CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"You better hurry up and beat it before the paramedics get here." Bobby says as they walk toward the door.

"What are you gonna tell them?" Dean asks​.

"You think you guys invented lying to the cops?" He asks. "I'll figure something out." He then hands a book to Sam. "Here. Take this. You might need it."

"Thanks."

"Thanks. For everything." Dean says.

"Be careful, alright?" Bobby says. "Just go find your dad. And when you do, bring him around, would you? I won't even try to shoot him this time."

Nyx looks at Tyler and Jeremy. "I really think you should stay here. Let Bobby drive you to the airport after the police leave." She tells them.

"Hell no." Jeremy shakes his head.

"Not a chance in hell." Tyler argues​.

"Look, if you guys come, you have to do exactly what we say." She tells them. "This job is always life and death."

"I know that." Her brother says.

"I get it. I promise." Tyler says, and she sighs.

"Alright, let's go." She agrees, against her better judgement. "Bye, Bobby."

On the way to Jefferson City, the hunters and their company stop on the side of the road. Sam's looking at a map while Nyx gives Tyler a crash course on how to use a gun. Jeremy's leaning against the car, waiting for everybody to be ready to go.

"You've been quiet." Sam says, talking to his brother, who's arming his gun.

"Just getting ready." He tells him.

"He's gonna be fine, Dean."

"And watch for the kick, alright?" Nyx tells Tyler, and he nods. "Most importantly​, if the gun's not aimed for you to shoot, it's pointed down. We don't need you accidentally​ shooting one of us."

"Dude, what are you drawing on my car?" Dean questions.

"Uh-oh." She sighs as she turns around to face him and Sam.

"It's called a devil's trap. Demons can't get through it or inside it." Sam tells him.

"So?"

"It basically turns the trunk into a lockbox." He explains.

"So?" Dean questions.

"So, we have a place to hide the colt while we go get Dad."

"What are you talking about? We're bringing the colt with us."

"We can't, Dean. We've only got three bullets left." Sam argues. "We can't just use them on any demon. We've got to use them on the demon."

"No, we have to save Dad, Sam, okay? We're gonna need all the help we can get."

"I swear, you two are gonna drive me crazy." Nyx shakes her head as she walks over to them, and Tyler follows her.

"You know how pissed Dad would be if we used all the bullets?" Sam asks his brother. "Dean, he wouldn't want us to bring the gun."

"I don't care, Sam! I don't care what Dad wants, okay?" Dean argues. "Since when do you care what Dad wants?"

"We want to kill this demon. You used to want that too. Hell, you're the one who came and got me at school! You're the one who dragged me into this. I'm just trying to finish it."

"Shouldn't you do something?" Tyler whispers to Nyx.

"I will." She tells him.

"Well, you and Dad are a lot more alike than I thought. You both can't wait to sacrifice yourself for this thing. But you know what? We're gonna be the ones to bury you." Dean motions to Nyx, and she looks down. "You're selfish, you know that? You don't care about anything but revenge."

"That's not true, Dean." Sam argues. "I want Dad back, but they are expecting us to bring this gun. They get the gun, they will kill us all. That colt is our only leverage, and you know it, Dean. We cannot bring that gun. We can't."

"He's right." Nycole says, and they all look at her. "We need the gun to kill the demon. The demon who killed your mom and Jess. The demon who set a baby's crib on fire right after I picked her up. We're killing the demon and saving your dad."

"Fine." Dean says, reluctantly putting the gun in the trunk of the car.

"And stop calling Sam selfish." She says, and he looks back at her. "The last time you did that, it almost ended with you and me getting ritually sacrificed to a Pagan God."

They start walking and eventually Dean stops them. "Hey, hey. I think I know what Meg meant by sunrise." He says, and they turn around. There's a building called Sunrise Apartments.

Nyx sighs and shakes her head.

"Son of a bitch. That's pretty smart. If these demons can possess people, they can possess almost anybody inside." He says.

"And make anybody attack us." Sam says.

"And so we can't kill 'em." Nyx says. "It's a building full of human shields."

"They probably know exactly what we look like too, and they could look like anybody."

"This sucks out loud." Dean says.

"Alright, so, how the hell are we gonna get in?" She asks.

"What if you pull the fire alarm?" Tyler asks, and they look at him. "Anybody who's human would leave."

"True, but then the city responds." Sam says. "In seven minutes."

The hunters and their werewolf tagalong go with this plan anyway. Sam goes inside to pull the fire alarm, and the others get ready for their part of the plan.

"Hey, what's happening? Is there a fire?" Dean asks as he walks over to a firefighter.

"We're figuring that out right now, sir." The firefighter says. "Just stay back."

"I got a Yorkie upstairs, and he pees when he's nervous." He says as he moves him backward, and Nyx tries not to laugh.

"Sir, you're gonna have to stay back."

"Alright, go." She quickly tells Sam and then grabs Tyler and Jeremy's hands.

She looks around and no one's paying attention to them. They run into the building and avoid any firefighters.

"There's​ the stairs." Tyler points, and they all quickly run up. "What's that?" He asks as he looks at the device in her hand.

"EMF." Nyx tells him as she holds it to the first door and tries to get a reading.

Sam and Dean come down the hallway in firefighter uniforms, and Dean takes the EMF detector from her, much to her annoyance.

"Jackass." She says as he keeps walking.

They follow behind the Winchester brothers, and they stop at a door not much farther ahead. Dean tells Nyx and the two boys to stay back so they move down the hallway a little bit.

Dean knocks on the door. "It's the fire department. We need you to evacuate." He calls through the door.

The door starts to open, and Dean shoves it so that it hits the demon inside. The hunters and the werewolf go inside and they spray them with holy water. Sam shoves one of the demons into a closet, and Nyx sees someone on the other side of the room.

It's a blonde girl and her head's down, so her hair's covering her face. Nycole slowly walks over to her as the boys deal with the two demons. She then sees that the blonde's tied up.

"Hey." Nyx kneels down and moves the girl's hair so that she can see her face, and then her eyes widen. "Oh my God."

"What is it?" Tyler asks as Dean and Sam take off the firefighters uniforms.

She turns and looks back at the four boys. "It's Caroline." She tells them.

They don't know if demons can possess vampires, so Sam pours a little bit of holy water on her hand, but nothing happens. Tyler and Jeremy walk over then and they start helping Nyx untie her. Caroline starts to wake up as the other boys go to look for their dad.

"What's going on?" She asks, groggy and confused. "Where am I?"

"I'll explain later. Let's just get you out of here for now." Nyx says as they help her stand up.

Dean and Sam make their way out of a bedroom with their dad, and Nycole sighs in relief because he seems okay. The door opens, and more — clearly possessed — people come in.

The boys quickly go back into the room they came out of, and the others follow them. Nyx makes a very reluctant Caroline drink from her wrist, but she only takes a little — just enough to build up some strength​ — while Sam puts salt in front of the door.

Tyler helps Dean get John out the window, and then the rest of them follow. "Sam, let's go!" Dean yells, and he climbs out after them.

Caroline looks down the fire escape and then back at Nyx. "Do you trust me?" She asks.

"Yeah. Why?" Nyx asks, and the blonde wraps her arms around her and jumps. Caroline then gets Jeremy down the same way.

The other boys climb down quickly​ and then they all start running. Someone attacks Sam when they round the building, and Dean runs over to help him. He kicks the guy in the face, but that doesn't do him any good. Dean flies sideways, and Caroline runs over and grabs him before he can go into a windshield.

The guy starts beating Sam to a pulp, and Jeremy leaves John with Tyler and his sister, who are now keeping him standing. He tackles the demon and they roll off of Sam; Jeremy ends up beneath him. He tries to punch the teenager, but Jeremy swings upward with the knife in his hand and it cuts his arm. The knife flies out of his hand and he raises his fist to punch him.

"Nyx, Tyler, get down!" Dean yells and then there's a gunshot.

A bullet goes through the demon's head, and he falls to the side. Jeremy gets to his feet as Dean runs past him, and lifts his brother off of the ground. Jeremy sees Caroline, Nyx, and Tyler getting up. The blonde got them out of the way when Dean yelled for them to get down. Jeremy stands up straight and sees the others looking at the body close to him. The guy the demon was possessing is dead as well as the demon. Dean shot him with the colt.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here." Dean says,​ and they all start running.

—

"How is he?" Sam asks his brother as he salts the entrances to the abandoned house that they're in.

"He just needs a little rest, that's all." He tells him. "How are you?"

"I'll survive."

"I can't believe this is what you've been dealing with all this time." Caroline says. Nyx just filled her and Tyler in on everything that they didn't already know. She usually tells Caroline a lot, but she doesn't tell her nearly everything.

"Me either." Tyler says.

"Yeah, well, you're a vampire and you're a werewolf." Nyx says as she looks at them. "None of us are exactly normal anymore."

"What about me?" Jeremy asks.

"You were never normal​." She says as she looks over at him, and he chuckles.

"Hey, you don't think we were followed here, do you?" Sam asks.

"I don't know. I don't think so." Dean says. "We couldn't have found a more out of the way place to hole up."

"Yeah." He agrees. "Hey, uh... Dean, you, um... You saved our lives back there."

"So, I guess you're glad I brought the gun, huh?"

"Man, I'm trying to thank you here."

"Yeah." Jeremy nods. "I was screwed..."

"You're welcome." Dean says, and Sam doesn't say anything else. "Hey, Sam? Nycole?"

"Yeah?"

"You know that guy I shot? There was a person in there." He says, and Jeremy, Caroline, and Tyler all look away from him.

"You didn't have a choice, Dean." Sam says.

"I know. That's not what bothers me."

"Then what does?" Nyx asks him.

"Killing that guy, killing Meg. I didn't hesitate. I didn't even flinch." He says, and Sam and Nyx look at each other before looking back at him. "For you two or Dad, the things I'm willing to do or kill, it just... It scares me sometimes."

Nyx stands up and walks over to where he's sitting. She rests her hand on the side of his face as she stands in front of him, and he looks up at her. Before she can say anything, John walks out.

"It shouldn't." The older man says, and they all look at him. "You did good."

"You're not mad?" Dean asks, surprised.

"For what?" He asks, and Nyx looks at Tyler, Jeremy, and Caroline.

Something's not right. If history's any indication, John should be beyond pissed off at Dean right now.

"For using a bullet." Dean says.

"Mad? I'm proud of you." John says, and Nyx looks back at him. "You know, Sam and I — we can get pretty obsessed. But you, you watch out for this family. You always have." He says, and Dean looks at Nycole before turning his head back to his dad.

"Thanks." He says.

The lights in the abandoned house start to flicker, and they all look around the room. Dean stands up, instinctively wrapping his arm around Nyx and pulling her to him. John walks over to the window to look outside.