⌜ chapter fourteen ⌟

It's been a couple hours since the boys left, and Isla's starting to get anxious. A knock on her door makes her jump, and she walks over to answer it. The blonde grabs a gun before opening the door part way, being mindful that it could be someone looking to hurt them.

Her hazel eyes widen when she sees who's standing on the other side. "John?" Her jaw drops, and he smiles as he looks down at her.

"Hey, Sunshine."

She flicks the safety back on before sticking her gun in the waistband of her jeans, then she opens the door all the way so he can enter the room. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you with the boys?" She asks as she hugs him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I had to be careful." He says as his arms wind around her waist. "I see you still got that cat you told me about before."

"Yeah, uh..." She chuckles as she turns to look at the tiny, black cat that's laying on her bed. "She kinda claimed Dean. There is no finding her another home."

His eyebrows furrow as he looks at her. "I thought Dean was allergic."

She nods. "He buys a lot of allergy pills."

"Huh."

"He likes her." The blonde shrugs. "And she won't stay out of his stuff. It's kind of amusing, actually."

"Will they come to your room when they get back? Or go to theirs?"

"Usually theirs first." She tells him. "Depending on how it went."

"Not good."

"Then their room."

"Let's head over." He turns for the door, and she leaves Minx as she follows after. He picks the lock to get into his sons' room, and they wait there for the boys to get back from the warehouse.

John's standing by the window, and Isla's sitting on the foot of Sam's bed when the door opens and the boys walk in. The blonde gets to her feet, and Dean looks at her. The first thought that crosses his mind is that he's glad she's not all bloody like him and his brother are.

"Nice face." She says as she looks from him to Sam. "Not exactly a Kodak reunion, but I guess I expect nothing less when it comes to Winchesters."

John chuckles, immediately gaining their attention. "You always have been a bit of a smartass, haven't you?" He says as he turns to look at the three of them.

"Dad." Dean's the first of the brothers to speak up.

"Hey, boys."

His oldest walks forward, and John meets him in the center of the room before pulling him into a hug. Over John's shoulder, Dean sees Isla look down as she takes a deep breath, but he doesn't know what's wrong. The two men turn as they let go of each other, and now Dean's back is to the blonde as Sam walks over to them.

"Hi, Sam." John smiles as he looks up at him. It's the first time they've been face-to-face in four years.

"Hi, Dad." He greets before setting the duffle that he's carrying on the floor by his feet.

"Dad, it was a trap." Dean tells him. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I thought it might've been." John says as he looks at him.

"Were you there?"

"Yeah, I got there just in time to see the girl take the swan dive." He tells them, and Dean glances at his younger brother. "She was the bad guy, right?"

"Yes, sir." The boys nod.

"Good. Well, it doesn't surprise me. It's tried to stop me before."

"The demon has?" Sam questions.

"It knows I'm close. It knows I'm gonna kill it." He tells them. "Not just exorcize it or send it back to hell, actually kill it."

"How the hell are you gonna kill a demon?" Isla asks, and he smirks as he looks at her.

"I'm working on that."

"You and your one-man-army?"

"Let us come with you." Sam says. "We'll help."

John shakes his head as he looks at him. "No, Sam. Not yet." He tells him. "Listen, try to understand. This demon is a scary son of a bitch. I don't want you caught in the crossfire. I don't want you hurt."

"Dad, you don't have to worry about us."

"Of course I do. I'm your father." He nods as he looks between his boys. "Listen, Sammy, last time we were together, we had one hell of a fight."

"Yes, sir." He nods, tears in his eyes.

"It's good to see you again. It's been a long time."

"Too long." He agrees, and then they both step forward and wrap their arms around each other.

As Sam starts to step back a few seconds later, Isla moves to the side and her arm brushes against Dean's. The older boy looks down at her as she looks away from his brother, and then she and Sam see John suddenly fly backward and hit the cabinets on the other side of the room.

Isla sees a shadow on the wall that couldn't possibly belong to any of them, and she reaches for the sleeve of Dean's jacket to pull him away from it. Sam flies away from them as Dean grabs the blonde and pulls her to him, knowing what's going to happen next. Just as his arms secure around her, Dean's launched into the air and he lands on the floor with her on top of him.

They hear John screaming as Dean rolls so that Isla's under him, wanting to protect her from their invisible attackers. Isla sees a shadow with sharp claws, and she quickly throws her arm up and hooks it around Dean's head to protect him. Sam looks around, and finds that these creatures don't seem to be hurting the rest of them much, but they have John pinned.

"Shut your eyes!" The youngest yells as he pushes himself up and goes for the duffle bag that he brought upstairs with them. "These things are shadow demons, so let's light 'em up!"

Dean looks over at his brother and sees him holding a flare, so he quickly ducks his head beside the blonde's, and she buries her face in his shoulder. They can all see the blinding white light that overtakes the room, even with their eyes closed, and then the demons disappear, no longer holding John in place.

"We gotta get up." Dean says as he starts to stand, pulling Isla with him, and they hear Sam yelling for John.

They're all coughing as smoke fills the room, and Dean keeps the blonde tucked into his side as he tries to get to the door. Isla's clutching his jacket as they stumble around, and then she pulls on him when they make it out of the room.

"We have to go to my room." She tells him, and he makes a quick beeline toward the room that she got for herself yesterday.

Not bothering with the lock, he kicks the door in, and then they quickly head inside. Isla grabs her already packed duffle as Dean scoops up Minx from the king-size bed and sticks her in the inside pocket of his utility jacket, his fingers barely wrapping around the handle of her carrier as he moves past it.

They're only a few paces behind Sam and John as the four of them run for the cars parked outside the motel. "Alright, come on, we don't have much time." Sam says. "As soon as the flare's out, they'll be back."

"Wait, wait! Sam, wait." Dean says as he sets the kitten's carrier down on the pavement, and Isla shifts under the weight of his arm. She's helping to keep him up because he hurt his leg when they went down. "Dad, you can't come with us."

"What?" Sam questions. "What are you talking about?"

"You boys — you're beat to hell." John argues, looking at the way Isla's supporting his oldest — one arm around his back with her other hand on his chest as he leans on her, Dean's arm over her shoulders.

"We'll be alright." Dean tells him.

"Dean, we should stick together." Sam argues. "We'll go after this demon—"

"Sam, listen to me!" He looks at his brother. "We almost got Dad killed in there. Don't you understand? They're not gonna stop. They're gonna try again. They're gonna use us to get to him. I mean, Meg was right. Dad's vulnerable when he's with us. He... He's stronger without us around."

"Isla?" He looks at her, hoping that she'll try to talk Dean out of it.

"I'm sorry, Sam." The blonde shakes her head.

"Dad..." He turns to John, resting his hand on his shoulder as he tries to convince him that after everything that's happened they have to stay together.

Minx lets out a tiny meow, and Dean and Isla both look at her as he opens his jacket on the opposite side than Isla's on. Her head's poking out of his pocket, but she's not trying to climb out, probably a result of feeling the cold air. Dean then looks down at Isla, his green eyes meeting her hazel ones, and she sighs.

"And I thought your face looked messed up before." Her hand moves from his chest to the side of his face, turning his head the slightest bit so that she can better see the four slim cuts running up his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Dean asks, and her eyebrows furrow as she meets his gaze again.

"Me? I'm fine."

"That's not my blood on your arm." He tells her, and she looks down to find that she has claw marks sliced into her right forearm.

John walks past them then, and all three of the younger hunters look over as he makes his way to his black truck. He stops after opening the door and looks back at them. "Be careful, kids." He says before climbing into the cab of the truck.

"We have to go." Isla says as she reaches forward and pulls the driver's side door of the Impala open. "Sam, get your ass in the car!" She yells, and he then rounds the back of it to climb in on the passenger side. "Do you want me to take Minx?" The blonde asks as Dean slides into his seat.

"No, I got her. Go." The older boy says, and she glances around before grabbing the carrier and jogging over to her truck, which is parked a little farther up the alley. He watches as she quickly unlocks her door, throws her duffle and the carrier across the bench seat, and then climbs in.