Daughter of the Legend: Soul on Fire (#Wattys2018)

Chapter Twenty: Family Don't End With Blood

Stretching out before us, the hallway felt like a looming fate that was yet to be discovered.

"Any luck?" I asked Bentley, glancing at the dead phone in his hand. He sighed. We had been trying to get ahold of Dean for the last ten minutes, and nothing seemed to be working. It had set us both on edge, considering that Dean didn't just go MIA like that.

"We ain't go shit." The subtle quote from Spaceballs made me smile, but unfortunately it wasn't going to help us here. I held felt cramped up in the room and told Bentley we had to go walk or I was going to lose my mind. As we stepped out, an all too familiar chill crept through my spine.

One of the things you learn about being a hunter, hell even being a paranormal investigator, is that you adapt your senses to take in different energies. It's the ability to tell when there is a shift that can save your ass down the line. Another shiver ran down my spine and I looked at Bentley. The scowl on his face told me that he felt it too. Pulling the EMF detector from his pocket, he barely touched the "On" switch and the radar spiked, sending the lights all the way to red. Something was definitely here.

"Do you think-" I was cut off by him placing a finger to his lips. Bentley's eyes were directed at the end of the hallway. I didn't see what he saw, I only caught a glimpse of the shadow flicker past the stairwell. He took a step forward. This was a big mistake. A wave of frigid air threw us to the floor, forcing the air from our lungs. Whatever it was exploded the lights above our heads. The EMF detector slipped out of Bentley's hand. It screeched wildly before dieing leaving us in nearly complete darkness.

With a groan, I propped myself up. Bentley rolled onto his side, coughing from the impact.

"What the shit was that!" He exclaimed, his dark hair falling into his eyes. We clambered to our feet, looking up and down the hallway in surprise. No one had left their rooms. I reached out my hand, barely touching one of the dented brass handles. Heat scorched up my hand, making me recoil with a cry of alarm.

Bentley, who was about to do the same thing I just did stopped, "Don't!" I exclaimed, holding my hand to my chest. "They're hot!" Looking back at the door before me, with its grey wood showing through the peeling red paint, I felt nauseated. I kicked it as hard as I could and yelled "Hello? Is anyone there?" There was no response. "Hello!" I kicked it again, but still there was only silence. Biting my lip I turned back around, "Nothing. Not a sound." I stared down at my hand, the blistering skin was already starting to heal, covering my palm in splotches of red and white. "If they are in there...they can't leave..."

"Then that means that we need to get going."

"What?"

"Rae, we need to get out of here." He took my uninjured hand and pulled me back towards the room, his hand reached for the handle just like I had told him not to. He reared back in pain. Swearing profusely he made a break for the stairwell. "Screw it." His tone was pissed and kind of scared.

"Stop! We can't just leave them here!" I attempted to pull my hand free, but his gripped was too strong. We were halfway down the stairs.

"It's too late Rae! They are on their own."

"Bentley!" He was basically dragging me behind him, we were in the middle of the main floor, standing between two pool tables. He stopped cold and turned to me, the way his jaw was clenched and the haunted look in his eyes made my blood chill.

"I promised your father, Dean freakin' Winchester, that I would keep you safe. So that's what I'm doing."

"We came here to help people! To stop this!"

"We can't lose you!" He shouted, distress, "Not again." I stared stupidly at the man in front of me. The image of him from the hallucination tore through my mind. It was that same look on his face.