I blinked and looked up at the sun, holding up my hand to block out the light, the dry heat causing sweat to break out on my skin. Even though I must have been walking for hours, it was still morning, and the sky was clear.
I grunted with annoyance, and starting putting one foot in front of the other, each step sending up small plumes of dust as I slowly made my way down the creek trail in the dried out canyon, the trail thankfully clear of brush that could have made the hike even more annoying.
Why was I here again? Strangely enough I couldn't remember, and looking around I realized I was alone. Yet, despite being alone in a strange wilderness, for reasons unknown, I wasn't afraid.
With a shrug I continued on my way, and eventually I came to a point where the creek and the trail diverged, the trail turning up around the side of a mountain, the creek continuing down the canyon.
Curious to see where the creek went, I followed it instead of the trail, which was difficult, as the brush grew thick over this part of the canyon, so I had to pick my way carefully through it as a lot of the brush had thorns.
Eventually I came to an open space that the water of the creek fell into, and, careful not to slip on the slimy moss, I gripped a nearby bush and leaned over to peek in.
The water of the creek fell into a massive grotto, the bottom of which I couldn't see due to the darkness. Peering down there, I thought I saw something moving down there, but after watching for a full minute, nothing moved, so it must have been a trick of the light.
With a shrug I turned around back the way I came, and eventually came back to the trail. Stepping on to it, I turned and followed it as it trailed around the side of the mountain, moving down it as it passed over an old mountain slide, where part of it was made of gravel and small rocks.
Eventually I came down to the part where two canyons met to form a larger canyon, down which a small river flowed. Curious to see the grotto from the bottom, I turned and walked down the smaller canyon, and came to a part where larger rocks from the old land slide had come to a rest, having been weathered smooth by old floods, most of the smaller stones having been washed away farther down the canyon.
Strangely, one of the larger rocks struck a familiar cord with me. I had seen this rock somewhere before, but where? Well, here obviously, it's not like the rock could have moved. In fact, this whole place seemed very familiar, like I'd been here before, but for the life of me I couldn't remember when.
I stared at the rock for a few more minutes, before moving on to the grotto. It was midday by the time I arrived, and the grotto itself was still wreathed in darkness. Through the gloom I could make out what looked like a deep hole in the side of the grotto, which I somehow knew was an old mine-shaft, but I had no idea how I knew this.
I also somehow knew that there was something important in that old mine-shaft, but before I could consider the idea further, something stepped around a bend in the grotto, something huge!
It stepped farther into view in the gloom of the grotto, standing up straighter, and with three pairs of red eyes it looked at me.
And then it stepped out of the grotto into the light of the mid day sun, and I noticed that it seemed to be composed of a writhing darkness, a kind of black smoke, formed into sharply defined features. With each step it took I could make out more of it's form, and I suddenly realized that I was looking at a massive three-headed dog.
The three heads opened their mouths to snarl, and I had just enough time to make out pearly white, razor sharp teeth, before it darted forward and snapped me up in its gaping maw!
And I awoke with a gasp, and jerked forward.
"Easy, easy!" Dean said while holding me back on the seat, his other hand on the wheel. "It's just a nightmare, you're ok!"
Swallowing in deep breaths, I looked around the cockpit of the Impala wildly, but there was nothing to see other than Dean, who was glancing at me every now and then with a concerned look. There was no sign of a three-headed dog.
After a moment, I breathed a sigh. It was just a dream… a nightmare really, like Dean said.
"Oh..." I trailed off. "Sorry about that."
"No worries," Dean grinned at me, before looking back at the road.
I looked at the road myself for a few minutes, noticing that it was night out, before turning back to him. "How far are we from Palo Alto?"
"We're almost there," Dean replied easily. "Should be there in a few minutes."
I looked at him for a moment. He seemed almost.. chipper. Explained why he had just brushed off my nightmare like it was nothing, normally he would have been more concerned.
I was temped to make a dry comment about waking Sam up in the middle of the night, but as it was I was feeling a bit too tired for riparte. As it was, I settled back into the chair and turned my thoughts to the dream I had just had.
I'd been dreaming about the grotto for a while now, ever since my encounter with the voodoo witch. I didn't have the dream every night, but it happened often enough for me to notice. Normally I didn't pay too close attention to my dreams, as they were usually too ephemeral and vague to be worth much.
But a recurring dream, with such sharp detail such as this? I had really felt like I had been trekking though the dry wilderness for hours, had really felt the dampness of the grotto, the sliminess of the moss in the creek, the feel of thorns catching on my clothing and pricking my skin…
Had really felt the feel of the dog's teeth closing around my neck.
And with each dream, the details got sharper, the feeling got realer, and the familiarity...
No, there was something else at work here, something I knew had to be related to the demon that had fed me blood when I was seven.
I remembered from my past life that Sam had had prophetic dreams due to his demon blood, that the dreams had been due to either other special children of Azazel acting out, or Azazel doing something himself.
And now the Demon who had fed me blood was trying to tell me something, was trying to get me to do something, and I didn't know what.
But I knew one thing for sure: the demon that had fed me blood, had killed my mother, and had burned my house, was not Azazel.
No, the demon that had fed me blood had Green eyes, while Azazel had Yellow eyes.
But what frightened me the most was that I did not know who the Green-Eyed Demon was! A Green-eyed Demon had never appeared in the main Supernatural Tv Show as far as I knew, only Demons, with White, Red, Black, or Yellow eyes.
No, the Green-Eyed demon was an unknown, a new entity, one I completely lacked knowledge of.
And strangely enough, this new entity was interested in me, for reasons I couldn't think of or explain.
However, as far as Dean, Sam, and John were concerned, the demon that had attacked Mary, and the demon that had attacked Kate, were one and the same. I remembered, back after I had gotten over my sickness, that John had grilled me on everything I remembered witnessing that night the demon had attacked.
I had told him about the feeling of evil, about the cold, and about being pinned down on the bed, unable to move, but I neglected to mention the blood, or the glowing green eyes. Azazel had Yellow eyes, so if I told John about the Green eyes it could have thrown him off Azazel's trail, which was the last thing I needed.
I came back to reality as Dean turned the Impala off the interstate, slowing down as we came to a red light. Dispite being a city, there were no other cars around, as it was the middle of the night.
The light turned green, and Dean turned the Impala to the left, going under the interstate towards the inner city.
"Are we going to Sam's place right now?" I asked, even though it was obvious. Dean was tapping his left foot on the floor, and had a rather excited expression on his face, though it turned sour at my question.
"You do remember that Dad is missing right?" He turned and asked me rhetorically. "There's no time to stop for the night."
As if that was the only reason why we were going to wake Sam up in the middle of the night. No, it was obvious, after four years of Sam's absence from his life, Dean was terribly excited to see him again. The fact that John was missing was just an excuse.
I repressed a scoff. "I assume the plan is to sneak into his house and steal his booze, and then wake him up?"
Dean looked at me with a grin. "But of course!"
I snorted.
OO)scene-break(OO
I watched as Dean picked the lock of the back entrance of Sam's apartment building, before glancing around to make sure we weren't being watched. It was the night after Halloween, and there were still Halloween decorations all over the place. I didn't mind Halloween that much, but Sam and Dean hated it.
Less than a minute later, the lock came undone. And the two of us quietly slinked through the door, up the stairs, and down the hallway. I kept an eye out while Dean worked on the door to Sam apartment, which was apparently easier to pick than the other door, as only a few seconds later it was open.
Unfortunately, Dean bumped into into a trash can that was just inside the door. He managed to catch it before it tipped over, but it made a slight crashing sound before he did.
"Nice," I whispered sarcastically. "I bet the whole apartment building heard that."
"Shut it!" Dean whispered back, before walking farther into the apartment.
Dean walked farther into the apartment, but I decided to hang back, waiting to see what would happen, keeping a few feet behind him. We walked pass the door with hanging beads, Dean obviously looking for the kitchen.
Unexpectedly, I heard the sound of hanging beads flying apart, but before I could turn around, someone got me into a headlock. Instincts kicking in, I stepped to my left, turned and grasped Sam's left leg, as he had had a wide stance, forcing him to let go of the headlock to soften his landing with his hands, or so I thought, as he gripped my neck and brought his other leg to kick me over in an interesting acrobatic stunt, us landing with him on top of me, his knee digging into my chest.
"Whoa, easy tiger," I heard Dean say as he pulled Sam off me. "That's my little brother you're beating up!"
"Wait, Dean?" Sam looked at him, before looking back at me. "Adam?"
"Hi'ya Sam," I said, still on the floor, rubbing my sore chest where he knee had dug in. "Help me up."
Taking my arm, he pulled me off the floor.
"If I had known I was getting this kind of welcome-" I started, but was cut off when someone turned the lights on.
It was Jess.
"Sam?" she called out as she flipped the switch.
"Jess, hey," Sam started, turning to look at her.
Looking back at us, he said: "Adam, Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica."
"Wait, your brothers, Adam and Dean?" She asked curiously.
"I love the smurfs," Dean replied, pointing at her shirt, before walking up to her. "You know, I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league."
Jess smiled awkwardly. "Just… let me put something on-"
"Oh no, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it, Seriously," Dean said with a serious expression, before walking back to us. "Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but nice meeting you."
He said that last bit with a wink and a smile. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.
"I'm sorry Jess, please excuse us," said Sam with an annoyed frown.
"Er, yeah I'll just go back to bed," Jess said hesitantly.
Sam nodded. "I'll be back soon."
As soon as Jess was out of earshot, I walked up to the other side of Dean and smacked him up the backside of his head.
"Ow, what was that for?" He glared at me, rubbing the back of his head.
"You could have handled that with a lot more tact," I replied, glaring right back. "Honestly, your daddy raised you better!"
He glared at me a moment longer, before breaking out in chuckles. Before long, we were all breaking out in bellyful laughter.
"Yeah," Dean said a full minute later through wheezing breaths. "You're completely right, he would have… yeah."
And the mood turned somber, as we were reminded of the situation.
"So… Dad's missing?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, come on, we've got to go," Dean said, turning and walking out the apartment door. Sam and I looked at each other, before followed him.
"Dean, come on, you guys can't just break in in the middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you!" Sam said as we followed him down the stairs.
"Adam told you, didn't he?" Dean called over his back. "Dad's missing, and we need you to help us find him."
"Don't drag me into this," I started. "It was your idea to get Sam, remember? I wanted to leave him alone!"
"You're not helping, Adam!" Dean said in his Large and in Charge voice.
"Fine!" I threw my hands up in exasperation. "Fine, I'm staying out of this."
I pushed pass him and out the door, walking towards the Impala, and getting in the back. Since Sam was coming, Dean would want him in the front, so it was the back seat for me. I pushed the bags to the side, and sat in the seat behind the drivers seat, my arms folded.
I let out a long sigh. Life had been good up to this point. I had a loving family that cared about me, I was training to be a hunter, and I was living free on the road, wandering the earth, or rather, America. It had been almost idyllic. Sure, there were the monsters that had to be dealt with, and both John and Dean would sometimes come home with wounds that had to be stitched up, but for the most part, I was living the dream.
The day that Sam had left for collage had felt like a breath of fresh air. When Sam had been living with us, there had always been a tension in the air, and there was always the chance that John and Sam might get into a big row about something or other, it hardly mattered.
But when Sam left, things had settled down. Sure, both John and Dean were miserable for months afterward, but still, the tension was gone, and I didn't feel like I had to walk on eggshells anymore. And more, my close friendship with Dean had turned into a true bond of brotherhood. Now that he wasn't constantly acting as a mediator between John and Sam, he had more time to devote to my training, and I had learned a lot from him.
And then there was a little things, like how I could finally cook the breakfast I liked without having to worry about including greens, or being able to watch whatever I like on the television without having to fight over the remote, or being able to do research in peace without Sam being there to micro-manage everything.
Dispite remembering a life before this one, I loved Sam as a brother, but living with him was very difficult for me. Hopefully without John in the mix the overlying tension wouldn't be there.
I started as I felt the trunk of the impala being opened. Looking at the left rear-view mirror, I saw Sam leaning over the side of the trunk. Dean must be showing him John's research of his last hunt.
I thought of getting out, before thinking better of it. Sam was going to be convinced to come either way. I had already decided not to try and save Jess, not for selfish reasons, mind you, but because her death was inevitable. Even if I was successful in exorcising Brady, there was nothing preventing another demon from coming along and killing her. And even if we hid Jess away, there was nothing preventing the demons from targeting her family or close friends.
No, better that one person die so that others could live, and so that Sam could learn the vital lesson: Just cause you left the hunter life behind, doesn't mean the hunter life will leave you behind.