"Hey Sam, what's up?" Leila held her phone between her ear and shoulder as she repacked her bag. After returning to Stanford with Sam and Dean, she had stayed as a formality until after Jessica's funeral and left the next day back where Dean had picked her up.

Leila had left her car and some unfinished business to handle, "Yall make it to Colorado yet? Near Grand Junction?" She looked around the room one last time, making sure to not leave traces of anything behind.

"Ugh..."

Glancing over her shoulder, Leila brought her finger up to her mouth and shushed the man before talking back on the phone, "Yeah, Sam, I'm on my way. I'll see y'all at Blackwater Ridge. Bye." She tossed the phone on her bags and walked towards the man tied to the chair in the middle of the room.

The old motel room was spotless except for the unremovable stains in the floor that she didn't even want to know the cause of. "You know, it's not polite to interrupt someone on the phone."

Grabbing hold of the tape around his mouth, Leila ripped it off sharply, smirking at his groan of pain. The man spat in her direction and snarled, "Go to hell, bitch. Oh wait-" He chuckled darkly, "It'd be a family reunion for you, wouldn't it?"

Leila sighed, wiping the spit from her face. "You scumbags never learn." She grasped his face tightly, the anger inside her bubbling up. "I will hunt down each and every one of you bastards until I get what I want."

The man cackled despite being at the disadvantage, "We'll kill you before that happens, then we'll have the whole family for dinner."

"That so?" Leila chuckled humorlessly and swung her fist hard into his face. "We'll see about that." The pain in her fist was nothing compared to the satisfaction of the loud crack of his nose breaking.

I want to break free

I want to break free

Her phone woke Leila from a trance as she stood over the dead man. She'd lost herself in anger again. "Damn."

God knows, God knows I want to break free

Quickly wiping her hands on the towel, she grabbed her phone, sighing when she saw the name. "Hey, uh yeah I'm on the road." Leila mentally cursed herself, now she was going to have to drive all night. "It what? It can't be a demon." She glanced at the unmoving body on the floor, "They could just walk right through. Might be a skinwalker..."

This didn't give Leila much time, she could always ask him, though she felt bad for always asking for his help, given the circumstances she didn't have much of a choice.

"Yeah, we can't let that girl and her brother go alone, not when we have no idea what's out there. See you at the park."

As soon as Sam hung up, Leila speed dialed another number, it only took two rings from him to answer. "Hello darling." A calm voice as mellow as the wind chimes answered.

"I need a favor."

With her request accepted, Leila wasted no more time. She knew how stingy Dean could get if she played hooky on them. She tossed her bags into the back of her Ford Mustang Premium Coupe, with custom blue paint and stripes going down the car.

"Hey, cutie. Ready to burn some miles?"

18 hours.

That's how long it took her to reach Lost Creek, Colorado. Her eyes were pink from that long drive full of 18 wheelers driving like airheads and the major lack of sleep.

Leila pulled up next to the sleek black Impala at the park. She saw that the boys just arrived and thanked god that no cops managed to pull her over.

"Hiya, got room for one more?" Leila smiled as she stepped out, pulling her backpack with her. She figured a backpack would be less conspicuous than a duffel bag. Hiking was one of her favorite pastimes and despite being tired and possibly a little cranky, she was excited.

Poor Haley was even more confused when a dark haired girl walked up to them behind the other two rangers. "Who's that?"

"That's Leila, she's one of our other rangers from the Park Service." Dean said swiftly.

Leila gave Haley and her brother a small wave and noticed the disgruntled looking man with a shotgun by the trail. "You're rangers?" The man asked in disbelief, looking all three of you up and down.

"That's right. I'm sure you won't have a problem with us coming along? After all, it is safer in groups." Leila retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't like the tone this man was talking in, actually, she didn't like him at all.

Leila could hear Haley saying something to Dean but she'd already started walking, trying to catch up to Sam. He was acting pretty strangely, not his usual calm self. He looked mad.

"Sam, you alright there?" Leila nudged Sam's elbow, smiling shyly up at him. Sam was like a brother to her and she knew he was struggling with the death of Jessica. She just hoped that he didn't try to keep it all in.

Sam huffed and grunted, "Yeah... it's nothing."

The conversation fell short and Leila knew Sam wasn't going to talk if he didn't want to, besides, she wasn't going to push him.

About half an hour since the search began, Leila was thoroughly enjoying the forest and its smells. Besides the fact there was a killer-something let loose in these woods. Dean seemed to cause all kinds of trouble from annoying Roy to nearly stepping into a bear trap.

Another hour or so of walking, Roy suddenly stopped at a small clearing. "This is it. Blackwater Ridge."

"What coordinates are we at?" Sam asked, speaking almost for the first time since on this trail.

Something felt wrong. This place... Leila felt in her bones that something wasn't right but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Roy pulled out a small GPS, "Thirty-five and minus one-eleven."

"You hear that?"

That. There was nothing. No ants, no bugs, no birds. Even the trees seemed quiet. The forest felt dead, or rather, frightening.

"I'm gonna go take a look around." Roy announced loudly, bringing Leila out from her thoughts. That no-good air head was going to get himself killed, if not everyone else.

"That's not a good idea. We need to stick together." Leila said quietly, she didn't like the feel of this place. She felt like something was watching them.

Roy smirked, "Don't you worry about me, sweetheart." He waved his gun as if that was supposed to protect him and shoved past Dean and Sam.

Leila scowled and reluctantly followed him, Ben ran up behind her only to give her an apologetic smile. She'd talked with him while they were walking, Ben was pretty quiet, but he was real smart, and he cared deeply for his sister and brother.

"Haley! Over here!"

Haley ran past the group towards Roy's voice, closely followed by the rest. When the campsite came into view, Leila couldn't help but wonder what they would find.

The tents were torn open like christmas wrappings and all the supplies were scattered around the campsite like land mines.

It definitely wasn't a bear attack.

"Looks like a grizzly."

Leila rolled her eyes back at Roy's conclusion, how much dumber could he get. Supposedly, normal people would assume something like this was a bear attack, but couldn't they at least tell that something was off?

"Tommy?" Haley dropped her backpack on the ground and ran through the tattered campsite, "Tommy!"

Sam was quicker to act than Leila and Dean, he grabbed her arm, trying to shush her.

"Why?"

"Something might still be out there." Sam glanced around the forest that surrounded the campsite.

"Sam, Leila!" Dean waved the two of them over. Leila hurried over to Dean, kneeling down next to him.

"The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish." Dean pointed out and the three stood up at the same time. "I'll tell you what, that's no skinwalker or black dog."

Leila felt a small tingle in the back of her neck, "I got a bad feeling about this."

"Help! Help!"

That didn't sound right. Leila froze where she was, that wasn't human. It was too convenient. "Wait!" Unfortunately, Roy was already running towards the voice, followed by everyone else.

"Help! Somebody!"

There was a snap of a branch and Leila whipped around quickly almost whiplashing her face with her hair. She barely caught sight of a grey figure that ran past her.

"Mother fuc-"

"Okay pumpkin... open your eyes now." Her brother said, removing his hands away from her face.

Leila gasped as she looked into the mirror, gently touching the heart-shaped locket around her neck. There was a red gem in the middle, wrapped around were angel wings. The locket weighed heavily around her neck but she loved it.

""It's a musical locket. From the ballet we watched."

"It's beautiful." Leila grasped the locket, gingerly opening it. The soft tunes of the Waltz of the Flowers started to play and she hummed along to it, gently swaying.

https://youtu.be/NSW-1lrpv8A

"Merry Christmas pumpkin." Her brother smiled softly and ruffled her hair.

The locket definitely put her mind off the things that were happening recently. Her father's poor decisions, her mother's angry reactions...between all those, it was just her brother that seemed to still care about her.

"Lei-"

With a small groan, Leila lifted her head, "Dammit." It felt like a two ton truck smashed into her head. Her arms tied up to the ceiling and her feet couldn't touch the floor. "Shit."

"Shhh..."

Leila startled, straining her neck to see, there was barely enough light to light up the cave. "Are you Tommy?"

The boy was strung up next to her, looking like he went through hell, "Shh... it's here."

"Wha-"

Her unfinished question was answered when a growl came from what she thought was the entrance of the cave. Leila closed her eyes as she heard it approach, feeling its breath behind her. She resisted the urge to kick it in the face and held her breath.

It was probably for the best, it would have only pissed it off so Leila stayed as still as she could for a person strung up.

It slunk past her and ran out towards the opening, or at least it looked like running. Leila could barely see a blur since it moved so quickly.

"You're lucky."

Leila turned her head towards Tommy, "What?"

"It ate the other one."

"Shit. Must be a wendigo." Leila muttered under her breath, that meant that the guns they brought wouldn't do any good.

Tommy fell quiet and it worried Leila a bit, he must have been hanging here for a few days now. "Hey, listen, if it makes you feel any better, I'm here with your sister and some other people. They'll find us. Trust me."

Her head pinged and the walls of the caves seem to waver and shake, or perhaps it was the concussion from earlier. All Leila felt before she succumbed to the darkness was something dripping down her face.

Next time Leila woke up was when the thing came back dragging in two more bodies, she kept as still as possible as it strung the other two up.

When the growling disappeared, Leila couldn't be more relieved and disappointed to see these two familiar faces. "Dean!" She attempted to kick at him, just barely within her reach. Her attempts were interrupted when a loud crack followed by what seemed to be the ceiling fell down.

Along with two other people.

"Leila! Dean!" Sam ran over to Leila, gripping her face. "Are you okay?"

Leila chuckled weakly, "Been better. Just get me down."

"Haley, Haley, wake up!" Ben shouted, shaking his unconscious sister trying to cut her loose.

A yelp of pain escaped her mouth as Leila tumbled on to the floor without warning. "Fuck!" She groaned as a sharp pain went up her wrist.

"Sorry, here, I gotcha." Sam half-carried, half-dragged Leila over to the wall and sat her down. He rushed back to Dean, slapping his face not so lightly.

Dean mumbled something as he winced, Sam cutting him down and helping him sit down next to Leila. He moved on to help Ben as well.

"Winchester." Leila half-smirked, she barely had any energy left and her arms were burning and she was pretty sure that her wrist was sprained, if not broken.

With a gentleness Dean's never shown her before, he touched her head, pulling his hand back when he saw it bleeding. "You don't look so hot. You're pale. You must have lost a lot of blood."

Leila frowned, "I've been in worse situations."

A small shriek echoed throughout the cave, "Cut him down!" Haley yelled, grasping at her brother who hung limply.

Leila couldn't help but wonder if Tommy was still alive, he'd gone pretty quiet last time she was talking to him.

Rummaging through the bags that were piled up against the wall, Dean pulled out two flare guns. "Check it out."

"Flare guns. That'll work." Sam grinned as Dean just laughed and twirled the guns like a western cowboy.

It took them more than a few minutes to get half-conscious Tommy down the tunnel, Sam and Dean took the lead as Leila stumbled behind them, glancing back every now and then making sure no one got snatched.

A faint growl echoed from further down in the tunnels.

"Looks like someone's home for supper." Dean's smartass comment did not make her feel any better.

Leila looked at the state of half the people here, "We can't outrun it." It took two people to hold Tommy up, she could barely walk straight without her vision blurring, let alone run.

It seemed the same thoughts went through Dean's brain, "Alright listen to me. Stay with Sam. He'll get you out of here."

"What are you gonna do?" Haley asked as she stared at him in confusion.

"Winchester... don't be an air-" Leila started but she got cut short as Dean winked back at them and walked down another tunnel.

"Chow time, you freaky bastard!" Dean shouted loudly, "Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good!" His words faded as he walked further away, trying to lead the wendigo out.

Sam herded them towards the opposite direction, "Alright, come on! Hurry!"

As fast as she could, Leila jogged behind the three siblings, a faint spell coming upon her. "Fuck." There was more growling and it sounded much closer than before. Seemed that Dean's little diversion plan didn't work.

"Get them out of here." Sam said to Leila as he ran back down the tunnel they came from.

Ben grabbed her arm with a desperate look on his face, "Come on!"

Leila couldn't just let them die, not when they were this close to helping them. She muttered a line of cuss words under her breath as she left another Winchester to cover their backs. "You have to keep going, it's following my blood." She exclaimed as her legs collapsed from under her.

Ben barely opened his mouth to speak when Sam came running back, "Come on, hurry, hurry." He grabbed Leila's arm and hoisted her by his side, half-carrying her as they ran.

Unfortunately, a few wrong turns and they ran right to the end of the tunnel. A dead end. By now, the pale figure of the wendigo approached them slowly, knowing they had nowhere else to go. Sam spread his arms out, pushing everyone behind him hoping to shield them from it.

The wendigo howled at the ceiling in victory.

"Hey!"

At the sound of Dean's voice, the wendigo turned but it had no chance to react as Dean shot the flare right into its body. It screeched terribly as the wendigo flamed up and burned.

"Not bad, huh?"

Leila couldn't retort back at Dean's smart ass comment as the ground seemed to reach up and say hi.

The sounds of sirens and smell of fresh air woke Leila and she bolted up as her body still thought there was danger. However, she was sitting in the backseat of the Impala with a bandage on her head and a small splint around her wrist.

"Sun's been up, sleeping beauty." Dean commented as Leila steadily stepped out of his car.

Leila grumbled, looking around for the Collins, "Shut it, Winchester."

Dean gave her an amused smile as he pulled something out of his pocket, "I'd be nicer if I were you."

Her locket.

That was her fucking locket.

Surprisingly, Dean didn't try anything dumb as Leila took her locket back, the one that her brother had gotten her for Christmas. "Thanks." She whispered, putting it back around her neck. She couldn't believe she didn't notice it was gone.

Hell, she must have been really out of it if she didn't notice the weight from her neck missing.

"Man, I hate camping." Dean stated, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sam grabbed hold of the passenger door, "Me too."

"I'd have to say, that's the most rest I've gotten in a while." Leila said bluntly, causing a small chuckle from Dean. Sam, on the other hand, looked sober as he watched the ambulance drive away.

"Sam, you know we're gonna find Dad, right?

"Yeah," A small smirk emerged on Sam's face, "But in the meantime? I'm driving."

Leila couldn't believe her eyes as Dean passed the keys to Sam, "Alright then, I'll see you boys later."

"You're not coming with us?"

Sighing, Leila shook her head, "I got a gig that I've left to one of my friends. Not something he can take on his own." She put her hand out to stop Dean when he opened his mouth, "I'll keep an eye out for your old man. Don't be strangers then, you have my number."

"Leila, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. I got a score to settle with John."