Dakota Elizabeth Winchester

Chapter 39: Salvation Part 1

Dakota walked into the motel room her, her brothers, and her dad were staying in and almost dropped the tray of coffee she was carrying when she saw almost every square inch of the walls covered in information about the demon.

"...Wow." She said setting the coffees down.

"So this is it. This is everything I know.. Look, our whole lives we've been searching for this demon, right? Not a trace, just nothing, until about a year ago. For the first time I picked up a trail." John explained sitting at the kitchen table with Dean pacing the room and Sam sitting across from him.

"That's when I took off." Dean said and their dad nodded.

"Yeah, the demon must have come out of hiding or hibernation or something." John said.

"Do demons hibernate?" Dakota asked as she sat down on the low dresser across from the beds, but her question was overlooked.

"Alright, so what's this trail you found?" Dean asked.

"It starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California. Houses burn down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us." Their dad said.

"Families with infants?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, the night of the kid's six month birthday." John said.

"We were six months old that night?" Dakota asked, she had never really thought about it before.

"Exactly six months." John confirmed.

"So, basically this demon is going after these kids for some reason, same way it came for Kota and me?" Sam asked.

"So, Mom's death, Jessica's death...that's cause of us?" Dakota asked feeling her eyes well up.

"Calm down guys, we don't know that." Dean said.

"Oh really! Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure, Dean!" Sam said.

"For the last time, what happened to them is not your fault." Dean said.

"Yeah, you're right. But it is my problem." Sam yelled.

"No, it's not your problem. It's our problem!" Dean argued

"Will you two knock it off!?" Dakota shouted holding her head as it started pounding.

"Okay, that's enough you three." John said standing up and they all stopped.

"So why's it doing it? What does it want?" Dakota asked not seeing the appeal in going after infants and killing their parents in fires.

"I wish I had more answers, I do. But I've always been one step behind it. Look, I've never gotten there in time to save..." John drifted off and Dakota knew he was thinking about their mom. She reached up and held the ring that was hanging around her neck.

"Alright, so how do we find this thing before it hits again?" Dean asked walking over to look through some papers on the dresser.

"There are signs. It took me a while to see the pattern, but in the days before these fires signs crop up in the area. Cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms...And then I went back and checked and..." John trailed off.

"These things happened in Lawrence." Dean concluded.

Their dad nodded, "The week before your mother died." Then he looked over at Sam, "And in Palo Alto before Jessica. And these signs, they're starting again.

"Where?" Sam and Dakota asked.

"Salvation, Iowa." John answered.

..........