The next day, Mackenzie walked along behind Michael as he stepped into their new motel room for the moment. She sat her bag down on one of the twin beds, then glanced around the small room with her arms folded across her chest and her nose turned up in disgust.

It looked like all the others they had stayed in through the years. It was dirty and run-down, the walls were off-colored and the carpet had bare patches in certain areas from years of people pacing the room or the maids vacuuming the floor.

The furnishing wasn't any better- the two twin beds had thin comforters on top with the ugliest colors she had ever seen. She had no doubt there was another blanket under it that would end up scratching her as she tossed and turned all night on the lumpy mattress.

Across the room, there was a big window with a long nasty brown curtain covering it. There was a small scuffed up table and two chairs in front of the window. And on the other side of the room was a door that she knew would lead to a small bathroom- she just hoped the shower and toilet had been cleaned recently.

"I'm going to take a quick shower." She grabbed a set of clean clothes from her duffel bag.

"Alright, but when you're done, I need you to start researching." Michael sat a book down on the table. The book was an old worn-out journal filled with information on the demon; everything from his likes, dislikes, patterns and so on.

For ten years, Michael had lived and breathed the demon that took his wife and youngest daughter, it was all he thought about and he made sure to document everything he found out. He knew the demon had a weakness- everyone did- and once he found his, he would destroy him.

"I was hoping we could go out and do some shooting today," Mackenzie suggested. She and her dad didn't spend a lot of time together unless he was training her- which made training her favorite thing to do. She loved training on any kind of weapon, she didn't even mind when he taught her how to fight, anything was fine as long as he spent time with her.

"I really think I'm getting better, what do you think, Dad?" she questioned, hoping to pull him into a conversation.

"Not now, I got to go investigate," he brushed her off. "I know that son of a bitch is in this town somewhere." He flipped through the journal to read the latest notes. There was a pattern and he felt like he was so close to solving it.

"Oh okay. Maybe some other time then," she softly said, trying to hide her disappointment. Even though it didn't really matter, it's not like he was paying attention to her at the moment. Now that he was looking in his journal, she knew his mind was only on one thing- the yellow-eyed demon.

"Okay, I'm heading out." He slammed the book shut and placed it on the table. "I'll be back in a day or two, but I'll call tonight to see if you have any new information." He began to walk toward the door.

"Wait, Dad, don't forget your sketch." She pulled out a faded piece of paper from the journal and handed it to her father. The sketch was a detailed drawing of the demon that destroyed their family.

After losing his wife and daughter, Michael was lost on what to do, but being an amazing artist, he decided to sit down and draw the monster that took away his loved ones for future reference. Not that he could ever forget his face, but he used the picture to question people on the demon's whereabouts.

Michael took the piece of paper from his daughter's hand, then without a word walked out of the motel, leaving her standing in the room alone, something she was sadly used to after all these years.

"You're welcome, Dad," she mumbled to the empty room, before grabbing her clothes and heading for the bathroom.

After a long hot shower, she walked out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of too big old blue jeans and an off-white oversized sweater. She tossed her dad's journal and her notebook full of notes into her dark brown shoulder bag.

She slipped on a pair of shoes, then double-checked she had everything before making her way outside and walking down the sidewalk toward the library. She was thankful this time her father checked into a motel that wasn't far from the local library. She wasn't up for a long walk in thirty-degree weather like the last town.

A few minutes later, she came upon a huge brick building with a set of wide stairs leading up to the door. She looked up and smiled when she saw the huge letters 'Public Library' written on the front of the building. Quickly running up the stairs, she walked into the warm building, then stood still for a moment to glance around and take in her new surroundings.

Noticing a table off to her side full of newspapers, she made her way over to it and picked up several of them. She grabbed the local one, as well as some of the surrounding areas and major city papers. Finding a table toward the back, she laid her bag on top, then dropped the newspapers beside it before plopping down in a chair and getting to work.

Several articles later, she became distracted when she heard a little girl ask her father to read a story to her. She looked over at the kids' section of the library and smiled faintly when she saw a little blonde haired girl sitting in her father's lap while he quietly read a book to her. He even did silly voices for each character, causing the little girl to giggle each time.

Feeling tears fill her eyes, she quickly turned her head and dropped it. She remembered a time when her father would sit and read her a book, now he would barely look at her or even talk to her unless it had to do with the demon.

Blowing out a breath, she quickly rubbed her eyes with the long sleeve of her sweater, then stood up from the table. She decided she had done enough research for today. The plan now was to make a quick escape from the library before more tears formed and fell from her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to have a break down in public.

Grabbing the newspapers and her bag, she turned and slammed hard into someone, causing her and everything she was holding to fall to the floor. She should have known life would find a way to knock her further down.

"Oh man, I'm sorry for bumping into you. Are you okay?" a young male voice asked her.

Mackenzie raised her head and felt her heart skip when she saw the cutest boy she had ever seen standing in front of her. He looked to be a couple of years older than her, in a pair of blue jeans, a dark t-shirt, and a leather jacket. He had short spiky brown hair and green eyes she honestly could stare into forever.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she stuttered.

"Here, let me help you up." He held out a hand.

She placed her hand in his and couldn't help but smile when she felt a small tingle just from holding his hand. Once she was on her feet, she reached down to grab the newspapers and bag from the floor, then began to walk away from the cute boy before she did something else stupid in front of him.

"Hey, wait, what's your name?" he called out, ignoring the librarian who shot him a look to be quiet.

"Mackenzie."

"I'm Dean."

"Nice to meet you," she said politely.

"Nice to meet you too," he said with a smile as he tried to subtly check her out. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen in his life and he had seen a lot of girls while traveling around with his little brother and father.

Slipping his hands into his pockets, he thought about how it felt to hold her hand briefly. He had never felt something like that before in all his fourteen years of life. He had kissed a few girls before, but he felt more while holding her hand, then he did in any of those kisses.

"Well, um, uh, b-bye," Mackenzie mumbled as she spun around and quickly made her way outside.

Forgetting all about the books he was supposed to be looking for, as well as his kid brother, Dean ran outside after her. He didn't know why he was chasing after her, but all he knew was he didn't want to let her get away. He found himself wanting to know anything about her that she was willing to tell him.

"Hey, Mackenzie, wait up." Dean ran up behind her, causing her to turn around to face him- surprise evident on her face.

"Why?" she asked, confused about why he was calling for her. Things like this didn't happen to her; cute boys didn't talk to her and they definitely didn't chase after her.

"Where you heading?" he asked.

"Home."

"Where's home? I'll walk you," he suggested.

"Oh...um...uh..." she began to stutter, unsure of how to answer. The last thing she wanted was to tell him she was staying in a motel. He would probably think she was weird and never want to talk to her again.

"I'll tell you what, my brother and I are about to go grab a pizza, you want to join?" he asked, desperate to spend time with her.

"Where's your brother?" She lowered her eyebrows and glanced behind him for a moment. She didn't remember seeing anyone with Dean earlier and there was no one standing behind him now.

"He's inside." He pointed to the building behind him, causing her to nod her head in understanding.

"You left your brother in the library?" She laughed.

"I would have come back for him," he said laughing back. She had the kind of laugh you couldn't help but laugh along with her. It was loud, but not in an obnoxious way- it was a laugh he wouldn't mind hearing more.

Giving her a grin, he asked, "So what do you say?"

"Um..." she said, thinking about the request. Her dad always told her never talk to strangers and she definitely shouldn't go with a stranger, but there was just something about Dean- she felt safe with him right away and she felt like she could trust him.

She thought about what was waiting for her; an empty motel room and a night full of researching and channel surfing. She had no idea when her father would be back, so why not go eat pizza with someone who actually wanted to be around her?

"Is that a yes?" Dean asked with a hopeful look.

"Yes, I would love to go." Mackenzie smiled.

"Great, let me go grab my brother Sam. He's a bit of a dork, but he's a good kid," he said, before walking back toward the library to grab his brother.

Mackenzie couldn't stop smiling as she watched him walk away; because she was on the road all the time, she hardly ever met kids around her age, much less hung out with anyone. All she did for the last ten years was eat, sleep and research.

But now she had the opportunity to have normal kid fun for once and to top it off, it was with a very cute boy. If she said she wasn't nervous she would be lying, but she couldn't deny that this was the happiest she had been in a very long time.

•••

A/N; Thank you so much for checking out my story! I have some good things planned that I'm pretty excited about.

Happy reading!

xx