cooed at both of them, as Anna’s heart hammered in her chest. Outside of Anna’s head, the woman had simply been closing her motel room door. She was not speaking in tongues, and Sam likely wouldn’t have noticed anything was off at all. But to Anna, this seemed like some sort of omen.

“No. No. No. Not today. Not today…” Anna whispered to herself wiping a hand over her forehead as she squeezed her eyes closed and stepped away from Sam. She felt as if she was going insane, and maybe she was. Maybe the demon blood was finally beginning to seep into her mind. Maybe she needed demon blood to calm herself down. But she couldn’t do that. Drinking demon blood made her psychotic and uncontrollable. She turned and pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes still squeezed shut. “I hate to say this…but we need to tell the group to stay put. I need to um…I need to see Cason.”


[h3] Dean and Cason [/h3]

Dean growled softly and scowled down at Mika, as she pointed a finger at his face, scolding him for defending Nat against a demon. But Cason seemed to back down as soon as he realized Mika was even somewhat on his side. He shrugged his shoulders and relaxed, smirking at Dean. He unfolded his arms, however, and turned with his eyebrows raised as Nat’s voice rang out from behind him. His expression was full of admiration as he watched her approach them and nodded along with her words.

“I mean…” he muttered.

Dean cleared his throat loudly, fully considering killing Cason right in front of Nat and just dealing with the fallout. Mika grabbing his hand told him that even she was going to protect the loser. There was a delayed reaction to Nat’s words, but the words hit Dean directly in the chest as Mika furthered what she was saying about their dad. Dean tilted his head back and took a deep breath, trying to calm his anger. He squeezed Mika’s hand tightly, and turned his eyes back to Nat, just in time to see her wrap her arm around Cason’s. His hand tightened slightly in MIka’s, and he cleared his throat.

“So that’s it, huh? I just have to [i]deal[/i] with him…because what, he made you feel warm and fuzzy? What exactly happened last night, between you two? You don’t so much as hug other people, pretty much the entire time I’ve known you. And now, suddenly you have a cuddle bug. That cuddle bug just HAPPENS to be a demon.” Dean ridiculed Nat. As he spoke, he stepped away from Mika and into the room, finally and Cason straightened a bit more. 

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s complicated…right. Nat, what’s going on? If we’re gonna bury whatever this is, I need some…honesty. Is that a lot to ask from all of you? Can we be honest with each other? I don’t know what the hell is going on with my brother, or his…half demon girlfriend. I don’t know what’s going on with my sister, and all I’m asking for is for us all to be on the same page. If we need to fight, let’s fight. If we need to separate for a while…well.” Dean took a break and a deep breath and raised a hand to invite Natalia to explain. “What is going on with you?…right now.”

[h3] Duke [/h3]

Duke stood outside the door, the rain pouring off his hat like waterfalls. He didn’t know how Esme would take him coming back, or if she would even want him to come back. When the door opened, his heart jumped into his throat, expecting to see a very hurt and possibly angry Esme standing there. Instead, there was no one. Or rather, there was a Hellhound, he realized as his jacket was tugged and he was forced to walk through the door by Sarah’s strength. The water from his hat continued to cascade around his feet, wetting the carpet as he stood there, staring at Esme’s back.

He gently sat the food down on the dresser, unable to hold onto anything as his hands began to shake and Sarah made Esme aware of his presence. As she stood and turned to him, Duke’s heart leaped into his throat once again and his throat began to tighten with tears he wanted to keep away. He tilted his head up so she could see his face from under his hat and he nodded. 

“I came back. I don’t um…”, he stopped his words and sniffled, as his curly blonde hair dripped daggers of cold water around his neck. “I um…I don’t know if I can run. Not this time. I don’t know how to say sorry about it or anything. I was just hopin’ you’d let me back in. You don’t got much of a reason to. I’m not a team player. I obsessed over you for years without sayin’ anything. I almost get killed every time I pick up a knife. I don’t sleep. I barely eat. I’m a mess…”

He took a deep and shaky breath, wrapping his arms around himself like a nervous child. His hat covered his face and he cleared his throat. “But I wanna figure out how to…take care of you. I wanna figure out how to stop runnin’.”