Cherry Pie

Summer Rain

[Rayne]

Blinking hard, I tried to figure out if Astrid was serious. The cool composure that I had grown accustomed to seeing on her face was gone, and in its place was a barely contained panic. When she snapped at us to get moving, Dean and I both jumped out of bed and started throwing all of our belongings into duffel bags even though we still had no idea what was going on. As hunters, we both knew that bad things happened when you hesitated.

Questions should only be asked while you were running way, not before.

"What's this about, Astrid?" I asked as I threw the clothes scattered about the room onto the bed. "We thought you were trying to find a way to kill Tom."

She ran up and started to help Dean shove everything into the bags. "Yeah, well, he kind of found me."

"What do you mean he 'kind of' found you?" Dean growled as he stared up at her.

"I mean that I must've made some inquiries in the wrong places," she replied evenly, not willing to react to Dean's quickly rising anger. "He has his followers posted all over the country. It seems I may have tripped some metaphorical wires."

"How do you know?" I asked.

She paused to give me a look. "Trust me — with my powers, it's not too hard to realize when one of the most powerful demons you have ever encountered is after you."

"After you..." Dean repeated before he suddenly whirled on her. "You mean Tom is coming here? He's coming to get you?"

Astrid did not bother to appear apologetic. "Yes, that's what I said."

His nostrils flared. "Then why the hell are you dragging us into this if you're the one he's after?"

"Because," she said as she somehow fit all the flannels I'd gathered from around the room into the already overflowing bag, "he knows that we're working together. He intends to come here, get rid of me, and speed up his plan of recruiting Rayne to assemble his army."

"Dammit!" Dean swore as he zipped up the last bag. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you. I should have gone with my gut."

"Look, it's not my fault," she said, starting to sound a bit defensive. "I didn't mean for him to find out. And besides, I'm the best chance you have of getting rid of him."

In the midst of all the frenzied chaos, Daniel materialized calmly in the middle of the room. "We have to leave now."

"Yeah," Dean grumbled, slinging the pack over his shoulder, "you're a bit late."

"What do you mean?"

"Astrid already warned us that Tom was on his way," I answered.

Daniel's brow lowered. "I only felt that something was amiss ninety-seven seconds ago."

Astrid offered him a small, apologetic smile. "Maybe its because it's mainly me that he's after."

He paused and then shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He's almost here. We have to go."

After gathering all our stuff, we left the room key in the door and rushed across the parking lot towards the Impala. The only other car in the lot was a black sedan, which I guessed belonged to Astrid. "Yo, angel dude," she said to Daniel. "Put a cover around the three of you to keep Tom blind. I'll stay behind and take care of him."

Daniel nodded.

"Will you be all right?" I asked her.

She grinned. "I'm always all right. It was my bad that he caught me snooping, the least I can do is give you guys a head start. I'll catch up with you once I'm done with him."