There’s a reason why the family name Winchester is both admired and feared in the hunters community. Every hunter who had the opportunity to meet or go on a hunt with John Winchester would usually end up pointing their own shotgun to the Winchester’s head, accompanied by a slew of choice words as they chase him out, swearing they’d never want to see his face again. But get them talking about a past hunt they’d ever been in, and they’d tell you of the one that involved John; because a hunt with a Winchester was never dull.

And if there was one thing John had instilled in his sons during his lifetime – lets call it imparting the Winchester trade down to the next generation – it was to always stay vigilant. It was a trade that was planted so deep in the very core of his being that sometimes Dean felt like it was something he was born with, sharpened and hardened under his dad’s training.

Always listen to your surrounding, Dean. Always see what’s around you, Dean. Can you smell that, Dean? Feel it before you see it or it’d be too late for you, Dean. Take care of Sammy for me, Dean.

It wasn’t a surprise that the name Dean Winchester was well known among the hunters by the time he turned eighteen (and that young one looks like he’s going to follow in big brother’s footsteps soon enough). Most teens his age would be looking forward to college, already planning for the career path they’d like to lead in life. By the time Dean finished high school (and it was quite amazing that he actually finished it), he had gone on a solo hunt twice, and both times came back with barely a scratch on his body and memories of the things he had hunted and killed served as a constant reminder where the rest of his life was leading.

So Dean wasn’t surprised that it had all came down to this moment.

= =

He had to admit, he had pictured quite a few scenarios how the chain of events might turn out that day. Some of them, the gory ones, included his head being blown off because Howie didn’t say the word ‘demon’ in Latin correctly.

He also pictured a scene where everything failed and the demon flew off (and it was riding a broom, until he realised he had mistaken it for a wizard) to find Kristin and killed her and the unborn baby.

He saw an end where none of them walked out of the house alive (and they’d all haunt the Richardson’s house until some hunters came in and kick their asses) and it was all his fault because he froze, and it was only for a second, but it was enough for the demon to disappear, after leaving behind a demon-like explosive.

What he had never thought would happen, the one that never crossed his mind, was this.

= =

“You know Dean,” Kevin smiled as he rested his arm across Nick’s shoulder, pulling the young man closer to him. “You might as well speak what’s on your mind because it’s so damn loud.”

It was like a flutter of butterfly wings just beneath the water surface, a tiny ripple that would go unnoticed if one was blinking, but it was there, that ‘fuck, I’m caught!’ look on Dean’s face and it pleased him. Dean stole a quick glance over to his brother before looking back at Kevin. He was studying Nick now, even though his eyes never once drifted over to the blonde. It was unfortunate to have Nick be caught in the middle of it but he knew Dean knew it was too late to get Nick out of there. And that, that pleased him even more.

“You could have waited till six, like you planned,” Dean replied.

Kevin laughed. “I would, but it’s no fun waiting when I can read everything you’re planning in that head of yours. Kinda anti-climatic,” Kevin shrugged. “Besides, if I let you have too much time to think, you’d get too many grand ideas.”

Dean smirked. “Come on now, don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little challenge?”

Kevin snorted. “You’re not even worth the challenge, boy.”

“Yet you go through all these length to get to him and Sammy.”

“It was fun.”

“I wouldn’t put it pass you, you sick little bastard,” Dean smirked.

= = =

“Okay, what’s going on?” Nick asked, breaking what felt like a coded conversation between Kevin and Dean.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…” Kevin mused. “Upper brain is kind of slow this one.”

He frowned because while he liked being very close to Kevin, it somehow lost the sense of safety that often came along with it. Besides, Kevin wouldn’t be that cold and insult him openly like that.

“Nick I’m sorry,” Sam said. “But he’s not your brother.”

He thought everyone was going crazy. Of course this is Kevin, who else could it be? He had been sitting beside him for the last hour and everything was fine.

“What do you mean-”

“Nicky, stay calm okay? Everything will be fine,” Brian cut in. There was urgency in his voice, he could tell Brian was struggling to keep that smile on his face but it didn’t matter because his eyes gave him away. Brian was afraid, for him.

“Kevin’s possessed,” Dean claimed. “Probably had been possessed ever since he had that meeting with demon father back at the hotel.”

He shook his head. When were they planning to tell him this! He turned back to Brian, all the time aware that the grip on his shoulder was tightening. Kevin would never hurt him and this person wasn’t Kevin. “And you knew?”

= = =

Four Hours Ago

Brian was content with being research sidekick to Sam Winchester, it was something that he felt he knew, something he could do. It wasn’t that difficult, definitely wasn’t as complicated as attempting to speak old school Latin like Howie was appointed to do. Definitely easier than attempting to make a carbon copy of some ancient protection symbol, free hand, like AJ was doing. So using a laptop and surfing around looking for answers didn’t sound that alien to him. Well, aside from hacking into FEDS website and the likes – those felt kind of alien, but also kind of…exciting. Oh, he was going to hell for sure.

That was, until Sam passed him a handful of printed papers and casually said, “Hey, this is interesting huh? Think we can use that?”

At a glance, it didn’t look interesting, the printed paper didn’t even come with a picture, it was a page filled with words and he silently prayed that it wasn’t a handbook to ‘How To Kill A Demon’ because he wasn’t sure he could grasp all that information in a few hours.

But he started reading.

Try not to react to what you’re reading. Stay calm; everything is under control.

I found the identity to the woman who was killed in Nick’s vision.

Her name’s Angelica Rayden and she’s not dead.

In fact, she’s nowhere near injured.

This is a trap.

Breathe, please.

How do you not react to that?

“Here, you might want to jot down the important stuff,” Sam said, cutting through his shock and pushing a pen to his hand. He caught the young man’s eyes and it said ‘trust me’ and Brian nodded and muttered a soft ‘yeah’ and tried to think. Obviously Sam had offered him a way to communicate without having to reveal what they found out.

Nick lied? It can’t be.

What about the other guys?

“Take a look at this,” Sam said, shifting the laptop slightly in such a way that he was the only one, besides Dean, who could see what was on display. “Hey that’s a good point you highlighted there, can I see?”

Brian nodded and passed the paper to Sam and started reading the article on the screen.

It was breaking news. Reports released about an hour ago. A man was found unconscious inside Kevin’s room. Reports said Kevin wasn’t around and the man was found by Kevin’s assistant and identified as Mr. Dennis Hayman, an interior designer consultant whom Kevin had an appointment with earlier that day.

Mr. Dennis Hayman also looked exactly like the father demon Nick had sketched.

He didn’t read further, already connecting the dots. His head shot right up to find Kevin across the room, looking at him. He thought his heart stopped beating for a second, it wasn’t impossible given the circumstance. Then he returned the smile and prayed that it was convincing enough for now.

“Okay great, I think we can use what you found, plus the ones that I just add,” Sam said as he returned the paper back to him and Brian decided this was an Oscar performance, right here.

Not Nick. Kevin’s possessed.

They know. Howie’s not really learning Latin and AJ’s not really drawing symbols.

This is a trap for me and Nick.

I’m sorry.

Brian didn’t waste any time to jot down his replies. Kevin was walking across the room and had sat himself next to Nick and he never thought he’d ever feel this way but right then, it made him sick.

Don’t be.

Thank you.

What now?

Sam let out a huge sigh and stretched his limbs and even went as far as yawned. “We should start painting the devil’s trap now.”

“Where are you going to do that?” Kevin asked. “I guess my wife won’t be too happy with it but once she finds out it’ll protect her and the baby, she’d be okay with it.”

“I’m thinking the nursery room,” Dean said. “He’ll definitely ask to see the room if he’s going to pretend to decorate it.”

“Can I do it?” AJ volunteered.

Dean nodded. “Dude, be my guest. It’s gonna be a pain on the neck to get that on the ceiling.”

“I don’t mind,” AJ shrugged. “I’m thinking I’m gonna get one done on my shoulder.”

“You mean there’s still space on your body?” Nick joked.

“Shut up Kaos,” AJ rolled his eyes and then turned to Howie. “Dude, accompany me? You can go through your Latin while I make this art piece.”

“You’re just scared,” Howie smiled and then turned to look at Brian. “You know where to get us.”

The moment both AJ and Howie left, Brian felt a little weight on his shoulder lifted. At least he knew both of them would be safe for now.

Dean grabbed a pile of what looked like notes and approached Kevin.

“By the way Kevin, I need to go through some stuff wi-oomph!”

And Dean was on the floor, pieces of paper scattered everywhere. “Hey you okay man?” Nick asked as he got up from his seat.

“I’m all right, I think I tripped on the carpet,” Dean said, already on his knees and picking up scattered papers everywhere, joined by Sam. “Never been in a huge ass house like this, no fancy carpets to trip on.”

“I’ve told Kristin many times how I hate this carpet,” Kevin said, picking a piece of paper on the floor and handing it back to Dean. “I’ve tripped on it a couple of times myself.”

Dean smiled. “Women and carpets, don’t understand them.”

That made Nick giggled and Brian tried for a smirk.

“So uh, I’ve been studying the floor plan to your house and I just need to confirm with you if this one…” Dean fished out a piece of paper from the pile he had in his hands and showed a down-scaled floor plan of the house. “…is the back door?”

Kevin studied the plan while Sam and Brian helped to pick up stray papers and Nick went back to sketching on his pad.

“That’s right,” Kevin confirmed after a few seconds. “Do you think we’d be using that exit?”

Dean thought about this for a while and then shook his head. “Nah. Just want to make sure all exits are secured. We don’t want any surprises.”

= = =

“Cousin, your Hardy Boys stories are very interesting I must say,” the possessed Kevin interrupted. “But I’m afraid I have to stop this interesting story telling right now because I’m really getting very bored!”

“I’m not your cousin!” Brian gritted. He would have yelled but he didn’t think alarming both AJ and Howie when they were far and safe was a good idea.

“Well, it is unfortunate that I’m not gonna use this body for long. This body and good looks could get me very far,” possessed Kevin smirked.

“Oh I don’t think you’re going anywhere buddy boy,” Dean insisted and caught the wide-eyed ‘are you trying to get yourself killed?’ look from Nick, who was visibly shaken being in the position he was in right then.

“Oh I’m going somewhere,” possessed Kevin stressed. “And Nicky and Sammy are coming right along with me.”

Dean laughed and Sam rolled his eyes because really, only Dean would go ahead and mock a friggin’ demon. Nick and Brian had a look on their faces that equalled ‘this dude’s crazy and we’re all going to die!’

“I fail to see the humour in all these Dean.”

“You fail on a lot of things but hey, you’re just stupid like that.”

Possessed Kevin rolled his eyes (and it looked weird on Kevin) and stood up, pulling Nick with him by grabbing the front of his shirt. “I need nothing from you so I’ll just kill you off and call it a day.”

“You’re one cocky son of a bitch you know that?” Dean sighed, as if the whole getting killed declaration didn’t happen. “Fine, go ahead, come get me, kill me, I’m right here.”

“Dean shut up.” Sam said exasperatedly.

Dean frowned, as if not understanding what the heck he had done wrong. Sam rolled his eyes. Nick and Brian were still stuck on ‘dude you’re SO dead’.

“Oh that’s okay Sammy, we’ll let big brother have his last talk,” possessed Kevin mocked.

“Don’t call me Sammy.”

Possessed Kevin nodded his head in understanding. “Okay then, Samuel.” He made a step forward but retraced his step and frowned.

Possessed Kevin looked seriously pissed. “You didn’t.”

Dean grinned. “I didn’t, but Sammy did.”

“How?”

“When I tripped on the carpet and fell,” Dean replied almost too cheerfully. “Sammy over there slipped a devil’s trap under your seat; smart huh?”

“I should’ve read that.” Possessed Kevin gritted.

“Yeah well, next time, try not to reveal too much,” Dean suggested off handed. “It makes your would be victims shut their mind off so you can’t friggin’ read them anymore.”

“You planted those fake visions in our heads, why?” Sam asked, cutting the Possessed Kevin and Dean standoff. Sam really thought that his brother sometimes had a death wish.

“I was going after Nicky either way,” possessed Kevin shrugged. “And then you showed up and hey, why not get 2 for the price of 1, better for me. I was going to go after you soon enough.”

“Why are you going after them?” Brian asked.

“That’s for me to know and for you to keep guessing,” Possessed Kevin snarled.

“Right okay, I don’t really give a damn what your master plans are, you’re here and trapped and frankly your talking is beginning to bore me. Sam, send his ass back to hell!”

And then possessed Kevin began to laugh. It sounded evil and dark and sinister and unKevin.

Then, swiftly, with the grace of a cat, he pulled a blade from his ankle and in seconds, had grabbed a handful of hair and pulled Nick’s head back, the tip of the blade poking dangerously on his neck.

“You’re one cocky son of a bitch, you know that Dean? Didn’t think about this, did you?”

= = =

What he had never thought would happen, the one that never crossed his mind, was being killed by a possessed Kevin. He didn’t want the last thing he saw before he drew his last breath to be the dark evil stare of the one person he had always looked up to.

Yet there he was, shocked by the amount of strength that was locking him in place. This demon might be powerless to kill him with a flick of a finger, but he had a blade on his neck now, and that would work just fine to kill someone off.

“Let him go!” he heard Brian yelled. “Kevin, fight it! Don’t let it kill Nicky! Kevin please!”

Sam and Dean were talking now, they were threatening the demon, but all he could hear was the rush of blood in his ears, the thumping of his heartbeat, of that pain in his stomach. He kept his stare at Brian because he didn’t want to look into Kevin’s eyes and not see him there. Didn’t want to hear Kevin’s voice and not hear him. He wished he could see Howie and AJ for the last time.

And then it happened. A prick of pressure on the neck and nothing else. Huh, he thought it’d hurt more than just a little prick.

He found himself falling but somehow couldn’t gather the strength to reach out and hold on to something. His head made contact with the edge of the coffee table and he knew it should have hurt but he felt nothing.

He was lying on the carpeted floor now and he heard voices yelling, ferocious wind slapped his face and he thought that was odd. Papers were flying everywhere and he tried to find Brian, tried to find a familiar face but he couldn’t see anything, everything was blurry.

Then he heard it. The roar of pain coming from Kevin. He panicked for a little, wondering if Kevin was all right; if Dean had no choice but to kill Kevin. No, he cried, but he wasn’t sure if his lips moved, if he could even talk.

And as suddenly as it had happened, it stopped. No gush of wind, no voices yelling, nothing. But he was still on the floor and the carpet was turning red and he wondered if he had managed to split his skull open from the fall or if the blood came from the slit on his throat.

It didn’t matter though, because now, now he acknowledged the pain and it was everywhere, and it was blinding and he was slipping away.