Burn It to the Ground

Maura’s POV.

I think Kass and I were both taken by surprise, but we really should have seen this one coming. But I guess once you’ve finished torching a decayed corpse, you really try to tell yourself there won’t be any more surprises for awhile…

In response to John Winchester’s question, I pointed tiredly as my sister- the one who had the demon-creeper dreams- and desperately wished I could just collapse in my bed back at the motel and forget about this mess. Better yet, just pack up and head for anywhere but creepy old Alba, Missouri. I also vaguely wondered what had become of Michael Taylor, your friendly neighborhood man-whore.

“What about it?” Kassia asked, a slightly defensive look passing over her face as she stood there.

I swear, the town was giving me the creeps. I just got the feeling that any second, a shit-load of demons were going to launch themselves out of the shadows with flaming axes…And at the moment, I was tired out I would probably just take it.

So I pinched the bridge of my nose and wandered away from the conversation to lean on my car, hoping that whatever was going down would just hurry up and get on with it so I could take a goddamn nap. I could hear Kassia explaining her dream, John keeping quiet as he listened and the boy trying to talk over each other with their own accounts and explanations over what had happened. I briefly wondered if I could go get buy a coffee without anyone noticing…Probably could, but I did take in to consideration that the last time I went AWOL I ended up finding a man that didn’t want to be found. Then again, I could probably make a living off of that…

I should have been concerned that there was a psychopath demon after my sister, but I was still pretty sure the creepy-ass town had just gotten to her. And who could blame her? But really, this was pretty dramatic for-

“I think you girls need to lay low for awhile.” I was pulled out of my mental ranting by John Winchester’s voice, sounding very sure of himself and authoritive, and smiled a bit knowing how that tone must be eating away at Kass; Really, John Winchester and Andrew Valentine could be related…

Ok never mind, ew, didn’t mean to go there…

“If I had it my way, we’d be in Florida right now.” I put in, casting a hopeful glance around as if everyone was going to agree and we could load up and head for sunny beaches and happiness.

Instead, I was virtually ignored. “So you really think it was…Real…ish?” I still hoped John would say no and reassure my sister that she was just a little crazy, but no. “It could be, so I don’t want to take any chances all of you-” He shot a look at Sam and Dean “-should take off.”

“I couldn’t agree more!” Again, I was ignored. Really, I was going to start taking this personally.

“Whatever’s going on, I’m sure we can handle it.” Sam insisted, in contrast with his brother who looked content to just follow their father’s ever wish. I had to admit, rebellion looked good on Sam- John, however, didn’t look like he agreed and I could so clearly remember similar stand-offs between my sister and our father.

They continued to bicker back and forth like small children and I was starting to get sick of it, so I snuck carefully over to my sister and tapped her on the shoulder, earning a questioning look.

“How mad do you think they would be if we ditched them?” And even though she gave me a disapproving look, I could see her considering it.
“Ok-” I amended. “How mad would you be if I ditched you?”

“Very. If I have to suffer through this, so do you.” She said simply before crossing her arms and turning back to face to arguing group of men. I didn’t know how she did it; she was keeping a straight face while perfectly grown men were trying to talk over each other like they were twelve. It occurred to me that this could go on forever.

_______________________________
Sam’s POV.

I was all for Kassia and Maura getting out of dodge, don’t get me wrong, but we were all adults here and didn’t need to be told what to do and where to go by a paranoid, overbearing middle aged man.

“This is stupid.” My brother finally cut in between our father and I, who were basically arguing in gibberish by that point. I wasn’t entirely sure that he even remembered what the argument was about; he just knew he had to be right.

Dean was right though; it was stupid. We had, all three of us…not counting the girls, been at it for what felt like a lifetime and it wasn’t getting us anywhere. Dad, to my surprise, turned his full attention on Kassia.

“What do you want to do?” He asked her, sounding earnest. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and leveled a stare at him.

“I want you all to stop acting like children and making a big deal over this. Really, you should be embarrassed.” Though she said it very steadily, I couldn’t help but think back to her and Maura trying to kill each other out in the middle of nowhere.

And we were acting like children?

“And I want” She continued “to get to sleep before the sun comes up.” Kassia had a point, I didn’t have a watch on me but it had to be getting pretty close to sunrise and a wave of exhaustion washed over me suddenly. I guess the same thing happened with everyone else, because suddenly the arguing stopped and a weary silence settled over the five of us.

“Ok,” My brother began as he reached up a hand to feel around his face, like he’d forgotten it was there. “I vote we settle this at the motel…tomorrow.” No one said anything, but my father looked anything but defeated. He still thought he’d win this one, that we would run away like cowards and he would be able to get revenge on the demon that killed mom. He was wrong.

The girls were already in their car by the time Dean and dad had finished bickering over who’s car to take and, more importantly, who would drive. It was only half-hearted though, which surprised me; for a split second I thought my brother was actually going to let him drive his precious Impala.

“We’ll come back your damn truck tomorrow.” He grumbled and slid into the drivers seat and I’m sure I pissed dad off by cutting him off halfway to the passengers seat and making him sit in the backseat crowded with takeout containers. Ok, maybe we were acting a little childish. But it’s not like our father let us even consider such things when we were kids.

The car rumbled to life and we slowly pulled out of the parking lot while I considered taking a nap between there and the motel.

We had just started down the road when a pair of bright headlights nearly blinded me from the right as I heard glass shattering and everything went black.