Part 5: The Pressure Is Rising

Dean slept well. He always sleeps well now, whether they get to bed slowly after a long day's drive, or fall onto used mattresses in exhausted heaps without so much as a goodnight. Malak wasn't haunting his dreams anymore. Well, at least the damn demon had left him alone for the past few nights. Of course that had been replaced with actual physical appearances that Dean did not consider much better. He also didn't like that Sam had begun to pick up the nightmare slack.

Dean awoke earlier than they had planned to get up to the sounds of Sam whimpering. Just as it would have been when they were twelve and eight years old, Dean was up and out of bed immediately.

Sasha had been roused as well but didn't say anything, just sort of sat up and watched as Dean went to Sam's bed, grabbed his brother's shoulder and gently shook him. Sam awoke almost right away, a hand shooting out to grip Dean's outstretched arm so tightly that it made Dean grimace. Sam's eyes became instantly apologetic.

"Save your sex dreams for when you have your own room, eh, Samantha," Dean joked, even though he knew—they all knew—that those whimpers had nothing to do with anything pleasant, "Go back to sleep." Dean moved his now sore arm and reached to brush away some of Sam's tousled hair. At the last moment he messed it up instead.

The gratitude Sam looked up at him with was more than Dean could handle this early in the morning. He could feel the weight bearing down on him of this burden, this life. He gladly went back to bed, around to the other side where he could curl in against Sasha for another hour or so. As he moved through the room he saw that Sam and Sasha were looking at each other, heard whispers for a moment that he couldn't quite make out, and then Sam's eyes were closed and Sasha was turning in towards Dean as he climbed back under the covers.

Another dream. Another dark premonition maybe. Dean wasn't sure he wanted to know. Somehow he felt that everything was connected and he was just missing a few of the larger pieces to see how it all fit together. It took him too long to get back to sleep because all he could think about was getting up and finishing the hunt. Some deep down sense inside of him was telling him that this one was important. By the time he did fall asleep it felt as though only moments had passed before the alarm was going off between the beds.

They got ready quietly. When Dean came out of the shower Sam was on the phone with the girls, planning their day and how it would be easier for all of them to just squeeze into the Impala for the trip to the library. Both sides seemed to have plenty to go on for beginning research. They didn't make any plans for grabbing breakfast and for once Dean didn't complain.

Of course he was still eternally grateful when Jo made a quick run across the street to a bagel shop and returned with coffee and food for all of them. They were in a study room, the one place food and drink was allowed in the library, though it was obviously still frowned upon by the older librarian who Dean saw give Jo a nasty look as she walked by the main desk.

Sam returned from somewhere in the stacks about the same time, carrying digital copy print-offs of old microfiche. He laid them out on the table and they all looked up from their reading. "I may have something here. Like we thought there does seem to be a pattern," Sam began, spreading out the print-offs. Most seemed to be accounts of a mining accident in the 20s. "This was one of the gold mines from back then, not too far from town now what with expansion over the years."

"It still active?" Dean asked, noticing with a slight knot in his gut the high number of deaths associated with the accident—it had to have been pretty much every miner down there.

"Cripple Creek's the only active gold mind in Colorado anymore, southeast of here," Sam explained, "This one shut down after the accident. Listen here," Sam picked up one of the print-offs and began to read aloud, "Prior to the Castle Rock mining accident, several miners and people living near the mine shaft had gone missing. Other reports were being made against certain miners who had begun acting strangely in the few days just before. The one miner to get out alive, Harold Autry, admitted to having purposely set mining explosives near a non-zoned area to rid the town of, and this is quoted, 'the evil that had seeped up from the very gates of Hell'." Sam gave each of his companions a pointed look. "Autry was hung for mass murder. No one ever contracted to mine in those caves again though, so I guess he was successful. Whole town thought he was crazy. Maybe he wasn't as crazy as they thought."

"And maybe whatever started seeping out then is getting a little closer to home these days," Jo put in, "Do we know where the mine is in relation to the homes of the current missing people?"

It was Sarah who had a cumulative list she and Jo had been working on. "We don't have addresses for all these people," she said as she looked at it, "We'll want to cross-check that first. There haven't been any reports of good citizens acting out of character though. Unless that's where the cattle deaths are coming in, the other signs seem to be just generally demonic."

"Better look into that," Sam agreed, "We should also keep checking further back, see if there is anything about those caves before they were used to mine gold."

"Jo and I can handle the missing people," Sarah volunteered, "Since we've already been looking into that. If you boys check out the history of the town more we should be able to get through this pretty quickly."

Sam smiled again in agreement, enjoying sharing the control of their research session with Sarah, which Dean couldn't help noticing Sasha had graciously given up. The incubus shot Dean a look, bobbing his eyebrows playfully. Apparently, Dean wasn't the only one wanting to play matchmaker.

While the girls got on the internet to first get addresses of the missing people and check more local police reports, the boys started digging into the town's history for other demonic signs or occult connections. This wasn't Buffy after all. There weren't Hellmouths hiding beneath small towns all across America. There had to be some other explanation.

"I think we're going to need to go further back than this," Sasha mentioned to Sam and Dean. He had handed Dean one of the books they already had but now he took it back. "Dean, will you go up to the desk and see if they have anything that pre-dates the town's founding? Pioneer stuff. People who may have lived in this area before it became a town. Native Americans even. We could be dealing with anything."

Dean would always rather do the 'please find this book' task than 'please look this up'. Besides, he felt a little useless being just one more pair of eyes when there were so many of them right now. "Gladly," Dean said, taking a long gulp of coffee before getting up since he wouldn't be able to bring it with him. He gave Sasha a wink, noticing how close Sarah was leaning over Sam as she explained a little of what her and Jo were finding out. It wasn't overeager, purposeful flirting, just very telling body language that even she might not be aware of.

Leaving the study room, Dean headed left. Having caught the head librarian giving Jo that glare earlier, Dean decided to try out the Help Desk in the middle of the library rather than the one up front. It appeared unoccupied as he approached but he could have sworn someone had been there earlier. There was a little bell on the counter so Dean gave it a little ding. The first thing he heard after the sound of the bell was a dull thud followed by a much more audible "Shit!" and then a brown head was peaking up from underneath the counter.

"Oops," Dean grinned down at the guy who was slowly making himself visible from beneath the desk, "Sorry, man, didn't know you were undergoing some covert operation down there."

The guy immediately snorted and broke into an easy but obviously embarrassed laugh. "Dropped the damn pen," he said, standing up tall finally and rubbing the part of his scalp he had smacked into the desk, "This thing has crevices I don't even wanna know the uses for. Stupid piece a shit." Brown eyes went wide suddenly and the guy grimaced. "Uh, forget I said that. Any of that. At least around Ms. Grim-bitch up at the front. I'm kinda already on probation for my bad habit of cursing in front of customers." His grin was a little lopsided but wide and comfortable like he rarely went without a smile on his face.

Dean smiled back, thinking for a brief, humorous moment that this guy was kind of like a less ginormous version of Sam. Brown floppy hair that fell a little into his eyes. The wide, smiling mouth. And he was tall. Maybe not as tall as Sammy but taller than Dean. He had a young face but Dean got the feeling he was at least as old as his brother. "I swear I won't turn you in," Dean said, looking down at the nameplate on the desk and drawing an immediate blank on how to pronounce the guy's name.

"Like Ian," the guy helped, used to this probably, "Just with an extra 'I'. Iain Wilde," he introduced himself more formally, that smile wide and toothy and a little less crooked now, "Resident Grad student and library bitch. Err, gopher," he grimaced again, "Pretend I said gopher."

This time it was Dean who laughed. "Grad student, huh? And what does being the library 'gopher' have to do with that?"

Brown eyes rolled slightly in distaste. They were a perfectly even brown, not like Sam's hazel. "Library Science Masters. If I work here I'm closer to home after classes in Denver. Believe me, knowing that after work I'd have to drive a half hour home would totally ruin my motivation to even show up. Not that I like admitting I still live with my mother at twenty-six but you do what you gotta do. Can I help you with something?"

"Right," Dean said, having lost track of himself while getting to know this guy, "Do you got any books about this area earlier 1800s and before? Ya know, pre 'this is our town' kinda stuff?"

Iain looked thoughtful a moment before saying, "Yeah, I think we have a section downstairs for older regional work. Might even be some original texts by pioneers. I'll show you," he offered, pulling out the little sign for his desk that said 'Be Back Soon', "It's a maze down there." Iain walked around the desk to slip out from behind it and motioned for Dean to follow him.

On their way to the stairs they passed the study room and Dean gave the glass window a quick tap. He gestured to Iain and Sam nodded. Dean thought it was kind of amusing the way Sasha's brow furrowed before he nodded as well. He hadn't often seen that look on the incubus' face—blatant jealousy.

Dean couldn't resist; he waggled an eyebrow and gave a smirk in Iain's direction, laughing to himself at the sudden scowl he caught on Sasha's face before the study room fell from view.

It couldn't be denied that Iain was interesting and that Dean had taken an immediate liking to the guy, but the fact that Sasha's mind would even go there made the redhead entirely deserving of wearing that scowl as far as Dean was concerned. Not that Dean was much better when Sasha was the one being friendly with strangers.

Dean forgot about all that as he followed Iain downstairs. The guy was dressed fairly casual in khakis, a dark burgundy T-shirt, and an earthy green zip-up. The Converse sneakers wouldn't have been surprising if not for the flash of bright socks covered in four-leaf clovers. It was around St. Patrick's Day, Dean supposed, but it still made him smirk.

"Is there anything in particular you're interested in about the area?" Iain looked back. It was a small library for one that represented the county. Iain was turning lights on as he went, taking Dean further and further into the deep stacks.

"You're not leading me into a horror movie down here, are you?" Dean joked.

A chuckle rose from Iain again; Dean liked people he could make laugh easily. "I make no promises," Iain said playfully with another glance over his shoulder. Mischief danced in the warm brown eyes but it wasn't at all sinister.

"Well, if it doesn't freak you out too much," Dean said, sure that if he didn't have Iain to lead him out of the stacks again he would be hopelessly lost down here, "I'm actually looking into…paranormal stuff." It was rare that Dean felt comfortable being honest with one of their friendly helpers on a hunt, but he had a feeling Iain wouldn't just dismiss him.

To the guy's credit, Iain didn't even flinch, just paused for a moment, turned to Dean and asked, "You mean like ghost sightings, Indian Witch Doctors, monsters in the Rockies kinda stuff?"

Dean grinned. "Exactly. Specifically around the town, maybe before its founding. Kind of a hobby of mine," Dean shrugged, which at least wasn't a complete lie.

That wide, toothy smile of Iain's beamed back at Dean. "Shit yeah, same here. Used to love all that supernatural stuff as a kid, especially local ghost stories. I always get back into it again when weird stuff like what's been happening lately starts up again. Not that I get a kick out of other people's misfortune's or anything. Unless it's TV. Here," he pushed right on, turning back where they had come from and taking a different hallway into further stacks, "We want to go this way for that."

"So you know about all the missing people and, uhh…other weird stuff that's been happening?" Dean asked, a little shocked at his luck for Iain being right in the know about this stuff. He fell into hunter interrogation mode only too easily.

"Five missing people in a month in a town this size?" Iain said, "Along with animals dropping dead and lightening storms in March? It's fucking ridiculous. Most years we'd get a few days of this maybe and one person would go missing, but this?"

Ding, ding, ding!

Most years?

"This has happened before?" Dean asked.

"Almost every year far back as I can remember," Iain nodded, "Just sort of happens, never any particular time. No one ever pays much mind since it's so spread out and usually not as severe. Freaks me out, sure, but I figure shit happens. Just gotta hope shit doesn't happen to you." Iain was grinning as he stopped finally at the shelf he had been looking for. He gave a grand gesture with his arm. "Regional supernatural galore," he said, "I've looked through most of them myself at some time or another. If you're interested because of what's been happening recently I'd say start with the mine. I've always believed this shit comes from there. Too much a coward myself to check it out though. Bad vibes, ya know?"

Yeah, Dean definitely knew. But he was starting to think he didn't need a book so much as some time alone with this guy. "Hey, ya know, I'm not really one for the book research to be honest, not to offend your science of libraries thing."

"Library Science," Iain chuckled, shoving his hands into his large pockets as he rocked a little back on his heels, "Basically means I'll have a Masters in being a librarian. I think it'd be kinda cool to get a job as a research librarian at a college somewhere. Ya know, be the guy all the students have to go to when they're writing papers and shit. Plus I love books. Even being back in the dusty stacks. Did you want a recommendation for one of these?" he asked, nodding up at the shelf.

"Actually, maybe I could pick your brain for awhile instead," Dean offered, "You got some time? To be perfectly honest with you, we're hoping we can maybe put an end to all of this."

"We?" Iain prompted, looking a little disappointed Dean thought, though he couldn't imagine why.

"Yeah, there's a group of us. Those others in the study room," Dean explained, "Might even head into that mine if all signs actually point there, but we like to be prepared, know what we're getting ourselves into. Can I steal you away for awhile?"

There was the slightest bit of color that flushed to Iain's face and he laughed again, like it was the way he responded to everything. "Ms. Grimmauld would notice I'm gone and I really can't risk losing this job. Part of the requirements for graduating. But I'd like to help. I probably know everything in these books anyway. Maybe when I get off?" he said, head lowered a little and eyes looking up from beneath long lashes, "I'm done after lunch around one. We could…meet somewhere."

"Perfect," Dean smiled, always pleased when he snagged a lead without having to read though line after line of text. He gave Iain's arm a friendly pat. "Better bring back one of these books anyway though or my brother'll bitch me out for wasting time. Anything on the caves of that mine?"

Iain actually gave Dean two books, one a more historical account and the other fiction written about Harold Autry that Iain had always suspected held more truth than most people would want to believe. On their way back up the stairs, Iain stopped Dean just at the landing, saying, "Hey, you never actually gave me your name."

Dean found that that happened more and more often as usually he didn't know what name he should give. "Dean Winchester," he said, moving the books to one hand so he could offer the other to Iain, which the brunette took and shook gratefully.

"Like the rifle," Iain laughed, "I'll remember that. But, uhh…I'm not gonna be swarmed by all of you come one o'clock, am I?" he asked with a nod towards the study room. They could see inside the large window from where they were and the four people that were inside the room. "You guys really a bunch of ghost hunters or something?" Iain asked seriously, even though he was forever smiling.

"Kinda," Dean admitted, "And don't worry about being swarmed. To tell you the truth I'm not used to working with so many others at once. Was a time it was just me and my brother. Anyway, I'm sure we'll be mostly split by then checking different leads. Wouldn't wanna crowd ya and scare ya off. Might just be me."

Iain's smile seemed to soften at its edges, warm like his eyes, and he laughed very lightly again. "Awesome," he said, his gaze lingering steady and centered on Dean. Then he looked away, grinned a little more crookedly, and said, "See you then," before sauntering with long shuffling strides back to the Help Desk.

Realization crept up on Dean slowly so that he had actually turned around and was on his way back to the study room before it hit him that what he had just experienced was not a simple friendly conversation between guys. He was pretty sure his face was sheet white by the time he sank back into his chair and reached for his now lukewarm coffee.

The girls were huddled around Jo's laptop while Sasha and Sam were reading. Sam looked up first in acknowledgement and noticed the new books Dean had set on the table. Then he must have noticed Dean's pale and probably wide-eyed expression because he immediately waved a hand in front of Dean's face to get his attention, looking concerned.

"Dean?" Sam prompted, which because of his worried tone got Sasha and both Sarah and Jo to look to Dean as well.

"Be honest," Dean said, not really focusing on any one of them in particular as he cradled his cooling coffee cup, "Nine times out of ten I'm the guy who's gonna notice what everybody else misses. Right? I mean, gimme some credit here, am I right?"

The others blinked at him for a moment. Then Sam answered, "Sure. Totally."

"Of course," Sasha greed.

And finally Jo rolled her eyes a little and said, "Annoyingly so but yes."

Dean didn't wait for Sarah to respond as well as she didn't have the same experience working with him. "Okay. So that other one out of ten I'm…what? Denser than carbonite?"

Another brief silence passed. "Is this a trick question?" Sasha asked finally.

Dean groaned. He was such an idiot.

"What?" Sasha pressed. The others were all keenly looking at him.

"So the guy at the Help Desk who got me these books?" Dean began, really starting to be bothered by this whole group therapy thing they had going, "Apparently, he's sort of an amateur paranormal buff for regional stuff, knows everything that's in the books and probably more. I'm gonna meet up with him after he gets off work here so I can ask him a few things."

It was Sarah who smiled out of the corner of her mouth and said, "And…this is bad because…?"

Cooling or not, Dean took a long gulp of his coffee. "It's bad because…" Dean stared at the coffee cup, took another gulp, "I think I just made a date with him."

To say that Sasha was acting surly was the nice way of putting it.

After the initial aftermath of Sam and the girls laughing at him for his mistake while Sasha glared, the incubus had insisted that he tag along on Dean's 'date'. His 'it wasn't supposed to be a date but the poor guy probably thought it was' with Iain the helpful librarian. Sasha had been consistently chiding Dean for not being more sensitive to what was going on when he was alone with Iain earlier.

"How many times do I have to apologize?" Dean nearly snapped as they walked towards the front of the library. They had gone back to the hotel to regroup and go over what they knew for awhile and then Sam and the girls had left to check out the addresses of the missing people. "I didn't know he was into me," Dean said, stopping just in front of the door since he had told Iain before they left that he would meet him there, "Just because I start sleeping with guys suddenly every potentially gay guy wants to get into my pants? And he didn't even come off that gay."

"What's with the plural?" Sasha said shortly, focusing on the part where Dean had said 'sleeping with guys', "And you should be able to tell the difference between friendly conversation and flirting. Not that you ever do," he huffed, "You flirt with male and female waiters just the same, long as it gets you your food."

"Hey." Dean did not understand why he had to come under attack just because of a simple mistake. Okay, so he hadn't done anything to correct the mistake but had instead decided to just let Sasha come along and hope Iain sort of got the picture. He liked the guy but he was very taken, and by a newly discovered jealous as all Hell incubus. Dean really should have been able to have fun with that.

Sasha leaned back against the wall beside the main entrance to the library and crossed his arms tightly in front of him. It wasn't exactly warm enough to hang out outside but the incubus remained annoyingly unaffected by the cold. "Not every gay guy. Leven didn't count," he grumbled, "He was just a kid. But this guy…" Sasha shook his head. "You really don't realize how you affect the people around you? I doubt this is the first time a guy has been into you. You're just more akin to notice now."

"And that's my fault?" Dean shot back, "Seems to me it's more your fault if you're gonna say it like that. And I thought the argument was over how I didn't notice. Why are you getting so upset about this? You know I don't want anybody else. Haven't I proved that enough?"

The anger on Sasha's face shifted slightly, enough to show that he did feel slightly ashamed but he still wasn't willing to let their argument go quite yet. "I could feel it from inside the study room. I'm used to it by now, feeling when others…want you. But I also felt how much you were enjoying the attention. Maybe you didn't realize it but the flirting wasn't entirely one-sided."

Dean stood a little frozen. He definitely hadn't realized that if it was actually true. "How…how could you feel anything? We were downstairs most the time."

Rather than simply explain, Sasha reached out first, steady but unthreatening with a hand to Dean's chest. "The circuit doesn't only go one way, you know. With you marked we're connected. I could probably feel you from the next town over. I know it's just from attraction. And that's gonna happen all the time. I guess…I can dismiss it when it's a girl but for some reason…feeling it this time from you for another guy…"

"Whoa," Dean said, gripping Sasha's hand that was still planted on his chest, "Some brief passing attraction for this guy went through my subconscious and that's why you're freaking out? Baby, there is no chick or dude on earth who's gonna steal me away from you. Especially a dude. I mean seriously. For starters, there's no guy in existence who could even be half as pretty as you. Hell, there ain't many chicks." Dean grinned, bringing Sasha's hand down from his chest so he could warm it in both of his. Even if Sasha didn't mind the cold the incubus' skin still felt icy to Dean. "And the other more important thing that's pretty damn hard to beat is that, oh, I don't know, little part where I love you. No one's changing that. Certainly not some nice librarian who just thinks I'm hot. So. You gonna stop being a bitch now?" Dean smirked.

Sasha sighed heavily, smiling despite himself and looking entirely ashamed now and not at all angry. "Sorry. I've told you before I can be kind of intense. I don't mean to get this way."

"I think the word you're looking for is possessive," Dean replied.

"Yeah, well," Sasha smiled crookedly, "Maybe I am. I just like knowing that you're mine. I like having someone…that's just for me. I realize that comes off a little—"

"Stalker-ish?"

That cold hand pulled out of Dean's hold and smacked him in the arm. "Anyway," Sasha pressed on, "I'll behave, I swear. Just keep the flirting down a little if you can help it. I don't think you fully realize the magnitude of your sex appeal, something I admit at great risk to inflating your already oversized ego—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Dean had to grin, "Are you—an incubus—actually saying this to me—Dean Winchester? Coz shouldn't that be more the other way around?"

Sasha huffed. "Yeah coz you're never jealous when I'm being nice to someone," he snarked.

"Dean?"

Dean and Sasha both turned to see Iain coming from around the building, having apparently exited a side door instead of the main ones. He had on a deep brown jacket over his T-shirt and zip-up that looked like he had bought it at the same place as his khakis. He also had a tote bag over his shoulder that was covered in buttons. It made Dean think more co-ed than grad student.

Approaching with that same easy smile, Iain walked over to Sasha and extended a hand. "Iain Wilde," he introduced himself, "Saw you before with the rest of the group. Dean's brother?" The incorrect assumption sounded more hopeful than anything.

Sasha had been attempting to be congenial, even to the point of smiling like usual and accepting Iain's offered hand. Now, however, his friendliness faltered and he strained to hold back another scowl. "No," he said shortly. Dean just hoped the incubus wasn't about to give away his supernatural origins by squeezing the poor guy's hand so hard he broke bones.

Thankfully, Sasha released Iain's hand soon after that, although the guy definitely worked his fingers afterwards as if they had been squeezed beyond the comfort level. "Eheh…well, umm, nice to meet you anyway," Iain managed, his smile wavering a little as he looked between Dean and Sasha, who hadn't actually introduced himself, "So…there's this place just down the street," he said to Dean, pointing a ways down the main road in front of the library, "We can grab some coffee or whatever and you can ask me anything you want. I can definitely give you more straightforward answers than any of those books. Lived here my whole damn life; I should know a thing or two." He tried to stretch his smile again but when he looked over at Sasha he was immediately cowed by the redhead's intense blue stare.

It was all Dean could do not to roll his eyes and smack Sasha upside the head. "His name's Sasha," Dean said on the incubus' behalf, "And that place down the way sounds perfect. Why don't we go grab ourselves a booth or something? I'll buy since you're being such a good sport about all this." Dean patted Iain's shoulder and bodily turned the guy around to start leading him away from the library down the street. There was tension Dean could feel in Iain's body that quickly began to ease away.

With a warning glare tossed over his shoulder at Sasha, Dean very pointedly said 'stop being such a dick' with his eyes. Sasha just shrugged at him, his expression a turmoil of varied emotions that went a little beyond mere intensity. Possessive indeed. The idea of the green-eyed monster for envy and greed was much more suited for plain old jealousy in Dean's opinion.

Well, blue-eyed monster in this case.

Dean fell into casual conversation with Iain as Sasha caught up to them. Just before they reached the café that Iain had pointed out the incubus said, "Hey," reaching ahead to grab the door and push it open for the other two, "Sorry, I…uhhh…" Sasha flashed an embarrassed smile, "Just been a stressful day trying to figure all this out. We don't want those missing person's numbers to climb any higher. Hopefully you can shed some light on a few things."

That sounded much more like the rational Sasha that Dean was used to. He patted Iain on the shoulder again and shot Sasha a grateful smile.

Iain looked admittedly flustered and Dean got the feeling that the guy understood more about what hadn't been blatantly said about Dean and Sasha's relationship than he was letting on.

"Hey, sure," Iain said, letting the awkwardness of the situation roll right off his back, "Nice to have someone actually interested in some of the crazy random shit running through my head. Most people think it's a waste of time to even look into the supernatural side of things. But you can't deny what's been happening now." Iain walked on past Sasha into the café and the hunters followed him. It was mid-afternoon in the middle of the week so the place was fairly cleared out and it wasn't difficult for them to grab a booth, order a couple coffees, and dive right in.

With a somewhat hesitant smile now, Iain had very obviously sat himself down in the middle of one side of the booth so that Dean and Sasha would sit together. Dean was pretty sure his mistake earlier had been made understood. He couldn't help feeling a little bad about that. Besides, much as Dean hated getting into rows with Sasha, it was kind of nice knowing the incubus could get that jealous.

"So I started really noticing the missing person's thing a few years ago," Iain was saying, "Sure, a crap-ton a people go missing all sorts of places every year. But these were always kinda the came. I started looking into it, just side stuff, and it seemed like every missing person I was able to find out stuff about started acting weird right before they disappeared. Just like old Autry said before they hanged him over blowing up the mine. You knew about that right?"

Sasha and Dean both nodded; Sam and the girls had already found out that much. "But with these new disappearances there haven't been those same reports far as we can tell," Sasha supplied, "More suddenly missing people than other years but no one's said anything about them acting strange beforehand."

"See that's where I'm thinking things are getting more interesting these days," Iain said in a more hushed voice, leaning over the table between them. He was grinning a little mischievous again like this was the best of games. "If you really look at the people who went missing, starting with the miners, the amount of time beforehand gets shorter every year after that. Autry noticed people acting strange weeks before he blew the place. Every year there seems to be less time though. Okay, so I haven't traced back all the way, but the last person who went missing before this new mess started was a neighbor of mine about six months ago. I saw him practically everyday and hadn't noticed anything weird. Then the day right before he disappeared he was…fuck, not like himself at all. Kind of freaked the shit outta me to be honest. Maybe whatever's happening is happening so fast that the people who get taken or whatever go right away before anyone can notice that something's off." Iain leaned back again, satisfied that he had blown the case wide open with that assessment.

There wasn't a doubt in Dean's mind that that was true. This time he was the one who leaned over the table, close to Iain with his voice low. "Iain, my brother and the others were going to check out some of the houses of the people that have gone missing, see if there's any connection. You said the guy from before was your neighbor? Did you know any of the others?"

Iain's smile stretched and he chuckled to himself a little. Dean was starting to recognize that reacting that way was more how Iain dealt with nerves than anything. "Used to only be people who went of hiking or something near the mine. With the new ones though, most of them are from the same few stretch of blocks near the edge of town. Hell, I probably knew all of those people to some extent. I live right in that area too. Been trying to convince my mom to move forever but she just thinks I'm making shit up."

The sounds of Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' rose up from Dean's jeans as his phone started to go off. Dean was feeling a little antsy now but managed an apologetic smile to Iain before he reached into his pocket and answered the call. "What's up, Sammy?" he said, having glanced quickly at the caller ID.

"We've hit every house, Dean," Sam said on the other line, "They're all—"

"Within the same few blocks. Yeah, we…we got that."

"From the library guy?"

"Yeah," Dean said a little impatiently, "What else?"

"Definitely looks like the radius of the missing people points to the mine as the source. You?"

"We're thinking that whatever's seeping out of there has been affecting the people around for years, makes 'em act weird right before and then, I don't know, lures them there or something. We're gonna have to be careful with this one. Might start affecting us once we get close. Seems it's been picking up the pace of victims and luring them off sooner, that's why no one's noticed people acting weird."

"Well we did get one report," Sam countered.

Sasha and Iain were carefully listening in. Normally, Dean wouldn't like having a civilian overhearing so much, but since Iain had come to the same conclusions on his own Dean didn't think it made much of a difference. "What happened?" Dean pressed.

"Last house we stopped at, the Kranes? Daughter went missing last week. Her mother said that she noticed her neighbor take off out of the house on foot like a bat outta hell less than an hour ago. Never seen her look so fierce, she said. I'm guessing that's missing person number six now, right along the same row of houses."

Dean knew that Sasha could hear most of what Sam was saying but he didn't think Iain had picked up on that last bit. It made Dean feel a cold chill like icy breath on the back of his neck. Sasha had tensed beside him as well. "Sammy," Dean said evenly, staring across the table at Iain, "You got a name from the mailbox of that new victim's house?"

"Yeah," Sam said, and Dean knew his brother was calling from outside, probably looking right at it, "It says Wilde."

"For the last time, no," Dean ground out, "You aren't going anywhere. You are gonna sit on your ass, stay calm, and wait until you hear from us. You are not coming out to that mine and that's final." Dean sort of felt like he was chastising a small child instead of a grown twenty-six year old man.

The five hunters had met up at Iain's house with the near hysterical librarian in tow. Dean hadn't thought the otherwise laid back guy could get so riled up, but he had been pacing back and forth in his living room since they arrived, ranting about how they had to let him come with, how he had to find out what was going on, he had to find his mother.

Dean could sympathize but there was no way that was going to happen.

"Iain, listen to us," Sarah said in a much more friendly and patient tone than Dean had been using, "This is what we do, okay, it's our job. We'll do everything we can to find out what's going on but you have to accept that there might not be a happy ending here. Either way, I can guarantee that you following after us will only make a bad outcome more likely."

At first Dean had expected Sarah to give the usual 'we promise we'll bring your mother back safe' speech, the one Sam usually gave whenever there was someone to save, however impossible the rescue. It actually soothed Dean a little that Sarah thought more like he did, that you shouldn't make promises you didn't know for sure you could keep.

"If we can bring her back to you, we will, but you're going to have to stay here," Sarah insisted.

"But it's my mom," Iain dissented, still pacing madly across the shag carpeting while a misplaced smile touched his face like he was halfway crazed with the knowledge of what was going on, "It's been just us practically my whole fucking life. God damn, shit fucking, sonuva—" SLAM. Iain's curses broke off as he banged a fist angrily against the wall of the living room. His brown eyes were bright and shimmering as he looked out at the hunters sitting and standing around him. "How can you tell me to stay calm? You don't know what this is like."

Dean's teeth clenched tight and he reached up to grab Sasha's arm before the incubus could make any angry comments about the cumulative loss of mothers and fathers in the room. He knew the others wouldn't bother saying anything but Sasha had been increasingly on edge since they arrived. Dean could tell that Sam was also more fidgety than usual and he had to wonder if they could feel the demonic resonance of the mine since it was only a few miles away.

"I just…don't know what to do," Iain finally sighed in defeat, sinking straight to the floor against the wall rather than finding an empty chair. He let out a humorless laugh and scrubbed a hand down his face much as Dean usually did in situations that seemed hopeless.

"The doing's what we're here for," Jo offered, "All you have to do is sit tight. But if we're gonna be of any help we gotta go now. Might get dark before we're through but I doubt we'll be any better off if we wait til tomorrow morning."

Sarah frowned and stood up from where she had been seated on the couch. "But maybe we should wait. I don't like that we don't know anything about what's really happening out there."

"We have to go to the caves," Sasha said suddenly, having let Iain off the hook for his uneducated comment but still showing signs of being significantly more agitated as time went on and they remained inside the house.

"We have to," Sam echoed. He was sitting down, unlike Sasha who was pacing nearly as bad as Iain had before. Sam's left leg bounced anxiously. "If we wait it'll just get worse, more people will be drawn there. Something's going on in that mine and we have to stop it. I can…I can feel the dark energy like it's…like it's—"

"Taunting us." Sasha finished. It was clear to Dean now that simply being in this house so close to where the demonic activity was happening was affecting his companions more than he had first thought.

"Okay, I'm not feeling all that better about going with you two looking like you're about ready to scale the walls," Dean said to them, thankful that he could speak fairly freely what with how Iain was in his own little world of wallowing at the moment, "Besides, this place lures people, we're thinking, right? For whatever reason. Just because none of us normal human folk don't feel too lured at the moment doesn't mean that won't change once we're right in the mouth of this thing. Iain," Dean turned to the young man on the floor, who's eyes were distant and red around their edges.

Slowly, those eyes looked up at him. The tall brunette with a wide, smiling mouth and a tendency to swear too much was hollow looking and pale now.

"Iain," Dean said again, walking over to the other man and crouching down in front of him, "We never got to really ask you. What was at the site before it was a mine? The books didn't mention much more than we already knew and that there were settlers here before it became a town. If there's anything you can tell us it might be more help than you'd think."

At first Iain still looked distant, like he was up in his head and hadn't really heard Dean. Then he blinked up at the hunter before him, nodded and said, "There's this…hill above the cave system, above the entrance to the mine. Some of the settlers…before…built a church up there. Others tore it down when they found gold in the caves."

"A church?" Jo repeated, drawing closer to the two on the floor, "Like satanic rituals and virgin sacrifices kind of—"

"No," Iain shook his head, cutting her off. He sat up a little straighter against the wall, his head clearing now that he had a focus. "A Christian church. Those settlers were separate from some of the others. They were insistent about building their church on top of that hill. The other settlers had stories that it was a church filled with blasphemers calling themselves monster hunters. The ones in the church were outnumbered when gold was found in the mine. The church was destroyed and they were all run off. There aren't many records of it, that's why most of the books don't mention anything. History gets written by the winners, ya know." A small semblance of his usual, jovial smile cracked onto his face.

Dean smiled back at Iain and gave the guy's knee a firm, thankful pat. He wasn't surprised at all to find a room full of wide eyes looking at him when he turned to gauge his companions. A church full of hunters guarding over that cave was definitely more than a coincidence. The cave-in that guy Autry caused was probably the only thing that had kept whatever was in there from getting out sooner. It had been decades upon decades since then; the evil of that place was spreading.

Standing and walking back towards the others, Dean took note of how Sasha and Sam were staring at him, eager to leave. Jo was right there with them too but Sarah's expression proved she was still hesitant, much like Dean was too.

"I know we need to get to that mine," Dean admitted, holding Sarah's gaze before continuing, "But we can't just rush in there without any kind of equipment. I know this wouldn't exactly be spelunking but we have no idea what condition this thing is in. It was blown up once remember?"

"We have to go," Sam said again, standing finally and looking too tall and large for the small, crowded room, "Something's happening there that's luring people to it, people who, so far," he said for Iain's sake, "Haven't been heard from ever again. If hunters were guarding this place we could be dealing with anything. A creature that feeds, a demonic hot spot…"

"I hate this feeling," Sasha broke in, shivering visibly, "Like I can pick up on all the malevolent feelings it's giving off even from here. We have to stop it, Dean. I know we don't have the equipment, but…"

Suddenly, Iain was getting up, his face like stone, strange without a smile but determined. He was done wallowing. "My father used to cave and climb. We still have all of his equipment in the basement, enough hardhats and lights for all of us. Grappling hooks and tools if you think we'll need it, rope, gloves—"

"Wait," Dean stepped in with a held out hand, "There is no us to this equation, pal. Get that through your head. I already told you, you're staying here."

Iain's face flashed indignancy and he opened his mouth to protest.

"You'll just slow us down," Sarah said before he could, "If we're going to do this then our best chance is for it to be just us, with your dad's equipment if you'll let us use it. Please understand," she added with sincere dark eyes, stepping past Dean to approach Iain more closely. It was Dean's insistence combined with Sam's sentimentality, which was probably why neither brother thought to add anything.

For a moment it wasn't clear what Iain's choice would be, his face still hard and unreadable, his eyes vibrant with indecision. Finally, after a breath Iain nodded and looked to each of the hunters like he was putting every ounce of faith he had in the world in them. "Okay. But you better come back. If whatever's happened…if you can't save Mom then…I won't blame you for that. But you better come back," he said again.

It was an organized basement thankfully, making it easy to find what they were looking for and gather supplies. Iain even let them take food just in case. They didn't know how long they would be down there and caving was the same as climbing when it came to how quickly you could become dehydrated. They took as much water as they could too.

Dean managed to talk to Iain alone briefly when the distressed young man pushed a small guidebook into his hands that looked at least fifty years old.

"It has a map of the caves and the mine. Not that it will help you much with all the cave-ins since but," Iain shrugged, his eyes a little shy and downcast again like they had been when Dean had unintentionally flirted with him in the library. There was also still a remnant of that smile, much as it was marred by frustration and feelings of futility.

"Thanks," Dean said, taking the guidebook, "And, look, ya know, about our…miscommunication before," Dean grimaced. He wasn't really sure how to explain himself.

Iain just laughed, maybe a little emptier than usual, and gave Dean's shoulder a nudge. "Hey, don't even think about it. Probably just me being a wishful thinker. Not every day some hot guy saunters up with a smirk and a swagger and asks for a book in the basement." He laughed again and then flushed like he was embarrassed over what he had just said. "Shit, I crack myself up. Anyway, just…be careful. I won't follow you guys, I promise, but I doubt I'm gonna sleep tonight."

This was another of those moments when Dean wished he had that same comforting turn of phrase that Sam and Sasha, and also Sarah he was realizing, had in so much abundance. Dean wanted to reassure Iain but not falsely. "I don't know what we're gonna find out there, man," he admitted, "You gotta be prepared…that you're mom's already gone."

Even though Iain nodded Dean could see how his lip trembled a little trying to maintain a smile. "I know. But giving up hope before you know the truth…that's worse than if I was the reason she got taken. The world may be shit, people may suck, but there are individuals and things that are worth being happy about and standing up for. My dad….he used to say that…all the time and I try to believe it. I don't really get what's going on. All these ghost stories I used to love suddenly feel real and here you guys are going off to fight it like demon warriors or something. I mean, fuck, this is messed up. But whatever's out there…I think maybe you can beat it."

Dean was instantly filled with even more desire to somehow be able to bring Iain's mother back to him. The guy was already being kind enough to hand out keepsakes of his father's and allow both the Impala and Sarah's Camaro to sit in his driveway. They would walk to the cave; it wasn't far. But Iain would have to stay here and wait. Dean gave the guy's shoulder a firm squeeze, knowing it wasn't enough, before he walked away.

While they were gathering up the last of what they were taking with them and it was getting close to three o'clock, Dean spotted Sam just outside looking deeply troubled and bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was about to go out onto the porch and see what was wrong when he noticed that Sarah was already out there. They were talking and Dean could tell by the way Sam smiled out of the corner of his mouth and Sarah looked at him with those beautiful eyes that she was reassuring him as best she could. Maybe she didn't have the same knack for getting Sam to relax as Dean did but he wasn't about to grudge her the chance to learn.

"Dean?" came Sasha's voice, shaky and uncertain. When Dean turned behind him he saw the incubus standing inside the door between the living room and entryway. He was bouncing much as Sam was, also looking troubled and Dean would almost say terrified. "Are we ready to go? We need to go. It's really getting to me. I don't think I can…stand another minute. It's like….like—"

"Hey," Dean was across the small space between them and at Sasha's side in an instant, "Baby, come on. What is this place doing to you guys? We're still a couple miles away. I figured it was going to be me, Sarah, and Jo we'd have to worry about, being the full humans. You and Sammy gotta be sharp, make sure nothing starts luring us in. We don't have any reason to think there's purpose behind who gets chosen."

"I know," Sasha nodded, sinking into the touch of Dean's hand on his cheek—a favored gesture, "It's just…under my skin or something. Like before, with that barn full of demons and all that…awful power. Only it's worse. Sam can't even tell if it's demons."

Which was one of the reasons Dean still hated the idea of going in, but for now it was still light out even if they might be down there for hours, so if they were quick about things they still might have a chance to take care of whatever was going on and get back before sundown.

Dean was almost about to pull Sasha in for a swift embrace, just to make the incubus feel better, and maybe for Dean to feel a little better too since nothing soothed him like the smell and comforting warmth of his incubus, but just then Jo came into view behind Sasha with the last of their things.

"Time to hit the road," she said, serious as Dean had ever seen her.

Not a minute later they were all outside on the porch with Sam and Sarah, and soon after that they were headed out on foot for the caves with Iain looking out after them. It felt a little awkward at first, getting through the last neighborhoods of town before they reached woods and varied terrain. It wasn't long though before they were out of sight of anything urban as Sam led them through the scattered trees further out of town.

When they had asked Iain the quickest way to the old mine, Sam had interrupted saying that he would know how to get there. That seemed to be entirely true as the tallest hunter plowed onward, never looking unsure of his footing or where he was going. Dean couldn't help feeling relieved that the closer they got to wherever this cave system was, the less antsy and inconsolable Sam and Sasha became. In fact both of them seemed perfectly confident and relaxed when that hill Iain had told them about came into view.

"We should scout as many areas of this place as we can before we go inside," Jo said. They had come right upon the main entrance of the mine, sporting old worn signs stating 'keep out' and 'danger'. As far as they knew there was no other way into the cave systems other than the original mine shaft but there was no telling what had changed in the area recently.

"Everyone feeling…normal?" Dean asked before they split to look around. He himself didn't feel any different than usual. Certainly not like he wanted to go barreling on ahead into the mine without the others.

Everyone looked to one another, gauging each others' answers it seemed, but eventually they all nodded. "We should go in two groups so no one's alone," Sam suggested, "The area's not big, just what's around the hill. We can go opposite directions, cross each other, and then meet back here to make sure no one missed anything."

"Works for me," Dean said, "Sasha, why don't you take the girls. Sarah can come with me," Dean said with a smirk.

Sasha and Jo immediately chuckled while Sam glowered at Dean and Sarah grinned with a roll of her eyes before making her way over to him. "Keeping an eye on the rookie or just playing matchmaker, Winchester?" Sarah said as she passed by Dean and went straight on towards one side of the hill. She had spoken soft enough so that only Dean had heard her.

Dean winked over at the others before following. "Cells are useless out here so no stopping the first time," he said, "If you find anything wait until we meet up to check it out." There were no other visible signs of activity right around the entrance to the cave, but Dean had a feeling that there was definitely something more than missing persons going on. The demonic signs were more than enough to believe that. At least today was a nice day.

The entire crew was equipped with hardhats they were currently keeping in the tote Sam was carrying, along with the food. Sarah had claimed the other pack, much as it seemed more sensible to give it to Sasha who would fatigue less quickly, which carried extra flashlights, rope, climbing hooks, and extra odds and ends. Dean really hoped that they weren't going to have to do any actual climbing.

Sarah maintained a tight path along the hill and he at first had to trot to catch back up with her. Once he did he came up right beside her and purposefully bumped her arm. "Hey, you sure you can handle this once we go inside. Not exactly routine hunt stuff in case you're a little squeamish." He grinned sideways at her, even though he was mainly being serious and needed to know if she was really going to be able to handle herself if things got dangerous. Jo may have vouched for her but Dean hadn't ever seen Jo in rare hunter form either.

"Because of course you've gone cave diving for the source of unexplainable demonic disappearances tons of times," Sarah shot right back. He certainly didn't read any anxiety from her which he couldn't say was true of himself right now.

"You amaze me. Thought you were too much a well-bred city girl for all this. I mean, you're clearly not against getting down and dirty, but this may be some serious shit we're up against. You haven't even broken a sweat."

Much as Sarah was watching her surroundings carefully as they continued to do their reconnaissance, Dean still caught the slight smirk that caught her features. "I think I gave you this speech before. It's not that I'm not scared, Dean. But this is something that needs to be done, maybe another part of saving your soul even. The way I see it, if I'm going to die, it's going to happen sometime anyway, so I'd rather it was for a good reason." Suddenly, Sarah's arm shot out and she stopped Dean from taking another step.

Dean looked down and saw an old rusted bar trap that was still armed. Funny how those things always managed to pop up around him.

"Of course that doesn't mean I intend to die any time soon," Sarah grinned.

Dean watched after her a moment as she moved ahead, once again impressed. He took a look around. Whatever Sam and Sasha were sensing, Dean wasn't picking up on any of it. Okay, so the area was a little too quiet, like that time with the Wendigo—not even a cricket. But there weren't exactly dead trees all around the area like Dean would have expected from a demonic hot spot.

He and Sarah reached the halfway point around the hill before the others and waited, having found nothing but grass, trees, and fallen branches, no extra way in. When Sam and the others caught up to them Sam mentioned having found a very small opening that might lead into the cave system, but it was apparently too small for any of them. They parted ways and continued around again to check over each other's work. After, of course, Dean had mentioned that the others needed to watch out for that bear trap.

"Hey, Dean," Sarah said after a couple more minutes of hiking their new side of the hill.

"Yeah?"

"Just because…I don't know the next time I'm going to get you alone, I wanted to say…thank you," she said, stopping so she could say it directly and catch his eyes.

Dean frowned a little. "Uh, sure, but I think you thanked me and Sammy plenty the first time."

Sarah broke into a somewhat bashful smile. "Not for that, not that I'm not still grateful for what you both did back then. No…I mean thank you for Sam." Her eyes were bright and honest and her face seemed that much prettier for how her hair was pulled back and Dean could see that much more of it. She was one of those girls that didn't need makeup to be beautiful.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean?" Dean admitted.

"What you did," she went on, "What you gave up to bring him back? Everyone just yells at you for being stupid enough to make a devil deal, for making that sacrifice. But you did what you had to do to save Sam's life. I don't think anyone, not even Sam, has thanked you for that. So…thank you. If there's any part I can play in saving you in return, I'll gladly do it."

The silence of the woods started to get to Dean because it suddenly seemed that much quieter. Sarah was thanking him for bringing Sam back. She was right that no one had ever done that, they always just got angry, yelled, yeah, and usually those conversations ended with him having to apologize. But he shouldn't have to apologize for doing his job. He had to save Sam. It had never been a question. And he knew he would do it all over again if he had the chance.

"Better keep going," Sarah said with a renewed, more jovial smile, "We want to get through as much as we can while the sun's still up. Not that it'll help much down there." Her teeth flashed and then she was continuing on, not waiting for Dean to follow.

Dean took a few good breaths before he even could. He didn't think he knew what to say in reply to that so he was kind of glad she hadn't given him the chance. So instead he just followed after her eventually, smiling to himself and noting that he really did like that girl a helluva lot.

This time when they met up with the others, Sam's group had gotten back to the entrance first. Dean and Sarah had paused at the little opening Sam mentioned, but they agreed that there was no way any of them were getting in through there.

"Down the trench then?" Jo suggested, gesturing to the opening to the mine. A few signs had fallen down or maybe been pulled off to get them out of the way because there was a clear path into the dark of the mine shaft.

Sam and Sarah opened up their duffle bags and everyone took out one of the hardhats and an extra flashlight, even though the hats had lights on them too. The flashlights were for backup, but they didn't want to have to go searching for anything in the dark, so everyone took one in hand right away. The food was only for if they needed it. Sarah passed out water bottles though and the few more roundabout charms they had.

"Might not protect against everything," she shrugged, "But it's better than going in blind. Hopefully, Sam, you can point us in the right direction." She smiled.

It was obvious that Sam should lead the way as he was their resident demon detector. Sasha took the rear, being the next most powerful among them, not that they had bothered explaining any of that to Sarah. If she had noticed Sasha's behavior matching up a little more with Sam's, she wasn't saying anything about it.

Dean stayed up front behind Sam with the girls behind him. It was sort of like going to a cheap haunted house at first, dark and damp and winding, but not really scary since they were traveling in a group. Besides, they were also armed. Sam had the Colt, something he had clung to even after his failure with shooting Malak, and the others all had variously loaded guns and blades. They were ready for pretty much anything, and that was good since they had no idea what they were going to find.

A few minutes in, Jo whispered from the middle of their train.

"So since we didn't find any signs of anyone outside, we can assume all the missing people came in here, right?" she said.

"I don't think it's fair to assume anything," Sam whispered back from the front. They all had their hardhat lights on but because the shaft was so narrow all any of them could see was the person in front of them, leaving Sam to actually see what lay ahead.

"Assuming they did come in here," Jo pushed on, "What are we thinking happened to them? Because at this point stumbling upon a bunch of bones and bodies would be more comforting than finding nothing."

In some morbid way Dean had to agree. An explanation they could see, hunt, and kill was always better than 'and then they just went poof'.

No one said anything for several minutes. Dean had an EMF meter out instead of his gun at the moment, scanning the cave walls for readings as they went. It blipped only slightly, which usually meant there were spirits but not the kind that could cause any real damage. Considering how many miners had died down here it wasn't all that surprising that there would be a few spooks.

"What if we hit a dead end from a cave-in?" Sasha called faintly from the back, "Are we just going to call it quits?"

Suddenly, Sam stopped, which meant Dean almost ran right into him and the pattern continued all the way to the back of the line. "What gives?" Dean hissed.

"Fork," Sam said loud enough to be sure all of them heard him, "Right or left?"

"We should keep a consistent pattern," said Sarah, "Always one or the other, so we know how to get back. Hopefully there'll be an opening soon."

In the meantime Dean suggested left and they headed that way. The corridor widened after awhile so that they could pair up, Sam still in the lead with Dean and Jo together and then Sasha and Sarah behind them. It made it easier to see ahead of them with their combined light and after awhile they could definitely see what looked like an opening up ahead.

"Are you alright?" Dean heard Sarah whisper behind him, which made Dean immediately turn and look back at Sasha. The incubus was holding a hand to his head and squinting his eyes like he had a headache. Dean had never known Sasha to ever get a headache.

"Sam?" Dean heard from Jo next, which made him look just as quickly front again. Sam was holding his head the same way even though he hadn't stopped walking towards the clearing ahead.

"It's nothing," Sam said.

"Let's keep going," Sasha echoed.

Dean was starting to feel that familiar chill again. After all, the girls seemed fine and Dean didn't feel any different. That didn't make sense though. This place was supposed to lure in humans. Unless Jo and Sarah's charms just worked that well. Sam and Sasha were probably just picking up on all that demonic energy more.

As that thought hit him, Dean immediately put the EMF meter away and pulled out his gun instead. Something was up ahead in that open part of the caves.

"Sammy," Dean whispered, having slipped up close to speak right next to Sam's ear, "Sense anything you can pin-point yet?"

Sam's steps were starting to falter and he was holding his head more tightly. "Too much…interference from…whatever's really down here. But there's something. I know there's something else. Get ready."

Quickly, Dean passed that warning back to the others, worried since being so close to the source was affecting Sam and Sasha so strongly. It seemed like they were in pain but neither of them were willing to stop.

It didn't feel like they had gone that far into the mine, but then it was hard to tell any passage of time. It might have been fifteen minutes or an hour. Dean also had to take into account that demonic influence might be affecting them without their knowledge. They might have been walking deeper into the cave for even longer than that.

Soon the opening was almost upon them. It wasn't until they had almost reached the mouth of it that Dean realized it wasn't only their lights illuminating the area but a light from within as well. Someone was in there.

"Dean!"

Sam's call came too late. Before Dean could think to act, Sam had already been propelled into the cave wall by an unseen force and the lights on their hardhats were flickering. "Sam!" He called, trying to rush forward, see what was inside the opening and get to Sam, but Sam was up a second later and charging into the room. "Wait!" Dean followed right after him, hearing the running feet of the others behind him even as their lights flickered further and went out.

This had gotten bad way too quickly. Dean knew he was right at the mouth now where Sam had run in but he couldn't see anything. A moment later he felt Jo and Sarah bump into him from behind, recognizing their smaller bodies. But he didn't feel Sasha.

The next second, Dean and the girls had been pushed roughly aside against the opening wall as Sasha dove past them, apparently knowing something they didn't. Dean only got the briefest glimpse of flashing red eyes that told him what was happening. He still couldn't see more than an inch in front of his face.

"Stay here!" Dean called to the girls, taking two very different feeling hands and moving them together to be sure the girls hung onto each other and stayed put.

They protested loudly after him but he didn't have time to sit in the dark and wait. He only took a few steps anyway and started pounding on his hardhat to get the light to come back. Nothing happened. Dean knew one thing that made lights flicker like that more than any ghost ever did—a demon.

"Sammy!" Dean called, hearing signs of struggle from a distance that seemed too far away. He hadn't gotten enough of a glimpse inside the cavern to know how large it was. Sam and Sasha could be anywhere.

Then, miracle of miracles, Sam signaled to him, shooting off a spark of electricity into the air and lighting up an area several yards away for just a moment. It was all the time Dean needed to see that Sasha, half transformed, and Sam were fighting off what appeared to be a possessed woman. But only that one woman. With the amount of missing people and how suddenly the attack had come, Dean had expected to be swarmed.

He ran ahead, judging the amount of space he had from that one moment of visuals. He stopped then and called again, "Sam!" and again Sam shot out lightening from the melting power.

This time Dean's eyes caught sight of something else. The Colt. Sam had dropped it and the gun was lying only a few feet in front of Dean. It was always a last resort, but they couldn't fucking see and Sam and Sasha seemed too disoriented to easily defeat this demon like they have been able to normally.

Dean dove for the Colt, feeling it in his hands just as the light went out again. Distantly, he heard the girls calling after all of them. They had probably seen the fight as well, illuminated by Sam's powers, and wanted to help. Dean knew he could end this before it would come to that.

"Sam!" he called one last time. It took a moment longer, enough that Dean was holding his breath when sparks finally flew, but it was all Dean needed. Sasha, with his monstrous claws, pushed at the possessed woman just enough to give Dean a clear shot and he took it. The Colt went off with a deafening resonance throughout the cave and struck the woman somewhere in her midsection. She didn't call out, just spasmed with electricity that made the grizzly sight as visible as Sam's sparks and then fell down dead in the dark.

Immediately, all of the lights on their hardhats flickered back on, Sasha and Sam's hats on the floor now from their struggle. But in that same moment the sound of the Colt's gunshot echoing down the corridor they had come from turned suddenly into dangerous, daunting sounding rumblings. It was like a supernatural aftershock, creating an avalanche of rock that began falling down near the entrance and around them in the cavern as well.

The girls scrambled away from their spot by the opening and met the boys in the center of the room, all of them quickly huddling together to shield themselves from the falling rocks. Where they were seemed to be the safest place, safer than where they had come from anyway. Still, Sasha unfurled his wings with a great whoosh of air and blanketed them over the top of the group to better protect them. Dean heard the incubus hiss as debris struck him but already the rumbling was starting to stabilize. A few breathless moments more and it was back to being deathly quiet.

They sat for several minutes, waiting out any possible aftershocks. Slowly, Sasha brought his wings down again and allowed them to fade back into the glamour. As the group sat up from their huddle, it was quite blatant that Sarah stared for a minute at the incubus who although he looked human now had very much given himself away.

"No!" Jo hissed in an angry whisper, moving in a sudden dash towards where they had come from. The entire way was blocked now, by how much fallen rock they couldn't be sure.

Dean took stock of their new surroundings now that they had light again. This seemed to be the central point to the caving system because there were several other passageways that led off different directions. That gave him a little hope that they would be able to find some other way out. Just because they hadn't found another entrance right outside didn't mean there wasn't one further out in the woods somewhere.

Sarah got up and went over to Jo, both of them inspecting what Dean could already tell was a hopeless situation. He looked down at Sam and Sasha who appeared out of breath but only slightly beaten. Sasha had a scratch on his cheek and Sam was moving his fingers like maybe he'd jammed one, but otherwise they looked okay for now. Dean could understand why they fell from the huddle into sitting positions after that fight.

Then Dean remembered the possessed woman—even in the dark with just a few spaced out sparks of light Dean had seen her black eyes, not that the slamming Sam into the wall without touching him part wasn't proof enough, as well as the flickering lights.

He looked at her now, still and lifeless on the ground a few yards away. Moving to her carefully and crouching down, Dean turned her body over to get a look at her. She was older, late 50s maybe, and dressed like she had just been inside enjoying a good read or something before the demon took her. As always Dean mourned having to kill an innocent but he hadn't had a choice.

Plucking her wallet from her pants to see if she matched with any of the missing persons, Dean's heart immediately plummeted to his stomach.

Gloria Wilde.

"God damn it," he cursed, clenching his teeth to keep from biting out his tongue, "Iain…"

"Dean…" filtered over a voice from the other side of the room. Jo's, Dean thought. The cavern made everything sound a little strange.

"It was Iain's mom," Dean ground out as he turned back around, "Why the hell was she…" but Dean quickly trailed off. Sam and Sasha were no longer checking over their wounds and catching their breaths. They were holding their heads as if they were in much more pain than they had been in before. "Hey!" Dean called, rushing to their sides as it seemed the girls had already, "What's up? What's wrong?"

Sam's pained eyes turned to Dean first, up on his knees cringing and gripping his hair tightly as if he might pull all of it out. "Iain's mother…?" Sam repeated, "Possessed?"

"Is this place…a devil's gate?" Sasha suggested, like they were trying to figure out why they were in such pain, thinking that maybe if they did the pain would go away.

Sam shook his head. "Wouldn't do this to us," he said, "Couldn't be that."

"But if it wasn't luring people here to posses them…" Dean started to say. He caught Sarah and Jo's eyes, then Sam and Sasha's. Sasha's eyes were already flashing red and as Dean looked into Sammy's, his little brother's began to turn yellow. "Then…they were already possessed when they got here," Dean finished, "This place wasn't luring humans. It was luring demons. The demons would possess people close to here and then…" And then they would come here. But for what?

Things are not always what they seem to be, Dean.

"What does it do to demons…?" Dean asked the air. There weren't any other bodies in here. The demons that came in here with hosts must have come and gone, taking the bodies with them. But then what had become of them? What was the purpose?

"No…no, no…" Sasha started to chant. Jo was holding onto his shoulder, trying to steady him somehow but he was in too much pain. He pushed her away. "Sam," Sasha said beseechingly, reaching out for Sam and clutching at his arm after a desperate lunge, "You felt it too…didn't you…what was inside her? You felt it!" His eyes, his red eyes shimmered fearfully.

Sam was shaking as Sarah held onto him, but he too pushed the offered help away. He shook his head as he had before, not wanting to believe it. "Oh god…oh god…" he chanted just like Sasha, "There…there wasn't a human soul. She wasn't…possessed…she was replaced. This place…it burned her soul away…" He was like a frightened child, fighting with his own head and whatever was being done to him. Sasha was the same.

It made Dean tremble with fear to hear what Sam had said. This place, whatever it was, Devil's Gate or Hellmouth, lured demons to it so they could bring their possessed bodies and burn away the human soul inside, making the body truly and fully their own. Any demon would be more powerful like that because they would no longer need to expend energy keeping their host's will under foot.

Suddenly, Sasha roared at the ceiling, his fangs glistening and sharp in the light from the others' hardhats, his and Sam's hats being still off to the side on the ground. He back-peddled towards the nearest wall, his black claws scrapping against the stone and his eyes darting out at everyone like he was afraid to stay too close to any of them.

A moment later Sam was doing the same, pushing himself back against an opposing wall. They weren't clutching their heads anymore but their eyes glowed their demon color as Sasha morphed slowly into his incubus self. Dean heard Jo frantically explaining to Sarah that it was okay because Sasha was an incubus, he always looked like that. Sarah had already heard that Sam's eyes sometimes went yellow when he used his powers. But Dean knew this was about more.

Even if what he and Sam had realized was true, that this place was some horrible demon incubator, it couldn't do the same to Sam and Sasha, could it? It couldn't really burn their humanity away.

"No!" Sam screamed when Sarah moved to go near him again, "St-stay away from me. I…I don't want to hurt you. God, I…I can't stop it, you have to stay away."

"Stay away, please," Sasha said mournfully to Dean who had barely been able to move but tried to go to the incubus then, "Please," Sasha begged him, "You have…you have to get away from us."

"Go!" Sam yelled at them, "Find another way out. I…I can't…I can't stop." Sam keeled over onto his side like he was fighting every inch of his body. Sasha did the same, his wings already sprouting from his back again as he clawed and left angry white marks in the stone.

"Go!"

"Run!"

Dean felt frozen in place. This wasn't happening. He should have known. He should have seen it sooner. He had trapped them by firing the Colt. It was his fault. What did it matter if Iain's mother was already soulless and dead, he had still shot her. And now Sam and Sasha were…were what?

"Dean!"

There wasn't time to think. There wasn't time to mourn. The girls were both standing at a loss, frantic as they looked between the two men that were changing and howling in agony, just as Dean was looking between them, wanting to help, knowing he couldn't. He did the only thing possible. He listened. He grabbed Jo and Sarah by their wrists, pulled them against any protest or resistance towards the nearest open corridor, and ran.

tbc...

A/N: And the new longest chapter is! yes, this one, so no complaining! :-) This is all part of a grand master plan, by the way, that won't be fully revealed until much later. And...it may not be entirely Malak's master plan either. ;-) Please review, oh glorious readers! Iain, by the by, is in honor of reader windiain on livejournal who I believe also reads the story here on FF now, because he requested a cameo. How'd you come out? Of course I took liberty with the age. :-) Oh! And go to deviantart and search Castiel Sasha or just hit the website for a pic of the two fighting over Dean my hubby made for me. So Awesome!

Crim