You're never going to see your father again.

Those words clung to the back of Dean's mind as he pressed the gas harder on the Impala. His grip on the steering wheel was turning his knuckles white. They needed help, they couldn't do this by themselves. In his head, he knew there was a possibility that his dad was dead, however he refused to believe it.

With Leila missing as well, he could only assume she got caught up with the demons somehow, she wouldn't have run off... would she? She was such a wild card, despite knowing her for so many years, they really didn't know too much about her past.

He pulled the Impala into a junkyard, he drove through most of the night to get here. There were junk cars around everywhere and a large dog chained to a post, lying on the hood of an old tow truck.

Surprisingly, when they knocked on Bobby's door, he didn't kick them out like Dean expected him to. "Bobby, thanks. Thanks for everything. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure we should come."

Bobby shook his head, the man had his old baseball cap and a vest as per usual, "Nonsense. Your daddy needs help."

"Well, yeah, but last time we saw you, I mean, you did threaten to blast him full of buckshot. Cocked the shotgun and everything." Dean commented, smiling nervously.

Bobby just shrugged, taking another swig of his whiskey, "Yeah, well, what can I say. John just has that effect on people. Glad you boys made it here safe, LJ told about what happened."

"LJ? You heard from her?" Dean asked, he hadn't been able to reach her for a while since his dad left.

"Yeah, she just-"

"Bobby, this book... I've never seen anything like it." Sam muttered, holding a book as big as his chest open.

Bobby walked over to Sam, sitting on the corner of the desk. "Key of Solomon? It's the real deal, alright. LJ just brought it back, I reckon she already memorized everything in it."

"So what if I did." Coming down from the creaky stairs, Leila stood with her chest puffed out and a small smirk on her face. "Been reading that since I lived here." Her face had a bandage over her left eye, she looked beaten and tired.

"LJ!" Sam rushed over, giving her a crushing hug that caught her off guard. "Where the hell have you been?"

Leila rubbed the back of her neck, "Uh... I followed your dad actually. Meg has him, I had to escape from one of them while they were occupied with him. Barely made my way back home. Whatever these demons have planned, it's big."

"I'll tell you something else too. This year there's been 27 demonic possessions. More and more demons are walking among us, a lot more." Bobby added, handing Leila a cup of water when she reached for his flask of whiskey.

There was a moment of silence before the dog outside started barking. "Rumsfeld." Bobby and Leila said at the same time, she glanced towards the window worriedly as Bobby made his way in front of the window.

"Something's wrong."

Just as soon as Bobby finished warning them, the door flew open and Meg stood menacingly, "No more crap, okay?"

Dean stalked towards her with the flask of holy water unscrewed, but Meg hit him and sent him flying into a stack of books. Ssam immediately put himself in front of Bobby and Leila, shielding them from Meg.

"I want the Colt, Sam. The real Colt, right now." Meg growled, she was in no time for games and the Winchesters were getting on her last nerve.

The three of them moved slowly across the room as Meg stalked after them, "We don't have it on us. We buried it."

Meg scoffed, "Didn't I say no more crap? I swear, after everything I heard about you Winchesters, I got to tell you, I'm a little underwhelmed. First, Johnny tries to pawn off a fake gun, the little miss hero over there tries to save him, unsuccessfully I might add, and then he leaves the real gun with you two knuckleheads." She continued, every step bringing her closer to Sam, "Lackluster, men. I mean, did you really think I wouldn't find you?"

"Actually," Dean stood by the frame with a smirk on his face, "We were counting on it." He stared at her confused face before looking up at the ceiling, where a large protective symbol was etched there. "Gotcha."

While Sam and Dean interrogated Meg for their father's location, Leila stood in the junkyard holding her knives. If she was to go save John, she would definitely save him this time. She couldn't accept another outcome like the last, she'd barely gotten away from that situation.

"I think my master would love to see you, he calls you a special case." The demon next to Meg snarled, grabbing her face roughly. "Though, I think I'll have a bit of fun with you first."

"You're disgusting." Leila spat, pulling her head away. She still felt a bit fuzzy from her blood loss, now the scar was clotted with blood avoiding further loss.

Meg laughed next to him, grabbing a hold of the unconscious John, "She's got spunk. Don't take too long." Before Leila could do anything, Meg disappeared along with John leaving her with the demon alone.

The demon slapped her face before pulling out her switchblade, "This is a real interesting blade, you know. Where'd ya get it?"

"Eat me."

She received another slap for her comment but it only pressed her to say more.

"Look- I don't even know your name. Is it demon minion #3?"

The demon growled and dug the blade into her stomach slowly, "Let's see how long your mouth lasts."

Leila stifled her scream and ended up laughing instead, throwing off the demon into a spiral of confusion. "Bet you'd love to try. Look, Imma give you a name, how about Todd." Her only response from him was an eyeroll, "Look Todd, if I were you, you should just stand up and walk away."

"Why's that?"

"Because you won't be able to handle what comes next."

Throwing his head back, his laughter echoed loudly against the walls of the warehouse. "Your arrogance continues to amaze me." He snarled, pulling out the blade from her with a pained cry, he held the point of the blade on her cheek. "I think I'll put a smile on that face first."

As the blade dug deeper into her cheek, breaking into the skin, Leila felt her vision go red. Her body almost moved itself with unbelievable power as she swung her legs around his neck, throwing him down to the ground. The initial shock flew past him quickly as he recovered, but the second was all she needed. She slammed her hands into his chest just as he stood up and he flung back against the wall.

She somehow managed to knock the wind out of it and was able to escape. How she did that and made it back to Bobby's house, she didn't know.

The roar of the Impala snapped her out of her mind, she rushed over to the front of the house just as she saw Sam getting in the car. "Wait!" She ran in front of the Impala, throwing her hands onto the hood of the car just as it started moving.

"Son of a bitch- LJ! What the hell?" Dean shouted as he slammed the brakes.

Leila smirked and immediately got in the backseat of the Impala. "Alright, let's go."

"You're not in any shape-" Dean started to say, but Leila shushed him with a stern look on her face.

"I'm coming with you and you can't stop me. You don't know how many of those sons of bitches are waiting for you. You need backup." Leila reasoned putting forth her stubbornness in case Dean tried to talk her out of it.

Sam and Dean shared a look and sighed, "Buckle up, kiddo." Sam said as he turned his attention back to the Key of Solomon.

"You know, I am older than you, Sammy." Leila remarked, putting her arms on the seat in front of her.

During the ride to Missouri, Leila and Sam discussed the contents of the book. There was much information in the book that helped her against demons while she tracked her parent's killers. Dean was very silent for most of the trip. Even as they prepared, parked alongside some train tracks, he hardly uttered a word.

Flipping through the book, Sam stopped when he saw a symbol Leila spoke of. He walked over to the trunk, rubbing off the dirt and started to draw on the lid.

It didn't sit well with Dean at first, even as Sam explained it would turn the trunk into a lockbox where demons couldn't get through or inside it. Especially when Sam mentioned they should leave the Colt in the trunk.

"What are you talking about? We're bringing the Colt with us."

"We can't, Dean. We only got three bullets left. We can't just use them on any demon, we've got to use them on the demon." Sam explained, Leila nodding her head agreeing with him in silence. "You know how pissed Dad would be if we used all the bullets? Dean, he wouldn't want us to bring the gun."

"I don't care, Sam. I don't care what Dad wants, okay? And since when do you care what Dad wants?" Dean retorted angrily.

"We want to kill this demon. You used to want that too." Sam fired back, his voice rising in volume with each word. "Hell, I mean, you're the one who came and got me at school! You're the one who dragged me back into this, Dean. I'm just trying to finish it!"

Dean scoffed, turning his back on Sam. "Well, you and Dad are a lot more alike than i thought, you know that? You both can't wait to sacrifice yourself for this thing." He turned back pointing his finger accusingly at his brother, "But you know what? I'm gonna be the one to bury you. You're selfish, you know that? You don't care about anything but rev-"

"Enough!" Leila stepped in between the two of them, not being able to listen to their bickering any more. She turned directly to Dean, "You know that isn't true. Now stop being stubborn, that gun is our only leverage against them. If we bring this gun and they get it, they'll kill all of us. We can not bring that gun, we can't."

"Fine." Dean took the Colt out of his pocket, dramatically showing it to the other two as he put it in the trunk.

With the Colt safely locked away in the trunk, the three made their way into town walking by a river. Only when Dean noticed the little clue the real Meg had given them, Sunrise Apartments. It was the perfect ambush spot for the demons, plenty of human shields and the advantage of knowing their faces when the damned bastards could look like just about anyone.

Fortunately, Dean had a brilliant plan to get them inside the building. It first required one of them to pull the fire alarm, in which Leila volunteered to do since high possibility, her face was not as well known as the brothers.

Within seven minutes, the city responded while tons of people from the apartment poured out. While Dean distracted one of the firemen by the truck, Sam broke into the compartment with the extra uniforms.

The plan worked much better than expected and within minutes, they were in the halls searching for the demons in a full fireman gear. Though Leila didn't admit, she was having a hard time seeing through the helmets and walking in the gear. They were definitely amping up their costume game.

"I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up." Dean stated happily as he used his EMF meter to check the doors in the hallway.

"You never told me that." Sam replied, slightly surprised at his brother's dream job.

Dean's EMF meter started reading high when they reached another door and the three shared a look. Leila made sure the pack was ready to go, she'd suggested they put holy water in the portable tanks to give them an advantage.

"This is the fire department. We need you to evacuate." Dean yelled as he pounded the door.

Leila could hear some shuffling behind the door and she readied her hose, hiding behind the boys.

As the door clicked, Sam and Dean shoved open the door, spraying the couple inside with the holy water. With the water burning their skin, they hardly gave any resistance as the brothers shoved them inside the closet with Leila effectively shutting them in by running a line of salt around the door.

When they were finished, the pounding on the door stopped, they hurriedly took off the fireman gear and moved to the bedroom door. Creaking it open slowly, they saw John tied on the bed, looking beaten up.

"Dad?" Dean rushed by his side, putting his ear by his face, "He's still breathing." He shook his dad, hoping to wake him. They had to get out of there as quickly as possible. "Dad, wake up. Dad!"

Dean moved to cut the restraints around John's wrists when Sam stopped him, "He could be possessed."

"What, are you nuts?"

Leila carried her tank of water with her, "He's right, we should be sure." Before she sprayed the unconscious Winchester on the bed, Sam held his hand up and pulled out a flask of holy water. He unscrewed it, sprinkling a bit on John and waited for an effect.

There weren't any signs of his skin burning, only John started moving around. "Sam? Why are you splashing water on me?"

The relief on Dean's face was instantaneous, "Dad, are you okay?'

"They've been drugging me. Where's the Colt?" John replied, sounding as rough as he looked.

"Don't worry, Dad, it's safe." Sam said with a small smile on his face of relief as well. Since they were confident that it was their dad, Sam gave no resistance as Dean cut their dad free.

Leila couldn't help but wonder why John would ask about the Colt first rather than asking if they managed to kill the demon they were after. However, now was not the time to ask for it. Just as the brothers were carrying John out of the bedroom, the front door burst open, a man and another fireman standing in front.

"Back! Back!" Dean shouted, carrying his dad back into the bedroom.

Leila quickly locked the door, narrowly avoiding the axe that came through the door. "Shit!" She stumbled back, grabbing her tank of water and spraying through the hole.

While Leila distracted them, Sam drew a line of salt at the door as Dean and John made their way out the fire escape. "Sam, Leila, let's go!"

"Go!" Leila yelled at Sam, who tossed the duffel bag and went through the window.

Leila tossed the empty tank on the floor and followed Sam out the window, just as he salted the window sill. Dean and John made it onto the street and Sam caught up with them much quicker than Leila did.

As Sam moved ahead of them, he was suddenly attacked by the demon that was with Meg at the warehouse. He pinned him on the street and started beating him senseless, enjoying every second that his fists connected with Sam's face.

"Sam!" Dean shouted, putting John down against the wall and running to his brother's aid. Unfortunately, his efforts didn't have much effect on him and he was thrown onto a parked car, shattering the windshield.

"Hey Todd!" Leila yelled as she threw a punch at him, he grabbed her wrist easily, smirking as he did.

"You. My master has plans for you." He snarled, twisting her arm behind her as he stood up.

Suddenly, there was a gunshot and the grip on her wrist disappeared, the man falling to the ground, dead. Glancing over, Leila could see Dean standing with the Colt, he gave her an apologetic smile as he put it away and ran to his brother.

"Sam, come on." Dean picked his younger brother with such ease, Leila ran back to John, helping to support his weight as he was still slightly drugged up. "We gotta get out of here."

They managed to get back to the Impala without any further encounters and Leila thought their escape had been a little bit too easy.

The Impala was parked outside a small cabin they found in the woods, inside the cabin, Sam was pouring salt on all the openings while Dean settled their dad in bed.

"Sam, come here, we gotta get your face cleaned up." Leila mentioned as she carried in some first aid kits from the Impala. She was soaking wet from the pouring rain outside, her brown hair sticking to her face.

Sam put a salt line on the last window and walked over to Leila, who pushed him down in a chair as she got to work. "Hey, you don't think we were followed here, do you?" He asked as Dean came into the room.

"I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, we couldn't have found a more out of the way place to hole up." Dean stated, waving his hands at the broken down cabin.

Dean leaned against the worn down wall, silently watching as Leila cleaned up Sam's bloody face. "You know that guy I shot?" His sudden comment made both Leila and Sam look up in surprise, "There was a person in there."

"You didn't have a choice, Dean." Sam remarked, flinching in pain when Leila pressed down a bit too hard on his bruise.

"Sam's right, you saved both our asses." Added Leila, throwing a glance at Dean with a smile.

"Yeah, I know, that's not what bothers me." Dean trailed off, trying to explain how he felt. "Killing that guy, killing Meg. I didn't hesitate. I didn't even flinch. For you or Dad, or even Leilaa, the things I'm willing to do or kill, it's just... uh... it scares me sometimes."

Leila stared in shock at Dean, she was surprised at him for exposing himself but also including her in his statement. The fact that Dean actually cared for her almost like family put a more genuine smile on her face than ever.

"It shouldn't. You did good."

The three turned their head towards the voice they never thought would hear again, John stood by the door with a smile on his face.

Dean's face was a mixture of fear and confusion, "You're not mad?"

"For what?"

"Using a bullet."

"Mad?" John scoffed and stepped closer to Dean, "I'm proud of you. You know, Sam and I, we can get pretty obsessed. But you, you watch out for this family. You always have."

"Thanks." Dean replied, his strange expression not leaving his face. There was no way his dad could compliment him for using a bullet.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and the lights began to flicker. "It found us, it's here." John declared, "Sam, LJ, lines of salt in front of every window, every door."

"I already did it." Sam retorted quickly.

"Well check it, okay?"

"Okay."

Leila reluctantly followed Sam, casting another look at John, why was he acting so strangely?

"Dean, you got the gun?" John asked, turning to his eldest.

Dean watched the man in front of him carefully, "Yeah." He took the Colt out of his jeans, "Dad, Sam tried to shoot the demon in Salvation. It disappeared."

"This is me. I won't miss." John held his hand out for the gun, "Now, the gun, hurry."

Something was wrong. Dean hesitated, the gears in his brain turning, "He'd be furious." He stated as he backed up a few steps from the man in front of him.

"What?"

"That I wasted a bullet. He wouldn't be proud of me, he'd tear me a new one." Dean continued, raising the gun and cocking it as he pointed it at him. "You're not my dad."

John stared at the gun to Dean, "Dean, it's me."

"I know my dad better than anyone. And you ain't him." Stated Dean bluntly with a stoic expression. "Stay back."

Leila asked as she walked into this strange situation, "Dean?"

Sam followed behind her, clearly shocked at his brother, "What the hell's going on?"

"Your brother's lost his mind." John yelled, his hands up in a surrender as to not provoke Dean.

"He's not Dad. I think he's possessed." It was clear how upset Dean was, the tears welling up in his eyes. "I think he's been possessed since we rescued him."

John quickly responded to his statement but Sam and Leila were only looking at Dean, "How do you know?"

"He's...he's different."

There wasn't much more words needed from Dean to convince them, Leila had already thought something was off about John, she didn't know what it was. However, hearing Dean's words convinced her that this wasn't John.

"Fine, if you're all so sure, go ahead. Kill me." John said, looking down at the floor awaiting for the gunshot.

Even with Sam and Leila by his side, Dean couldn't bring himself to shoot the man. Afterall, this was his dad they were talking about. If he was wrong- no, even if he was right, shooting him would mean he would be killing his dad.

"I thought so." John looked up but his eyes were yellow and he had a smirk on his face. They could barely do anything up against him, as it waved his hands and all three were thrown against the wall, pinned.

The thing inside John picked up the Colt that Dean dropped, "What a pain in the ass this thing's been."

Sam grunted against the invisible power that held him against the wall, "It's you, isn't it? We've been looking for you for a long time."

"Well, you found me." It drawled in a tone that made Leila sick to her stomach.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Sam shouted, struggling to move.

The thing in John looked amused at his efforts, "Oh, that'd be a neat trick. In fact," He set the COlt down on the table in front of Sam, just out of his reach. "Make the gun float to you there, psychic boy."

"You son of a bitch." Leila spat, "Let him go!" She struggled more as the demon stepped closer to her, touching her face as if he was inspecting her.

"Hm... Interesting." It said as it dragged its hands slowly down her face, wrapping its hands around her neck. Leila could feel her tears swelling up as the familiar face glared down at her with contempt.

"Let him go, or I swear to God-" Shouted Dean at the demon, it dropped its hands from her and came over to Dean.

"What? What are you and God gonna do? As far as I'm concerned, this is justice. You know that little exorcism of yours? That was my daughter." It whispered to Dean, leaning in close so their faces almost touched. "The one in the alley? That was my boy. You understand."

Dean groaned and rolled his eyes, "You've got to be kidding me."

The demon took a step back, "What, you're the only one that can have a family? You destroyed my children. How would you feel if I killed your family?" It stopped as it realized something and smiled at Dean, "Oh, that's right. I forgot. I did. Still, two wrongs don't make a right."

"I wanna know why. Why'd you do it?" Sam burst out, turning the demon's attention back to him.

"You mean, why did I kill Mommy and pretty, little Jess?" It looked back at Dean, "You know, I never told you this, but Sam was going to ask her to marry him."

Its words made her even sicker to the core as she realized he was just playing with all of them. Leila was aware that Sam's girlfriend had been killed, she didn't know that he had planned to marry her and from Dean's reaction, neither did he.

The demon took a few steps towards Sam, "You want to know why? Because they got in the way."

"In the way of what?" Sam asked, his eyes fueled with anger and sadness.

"My plans for you, Sammy." It stated, another smirk appearing on its face, "You... and all the children like you."

From across the room, Dean let out another groan, "Listen, you mind just getting this over with, huh? Cause I really can't stand the monologuing."

As amused as Leila would have been, she really didn't think that provoking the demon was such a great idea at the moment.

"Funny," The demon commented, going back to Dean. "But that's all part of your M.O., isn't it? Masks all that nasty pain, masks the truth."

Dean snarled, "Oh yeah? What's that."

"You know, you fight and you fight for this family, but the truth is they don't need you. Not like you need them. Sam, he's clearly John's favorite." The demon went on knowing it was hitting all of Dean's sore points even though he tried not to let it show, "Even when they fight, it's more concern than he's ever shown you. Leila, he confides in her in a way he's never talked to you."

"I bet you're real proud of your kids, too, huh? Oh wait, I forgot, I wasted 'em." Hiding his pain with a smile, Dean remarked using the same words it had used on him earlier.

The demon took a step back, putting its head down. When it looked back up at Dean, he yelled in pain, bleeding heavily from his chest.

"Dean!" Leila screamed, fighting with no effort against the invisible force.

"Dean! NO!" Sam started to struggle harder, he thought he felt like he was able to move more than before.

"Dad! Dad, don't you let it kill me." Dean pleaded as his face twisted in pain. The thing simply smiled and Dean started screaming louder.

Blood flowed from Dean, running from his chest and his mouth. "Stop!" Leila screamed, wishing she was strong enough to break free. She struggled harder, feeling as if her bones were breaking as she did.

"Dad, please." Dean let out before his head slumped down, the amount of blood he was losing was pooling up beneath him and it wasn't looking good.

"Dean!"

Suddenly, John's eyes turned back to their regular color as his expression changed into one of pain, "Stop. Stop it." The small moment John regained control allowed for Sam to be released.

Sam jumped for the gun and aimed it at him just as John turned towards him, his eyes the disgusting shade of yellow once again.

"You kill me, you kill Daddy." It stated with a smirk, knowing Sam wouldn't shoot his own dad.

"I know." Sam replied, shooting his dad in the leg. John fell to the floor, as did Leila and Dean as they were released from the force.

As quickly as she landed on her feet, Leila made her way to Dean, checking his pulse. "Dean?" Sam quickly came up behind her, making sure his brother was still with them. "Dean, oh thank god... you've lost a lot of blood."

Dean groaned in pain, staring up at Sam in horror, "Where's dad?"

"He's right here, he's right here, Dean." Sam answered, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Go check on him." Dean ordered as he tried to sit up, Leila held him down, she didn't want to move him till she stopped the bleeding. When Sam didn't move from his spot, Dean shouted a bit louder, "Go check on him."

Leila kept her hand on his chest, hoping to stop any more blood from coming out. "Just- stay still-"

"Sammy!" John screamed as he struggled on the floor in pain, fighting the thing inside him to keep it in. "It's still alive. It's inside me, I can feel it. You shoot me. You shoot me! You shoot me in the heart, son! Do it now!"

Sam aimed the Colt at his dad, tears falling from his face. He could hear Dean shouting to not shoot, his grip on the gun grew tighter. If he could just pull the trigger now, it would all be over, but was it really worth losing his father over it. He knew he couldn't do it, he lowered the gun.

Just as he did, the demon sprouted in a black cloud, leaving John from his mouth. It disappeared into the floor, leaving only an angry John.

Sam and Leila did their best to get John and Dean into the car, Dean was going in and out of consciousness and she could only do so much to keep him from bleeding out. Her hands were already soaked in his blood and she could only guess the damage the thing had done to him.

"The hospital's only ten minutes away, just hold on." Sam gulped, glancing at his dad and his brother.

John leaned his head against the window, "I'm surprised at you, Sammy. Why didn't you kill it? I thought we saw eye-to-eye on this? Killing this demon comes first- before me, before everything." He said almost angrily.

Sam glanced in the rear view mirror at Dean and Leila who was trying her best to stop the bleeding, "No, sir. Not before everything. Look, we've still got the Colt, "He started, driving a bit faster on the road. "We still have the one bullet left. We just have to start over, alright? I mean, we already found the demon-"

He was cut short when a sudden eighteen wheeler slammed into the passenger side of the Impala at full speed, driving it sideways in front of it. Leila was tossed against the window from the position she was in, her head slammed against the window and her leg nearly crushed between the crushed car. The Winchesters were all knocked unconscious from the impact, blood running down their faces.

Death only takes an instant.