25. Aftershock

My mind couldn't shake Ellen and Jo. I felt shaken up through my very core. This felt sort of personal, in a weird way. I'd known them, very little, but I knew them nevertheless. And now, they were gone, taken by, once again, indirectly, demons. A lot of people I knew seemed to be going out that way lately, and I didn't like it one bit.

Nobody said anything as we traveled in the darkness. Sam checked in on me every few minutes, making sure I was still conscious or present in reality. I groggily told him that I was fine, minus the mild pain I was feeling in my shoulder and in my leg.

I hoped every last Hellhound died in the fiery explosion. They deserved it. They deserved to be blown away, blown back to Hell, just like the demons they served under.

We found cover of some bushes. At this point, Sam let me get my footing. Crouching wasn't very pleasant, and neither was the sight we were seeing.

There were dozens of figures, men I assumed, just standing in the field. Something had to be catching their attention. I had a rough hunch as to what.

"Guess we know what happened to some of the townspeople," Dean muttered.

"Okay," Sam said.

"Okay."

"Last words?"

They looked at each other for a moment.

"I think I'm good."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Brothers," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"There's not really a hell of a lot of time for goodbyes, Dak. Here goes nothing."

"What am I doing?"

"You're staying here, where it's safe."

"No way. I want to help."

"Come on, Dak..."

"No, let her. I'll keep her with me," Sam told him.

Dean looked at us both strangely. "Remember, this was your idea." Dean slunk off somewhere.

Sam looked at me. "Ready?" he whispered.

"I guess so. Let's go."

"Hey!" Sam bellowed. We emerged from the bushes, loading our weapons. I had to linger behind him, as my leg wasn't up to par as I had liked it to be. My mouth twisted into a scowl as the figure filling the hole dropped the shovel. I aimed the gun once I realized my hunch was correct.

Too bad I didn't have the Colt; I would have blasted Lucifer right here and now.

"You wanted to see me?" Sam told Lucifer.

"Oh, Sam, you don't need that gun here. You know I'd never hurt you. Not really. Her though, I might."

"Yeah?" came Dean's voice. "Well, I'd hurt you."

Lucifer turned, as did my eyes, as Dean was within inches from the Devil himself. The Colt was right at Lucifer's forehead, point-blank range.

"So suck it."

I fidgeted as the bang ran out in the night. Lucifer dropped on the spot. I waited for the men around us to do something. None moved a muscle. I hobbled a bit forward to be beside Sam. He and I exchanged confused looks.

Everything was silent for a long minute. All eyes seemed to be on Lucifer's corpse.

My eyes widened once he inhaled loudly and shifted.

"Ow," he moaned, getting to his feet. "Where did you get that?"

I screamed as Lucifer punched Dean hard, hard enough to send him flying off his feet and into a tree. Forgetting everything, I limped to Dean. Nobody stopped me.

"Now, where were we?" asked Lucifer.

"You bastard!" I yelled at him. "If I could kill you right now, I would!"

"But you can't, so quit dreaming." He leered at me. "It is nice to see you again, though, princess."

"The feeling's not mutual." I was just about to Dean now.

"Don't feel too bad, Sam. There's only five things in all of creation that that gun can't kill, and I just happen to be one of them. But if you give me a minute, I'm almost done."

I heard two shovel scoops of dirt being thrown into the hole as I hovered over Dean. I felt for a pulse. By that time, Sam rushed over. I nodded, silently telling him Dean was okay.

"You know, I don't suppose you'd just say yes here and now?" asked Lucifer, leaning on his shovel.

Sam stood up.

"End this whole tiresome discussion? That's crazy, right?"

"That's never gonna happen!" Sam barked.

Lucifer threw in more dirt. "Oh, I don't know, Sam. I think it will. I think it'll happen soon. Within six months. And I think it'll happen in Detroit."

"You listen to me, you son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill you myself, you understand me? I'm going to rip your heart out!"

"That's good, Sam," Lucifer purred. "You keep fanning that fire in your belly. All that pent-up rage. I'm gonna need it."

I stumbled forward to put a hand on Sam's arm. I felt him visibly relax. Our spectators, the men, still remained still. Did Lucifer have them in a trance? Their behavior was really strange.

"What did you do?" I demanded. "What did you do to this town?"

"Oh, I was very generous with this town," Lucifer said. "One demon for every able-bodied man."

"And the rest of them?" I raised a suspicious eyebrow.

Lucifer took a moment, for dramatic effect. "In there." He nodded towards the hole. Now it was my turn to feel the fire in my belly. "I know, it's awful, but these horsemen are so demanding. So it was women and children first." I was sure my violent trembling was visible. I didn't want to hide my anger. "I know what you must think of me. But I have to do this. I have to. You of all people should understand, Sam."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam took his turn to ask a question.

Lucifer dropped the shovel. "I was a son. A brother, like you, a younger brother, and I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael—Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own.

"Tell me something, Sam. Any of this sound familiar? Anyway. You'll have to excuse me. Midnight is calling and I have a ritual to finish. Don't go anywhere. Not that you could if you would."

Sam and I went back to Dean as Lucifer began to do some weird chant lowly in his throat. I watched with anxious eyes as he turned to the demons.

"Now repeat after me," said Lucifer. "We offer up our lives, blood, souls—"

Sam and I looked down. A smile quirked on my face as Dean stirred. Finally.

"We offer up our lives, blood, souls—" the demons repeated.

"To complete this tribute."

"To complete this tribute."

My eyes darted from one demon to the next. A blast of gold would flash, and then the demon would just keel over. They were dominos, all falling down. My upper lip twitched. My insides crawled as Lucifer looked over at us.

"What?" he said. "They're just demons." He turned to have his attention on the mass grave before him.

What kind of sick ritual required so many sacrifices? I wasn't big on rituals, as I hadn't done that kind of research before. It definitely wasn't something good, common sense told me that much, even if the sacrifices were demons. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the Devil.

The ground began to rumble. From the corner of my eye, something came into my vision. I turned my head and nearly burst into hoopla. At least he was alive. We could get the story later. All that mattered was that he was here.

He couldn't have come at a more perfect time either.

Cas put a finger to his lips. We didn't even feel it—at least, I didn't. One second, we had been almost toe-to-toe with Lucifer, and the next thing I knew, we were surrounded by junker cars. I looked around, taking a minute to realize where we were.

Cas brought us back to Bobby's place. I paled. Great. This is going to be swell.

We all stood in silence for a long time, all minds were busy with thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to be back somewhere safe. But we were missing two people to share the safety with.

We all knew what the next step was: Bobby needed to know what happened. Cas could make his own deductions. I wasn't sure if any of us were up to confirming what he would suspect.

"I'll catch up, you both go to the house," I told the brothers. "I've got something I need to talk to Cas about."

"You sure?" Sam asked.

I nodded. "I won't be long."

With a dark cloud hanging over them, the Winchesters disappeared towards Bobby's house. I looked at Cas, who was looking at me strangely.

"What do we need to discuss?"

"Well, firstly, thanks for saving us back there. Good timing on your part." We could have used you at other times, I wanted to say. "Secondly, whatever you did to Sam and Dean, I—I think it's time I got my own branding."

"Are you sure?"

I shrugged. "I'd rather not have Lucifer stalking me."

It happened so fast. I gasped loudly as I felt a weird sensation inside. I stared at Cas, slightly horrified.

"No angel will be able to find you now," he assured me.

"Thanks. Oh, while you're still here—"

"I can't repair your wounds, Dakota."

"How did you know?"

"You look uncomfortable."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"You're keeping weight off your one leg."

"What do you mean 'can't'?" I pressed, folding my arms. My shoulder twanged in the process.

"My power is limited. Unfortunately, it limits me to not heal."

"Damn it." I stomped my bad leg down on the ground. I whimpered. "Well, it was a thought."

"You shouldn't have stayed, Dakota."

"Another lecture?" I rubbed my forehead. "Cas, Bobby already talked to me about this a while back."

"But you don't understand how much danger you're really in. Now, you can't turn back. Everywhere you look, there could be someone lying in wait."

"I'm no stranger to paranoia, Cas," I said irritably. In a literal blink of an eye, Cas disappeared. I huffed, rubbing my arms. I contemplated going back inside, but could I handle the solemn air if I did? I was feeling terrible enough out here, by myself.

I didn't feel safe, even if Cas had branded me with whatever the hell he branded me with.

I exhaled loudly before deciding to venture around the junkyard a bit. Some of the cars I pictured to be beautiful if they had been redone. Too bad none were repairable, I could have asked Bobby to get one running again so I didn't have to travel in the Impala all the time.

I gasped as I felt my heart clench painfully. I could feel it now, the shock had finally worn off after everything. I could feel the grief starting to suffocate me. I grabbed at my chest. My heart decided my decision for me.

I looked at some of the junkers. Most looked unstable to sit on. I would rather sit on a car than the dirty ground right now at this time of night. After a few minutes of searching, I perched myself on the hood of a scratched blue car, with its windshield intact and not shattered like some around me.

I scooted back until my back rested on the dusty windshield. The dust didn't bother me, I had been covered in my own blood hours ago. My nose wrinkled. I could really use a bath soon. I should go inside to clean up...

I felt the hot tears fall down my face, felt the emotion claw its way up through my body. My mind rushed through today: Meg and her Hellhounds; Jo and I taking a beating; Jo's helpless state; the decision to blow the hardware store to bits; the actual explosion; confronting Lucifer; seeing the Colt fail at our only plan...

I put my fist in my mouth to suppress the sobs. The worst thing that stuck out in my mind was Ellen and Jo. It wasn't the people themselves, more like what they represented to me. I could feel my past creep from its dark corner and threaten to plunge me back into nightmarish nostalgia. How come my mother and sister couldn't have been like that? Together, facing death?

They hadn't had the chance to say their goodbyes either.

My throat became dry as I leaned against the car. I was grateful to not have headed into the house. I didn't think I could handle having the boys and Bobby see my meltdown. My eyes stuck to the night sky, my thoughts went to our biggest threat: Lucifer.

He had to be stopped, somehow, some way. We'd find a way to destroy him, we had to. I didn't have a personal beef with the Devil yet, just his demon worshippers. Them I had a big issue with.

"Kota?"

I didn't look at him, I kept my eyes on the sky. How could it be so calm when it loomed above a chaotic world? Why is he looking for me, anyway? I told him I'd head in...eventually. Maybe if I stay quiet, he'll walk right by me. He shouldn't be bothering.

"What are you doing out here?"

I closed my eyes, huffing through my nostrils. Damn it. I couldn't play the ignore card now.

"We thought you'd run off."

"Where could I go?" I asked dimly. My hands folded onto my lap. "No matter where I run, something will come and find me. That's the kind of insane world I'm in now, where I've got a target on my back."

"Well, I'm glad you're safe."

"I'm glad you didn't say that I was okay." I opened my eyes and lolled my head to look at Sam.

"I know you're not okay. None of us are."

"How'd Bobby take the news?"

Sam didn't say anything, just sighed through his nose.

"I appreciate your concern, but I don't want company right now."

"You need it, though."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Look, just because Dean and I aren't good about getting the other to talk about their problems doesn't mean that you and I have to be that way." He stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I don't get how you do it, you and Dean," I murmured. "With all this craziness."

"Sometimes we wonder that ourselves. It can get pretty intense."

"Almost overwhelming."

"Yeah. Must be worse on you, though."

"It is," I agreed. My eyes followed him as he came around to the front of the car. "They didn't deserve it."

"Nobody ever does."

"No, Sam, you don't understand."

"Then help me to, Kota. Like I said, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about telling me anything."

I sighed loudly before patting the hood of the car. "You better get comfortable."

"It's that long of a story?" he tried to joke.

"Well, in order for you to understand, I have to tell you everything."

He climbed onto the hood of the car. "What do you mean 'everything'?"

"I mean, I'm going back to what led me to be on the streets."

**At last, you will all finally discover how Dakota came to be. I'm really excited for the next chapter, you guys. I really, really am.

Oh, by the way, there is only three more chapters before Part 1 is finished. Just thought I'd let you know :)**