Dallon sat quiet in the passenger seat, going between looking at the journal and gazing out of the window. He had kept his hands on the journal since taking it out of Brendon's bag and insisted on looking through it. The entire two hours they had been driving had been spent in relative silence except for the hum of the car's engine and the soft drone of music from the radio.

Brendon was driving along the backroads. He wanted to really avoid the possibility of being pulled over or someone catching sight of Dallon and calling them in. Each side of the road was lined with tall trees that gave the illusion of night thanks to the sun's current angle in the sky. Only one car had passed them during the entire stretch of road, but that had been miles ago.

"Getting your fill of monsters?" Brendon attempted to joke, finally unable to stand the near silence anymore.

Dallon turned to him with a start. "Hu? Oh..." He looked down at the journal, "You could say that."

"How are you holding up?" Brendon asked.

Dallon sighed, but didn't answer.

Brendon stole a side glance at Dallon. He was looking out the passenger window again, thinking about who knows what. Breezy? Being an accomplice to (a Ghoul's) murder? Brendon didn't get a good look at his eyes to really gauge what was going on in his head.

"Where are we going?" Dallon asked.

"That is an excellent question." Brendon said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Mind checking the text from Sam?"

"Sam?" Dallon took Brendon's phone and opened the messages app. "There's a S Winchester."

"That's him." Brendon nodded.

Dallon clicked into the message. "Okay... It says there's weird weather and power surges in a small town in Colorado."

"Not too far out." Brendon nodded, "Just the next state over. What's the town?"

Dallon relayed it quietly and set Brendon's phone in the center console. He went back to the journal, growing quiet again.

Brendon sighed. "I'm sorry that happened." He said, keeping his eyes on the road, "You didn't deserve to have that happen to you."

"She didn't deserve it." Dallon said, staring down at that pages of the journal.

"I'm sorry."

There was silence again. Brendon let it hang in the air. He didn't know how to comfort Dallon's wounds.

"I noticed something was off a few days before you showed up." Dallon spoke softly, continuing to stare down at the journal. "She was taking a bit longer than usual to come outside and when she did come out she was just..."

"Different?" Brendon offered, to which Dallon nodded.

"I chalked it up to a bad day." Dallon brought a hand up to his face to wipe his eye. "I didn't pay it too much attention, but I... I really should have..."

"You couldn't have known." Brendon turned with the curve of the road, following the signs that showed a motel a few hours out.

"I should have." Dallon argued. He lifted his head to look out the window. "How could I not have known..."

"Monsters didn't exist to you a few days ago!" Brendon laughed, "Dallon, believe me when I say it, only someone crazy would believe without experiencing it. If I wasn't in this business, I sure as hell wouldn't believe."

Dallon turned, giving Brendon a curious look. "How did you get into it?"

Brendon laughed again, though it was softer this time. "Pretty much born into it." He replied, "Both of my parents taught me to be scared of the creatures of the night."

"That must have been rough." Dallon's brow scrunched together.

Brendon shrugged. "It's a life." He replied, stealing a look at Dallon. The taller man's blue eyes were unreadable. He seemed to be going over everything in his head. Brendon turned back to the road. "One you avoid if you can..."

---

It was dark when they pulled into a small motel parking lot. Dallon yawned as Brendon parked outside of the manager's office. "I'll check us in." Brendon said, already halfway through turning off the car and throwing off his seatbelt.

Dallon nodded.

Brendon climbed out of the car and hurried up to the office doors. His breath rose up as a small cloud in front of him. As he gripped the doorhandle and pulled it open. Inside wasn't much of an improvement in temperature. A girl bundled in a jacket reminiscent of the stay puff marshmallow man sat at the desk across the small room, texting on her phone. Her hair that stuck out from under a dark beanie was a dyed orange

"Hey." She nodded as he stepped into the room, "What's up?"

"Got any rooms?" Brendon asked, shuffling across the room.

She nodded. "Plenty of rooms. Practically no heat, though." She gestured to the wall behind her. "Thing's busted throughout the place."

"No wonder you have rooms." Brendon laughed.

"Yup." She tapped the desk, "Care to take one?"

"Two beds." Brendon nodded. "Whatever you've got. Put it under Jensen."

"Jensen?" The girl repeated. She shrugged when Brendon nodded. "Alright, Jensen. It shall be done. I'm Hayley, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Hayley." Brendon nodded as she moved around the space behind the desk to gather the check out essentials. He let out another visible breath, shivering immediately after. Even with no heat, Brendon doubted this would be the worst place he had ever spent a night.

"Okie dokie, Mr. Jensen, go ahead and sign here." Hayley slid a guest book towards him before tossing him a key. "Room 7."

"Thank you!" Brendon caught the key and signed his forged name on the sheet. "What do I owe you?"

He payed her and quickly made his way back out to the car. He sighed with relief when he got back inside the vehicle. At least it was warm in there.

"What's the verdict?" Dallon asked.

"It's cold, but we've got a room." Brendon replied, rubbing his hands together. "Lucky number seven."

Dallon nodded. "Sounds good."

Brendon parked the car outside of their room. He gave Dallon the key, instructing him to head inside, while he unloaded his essentials bag.

When Brendon finally made it into the room, he shivered. The room was colder than the office. It was a modest room with two beds and a single dresser with an antenna TV sat on top. Dallon sat on the bed closer to the bathroom, wrapped in a blanket. "You weren't kidding when you said cold." Dallon laughed weakly.

"Almost makes me want to sleep in the car." Brendon joked, shutting the door with his foot. "Jesus, this is freezing."

"Blanket isn't much help." Dallon said as Brendon tossed his bag on the empty bed.

Brendon laughed. "Naturally." He replied. He made his way across the room to check the bathroom. "Maybe we can get lucky with some hot water."

The bathroom was small. It had a single, flickering light overhead, a small sink across from a low sitting toilet, and a shower across from the door. The shower was hidden behind a clear, but cloudy, curtain. Brendon pulled it open, getting greeted by a new wall of cold that felt like it went completely through him. He swore loudly with a shiver. He twisted the shower knob to hot and turned it on.

It sputtered twice before getting started. Brendon waited, letting the cold wrap around him before sighing with relief. Heat was beginning to radiate off the water.

"Good news!" Brendon hollered, "Water's hot!" He shut the shower off and stepped back into the room. "There's one good thing about this dive."

Dallon nodded. Brendon could tell he was shivering underneath his blanket.

"Why don't you get in while it's still working?" Brendon suggested, tapping the taller man's shoulder.

"Y-you sure?" Dallon asked.

Brendon nodded. "You've had a bit of a rough day, you've earned it. In fact, we can even swipe some new clothes for you tomorrow since we left in such a hurry."

Dallon blinked. "I didn't even think about that."

"We'll figure it out." Brendon shrugged. He walked over to his bed and plopped down. "Just hurry up before the warm water freezes like the air."

Dallon muttered a thanks, emerging from his blanket and hurrying into the bathroom. He shut the door and, a few minutes later, the shower came to life.

Brendon fell back on his bed, letting out another visible breath. What was he doing? He couldn't bring this guy on a hunt with him... Should he leave him in the hotel? He'd have a place to stay for the night... but then what? He had no clothes and possibly no money... What had he gotten himself into?

He pushed himself back up, taking another look around the room. Nestled in the blankets on Dallon's bed was Brendon's journal. Dallon seemed to be reluctant to let go of it. Maybe Brendon should have held off on showing it to him.

Brendon turned to the room's TV. It seemed ancient but, when Brendon managed to find the remote to turn it on, it worked just fine. He flipped through cartoons and sitcoms until he landed on the news.

Part of him hoped for some sign of Sam and Dean. They'd know what to do. The other part of him waited to see if there was an active search for Dallon. The news anchor didn't seem too interested in him, but the scrolling text at the bottom caught Brendon's eye.

-linked to arsonist case and a possible missing persons case. Police are looking for boyfriend of Breezy Douglas-

Brendon switched the channel before the text could continue. Ditching Dallon really wasn't an option. He didn't deserve prison just because his girlfriend was eaten in a body snatcher sort of situation.

Brendon left it on Spongebob, moving to his normal motel routine. Stash the bag. Weapon under pillow. Second weapon at the top of the bag. Important things in pockets. Phone plugged into the wall and on the ground charging.

He covered himself with the blanket on his bed, feeling suddenly exhausted. It was like he hadn't slept in days. He shut his eyes, letting the noises of spongebob fill his ears.

Shortly after, the bathroom door opened. Brendon could hear the other bed squeak as Dallon settled. The light didn't click, but the volume of the TV did go down.

Brendon continued to listen. Dallon's breathing was even, though it did seem to catch at moments. Brendon almost wanted to peek at what Dallon was doing, though he guessed it was reading the journal, but he had his back to the other man. It was never good to intentionally sleep facing away from the door. It was too risky.

Instead, Brendon just continued to listen until he fell asleep.