chapter fourteen

outnumbered

♰

CORDELIA, LEE AND Carter had just finished a case involving a Wendigo and a Skinwalker, to say it was a rough couple of weeks would be an understatement. Currently, they were hunkered down in a little bar just outside of Minnesota.

After a tense darts game with her uncle and an oddly normal sighting of Carter trying to flirt with a redhead at the bar ⸻ Cordelia needed air. The room soon grew too hot with all the sweaty bodies and she was growing claustrophobic.

So, as her uncle sat back down at the small, round, wooden table, lifting his beer to take a sip, she told him she was going to get some air.

"You need me to come with you?" He asked, eyeing the lightly swaying girl who stood before him.

Cordelia gave her uncle a dry look, "I'm going for air, I think I'll be alright."

"Last time you went for air by yourself, you got slashed up," he pointed out, narrowing his eyes at the girl.

Cordelia huffed at her uncle's words but figured he had a point. "I'll stand by the window so you can see me," she gave him an exaggerated smile as she pointed over towards the window in question, "Happy now?"

"Very," he replied, tone mirroring her sarcastic one.

She rolled her eyes and gave him one last look before she made her way out of the bar. Once the air outside hit, she felt calmer. Sometimes it got too overwhelming, hunt after hunt, bar after bar.

She used to like that, back when she was in college; hunting, bar crawling, now... not so much. But what else could she do? She didn't want to go back to Stanford and until she found Jess' killer, she had a job to do.

No matter how much she hated it, she made a promise. Not only to her aunt and uncle but to Jess.

As she stood under a street light, her brows furrowed as a clanking noise was heard. She looked around, confusion written across her delicate features.

A man, who had just exited his apartment complex beside the bar, looked over at her. "You alright?" He called out, slowly making his way over to her ⸻ the suspicion on her face was clear, clear enough that coaxed him into asking.

"Can you hear that?" She asked, ignoring his question. She continued to glance around as another clank was heard, she made her way over to a car and kneeled beside it.

The man pursed his lips and sighed, kneeling beside her. "...Nope," he huffed in answer, moving to get up when her voice stopped him.

"I swear to God- listen, there it is," she moved around to the other end of the car, coaxing the man to do the same, with much hesitation.

Cordelia figured that maybe a cat had got stuck under the car or was trapped, the man, however, noted that a drunk girl was wandering about alone outside ⸻ he didn't want her throwing up or anything, he couldn't have that on his conscience, besides, it got him out of dealing with his kids, so he wasn't complaining.

"Listen," she urged.

The man huffed, yet again, but did as she said. His brows furrowed as he heard something being dragged against the ground.

"You think an animal's under there or somethi-"

But before she could finish her sentence, something latched around her ankle and dragged her away.

♰

A few days later, Sam and Dean sat in that very bar. The latter stood, beer in one hand and a dart in the other, whilst Sam, in very Sam fashion, sat at the table, papers and papers of research in front of him.

Whilst Sam's head may have been with the case, a part of it was with his best friend. Over the past few weeks, he and Cordelia had made a deal, they'd check in every day, twice a day, just so the other would know they were still alive.

He hadn't heard from her in a few days and he was worried, he tried to get in contact with Lee, but he wasn't answering, hell, he even tried Carter and he wouldn't answer either.

When he first voiced his concerns to Dean a few days ago, the older brother said she'd be fine, that she was probably in the middle of a nasty case, and at that point, it had only been a day since she had last replied. Sam hadn't brought it up again, figuring that Dean had a point, but as the days went by, he grew more worried.

"So, local police have now ruled out foul play," Sam spoke up from the table, snapping Dean away from his thoughts. "Apparently, there were signs of a struggle."

"You know, they could be right, it could just be a kidnapping," Dean briefly looked towards his brother in contemplation before averting his gaze back over to the darts board. "Maybe this isn't our kind of gig."

"Yeah, maybe not. Except for this," Sam sighed, pulling out John's journal, he flickered through the pages before tapping the map. "Dad marked the area, Dean. Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker."

Dean frowned and rounded the table until he stood at his brother's side, he looked down at the journal and took a sip of his beer, "Why'd he even do that?"

"Well, he found a lot of local folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night, grabs people, then vanishes. He found this, too," he flickered through a few more pages of the journal, "This county has more missing persons per capita than anywhere else in the state."

Dean pursed his lips and lightly nodded at the information, "That is weird."

"Yeah."

"Don't phantom attackers usually snatch people from their beds? Jenkins and that girl were taken from a parking lot," Dean said, slowly moving back over to the darts board, unknowingly talking about Cordelia.

Earlier that morning, they interviewed a witness. Evan, he was only a kid. He had told them that Jenkins and a girl he didn't recognise had been out in the parking lot at the bar, looking at something before they got grabbed.

"Well, there are all kinds, spring-heeled Jacks, phantom gassers, they take people anywhere, anytime. Look, Dean, I don't know if this our kind of gig, either-"

"Yeah, you're right, we should ask around more tomorrow," Dean nodded, mind going back to Cordelia, yet again.

"Right," Sam nodded lightly, a small smile on his face. "I saw a motel about five miles back."

"Whoa, whoa, easy. Let's have another round," Dean argued, lifting his bottle to his lips. "You really know how to have fun, don't you, grandma?"

"We should get an early start, Dean," Sam gave his brother a look of disbelief. "I wanna see if I can get a hold of Cordelia."

Dean stared over at his brother, his face falling flat at the mention of Cordelia. "Alright," he nodded, he threw the last dart onto the board and picked up his jacket that was lazily slung over the chair, he looked down at the ground for a moment in hesitation. "Have you still not heard from her?"

Sam chewed the inside of his mouth anxiously and shook his head, "No. But... I'm sure she's fine, right? She's okay?"

Dean, himself, hesitated. He didn't know, I mean, he could only hope. But it was Cordelia, she could hold her own, she'd be fine, right? So, he put on a brave face, as always and nodded, "She'll be fine, Sam. We'll find her and she'll probably be in the middle of a hunt."

"Yeah," Sam sighed lightly and nodded his head at his brother's words, but neither brother believed them,

"I'll meet you outside. I gotta take a leak."

So, Sam packed up their things and headed outside while Dean strolled over to the toilet. It was just a few minutes later when he walked out, but his face soon fell into a deadpan, when another body bumped into his own.

"Sorry, man," the guy started to apologise, and when Dean finally gouged who was in front of him he cursed. "Oh, Dean, hey."

Carter freakin' Branston.

"Hi," Dean rolled his lips into his mouth, tone dry. He wasn't too sure what to make of Carter. Well, I mean, he already hated him merely because he was Cordelia's ex, but Sam had told him their history and he wasn't too sure about him.

Dean's eyes flitted around the bar, in hopes that Cordelia was still with them, instead of seeing her, he saw the other Moore. Lee was stood by the bar, talking to the bartender, a clear look of distress on his face. Dean's eyes narrowed and he continued to look around, but alas, he couldn't find Cordelia.

"You haven't seen Delia, have you?" Carter spluttered out, gaining Dean's attention once again.

Dean's confusion only grew, "Why would I have seen Cordelia? She's been with you."

The accusatory tone didn't go unnoticed to Carter, but he brushed it aside, he knew that Dean cared about Cordelia and that he was just worried.

"Is she okay?"

"No, fuck, I don't know. She was here one minute, then she went outside and didn't come back," Carter stuttered out, brushing his fingers through his dark hair.

Dean's brows furrowed at the words. Cordelia was here, in this bar. That little boy said that a "pretty girl" had gone missing, right alongside Jenkins. What if that girl was Cordelia. I mean, it'd make sense why no one had reported her missing or ID'd her.

"C'mon, grab Lee, Sam's outside," he told the Branston boy, Carter nodded and headed straight for Lee whilst Dean went outside, ready to tell Sam what had just happened.

But when he got out there, Sam was nowhere to be seen.

♰

Dean, Lee and Carter had worked their asses off all night trying to find something, anything, that would lead them to Cordelia and Sam, and to make matters worse they could only assume that they had been taken by the same thing.

I mean, it had to be, right? Same parking lot, same bar, same... everything.

So, first thing in the morning, they headed straight for the local Sheriff's department and spoke to the Sheriff, Kathleen. Dean had told her that he was an officer by the name of Washington and was looking for his cousin and started to tell her how his friend went missing until Carter opened his big mouth and announced that Cordelia was Dean's girlfriend.

Jackass.

After that, they asked to look at the footage from the traffic camera by the highway, so they went down to the county works department.

While Kathleen was inside getting the photos from the surveillance camera, Carter went inside to use the toilet, leaving a very anxious Dean with a very stoic Lee.

The pair sat on the bench in silence, Lee's brows furrowed deeply in thought. He angled his head towards the Winchester, gaze burning through his side profile. Dean tried too hard not to show that he was nervous, but dammit, he was nervous.

"You care about her?" Lee asked gruffly. They both knew that when Lee said care he didn't mean care.

Dean swallowed roughly under his gaze as he met his eye, "Yes, sir."

Lee rolled his eyes at the formality. "Alright, drop the sir," he glanced over at him, he could tell that Dean was intimidated by the older man, nearly everyone was, but at the end of the day, this was Sam's brother, Cordelia's... friend, he was practically family, even if they had only met once before. "You hurt her and I hurt you, you so much as make her cry, I will break your neck."

A small chuckle left Dean's lips despite the fact he had just been threatened, "Got it."

He hadn't planned on making her cry or hurting her. Whatever feelings he had for her, he wasn't planning on letting anything happen with them, that way, he couldn't hurt her.

"I only tolerate that bag of balls because I'm friends with his old man," Lee spoke up, nodding his head in the direction of Carter who was practically strolling out of the county works department, talking Kathleen's ear off as he did so. "He's a good kid, but I still wanna hurt him... I think you're a good kid, Dean, don't make a fool outta me."

Before Dean could reply, or even think of something to say back to that, Kathleen's voice called out, "I think we've got something."

She handed Dean several sheets of paper which he shifted through. "These traffic cams take an image every three seconds as part of the Amber Alert Program. These images were all taken around the time that your cousin Sam disappeared."

"This really isn't what I'm looking for," Dean stated, briefly looking up at her, disappointment in his tone.

"Just wait, wait. Next one," she stated, watching as he flicked to the next page. It was a picture of a large, rusty truck. "This one was taken right after Sam left the bar. Look at the back end of that thing. Now, look at the plates."

Dean turned the page again, seeing a close-up of the license plates. "The plates look new. It's probably stolen," he voiced.

"What about Cordelia, you get anything on her?" Lee asked, looking down at the redheaded woman.

She nodded and handed him another stack of papers. "Same truck, so whoever's driving that rust bucket must be involved."

Before any of them could say anything, a loud splutter of an engine was heard. They all turned their heads at the intrusive sound; it was a beat-up van.

Dean pursed his lips and eyed the vehicle weirdly before his gaze flitted over to Lee, "Hear that engine?"

"Yeah?" Kathleen nodded in confusion at the sudden change in topic.

"Kind of a whining growl, isn't it?" He met Lee's eye then his gaze flickered over to Carter, realisation dawned on the pair.

"Wha- Oh!" Carter's eyes went wide and he snapped his mouth shut quickly as Kathleen looked over at him in confusion.

"I'll be damned."

♰

When Sam finally woke up from his unconscious state, he looked around in confusion. He was in a metal cage, somewhere he could only assume was a barn ⸻ or something along those lines.

He glanced around, taking in his surroundings. Eyes settling on the other two crates. One laid a man, facing him, he looked to be Alvin Jenkins, the guy he and Dean had been looking for. In the other crate, was a girl, her back was facing him, all he could see was a bunch of brunette hair and the smallest glimpse of a tattoo on her lower back.

His eyes narrowed at the sight ⸻ Cordelia had that same tattoo, but then again, so did many other girls, she hadn't exactly been creative with her choice.

This must've been the "pretty girl" the boy had seen.

Averting his gaze from the pair, he looked up, eyes settling on the steel bars atop his head. He reached up and gripped them, hands whitening at the pressure, using his body strength, he lifted his legs in an attempt to break the cage, staggered grunts leaving his mouth as he did so.

He tried a couple more times before falling to the hard ground, uneven pants leaving his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.

The noise he was making must've woken the other man, who groaned as he pulled himself up from the lying position he was in. His pained groans caught Sam's attention.

"You're alive?" Sam gasped in shock, rushing over to talk to him through the bars of their cages, when Jenkins didn't respond, only another groan of agony leaving his mouth, Sam's features contorted into one of concern. "Hey, you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm doin' okay?" Jenkins snapped in retaliation, blinking ferociously as the blood from his head dripped down into his eye, he lifted a hand and wiped away the crimson liquid.

"Where are we?" Sam questioned, glancing around.

"You know I suck at geography, Sammy." A familiar voice croaked from the cage at the other side of the Winchester. Sam spun around so fast that a searing pain shot through his forehead.

"Cordelia!"

She lifted her head with a sheepish smile and dragged her body over to the bars of the cage, resting her weight against it. "Hi." A bashful grin pulled at her lips.

"What are you doin' here?"

"Oh, the scenery, you know?" She gestured around them. "I've always wanted to visit creepy barns that smell like cow shit."

"I meant Minnesota," Sam corrected with that same bashful smile, but he was elated ⸻ she was alive, and she was semi-okay. A bruise sported her left eye and blood ran down from the top of her head to her cheek, but other than that, she looked okay.

"Following a lead, blew up in my face... clearly."

"And you don't know where we are?"

"I don't know. Smells like countryside, have I mentioned, I hate the countryside?" She scrunched her nose up in distaste.

"It's the country," Jenkins nodded in agreement, drawing Sam's attention back over to him.

"You're Alvin Jenkins, aren't you?" Sam asked the man, raising his eyebrows, though he already knew the answer to that question.

"Yeah," the man answered, a sigh leaving his mouth as he slumped against the ground.

"Wow," Sam softly shook his head, and a wry chuckle left his mouth. "I was looking for you."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, no offence, but this is a piss-poor rescue," Jenkins shot back, giving Sam a blunt look.

"Well, my brother's out there right now, too, He's looking for us," Sam announced, drawing his attention back to the brunette as if to say Dean's coming, he's coming for us.

"And Lee and Carter," Cordelia told him, "They'll be looking for me."

"They're not gonna find us. We're in the middle of nowhere," Jenkins scoffed, gesturing towards the barn door, "Waiting for them to come back and do God knows what to us."

Sam's interest spiked at his words and he looked between Jenkins and his best friend, eyebrows raised in question, "What are they? Have you seen them?"

Jenkins confusion was clear on his face, "What are you talking about?"

"Whatever grabbed us, what do they look like?" Sam snapped, patience running thin so he turned to Cordelia in hopes she'd give him a straight answer, but a dry chuckle left her mouth.

She slumped against the metal bars and lifted her hand, running her fingers across them in boredom. "Take a guess," she said, her eyes shifted tersely over to the door as one of the bolts clicked loudly as it unchained.

Once the barn door pulled open with an eerie creak, two men wearing black coats and hats walked in. One headed for Jenkins and the other for Cordelia. They each held a tray in one hand and a metal rod in the other.

As one of the men headed for Cordelia, she shuffled her body over to the other end of the cage, further away from him. The other man moved to the panel of buttons attached to a pole in the middle of the room, he inserted a key and twisted it, Cordelia's cage unlocked.

The man in front of her, crouched down. A creepy, wide smile on his lips, showing his yellowing teeth. The pants that left his mouth were rugged and gross as he slid a tray of food across the ground. He stared at her one last time, eyes running up and down her body ⸻ sending an uncomfortable chill through her bones before, finally, he moved off.

He swapped with the other man, he stood by the pole in the middle, twisting the key, and Cordelia's cage locked and Jenkins' opened.

Jenkins, however, wasn't as calm as Cordelia as he yelled out, "Leave me alone! Don't you take me, leave me alone!"

The man merely placed a tray of food out in front of him, like they did for Cordelia and moved off, they returned to the panel, twisted the key one last time and locked Jenkins' cage before leaving.

Without a moment's hesitation, Jenkin began devouring the food, whilst Cordelia stared at hers with a grimace, she didn't know what was in it ⸻ for all she knew, she could've been eating people.

"I'll be damned," Sam let out breathlessly, tone low. "They're just people."

"Don't even," Cordelia grumbled, shuffling over to the side of the cage which was closer to the brunet, she leaned against it, her back pressed against his through the bars. "This is so embarrassing."

"You're telling me," Sam huffed, not amused in the slightest. "I can't believe we got taken by... people."

"Yeah. What'd you expect?" Jenkins asked through a mouthful.

Sam didn't answer his question, instead, his eyes flickered down to the questionable tray of food, "How often do they feed you?"

"Once a day," Jenkins answered.

While that was true, Cordelia hadn't eaten a single thing they had given her, so it was safe to say she was hungry as hell.

"They use that panel to open the cages," Cordelia told him, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to get the dried crimson out of her brunette locks.

"And that's the only time you see 'em?"

"I woke up once after they knocked us out when they were bringing us in," Cordelia explained, gesturing to her black eye, "Obviously, my dumbass put up a fight. Look at my fucking face, Sam, how long do you think this is gonna take to heal?"

A small laugh left Sam's mouth. "Your face is gonna be fine, Cor," he smiled over at her gently before his gaze shifted over to Jenkins, "You seen 'em?"

"Only when they feed us," he answered. "But I'm waitin'."

Sam's brows furrowed, "Waitin' for what?"

"Ned Beatty time, man."

Cordelia's face scrunched up in confusion, what the hell was he talking about?

What was it with men and references she didn't understand?

"I think that's the least of your worries right now," a humourless scoff left Sam's lips.

"Oh, yeah? What do you think they want then?" Jenkins questioned, watching as Sam shuffled along the small space of his crate and slid his arms through one of the gaps, grasping at the long metal wire stretching from the top of the control panel to the ground, he tried to pull it down.

"Depends on who they are," Sam said breathily, as he used all of his strength to try to pull down the wire.

"They're psychos," Cordelia said dryly, eyes flitting up to watch Sam.

"Mhm," Jenkins nodded in agreement, thrusting a finger over in her direction. "A bunch of psycho hillbilly rednecks if you ask me, lookin' for love in all the wrong places."

♰

By nightfall, Lee sat in the back of the Sheriff's car with a frown on his face. He couldn't shake this feeling of guilt from his body ⸻ if he had just followed Cordelia outside, everything would be fine, she'd be fine. But it wasn't. He did watch her through the window, like they said, but then his wife rang him and he got distracted ⸻ distracted because they were arguing about where Lee had put something before he left.

"Okay, the next traffic cam is fifty miles from here," Kathleen announced, snapping Lee away from his thoughts. "And your pickup didn't pass that one, so.."

"So it must've pulled off somewhere," Dean concluded with a nod of his head, staring down at a map that Kathleen had handed him. "I don't see any other roads here."

"Well, a lot of these backwoods properties have their own private roads," she told them.

"Great," Dean scoffed, sarcasm clear in his tone.

When the computer that sat between Kathleen and Dean's seat beeped, Lee narrowed his eyes and leaned forward slightly, attempting to get a look at whatever it was she had been doing.

The Sheriff clicked the highlighted item, eyes skimming across the screen, suspicion growing. Lee leaned forward as much as he could, trying to get a glimpse of what she was seeing.

"So, Gregory," Kathleen spoke, dragging her gaze back over to the road, but kept a feverish eye on the Winchester. "I ran your badge number. It's routine when we're working a case with state police... accounting purposes and what have you."

"Mhm."

"And, uh, they just got back to me," she began to slow the car to a stop, pulling over onto the side of the road. "Says here your badge was stolen."

Dean's face contorted into one of fake shock, he rose his eyebrows and his mouth dropped open.

"And there's a... picture of you," she slowly turned the computer screen to Dean, the screen showed an African-American man. Carter rolled his lips into his mouth, in an attempt to stop the laugh that wanted to bubble from his chest.

Dean blinked and hesitantly looked over at Kathleen who was staring at him with raised eyebrows. He nibbled his lip, looking between her and the picture. He opened his mouth before shutting it again.

"I- I lost some weight," he finally settled on, a bashful chuckle left his mouth. "And I got that Michael Jackson's skin disease..."

"Okay," the woman rolled her lips into her mouth, shaking her head as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Would you step out of the car, please? All three of you."

Lee huffed and rolled his head back against the seat in irritation at the order. He had no intention of getting arrested, he had no intention of getting out of the car. He didn't care what he had to do to find Cordelia, he wasn't about to lose another kid.

Carter noticed Lee's hand shift from the corner of his eye. He was reaching for his gun. Carter's hand reached out and grasped Lee's forearm, he lightly shook his head. Lee might've scared the hell out of Carter and he might throttle him for merely touching him, but he wasn't going to let him do something stupid.

"Look, look, look," Dean held his hands up in a surrender motion but didn't move from his place. "If you wanna arrest me, that's fine. I'll cooperate, I swear. But first, please... let me find Sam and Cordelia."

Kathleen shook her head lightly, "I don't even know who you are. Or if those people are missing."

"Look into my eyes, tell me if I'm lyin' about this," Dean's voice hardened as he looked over at the redhead expectantly.

"Identity theft? You're impersonating an officer," she said pointedly.

Lee leant forward in his seat, head between the two in the front, "And if I don't find my kid, impersonating an officer will be the least of your worries."

She turned to face him, jaw slacked, "Are you threatening an officer?"

Lee pursed his lips and slouched back in his seat, "Yeah."

Dean looked between them, a sheepish expression painted his face. "No- No, no, he's not. Look, here's the thing, when, when we were young... I pretty much pulled Sam from a fire and ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. You know, like, it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find him fast..." Dean's voice wavered lightly. "Please. They're my family. Both of 'em."

Kathleen shook her head and inhaled deeply. "I'm sorry, you've given me no choice, I have to take you in," she glanced up at her visor, catching sight of a small photo ⸻ it was a Polaroid of herself and her brother, before he went missing. Her face fell and she sighed, "After we find them."

♰

Cordelia tiredly slumped against the metal bars of the cage as she watched Sam straining to pull the metal coil from the wooden beam. It was killing her, just sitting there, doing nothing. She wanted to help, but she couldn't. She was useless.

"What's your name again?" Jenkins asked the brunet as he, too, watched the Winchester.

"It's Sam," he let out ruggedly, short breaths escaping his mouth as his grip on the metal rod tightened.

"Well, why don't you give it up, Sammy? There's no way out."

"Don't... call me... Sammy," the frustration brewing in his body must've helped because the coil soon tore down from the pole, and a clank reverberated throughout the barn as the parts hit the ground.

Cordelia pushed herself up and crawled the small length of the cage and looked over at her best friend, settling on her knees, "What is it?"

Sam picked up the piece of metal to investigate it. "A bracket," he announced, voice laced in confusion as he eyed it.

"Oh, thank God, a bracket. Now we got 'em, huh?" Jenkins retorted sarcastically from the other side of the room.

Cordelia shot him a deadpan stare, "Why don't you go back to moping in the corner, huh? Silently."

"You know, I wouldn't even be in this mess-" But before the agitated man could speak any further, the lock on his cage buzzed, unlocking itself. His face dropped in surprise, eyes flitting from them and back to the open door. "Must've been short, maybe you knocked somethin' loose," he slowly inched out of the cage.

"I... I think you should get back in there, Jenkins," Sam's voice lowered, hesitation and suspicion laced his tone.

"What?" Jenkins asked in disbelief.

"This isn't right," Sam insisted, sharing a look with Cordelia.

"Don't you wanna get outta here?"

"Yeah, but that was too easy," Sam argued, a watchful eye on the man.

"Way too easy," Cordelia repeated in agreement with a sharp nod of her head. "You walk out that door, you'll be dead."

Jenkins turned to the pair and lowered his voice, eyes flickering from the small gap in the door and back over to them, "Look, I'm gonna get outta here. I'm gonna send help, okay? Don't worry."

"No. I'm serious, Jenkins, this might be a trap," Sam rose his voice in an attempt to show how serious he was, but Jenkins didn't listen ⸻ or rather, he didn't want to listen.

"Bye Sammy." Was all the man said as he tore his gaze away from the younger boy and hastily ran out of the barn.

"Jenkins!" Sam called out in an attempt to lure him back, but he was already gone.

"Suicidal, stupid asshole," Cordelia muttered under her breath. Her eyes flickered over to Sam as he continued to yell out Jenkins' name. "There's no point, Sam, he's gone."

Sam huffed and deflated at her words, but stopped ⸻ he knew she was right. He turned his head at the sound of her voice, at how gently she said his name. She was trying to comfort him after she'd been stuck here for days.

He smiled at her, as much as he could, trying to be convincing, but by the look on her face, he knew she could see right through him. "How bad did they hurt you?" He asked her, changing the subject as he shifted in place, back leaning against the metal bars as he faced her.

She moved into that same position, facing him and shrugged her shoulder lightly, her hand lifted to her face and the pads of her fingers gently stroked over the skin under her eye. "Only hit me the once, one of 'em grabbed my ass so I broke his nose."

Sam's jaw tightened at the words. They hit her and touched her?

"They're creepy and psychotic, I think it's a game to them... to let you out, chase you and well... kill you," she began, fiddling with the necklace around her neck. "They get some freaky kinda' kick out of it, I'm talking like-"

"Yeah, I get you," Sam couldn't help but laugh at her insinuation, he shook his lightly and briefly looked down at his lap before dragging his eyes over to her, "You watch too much of that FBI show."

"It's good, when we get out of here we'll binge it," she told him with an affirmative nod.

"I'll hold you to that," Sam trailed off with a small smile. "So, you're still hangin' 'round Carter, I'm guessing?"

A bashful look fell upon her face, she pursed her lips, "Yeah, and I mean, we're not like that or anything, but... it's better than before... he's better." When Sam rose his eyebrows and tilted his head, she rolled her eyes, "I swear, I'm not back with him, you know I don't get back with my exes-"

"Everyone gets back with an ex at some point," Sam pointed out.

"Not me," she shook her head, running her hand up and down her bare arm, trying to rid the trail of goosebumps that ran up her skin. "He's an ex for a reason."

"Yeah, okay," Sam huffed in clear disbelief, if he was being honest, he didn't believe a word that came out of her mouth. "So, what else since I last saw you?"

"Uh, I got a piercing," she grinned.

"You have no money," Sam deadpanned, narrowing his eyes at the brunette sat across from him. "You can't pay for freakin' food, how'd you afford a piercing?"

Her tongue poked the inside of her cheek and a sly smile pulled her lips, "I slept with the piercer. He gave me a pretty nice deal."

"Of course, you did," Sam shook his head but couldn't help the large smile that pulled at his lips.

It was silent for a few minutes, but, considering the circumstances, it wasn't bad, it was a serene kind of silence, until Cordelia broke it, of course.

"I'm not dying in here," she declared all of a sudden, head lolling aside as a deep sigh escaped her lips. "You don't wanna die next to me, Sammy, honestly... I don't think I'd be a very inspiring dying person. In movies they're all like, 'we've got this... blah, blah, blah' but I don't got this."

"Yeah, don't worry, dying by your side is so far down my to-do list," Sam joked back for her benefit. He knew this was her way of coping ⸻ laughing, making jokes, but he knew that deep down inside, she was going crazy. "You know, me and Dean have been so worried about you. We were gonna drop this case to look for you... if we had, I can't-"

"Well, luckily you didn't," she gave him a reassuring smile before a more smug one replaced it, "I'm just flattered you two dicks were gonna drop everything for little ole' me."

A sheepish smile framed Sam's face, "Always."

♰

Cordelia stared at the unconscious woman in the other cage, the cage where Jenkins once lay. They brought her in no longer than ten minutes ago and she'd been slumped up against the metal bearings ever since then.

She was an older woman, with red tinges in her hair. The plain white t-shirt that covered her was ragged and smeared in dirt and her beige pants had Cordelia's eyes narrowing.

She had to be a cop, Cordelia concluded as she ( judgingly ) stared over at the woman, there was no chance in hell that someone would voluntarily wear them trousers, it had to be a uniform.

"Stop staring at her," Sam's voice was hushed as he wearily glanced between Cordelia and the random woman. "It's weird. You're being weird."

"I'm just looking," the brunette defended. "Not like there's much else to stare at. It's either your broody face or hers."

Just then, as if their voices had woken her, the unnamed woman began to shift. A pained groan left her mouth and her hand lifted to the back of her head as she massaged the area, she must've been hit on the back of her head.

"You alright?" Sam asked, furrowing his brows, his voice dripping with concern.

The woman seemed startled at the sound of his voice and turned to face him, her eyes widened and her eyes bounced between the brunettes. "Sam Winchester? Cordelia Moore?" Her eyes once again fell over to Cordelia.

"Yeah," Sam seemed hesitant as to why this woman knew his and Cordelia's name, his eyes shifted over to hers and they shared a look.

"Your, uh, your cousin's looking for you," she told Sam before addressing Cordelia. "Your uncle and... boyfriend, they're looking for you too."

Her what now?

"Oh, thank God," Sam let out a relieved breath as he slumped up against the bars. "Where are they?"

The woman paused for a moment and hesitated, "I, uh... I cuffed 'em to my car."

"You... okay, no, that's great," Cordelia shook her head, tongue skimming across her top teeth in thought, "Yeah, no, we're gonna die in here-"

Before Cordelia could continue with her dramatized rant, the barn doors creaked open eerily. Her eyes widened before her mouth dropped open in relief at the sight. In walked Dean, Lee and Carter, each taking a look around in astonishment.

Dean spotted his brother first and made a beeline for him, "Sam? Are you hurt?"

A breathy laugh left the youngest Winchester's mouth, "No."

"Damn, it's good to see you," Dean grinned down at his brother.

Just a few feet away, Lee and Carter crowded around Cordelia's cage, Lee's hands gripped the metal as he inspected it, "You sure you're alright?" He asked, eyes briefly flitting down to his niece as he stared at the bruising around her eye.

"Yeah, I'm good," she nodded reassuringly, Lee didn't believe her, but in the moment he didn't care ⸻ he just needed to get her out of there.

"Damn, I wished they'da' killed you," Carter whistled as he crouched down in front of her.

"You know, it won't kill you to say you were worried about me," she teased.

"Might do," he grinned back at her before a more serious look coaxed his features, "I'm glad you're okay, seriously."

Lee huffed and rolled his eyes. "You two chicken-shits chit chat later, we've gotta get you two- three," he spared a glance over at the other woman, "Outta here."

Kathleen, the other woman, eyed the three weirdly, "How did you get out of the cuffs?"

Dean looked tentative in his answer, he looked her up and down before averting his gaze over to the brunette. "I know a trick or two," Dean simply stated in answer as he headed over towards Cordelia. He leant down by her cage, ignoring the piercing eyes of the men beside him. "You alright?" He asked, face pulling into a grimace at the sight of the bruise.

"Better now," she smiled up at him lightly and basked in the sight of his face. Every freckle, every small scar, the light glimmer in his eye.

"Good," he breathed out, a smile capturing his lips. "We're gonna get you outta here, alright?"

"I know."

His eyes then drifted down to the lock on the cage. "Oh, these locks look like they're gonna be a bitch."

"Well, there's some kind of automatic control right there," Sam voiced from the other crate, pointing towards the wooden panel.

Dean stared down at her one last time, before nodding to himself as he made his way over to the panel in the middle of the barn.

Dean paused as he stood in front of the control panel and glanced toward his brother, "Have you seen 'em?"

"Yeah..." he paused, a dry, humourless laugh left Sam's lips. "Dude, they're just people."

"And they jumped you? Must be getting a little rusty there, kiddo," Dean's face contoured into one of shock, even though he did initially have his suspicions. He whirled around to face Cordelia, pointing a finger over at her, "You too? You should've bit them or somethin'."

"They'd probably like that," Cordelia grumbled under her breath as she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself, face falling into a frown as her mood grew sour.

"What do they want?" Lee voiced, looking between the pair in cages.

"I don't know. They let Jenkins go, but that was some sort of trap," Sam answered, watching as his brother fiddled with the control panel in an attempt to get the doors open. "It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Well, that's the point. You know, with our," Dean took a cautious glance over at Kathleen, "Our usual... playmates there's rules, there's patterns. But with people... they're just crazy."

"You see anything out there?" Cordelia asked, craning her head in the direction of Dean, setting her eyes on him.

"Uh, he has about a dozen junk cars hidden out back. Plates from all over, so I'm thinkin' when they take someone, they take their car too."

"Did you see a black Mustang out there, about ten years old?" Kathleen didn't hesitate to ask.

Dean pursed his lips in thought. "Yeah, actually, I did," he answered, assessing her reaction, at the face she pulled, he figured it wasn't a good answer. "Your brother?" When she looked away, his shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry."

"Let's get you guys outta here, then we'll take care of those bastards. This thing takes a key. Key?" Dean whirled around to face the panel, tersely shifting his gaze over to Sam.

"I- I don't know," Sam shrugged in answer, causing Dean's attention to flit to Cordelia in question.

"They brought it in with them, must be somewhere else." Was all she said, after all, that's all she knew ⸻ she was feeling pretty useless right now and stupid for getting taken in the first place.

"Alright. I better go find it," Dean grunted out, moving to walk out of the barn when Carter spoke up.

"I'll come with you."

Dean pursed his lips but didn't argue against it.

"Hey!" Sam called out, stopping the pair in their tracks. "Be careful," he coaxed before hesitantly looking over in Carter's direction. "Both of you."

Even though Sam was not the biggest fan of Carter, once upon a time he was his friend and he knew deep down that if he got hurt, it'd upset him.

"Yeah."

♰

It wasn't long before Dean and Carter located the house, they lowered themselves and carefully made their way to the residence. Once they found an entrance to the basement, they quietly snuck in ⸻ well, attempted to, the wooden door creaked loudly behind Carter, coaxing Dean to turn towards him with a glare of warning on his face.

Carter rose his hands in a silent apology.

Dean rolled his eyes but brushed it off, he didn't have time to berate Carter, they didn't have time. So, the pair pulled flashlights out from their jacket pockets and began looking around.

The room was filled with shelves of jars and bottles which contained various body parts. Carter's face pulled into a grimace as he lifted his free hand and smacked Dean on the shoulder, gaining his attention.

Dean looked unamused at Carter's touch, but nonetheless, followed his eye line. "Dude, look at that, what is that? A heart? These people are fuckin' sick," Carter scoffed under his breath.

"You're tellin' me," Dean grumbled, pulling his eyes away from Carter and the multiple jars of body parts and items; glasses, wedding rings... organs. He tried to do everything to air out the brunet, ignore him, but Carter was like a six-foot, fully grown toddler ⸻ he didn't stop talking.

It was silent for a moment, a peaceful, serene moment; until, of course, Carter spoke, "So, what's with you and Cordelia?"

Dean's shoulders sagged in irritation and his jaw tightened, "Do you ever stop talkin'?"

"Way to avoid the question," Carter shot back, giving Dean an expectant look as he carefully manoeuvred the flashlight.

Dean exhaled sharply and rolled his eyes, "Nothing's goin' on, and if there was, you'd be the last person I'd tell."

Carter rose his hands in mock surrender. "Sorry I asked," he muttered under his breath, a sarcastic tint to his voice as they rounded the corner.

As they kept searching the room, they came across a wall full of Polaroid pictures. Pictures of men; dead and alive. Some years older than others.

Dean's eyes fell into slits as he eyed one of the pictures. It was Jenkins. He was laid dead while two men stood proudly beside him, a look of disturbance crossed Dean's features, "I'll say it again ⸻ demons, I get, people are crazy."

Just as he moved to walk off, Carter's hand latched onto his arm, stopping him in place. Dean was about to snap at him, patience running thin, but when he noticed Carter wasn't even looking at him, he set his eyes elsewhere.

The Branston boy held a small polaroid in hand, one in which Cordelia was in. She was passed out, so he assumed it was near the time after she'd been taken. Also, in that picture was one of the men that was in all the others. He was making gestures, stood over her, gestures that made Dean's stomach boil with unattainable anger.

Carter rolled his jaw, irritation flaring as he pocketed the picture. "He dies," he stated, turning to face Dean. "I don't know your rules on people, frankly, I don't care; if I get the chance, he dies."

Dean didn't say anything for a second; he and his family did have rules, they didn't hurt people, but these weren't people, they were monsters just like all the others they put down.

So, he nodded in silent agreement, but he couldn't get the picture out of his head. By the looks of it, she was the only girl they had taken, so why did they? Why did they even take a picture? Because they were sick, disgusting fucks, his brain told him in retort.

He shook his head, temporarily ridding himself of the thoughts as they ventured up the basement stairs, heading into the house.

They were light on their feet and as quiet as they could be. A record played lightly in the background ⸻ a creepy tune for a creepy family.

The two pressed against the walls as they attempted to sneak in, quietly passing the kitchen without getting caught. Their eyes fell on the older man in there, an apron tied around his waist and a meat clever held in his hand. A pile of... something sat on the countertop, blood covered the surface and ran down the sides, staining the white wood a crimson.

As Dean was too busy looking into the kitchen, he failed to notice the windchime that was hung up beside his head, luckily, Carter did.

The Branston boy grabbed the Winchester by the shoulders and lightly tugged him backwards before he could hit the windchime.

Dean paused before glancing back at him, he nodded in thanks, but when the pair got a good look at the windchime, they cringed; it was made from human bones.

They shuddered but kept going.

Dean noticed a wooden pole leant up against the wall and he quietly moved to grab it. Once again, he pressed his body up against the wall and slowly, the pair made their way over to the kitchen ⸻ cautious of the older man that was currently in there.

Carter tapped Dean on the shoulder, drawing his attention. He gestured towards the small key tray on a table, at the other end of the room.

When Dean reached for the keys, he paused, face falling into a grossed-out frown as he set his sights on the jar of teeth besides the tray. He examined them and shook them in Carter's face, the Branston, too, grimaced.

Just then, the floorboard creaked, the Winchester swallowed roughly and set the jar down, turning to face the unknown.

There stood a child, who jumped at Dean's sudden action. Carter's face fell even more. "Jesus Christ," he grumbled under his breath, shock clear on his face. She had to have been the creepiest kid he had ever seen ⸻ and that's saying a lot, he had seen Cordelia's baby pictures.

Dean and Carter shared a brief panicked look when the girl stared at them, eyes creepily wide. Hesitation was clear on her face as she tentatively backed up.

Dean glanced back over at the girl and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Shh. It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," he told her, holding his hands out in a calming manner.

But the little girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a small knife, a malicious smile on her lips. "I know," she taunted, quickly leaning forward, sticking the knife into Dean's jacket, pinning him to the wall. "Daddy!"

While Dean struggled to get the knife from his jacket, Carter moved towards the girl, going to wrap a hand around her mouth to stop her screaming, when two men, the two men who Cordelia and Sam had seen, slowly trailed into the room.

Their eyes narrowed and fury overtook their features as they assessed the sight in front of them, and then all hell broke loose. One brother went for Dean and the other headed to Carter.

Jared, the one who went for Dean snuck up behind him and grabbed him from under his arms, but the Winchester jumped up and kicked his weight against the doorframe, knocking Jared off of him.

Lee, the other brother, headed for Carter, but the brunet sent his fist flying at his face; knuckles meeting his cheekbone. Lee stumbled back at the action, giving Carter opportunity to grab the side of his head ⸻ repeatedly smashing it into the mirror that was hung up on the wall, shards of glass fell around their feet.

Jared then harshly threw Dean into Carter, knocking both of them onto the floor, causing the knife that Dean had pulled from his jacket to clatter against the ground.

Lee made a run for Dean, but the Winchester grabbed him first and roughly shoved him to the ground, he then threw a couple of punches at Jared, but once again, was thrown to the ground by Lee.

The four all rose to a stand, and when one brother attempted to advance towards Dean, he kicked the small, wooden coffee table at him ⸻ stopping him in his tracks. Carter rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie to his elbow as Dean panted, hand holding the door frame for stability.

The Winchester pointed over at Lee, the one he soon recognised from the polaroid. "I'm gonna kick your ass first," he breathed out heavily before gesturing over to Jared, "Then yours."

But before they could even start fighting again, Dean was knocked out cold... as was Carter.

♰

Carter had regained consciousness a few seconds before Dean did, he turned his head, cautious eyes flitting over the blood that ran down the side of the Winchester's face ⸻ he'd live, he told himself before looking over at the sick family in front of him.

Carter could only assume that the father was sat in front of him, perched on a small wooden crate whilst his kids⸻ Lee, Jared and ( creepy girl ) Missy, watched them with a sickening fascination.

When Dean's eyes opened, he rolled his neck back, irritation flared up his body as he felt eyes on him.

"Come on," Lee leant over his father's shoulder, "Let us hunt 'em."

"Yeah, they're fighters, sure would be fun to hunt," Jared piped up, earning an eager nod of agreement from Missy, or as Carter had silently named her... the devil reincarnated.

An amused laugh, more of a high-pitched whistle, left the older man's lips at his son's retort. Dean and Carter shared a look, Dean rolled his jaw as he blinked away the stream of blood from his eye, "Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me. That's what this is about? You- you yahoos hunt people?"

Jared and Lee's faces dropped in offence at the word yahoos.

The older man leant forward in his seat, a curious, yet sick look in his eye. "You two ever kill before?" He questioned, stare flitting between the pair.

Dean's brows furrowed, and a dry laugh left his mouth, "What-? Well, that depends on what you mean."

The older man then looked towards Carter in question, the Branston boy rolled his eyes, but the look on his face told all ⸻ he had.

"Feels good, don't it?"

"Not as good as it's gonna feel when it's you," Carter shot back.

The older man didn't react to his threat, only a crooked smile pulled at his lips ⸻ showing his yellow, rotting teeth. "I've hunted all my life, just like my father, his before him. I've hunted deer... and bear. I even got a cougar once. Huh, boys?.. But the best hunt... is human. Oh, there's nothing like it. Holdin' their life in your hands... seein' the fear in their eyes just before they go dark makes you feel powerful alive."

Dean grimaced as the older man smacked his lips shut, he reeled back lightly as the stench from his breath hit his face. "You're a sick puppy," Dean retorted wryly.

The older man's face dropped at Dean's words and he jumped up from his seat. "We give him a weapon, give him a fighting chance," he argued back. "It's kinda' like... our tradition, passed down... father to son, of course, only two or three a year. Never enough to bring the law down. We've never been that sloppy."

"Oh, yeah? Well, don't sell yourself short," Dean couldn't help but taunt, "You're plenty sloppy."

The man leant down by Dean's face, too close for comfort. The Winchester unconsciously moved back, fighting the urge to make a comment about a breath mint.

"So what, you with that pretty cop? Are you a cop?"

Dean coughed out a laugh. "If I tell you... you promise not to make me into an ashtray?"

Carter let out a bellowing laugh at Dean's words but his face fell as one of the brothers advanced towards the Winchester. "Hey, hey!" But Carter's yells went unheard as Lee walked over and punched Dean whilst Jared advanced towards Carter, pulling out a knife as he did so.

"Shut your mouth," Jared warned, holding the sharp object just under Carter's neck, the tip of the knife barely grazing his skin, but he moved back once his father held out a hand.

"Only reason I don't let my boys take you right here and now is that there's somethin' I need to know."

"Yeah, how 'bout it's not nice to marry your sister?" Dean couldn't help but say, he didn't have an on and off button for his sarcasm ⸻ no matter the situation, he remained the same.

Once again, Carter couldn't help but laugh.

"Tell me," the older man said as he walked over to the fireplace and picked up a hot poker. "Any other cops gonna come lookin' for you two?"

"Oh, eat me," Dean grumbled, panting heavily before he paused and raised his eyebrows, sarcasm laced his tone, "Oh, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, you actually might."

Jared moved over to Dean and roughly held his head in place, fingers painfully digging into his skin as he tipped his head back at an uncomfortable angle.

"You think this is funny?" The older man asked, leaning down towards Dean ⸻ the poker stick, held in hand, too close for comfort. "You brought this down on my family. Alright, you wanna play games? We'll play some games."

Dean grunted as the poker got closer to his eye, but a relieved breath left his mouth as the older man moved back.

"Looks like we're gonna have a hunt tonight after all, boys and you get to pick the animal. The boy or the cop," the old man stated before his eyes lit up in a repulsive way, "Or that pretty girl. We've never hunted a girl before, have we boys? Yeah, nah, the girl."

"What? I thought you said I'd choose," Dean's face pulled into a frown and a pit of fear and anger bubbled in his stomach at the thought of them even going near Cordelia.

He didn't want them near Sam either, but it was the way their faces lit up when she was mentioned that made him sick. He didn't know what they'd do to her, like they said, they hadn't hunted a girl before so he didn't know their patterns.

A gnawing pit formed in his stomach at the unknown.

"Changed my mind," the older man smiled sickeningly, before turning to his sons. He took the key from around his neck and handed it over to Lee. "Lee, go do it. Have your fun with her then shoot her in the cage."

"What? You bastard, you said you hunt 'em, give 'em a chance," Carter argued back, but the man only spared him a short glance before directing his attention back to his son, who had started to make his way towards the door.

"Lee," he called out, stopping his son in place, "When you're done with the girl, shoot the boy and the bitch, too," he spoke, referring to Kathleen.

Lee nodded in understanding and left, grabbing his rifle on the way out.

Carter's tongue met the inside of his cheek, fury burned through his body, but a cocky look crossed his face, "You just sent your son off to die, still feeling pretty good?"

A sarcastic smile crossed the older man's face, "That bitch isn't gonna get a hand on my boy."

"He touches her, she'll tear him a new one," Carter said simply, shrugging as much as he could whilst in his restraints.

The older man only laughed at his words in disbelief, he shook his head and averted his gaze to Jared, "We gotta clean this mess up before any more cops come runnin' out here."

He may not believe that Cordelia could do it, merely because she was a woman ⸻ but she could, and if needed, she would.

♰

Cordelia's uncle paced up and down the small length of the barn as he tried to think of a way to get Cordelia, Sam and Kathleen out, but he was coming up empty.

Cordelia definitely wasn't helping, she told him near enough, every five seconds, that there was no use in trying.

The second they got her out, he was taping her mouth shut ⸻ being away from her for a week was hard, sure, but when he remembered how annoying she could get, that was the challenge.

No one heard the barn door open, all too occupied in their minds ⸻ thinking of ways to escape. Lee didn't hear the other Lee slowly trail into the barn, rifle held tightly in his grip as he carefully dragged his feet across the ground.

The only sound the others heard was the sound of Lee Moore's body hitting the ground after ( bender ) Lee knocked him out with the butt of his gun.

Cordelia, Sam and Kathleen all spun around in their cages at the sound of his body colliding with the ground. Cordelia's eyes flitted up to meet the younger man as he wordlessly walked over to the pole in the middle of the room, key in hand.

Her eyes didn't leave him, but her thoughts immediately went to Dean ⸻ where the hell was he?

She shared a brief look with Sam as the chain on her cage unlocked with a loud click. "What are you doing?" Sam questioned, hesitance clear in his voice, as well as his worry for Cordelia.

Lee didn't answer him as he made his way over to Cordelia's cage and roughly pulled the metal door open. He held his shotgun in hand and aimed it at her.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, she picked up the untouched metal tray of food and swung it in the direction of the gun, sending the bullet up to the roof.

In the house, Dean and Carter shared a look at the sound of the gunshot. Dean's eyes slid over to the man and his son, "You hurt her or my brother, I'll kill you, I swear. I'll kill you all!"

The older man merely spared him a short glance and a scoff before walking toward the door, "Lee!?"

Back in the barn, Lee was a little occupied.

Cordelia ran towards him, knocking him to the ground with all her strength. She straddled him as she held one hand on the gun, trying to wrestle it out of his grip whilst the fist of her free hand met the side of his face.

God, that hurt, she internally screamed.

Taking the opportunity while he was recovering from the hit, she used both hands to secure the gun before hitting him with the butt of it, once, then twice ⸻ knocking him out.

She huffed and sagged against him for a second before rising to her feet, when she went to cock the gun ⸻ she found it was jammed and cursed out loud.

"Fuck, okay," she breathed out, running a hand through her hair before she dropped the gun to the ground and made her way over to the panel in the middle of the room.

"You okay?" Sam called out from his place in the cage.

"Yeah," she muttered, taking the key out and placing it in another keyhole before twisting it, unlocking Sam's cage, she then went on to unlock Kathleen's cage.

Once Sam was freed, he moved over to her and observed the control panel. "Get the lights," he told her, nodding over at the switch.

"Yeah?" She questioned, glancing up at him.

"Yeah."

And so she did.

Back at the house, the old man still stood by the door, calling out to his son. "Lee!"

But Lee did not respond.

The older man pursed his lips and turned to the others. "Jared, you come with me," he commanded and the son did as told, heading over to collect his gun. "Missy... you watch 'em now."

The little girl nodded and turned back to face Carter and Dean as her father and brother left. She pulled out that same knife she had used earlier and held it dangerously close to Dean's eye.

Carter's face pulled into a grimace and he couldn't help but say, "You are one ugly ass kid. Your family partake in incest by any chance?"

Missy's murky brown eyes shot to him and she narrowed them, moving the knife away from Dean, she smiled eerily as she brought it up to Carter's cheek and dragged it down the delicate skin of his face.

"Oh, you bitch," Carter grimaced at the small pain that ran through his face.

Back in the barn, Jared and his dad slowly made their way in. Guns held up cautiously as they looked around.

"Lee!" The older man called out to his son. "Lee, where are 'ya?! Lee!"

As they ventured further into the room, they soon spotted him, slumped against the walls of Sam's cage, unconscious. A line of blood trickled down the side of his face and multiple bruises began to form ⸻ curtesy of Cordelia.

"Damn it, Jared, get the lights," the man commanded, a sour look crossed his face.

Jared moved over to the light switch and pushed it up, but the barn remained dark.

Jared sighed in irritation, "They must have blown the fuses."

The older man tsked and moved over to the control panel, as he opened it up he eyed the cut wire. He slammed his hand against it in anger before they moved off into another room, in search of the three.

As the pair entered the other room of the barn, Sam, on the upper level, lowered himself into a crouching position and hid behind a bale of hay.

The two split up, Jared moving off to another area of the room whilst his father climbed up the ladder, leading to the upper level.

Cordelia held her breath as she slowly trailed around the barn and her eyes slid across the room in search of somewhere to hide when she heard footsteps coming her way.

She couldn't help but let her mind go to her uncle ⸻ she had let him stay with Kathleen, but she didn't know if he'd regained consciousness yet. God, she hoped he had ⸻ they needed him right now.

The Moore girl made her way over to a cabinet and opened it, but hesitated due to the loud creak that was heard as she pulled open the old, wooden doors.

From somewhere else in the barn, Jared heard her. He slowly made his way into the room, gun raised and stood in front of the white cabinet, without hesitating, he fired his rifle several times at the door.

He reached forward hesitantly and pulled open the doors, finding nothing but tools inside. He looked around the barn, confusion clear on his face, when, suddenly a weight dropped on his back, causing a grunt of surprise to leave his lips.

Cordelia's arms tightened around his neck and her legs tightened around his body to secure her place. He fought against her, running backwards to slam his body against the wall.

Cordelia cried out in pain as her back harshly met the hard wall, but alas, her grip didn't falter, not even when another gunshot was heard in the barn.

Her fingers slid through his short, greasy hair and pulled tightly, earning a pained groan as she ripped the hair from his scalp.

Jared's anger bubbled and once again, he slammed his back against the wall, using his strength, as well as Cordelia's surprise, to throw her to the ground.

"You stupid bitch!" He cursed, pointing his gun down at her.

"Hey!" Sam called out as he ran into the room, Kathleen quick on his heels. Jared spun around quickly at the intrusion and fired twice, Sam gave Kathleen and shove before he threw himself to the ground, bullets narrowly missing the pair, but hit Jared's father as he walked in in search of Sam.

Jared stared at his father in shock as he fell to the ground, but before he could shoot again, Lee, now awake, stumbled into the room and appeared behind him.

The Moore man grabbed the gun from Jared and hit him in the face, several times, knocking him out. Cordelia slumped against the ground, using her forearms to hold herself up, a look of relief crossed her face at the sight of her uncle and the sight of the two unconscious men.

Lee made his way over to Cordelia and held his free hand out to her, pulling her up to her feet. He clamped a hand down on her shoulder and a dry, humourless laugh left his lips as he pulled her to him, hugging her tight.

"He dead?" Lee asked as he pulled away from his niece, gesturing over at the older man.

"Don't know, don't care," she grumbled in answer, moving to walk out of the room before she stopped in place by Jared's unconscious body ⸻ she spat at him.

Pig.

♰

Lee Moore helped Kathleen drag Jared and his father's bodies to the cages after deeming that they both were still alive; he said he'd stand outside the barn just in case anyone else showed up, giving Sam and Cordelia a chance to go and get Carter and Dean.

The two ran across the front yard and made their way into the house, quietly opening the door. Cordelia slipped in first, and glanced around, grimacing as her eyes set on the windchime.

"Gross," she mouthed over to Sam, whose face pulled into a grimace at the sight.

As they carefully walked through the hall, Cordelia held her hand up as she heard footsteps, she slowly peered around the corner and her eyes lit up as she caught sight of the two men she was looking for.

But there stood a little girl, knife in her hand, back to Cordelia.

The brunette held up a finger at Sam in a one-minute motion and slowly crept forward. As she came into view, Dean's eyes widened at the sight of her. She held her finger up to her lips, silently telling him to be quiet.

Once close enough, she quickly grabbed the little girl's hand that held the knife and pulled the knife from her grip before throwing it to the floor. Missy spun around, attempting to fight against Cordelia, but the Moore girl was too quick and had little patience left as she grabbed the girl by the hair and slammed her head against the wall, knocking her unconscious.

At that, Sam quickly ran out towards Dean, making his presence known. "You okay, man?" He asked his brother, assessing his injuries.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Dean muttered in answer, briefly looking up at his brother, but once again, his eyes settled on Cordelia as she dragged the young girl across the floor by the ankles.

"What about you?" Sam asked, tersely looking over at Carter.

"Me? I'm great," the Branston boy retorted sarcastically.

The brunette then found a small closet, one just big enough. With a slight struggle, she lifted the girl and placed her inside it, body awkwardly sat. She then grabbed a chair and tipped it, sitting it under the handles, making it so that she could not escape.

Once that was done, Cordelia directed her gaze back over to the injured pair. By the time she got a good look at them, Sam had already untied Dean, releasing him from his restraints before he moved over to Carter.

As Sam was occupied with Carter, Dean made his way over to Cordelia, eyes skimming her up and down in search of more injury.

"Does it make me a horrible person to say I enjoyed that?" She joked, gesturing over to the closet she had stuffed Missy in.

A low chuckle left Dean's lips as he thought for a second. "Probably," he told her with a small smirk.

"You know where our stuff is?" Sam asked, eyes flitting between the others in question; when the benders had taken them, they took their jackets and any personal belongings and hidden them somewhere.

"I think I saw them in the basement," Dean told his brother. "I'll go get 'em."

"I'll come with you," Cordelia told him, shoving her hands in her back pockets before she turned her attention over to Sam and Carter. "Can you check on Lee for me?"

"Yeah," and "Of course," left the pairs mouths.

So, Cordelia followed Dean as he led them to the basement in search of their things.

"I missed your ugly face, you know?" Cordelia teased sending him a smile as she watched him look around for a light.

He briefly glanced back at her with a cocky smile sitting on his lips, "Don't lie to yourself, you know I'm handsome, Cordy."

"Mhm," she nodded with a theatrical eye roll.

In the space she had been away, she had time to think things through ⸻ and she did miss Sam and Dean, she missed them both and she missed how she was with Dean before the kiss.

She didn't regret the kiss, but she would push it aside and forget about it because, at the end of the day, he didn't feel the same; she couldn't hold it against him, it wouldn't have been fair.

When Dean found the light switch, it gave Cordelia a chance to look around, her eyes immediately found the wall full of Polaroid pictures. Her face pulled into a grimace at the sight.

"What sick people do shit like this?" She asked, coaxing Dean into looking over at what she was staring at.

"People with fucked up heads," he concluded, hesitantly looking over at her ⸻ he briefly debated on whether or not to tell her about the picture, but he decided not to; he didn't think she'd want to know.

"Clearly," Cordelia grumbled under her breath, turning to face him, leaning her weight against the small table strewn with tools.

Once she faced him, Dean's brows twitched at the sight of her face. He hadn't seen her probably, the barn and the house being too dark ⸻ but now, with the light on in the basement, he could see all.

All the scars, the blood, the black eye.

He lifted his hand, brushing her hair back so that he could get a better look at the small gash on the side of her head. "You okay?" He asked, moving his hand to gently grasp her chin so that he could tilt her head aside, his thumb skimmed the bruise under her eye, causing her breath to hitch at his touch. "That hurt?"

"No, no," her words came out quieter than expected, she cleared her throat and swallowed roughly. "Nobody gouged my eyes out, so I'm happy," she tried to joke.

Dean's lips only pulled into a small smile, but he didn't say anything. He just held his hand there, cupping her cheek, eyes flitting from one injury to the next as he took it in, took her in.

"I'm glad you're okay," he told her, sincerity in his voice.

"Me too..." she trailed off, looking up to meet his eye, almost getting lost in them. "Not me... I mean, you, too- I'm glad you're-"

A soft, low chuckle fell from his lips once again, "I got it, Cordy."

And he gave her that damn smile. That Goddamn smile.

She couldn't do it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget Dean Winchester; she couldn't brush away how she felt.

Not when he looked at her like that.

♰

After Dean and Cordelia got their stuff, they returned to the others, who were stood waiting outside for them. After handing Carter, Sam and Kathleen their stuff, Cordelia stood beside her uncle and shrugged her jacket back on as she listened to him gripe about his back.

She rolled her eyes and stuffed her hands in her pockets, "You're fifty-one, not seventy, quit being a baby."

"Wait 'til you reach my age, it ain't easy huntin' this old," he grumbled under his breath.

"Where's the girl?" Kathleen asked, diverting Cordelia's attention as the sheriff shrugged on her jacket.

"Locked in the closet," Dean answered her, shooting a brief look of amusement in Cordelia's direction. "What about the dad?"

Kathleen hesitated for a moment as she pulled her radio out of her pocket, "Shot... trying to escape," she told them, the five shared a look at the woman's words but didn't say anything. "I'm gonna... try get ahold of the station," she said to them, backing up to do just that.

They nodded in understanding and Lee groaned, holding a hand against his back, "I'm headin' home tomorrow, I'm getting too old and fragile for this."

An amused smile coaxed the five faces, but Sam raised an eyebrow and turned his attention down to Cordelia, "And what about you? You stayin'? We are in this together, remember?"

She pursed her lips at his teasing tone, but a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth, her decision primarily being made; but she still looked to her uncle for silent permission.

Lee shrugged, "It's taken me a while to come to terms with Jess bein' gone, but she is... and findin' her killer is gonna take time, it's not gonna happen because we want it to... so, you stay with Sam and when you do come across that son of a bitch, you gimme a call and I'll be there. I promise."

She smiled over at her uncle, she knew she didn't need his permission, but she felt the need; she had told him she'd look for Jess' killer and she'd feel guilty if she stopped looking, but she had to remind herself that Lee wasn't like her father.

"Guess you're stuck with me," Cordelia smiled over at the Winchester brothers.

Before either brother could react to the news, Kathleen returned to them, "So... state police and FBI are gonna be here within the hour, they're gonna wanna talk to you, I suggest that you're all long gone by then."

They all nodded in understanding.

"Thanks," Dean told her in appreciation. "Hey, listen, I don't mean to press our luck but we're kinda in the middle of nowhere, think we could catch a ride?"

Kathleen gave him a dry look and pursed her lips at his words, "Start walking. Duck if you see a squad car."

A sheepish smile pulled at Sam's lips, "Sounds great to me. Thanks."

"Listen, uh..." Dean began to say, "I'm sorry about your brother."

"Thank you," Kathleen nodded, but couldn't stop herself when her eyes began to tear up. "It was really hard not knowing what happened to him, I thought it would be easier once I knew the truth but... it isn't really," she paused, clearing her throat, "Anyway, you should go."

The Winchesters, Lee and Carter nodded and headed off, while Cordelia lingered back and gave the woman a soft smile, "Thanks again." She said before catching up with the rest of the group.

They walked quietly, Sam, Dean and Cordelia in front whilst Carter and Lee trailed off behind them.

"Don't ever do that again," Dean demanded.

"Do what?" Sam asked, frowning in confusion.

"Go missin' like that," Dean grumbled before looking over at Cordelia, giving her that same look, "You either."

A smug smile pulled at Sam's lips, "You were worried about us."

"All I'm sayin' is, you vanish like that again, I'm not looking for you," Dean denied.

"Liar," Cordelia crooned, shooting him a teasing look.

"I'm not," Dean griped.

"So, you got side-lined by a thirteen-year-old girl, huh?" Sam joined in on the teasing, earning a dry look from his brother.

"Oh, shut up."

"Just sayin', you're gettin' rusty there, kiddo."

"Shut up."

author's note! *UNEDITED*
cordelia's aunt isnt gonna be in it as far as ik but i keep envisioning her as deb from one tree hill so if she ever is in it, that's who it is

13,000 words, my fingers are numb x