[h3] Anna [/h3]

Anna looked down at her shirt again, as Sam offered her his hand and asked if she wanted his hoodie. It was pretty badly stained with blood. But even more ominous looking was her skin, which was essentially painted with it. Sighing, she took his hand and shook her head, “Let’s just get to a bathroom as quickly as we can. I don’t want to potentially draw attention, in case they had friends waiting on us.”

Luckily the bathrooms were closer than she thought they would be, to the door. She stepped away from Sam, squeezing his hand to reassure him that she would be back, and then quickly walked into the bathroom. Now that the demon blood was coursing through her veins, seemingly faster than ever, she felt paranoid. As she stepped in, a hand dryer began to blow as a woman dried her hands, in the corner. The simple action caused Anna to flinch, instantly on full guard against the loud noise. The lights overhead buzzed. The buzzing was so loud that it was nearly deafening as she winced, and tried to ignore it. She stepped into a stall, and quickly closed the door behind her, dropping her bags in the corner.

She pulled an oversized tshirt and a pair of bicycle shorts from her bag and shakily removed Sam’s flannel, rolling it into a ball and shoving it back into her bag, before getting fully dressed. 

Just as she was pulling a baby wipe from a small pack in her backpack, to begin cleaning the blood from her chest and hands, the door to the bathroom opened, and she froze. It could have been Sam, but it was an all women’s restroom. Unless something was wrong, Sam likely wouldn’t come in and she was too frozen to call out for him. To her relief, the stall next to her opened and a woman stepped in and seemingly sat down. Leaning her head against the wall for a moment to catch her breath and diffuse a bit of dizziness, Anna took a long and deep breath…

“I don’t blame you for being nervous.” A feminine voice called out from the stall next to her, causing Anna’s blood to run cold as she raised her face from her shaky hand and stared at the wall, wishing she had x-ray vision. “Alastair is very intimidating, but I will tell you…he’s also very fair. Don’t!”

Anna froze once more, just as she reached for the lock on the door, to run. How the person heard her fumbling with the door, she didn’t know, but she instantly dropped her hand and turned back toward the wall. Of course demons were at the airport. They were following them everywhere, “What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything. I am simply here to send a message to you…and by proxy, to Sam. Alastair would like to meet you at a special place. Your group has the address, and he requests that you bring the entire group for a little…rendevous. If Alastair is happy with what he gets, then he will leave your merry band of losers alone. If not, he’ll kill you all.” The voice explained and Anna’s eyes began to slowly cloud over with white in her sudden anger and frustration. She began to breathe heavily and the lady laughed, “Don’t do that. He also wanted me to let you know that it’s non-negotiable. If you don’t show up, he has all of your friends in a fishbowl right now. You might want to start considering the one you could stand to lose…My vote would be fore Dean. Alastair is finished playing games.”

“So, what does he want from me?” Anna choked out, leaning her head against the wall again, with her eyes closed. The person in the stall was a demon. Anna could hear their heartbeat, whirring like an engine, just on the other side of the metal wall. 

“Simple. He wants you to be great! He wants you to do what you were made to do, and when the time comes, he wants you to be willing to fulfill your purpose…fully…without Sam Winchester’s morality standing in the way.”

“He’ll never let me go. Now that we’re back together, he’ll be watching me like a hawk. I don’t plan to fight him…” Anna began but the voice called out again.

“That’s why you follow…the plan. Sam won’t have many choices in what happens from there. But it’s you or one of them. I vote we start with the problem, little Sammy. But apparently Lilith wants him alive. So, maybe we take out the little sister…or the girlfriend? Or maybe the cowboy and his girlfriend. Two birds with one stone, and I’ve been dying to get my hands on him…”

“I get it! I get it. Stop. I’ll find a way to get them to come to the location. Where is it?”

“The Cowboy has the address. Bring the family. And drink this. It might help you on the plane. See you soon, sweetheart.” The voice finished. A vial of blood rolled under the wall, and as Anna reached down to retrieve it, the person left, just as quick as they had come in. 

A few moments later, Anna stepped out of the bathroom, her bags slung over her shoulder and a scowl on her face as she approached Sam. She didn’t know what to tell him. So, pulling a page from his book, she chose to say nothing, simply nodding for him to follow her to the checkpoints. It was better to just get this overwith.




[h3] Dean [/h3]

Dean nodded softly in agreement with Mika basically echoing his own sentiment about Cason. She said it in a nicer way, but he was a means to an end. As long as Nat was happy, Cason was safe. The second he stepped out of line, that was the end of it for him. But Mika was also right about his relief regarding his relationship with his sister. Nat had never really taken to Dean. Maybe he just reminded her too much of John, or maybe it was his lack of putting in any effort to try and understand her. He often just saw her as a more vulnerable and less capable version of Sam, the annoying younger sibling that couldn’t take care of themself.

But Sam was anything but that. Dean was well aware that he still treated Sam the same way he did when Sam was a kid. He still saw him that way, and probably always would, “I’m not the biggest hugger, but I’ll take it from her. Any contact means she feels safe. If she feels safe, she’s less likely to do reckless crap that will get her killed. I’ll take it.  I’m not the snuggly type, but I’ll take it.”

He chuckled, but the chuckle broke off when she mentioned the hickey on Nat’s neck. He rolled his eyes and groaned, turning his gaze down to Mika’s. A smirk crept onto his lips as he took in her expression. She was genuinely amused by the whole situation, in spite of his own disgust. “I don’t exactly want to think about what they were doing last night. She doesn’t want to talk about it. I would rather not ask again. All I know is that she does…have some bruises. So, it must have been a good night. Gross.”

Dean crunched up his nose, but chuckled, showing that he was torn between disgusted and amused. His lack of anger was proof that he was willing to give this whole thing a chance, as long as Nat was safe. Cason was the devil he knew.

[h3] Cason [/h3]

Cason’s relief at the standing between him and Nat couldn’t be overstated. She made him feel strangely human, and he preferred the idea of keeping her close…safe. It wasn’t like he was in love with her or anything. That sort of emotion wasn’t possible for a demon. But the feeling in his chest was at least strong. 

When Nat agreed to stick around and help with Anna, he relaxed his shoulders a bit, and nodded. Anna was going to need a level head that would agree with Cason on reasonable expectations and requests, if this involved any demons beyond his old inner circle. If this was involving the upper regime, even Cason wouldn’t have all the answers. Nat mentioning the asylum took Cason off guard, and he shook his head, stepping a bit closer to her again, before pulling her in, their noses almost touching.

“I can’t promise you much, because I don’t really make promises. Deals? Yes. Promises…not so much.” He chuckled, and brushed the tip of her nose with his. “You will never go back to that place again. I’ll make sure of that. I told you before the chuckleheads came in and stabbed me…once you’re out, you’re never coming back. I meant it.”

He tilted his head forward, and pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, “You’ll be safe. I can at least promise you that. As long as I’m alive, you’re safe.”






[h3] Duke [/h3]


Duke didn’t resist when Esme sat up on her knees and pulled him in. It was a very vulnerable position, as his hat fell off and onto the bed and the cold air hit his hair. He closed his eyes and rested his head calmly against her chest, listening to her heartbeat until her voice vibrated her chest with confirmation. That was all he wanted. He wanted her to know where he stood, and what he was willing to do, before they walked into a situation where he was very likely to die. Obviously he was doing his best to keep those feelings repressed, trying to learn how to hide them from Esme. Likely she could sus them out, and honestly…he didn’t know how she could expect him to feel any other way.

He shook the thought from his mind, and wrapped his arms around her, brushing his fingertips up and down her spine. There wasn’t much hope of getting everyone on task and in the same room until Sam was back with them. Dean was probably worried sick about Sam and the Anna girl was in the middle of all of the demon chaos.

“We can just wait til Sam gets back.” He muttered lazily, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s not like Dean’s gonna go anywhere until he knows he’s safe anyway. I brought food. We got a tv…”

He reluctantly lifted his head from her chest, and sat back, wrapping the fingers of his right hand around the back of her neck, to pull her face closer. He flashed his bright smile, an attempt to convince her that when they went into all of this, there was nothing to worry about. They were fine. They were on the same page and if they went out, they went out together.

“I don’t know how we could spend a couple of hours, though. Do you?” He teased, through his bright smile.