Embrace The Flames // BOok 1

Salvation

"Sammy was Six months old that night, right?" Darcey asked
"Exactly six- months." John says

"So basically, this demon is going after these kids for some reason. The same way it came after me?" He says
"So mom's death..Jessica's, you're saying it was my fault?"

"We don't know that." Dean says to him
"Really?" Sam counters
"I'd say we're pretty sure." Says shouts
"Sammy—" Darcey starts
"For the last time what happened is not your fault." Dean says cutting her off from saying exactly that.
"Sure. It's not my fault, but it's my problem."
"No, it's not, it's our problem." Darcey says raising her voice a bit.
"Okay, that's enough." John says to stop the conversation.

"So why is it doing it? What does it want?" Sam then asked
"I wish I could give you answers, I do. I've always been one step behind it. Look, I've never gotten there in time to save ...."

"So how do we find it before it hits again?" Dean asked
"There signs. It took me a while to see the pattern..but in the days before theses fires, signs crop up in an area. Cattle deaths,
temperature fluctuations....electrical storms. And then I went back and checked, and.."
"these things happened in Lawrence." Dean puts together
"A week before your mother died." John says " and in Palo Alto...before Jessica. And these signs, they're starting again."

"Where?" Darcey asked
"Salvation, Iowa." John tells them.

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In the car, Darcey checks her phone once again and sees nothing new.
"Dude, that's like the tenth time in five minutes." Dean says as he looked to his sister from the review mirror.
"I know. It's just Pastor Jim is supposed to call with a check in on Grayson. And I've gotten nothing yet." She explains.

"He's probably doing a service now." Dean tries
"Yeah.." she says not really believing him at the moment.
When the Winchester's pull over, they all get out of they're cars.
"Goddamn it." John says as he slams his car door shut.
"What is it?" Dean asked
Sam and Darcey Stand beside the brother.
"Son of a bitch." John said and hit his car, not answering his son yet.
"What is it?" Darcey asked this time.
"I just got a call from Caleb." He then tells them
"Is he okay?" Dean asked
John nods. "He's fine. Jim Murphy's dead."
"Pastor Jim?" Sam asked "how?"
"Throat was slashed. He bleed out. Caleb said the found traces of sulfur at Jim's place.

And just like that, Darcey's once calm mood was ripped from under her feet and she's falling at lighting Speed to the ground with no net.
"What?" She whispers. She can feel her ears grow hot, her hands shake like the highest level an earthquake could go, her breaths come sporadically and uneven.
"What's wrong?" John asked as he watched his daughter struggle to breath.
Dean looked to his sister, her face red and eyes full of tears
"Shit." He whispers as he turns to her.
"Darcey. I'm sure Grayson is fine. Hey. Darcey, look at me." Dean tried
But her eyes were now closed as she let out a sob sound
"Bu-but-he's..he's th-there." She managed to say in between her hiccuping and crying.
"What?" John asked "Grayson was with Jim?"
"Oh, God. Yeah, he was, he was closer than Bobby.." Sam explains for Darcey.
"Darcey, breath okay? Remember what we do when this happens?" Dean asked his sister as calmly as he could, both of his hands on her shoulders. The older twin give a small nod, and she and Dean count to ten.
When that made her calm down just the slightest bit, Dean pulled her into his arms and let her hug him.
From over her shoulders, Dean asked
"So demon?"
For a moment, John didn't answer, but then he gave a short nod.
"The demon?" He asked
"I don't know. Could be he just got—he got careless, he slipped up." John said tying to come up with anything but the truth.
"Maybe the demon knows we're getting close." The father says
At his words, Darcey held Dean tighter. The brother hugged her tighter back.
"What do you want to do?" Dean asked
"Now we act like every second counts." John says "there's two hospitals and a health centre in this county. We split up. Cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's going to be six-months old in the next week." John tells them

"Dad, That could be dozens of kids. How the hell are we gonna know which one's the right one?" Sam asked
"We'll check them all, that's how." John told him "you got any better ideas?"
Dean looked over to Sam the best he could with Darcey in his embrace, but when Sam said,
"No, sir", Dean was just the slightest bit great-full. 
When John made his way back in his truck, and Sam back in the Impala, Dean looked to his dad who hesitated getting in.
"Dad?" He asked
"Yeah?. Its Jim. You know, I can't..This ends. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes." John says, determination in full force.

Dean then pushed Darcey back just a little so he could look at her.

"Darcey. We are going to find out that Grayson is fine. He's okay. I need you to understand that." Dean told her quietly.
Nodding, Darcey took a deep breath.
"Okay." She whispered

£**£

At a motel, after the Winchester's gathered the information they needed, the four of them discussed Sam's visions.

"A vision?" John asked his son like he couldn't believe him.
"Yes." Sam says holding his head in pain. " I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling." The boy explains
"And you think it will happen to this woman because..?" John asked
"Because these things happen the exact way I see them." Sam tells him

When Dean got up from the bed, Darcey turned in her sleep, The brother looking back at his still sleeping sister, John though still sat on it as well.
She needed some rest and a clear mind if they were going to find Grayson.
"Yeah. They started out as nightmares. Then they started happening while he was awake." Dean explains
"Yeah. It's—I don't know. It's like the closer I get to anything involving the demon..the stronger the visions get." Sam tells his father
"All right, when where you gonna tell me about this?" John asked
"We didn't know what it Meby." Dean says
"Something like this starts happening to your brother you pick up the phone and you call me."
Dean placed his mug on the counter and turned to his dad.
"Call you?" Dean asked "are you kidding me? Dad, I called you from Lawrence. All right. Sam called you when I was dying. I mean, getting you on the phone? I got a better chance at winning the lottery." Dean says, his raised voice waking Darcey. She sat up in the bed.
"What's going on?" She asked
"You're right. Although I'm not real crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right, and I'm sorry."

Still a bit confused, Darcey got up from the bed and got her own glass and filled it with water.
"Look, guys, visions or no visions, the fact is we know the demon is coming tonight. And this family is going the same hell we went through." Sam tells them

"No they're not. No one is, ever again. And we're going to find Grayson." John says looking at his daughter.
Just then, Sam's phone rings.
"Hello?" He answers
"Who is this?" He asked
When Sam says the name Meg, Darcey knew instantly that she was the one who took her son.
She went to go reach for the phone but Dean grabbed her by the waist and held her back to let Sam talk.
"My dad? I don't know where my dad is." Sam says John then walked up to him and got the phone.
"This is John." He says into the phone.
Darcey was now hugging Dean as they listened to the one way conversation.
On the phone, Meg said,
"Hi, John. I'm Meg. I'm a friend of your boys and precious girl, isn't she just the sweetest thing? I'm also the one who watched Jim Murphy choke on his own blood."

"Well, that was yesterday. Today, I'm in Lincoln...visiting another friend of yours, he wants to say hi, there's also someone else who misses his mom oh so very much...it's that right, Grayson?"
When John heard Calebs voice and Grayson's screams, he said into the phone.
"You listen to me. Neither of them have anything to do with anything. You let them go." He says
Darcey cry's into Deans shoulder
"I don't know what you're talking about." John said
When they suddenly heard more of Graysons muffled cry's, and the sounds of Caleb choking, Darcey let out a sob. Dean tried to calm her down but even he was scared for his nephew.
"I'm going to kill you. You know that?" John said

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