MOTEL ROOM
John and Pedro's research was all over the motel room. The walls were covered with information on the yellow-eyed demon. Weather charts, hieroglyphs, pictures, newspaper articles, written notes, a shelf of books and more.
John and Pedro sat at a paper strewn desk, the Colt in front of them. Sam leaned against the counter, Dean paced, and Susana sat on one of the beds.
"So this is it," John told them. "This is everything I know. Look, our whole lives we been searching for this demon, right? Not a trace, just... nothing. Until about a year ago. For the first time I picked up a trail."
"And that's why you took off," Dean said.
"Yeah. That's right. The demon must have come out of hiding, or hibernation."
"All right so what's this trail you found?"
Pedro nodded. "It starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California. Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us."
"Families with infants?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah. The night of the kid's six month birthday."
Sam thought for a moment. "So basically, this demon is going after these kids for some reason. The same way it came for me and Susie? So Mom's death... Jessica. It's all because of me?"
"We don't know that, Sam," Dean said.
"Oh really? 'Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure, Dean."
Dean grew frustrated. "For the last time, what happened to them was not your fault."
Sam began shouting. "Right. It's not my fault but it's my problem."
"No, it's not your problem, it's our problem!"
John stood. "Okay. That's enough."
Everyone took a breath and calmed down.
"So why's he doing it?" Sam asked. "What does he want?"
"Look, Pedro and I wish we had more answers, we do," John answered. "We've always been one step behind it. Look, we've never gotten there in time to save..." He looked down, unhappy.
"All right so how do we find it... before it hits again?" Susana asked, changing the subject.
"There's signs. It took us awhile to see the pattern, but it's there in the days before these fire signs crop up in an area. Cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms. And then Pedro and I went back and checked... and..."
"These things happened in Lawrence and in Gilbert," Dean realized.
John nodded. "A week before your mother died and before Joan could've died. And in Palo Alto... before Jessica. And these signs, they're starting again."
"Where?" Sam and Susana demanded.
"Salvation, Iowa."
John's truck sped along a misty road, followed closely by the Impala. After a few moments, he pulled off to the side, the Impala followed, and everyone sprang from their seats.
"God damn it!" John cried.
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"Son of a bitch."
"What is it!"
"I just got a call from Caleb."
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine. Jim Murphy's dead."
"Pastor Jim? How?" Sam asked.
"His throat was slashed. He bled out. Caleb said they found traces of sulfur at Jim's place."
"A demon," Sam determined and John and Pedro nodded. "The Demon?"
"I don't know. Could be he just got careless, he slipped up. Maybe the demon knows we're getting close."
"What do we do?" Dean wondered.
"Now we act like every second counts," Pedro said. "There's two hospitals and a health center in this county. We split up, cover more ground. John and I want records. We want a list of every infant that's going to be six months old in the next week."
"Pedro, that could be dozens of kids," Sam said. "How do we know which one's the right one?"
"We check 'em all; that's how," John replied. "You got any better ideas?"
"No sir."
John and Pedro nodded at them and they turned back to their cars. John stopped, leaning on his trunk.
Dean turned back as he opened his door and paused. "Dad?"
""Yeah. It's Jim. You know, I can't..." His face hardened. "This ends, now. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes."
They got back in their cars and pulled back onto the main road, speeding in the distance.
---
John and Pedro pulled up in front Salvation Children's Hospital. John opened the container between the seats and shuffled through the number of IDs there, selected one, Pedro selected one of his, and pinned them to their jackets.
Sam and Susana were sitting in a filing room and a nurse brought them another load of files.
"Here you go, officers," the nurse said.
"Thank you," Sam and Susana replied.
"You're welcome."
Sam continued copying birth certificate information into his notebook.
A pretty receptionist handed a file to a hospital worker, then looked down at her clipboard. She looked up again as Dean walked in and paused, looking around. He noticed her and raised his eyebrows.
"Hi," the woman greeted. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Dean smiled. "Oh God yes." She smiled and looked down and Dean held up his ID. "Only I'm uh... working right now, so..."
Sam and Susana came out of Salvation Medical Center and Sam flipped through his notebook, then clutched his head as a vision hit him. The Yellow Eyed Demon was in a baby's nursery. He flashed to a mother looking out the window, heard a train, and saw the demon again. As soon as the vision finished, he was able to focus and quickly pulled out a map. Susana focused on the sound waves she was hearing of a mother's scream and a baby's cry.
"Sam, we gotta find these people," Susana said.
He nodded. "Yeah."
---
Later, they were in a park and Sam was checking his map again. As he did, he got the vision flashes again. When it was over, he realized the house from the vision was right in front of him. The woman from his vision pushed a stroller along the road while holding an umbrella.
Sam glanced at Susana. "Play along."
Susana nodded. "Yeah."
They approached the woman.
"Hi," Sam greeted. "Here, let me hold that for you. You look like you don't need that anymore."
"Oh. Thanks," the woman replied, closing her umbrella while Sam held her stroller.
He looked inside. "She's gorgeous. Is she yours?"
"Yeah."
Sam looked to the baby. "Oh wow, hi." He turned to the mom. "Oh sorry, I'm rude. I'm Sam. This is Susana. We just moved in up the block."
"Hi. I'm Monica. This is Rosie."
"Rosie? Hi, Rosie."
"So, welcome to the neighborhood."
"Thanks. She's such a great baby!"
Susana smiled at Rosie as Monica said, "I know, I mean she... she never cries. She just stares at everybody. Sometimes she looks at you and I swear it's... it's like she's reading your mind."
"What about you, Monica?" Susana asked. "Have you lived here long?"
"My husband and I, we bought our place just before Rosie was born."
"And how old's Rosie?" Sam questioned.
"She's six months today. She's big, right? Growing like a weed."
Sam, distracted, replied, "Yeah. Monica..."
"Yeah?"
"Just ahhh, just take care of yourself, okay?"
"Yeah, you too, Sam. You as well, Susana. We'll see you around."
As Monica turned to her house, a station wagon pulled into the drive, honking.
"There's Daddy!" Monica told her daughter.
Sam's vision returned again. The clock in the bedroom stopped, the nursery rhyme playing stopped, and a and swept through. A black figure approached the bed. Monica pushed the door open from the hallway and saw the figure standing over her daughter's bed.
"What are you..." Monica began.
The figure turned to her. She was pulled back to the wall and slid up to the ceiling. Blood started dripping from her stomach.
"Rosie!" Monica cried just before the room burst into flame.
Susana heard the screams and cries from the sound waves caused her to stumble back.
---
Back in the motel room, Sam sat at the table, rubbing his temples. Susana was wringing her hands together. Dean and John sat on the end of each bed. Pedro was leaning against the counter.
"A vision," John said flatly. "Screams."
Sam replied slowly and painfully. "Yes. I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling. Susana heard it happen."
"And you think this is going to happen to this woman you met because..."
"Because these things happen exactly the way I see them. Susie gets periodic visions in sound."
"It started out as nightmares," Dean explained. "Then it started happening when he was awake." He rose and crossed to the counter behind Sam to get more coffee. "Hasn't happened to Susie much, but when it does, it's kind of like this."
Sam winced. "Yeah. It's like the closer Susie and I get to anything to do with the demon, the stronger the visions an noises get."
"All right," John said. "When were you going to tell me or Pedro about this?"
Sam, Dean and Susana stopped and turned to look at John. Pedro raised a brow.
"We didn't know what it meant," Dean reasoned.
John was silent a moment. "All right, something like this starts happening to your brother and Pedro's daughter, you pick up the phone and you call me or him."
Dean dumped the coffee jug and cup back on the counter and strode towards John. "Call you? Are you kidding me? Dad, I called you from Lawrence, all right? Sam called you when I were dying. I mean, getting you and Pedro on the phone? I got a better chance of winning the lottery."
"You're right. Although I'm not too crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. I'm sorry."
Sam looked between them. "Look guys, visions or no visions, noises or no noises, fact is, we know the demon is coming tonight. And this family's gonna go through the same hell we went through."
"No they're not," Pedro said. "No one is, ever again."
Sam's phone rang and he answered. "Hello?"
"Sam?" Meg questioned.
"Who is this?"
"Think real hard; it will come to you."
"Meg."
Dean, John, Pedro and Susana turned to Sam.
"Last time I saw you, you fell out of a window."
"Yeah, no thanks to you, That really hurt my feelings, by the way."
"Just your feelings. That was a seven-story drop."
"Lemme speak to your dad or Pedro Martínez."
Sam looked at John. "My dad. Pedro Martínez. I don't know where my dad or Pedro are."
"It's time for the grown-ups to talk, Sam, let me speak to him now."
Sam hesitated, then handed the phone to John who said, "This is John."
"Howdy, John. I'm Meg. I'm a friend of your boys and girl. I'm also the one who watched Jim Murphy chose on his own blood... still there John-boy?"
"I'm here."
"Well that was yesterday. Today I'm in Lincoln. Visiting another old friend of yours. He wants say hi..."
Meg had a man tied to a chair and held the phone to his ear and he said, "John, whatever you or Pedro do, don't give..."
Meg pulled the phone away, putting her finger on her lips in a shh-ing noise and smiled.
"Caleb?" John questioned, his sons going on high alert. "You listen to me. He's got nothing to do with anything. You let him go."
"We know you have the Colt, John."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, okay. Well listen to this."
Meg slit Caleb's throat and held the phone out. John heard him gasping and drowning in his own blood.
"Caleb. Caleb!" John cried.
"You hear that? That's the sound of your friend dying. Now let's try this again. We know you have the gun, John, word travels fast. So as far as we're concerned, you just declared war. And this is what war looks like. It has casualties."
"I'm gonna kill you, you know that?"
"Oh, John, please, mind your blood pressure. So this is the thing. We're going to keep doing what we're doing. And your friends, anyone who has ever helped you, gave you shelter, anyone you ever loved. They'll all die unless you give us that gun."
John was quiet in thought, his sons and the demigoddess close by his side.
"I'm waiting, Johnny, better answer before the buzzer."
"Okay."
"Sorry? I didn't quite get that."
"I said okay, I'll bring you the Colt."
"There's a warehouse in Lincoln, on the corner of Wabash and Lake. You're gonna meet me there. Come alone."
"It's gonna take me about a day's drive to get there."
"Meet me there at midnight tonight."
"That's impossible. I can't get there in time and I can't just carry a gun on the plane."
"Oh. Well, I guess your friends die, don't they. If you do decide to make it, come alone."
Meg hung up and turned to Caleb's body. "What the hell are you looking at."
"So you think Meg is a demon?" Sam asked.
"Either that, or she's possessed by one," John replied. "It doesn't really matter."
"What do we do?" Dean questioned.
"I'm going to Lincoln. Pedro will stay here."
"What?"
"It doesn't look like we have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people die, our friends die."
"Dad, the demon is coming tonight," Sam said. "For Monica and her family. That gun is all we got, you can't just had it over."
"Who said anything about handing it over. Look, besides us and a coupla vampires, no one's really seen the gun, no one knows what it looks like."
Dean frowned. "So what, you're just going to pick up a ringer at a pawn shop?"
"Antique store."
"You're going to hand Meg a fake gun and hope she doesn't notice?" Susana said in a questioning tone.
"Look, as long as it's close, she shouldn't be able to tell the difference."
"Yeah, but for how long?" Dean wondered. "What happens when she figures it out?"
"I just... I just need to buy a few hours, that's all."
"You mean for Dean, Susana, Pedro and me. You want us to stay here, and kill this demon by ourselves?" Sam asked.
"No, Sam. I want to stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school, I want Dean to have a home, I want your friend to become a nurse. I want... I want Mary alive. It's just... I want this to be over."
They stood on a muddy back road waiting for Dean. Sam, John, Pedro and Susana were checking weapons at the back of John's trunk. The Impala came towards them and Dean got out.
"You get it?" John asked.
Dean pulled a brown paper bag from his pocket and handed it to John. John pulled out an antique gun.
"You know this is a trap, don't you?" Dean said. "That's why Meg wants you to come alone."
"I can handle her. I got a whole arsenal loaded. Holy water, Mandaic, amulets..."
"Dad..."
"What?"
"Promise me something."
"What's that."
"This thing goes south just... get the hell out. Don't get yourself killed, all right, you're no good to us dead."
"Same goes for you." There was a long pause. "All right, listen to me. They made the bullets special for this Colt. There's only four of them left. Without them, this gun is useless. You make every shot count."
"Yes sir," Sam replied.
"Been waiting a long time for this fight. Now it's here, I'm not gonna be in it. It's up to you boys and girl now. It's your fight, you finish this. You finish what I started. Understand?"
John handed Dean the Colt.
"We'll see you soon, Dad," Sam said.
"I'll see you later," John replied.
John got in the truck and left. The four stood watching him pull away.
"Later," Dean said.
---
John pulled up to the warehouse in his truck, got out, check the antique gun, then took out rosary beads and a flask of holy water. He stared looking around and saw a tank on the roof. He jogged along an alley, stopped to check the pipes that ran along its walls, and continued.
---
The four were sitting in the Impala, the Colt between the boys. They watched through the window as Monica and her husband finished dinner.
"Maybe we should tell 'em it was a gas leak," Sam said. "Might get 'em out of the house for a few hours."
"Yeah and how many times has that actually worked for us?" Dean questioned.
"Yeah." He thought some more. "We could always tell the truth."
Dean and Susana looked at Sam for a long moment, one eyebrow raised.
Together, the trio cried, "Nah!"
Pedro chuckled lightly. "Telling them wouldn't be smart."
"I know, I know," Sam stated. "I just... with what's coming for these folks..."
"Sam, we only got one move and you know it, all right?" Dean replied. "We gotta wait for that demon to show itself and the we get it before it gets them."
They looked at the house for awhile and Sam said, "I wonder how Dad's doing."
"I'd feel a lot better if we were there backing him up," Dean admitted.
"I'd feel a lot better if he were here backing us up."
The four of them kept watching the house.
WAREHOUSE
John was standing on the roof next to the tank. Meg appeared in the foreground and slowly looked around, then up at the water tank. John wasn't there. She moved inside. John was behind the water tank. He checked to make sure the coast was clear, then climbed the ladder. He opened the lid, held the rosary up, spoke in Latin and dropped the rosary into the water.
MONICA'S HOUSE
"This is weird," Sam said.
"What?" Dean, Pedro and Susana questioned.
"After all of these years, we're finally here. It doesn't seem real."
"We just gotta keep our heads and do our job, like always," Dean told him.
"Yeah, but this isn't like always."
"True."
"Dean... Susie... a... I wanna thank you both. I wanna thank you too, Pedro."
"For what?" Dean and Susana asked.
"For everything. You've both always had my back, you know? You've had Susie's since she started hunting with us. Even when I couldn't count on anyone, I, we, could always count on you. And ah... I don't know, I just wanted to let you know, just in case-"
Susana cut him off. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you kidding?"
"What?"
Dean continued. "Don't say just in case something happens to you. I don't wanna hear that freaking speech, man, and you know Susie and Pedro don't wanna hear it either. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch ain't getting any older than tonight, you understand me?"
WAREHOUSE
Meg stood in the middle of the room. She heard a creak and turned. John was walking towards her. He stopped a few feet away.
"John, you made it," Meg said. "Too bad really, I was hoping to kill more of your friends."
"Sorry to disappoint," John replied.
"I can see where your boys get their good looks. Though I must admit, considering what they say about you, I thought you'd be... taller." John stared at her. "Well aren't you the chatty one. You wanna get to business? Fine. Why don't you just hand over the gun."
"If I give you the gun, how do I get out of here?"
"If you're as good as they say you are, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
"Maybe I'll just shoot you."
"You wanna shoot me, baby? Go ahead. There's more where I came from."
Another demon, a guy, walked out from the shadows.
"Who the hell's that?" John demanded.
"He's not nearly as much fun as I am, I can tell you that," Meg told him. "So I suggest you give us the gun." John stared at the other demon a long moment, then back at Meg. "Now!"
John handed the gun over to Meg and she checked it out. "This is the Colt?" John nodded.
Meg handed the gun to the other demon. "What do you think?"
The other demon looked at it, pointed it at the ceiling, cocked it... and shot Meg in the chest.
Meg staggered back, grabbing at the wound. "You shot me! I can't believe you just shot me!"
The demon looked at John. "It's a fake." He threw the gun away.
Meg turned to look at John. "You're dead, John. Your boys and little hunter friend are dead."
John backed away slowly. "I've never used the gun. How could I know it wouldn't work?"
Meg advanced on him. "I'm so not in the mood for this. I've just been shot."
"Well then I guess you're lucky the gun wasn't real."
"That's funny, John. We're going to strip the skin from your bones, but that was funny."
A noise of gas escaping distracted Meg for a split second and John ran into the other room, locking the door and going down a hatch into the alley he was previously in, lined with pipes. Meg and the other demon kicked open the door and followed. John reached the other end and turned on a tap. Water started gushing over the floor. The other demon, in front of Meg, paused, then continued. As he walked through the water, his feet began steaming and he jumped back, yelling.
"Holy water John," Meg noted. "Real cute."
John took off.
MONICA'S HOUSE
Dean held his phone to his ear. "Dad's not answering."
"Maybe Meg was late," Sam guessed. "Maybe cell reception's bad."
"Yeah, well."
The radio started chatting with static.
"Dean, Susie, wait. Listen."
Sam rolled the dial on the radio, hearing more static come and go. The wind picked up and the lights in the house flickered. Dean and Susana turned to look at Sam. Pedro frowned.
"It's coming," Sam warned.
They jumped out of the car.
WAREHOUSE
John made it back to his truck to find the tires slashed. "Damn it." He ran around the side of the building.
MONICA'S HOUSE
Dean used a card to slide the lock on the front door open and they entered silently. As they approached the lounge, Sam first, then Saoirse, and lastly Dean, who was confronted by Monica's husband. He swung a bat at Dean's head and missed, smashing a lamp.
"Get out of my house!" Holden ordered.
Dean quickly closed in and grappled with him, grabbing the bat.
"Get out of my house!" Holden repeated.
"Please, please. Mr. Holden, please," Sam said.
Dean easily took control, swung him against the wall and held the bat across his throat.
Dean told him sharply, "Be quiet and listen to me. Be quiet and listen. We are trying to help you."
Monica, from upstairs, asked, "Charlie? Is everything okay?"
"Monica, get the baby!" Holden yelled.
At the same time, Sam said, "Don't go in the nursery!"
"Mr. Holden, we're just trying to help!" Pedro told him.
"You stay away from her!"
He struggled to get away from Dean. Dean backhanded him, knocking him unconscious, and put him over his shoulder in a fireman's lift.
Monica, in her nightgown, as she was in Sam's vision, pushed the door to the nursery open. A dark figure stood over Rosie's crib.
"What are you..." Monica began.
The figure raised his hand and Monica was flung back against the wall. Sam raced up the stairs and along the corridor as Monica slid up the wall and onto the ceiling. He entered the room and the dark figure turned to him, yellow eyes shining. Sam hesitated, frozen and staring.
"Rosie!" Monica cried.
Sam raised the Colt and pulled the trigger. The demon disappeared into smoke. Monica screamed and fell to the floor.
"Where the hell did it go!" Sam exclaimed.
"My baby!"
Monica stood, trying to move towards the cot, and was caught by Sam.
"My baby!" Monica yelled again.
"No, wait!"
Monica fought Sam. "MY BABY!"
Susana ran past them to the crib. "Take her and go!"
"Rosie!"
"Come on," Sam said.
"My baby!"
Sam forced her from the room. "Susana's got her."
Susana quickly wrapped the blankets around the baby and pulled her up as the crib exploded into flames. She raced out of the room.
WAREHOUSE
John ran down a dead end and stopped, looking around, and gasping for breath. He grabbed for his phone but as he raised it, he was flung against the wall, losing his grip on the phone. He hit the wall and groaned in pain. The male demon appeared as John began to slide up the wall and stood in front of him, smiling.
MONICA'S HOUSE
The nursery window exploded outwards, flames shooting out. Smoke filled the front doorway and Monica appeared, guided by Sam and Dean. Both were coughing.
Holden staggered up from where he was lying on the grass. "You get away from my family."
"No, Charlie, don't," Monica said. "They saved us."
Pedro looked at the brothers. "Is the baby okay?"
Sam turned to the house and pointed to the front door.
Susana ran out to join them, holding the baby.
Monica began to cry. "I mean, they saved us." She took the baby from Susana and her husband put his arms around both of them.
Monica turned to the four. "Thank you."
Devastated, Sam, Dean, Pedro and Susana turned back to the burning house. The demon was silhouetted in the burning nursery, standing completely still.
Sam and susstarted back inside. "It's still in there."
"No," Dean argued. "It's burning to the ground, it's suicide."
"I don't care," Sam and Susana yelled.
"Dean and I do!" Pedro cried.
They looked back up as the flames rose again and the demon disappeared.
MOTEL ROOM
Dean paced while holding the phone to his ear, listening to it ring out. Pedro sat at the table. Sam and Susana sat on the beds.
"Come on Dad, answer your phone damn it," Dean said, frustrated.
He hung up. "Something's wrong."
Sam stared at the wall, giving his bitchface. Susana sat up straight, crossing her arms.
"You two hear me?" Dean asked. "Something's wrong."
"If you two had just let me and Susie go in there, we coulda ended all this," Sam said.
"Sam, the only thing you and Susie would've ended was your lives."
"You don't know that," Susana shot back.
Dean walked towards Sam's bed. "So what, you're both just willing to sacrifice yourself, is that it?"
Sam stood. "Yeah. Yeah, you're damn right I am."
Susana nodded. "Yeah. I am too."
"Well that's not going to happen, not as long as Pedro and I are around," Dean told them.
"What the hell are you talking about Dean, we've been searching for this demon our whole lives," Sam retorted. "It's the only thing we've ever cared about."
"Sam, I wanna waste it. Pedro does too. Okay? But it's not worth dying over."
"What?" Sam and Susana asked.
"I mean it. If hunting this demon means getting yourselves killed, then I hope we never find the damn thing."
"That thing killed Jess," Sam reminded his brother. "That thing killed Mom. It could've killed Susie's mom."
"You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone, and they're never coming back."
Sam totally lost it. He grabbed Dean, and shoved him hard against the wall and said in anger, "Don't you say that, not you! Not after all this, don't you say that."
"Sam, look," Dean said quietly. "The four of us... that's all we have... and it's all I have. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together, man... and without you or Dad and now Pedro and Susie..."
"Dad," Sam remembered in an upset tone.
Sam let go and turned away. Dean stayed where he was and took deep breaths. Susana ran to her father's arms and he hugged her.
Sam, with tears in his eyes, said, "He should have called by now. Try him again."
Dean raised his phone.
UNKNOWN LOCATION
John's phone sat on a bench, ringing. Meg wandered over and picked it up. She looked at the screen and smiled to herself and answered.
"You boys and girl really screwed up this time," Meg said.
"Where is he?" Dean demanded angrily.
"You're never going to see your father again."