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Erin

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The gunshots stopped as suddenly as they had started. The silence was deafening and my ears were ringing as Sam slowly raised his head. I moved to follow, but he held up a hand, stopping me. I shot him a disgruntled look.

"You die by getting shot," he snapped impatiently in a stage whisper. "I die getting blown up. It's a gun, I check if it's clear."

I huffed an impatient sigh but conceded he had a point. It was difficult to wait, but finally Sam gave the all clear.

When no danger presented itself Sam waved us up as he examined the bullet holes in the wall. He scowled at them and turned to look out the broken window.

"This way," he called to us over his shoulder as he headed to the door.

Sam led Eva and I to the rooftop across the street where he said the shots must have originated from. I let Sam go up the ladder first with no argument. He was the most equipped to handle anyone we might encounter, and because he would be able to determine the most from the scene left on the roof. The only thing I knew about crime scenes was what I learned watching cop shows. So not much.

"Wait," Eva said coming after us in her high heels. "Shouldn't we be talking to the cops?" she asked. She was still shaken, but Sam putting himself in harms way for her seemed to have incurred her loyalty.

"Trust me, they won't do us much good," Sam said with a grim look. He frowned as he stepped carefully onto the roof. He knelt down and picked up a spent shell casing. There were two of them.

"They didn't police their brass," I commented, catching the casing Sam tossed my way while he studied the other. I was fairly competent with the guns I had been taught to shoot, but I didn't know enough to determine anything useful from the casing in my hand.

"These are .223 caliber, subsonic rounds," he said with a frown. He looked from the casing in his hand out over the edge of the roof to where we had a clear line of sight to our hotel window. "The guy must have put a suppressor on the rifle," Sam said decisively.

It made sense since no one had come running out to see what caused the commotion.

"Dude!" Eva exclaimed. "Who are you?"

Sam jerked as though suddenly remembering he wasn't supposed to scare the civilians. "Oh, ah, I just ah...I just watch a lot of T.J. Hooker," he lied easily with a smile, but his eyes were worried as he looked down at me. "Shot," he muttered and he closed his hand around the bullet.

Guilt and worry flashed so fast and hot through him it blew straight through my defenses. I opened my mouth to say something but he was already digging his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Who are you calling?" Eva asked, but I already knew.

I let out a sigh as I felt Sam's resignation. Sam had convinced himself this shooter was related to Eva's vision of me being shot and he was calling for reinforcements to keep me safe regardless of his own feelings.

"My brother," Sam answered Eva, hitting the speaker button. The ringing filled the air, loud enough for us all to hear. "I think we definitely need help."

Eva nodded eagerly in agreement. She didn't seem to care what we decided to do, as long as we seemed to be proactively circumventing her vision.

"Hello," Dean answered on the second ring.

"Dean," Sam said, his shoulders sagging in relief.

"Sam, I been looking for you," Dean said, his voice was gruffer than usual and it made me frown. "...and Beckett," he added, sounding annoyed at my involvement and more like himself.

"Yeah," Sam dragged out the word looking guilty as he rubbed the back of his neck. We both knew how pissed Dean was going to be when he finally caught up to us. "Ah look, I'm in Indiana, Lafayette with Erin and-"

"I know," Dean interrupted, sounding impatient.

"You do?" Sam asked with a scowl.

"I talked to Ellen," Dean told him. "I just got here myself. It's a real funky town," he paused for a moment before continuing. "You ditched me, Sammy," the words were accusatory but the tone was all wrong. In all honesty he just didn't sound mad enough.

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Sam responded slowly, his whole body language had changed after Dean spoke. Sam was glancing around us warily, scanning the parking lot, suddenly very keen on keeping a look out for a possible threat. "Look, right now there's someone after me."

"What? Who?" Dean responded immediately. The shock and worry in his voice sounded forced and I was even more convinced something was off.

"I don't know," Sam said honestly. "That's what we need to find out. Where are you?" Sam tapped me on the shoulder and pointed over the edge of the roof to the motel overflow parking. The Impala was sitting in the lot.

My eyes widened and I turned back to Sam with a questioning look. Dean was already here. So why the game?

There was a pause before Dean spoke again. "I'm staying at 5637 Monroe Street. Why don't you meet me here?"

"Yeah, sure," Sam agreed and he hung up.

"What's going on?" I asked as soon as the phone disconnected.

He glanced from Eva to me. "Dean's in trouble," he dug in his pocket and pulled out a notebook from the hotel and quickly scribbled down an address.

"What?" Eva asked in shock.

Sam nodded. "He gave me a code word. Someone's got a gun on him."

"Code word?" Eva asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, funky town."

At her look, Sam started stammering out excuses, but my mind was caught on the fact that Dean had been taken and was being held at gunpoint. If the Impala was here than our shooter must have been the one to take him.

I left Sam to convince Eva it was time for her to head home. She was full of arguments. The last of which I heard was that if I was staying she should be able to as well. Sam had quickly ushered her away to her car. I don't know if what he said that finally convinced her but she pulled out of the lot a short time later.

I returned to the hotel room and quickly scooped up our stuff. The cops would likely be here soon. I had just finished wiping it for finger prints when Sam came through the door. He picked up his bag and the two of us headed to my car. I went around to the drivers side and stopped short. There was a pile of torn out wires and ripped hoses sitting beside the car on the ground. There was also various liquids on the ground running across the parking lot away from us.

"Ah Sam," I said stepping back.

Sam looked down at the mess and let out a sigh. "Looks like our shooter wanted a head start," Sam said. "Come on, we can take the Impala."

I followed behind Sam, mad whoever was here had decided to break my car. It meant whoever they were, they had been watching us for a while and knew what we were traveling in. I didn't have a lot of money to put towards repairs and now I would be stuck in Lafayette once this was all over.

"What did Eva have to say?" I asked to distract myself as Sam reached under the rear bumper to find the spare key.

"That this is where we go to die," he said holding out the slip of paper with the address.

I took it from him, reading over the numbers. I shrugged and opened the passenger side door. "It's Dean."

And for me, it was that simple.

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Dean
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Even though I had managed to get in the code word, the phone call to Sammy felt like a betrayal. He would come, even knowing it was a trap. I knew the kid well enough to know that. He might get the pretty little thing he had been talking to to leave, but he wouldn't be able to talk Beckett out of it, which meant she would be walking into the trap too.

"Was that so hard?" Gordon asked me smuggly.

"Bite me," I snapped, jerking on the ropes that bound my wrist. They didn't give an inch, just dug deeper into my skin, but it made me feel a little better to see Gordon flinch.

Gordon snorted and tried to pretend like I hadn't gotten to him as he turned back to sift through his bag of weapons.

My jaw was tight but I forced myself to keep my cool. I couldn't stop Sam and Beckett from doing something stupid, but I could at least keep Gordon distracted and maybe antagonize him into making a mistake. "You know Gordy, I know me and Sam ain't exactly your favorite people, but don't you think this is a little extreme?" I asked.

Gordon pulled out a gun and checked the slide before slamming the clip back into it. "What, you think this is revenge?" he asked.

I shrugged as much as the ropes would allow me to. "We did leave you tied up in your own mess for three days, which was awesome by the way," I chuckled. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh," I said sobering.

Gordon stilled. "Yeah, I was definitely planning on whoop'in your ass for that one, but that's not what this is. This isn't personal. I'm not a killer Dean. I was doing an exorcism down in Louisiana. A teenage girl, some low level demon, seemed routine. But between all the jabbering and the head spinning I was able to make out a few words about the coming war. I don't think it meant to it just kinda slipped out. But it was too late. It piqued my interest and you can really make a demon talk if you got the right tools."

"And what happened to the girl it was possessing?" I asked in disgust.

"She didn't make it," he said emotionlessly.

I shook my head in disbelief that this man would considered himself a hunter. "You're a real son of a bitch."

He stood and stalked over to me, back handing me across the face. My head slammed to the side and I grimaced as I flexed my jaw.

"That's my mama you're talking about," Gordon said. "Anyway, this demon tells me they have soldiers to fight in this coming war, humans fight on hells side, can you believe that? I mean, they're psychics so they aren't exactly pure human."

The flare of rage at his words was hot through me and I jerked against the ropes again. I was going to kill this asshole.

"But still, what kind of worthless scumbag you gotta be to go against your own race?" he asked. "But you know the biggest kick in the ass? This demon said I knew one of them. Our very own Sammy Winchester."

I laughed. "Well this is a whole new level of moronic, even for you."

"Oh come on Dean, I know. About Sam's visions, about your little girl friend. I know everything."

"Really, because a demon told you?" I mocked.

"Look Dean, I did my homework, I ain't some reckless yahoo. You got your roadhouse connections and I got mine."

I felt my stomach drop as I realized someone there had betrayed us. Sammy had brought Beckett to the roadhouse assuming it was safe and now Gordon of all people knew about them. That was the reason he was here. To hunt them. I suddenly remembered Erin's fear of hunters when we first met her. That she had been taught they would hunt her if they ever knew what she was. I had assured her it wasn't true and fought for her trust. Now it seems she had been right all along to be afraid of us. And Sammy had led her right to the bastard.

"That's how I found out about Sammy being here in the first place," Gordon continued. "About a month ago I found another one of these freaks in town. He could deep fry a person just by touching them."

"He kill anyone?" I asked, pulling at the ropes my legs were tied with.

"Besides Mr. Tinkles the cat? No, but he was working up to it. They are all going to be killers Dean. We gotta take them all out. Sammy included," he said and he racked a bullet into the chamber of his rifle.

I leaned towards him dangerously. "You really think Sammy is stupid enough to walk through that front door?"

"No, I don't, especially since I'm sure you found a way to warn him, and who knows what that little psychic girl can do," he laughed. "You really think I'm that stupid?" he stepped up. "No, Sammy is going to scope the place first. He'll see me covering the front door, so he'll take the back. Then he'll hit the trip wire, and boom."

"Sam's not going to fall for a frickin trip wire," I snorted.

"Maybe you're right. That's why I'll have a second one," seeing the expression on my face his softened a little. "Hey look, I'm sorry, I wish I didn't have to do this, I really do. For what it's worth, it will be quick."

I was going to kill the son of a bitch.

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Erin
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Sam had made it clear that if I was going to be involved, I had to follow his instructions to the letter and without complaint. He wanted me to stay behind, and spent most of the drive to the address, trying to convince me to do so. But with Dean in danger, I would not be persuaded.

The house was on the end of a dead end road, and looked as though it had been abandoned for sometime. The woods surrounding it were overgrown to the point they had taken over the yard. The upside was that it provided cover for us to sneak up on the house. Sam parked the Impala a few blocks away and we covered the remaining distance on foot.

As we approach the house I allowed my walls to come down just a little. Sam, being close, overwhelmed me at first. I could feel nothing but his apprehension, worry and self doubt. I reached out and squeezed his forearm once reassuringly. He glanced down at me in surprise, and I gave him an apologetic shrug. It's not like I really could help the eavesdropping if we were going to use my power.

Inside the house, I could feel two other people. One I recognized instantly as Dean. It's impossible to explain all the nuances that make up how a single person feels. There is always their current surface emotions, which are the loudest, but there's other parts as well. There's things that are just inherently them; a combination of emotion patterns that made up an individual. I had connected more with Dean than I had anyone else in my entire life. It made it so I could recognize him immediately regardless of what else was happening.

The other man was a disturbing combination of determination, focus, and self righteousness, with a hint of mania that made me want to rub my arms and close myself off from him.

I turned back to Sam. "There's two of them in there. One of them is Dean, and the other one doesn't feel entirely stable."

"You can say that again," Sam muttered and he jerked his chin towards the car in the driveway.

"You know who it is?" I asked him.

He made a noise of disgust in the back of his throat. "I know who it is," he grumbled. "He's a hunter."

"A hunter? Why would a Hunter take Dean?"

Sammy just shook his head in disgust. "We have a history. He's bad news. I don't suppose you;d change your mind now?" 

I tightened my jaw and shook my head. I couldn't sit by and leave Dean in the hands of the man I felt inside. 

"Didn't think so," Sam muttered. "You remember the plan?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, Sam was being over protective. We had already circumvented my death, it was him we had to worry about now. "I'm supposed to wait until I hear you, and then, while the hunter is distracted, I sneak in and get to Dean."

Sam nodded his confirmation, but he still looked worried

"I've got this," I promised him. "I won't take any unnecessary risks."

"Dean will have my ass if you do," Sam said still looking indecisive. Having worked with both brothers in dangerous situations I tended to find Dean's confidence and leadership more reassuring. Sam was used to following Dean's lead and it was clear he wasn't totally confident in our plan.

"If we manage to get him out of there, I think he's going to give us both an earful," I teased gently, hoping to put Sam at ease.

Sam chuckle, "Yeah, you're probably right."

Sam and I split up as we approach the house. I hid in the bushes just below the dilapidated front porch while Sam went around the back. Knowing what Ava had seen in her dreams gave us an advantage, but it still made me nervous. What if I had failed to stop Sam and he died right now. I knew Dean well enough to know he would rather we leave him to his own devices then risk Sam's safety. There was a fairly decent chance he would include me on that list, but just as I knew he would not leave me in danger, I wouldn't leave him in there. Dean had risked his life too many times for me in the past. The more I felt this Hunter the more I knew we needed to get Dean out of there as quickly as possible.

It felt like I stayed hidden in those bushes for over an hour, even though I knew it was likely closer to 15 minutes. Sam knew there were boobytraps and was going to take his time approaching the house. He was guessing, based on Ava's description, that it was a landmine that had led to his death in her vision.

Even knowing it was coming, I jumped when the first explosion happened. I closed my eyes and pushed my power out as forcefully as I could, desperate to feel if Sam was okay. I could hear voices inside, but I was too far away to make them out. I felt the spike of worry from Dean at the first explosion. The second one came and I heard a male chuckle. Dean's rage was breathtaking as he, just like the other Hunter,  believed that while Sam could may have avoided the first one, there was little chance of him avoiding the second. But I could still feel Sam, more determined and wary than ever.

I heard a shout, and a scuffle inside and knew it was my time to move. I quickly crept up the rickety front steps to the front door and opened it cautiously. He hadn't even bothered to lock it. I crouched down and slid in lower than anticipated, hoping that if someone had a gun leveled on the door, I might get lucky.

I exhaled when I didn't see anyone, and moved deeper into the house. I came into what had once been the living room and saw Dean tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Somewhere out of sight, I could hear the sounds of a fight and I hoped Sam was okay. Dean was distracted by the fight and had his neck craned to look over his shoulder towards the other room. He was so preoccupied he startled when I knelt beside him and put a hand on his knee. His eyes went from surprised to furious inside of a second, it's not as though I had expected anything different from him.

I pulled out a knife and got to work, cutting him loose. It was clear the other Hunter was terrified of Dean. He had tied his hands as well as his upper arms down, and his legs in two places as well as his waist. I cut Dean's right hand loose first so he could start to help me get him out of there. As soon as his hand was free, I pulled out a second knife and handed it to him. He took it gratefully and began cutting the rope that tied his legs. I cursed the Hunter's tight knots. He had left no slack in the ropes, which made it difficult to cut Dean loose without catching him unintentionally.

Once I got Dean's upper arms cut free, he bent down and went to work on the ropes that were tying his legs to the chair. I reached up and pulled the gag out of his mouth, letting it hang around his neck. There was still yelling and scuffling coming from the other room. Dean pushed himself to his feet. He staggered a step and I reached up and laid a steadying hand on his chest. 

"Are you hurt?" I asked sharply. I hadn't felt any spikes of pain, but Dean's pain tolerance was much higher than most people's so I wasn't sure I would feel it if he had decided to push it down.  

"Just getting circulation back," he assured me. 

I reached behind me and pulled Dean's colt 1911 out of the back of my jeans. Sam had given me Dean's favored handgun so Dean would have a way of defending us if things went poorly between him and the other Hunter. Dean nodded gratefully as he took the gun from my hand. Dean expertly checked the clip and the slide before flicking off the safety and moving towards the other room. He glanced back at me and motioned for me to stay where I was while he helped Sam. He didn't have to tell me twice, I only had a single knife in my hand and was well aware that I was no match for a hunter who could take down Dean

Sam appeared in the doorway a moment later. Dean breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped Sam up in a big hug. "Are you okay?" Dean demanded as though he hadn't been the one that was kidnapped. He grabbed Sam's face and turned it from side to side, inspecting the damage from Sam's fight with the other hunter. 

"I'm gonna kill him," Dean muttered and he moved to go around Sam. 

Sam reached out and grabbed his brother's arm. "Come on let's go," he said. "It's taken care of."

 Dean look like he wanted to argue, but as he glanced back-and-forth between Sam and I he seemed to deflate. He nodded in agreement, accepting Sam's decision. He ushered both Sam and I out of the house in front of him. 

We had made it halfway across the yard when the front door slammed open and gunshots erupted around us, chewing up the grass and vegetation. Dean jerked me in front of him, so he could keep his back between me and the shooter.  He shoved me and Sam down into a ditch where we would have some cover. Once he checked to make sure we were both safe, he pulled his gun and lifted it to fire. Sam grabbed his arm and shoved it down. Dean shot Sam a disgruntled look but didn't argue.   

Just as the Hunter crossed driveway to pursue us, still firing, three cop cars appeared with their lights on. The officers jumped out of their cars with the guns drawn, leveling them at the hunter. 

"I called it in," Sam said. "Anonymous tip."

Dean chuckled and flashed a lop sided grin. "You are a fine upstanding citizen Sam." 

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