Dean sighed, as he sat on the roof alone, starring up at the night sky, in only a few short hours what he hoped would be the final battle with his family would begin. The guilt of being the reason for all of this weighed heavy on him, innocent lives and the lives of his loved ones were in danger because of him! He had tried so hard to get his family to leave, disappear and let him fight alone, but they all refused and they had fought him over it. In the end though, Dean had given up and came out here on the roof, where he's been for the last three hours now.
"Dean?" Roman's soft voice spoke, as he came outside.
"You should be sleeping, you need all the rest you can get baby boy." Dean said sighing, as Roman sat beside him.
"I know, but I couldn't sleep without you." Roman replied. "Are you still mad at us?"
"No, I never was." Dean answered, as he sighed again and ran his hands over his face.
"You weren't?"
"No." Dean said, as he took Roman's hand. "I just want to keep all of you safe."
"Dean, we love you and we're going to be by your side, helping you destroy Vassago!"
"Ro, this...this isn't some damn book or movie where the good guys always win!" Dean said frustrated, as he let go of his hand. "You could get hurt or die, don't you get that?"
"There is a way we can become equals with them." Roman said.
"What?" Dean asked confused, as he looked at him.
"You...you could, um...turn us all into Vam..."
"No!" Dean said angrily, cutting Roman off, as he stood. "That is not happening dammit! I'm not doing that!"
"Why?" Roman demanded, as he stood too.
"I won't turn you into a damn monster Roman! After Vassago made me into this, I vowed to never do it to anyone else, no matter what the situation was!" Dean answered upset.
"Dean, I..."
"I said no!" Dean yelled, cutting him off again.
"I'm sorry." Roman said quietly.
"No, I'm sorry Ro." Dean said gently, as he took him in his arms and held him close, before he kissed the top of his head. "I can't do it Roman, please don't ask me too."
"Okay." Roman replied, as he held Dean tight.
"You need to rest now, I can feel how tired you are."
"Will you lay with me?"
"Yeah, come on." Dean said softly, before he kissed him and they went inside.
**Early The Next Morning**:
Roman sat up in bed from another nightmare, biting his bottom lip, he looked around the room sighing shakily. He was covered in sweat, his hair stuck to his forehead, as he breathed heavily, the nightmare still fresh in his memory. He ran his hands through his hair, as his breathing returned to normal and he noticed Dean wasn't in bed anymore. He figured Dean had gone downstairs or back out onto the roof after he had fallen asleep, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as the nightmare he had just had of watching Vassago kill his loved ones stayed with him. He opened his eyes again, pushing the nightmare out of his mind, as he looked out the window and realized it was almost dawn, he quickly got up and got dressed; making sure he had his phone in his back pocket in case he needed it. He had just finished getting dressed, when Paige rushed in, the look on her face made his heart drop, afraid something had happened.
"Paige, what's going on?" Roman asked nervously.
"It's...it's Dean, he's gone!" She answered.
"What?" Roman said, hoping he heard her wrong.
"Zander's missing too!" She added, as they left the room and went downstairs to the living room.
Once there they found Seth, Grant and both kids, but Dean and Zander were gone. Roman didn't want to believe either of them had just left them alone to fight against Vassago and the others, but that's what it looked like!
"You...you don't think they abandoned..."
"No!" Roman said firmly, cutting Grant off; even though he had just been thinking the exact same thing only seconds before, he didn't now though. "They'd never do that to us, especially Dean!"
"Where are they then?" Grant questioned nervously.
Before Roman could answer, his phone rang, it surprised everyone causing them to jump a little from the unexpected noise. He quickly took it out of his pocket and looked at it, he was secretly relieved to see it was Dean!
"Dean, where are you? We woke up and you guys were..." Roman said quickly, after he had answered it.
"I'm sorry baby boy, we didn't mean to scare you guys. Zander and I left early to scout for Vamps, we're on our way back now!" Dean explained, cutting him off, feeling like an ass for not leaving a note.
"Did...did you find any?"
"No, but they'll be coming any time now! We're just..."
Dean was cut off by Zander hitting the brakes to avoid something in the road, Roman heard the screeching of the tires, before the sound of breaking glass and then muffled voices. Panicked Roman called out to them, fear gripped his heart when it suddenly got quiet on the other end of the phone and no one answered him. As he tried to get Dean or Zander to answer him, Seth; who had been standing near the window, suddenly tensed, before he turned to face them.
"Uh guys, we've got company!"
"Is it Keeper?" Paige asked, as they all began getting their weapons ready.
"I didn't see him, but I did see about six; maybe more, Vamps surrounding the house!" Seth answered.
"Dammit!" Roman said, as he quickly hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. "Keeper was supposed to come here!"
"Yeah well, he brought backup!" Seth said angrily.
Suddenly the sounds of windows breaking upstairs was heard, Roman, Seth, Paige and Grant grabbed their weapons. They then began to quickly make their way to the front door, keeping both Violet and Rose in the middle to protect them; Seth was in the lead, Roman took the back, while Paige and Grant were on either sides of the girls. As Seth opened the door he came face to face with two, large, angry Vamps, before anyone could react, one of the Vamps grabbed him by his throat and threw him backwards, where he hit a wall hard.
"Seth!" Rose screamed terrified, as she held Violet tighter.
Paige quickly told Rose to hide and not to come out unless one of them came for them. She nodded her head, tears in her eyes, before she ran away, just as three more Vamps came downstairs to join the two that came in through the front door. Seth got back to his feet with Roman's help, he shook off the dizziness caused by his fall.
"Not so tough without Ambrose and Zander, are you?" One of the Vamps said smiling, as they circled around them slowly. "We're only here for the brats, so just give them to us and maybe we'll let you live!"
"You want them, then you'll have to go through us first!" Seth said angrily.
"This ain't even a challenge!" Another Vamp replied smiling.
Without another word the Vamps attacked, they fought back like they had been trained and for awhile they were holding their own against them, but soon things turned bad for them when two more Vamps appeared bringing their total to seven. Paige was thrown across the room landing by the stairs, Roman was thrown sideways into a large built in bookcase breaking it, while Seth and Grant were thrown backwards hard into the wall, before they hit the floor.
"Find the damn kids and make it quick!" One of the Vamps ordered two of his friends. "You're tough, we'll give you mortals that." He added smiling, as he went to Roman; who was now sitting up, and grabbed him by his throat, lifting him up and off the ground. "Where's Ambrose?"
"Go to Hell!" Roman replied smiling, before he spit in his face.
"You stupid piece of..."
"Let him go Avery!" Dean's angry voice demanded from behind them, everyone looked at him and Zander relieved to finally see them; both were a little beaten up.
"If I don't?" Avery challenged smiling, as still holding Roman, he looked over his shoulder at him.
Instead of answering, Dean raised his hand and threw both Roman and Avery across the room, they landed on the floor. For a second the other Vamps were shocked by what happened, they looked at each other, before they looked at Avery, unsure what to do. After getting to his feet Avery gave the signal and they all attacked Dean and Zander. He was still learning how to control his powers, so he didn't want to risk one of his loved ones getting hurt, so he fought back how he's always fought...with his fists and trusty machetes only! Having Dean and Zander back gave the others confidence and they began fighting again too. A few minutes into the fight Dean saw Paige cornered by two Vamps; she had lost her weapon and was forced to fight with her fists only. He looked around quickly and met Grant's eyes, he motioned towards Paige and both men ran towards her, their weapons drawn and together they cut the heads off the two Vamps.
Dean wasted no time before he rejoined the fight, letting Grant help Paige. Roman managed to kill Avery, seconds later both Seth and Zander each had killed one. One of the Vamps searching for the girls returned to the living room, Paige ambushed him and killed him too. Thinking they had killed all of them, Grant went to go into the kitchen to find the girls, but as he stepped into the doorway the last Vamp surprised him. He grabbed Grant by the throat, before he took the machete from him and stabbed Grant twice, before he dropped him onto the floor; he was dead before he hit. Everyone screamed his name, it happened so fast, no one had a chance to do anything to help, Dean charged the Vamp and cut his head off. Once the Vamp was dead Dean knelt by Grant, the others quickly rushed to them. Everyone was silent, as they watched Dean check on him, he hung his head, as he held Grant's hand, Roman spoke quietly.
"Is...is he..."
"He's gone." Dean answered bitterly. "Dammit!" He added angrily, as he let go of his hand and stood.
Paige began to cry, Seth held her close, as his tears and Roman's fell silently too. Roman went to hug Dean, but he left the room and went outside, without saying a word, Zander went to Roman and hugged him instead. Minutes later, while the others packed and got the girls, Zander went to find Dean; who was standing outside starring at the stars.
"Save the damn speech Zander, I'm not in the mood to hear it!" Dean said angrily, not looking at him, as Zander stood beside him and looked at the stars too.
"I wasn't going to give you one brother." Zander said gently.
"Dammit Zander, I was wrong! What I saw was wrong!" Dean yelled angrily, blaming himself, as he looked at him.
"No Dean, what you saw was right! Plans change all the time and that is not your fault!" Zander said firmly.
"I made a mistake and it cost Grant his life!" Dean stated upset.
"How is this on your shoulders brother?"
"His blood is on my hands because I should have known that bastard changed what he was going to do! I'm the Chosen One dammit, I...I should have saw this coming, I should have done something!"
"Dean, with great power comes great responsibility, but not all of it is yours! Every one of them knew the risks, knew there was a chance this could happen, but each of them; myself included, chose to to stand by your side. Do you know why?"
"I'm the Chosen One?" Dean replied bitterly, as he looked back at the stars.
"No! It's because we all care about you in our own way and you chose to stand up for love and family...to save the world! You maybe a monster to most people, but to us; the ones that matter, you're a hero." Zander replied, as Dean looked at him again.
"I'm no hero!" Dean replied.
"You are to us!" Roman said smiling, as he came outside with the others, each of them agreeing.
"How can you say that after I let Grant die?" Dean asked upset. "I..."
Dean was cut off by Rose running to him and hugging him, he picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck. He held her tight, closing his eyes, as Roman joined them and hugged them both, before the others hugged him too. Dean opened his eyes, as they held him and met Zander's eyes, they shared a smile and in that moment he finally understood Zander's words.
When the hug ended, Roman kissed him, before Dean put Rose down and took her hand. As he looked at each of his loved ones they smiled at him, each one of them were a part of him and as long as he had them, he could fight and win this war! He sighed, as he let go of Rose's hand and nodded to Zander, he was going to bury Grant properly before they left; it was the right thing to do. He walked back to the house and realizing what he was doing, both Roman and Seth followed him. They grabbed some shovels from the shed, before Dean went inside and got Grant's body.
An hour later, with Dean in the lead on his bike, everyone else in the car; their belongings in the trunk, they drove around looking for a new place to call home and figure out their next move. As they drove, Dean thought of all the ways he was going to torture and kill Vassago, he wanted him to feel the same pain he felt! They turned down an empty street, when he suddenly got dizzy, he was about to mindlink again! He had no time to stop his bike before it hit him and he ended up driving straight into the curb, which then caused him to fall off the bike; both him and the bike skidded sideways down the street for a few seconds before they stopped.
Roman was driving behind him, when suddenly they saw Dean crash, scared he stopped the car before it could hit him. Once stopped he got out and quickly rushed to him, calling his name, as the others followed. Reaching him Roman dropped to his knees and quickly took off his helmet, Dean's eyes were closed and he was bleeding. Nothing they said or did woke him, Roman was close to panicking, until he felt Zander kneel beside him, he looked at him, as Zander spoke gently.
"He's mindlinking again."
"How...how do you know?" Roman asked quietly, his tears falling, as he looked back at Dean; his head resting on Roman's lap.
"Look at his eyes, they're moving...seeing something we can't."
"What...what do we do?" Seth asked quietly, as he held Dean's hand tightly.
"We wait." Zander answered, as he looked at them.
TBC...