Archive of Our Own

It was a typical night for Logan and the others. He was sitting at the small table in their motel room, his laptop open in front of him and newspaper articles skewed about across the surface as he researched their latest case. It was just a simple haunting. It shouldn’t take them more than a day to get the job done, but Logan always preferred to be as thorough with his research as possible just in case something went wrong. And something always went wrong.

Kendall sat at the foot of the bed he had claimed as his own, cleaning his gun while Carlos and James sat on the floor in front of the other bed, the rest of their weapons spread out around them. As usual, they were way louder and rowdier than the time of night called for.

Logan sighed and looked over at them. James had Carlos in a headlock and was forcing him into a rather awkward position over his crotch, while Carlos yelled something unintelligible that was probably just a string of profanities as he struggled to get out of James’ hold.

“Hey!” Logan yelled sharply, causing everyone in the room to freeze and look up at him in shock. He cleared his throat, realizing how loud he had been, and exhaled sharply. “Could you guys keep it down, please? You’re giving me a headache…” he said, rubbing his temple to prove his point.

James let Carlos go and the shorter man sat up, straightening his shirt before he turned to punch James in the arm, muttering something under his breath that sounded like ‘Fucker’ before he turned a cheerful smile to Logan.

“You should take a break, man. You’ve been sitting there for hours now.” He picked up a knife and a rag and slowly started to clean it. “Help me clean my knives,” he added, tossing the knife gently in the air. He caught it by the tip and offered the handle out towards Logan with a hopeful smile.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. I’ll help you clean your knives if you help me with research,” he said, and chuckled as Carlos quickly retracted his arm, and his cheerful smile became forced instead.

“Uh, on second thought, I think I got this….”

Logan shook his head, smiling gently, knowing Carlos was going to do that. Carlos avoided any type of research like the plague. He never had the patience or the attention span for it. “That’s what I thought. If I don’t do this, none of you will and you’d most likely get yourselves killed.”

“Carlos is right though,” Kendall said, looking up from his gun. Logan’s attention snapped to him almost immediately. “You should take a break,” he finished and all Logan could do was nod.

“Yeah, okay, I guess…” he agreed, shrugging a little. He saw Carlos and James roll their eyes out of the corner of his eye and cleared his throat. His face flushed with embarrassment, but he ignored them and closed his laptop abruptly. “I’ll go take a walk then,” he said, pushing back from the table before he stood up and grabbed his coat. He slipped it on and headed towards the door.

“Watch out for those witches, Logie,” James called out with a laugh as he opened the door. Carlos joined in and he even heard Kendall chuckle behind him.

He turned back to shoot them all a dirty look. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

James grinned. “Nope,” he said, then shared a look with Carlos before they both burst into laughter once more, falling all over each other in the process.

“Guys, leave him alone,” Kendall spoke up, and Logan might have been grateful for his intervention if the blond wasn’t also laughing as he said it. But at least he was trying to control it, lips pressed together to keep a straight face. “It could’ve happened to any one of us.”

James shook his head, making a valiant attempt at controlling his laughter. “No…no,” he managed to huff out, “Not really…” He stopped to catch his breath and cleared his throat. “If I remember correctly, the ritual called for a,” he stopped to snicker, “virgin sacrifice,” he finished, then immediately threw his head back and resumed laughing.

Logan zipped his jacket with more force than necessary and crossed his arms defensively, his face flushing hot with embarrassment again. That was one of the most humiliating moments of his life. Not to mention the most terrifying. None of them would be laughing if it had happened to them. Because it wasn’t funny to wake up naked and tied up with strange symbols written all over your body. It hadn’t been funny then and it wasn’t funny now, nearly ten years later. “Whatever. Forget you guys,” he said, turning back towards the door and leaving, slamming the door behind him.

He stood outside the motel door for a few moments, looking up at the night sky. He needed new friends, he thought, something that had passed through his mind countless times in the past. A wistful sigh escaped him and he started walking, thinking about how his life had come to this. He could’ve been a doctor by now. He could’ve met a nice girl in school, courted her throughout their college careers, proposed in their senior year of Med School, gotten married after they graduated and gotten a small apartment together. They wouldn’t have much but they’d be happy because they’d have each other. It would’ve been a good life. And he’d almost had it too, once. He had managed to leave his current life, and enrolled in school. He had a year of normalcy before it had all come crashing down and he was thrown back into his old life.

It was for the best really. As much as he dreamed of a better life, he didn’t think he could ever have it. Not anymore. This was the only life for him now. A life that consisted of pulling credit card scams, impersonating federal officers and risking his life on a daily basis saving people that would never know what he had done for them.

All because of Kendall Knight.

There are moments in a person’s life that help shape who that person will become. Some people might say that that moment was when Logan lost both parents at the age of four in a horrible car crash. But they’d be wrong. That was a moment of tragedy and it had changed Logan’s life. But it was meeting Kendall two years later that flipped his entire existence upside down, spun it around and still expected him to see straight.

—

Ten minutes later and Logan already felt a lot better being out in the cool, fresh air. The other guys may give him shit for it, but Kendall always knew what was best for them. James and Carlos knew it, and if Kendall had told either of them that they needed a break they would’ve listened too.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” a voice called out and he spun around quickly, hand reaching for a gun that wasn’t there. He cursed his oversight and stood on edge, ready to bolt if he needed to. The owner of the voice stepped into view, arms crossed, long blonde hair falling over one shoulder, red-tinted lips stretched into a smirk.

Mercedes.

He exhaled sharply, letting himself relax slightly. But only a little. He was still ready to run or yell if he needed to. “Oh, it’s just you,” he muttered, letting his hand fall back to his sides.

Mercedes placed her hands on her hips, looking at him in feigned shock. “Just you? You really know how to make a girl feel special, you know that, Logie?”

Logan’s mouth twitched in annoyance at the use of his nickname. “You’re no girl,” he spat out. His fingers twitched at his side. He didn’t like being unarmed while in the presence of the other being. Supposed ally or not, a demon was still a demon.

She tilted her head to the side as if considering his words. “True. But I still have feelings, ya know,” she said with a wink.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Do you have any news or what?”

Her mouth stiffened into a straight line and she placed her hands on her hips as she went into business mode. It was always kind of disconcerting how she could go from flirty to serious so fast. “I do. But it’ll cost you.”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “What do you want?”

She shrugged carelessly. “Oh, nothing much. Just your soul.”

Logan’s eyes widened and he sputtered. “Wh-what?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m just kidding. I just want a kiss,” she said, puckering her lips slightly.

Logan’s eyes widened again and he took a step back. “No way.”

“Aw, come on, just one kiss. I promise not to bite,” she said, then smiled, lips pulled back to reveal perfect, white teeth.

Logan swallowed and felt a shiver run down his back. “Quit fucking around. What do you really want?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun, you know that?” She sighed again, putting her whole body into it when Logan didn’t respond. “Fine, I can see you’re not in the mood to play so I’ll give you this one for free. But I expect something in return later.”

Now Logan did roll his eyes that time, scoffing lightly. “Whatever, just tell me.”

“The Colt. I found it with a nest of vampires up in Manning, Colorado.”

Logan’s eyes widened and he took a small step forward subconsciously. “Are you sure?”

They’d been searching for the Colt for years. Supposedly, it could kill anything if you had the right bullets. Kendall planned to use it on the demon, Azazel, that Kendall had been obsessed with since it killed his mother and baby sister when he was a boy.

She let out an exasperated sigh, lip curling slightly in distaste. “Of course I’m sure, what do you take me for?”

Logan nodded and spun around excitedly, a smile spreading across his face as he quickly made his way back to the motel room.

“Uh, you’re welcome!” she shouted after him and he raised an arm in acknowledgment before turning the corner. He didn’t bother looking back, knowing that Mercedes was already gone.

—

Mercedes came into his life a few months prior. He and the boys had been looking into a haunting at the local library of some small town up north. He had stupidly gone to investigate on his own because James and Carlos had been teasing him again. They kept saying he wasn’t a real hunter because all he really did was the research. It was such total bullshit and Logan knew that. The research was probably the most important part of what they did. Anyone could go in and burn a few bones, figuring out whose bones to burn was the difficult part.

But they had gotten him riled up and wanting to prove himself so he’d gone in while they were out getting supplies. Of course, things had gone bad because he hadn’t even been sure what kind of spirit he was up against. It ended up being a pissed off librarian that had been murdered for learning a few facts about the mayor that he didn’t want anyone to know.

After being thrown around a bit, Logan was sure he was going to die when Mercedes showed up. “You really know how to pick ‘em, don’t you, boy,” she had said and that was all he remembered before he woke up in his motel room, cleaned and bandaged. But not alone.

“For the smart one, you’re not all that smart, you know that?”

Logan sat up quickly, wincing slightly as pain shot through his side. He clutched at it and looked around urgently for some kind of weapon. “Who are you?”

Mercedes had smiled, eyes flickering black and Logan felt a cold dread sweep over him. “Don’t worry. If I wanted to kill you I’d already have done so,” she said, sensing his unease.

Logan’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you want then?” Demons just didn’t drop by for social visits. They always wanted something, usually to kill either him, or one of the other guys.

Mercedes’ smile had widened just so and she leaned closer to him until their faces were just inches apart. “I want to help.”

Logan swallowed thickly and he leaned away, heart pounding loudly in his chest. “Why?” His voice came out a whisper and he licked his dry lips.

Mercedes had straightened and her smile slid off her face, eyes hard and staring into Logan’s. “Because I know what and who you’re looking for and I want him dead, too.”

—

When Logan entered the motel room, he found James, Carlos and Kendall all laying on one of the beds, watching TV. Kendall sat with his back against the wall, legs stretched out in front him and crossed at the ankle, while James and Carlos were pressed close at the foot of the bed.

They all turned towards him when the door opened. “Well, that was a quick walk,” Kendall said, a small smile on his face.

Logan shifted uncomfortably and busied himself with taking his jacket off. He hung it on the back of the chair at the small table he sat at earlier. “I decided to cut it short,” he said, clearing his throat. He still couldn’t look at the others and kept his eyes focused on the television.

“Why?”

He looked up to see Carlos’ questioning face and then glanced at James and Kendall, both looking at him curiously and he sighed. “I ran into Mercedes.”

Their reactions were instantaneous, all three jumping to their feet. It would’ve been comical in any other circumstance, if they weren’t all yelling at him at once and it didn’t feel like something was trying to pound its way out of his skull, his exaggerated headache from before becoming a very real, painful thing coming from out of nowhere.

He winced and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Guys, stop!” He yelled louder than he intended and they all shut up simultaneously. “I know you guys don’t like her-”

“She’s a demon!”

“But she hasn’t given us false information yet,” he finished, completely ignoring Carlos’ outburst.

“Yet,” Kendall repeated as if that was all the argument he needed and Logan sighed. He didn’t bother arguing, knowing that nothing he said would change their opinion about Mercedes. He barely trusted her himself, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She was being helpful and just because she was a demon didn’t mean her information wasn’t good.

“What did she say?” Kendall’s tone was grudging at best and Logan knew how hard it was for him to ask, how hard it was for Kendall to accept help from Mercedes, a demon, after everything he’d been through. Guilt threatened to smother him but he pushed it down. Guilt wouldn’t help Kendall and it wouldn’t change anything that happened.

“She said she found the Colt.”

Their reactions were loud with disbelief and Logan’s head throbbed in pain. He sucked it up and relayed as quickly as he could what Mercedes had told him before he trudged over to the bed he’d claimed as his own, the one on the far side of the room because Kendall always got the one by the door. He laid down and listened to the others discuss if they should believe Mercedes or not, drifting in and out of sleep.

He vaguely heard when James and Carlos left for their own room, then the lights were off and he heard Kendall getting into bed.

“You okay?” Kendall’s voice drifted over in the darkness and Logan’s heart jumpstarted, pounding loudly in his chest as he startled awake.

“I’m fine,” he said when his heart had calmed down and he could breathe normally again.

“Your headaches are acting up again, aren’t they?”

“I said I’m fine,” he gritted out. He appreciated Kendall’s concern but it always made him feel guilty about the truth about his headaches, all the little lies he’d told that he couldn’t take back now, not after all this time. “I just need some sleep, that’s all.”

Kendall didn’t respond and Logan heard him moving around on his bed, mattress springs squeaking slightly as he shifted around. Eventually he heard Kendall’s breath even out and he concentrated on that, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to ignore the dull throbbing of his head. But no matter what, he couldn’t relax, body tensed and waiting for the inevitable. He hoped it came soon and before they headed off on the road.

—

Logan’s headaches started when he was thirteen years old. They were subtle at first, easily mistaken for a normal headache. But they persisted for days, getting worse as each day wore on. They were also accompanied by nightmares. The same one over and over again that had him waking up gasping for air, clothes sticking to his body with sweat. He huddled under the blankets, hugging his pillow tightly, wishing desperately that he could climb into bed with one of the other boys. But he didn’t want them to tease him and he wouldn’t have wanted to explain what had shaken him up so bad anyway.

It was just a nightmare, he told himself, no matter how real it had seemed and how many times he’d had the exact same one for the past week. They were just dreams. The thought didn’t help him get back to sleep and his headaches only got worse.

And then it happened.

Logan wasn’t there but he didn’t have to be. He’d already seen it what seemed like a hundred times in his dreams. Her name was Jenny Tinkler and she was in a few of Logan’s classes. She had always been exuberant and cheerful if maybe a little accident prone. Reading it in the paper, it all clicked together that the blonde he’d seen falling into the ice had been Jenny.

He felt an almost crushing sense of guilt and regret. If only he’d made the connection sooner, he might have been able to save her. If he hadn’t spent so much energy convincing himself that it was just a dream, he might have been able to warn her.

But it was ridiculous. It was just a coincidence. It had to be. There was no way he’d been dreaming of Jenny dying weeks before it actually happened. He shook his head. “Stupid,” he muttered and convinced himself that it wasn’t real. Dreams were just dreams and what happened was tragic but there was nothing he could’ve done about it.

—

Logan woke with a start, eyes snapping open as he gasped for air. The sun shone in through the thin curtains and he blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted. He glanced over and noticed that Kendall’s bed was empty, sheets thrown and rumpled like he’d gotten up quickly. He frowned slightly and sat up, raking a hand through his hair. He was relieved to find that his headache from the night before had lessened to a dull throb behind his eyes. It would probably get worse as the day went on but for now, it was a small mercy that he wasn’t going to complain about.

As he slipped out of bed, he tried to remember his dream but there was nothing, just a feeling of panic that had his heart racing. He grabbed a change of clothes and his bag of toiletries and took a quick shower.

When he got out, the others were sitting around the room. “Morning,” he said, sending them all a wan smile. They all chorused back a reply and Logan felt a subtle tension in the air. “What’s up?”

“Camille called this morning,” Kendall said and Logan’s brows rose slightly. They didn’t hear from Camille all that much anymore. Logan couldn’t even remember the last time he’d spoken to Camille. She kept an ear and eye out for any information on the Yellow-Eyed Demon and the Colt for them but otherwise kept to herself nowadays. He worried about her but any time he tried to call she was always preoccupied and well, he had his own issues to worry about.

“How is she?”

Kendall shrugged. “She says she’s fine, but you know how she is now after…” Kendall trailed off and swallowed thickly.

Logan nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I know,” he quickly said so Kendall didn’t have to continue. It’d been years but it was still a sensitive topic and Logan’s chest ached at the thought. He glanced at Carlos and James and saw them both looking down solemnly. No, they were never going to be okay talking about that.

Kendall closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “She had some information for us, though,” he continued brusquely and Logan politely ignored the way his voice cracked slightly.

“About what?”

“The Colt.”

Logan blinked as he shuffled across the room, shoving his dirty clothes into his duffle. “What did she say?”

“She said she found it in Idaho. Not Colorado.”

Logan stiffened slightly before he sighed, shoulders sagging. “So what are we going to do?”

“Go to Idaho, obviously.”

Logan spun around to face James. “And what? Just ignore Mercedes?“

James narrowed his eyes at Logan. “Why do you trust her so much?”

Logan refused to back down and stared steadily back. “I don’t. I don’t,” he repeated when he saw the looks the others gave him. “But she saved my life and she’s given us good information in the past. We should at least look into both places.”

There was a tense silence then Kendall sighed. “Logan’s right, you guys. It’d be stupid not to look into every possibility.”

“So, then what?” All three turned toward Kendall instinctively at Carlos’ question and waited as he thought about it.

“We go to Gustavo’s and regroup there,” Kendall eventually said, then looked around at each of them to see their reaction.

Carlos immediately let out an excited “Yeah!” almost before Kendall had stopped talking and Logan couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. He knew how much Carlos had been missing Kelly and he couldn’t suppress his own growing excitement. It had been months since they’d see either Gustavo or Kelly and if ever there was a place that felt like home, it was with them.

“But what about the case here?” Logan suddenly asked, glancing down at the table that was still covered in newspapers.

Kendall blinked a little in surprise. “I already called someone else to come take care of it. This is more important.”

“Oh, okay,” Logan said, nodding slightly.

“Alright then,” Kendall said with a small grin, and clapped his hands together. “That’s the plan. Grab your stuff and we’ll stop to get breakfast before we head off!”

——

Then
When they were nine, Kendall dragged Logan to the park a couple of blocks down from the orphanage. He didn’t stop until they were beneath a small cluster of trees, sunlight shining down through the leaves, making everything green and golden.

“What are you doing, Kendall?” Logan had asked, nervous laughter in his voice. Something about the way the other boy was acting had him feeling on edge. He’d hardly said anything, barely even smiled, the entire day. He watched Kendall inspect their surroundings and his stomach clenched tightly with nerves.

When Kendall apparently found everything to his satisfaction, he walked back to him. “Do you trust me, Logan?” he had asked instead of answering Logan’s question. His face was so serious. Too serious for such a young boy to bear. Logan wanted to laugh it off. Say, “Duh, you’re my best friend,” but all he could do was jerkily nod his head and stutter out a quiet, “Y-yeah, of course.”

Kendall had smiled then, a small upturn at the corner of his mouth. The beginnings of a smirk if anything. The shadows receded from his eyes somewhat and he all but sighed out his relief, the tension draining from his young body. He held out his hand towards Logan, palm up. “Give me your hand.”

Logan didn’t hesitate. He had his hand half-way towards Kendall’s before the boy had even started speaking. He laid his palm down against Kendall’s and a rush of warmth spread throughout his body at the contact. He watched, breath held, as Kendall slowly turned his hand over. Something big was about to happen. He could feel it deep in his bones. Everything was about to change between them.

Time slowed, there was a glint of light and then everything sped up as a sharp pain bloomed across his palm and a bright splash of red sprang from it. He cried out in both surprise and pain and jerked his hand back, cradling it to his chest. He looked at Kendall wide-eyed, tears forming at the corners. Warmth gushed from the small gash on his palm and he didn’t care about the fact that he was ruining one of his favorite shirts and he was going to have to explain it to the Sisters and he was a horrible liar so they wouldn’t believe him and he’d get into even more trouble. The only thing he could think about was that Kendall had hurt him, after he had just told him he trusted him.

‘Why’d you do that?’ he wanted to ask, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ But the words died in his throat as he watched Kendall turn the knife, still dripping with his blood, to his own palm and cut across it, his bottom lip caught between his teeth and the only thing he could say was, “Kendall, that’s really not sanitary.”

Kendall looked up and his grin was more grimace than anything else. “Doesn’t matter,” he said, dropping the knife to the ground. He stared at the wound he’d just inflicted upon himself in fascination before he reached for Logan’s, who immediately pulled back out of reach, still cradling his arm close to his chest. Confusion marred Kendall’s face and he reached for Logan again, this time grabbing him at the wrist and pulling.

“Give me your hand,” he said, echoing his words from a few minutes earlier. “Before it stops bleeding.” He paused, looking at Logan searchingly, before adding in an almost desperate plea, “You said you trusted me.” There was an edge of panic to his tone that Logan couldn’t resist and against his better judgment, he hesitantly allowed Kendall to take his hand.

Kendall clasped his hand around Logan’s, causing pain to shoot up his arm from the contact. He tried to pull back, but Kendall wrapped his other hand on the back of his and pressed against it, squashing his palm tighter against Kendall’s. “You gotta make sure the blood mixes,” Kendall muttered, wiggling their palms together. They both hissed in pain at the sting of the movement, and then it all clicked for Logan and he felt stupid for not realizing sooner.

Kendall was making them brothers.

Blood brothers.

With that realization, he wrapped his fingers around Kendall’s hand tightly and looked up into the other’s face. Kendall’s grin was blinding in its exuberance and Logan returned it with one of his own.

“Kendall…”

“We’re brothers now,” Kendall said, still holding Logan’s hand in both of his and he felt a buzz skimmer across his skin, “and we’ll always be there for each other. No matter what.”

Logan nodded, glancing down at their hands, “No matter what,” he echoed, barely able to get the words past the lump in his throat. He didn’t know how long they stood like that, but by the time they let go of each other’s hand, their skin was pasted together with sticky, almost dried blood. He looked at his palm, watching the blood flow anew before glancing at Kendall doing the same.

“Do you think it’ll leave a scar?” the blond asked, hope filling his words that Logan couldn’t help but laugh and roll his eyes a bit.

“I don’t know. But we should go get them cleaned before they get infected.” He stopped as a thought occurred to him. “Where’d you get that knife anyway?”

Kendall blinked before looking away sheepishly. “Uh, I found it.”

Logan’s eyes widened in shock. “Kendall!” he exclaimed in despair.

“What? I cleaned it,” Kendall said, his shoulders hunched up defensively.

“With hot water and antibacterial soap?”

Kendall nodded. “Yes,” he said with a proud grin on his face and Logan relaxed and smiled back.

“Good.” He watched Kendall reach into his pocket and pull out a wad of tissues.

“Here,” he said, handing them to Logan, who pressed them against his palm and closed his fingers around them. “See, I thought of everything,” the boy said smugly, pressing a wad of tissues to his own palm.

“Yeah, everything except for asking me, you stupid!” Logan exclaimed, pushing him with his uninjured hand, but he was grinning from ear to ear, grinning even wider as he watched Kendall stumble backward with a look of surprise on his face. “You can’t just force people to be your brother, Kendall. What if I didn’t want to?”

Kendall’s eyes widened further, as if the thought hadn’t even come to mind. “Didn’t you?” Fear and shame started to creep into his large eyes and Logan quickly shook his head, his grin fading somewhat.

“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that you’re supposed to ask permission first. It’s supposed to be something both people are ready and willing to do…”

“Oh…” Kendall looked down in shame. “I’m sorry…”

Logan shook his head again, smiling reassuringly at the other boy. “It’s okay. I’m not mad or anything.”

Kendall’s face twisted with a frown, but he nodded reluctantly. “I’ll give you my pudding cup tonight after dinner, okay?”

Logan laughed and nodded back. “Okay,” he repeated and reflexively smiled when Kendall did.

“Cool. Come on, I’ll race you back home!” he said loudly, nudging Logan in the shoulder before breaking into a run.

Logan blinked. "Wha-! Hey! Wait for me! You cheater!” he yelled after his best friend, and now brother, as he took off after him.

Kendall ended up giving him his pudding cup for the rest of the week.

——

Now
Kendall almost always drove. Logan drove when Kendall was tired or hurt or when they split up, which didn’t happen that often but did happen when they needed to. James and Carlos never drove. James because he preferred to sit in the passenger seat and control the radio and Carlos because he’d had one too many near-accidents and was permanently banned to the backseat for the safety of everyone.

By the time they’d sat down for breakfast, the dull ache behind Logan’s eyes had progressed to a full blown headache. He hadn’t said anything, just downed a few aspirin when the others weren’t looking and quietly climbed into the back seat with Carlos.

“You okay, Logan?”

Logan jumped slightly, eyes snapping open as he sat up quickly. They’d been on the road a couple hours and Logan had been doing his best to block out the music blasting from the speakers, head tilted back against the seat. He bit back a groan at the sudden movement and he clutched at his thighs as he tried to grin at Carlos. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Carlos sounded worried and Logan couldn’t help but feel guilty. Carlos was always so worried about everybody, Logan was surprised he’d made it this far with their lifestyle. Someone as soft-hearted as Carlos surely should have gone crazy by now. But there he was, warm and solid and ready with a quick smile whenever it was needed.

“Yeah, just a headache.” The smile on his face felt more like a grimace and the worried look in Carlos’ eyes only deepened.

Suddenly the loud music coming from the speakers died out and James was turning around in his seat, looking back at him. He looked both annoyed and apologetic, brows furrowed slightly. “You hungry?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head gently, then grimaced. Even that small movement was excruciating.

“Is it the same one from last night?”

Logan’s attention swung over to Kendall and he caught his eye in the rear-view mirror. He was reluctant to answer but he could see that Kendall already knew. “Kinda…”

“Have you taken anything for it?”

“Yeah, at the diner.”

“That was a few hours ago…”

“I don’t think taking any more will help.”

Kendall let out a thoughtful “Hmm,” then silence fell in the car. Logan let out a tiny sigh and leaned his head back again, closing his eyes tightly against the pounding in his skull. Carlos reached over and grabbed Logan’s hand, thumb pressing against the fleshy part between thumb and forefinger. Logan’s mouth twitched slightly as he tried to relax. It wouldn't do much good against the pain but he appreciated the fact that Carlos was trying.

Eventually Carlos ended up just running the pad of his thumb along Logan’s palm, back and forth, over the faint scar, almost invisible now, there. A scar that each man in the car had. The corners of his mouth turned up as he remembered the day Kendall came to him, biting his bottom lip and one of the few times Logan had ever thought of Kendall and nervous at the same time.

—

“What do you-?” Kendall stopped abruptly and took a deep breath. Logan’s attention was immediately on the blond boy sitting at the foot of his bed and he set his book aside.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking…about James and Carlos.”

“What about them?” They’d hadn’t known either boy for very long. Less than a year, realy. They’d arrived within months of each other. First Carlos, who had been drawn to Kendall like a moth to a flame. James came quietly, head held down. Selective mutism, Logan had heard the adults say. Carlos immediately took James under his wing and talked enough for the both of them.

Kendall looked down and Logan followed the movement, noticing the way Kendall was rubbing his palm with his thumb. Back and forth, back and forth. Logan knew the cut was still healing and the friction would only agitate it. His own palm itched just watching Kendall.

“I was thinking about asking them if they wanted to be one of us?”

“Us?”

Kendall ducked his head and peeked up at Logan through his fringe of blond hair. “Brothers.”

“Oh…”

“I won’t if you don’t want to.”

Logan hesitated. He couldn’t deny that he was jealous that Kendall wanted to invite the other two boys into what Logan had thought of as a special bond between him and Kendall. But at the same time, it made sense. They had both been drawn to Kendall and Logan could tell that Kendall liked having people look up to him, someone to care for and there was no way Logan could deny Kendall that.

Carlos was loud and obnoxious, always asking Logan what he was reading then loudly exclaiming that it was boring before Logan even got half a sentence out in explanation. He liked to climb into Logan’s bed in the middle of the night despite the fact that they were both almost ten and too old to be sharing. But Logan couldn’t find it in himself to really dislike him, not when Carlos laughed in the bright light of the day and all Logan could think about was the way Carlos had burrowed into his side the night before, body shaking and holding back soft whimpers.

Logan wasn’t quite as close to James as Carlos was. It was hard when James was so quiet. He never spoke, hardly made any noises at all. But Logan heard him crying softly late at night and when he smiled, Logan’s chest constricted in a way he didn’t quite know how to explain.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

—

Logan’s nose started to bleed while they stopped for lunch. He was in the bathroom, alone thankfully, staring at his reflection when the warm trickle of liquid started. “Fuck,” he muttered and reached up, swiping the length of his finger across his upper lip. He rapidly turned the water on and washed it away before he grabbed several paper towels and pressed them against his nose.

He leaned back against the sink, shoulders slumping. He hated it. He hated the headaches, he hated the nosebleeds, but most of all he hated having no one to talk to about it. He had kept it a secret for so long, he didn’t think the others would ever forgive him. The fear of rejection had kept him quiet at first. He knew how much the others hated anything related to the supernatural, a child-like hatred that knew no reason. If it wasn’t normal and human, then it was bad. The others had become an integral part of his life that he hadn’t been able to risk losing. They were the only family he had and he couldn’t lose them.

Over the years, it just became a habit to keep quiet about it. There was still that fear of outright rejection but he knew the others were older, more mature and would be able to see reason, would understand that there wasn’t anything wrong with him. But would they understand the years of lies and betrayal? Would Kendall be able to forgive him for knowing about Jo but not telling him about it? Would they be able to understand that no matter what happened, they wouldn’t be able to change anything about his visions?

He knew them. He knew they would want to change something, make a difference and would become frustrated when they couldn’t. It was pointless to tell them. It was better to just keep quiet, let them worry about the headaches and nosebleeds and silently nudge them in the right direction when he could without telling them how he knew what to do.

There was a reason he was the researcher of the group, after all. And it wasn’t just because he was the only one with the patience for it and a thirst for knowledge.

He let out a sigh and threw the bloodied paper towels away. He quickly washed his face and hands of any evidence that it ever happened before he walked back out to join the others. He sat down next to Carlos and across from James with a weary smile.

Carlos leaned over and bumped his shoulder against Logan’s. “You okay?”

Logan nodded. “Yeah, fine,” he said, nudging Carlos back with a small smile. He looked around and noticed the lack of menus. “Have you guys ordered already?”

“We got you a cheeseburger and fries,” James said with a nod.

“And a diet coke,” Carlos piped in, grinning at Logan.

Logan chuckled lightly. “Thanks.”

“How’s your headache?”

Logan turned to Kendall, who was watching him intently, a worried look in his eyes. “It’s fine,” he said with another small smile. He was horrible at telling big lies, but the little ones like this came easily. He’d had years of practice smiling through the pain, ones genuine enough to convince even Kendall, who knew Logan so well he could see through most of his bullshit.

Even now, Logan could see that Kendall didn’t really believe him at first, eyes narrowed as he studied him, but he eventually nodded and relaxed back in the seat. “Good.”

Soon, their food arrived and the conversation turned to their travel plans. They should be able to make it to Gustavo’s by the end of the day since they weren’t that far from L.A. That is, if they didn’t get sidetracked by anything, which knowing them was more than likely going to happen. Logan only listened with half an ear, eating half-heartedly. He didn’t have much of an appetite and pretended not to notice when James and Carlos started to pick fries off his plate.

—

They ended up having to stop twice so he could be sick on the side of the road. Carlos rubbed his back soothingly as he dry heaved, muscles in his neck straining as his body tried to expel something. But there was nothing left in his stomach, whatever little he had eaten long gone and all he could do was cough and choke, his body shaking slightly.

“Maybe we should go to a hospital or something,” Carlos said worriedly beside him.

Logan shook his head and waited until he could breathe again. “No. I’m fine,” he gasped out, and straightened. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand then grimaced slightly when he realized what he’d done.

“You’re obviously not, Logan,” Kendall said, crossing his arms.

“It was probably just something I ate,” Logan said, the excuse hanging false in the air. A heavy silence fell between them where Logan avoided all three pairs of eyes focused on him and tried not to feel guilty at the worry he knew they were all projecting at him. Even still, no one mentioned that he’d hardly touched his lunch and had skipped out on breakfast entirely that morning.

“Let’s just go, okay. We’re almost to Gustavo’s anyway,” he said, glancing around at them. He relaxed slightly when they all nodded reluctantly and they all piled back into the car.

Logan settled into the backseat, arms crossed and looked out at the passing scenery, trying to focus on anything but the pounding in his skull. Before he knew it, he drifted off to sleep. He woke up to hands grabbing and tugging at him. He jolted, arms flailing slightly in panic before he realized that it was just James.

“Dude, watch the face!”

Logan blinked up at him then relaxed, letting out a breath. “What the hell, James?”

“We’re here. You wouldn’t wake up so I was just gonna carry you inside.”

“Oh, uh, thanks, but I think I can make it on my own.”

James rolled his eyes and let him go, stepping away from the car so Logan could get out. Logan stretched once he was out of the car, letting out a small groan. He was relieved to find that his headache had receded while he slept, thankfully. He was starting to worry about what kind of vision was coming and if he was really honest with himself, he’d admit he was scared to find out. This one felt different than the others. Bigger. Stronger. He didn’t want to find out what was coming through it.

James nudged him gently, distracting him from his thoughts, before he turned around to head into the house. Mansion, really. Because Gustavo had once been some kind of big music producer before he became a hunter. Gustavo never talked about what happened and Kelly wasn’t very forthcoming with information either, so it was still a mystery to Logan, even after all these years.

—

Logan woke up with a groan, eyes squeezed tightly against the light coming in from the open window. He lifted a hand to cover his eyes and rolled over, pulling the blankets up over his head. His head was killing him, probably quite literally too. He let out another groan, then sighed. There was no way he was going back to sleep now. He couldn’t believe he had managed it at all. He honestly didn’t remember going to sleep the night before at all. Hell, he didn’t even remember getting into bed.

He sat up slowly, looking around for his bag. He found it on the dresser across the room and sighed. He forced himself to his feet and shuffled over to grab the bottle of aspirin he kept in there. He swallowed two dry before he pulled out a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom.

By the time he walked down to the kitchen, the others were already gathered around the kitchen table with Kelly and Gustavo. He shuffled over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup, leaning against the counter as he listened to the conversation. Apparently the others had already told Gustavo and Kelly about their predicament and Logan tried not to feel annoyed that they didn’t wait until he was up to start discussing it.

“Why don’t you boys split up? Two of you go to Idaho. The others to Colorado.”

Logan blinked and stared at Kelly dumbfounded. He’d thought of that too but had immediately pushed it aside. The thought of splitting up just didn’t sit well with him. It wasn’t something they did often and never for something big like this. Breaking off into pairs to get rid of a ghost, two boys going to find and dig up the bones while the other two distract was one thing, but not like this. He turned to see similar expressions on the others’ faces.

“I guess that’s not a bad idea,” Logan said reluctantly, and saw her roll her eyes at him out of the corner of his eye. “James can come with me to Colorado and Kendall and Carlos can go check out Camille’s lead.”

“What? I don’t want to go with Kendall!”

“Whoa, hey now…”

Carlos turned towards Kendall sheepishly. “I mean, no offense, Kendall. But I want to go with Logan.”

And Logan knew exactly why Carlos wanted to go with him. Vampires. Whenever vampires were involved, Carlos lost what little sense he usually had, blinded by his need to avenge the death of his family by taking out as many of them as he could. And Logan really didn’t need that when he was looking for something as important as the Colt.

“No, Carlos. I think it’s better if you go with Kendall this time,” Logan said, then shot a look towards Kendall.

Kendall nodded back and placed his hand on Carlos’ shoulder, cutting off his protest. “Come on, Carlos. It’ll be fun. Just me and you, we won’t have to listen to James’ horrible music.” He ignored James indignant protest and continued on. "I’ll even let you drive,” he finished with a grin.

Carlos looked like he wanted to protest further but Kendall just looked at him, doing that thing with his eyebrows that could melt even the coldest of hearts. Logan had even seen him use them on Gustavo once. Carlos didn’t stand a chance against him.

Carlos seemed to deflate under Kendall’s gaze. “Okay,” he muttered petulantly. Kendall only grinned triumphantly and wrapped an arm around Carlos’ shoulder, tugging him close and Logan saw Carlos reluctantly smile into Kendall’s shirt.

—

Over breakfast Kendall suggested they take a day off before they left and the others quickly agreed. It would be nice to be able to relax, do something normal like watch a movie or play video games. It would also be nice to spend a few hours away from each other. Gustavo’s house was big enough for them to spend the day there and not actually bump into anyone unless they were trying.

Logan decided to search Gustavo’s library for anything related to vampires before he retreated back to his room. Despite their years of hunting, they’d never actually come across any vampires. And if it weren’t for Carlos, Logan wouldn’t even believe that they even existed. After a few hours of reading, he hadn’t learned much. A lot of what he read was the same thing over and over again. He did learn how to kill them, what weakened them and that most of the vampire lore he knew from movies was complete bullshit. It wasn’t much but it’d have to be enough.

Around mid-afternoon, he could barely see straight, head pounding mercilessly. He stacked the books to one side and pushed away from the desk. He swallowed some more aspirin dry then crawled into bed. He fell asleep almost instantly and woke with a start to someone knocking loudly on the door. He sat up quickly and looked around wildly, heart hammering in his chest.

“Logan! Dinner!” Carlos yelled through the door.

Logan sat there for a moment before what was happening caught up with him. He groaned softly and fell back onto the bed, burying his face into his pillow. “Go ‘way,” he mumbled.

“Hurry up, Logan, Kelly says we can’t eat until you’re there and I’m hungry!”

Logan rolled over onto his back and sighed heavily. “Okay, okay, I’m coming,” he said, raising his voice slightly so that Carlos could hear him. He listened as Carlos walked away from the door and stared up at the ceiling. He wasn’t really hungry but he knew the others wouldn’t leave him alone unless he went down.

With a groan, he rolled out of bed, quickly changing out of his wrinkled shirt before he headed down.

—

Over dinner they discussed their plans for the next day. Gustavo agreed to let them borrow one of his vehicles-. a jeep that the boys had grown fond of over the years. Logan didn’t really have an appetite but he forced some food down to keep the others from worrying about him. He noticed the way they sent him side glances throughout the meal and tried not to feel annoyed about it. They were just looking out for him and he appreciated it. He really did.

He ate as much as he could and then excused himself, telling the others he wanted to do as much research as he could before they had to leave. It wasn’t a lie. He still had a few books to look through. He didn’t have much hope of getting any new information about vampires but it didn’t hurt to look.

“Do you need any help?” Kendall asked, already pushing his chair away from the table.

“Nah, I’m good,” Logan said with a small shake of his head.

Kendall looked at him uncertainly before giving a small nod and sitting back down.

When he got back to his room, he glanced at the books stacked on the desk briefly before looking over at his bed, blankets and pillows askew. He let out a sigh and trudged over to the desk to grab a book he hadn’t looked through yet. He flipped through the pages of a few before he decided on one that looked promising.

He was on his way to his bed to lay down and read when there was a soft knock on the bedroom door. He stopped in his tracks and turned towards it just as Carlos was sticking his head in.

“Hey, Logan,” Carlos said as he slipped in through the small opening and closed the door behind him.

Logan smiled wanly. “Hey, man, what’s up?”

Carlos shook his head and walked further into the room. “I wanted to talk to you….”

“About?”

“Uh, well…I was thinking….” Carlos started, trailing off softly as he sat at the foot of Logan’s bed.

“Oh no,” Logan deadpanned, walking over to sit next to Carlos.

Carlos chuckled softly and rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” he said and reached over to punch Logan gently on the arm.

Logan grinned slightly. “Okay, so tell me what you were thinking about.”

Carlos took a small breath, turning towards Logan. “I want to go with you,” he said in a rush, exhaling quickly.

Logan should have seen it coming. Not in any kind of psychic way but in the Logan had known Carlos for over ten years and should be able to predict his every move by now kind of way. He sighed and reached up to rub at his temple. “Carlos, we already talked about this.”

“No, we didn’t! You and Kendall just decided and I didn’t get a say in it at all.”

Logan shook his head. “And you agreed!”

“Only because Kendall did that thing with his eyebrows!” Carlos exclaimed, reaching up to waggle his fingers by his own brows. “You know I can’t say no to him when he does that thing.”

Logan let out a small laugh before he quickly composed himself, frowning at Carlos. “You’re still not going with me.”

“Why not?” Carlos asked, sounding angry and sad all at once.

“You know why!” Logan said, then took a deep breath to calm down. “You know how you get when vampires are involved. You lose your focus and we can’t afford you doing that. Not right now. This is too important.”

Carlos looked down, lips pressed tightly together and Logan could only guess what he was thinking. “Look, I promise you, after this is all over we’ll go after all the vampires you want, okay?”

Carlos sighed and nodded. “Okay….” he said, shoulder slumping in dejection.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, placing his hand on Carlos’ shoulder and squeezing gently.

Carlos shrugged him off and quickly got to his feet. “Yeah, whatever,” he muttered and quickly left the room, leaving Logan alone with his guilt. Logan always felt bad when denying Carlos something because it was always so hard to refuse him anything, but this was one thing that he just couldn’t give to Carlos.

—

They got ready to leave early the next morning, packing their things quickly before heading down to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. Logan was the last to make it down and when he walked into the kitchen, Carlos grabbed his toast and coffee and walked right out.

Logan watched him leave before turning toward James and Kendall. “Is he still mad at me?” He shouldn’t have been surprised, but he had hoped Carlos would be over it by the morning.

Kendall nodded, reaching for his cup of coffee. “A little bit. But he’ll be okay. You know Carlos, he’ll get over it by the end of the day.”

Logan sighed and nodded, reaching up to rub at his temple. He really wasn’t surprised that Carlos was upset about not coming along with Logan. He felt bad but he tried not to let it bother him. Kendall was right, Carlos couldn’t stay mad at them for long.

“Another headache?”

Logan quickly let his hand drop to his side and shrugged. “It’s just stress or something. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Kendall hummed softly in acknowledgment. Logan could feel Kendall watching him as he poured himself some coffee. “Is there any toast left?”

“Here,” James said, pushing the plate that was in front of him towards Logan. He brushed his hands together to get rid of any remaining crumbs and stood up, stretching slightly. “I’m going to go put our things in the back of the jeep.”

Logan nodded. “Thanks,” he said and pulled the plate of toast closer. He sat down in the chair James had just vacated and slumped in the seat slightly.

“You okay?”

Logan glanced up at Kendall and tried to smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Kendall didn’t look convinced. “You look like shit. You sure you’re okay to do this?”

“I said I’m fine, Kendall.”

Kendall sighed and sat back. “Sure you are,” he said and got up. He squeezed Logan’s shoulder briefly as he passed behind him. “Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

“Yes, mom,” Logan said with a sigh. Kendall chuckled behind him and Logan heard him place his cup in the sink before he left the kitchen. Logan sighed again and tore a piece of toast in half. He took two bites before he realized he wasn’t hungry and pushed away from the table. He quickly finished his coffee, ignoring the way it burned his tongue and throat, and hurried to find James so they could leave.

—

After saying goodbye to Gustavo and Kelly, Logan and the others gathered around in the front. Carlos was still giving him the silent treatment and Logan didn’t want to leave things between them like that.

He pulled Carlos to the side as Kendall and James put the last of their things in their respective vehicles. "Carlos,” Logan began but when Carlos didn’t look at him, just kept his gaze fixed over Logan’s shoulder, he let out a heavy sigh. “Look, I’m sorry.”

Carlos finally looked at him. “Sorry enough to let me go with you?”

Logan sighed. “Come on, Carlos, I already told you why I don’t want you coming with me. I need someone that can keep their head straight.”

Carlos’ frowned. “You don’t think I can control my emotions?”

“When it comes to vampires? No, I don’t,” Logan said bluntly and crossed his arms.

Carlos’ expression hardened and he turned away without another word. Logan sighed and watched him walk away back towards Kendall and the car. Kendall placed a hand on Carlos’ shoulder, squeezing gently before he glanced over at Logan. He gave Logan a sympathetic look and shrugged lightly at him.

Logan sighed and looked away. If Carlos wanted to act like a child, then that was his choice. He wasn’t going to let it bother him anymore. That’s what he tried to tell himself anyway. He still felt guilty about it. He had valid reasons for his decision but he still didn’t like hurting Carlos.

After a moment, Logan jumped when James honked the horn. Logan glanced over at him in surprise and found James sitting in the passenger side seat already, an impatient look on his face.

Logan sent him a dirty look and patted his pockets to make sure he had the key before he walked over to the driver side door, glaring at James through the window. “What the hell, James?”

James just made an impatient gesture at Logan. “Just come on, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get there.”

Logan grumbled and climbed into the car.

——

It took about an hour before Logan noticed something was wrong. James wasn’t talking, or singing along to the radio, or any of the other annoying things he did when they were on the road.

“You alright?” Logan asked, keeping his gaze on the road. When James didn’t respond, he chanced a glance over at him.

James was looking out the window, arms crossed. Logan’s brows furrowed in confusion, wondering what he’d done to annoy or piss James off since they left. James had been fine that morning, smiling, and had even helped Logan put his bag in the back of the jeep. But still, he asked, “Are you mad at me or something?”

James was silent for a few seconds before he let out a heavy sigh and turned his body towards Logan. “On behalf of Carlos, I’m not speaking to you,” he said quickly and then fell silent once more.

Logan blinked rapidly as he tried to process what James had said. He let out a bemused huff of laughter. “Are you- Are you serious?”

James remained silent and Logan glanced over at him once more. He was slumped over in his seat, keeping his gaze firmly out the window.

“James,” he tried, but James didn’t respond, turning his nose up in the air stubbornly and Logan sighed.

Well, this was going to be a long drive but at least the silence would help his headache.

—

It didn’t last long. Logan knew it wouldn’t. It took another hour before James broke his silence. “I am kind of annoyed at you too, you know.”

Logan glanced over at James briefly, arching an eyebrow in his direction. “Uh, why? What did I do?”

James shrugged and gestured vaguely. “This whole thing with Mercedes. Why do you trust her so much?”

Logan laughed incredulously. “What? I do not trust Mercedes.”

“It sure seems like it,” James said and crossed his arms again.

Logan sighed softly. “Well I don’t,” he said, meeting James’ gaze for a few short moments. He didn’t like that James didn’t seem to trust him.

“Then why are we going to Colorado instead of following up on Camille’s lead.”

“Because…" Logan started, pausing for a moment to take a breath and organize his thoughts. "Because Mercedes hasn’t lied to us yet. She’s done nothing but help us since we met her. And it doesn’t hurt to check out both leads," he explained, glancing over at James once more.

James’ mouth was set stubbornly and he turned away from Logan, looking out the window. “Yeah, I guess," he muttered.

Logan sighed, fingers tightening on the steering wheel. “Just…trust me, okay?” He glanced over at James again but James didn’t respond or look at him. He sighed and shot a quick look towards the road before turning towards James one more time. “James?”

James rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed huff. “Yeah, alright,” he said and reached over to turn the radio on.

Logan frowned but returned his gaze to the road. He was a little hurt at James’ response. He might not trust Mercedes (and Logan didn’t either, really) but James should at least trust him. They’d known each other for so long and been through so much together and if James couldn’t trust Logan’s judgment then Logan wasn’t sure what he was even doing with them anymore.

There was another lengthy silence before James spoke up again. “I do, ya know,” he suddenly said, reaching over to turn the radio down.

Logan looked at James in confusion. “Huh?”

“Trust you,” James clarified, then cleared his throat. “I do trust you.”

It took another moment before Logan could process what James was talking about. “Oh,” he said softly, then smirked slightly. “Well good. You should. I’ve saved your ass enough times.”

James laughed but didn’t deny it. “And for every time you’ve saved mine, I’ve saved yours in return."

Logan flashed James a grin and reached over to raise the volume of the radio a little.

—

Logan stopped at the first motel they came across when they entered the city. He was exhausted from driving and his head was killing him.

He parked outside the office and went in to book a room for them. He returned to the jeep as fast as he could and drove around to their room.

“I’ll get our bags,” James said when Logan parked in front of their motel door.

Logan looked over at James in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you look like you’re about to fall over. And you drove all the way so it’s only fair,” James said with a shrug.

Logan nodded. “Okay. Thanks,” he said with a small, tired smile.

As James got their bags, Logan headed into their room. He surveyed it quickly out of habit before he went straight to one of the beds. He stretched out on it, letting out a small moan as his muscles relaxed. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and closed his eyes. He heard James walk into the room a few moments later, but kept his eyes shut only opening them briefly when the bed shook slightly as James tossed his bag beside Logan.

“Thanks,” Logan said and sat up, pulling his bag closer to him so he could rummage in one of the side pockets. He grabbed the aspirin bottle and shook two out onto his palm before he got up with a small groan.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just need some water,” he said, making his way to the bathroom.

“Don’t drink tap water, dude. That’s gross.”

“Do you have another suggestion?”

“Here,” James said and held out the bottle of water he’d gotten when they’d stopped for lunch. It was half full and probably hot, but Logan walked over to take the bottle and sighed out a thanks anyway.

He popped both pills into his mouth, twisting the bottle open and taking a swig. He grimaced at the taste of the warm water and shook his head slightly.

“So, how exactly are we supposed to know where these vampires are?”

Logan shrugged. “Do what we always do. Poke around, ask some questions. There’s gotta be something suspicious going around," he said, taking a seat at the small table by the door.

James chuckled and nodded. “Right. I’m starving dude, I’m going to go out and get some food. What do you want?”

“Ah, nothing. I’m not really hungry," Logan said, resting his elbows on the table and placing his face in his hands.

James paused in putting his jacket on, a frown on his face. “You say that now, but later you’ll be trying to steal my food.”

“Alright, then just get me whatever you get,” he said with a sigh. He really wasn’t hungry but he didn’t want to argue about it. He waited until James was out the door and he heard the jeep pulling out before he got up. The room spun and he leaned against the table heavily to keep from falling. He closed his eyes tight and took deep breaths. He wished this vision would just happen already. He didn’t know if he could go another day with the excruciating pounding in his head.

Once the room stopped spinning, he exhaled sharply and made his way to his bed. He wanted to take a shower before James got back and used up all the hot water but the bed he had claimed looked too tempting. He’d just lay down for a few minutes, he decided and collapsed onto the bed, eyes shutting as soon as his head hit the pillow.

—

“Logan!”

Logan moaned groggily and tried to open his eyes. They felt impossibly heavy though and he gave up almost immediately.

“Logan, wake up!”

Logan groaned again and pushed himself onto his back and managed to open his eyes slightly. “Wha?”

“Dude, you scared the crap out of me. Are you okay?”

Logan blinked slowly, trying to get his eyes to open fully. “What? What are you talking about?”

“You wouldn’t wake up. I’ve been yelling your name for the past few minutes.” James sat down on the edge of Logan’s bed, hands clutching his thighs tightly. “I thought…” He trailed off and swallowed thickly with a shake of his head.

“Oh.” Logan struggled to sit up and only managed to succeed because James reached over and helped him.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Huh?”

James made a motion towards Logan’s face and Logan reached up slowly. Now that James had mentioned it, he could feel the stickiness on his face, across his upper lip and cheek. He wiped at his nose and inspected the blood streaked across it. “It’s nothing. I’m fine,” he muttered and quickly wiped his finger on his shirt, grabbing a fistful of it and wiping his face with it.

James didn’t respond and when Logan glanced up, James was watching him, a concerned frown on his face. “I’m fine, James. Really.”

James watched him for a few moments longer before he looked away. “Okay,” he said then cleared his throat. “I got pizza. Is that alright with you?”

Logan glanced over at the table where there were two boxes of pizzas stacked. “Yeah, that’s fine,” he said and tried to smile at James. “Just let me take a shower. Go ahead and eat if you want.”

James jerked his head in a nod and got up. There was a tension in his shoulders that Logan didn’t like but he didn’t say anything. Didn’t know what to say. He slowly got to his feet and grabbed his bag before disappearing into the bathroom.

—

When he got out of the shower, James was sitting at the table, one foot propped up on the extra chair. He was talking on the phone, most likely with either Kendall or Carlos. James glanced up at Logan as he made his way closer to the table, lifting the lid of one of the pizza boxes and grabbing a slice.

“Yeah, he just got out.”

Logan lifted his brows at James as he took a bite.

“It’s Kendall, he wants to talk to you.”

Logan quickly swallowed the small bite of food and reached out for the phone with his free hand. "Hey.”

“How are you? James said you had a nosebleed.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “And I told him that it was nothing.”

“Yeah, but that’s what you always say.”

“Because it’s always true.”

“If you say so,” Kendall said doubtfully. “Just take care of yourself, alright?”

Logan sighed but nodded. “Alright,” he said. "And how are you doing? Did you guys make it alright?”

“Yeah, we made good time. We’re just eating dinner right now.”

Logan smiled. “Yeah, us too,” he said and bit his bottom lip. “And Carlos? Is he still mad at me?”

It was Kendall’s turn to sigh. “I tried talking to him but he’s being really stubborn about it.”

“I’m not surprised.”

Kendall chuckled softly. “I’ll talk to him some more. Try to reason with him.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. You be safe tomorrow. I don’t like when we’re separated like this.”

Logan agreed wholeheartedly. It felt wrong without Kendall and Carlos with them. “I know what you mean. You guys be careful too. We’ll call you if we find anything.”

—

Logan woke up early the next morning. He laid in bed for a few minutes, just staring up at the ceiling, the light coming in from the window a light gray. He glanced over at James and wondered if he could catch a few more hours of sleep before the other woke up. James had always been an early riser, especially as they got older and it started taking him longer and longer to get ready for the day.

In the end, Logan decided to get up and get a start on the day. He quietly grabbed his laptop bag from under the bed where he’d put it with his other bag and moved to the small table by the door. Once he had his laptop starting up, he grabbed his toothpaste and toothbrush and went to the bathroom.

When he re-emerged from the bathroom, he rummaged in his bag and grabbed his bottle of aspirin. Shaking two out as quietly as he could, he popped them in his mouth and swallowed them dry, cringing slightly, before he settled down at the table. He opened the browser on his laptop and started his search.

Sometime later, he heard rustling coming from the other side of the room and glanced up briefly to see James sitting up in bed before he turned his attention back to his laptop. He heard James groan softly as he stretched and swung his feet over the side of the bed.

“You’re up already,” James said, voice rough with sleep.

Logan hummed softly in acknowledgment, not taking his eyes off his screen.

“How long?”

Logan shrugged. “Not long. An hour or two, maybe.”

James was quiet and Logan eventually tore his gaze from his laptop to look at him. “What?”

James was watching him, sitting on the edge of the bed, hands pressed into the mattress by his side. His hair was disheveled and soft lines creased his cheek from the bedsheets. Logan would’ve laughed any other time, but the serious look in James’ eye made him pause.

“What?” he repeated when James didn’t reply.

“Nothing,” James said with a small shake of his head. He pushed himself to his feet and shuffled over to the table, collapsing into the chair across from Logan.

Logan raised an eyebrow at James, but didn’t bother with a response, eyes turning back to the screen instead.

Silence settled around them. Logan could feel James watching him, but didn’t acknowledge him, continuing his research, skimming through news articles for any suspicious occurrences in the area. He hadn’t really found anything in the last few hours, but he knew there had to be something if there were vampires in the area.

Eventually James let out a huge sigh and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “So what are we going to be this time?”

Logan looked up briefly from his laptop. He didn’t need to ask what James meant because it’d been something he’d been wondering himself. “Hm, I was thinking maybe journalists or something like that. Something inconspicuous.”

“Boo, boring.”

Logan laughed softly. “We can’t be secret agents every day.”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Okay, James Bond. I’ll let you decide our cover next time.”

James rolled his eyes and let out a huff. “Fine, whatever. I got dibs on the shower.”

Logan waved him off. “Fine. I need to do a little more research anyway.”

—

For breakfast, they drove down a couple streets to a diner that looked decent. Though if Logan was honest, the deciding factor was the sign hanging in the window that said there was free wi-fi available.

Logan slung his laptop bag over his shoulder as he stepped out of the jeep and followed James through the door, the bell ringing softly overhead. James led the way to an empty booth and slid into one seat while Logan slid into the one opposite, setting his bag on the table top.

A waitress came over with two menus for them and after a few pleasantries and taking their drink order, she left them alone to look over the menus.

“How’s your head?” James asked, looking up from his menu.

Logan tensed slightly at the question. “It’s fine,” he muttered, keeping his gaze focused on the menu.

“Liar.”

Logan looked up in annoyance. “I’m not lying,” he said firmly.

James sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. “Whatever you say,” he said, leaning back and draping his arm over the back of his seat. “What are you going to get?”

Logan sighed and decided not to push the subject since he actually was lying. His headache had gradually gotten worse as the morning wore on. “I don’t know yet,” he said with a shrug. “What are you getting?”

James tapped the menu sitting in front of him with his fingertip. “I’m thinking waffles?”

Logan nodded.”That sounds good. Maybe I’ll get the waffles too,” he said, glancing down at the menu again. He still wasn’t hungry, but he knew he had to eat something, not only to keep his body going, but to keep James off his back about his health. James always seemed so self-absorbed but he was surprisingly attentive and Logan knew that if James noticed that he hadn’t been eating, he’d tell Kendall and then they’d all be watching him carefully.

Just then, the waitress came back with their coffees and a glass of water for Logan before asking them what they wanted to eat. Logan let James order first then ordered the same thing. James narrowed his eyes at Logan but didn’t comment on it and just smiled politely at the waitress before she walked away.

As she left, Logan finally reached for his bag, unzipping it and pulling his laptop out. He moved his glass of water to the side before setting his laptop down in front of him.

“You really think we’re going to find the Colt here?” James asked as Logan opened his laptop, pressing the power switch to wake it up.

Logan sighed softly. “I don’t know. I hope so. It would be nice to finally catch a break.”

They found out about the Colt a few years back. It was just a rumor that Gustavo had heard about but Kendall had latched onto the idea and wouldn’t let go, determined to find the Colt if it was real. But every lead they found was a dead end and over the years the rumors had died down. Every once in a while Camille would contact them about something she’d heard but it was always nothing.

“Do you think we could take out a whole nest of vampires to get it if they do have it?”

“We don’t have to take any of them out. We’ll go while they’re sleeping and take it.”

“And just let them live?”

“For now, yeah. The Colt is more important.”

James looked doubtful and Logan sighed again. “I don’t like it any more than you do. But the demon is more dangerous than any vampire.”

—

They got lucky. If they hadn’t gotten wind of that couple going missing and gone to investigate the area, they never would’ve found the nest in an old barn a little ways away from the road. They scoped it out, keeping their distance so they wouldn’t be seen. As much as Carlos insisted that vampires existed, this was actually the first time they’d actually come in contact with them.

“How do we know they’re actually vampires?” James asked as they walked back towards the road.

“There’s no way to know for sure, but that’s what Mercedes said.”

“Yeah, like a demon’s word is good for anything.”

“We just have to trust her until she gets what she wants. She’s not dumb enough to betray us before then.”

James sighed, rolling his eyes a little but kept quiet. “So, what do we do now? We can’t just go in and grab the Colt.”

Logan shook his head. “No, we can’t. I read that dead man’s blood will slow them down a bit, so we should look into getting some of that.”

“What, like poison?”

Logan nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Enough of it will paralyze them and slow down their healing.”

“How do we get it?”

“Well, gee, I’d guess we need to find a dead guy first.”

James punched Logan in the arm. “Don’t be a smartass.”

Logan rubbed his arm and sighed. “I don’t know, James. A morgue? A morgue might have some. Or a funeral home.”

“Alright. I’ll check out the local morgue and funeral home. You figure out how we can sneak up on a bunch of vampires without getting ourselves killed.”

Logan nodded and once they got back to the jeep, drove them back to the motel room. James left again immediately, running around the car to get into the driver’s seat to get the blood they needed while Logan entered the room to do more research.

A little more digging around in the vampire lore gave Logan another hint about how to bypass a vampire’s keen sense of smell. He quickly texted James to stop somewhere and get the items they would need - saffron, skunk’s cabbage and trillium - on his way back.

Logan sighed and closed the laptop after sending the text, leaning back and closing his eyes. Having a lead had helped distract him from the way his head was pounding but now it was getting to be too much. He placed his hand over his eyes, squeezing them shut slightly to try to ease the pressure behind his eyes. It didn’t really help and with a small groan, he got to his feet to stumble to his bed. A quick nap might help, he thought as he lay down. There wasn’t anything else he needed to do anyway.

Logan jolted awake when the door opened and he almost rolled right out of his bed in his surprise. He groaned softly and forced himself into a sitting position, swiping the back of his hand across his mouth and blinking rapidly at James to clear his sleep-filled vision. His whole head felt fuzzy and he gave it a small shake to clear it as well. He immediately regretted the action and let out a small hiss of pain that he covered up by clearing his throat.

“Did you get it?” he asked, looking up at James.

James watched him in amusement for a moment before he nodded, walking further into the motel room. “Yup. And I got whatever weird stuff you wanted, too,” he said, placing a plastic bag on the table. “What is it for anyway?”

Logan covered his mouth as he yawned widely before he pushed himself to his feet. “It’s supposed to help cover our scent,” he said, walking over to join James by the table. He reached over and grabbed the plastic bag to pull out the three items in it.

“Our scent?”

“Yeah, ya know, our human scent. Vampires have a very good sense of smell. Even if they can’t see us, they’ll be able to smell us.”

“Why didn’t they smell us earlier when we were outside their hideout?”

Logan shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because they had that couple with them and they figured they were just smelling them.”

“Right. Well, how does it work?”

Logan yawned again before explaining to James that they’d have to burn the three ingredients together and dust themselves with the ashes. James made a face at that, but didn’t make any verbal complaints. “We’ll do that in the morning. You need to get back to bed. You look like you’re about to fall over.”

“I’m fi-” Logan started to say only to be interrupted by another huge yawn. He shook his head slightly when it was over and blinked sleepily. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, right,” James said, taking Logan by the shoulder and pushing him back towards the bed. “You need to sleep. You woke up too early.”

Which was true, he thought as he stumbled to his bed and crawled back into it without any further protest.

And he supposed he should get sleep while his body was willing to get it.

——

The whole thing went a lot better than Logan thought it would. Meaning, they didn’t die and that’s all he cared about.

Oh, and getting the Colt. Which they also managed to do.

It was way too close though, and something he never wanted to go through again.

The first part of the plan went by fairly smoothly. They managed to sneak into the barn with no problem and split up, like they had planned. Logan to locate and retrieve the Colt while James found and rescued the couple the vampires were holding captive.

Logan peeked into the stalls where normally horses would be kept, but instead found vampires sleeping. Most had little more than bedding and he quickly moved past them, until he got to one that was a little different. This one had a bed and furniture, and what looked to be a bundle of leather sitting on the bedside table caught his eye. Looking a little closer, he noticed the tip of a barrel peeking out and he realized it was the Colt.

He glanced at the two vampires laying on the bed and took a deep breath before he quietly snuck in, moving further into the small room as silently as possible. His heart was pounding in his chest and he hoped that neither of the sleeping vamps could hear it. He wasn’t sure how heavy vampires slept so he wanted to be extra careful not to make any unnecessary noises.

He kept his eyes trained on them as he edged his way closer to the bedside table. He’d just placed his hand on the worn leather when the screaming started. He stiffened in horror and glanced at the two slumbering vampires on the bed and quickly snatched the Colt as they both began to wake up. Holding the leather-bound gun to his chest, he quickly backtracked out of the room.

“Hey!” he heard from behind him and then the sound of bedsheets rustling. He didn’t bother to stop and look, knowing he needed to get out of there fast. Luckily the vampires seemed to be slow to wake and he managed to get out of the barn without running into any trouble.

The only problem was that he didn’t know where James was.

Fuck, he thought, skidding to a stop and spinning around to look back at the barn. He gulped down air, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. Dammit, he needed to get James, where was he?

He started to head back, tucking the bundle of leather under his arm as he ran back. He was halfway to the barn when James finally ran out of the barn.

“Go, go go!” he shouted, almost colliding with Logan, hands pushing at his shoulders to turn him around.

“What happened?” Logan demanded even as he spun around on his heel and started to run away from the barn again.

“We were too late!” was all James said and didn’t explain further.

Logan didn’t need any other explanation though. He could figure out what James meant. They were too late to save the couple.

They didn’t say anything further, focusing on running back to the jeep they’d left at the side of the road. Just when it came into view and Logan thought they might actually be able to get away without a confrontation with the vampires, two of them jumped out from behind the trees.

James swore under his breath as they skidded to a stop and Logan looked around and realized they were surrounded. He also realized he was an idiot for thinking they could get away that easily.

One of the vampires stepped forward. It was the one he’d seen sleeping next to the Colt. Logan assumed he was the leader. “I think you have something of ours?” he said, looking at Logan expectantly.

Logan didn’t say anything, pressing the Colt closer to his chest and trying to keep his face passive.

“If you give it back, I promise to let you go.”

“Yeah, right,” James scoffed. He took a small step forward, raising the machete he’d brought. Logan was surprised he’d managed to keep a hold of it while they were running.

The vampire glanced down at the weapon, eyebrow arching slightly before he looked back up at James. “You really don’t want to do that.”

A grin spread across James’ face and he took another small step forward. “Oh, I think I really do.”

Logan’s eyes flicked back and forth between James and the vampire. There was no way they could fight off this many vampires, but they couldn’t give the Colt back either. And even if they were willing to give it back, there was no guarantee that the vampires would keep their word. In fact, Logan was positive that they wouldn’t.

“James,” he said in a low warning tone, placing his hand on James’ arm and giving it a subtle squeeze.

James backed down slightly, tossing Logan a quick glance, brows furrowed in irritation.

Logan lifted his brows slightly, eyes shifting to look down as he subtly tightening his grip on the leather-bound gun in his arms. He wasn’t sure James would get what he wanted to do, but then he gave an imperceptible nod of his head before turning back to the vampire.

Without another word, he pulled back his free arm and punched the vampire, causing him to stagger back in surprise. Logan quickly dropped down to his knees, setting the Colt down on the ground while James took a step in front of him, shielding him from the vampires that moved in to attack.

James swung his machete and beheaded the first vampire that reached him. Logan briefly thought about the two syringes full of dead man’s blood that he had in his jacket pocket, but it would be useless now. There were too many of them. Their only hope was the Colt.

“Hurry, Logan!” James shouted, swinging his machete at another vampire and cleanly cutting its head off. It didn’t make a difference because another one just turned up in its place.

Logan didn’t even bother responding, he could barely breathe as it was, he wouldn’t be able to form words anyway. He kept his focus on loading the gun, hurriedly unwrapping the Colt, fingers fumbling as he grabbed the bullets, shaking slightly as he slid them into the barrel of the gun. Once it was loaded, he scrambled to his feet, pointing the gun at the one attacking James. He didn’t hesitate to shoot, the sound of the gun causing everything to stop.

He watched, breath caught in his throat, as the bullet hit the vampire in the shoulder making him stumble back from James. For a split second, nothing happened and Logan’s heart sank, but then there was a bright flash of light and the vampire dropped dead.

Logan exhaled sharply, his heart hammering in his chest but he didn’t have time to get excited that the Colt actually worked. He quickly aimed at the vampire that spoke to them only moments ago.

“Let us go, or I swear to God, I’ll shoot you,” he said, pulling back the hammer on the gun slowly.

The vampire raised his hands. “Whoa, hey, okay. Let’s calm down, shall we?”

“Back up,” Logan demanded, sweeping his gaze around at the vampires that surrounded them. “All of you.”

Nothing happened for a long moment, but then the lead vampire nodded and they all backed away from Logan and James. Logan spared a glance at James to make sure he was okay before his gaze snapped back to the vampires.

He seemed to be okay, but it was hard to tell when he was covered in so much blood. He came over to stand by Logan, leaning down to grab the piece of leather Logan left on the ground. “Come on,” he said quietly, grabbed Logan’s free elbow, and started to walk him backwards towards the jeep just a few yards away.

“If any of you move, I’ll shoot you, do you understand?”

“You’re gonna waste bullets on us? There’s no more after those are gone, ya know.”

“We only need one, so I think I can spare a couple.”

“Still wouldn’t be enough to kill us all.”

“It’d be enough.”

The vampire smirked but didn’t reply as Logan and James continued to back away. They stopped when they got to the jeep and Logan waited while James ran around to get in the passenger’s side, keeping the gun aimed levelly at the group of vampires in front of them.

He heard the door open on the other side and spared a glance at James to see him climbing into the passenger side. His gaze snapped back to the vampires as he reached over to blindly search for the door handle, eyes flicking to the side when he couldn’t find it at first. Once he managed to find it, he pulled it open and quickly scrambled into the driver’s seat.

He slammed the door closed and shoved the gun at James. “Here,” he said, reaching for the keys and turning the ignition, stepping on the gas as soon as the engine turned over. He didn’t relax until he couldn’t see any of the vampires in the rear view mirror.

“Holy shit, let’s never do that again without backup,” James panted, turning in his seat to look back at the now empty road, hand over his heaving chest.

“Let’s never do that again, period,” Logan muttered, hands tightening on the steering wheel. He was pretty sure he’d just lost about a decade of his life back there.

James let out a breathless chuckle and nodded, turning around to sag in the seat next to Logan. “Deal,” he breathed, flashing Logan a quick grin.

“Are you hurt?”

James shook his head. “Nothing you can’t patch up, doc,” James said and Logan huffed, lips tugging up in a wry smile.

——

Neither said anything else for the rest of the drive back to the motel until Logan pulled into the parking lot.

“We should leave as soon as we can. We don’t want them trying to get the Colt back.”

James nodded, letting out a small groan as he sat up. “Good idea. I’ll go check us out,” he said, opening his door and stepping out of the jeep.

Logan quickly got out of the jeep as well, meeting James on the curb. “Wait. Let me tend to your injuries first.”

James shook his head, waving off Logan’s words with a dismissive gesture. “I’m fine, Logan. There’s no need to waste good supplies on me,” he said, starting to walk towards the office.

Logan frowned and grabbed James’ arm before he got too far away. “Then at least let me look you over first.”

James turned back to Logan with a sigh and roll of his eyes. “Why is it okay for you to be ‘fine’ but not me?”

Logan blinked in surprise, a little taken aback. “What?”

James rolled his eyes again and gestured towards Logan. “You! You always say you’re fine when anyone can see that you’re not.”

Logan opened and closed his mouth a few times. He didn’t know what to say to that. “Th-that’s different,” he finally said weakly.

“How?”

“Because I can help you-”

“And I can’t help you?”

“No, you can’t. No one can. I get headaches sometimes and they fucking suck, but there’s nothing I can do about them,” Logan replied, looking down.

“You could see a doctor. Maybe something’s-” James stopped abruptly and swallowed. Logan looked up to see the worry in James’ eyes beneath the annoyance. “Maybe they could give you something for it.”

Logan let out a small sigh and shook his head. He’d thought about that a lot, especially when he was in college, but he’d never gotten around to actually doing it. “It wouldn’t help.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do!”

“How? Are you psychic or something?” James pressed and Logan stiffened in surprise at James’ word choice. He stared up at James, who just stared back, brows raised a little as he waited for Logan to respond.

Logan quickly shook off his shock and forced himself to act natural. He let out a small laugh and shook his head, covering his face with one hand. “God, okay, fine, fine. You’re fine, I’m fine. We’re all fine. Just clean yourself up before doing anything. You look like you’ve just murdered someone.”

James looked down at his blood-splattered clothing in surprise, brows rising high on his forehead. “Oh,” he said, plucking at the front of his shirt.

Another bout of laughter escaped Logan before he shook it off. “Come on,” he said, tugging James towards their motel.

“We’re not done talking about this, just so you know,” James said stubbornly as he followed him into the room.

Logan inwardly sighed. He knew that, but James had hit way too close to home and he felt a little shaken up by it. “Yeah, we are,” he said, as firmly as he could. “Because there’s nothing to talk about.”

James sighed heavily. “Logan,” he started, but Logan shook his head, cutting him off.

“Just go get cleaned up. I’ll pack up our things so we can get going.”

James’ mouth tightened in annoyance, but Logan didn’t give him a chance to argue, turning away to grab his bag and start packing. He heard James huff in annoyance behind him and then stomp off to the bathroom, the door almost slamming shut behind him.

As soon as he was sure James was out of the room, Logan’s entire body sagged and he quickly sat down on the edge of the bed. He placed his elbows on his thighs and pressed his face into his hands, trying to calm his pounding heart. He knew James had no idea how close he came to figuring out Logan’s secret, but it was still nerve wracking. He wished he had told James the truth, that yes, he was psychic and that’s why he knew seeing a doctor would be pointless. An opportunity like that would probably never happen again so Logan had missed his one opportunity to tell the truth without having to bring it up himself.

“Dammit,” he muttered and heaved a sigh, letting his hands fall away from his face. He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. Oh well, it was his own fault. If he hadn’t made a habit of lying about it, he’d probably have an easier time dealing with his headaches and resulting visions.

With another sigh, he got to his feet and finished packing. There wasn’t much since they’d only been there a few short days and by the time James was out of the shower, he’d already packed both their bags and put them in the jeep.

——

When they finally met up with Kendall and Carlos, the small knot in his chest he’d been carrying the past few days finally loosened. He noticed the way James’ shoulders relaxed when he saw them and knew he’d been just as worried as Logan had been.

Carlos ran over and threw his arms around James, squeezing him tightly for a moment. James crushed Carlos to his chest just as enthusiastically before releasing him. Carlos grinned up at him before turning to Logan. Logan froze for a moment, breath caught in his throat before Carlos launched himself at Logan too.

Logan immediately relaxed and hugged Carlos back, glad to see that Carlos wasn’t angry with him anymore. He knew he couldn’t stay mad for long, but it was still good to know that he wasn’t on Carlos’ bad side anymore.

“I missed you guys!” Carlos exclaimed when he finally pulled back.

Kendall chuckled, having already made his way over to them by the time Carlos had finished greeting James and Logan. He clasped Logan on the arm when Carlos finally let him go and smiled. Logan smiled back, feeling a little better that they were all together again.

After the small reunion, they all entered the motel room James and Logan had already rented and as soon as the door closed behind them, Kendall turned to Logan. “So, where is it?”

Logan headed straight for his bag, sitting at the foot of the closest bed and quickly unzipped it. He dug around for a bit until he found the small wooden box that housed the Colt and the few remaining bullets. He hurried back to the table and set it down in front of Kendall.

Carlos and James both gathered around to watch as Kendall slowly reached for it, pulling it closer towards him before he opened it.

“Wow! Is that really it?” Carlos asked, voice soft with awe.

Logan nodded. “Yeah, we, uh, had to use it when we escaped from the vampires.”

Kendall looked up sharply. “What happened?”

“They had hostages.”

“Well, we thought they were hostages, but they’d already been turned so when I tried to save them, one of them ended up alerting the whole nest about us,” James quickly explained, still sounding irritated by the whole debacle.

“So, we had to use one of the bullets to escape,” Logan finished with a sigh. He hated having to waste a bullet on a vampire, but at least now they knew it worked and wasn’t a fake.

“I didn’t know it was that close. You should’ve told me.”

Logan shrugged. “We’re fine so it didn’t seem important.”

Kendall gave him a long hard stare before he nodded and turned his gaze back to the gun. “So we only have four shots left? Let’s hope that’s enough.”

“It will be,” Logan said with a firm nod.

Kendall chuckled and closed the lid of the case. “Alright,” he said, pushing away from the table and looking over his shoulder at Carlos. “Carlos, I’ll get us a room, you guys figure out what you want to eat for dinner. We can head out to Gustavo’s in the morning.”

—

Later that night, Logan laid in bed, feeling restless. He wished he could sleep, but he felt too hot, hair damp with sweat and clothes sticking to his body uncomfortably. His headache didn’t help either. It felt worse than it had the past few days combined and he found himself once again wishing the vision would just come already. He wasn’t even worried about what he was going to see anymore. He just wanted his head to stop pounding.

He could hear James breathing evenly in the other bed and sighed in defeat. He might as well just get up now, lying in bed like this was only going to make him feel more frustrated. He sat up quietly and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, glancing over at James. James didn’t stir and Logan slowly got to his feet, silently grabbing his jacket and keys. He didn’t want James to wake up and start asking him questions about why he couldn’t sleep, but more importantly, he didn’t want James to wake up and turn on the light.

Over the course of the evening as his headache worsened, his eyes became more sensitive to light so even the dim light of the motel lamp hurt to look at.

He pulled his jacket on as quietly as he could and slipped out of the motel room, being sure to not disturb the salt line across the doorway. He let out a small breath when the door closed behind him without any unnecessary noise.

He walked out to the car and leaned against it, looking up at the night sky. Even the dim starlight hurt and he quickly looked down, reaching up to squeeze the bridge of his nose. He probably had a pair of sunglasses in the car. He snorted lightly, corners of his lips twitching in amusement at the thought.

Before he could move to get into the car, he heard a faint noise and looked up, ignoring the pain the movement caused. He pushed away from the car, ready to fight if he needed to, but relaxed when he recognized the blonde figure that stepped out into the light.

She stood there on the curb, hands on her hips. “It’s about time. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting out here hoping you’d come out by yourself? I swear, it’s like you’re all connected by the hip with the way you go everywhere with each other.”

Logan didn’t bother acknowledging her remark. “What are you doing here?”

“Just checking up on you. How’s your headache? Have you been focusing your vision? Thinking about what you want to see?”

Logan’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about? I can’t control- “ he started then stopped short, eyes narrowing. “What do you know about my visions?”

Mercedes rolled her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. “More than you obviously.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you really that dumb? I thought you were the smart one.”

Logan’s jaw tightened in annoyance, crossing his arms, silently demanding an explanation.

“You really don’t know?

“Know what?” Logan snapped, starting to get more irritated by this conversation with each passing second. He was already aggravated by his headache and his impending vision, he didn’t need Mercedes coming around spouting riddles in the middle of the night.

“That you have some control over what you see in your visions!”

Logan’s brows furrowed again and he shook his head gently. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any control over my visions. They just…come.”

“Are you telling me you’ve never had a vision pertaining to what you were hunting?”

Logan blinks at the question. “Well, yeah, but those were just coincidences. I didn’t purposefully want a vision about it.”

“Wow, you really are dumb. I can’t believe- “ she started to say, then threw her hand up in exasperation. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m letting you know now that you can influence what you’ll see in your vision by thinking about what you want to see.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious.” She took a step closer to Logan and touched his temple. “If you think about Azazel and where he is, you might see the answer when your vision finally comes.”

Logan’s mouth dropped and he was too shocked to even flinch away from her touch. “Ho-how do you know that?”

“Logan, I’m a demon. I’ve been around long enough to know a little something about psychic visions. Just, trust me, okay? This will work.” Her voice softened towards the end, eyes staring into Logan’s and she slid her hand down to cup his jaw gently.

For a moment, Logan forgot that the woman standing in front of him wasn’t human, that the body standing in front of him once belonged to someone else before Mercedes came in and took over, that the original soul that the body belonged to was probably long dead, or worse, she was trapped in her own head, unable to control her body’s actions.

It was that thought that snapped him out of it, slapping him in the face with the reminder that Mercedes was a demon. She’d killed innocent people just for fun, would probably kill him and the others once they stopped being useful to her.

He jerked away from her touch, shaking his head. “We’ll see,” he said, swallowing thickly. “I have to get back before James wakes up and notices I’m gone.”

Mercedes grins wickedly. “Why, Logie, am I your dirty little secret? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, you’re good at keeping those, aren’t you?”

Logan’s face hardened and he turned away. “Are we done?”

The grin didn’t slip from Mercedes’ face. “For now, yes. I’ll be back later to check up on you.”

—

The guys were out getting lunch and Logan felt like he was dying. His head was pounding and he could barely open his eyes because the lights were too bright. He hadn’t been able to get out of bed all day and they had to put a hold on their traveling plans. He hated that he was holding them up. They could’ve been halfway back to Gustavo’s if it wasn’t for him.

A sudden pounding on the door had him jumping in surprise, then wincing in pain at the movement and sound.

“Logan! Open up!”

It sounded like Mercedes and Logan groaned. He really didn’t want to deal with her at the moment, but he knew she wasn’t going to stop until he let her in. With another groan, he got to his feet and stumbled his way to the door. He fumbled with the lock and pulled the door open, eyes squinting at the blonde on the other side.

“Break the line!” she said urgently, gesturing down. He blinked rapidly and looked down at the line of salt separating them. “Hurry!”

“Fuck, okay,” he croaked out and feebly kicked at the salt line. He wasn’t even sure he was aiming for the right spot, everything was too blurry but he must’ve broken it enough because suddenly there were cool hands grabbing his shoulders and pushing him back into the room. He stumbled back and flailed, feeling sick at the sudden movement.

Mercedes pushed him to sit on the bed and he plopped down heavily. He doubled over, barely managing to swallow down the bile that rose. He gasped for air and glanced up at her. The light in the room was still too bright, even though the only light on was the dim lamp sitting between the two beds in the room. His brows furrowed and he covered his face with one hand.

“What are you doing here, Mercedes?” he managed to say through the pain.

“Your vision is coming, isn’t it?”

“How-” he tried to say but was cut off by a sudden coughing fit.

“I’ve been watching you since the other night. I knew it was going to come soon.”

“Merce-” he tried to say again but the words got caught in his throat.

Mercedes grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him down onto the bed. He didn’t have the energy or strength to fight her and just lay back without protest. His head pounded so hard, his vision was starting to get dark around the edges. He was afraid he might actually be dying and shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the pain and the panic building up in him.

“It hurts,” he whimpered, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.

He felt the bed dip and then there were cold fingers wiping his tears away. “Shh, relax Logan. Stop fighting it,” he heard Mercedes croon softly, fingers stroking his face and pushing his sweat-soaked hair back.

He turned his face away weakly. He didn’t want her touching him, no matter how good her touch felt against his overly-warm skin. He needed to get up, needed to find Kendall and the others. He didn’t want Mercedes to be the last thing he saw.

He pushed Mercedes away and slowly sat up, eyes clenched shut in pain. “I need-” he tried to say but again, the words died in his throat. He shook his head then swung his legs over the edge of the bed and doubled over, head hanging between his knees. He took a few deep breaths trying to control the pain. He felt like he was going to throw up, but he managed to swallow the bile that rose to his throat.

“Logan, stop,” Mercedes said, hands grabbing at his elbow.

He jerked his arm away and lurched to his feet. He didn’t make it far. He stumbled a few steps forward before he went crashing to his knees. He grunted at the sharp impact and once more doubled over, curling in on himself and clutching at his head with both hands. It felt like it was going to explode. He knew that was impossible, but that’s how he felt.

Mercedes knelt down next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. He flinched at her touch. “Don’t…touch me,” he gritted out and tried to get away from her.

He heard her let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, whatever. I was just trying to help.”

Logan ignored her and crawled over to the wall, turning to sit against it. He hugged his knees to his chest and pressed his face against them. He choked out a sob, shoulders heaving.

Please, please, please, he begged, squeezing his eyes shut. He wasn’t sure what he was actually begging for, though. He just wanted the pain to stop, he didn’t care how.

Bits and pieces of his vision trickled in past the pain and he gripped his legs tighter, pressing his face further into his knees, squeezing his eyes shut tighter. He tried to focus on what he was seeing, trying to will himself to see more, make it all make sense somehow.

“Logan!”

Logan’s head snapped up at the sound of his name. Kendall, James and Carlos were standing the doorway, looking at him and Mercedes. Logan shook his head, ignoring the pain that spiked through his head at the movement.

No, no, no, the guys couldn’t be there. Not now.

He didn’t have time to worry about them for long because in the next moment, his whole body suddenly jerked and his head slammed into the wall. Stars exploded in his vision and then he was only faintly aware of what was going on with his body, the vision taking over almost completely.

There’s an abandoned town, streets empty and sidewalks cracked. The buildings are old and boarded up, but they’re not empty. He can feel them watching him.

He felt hands grabbing him, laying him flat on the floor. He wanted to push them away but he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.

There’s a small group of young people. They’re lost and scared. A red-headed guy with freckles, three girls bonded by more than just a name, and another Girl. She’s different. Something is wrong about her.

And there’s something else about her. Something familiar…

Logan managed to gasp in a breath, turning onto his side and curling up in a ball, entire body trembling.

He then sees the Demon. He’s there in the shadows, watching and waiting, eyes full of anticipation as he watches the group. Then suddenly The Girl is there with him. She’s covered in blood, a familiar-yet-not smirk gracing her face.

Logan choked out a sob, body convulsing slightly. He felt like he was going to throw up, stomach lurching as his vision continued.

There’s blood everywhere. So much blood. And somebody yelling at him, yelling his name…

”Logan!”

“Logan!”

Logan’s eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, rolling over onto his back, arching off the floor. Hands grabbed his shoulders and pinned him down. He tried to fight them off, thrashing weakly against the hold.

“Logan! Logan, calm down. It’s just us!”

Logan blinked rapidly and turned unfocused eyes toward the source of the voice. He relaxed slightly as he realized it was Kendall and closed his eyes, body going limp.

“Hey, no, Logan, come on, keep your eyes open for me, okay?” Kendall urged, slapping Logan’s face gently, trying to rouse him.

Logan struggled to obey, but his eyelids felt too heavy.

“Is he okay?” came Carlos’ voice, heavy with worry.

Logan wanted to reassure him that he was fine, but he couldn’t find the energy to form the words. He just wanted to sleep.

“Logan! Open your eyes!” James demanded and the last thing he felt before everything went dark were rough hands shaking him.

——

Logan woke up slowly with a soft groan. His head hurt but it wasn’t a headache that resulted from an oncoming vision. It was the type of pain that came from hitting his head against something hard.

“He’s waking up!” someone said, soft and urgent and when he finally managed to open his eyes, he found James, Carlos, Kendall and Mercedes standing over him. A quick look around told him that someone had laid him down on one of the motel beds.

“Wha?” He tried to sit up but decided that was a bad idea when the room began to spin and fell back against his pillow instead.

“Dude! You okay?” Carlos exclaimed and he was too loud as usual but Logan couldn’t even muster up the strength to be annoyed with him. He just let out another groan and placed his hands over his face. It felt sticky and when he pulled his hands away, there were spots of blood on the palms of his hands.

“What happened, Logan?”

Logan wiped his hand on the front of his shirt and glanced over at Kendall. “It’s nothing. I’m fine now.”

“Bullshit!” Logan jumped slightly at James’ outburst, head snapping in his direction where he was standing a little behind Carlos. He looked pissed off but there was fear in his eyes and blood on the front of his shirt. Logan was immediately overwhelmed with guilt. “You call this fine? Look at yourself, Logan,” James said, gesturing at Logan.

Logan forced himself into a sitting position and looked down at himself. The front of his shirt was also stained with blood and he didn’t have to imagine what his face looked like. Pale, with dark circles under his eyes, like he’d been seeing in the mirror every morning for the past week, and blood, drying and flaking in streaks across his face. “You look like shit! We thought you were dead!”

“James,” Kendall said warningly as Carlos placed a hand on James’ arm to calm him. James shook Carlos’ hand off and turned away, walking to the far corner of the room away from everyone else.

Logan watched as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall and stared hard at the spot above Logan’s head. Logan swallowed and tried to think of something to say, apologize or something, anything to get James to look at him again.

“I…” That’s all he managed to get out before Mercedes interrupted him, walking into his line of vision and looming over him. He looked up at her in surprise. He had almost forgotten that she was in the room.

“As touching as this all is, we’ve got more important things to discuss,” she said, crossing her arms.

Logan sighed and closed his eyes, reaching up to press the heels of his palms against his eyes. “Mercedes, not now…please,” he mumbled tiredly.

“Sorry, babe, but I need to know what you saw,” she said, and she almost sounded apologetic, too. But Logan knew she was right. He just wished she would’ve waited until they could be alone.

“What does she mean, what you saw?”

Logan let out a slow breath before he glanced at Kendall. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep his secret any longer. “I’ll explain it to you later,” he promised before he turned back to Mercedes. She had her arms crossed impatiently and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and thought about his vision. “I saw a man- a demon, the demon-”

“Lo-?”

“Shut up! Let him finish,” Mercedes snapped, cutting Kendall off, and Logan almost laughed at the look of indignation that crossed Kendall’s face. But it would’ve been a hysterical laugh, brought on by nerves and fear and he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop once he started.

Luckily, he managed to keep it together and swallowed thickly, instead, as he closed his eyes again so he wouldn’t see the other’s questioning gaze and continued. “He wasn’t alone. There was a girl, a few years younger than us maybe. Her eyes kept flashing. But not like a demon’s. They were brown, then green, then brown again and she-” He stopped suddenly as he realized what it meant, why those green eyes had seemed so familiar, and that smirk that had spread across her face. He knew where he had seen it a thousand times before.

His eyes snapped open and he stared at Kendall.

Kendall’s brows furrowed even further. “What?”

“Logan! Focus, the girl isn’t important. Tell me the location! Did you see where they were?”

Logan wanted to disagree because the girl was important if she was who he thought she was. He stared at Kendall for a moment longer before he blinked and looked away towards Mercedes. “Yeah, yeah, I think so,” he said, nodding. “They were in an, an abandoned town of some kind. I can’t…” he closed his eyes and concentrated, brows furrowing as he called back the memory of his vision. “Cold…Cold Oak?”

“Cold Oak? What does that mean?”

“It’s a city, I think,” Logan said, swinging his feet over the edge of the bed. “Someone grab my laptop and I’ll look it up.”

Carlos started to move then stopped, looking at Kendall. He seemed to be waiting for permission but Kendall’s gaze was solely on Logan.

“Logan,” Kendall said, sounding unsure, something that Logan rarely heard from Kendall. He felt bad for being the cause of it but there was nothing he could do about it now.

“I’ll explain later, I promise. Just get my laptop, please?”

Kendall nodded, “Alright,” he said and glanced up at Carlos.

Carlos gave a small nod in response and hurried across the room to grab Logan’s computer and bring it to him. “Thanks,” Logan said softly, placing the laptop next to him on the mattress and opening it. The room was silent as the computer booted up, the only sound coming from the fan within the laptop whirring to life. Logan could feel everyone’s eyes on him and it made him feel awkward, self-conscious.

“So, what? Are you psychic or something?” James suddenly said from his corner of the room. Logan flinched slightly at hearing it said aloud in such nonchalant, almost cold way.

“Wow, are you guys serious?” Mercedes turned to look at each of them, eyes wide in disbelief. “Are you really that dense? Of course, he’s psychic! The signs are all there. You’re just too thick to see them!”

Logan looked up sharply and frowned at her. “Mercedes!”

Mercedes turned to him and crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one side. “What? You weren’t going to tell them! And they obviously weren’t going to figure it out themselves!”

“Is it true?”

Logan sighed and looked at the others, all looking at him questioningly. He took a deep breath, heart hammering in his chest as he looked at each of his friends who were brothers in all but blood. “Yeah, it’s true,” he said softly, looking down at his lap.

There was a momentary silence where all Logan could hear was his pounding heart, then Kendall spoke up. “Since when?”

Logan shook his head, keeping his gaze down. “I don’t know, since I was about thirteen, maybe,” he said and shrugged. “That’s when I started having the dreams and the nosebleeds anyway.”

“And you’ve what? Been lying to us all this time?”

James spoke quietly but his tone was harsh. It cut Logan deep to hear that tone directed towards him. He turned towards James, eyes wide and shook his head sharply. “It’s not like that! Just give me a chance to explain and-”

“And what?” James asked, cutting him off. “You’ll lie to us some more?”

“I didn’t want to lie to you guys. I just didn’t know how to tell you,” Logan said desperately. He looked at James pleadingly, begging him silently not to be angry. He glanced at the others quickly, hoping they’d back him up. Kendall remained silent and Logan could tell by the set of his mouth that he was thinking. Carlos glanced away awkwardly when their eyes met and Logan’s heart dropped as he returned his gaze back to James.

“Whatever, Logan. We don’t want to hear any more of your bullshit,” James said and pushed away from the wall. He stalked across the room towards the door and slammed it as he left.

Logan sat quietly for a few seconds before he lurched forward, ready to go after him but he swayed on his feet, feeling dizzy and light-headed. Kendall grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him back down on the bed. “Whoa, hold on, Logan, I don’t think you’re ready to be on your feet yet.”

“But James…”

Kendall shook his head. “Don’t worry about him. Carlos will go after him.”

Logan turned to look at Carlos pleadingly and found Carlos already headed towards the door.

“Don’t worry, Logan. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid,” he said with a small smile before he left, leaving Logan alone with Kendall and Mercedes.

—

Logan sat with his shoulders hunched in the silence that followed Carlos’ exit. He turned back towards his laptop and focused on that, ignoring Mercedes’ impatient sighs and Kendall’s quiet presence.

“Hurry up, Logan. Your little family drama can wait, this is more important.”

Logan honestly hated Mercedes in that moment. He hated her and he hated himself and it took all of his self-control not to grab his laptop and throw it at her. “I’m trying! Just wait a fucking moment!”

Mercedes lifted an eyebrow at his outburst and placed her hands on her hips. Logan tried to hold her gaze and stare her down, but it didn’t take long before he looked away, muttering an apology. He fixed his attention on his laptop screen and opened the browser. After a few failed searches, he finally found what he needed.

“Got it,” he said, “Cold Oak, South Dakota. That’s where they’ll be…” He scrolled down, skimming the information. “Apparently it’s a deserted town.”

“They’re not there now?”

Logan shook his head. “No, no, my vision was of what will happen, not what’s happening now.” It was a subtle difference, something he’d had to train himself to notice. He’d taken notes and noticed a pattern between visions of the past, present and future.

Mercedes nodded. “Good, then we still have time. Do you know how long we have?”

Logan shook his head. That was something he’d never been able to figure out. “No, sorry.”

Mercedes sighed. “Alright, whatever. I’ll just keep an eye on the place. I’ll come see you when they show up.”

Logan nodded. “Okay, yeah, sounds good. We’ll start heading up that way too.”

Mercedes didn’t say anything and then she was gone and Logan sighed, shoulders sloping tiredly.

“So, you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

Logan jumped slightly at the sound of Kendall’s voice. He’d forgotten Kendall was even there. He swallowed softly and took a deep breath, trying to find the words to explain. “Mercedes knew I was going to have a vision soon. She helped me focus it to get information on the demon, to see if I could find out what he was up to.”

“And I take it that it worked?”

“Yeah, it did. It was one of the most intense visions I’ve ever experienced but I saw what we needed. Kendall, we can get him now, we can kill the demon and avenge your family.”

Kendall looked away and Logan’s stomach dropped for the second time that day. “That’s great. Awesome,” Kendall said, running a hand through his hair. “I should probably go check on James and Carlos and tell them what’s going on.”

“Are you…are you mad?” He felt like a child asking, but he needed to know. Had he ruined everything between them now?

“No…” Kendall sighed heavily and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes as he continued. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what I feel right now, Logan. A lot is happening all at once and it’s hard to keep up, ya know?”

“Yeah…yeah, I get it,” Logan said softly, looking down. He heard the door open and close softly and then Kendall left too and Logan was all alone. He closed his laptop and set it on the floor, pushing it under the bed. He looked around the room and felt so tired and worn. All he wanted to do was sleep. He tried not to think about how alone he was, how the others had left him like he’d always feared as he laid back down, curling up under the covers and falling into a fitful sleep.

—

The next time Logan woke up, he wasn’t alone anymore. Kendall was also in the room with him, sitting at the small table by the door, quiet and pensive. He looked up when Logan moved, shifting to sit up in the bed.

“Hey, how you feeling?”

Logan slowly swung his feet over the edge of the bed and pushed himself to his feet. He swayed a bit and Kendall made a move to get up but Logan shook his head and stumbled slightly to the table. “Um, I’m fine. Better,” he said, attempting a smile as he sat down across from Kendall. “Where are James and Carlos?”

“Out getting something to eat. They’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, okay…” Kendall was silent for a long time and Logan fidgeted, feeling nervous about being alone with Kendall for some reason until he blurted out, “Is James still mad at me?”

“He wasn’t mad at you Logan. Just…hurt.”

“It sure looked like he was mad at me. He looked pretty fucking pissed off actually.”

Kendall chuckled softly. “Well, you know how he is.”

“Unfortunately,” Logan muttered, lips quirking up at the sound of Kendall’s huff of a laugh. He knew he was going to have to make this up to James somehow, maybe offer to go with him the next time he went shopping. “And you? Are you…hurt?”

Kendall sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I just don’t understand why you felt like you had to keep this a secret all this time,” he said, looking at Logan expectantly.

Logan averted his gaze, looking down at the table top. He scratched at the surface, working his fingernail into a groove. “It was hard at first. I denied it for so long and then I didn’t know how you would react. I didn’t want you to leave me behind because of it.”

“Why would you think that?”

Kendall sounded bewildered. Logan couldn’t help glancing up to see his furrowed brows as he shrugged and returned his gaze back to the table. “I don’t know. I was young and insecure and after everything that you guys had been through with losing your families, I didn’t want you to hate me for being different, for being something you guys hated.”

“Logan…”

“I know it was stupid but by the time I realized you wouldn’t push me away or hate me for it, I didn’t know how to tell you guys about it.” Logan took a deep breath and forced himself to look up at Kendall. “I’m sorry I lied to you guys…”

Kendall sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s fine, Logan, but knowing you were psychic could’ve helped a lot in the past.”

Logan shook his head. “Not really. I always tried to push us in the right direction whenever I had a vision. It’s not always cut and dry, sometimes I can’t make any sense of them until they’re actually happening and they always happen and there’s nothing I can do to change anything.”

Kendall watched him intently from across the table. Logan averted his eyes once more, unable to hold Kendall’s gaze for long. Kendall was silent for a long moment before he took a deep breath and said, “Logan, can I ask you something?”

Logan glanced up, not really surprised by the question and nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

“Did you know about Jo?”

Logan stiffened at the question. That wasn’t the first thing he’d expected Kendall to ask. He knew it would’ve come eventually, but he hadn’t been prepared to confront Kendall so soon.

Of course, he wasn’t prepared for any of this happening.

His throat felt tight and he swallowed convulsively. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the right way to say this but there was really only one thing he could say. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Yes.”

——

Then
Logan was in the library when it hit him. There were no warning signs - no headaches, no nausea, none of the usual symptoms of an oncoming vision. One second he was writing in his notebook, taking notes for his Sociology class and the next, bright liquid splashed across his page, streaming from his nose. Before he could react, his vision blurred and he jerked forward, letting out a small cry, feeling like he’d just been hit with a metal pipe as pain blossomed from the base of his neck and spread. He heard chairs scraping against the hardwood floors as the students sharing the table with him flew to their feet.

It was dark. Her heart pounded in her chest as she raced through the cemetery. She could hear it coming behind her, calling out to her. She didn’t understand why it was toying with her like this but she tried not to question it as she continued to wind her way around through the tombstones.

There were hands on his shoulder, shaking him. “Hey, hey, you ok?” the concerned tone filtered through and Logan looked up, trying to focus on the face of whoever was touching him. He saw a fringe of dark hair, and dark brows furrowed together in worry. And then his eyes fell down to his bloodied fingers digging into the guy’s shoulder, his vision wavering in and out of focus.

Pain shot across her back as she was thrown against a tree trunk, an unknown force holding her in place. She could feel the blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth and she spat onto the ground, blood and spittle landing on the shoe of the demon. “Well, dahlin’,” it drawled, the lips of the bright faced young woman it was wearing pulled back into a grotesque smile.”Looks like I finally caught you.”

He was lying on the floor now, gasping for breath. The bright lights on the ceiling were blinding and his fingers hurt from where he was still clutching at someone’s shoulder. He could taste the sharp metallic tang of blood in his mouth and then his stomach lurched and he rolled to the side, emptying the contents of his stomach until there was nothing left.

“Give him some room!” he heard faintly over the sound of himself retching. Tears streamed down his face as his whole body shook with the force of the vision.

Her insides felt like they were on fire, and she cried out in pain, tears falling down her cheeks. She hated giving the demon the satisfaction of making her cry, but they continued to fall despite her best efforts to stop them.

Soft, cool fingers slid down her cheek, trailing the path her tears took. “Don’t touch me,” she muttered through clenched teeth, trying to turn her face away. She got a hard slap in response causing her to cry out again.

“I wonder what he’ll do without his precious little Jo to brighten up his day,” the demon remarked sardonically, a gruesome grin twisting its mouth. It paced in front of her and she watched it as she thought of everyone she cared about.

She thought of long dark hair and a quirky smile, crystal green eyes and a warm embrace. She thought of nervous laughter and secrets too big to keep but too dangerous to tell. She thought of two raucous boys who refused to grow up despite everything. She thought of her family who could still love so much after everything they had seen and done. She thought of her mother, who she would never find now. She thought of all the words she’d never said to her. All the things she would never be able to do now.

She thought of his words, whispered brokenly across a phone line, “Just be careful, Jo, please.”

And then she thought of nothing.

Logan sat up with a gasp, blood and tears ignored as they fell from his face. “No!” He blindly struggled against the hands that grabbed at him, trying to pull him back. His mind was still focused on the brown-eyed blonde from his vision; a girl that he had grown to think of and love as a sister.

He shoved the hands away, arms swinging to ensure they would let go. And then he was on his feet, swaying as he looked around wildly, colors and faces blurring together, searching for an exit. He needed to get out.

He needed to breathe.

He needed to call Jo.

Suddenly he was running, pushing past the people who weren’t fast enough to move out of his way. He heard someone call after him but he ignored them, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

Once outside, he paused, breathing heavily; the cold air pierced through his lungs and he covered his mouth as he coughed. His hand came away bloody, but he didn’t know if it was from his nosebleed or not and he didn’t care. He looked around, noticing the other students passing by staring and whispering to each other. He started to run again.

He ignored the feel of blood and tears drying on his face as the wind blew past him and ducked into the first alley he came across. He leaned heavily against the dirty bricks, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. His legs felt weak, barely able to hold him up and he slowly slid down the wall, ignoring the way the bricks pushed his shirt up and scraped along his back. He brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them tightly and pressing his face into his jeans.

A sob escaped him, and then another and then he was shaking, sobs wracking his body almost painfully. He knew it hadn’t happened yet; that right at the moment Jo was still fine, but seeing it, knowing that it would happen just hurt so much. Because he couldn’t stop it – he could never stop it.

He continued to sob into his knees, tears soaking his jeans as he tried to get himself together. It wasn’t just losing Jo that had him feeling so broken. It was everything that she felt in her last moments too. The regret and longing was too much.

The need to call her, to talk to her, hear her voice for maybe the last time ripped through him and he struggled to retrieve his phone from his pocket. His fingers shook as he searched for her number in his contacts, pressing the call button when he got to it.

He wondered why he never put her on speed dial.

The phone rang once before she answered. “Logan?” The sound of her voice relieved some of the tension coiled in his chest and he let out a shaky sigh as he clutched the phone tightly in his hand.

“Jo?” he said, voice coming out as a broken whisper. He didn’t want to speak any louder than he had to, afraid he’d succumb to sobs once more.

“What’s wrong?”

She sounded concerned but rushed, like she was just on her way out when he called her. He shook his head and cleared his throat. “Nothing, nothing. I just missed you. I wanted to hear your voice,” he said, because he couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud.

She didn’t say anything for a moment and he could practically see her face in his mind’s eye, head cocked to the side, dark brows furrowed slightly. “You sound like you’ve been crying. Did something happen?”

He let out a broken laugh and sniffed gently. “No, no…Nothing’s happened…” He bit his lip but the words came anyway. “Not yet anyway,” he finished, reaching up to run a blood-stained hand through his hair.

“Did you have a vision?” she asked immediately, tone urgent and demanding. He took a deep shuddery breath and remained silent. “Logan, talk to me, please,” she begged and his heart clenched.

What was he going to do without sweet, beautiful Jo? She had always been there for him when he needed her, willing to cover and keep his deepest, darkest secrets.

And she was so strong, stronger than he ever could be. Losing her would not only break Kendall’s heart, but his own as well. And James and Carlos and Camille.

Poor Camille.

It would break all of them, each in different ways, but they would all still be losing a piece of themselves.

“Jo, can you, can you do me a huge favor?” he asked before he could stop himself. It was pointless – useless – to try to warn her, but he couldn’t stop himself.

He heard her sigh over the line. “Yeah, sure, what is it?”

He swallowed thickly, trying to find the right words, but there were none. He rubbed at his forehead with a shaky hand. “Can you find Kendall and the others and stay with them for a bit?”

She took a sharp intake of breath. “Is something going to happen to Kendall,” she asked immediately and she sounded more worried than before, causing his chest to tighten with a flood of emotion.

But he ignored her words and took a deep breath to try to ease the tension in his chest. “And can you maybe stay away from any kind of cemeteries at night?” he added weakly, a laugh bubbling up from out of nowhere.

He could hear her starting to get frustrated with him. But he just couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud. Not yet. He couldn’t handle making it a reality by uttering those words. He knew it didn’t make a difference. It was going to happen no matter what.

“Logan. What’s going to happen? Tell me.”

“Jo…” A sob escaped him and he brought his forehead down to rest against his knees once more. Tears fell down his cheeks and he made no move to wipe them away, letting them fall freely, wetting his cheeks and dripping down his chin.

“Logan, you’re scaring me…” she whispered and that made him cry all the more. Because Jo was so strong and brave. It took a lot to scare her.

He took a deep breath, trying to control the shaking of his body. “Jo…Jo, I saw you die…” he whispered into the space between his knees and body.

He heard her take another sharp breath and then silence before “How?”

He shook his head, sniffling as he wiped his face. “Jo, please, don’t make me-”

“How,” she interrupted, voice stern and holding no room for argument.

But still he resisted, shaking his head even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “I can’t, please,” he begged softly, voice weak and broken.

“Tell me, Logan, please. I have to know.” And she sounded so desperate that he couldn’t deny her any longer. He couldn’t do anything for her but he could at least give her a heads up. And maybe, just maybe, Jo would prove the exception to the rule and she could avoid it. He knew it was stupid to hope for, but he couldn’t stop himself.

And so he told her. He told her the how and the where and the when, as much as he knew. She remained silent as he sobbed the words into the phone and remained so after he finished talking and was desperately trying to control his breathing.

“It’s not going to happen,” she said suddenly, stern and determined. The ache in his chest grew tighter. He wanted so desperately to believe her. But he knew.

He knew.

“Jo…”

“No, I don’t care what you say. I’m not going to die like that. Not without finding my mother. I can’t.”

Logan closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the brick wall. The corners of his mouth quirked up in a soft smile at Jo’s determination. He respected her for it, but he could also hear the fear trembling beneath her words. She knew that every one of his visions had come true, no matter what kind of precautions he took. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Just be careful, Jo, please.”

“I will…”

There was another beat of silence before the words tumbled out of his mouth unbidden and surprising even himself, “I love you, Jo.”

“Logan…”

“I do,” he insisted, “I love you. You’re family.” He paused to take a deep, shuddering breath. “And you should really tell her. She deserves to know.”

He heard her swallow over the phone and then, “I’ll think about it,” she said softly, then quickly added, “I gotta go,” before she hung up on him.

That was the last time he spoke to her.

——

Now
“So are we just leaving Gustavo’s jeep here then?”

Kendall nodded. “Yeah, for now. We don’t have time to take it back and I’d prefer if we stuck together on this one. We’ll be back for it.”

“Good because I’m pretty sure Gustavo would kill us if we didn’t.”

Kendall grinned as he shoved his dirty clothes into his bag. “Are you already packed up?”

Logan nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Carlos?”

“Uh, I don’t know. I’ll go check on him.”

Kendall nodded and Logan left the room and walked the short distance to what was now James and Carlos’ room, after James switched with Kendall for the night. It had stung a little when James said he didn’t want to room with Logan anymore, but he hadn’t pressed the issue. James was angry with him and Logan couldn’t blame him.

He knocked lightly on their door before walking in. “Hey, you guys ready?”

Carlos looked up from the bed where he had clothes flung everywhere on his bed. Logan was always baffled how Carlos could make such a mess in such a short amount of time. They’d only been there two nights. “Um, yeah, almost,” Carlos said with a sheepish grin as he quickly gathered his clothes together, wadded them up and tried to shove them all into his bag at the same time.

Logan rolled his eyes and smiled slightly. “Dude, you’re just making it worse. Here, let me help you,” he said, walking further into the room to help Carlos pack. He could feel James’ silent gaze on him from the other bed, where he already seemed to have all his things together.

He looked over at him, but James just averted his gaze before he stalked out of the room. Logan sighed and turned back to Carlos.

“Has James said anything to you yet?”

Carlos shook his head. “No, he hasn’t said anything since yesterday.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“I should’ve told you guys what was going on. I just-”

“Dude, don’t,” Carlos said and placed a hand on Logan’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I get it. We’re cool, okay?”

Logan smiled in relief. “Okay.”

“And don’t worry about James. You know he can’t stay mad at us for long. He’ll be talking by the end of the day.”

Logan chuckled lightly and nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

—

But the thing was, James wasn’t speaking to anyone, not even Carlos or Kendall. That’s how Logan knew it was going to take more than just a trip to the mall to fix things between them. It was one thing for James to give Logan the silent treatment, but when he refused to speak to anyone, that was a sign that James was really upset.

“James,” Logan started cautiously, watching as James tossed his bags into the trunk of the car. James barely glanced at him before he reached down and grabbed Logan’s bag from his hand and tossed it in as well. Logan sighed and tried not to jump when James slammed the trunk closed.

James turned to him and they stood there silently for a few moments. “You can’t do this. You’re not a kid anymore. You can’t just give us all the silent treatment.”

Logan wasn’t expecting James to actually say anything so he wasn’t surprised when James turned away and walked around the other side of the car. He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath before he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, “I apologized already! What more do you want?”

James retreated back into the motel room without a backwards glance and Logan’s arms flopped back down to his sides. He let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the car, burying his hands in his hair. James was being ridiculous. Carlos and Kendall had already forgiven him, why couldn’t he?

—

“What do you guys want for lunch?” Kendall glanced at James but James didn’t say anything and kept his gaze out the window. Carlos excitedly leaned forward, pushing his face in the space between James and Kendall in the front seat.

“I want pizza!”

Kendall chuckled, shooting Carlos a quick smile before he glanced back at Logan in the rear view mirror. “What do you say, Logan?”

Logan shrugged. “Sounds good.” He really didn’t care where they ate since he still didn’t have much of an appetite. At least with pizza it’d be hard to tell that he hadn’t eaten anything. Kendall frowned slightly at him almost as if he could read Logan’s thoughts and maybe he could. Kendall had always been good at reading people. Logan turned his gaze away though and refused to acknowledge his questioning look.

He heard Kendall sigh. “And you James?”

Logan glanced at James in the passenger seat, who just shrugged and kept his expression blank. It hurt Logan seeing him like that, knowing how expressive James could really be and knowing he was the cause of James’ mood. But there was nothing he could do. James was too stubborn and it would be up to James to get over it, to forgive Logan.

—

Logan couldn’t stop thinking about the girl in his vision. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he should know who she was, didn’t want to acknowledge that he did know who she was. His real dilemma was whether he should tell Kendall. If he was wrong and she wasn’t who he thought she was then he would have gotten Kendall’s hopes up for nothing. But if he was right and he said nothing…he’s not sure Kendall could forgive him for keeping this bit of information to himself.

They stopped at a gas station to fill up. James and Carlos went in to buy snacks while Kendall went around to the pump. Logan followed to lean against the side of the car watching Kendall. He bit his lip, unsure how to start. Taking a deep breath he decided to just get it over with. “I need to tell you something, Kendall.”

Kendall turned his head towards Logan, brows raised curiously. “What is it?”

“The girl in my vision, the one with the demon, I think…I think she’s y-your sister, Katie.”

“What?” Kendall looked shocked for a moment, before he shook his head. “No, it couldn’t be. Katie’s-” He stopped short, swallowing thickly, even after all these years, Logan knew it still hurt to say out loud. “She’s dead. She died in the fire. She can’t be, it can’t be her,” he said and shook his head again.

Logan felt a sadness well up in his chest. He could only imagine what Kendall was going through and he was sorry he was the one that was causing it. “I know it’s hard, Kendall,” he said softly and placed a hand on Kendall’s shoulder. Kendall stiffened under his touch and Logan quickly let his hand drop back to his side, heart lurching painfully. “But you said you saw the demon standing over her crib. What if it was there for her, what if it wanted her?”

“And what? She’s been with it this whole time?”

Logan shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure if it’s really her,” he said even though he did. He knew it was her, he knew deep down in his being that that girl was Kendall’s long-dead sister.

“Then why did you even bring it up!”

Logan flinched at Kendall’s tone, angry and hurt. Logan couldn’t answer for a moment, wished he hadn’t brought it up at all. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I just wanted to let you know, just in case it really is her.” And it was, he knew it was.

Kendall turned away from Logan then, jaw set and mouth pressed into a thin line. Logan watched him for a moment before he turned away as well, sighing softly.

“I’m sorry,” he said before he got back into the car.

James and Carlos joined him a few moments later, James still quiet but Carlos talking enough for the both of them. When Kendall finally took his place behind the wheel, they both noticed the change of his demeanor.

“What’s wrong, Kendall?” Carlos asked in concern, hand reaching over the front seat to grip Kendall’s shoulder.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Kendall said stiffly and shrugged Carlos’ hand off. Logan could see the hurt that passed over Carlos’ features as he sat back.

No one said anything for the rest of the drive.

—

Logan found James outside, leaning against the car. He was staring up at the sky, too cloudy to see the stars. He didn’t seem to notice Logan’s approach, or if he did, he didn’t acknowledge him. He still hadn’t said anything to anyone since the reveal of Logan’s secret, but Logan was determined to fix things between them. And he got a pretty good idea on how to do it. “I got you a pie,” he said, settling against the car next to James.

James didn’t respond but his shoulders stiffened subtly. Logan waited him out, hoping his plan would work. “Is that supposed to make everything all better?” James eventually asked, scoffing lightly. He still didn’t look at Logan, but at least he’d said something.

Logan chuckled softly, and shook his head. “Well no, but I figured it was a good place to start.”

James scoffed again and shook his head, keeping his gaze forward. He didn’t say anything else and Logan’s hope sank.

“Come on, James. I’m trying here. I know I should’ve told you guys about my visions, but-” Logan started pleadingly, but was cut off.

“That’s not what I’m mad about,” James spat out, turning to glower at Logan. He immediately turned away again, crossing his arms across his chest.

Logan stopped, brows rising slightly in surprise. “Then what? What is it? I’m a psychic,” - and wow, that was weird to say out loud - “Not a telepath. I can’t read your mind.”

James sighed and looked down, jaw set. Logan watched him, waiting for him to speak.

“I can’t- I can’t lose you,” James started, then paused a moment, swallowing softly. He kept his gaze down as he spoke, so softly that Logan had to strain to hear him. “I can’t lose you, or Carlos, or Kendall. I can’t lose any of you, do you understand?” He looked up then, turning to Logan, eyes bright with emotion.

“I thought you were dead and I just- I can’t lose you guys. You’re all that I have and I don’t know what I’d do if-” James’ voice cracked then and he stopped talking. He rubbed his face with one hand and ran his fingers through his hair, tilting his face down again.

Logan swallowed the lump in his throat. He understood exactly how James felt. He thought about it all the time, with every case, with every ghost, demon and monster they dealt with. With every vision he had there was always that fear in the back of his mind that it’d be Carlos or James or Kendall that he saw dying and he wouldn’t be able to stop it.

“Nothing is going to happen to any of us. We’re going to be fine,” Logan said with more confidence than he felt.

“Do you know that for sure?”

Logan sighed and shook his head. “No, but I have faith that no matter what happens, I’ll always have you three jerks there for me at the end of the day.”

That surprised a laugh out of James and he reached up to rub at his eyes, letting out a soft sniff that Logan pretended not to hear. “I’m surprised. You’re not one to talk about faith. That’s usually Carlos’ bit.”

“Yeah, well,” Logan shrugged, unable to express what he felt into words. He was always afraid, but he was still confident that they’d be able to do anything as long as they did it together.

James sighed softly next to him, finally relaxing and they settled into a comfortable silence.

“So, what kind did you get?”

“Huh?”

“What kind of pie did you get?”

“Apple.”

“Whipped cream?”

“Duh.”

James grinned and pushed himself away from the car. Logan followed suit and James draped his arm across Logan’s shoulder as he led the way into the motel.

—

After fixing things with James, all Logan had to worry about was fixing things with Kendall. He knew he’d overstepped and Kendall had every right to be angry at him for bringing it up. He didn’t get a chance to really speak to Kendall until the next day when they’re packing up for the road again. He was by the car, opening the trunk to put his bags away when Kendall approached with his own bag.

Logan paused after lifting the trunk, arms slowly descending back to his side while Kendall threw his bag into the trunk. There was a small moment of silence where Logan desperately tried to form the words to apologize before Kendall turned to him and heaved a sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

Logan’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?”

Kendall sighed again. “I’m sorry I got so upset yesterday.”

“No, Kendall-” Logan started, shaking his head. Kendall had nothing to apologize for. His reaction was natural and totally understandable.

Kendall held up a hand to stop Logan, and gave a small shake of his own head. “If you say you saw Katie, then I…I believe you,” he continued, voice softening towards the end.

“I don’t know for sure, Kendall, that’s the thing, but…but I really do think it was her….”

Kendall nodded once, a grim expression on his face. Logan could only guess what he was thinking about. What was his sister doing with the demon? What kind of person was she? Was she even human anymore?

“I’m sorry…” he finally said, looking down.

“It’s not your fault, Logan.”

“I’m still sorry…” He was sorry he had to be the one to tell Kendall, he was sorry that there was nothing he could do to make anything better.

Kendall’s lips quirked up in a sad smile. “Thanks,” he said, placing his hand on Logan’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “Now let’s go. We’ve still got a long way to go before we get to South Dakota.”

Logan nodded and finished putting his bags in the trunk. It was going to be a long drive, and he was glad he’d managed to fix things between him and Kendall and James before they ventured out.

——

When they arrived at Cold Oak, South Dakota, it was as old and abandoned as Logan had seen it in his vision.

“What happened here?”

“I don’t know…”

Logan felt something watching them and from the twitchy looks the others were shooting around, he could tell they felt the same thing. He tried to shake the feeling off, focusing on Kendall when the blond suddenly clapped his hands together gently.

“Alright, let’s split up,” Kendall said, glancing around at the others. James and Carlos nodded at Kendall’s words, but Logan’s stomach clenched at the idea.

“You really think that’s a good idea?”

The others looked at him and he cleared his throat. “I mean, there’s only one Colt, what if James and Carlos run into the Demon.”

“We can handle ourselves, Logan,” Carlos said in exasperation.

James nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

Logan stared at them all for a moment before he sighed, and reluctantly backed down. “Alright, fine. Just…be careful, okay?”

“Aren’t we always?” James asked flippantly, flashing Logan a quick grin.

“No, not really,” Logan deadpanned and tried to ignore the heavy ball of dread he felt in the pit of his stomach.

Kendall chuckled at Logan’s words and placed his hand on Logan’s shoulder. “They’ll be fine, Logan, come on. The sooner we find the Demon, the sooner we can leave this creepy place.”

Logan sighed. Kendall made it sound like it was going to be so simple. Just find the Demon and shoot him with the Colt and then that was it. But what about the people he’d seen in his vision? What about the girl he thought was Katie? He shook his head lightly to clear it and nodded at Kendall, following behind him as he started off down an old dusty road in the middle of the town.

He glanced over his shoulder to see James and Carlos going in the other direction and sent out a tiny prayer despite his lack of faith that they’d be okay.

“You sure the demon is here?” Kendall asked after a few minutes of silence. He was looking up at all the old buildings as they passed them.

“Yes.”

“It’s so quiet…”

“Just because it’s quiet doesn’t mean it’s empty,” Logan said, glancing up quickly at an old broken window as the hairs on the back of his neck raised. For a split second, he thought he saw something in it, a little girl or something, but it disappeared before he could see for sure. He swallowed and shook his head, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched. Their main focus was finding the Demon, but he still wished they’d brought some iron in any case.

Kendall suddenly stopped, holding out his hand in front of Logan to keep him from moving forward. Logan blinked at Kendall in confusion before he noticed the figure approaching them from down the street. He squinted, trying to make out who it was. It was too small to be Carlos or James or even the Demon.

Logan’s eyes widened as the figure came closer and he realized it’s the girl from his vision. “Th-that’s her. That’s the girl, your sister,” he said, tugging on Kendall’s sleeve frantically.

Kendall’s eyes widen and he takes a step forward. “Katie…?”

She suddenly stopped just a few yards away from them, brows furrowing. “Do I know you?”

“So, it’s true…you’re really Katie?” Kendall said instead of answering her question.

She eyed Kendall up and down, gaze flicking to Logan briefly. “Who are you guys? You’re not one of Azazel’s kids. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“We’re here to kill the Demon and…and save you,” Kendall replied, adding the last part in a rush.

She scoffed at his words. “Save me?” she repeated, lips quirking up in that same familiar yet not smirk Logan had seen in his vision. “I don’t need to be saved.” With that said, she raised a hand and flicked her wrist at Kendall.

Kendall let out a small yell as he suddenly flew back, landing on his back hard and sliding back with the force of…whatever it was she’d just done.

“Kendall!” Logan cried out, running to the other quickly. He crouched down next to him, eyes scanning his body for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

Kendall coughed and sat up with a small groan. “Yeah, I’m fine…I think.”

They both looked up when they heard Katie approaching. She lifted her hand again and Logan was flung back by an invisible force. His back hit the side of an abandoned building forcefully, knocking the wind out of him. He gasped for air, but his throat was suddenly being closed off by another invisible force that lifted him off the ground. He struggled, legs kicking to touch the ground but with no luck. He reached up and grabbed at his neck, trying to take in a deep breath, but he could only take in small shallow breaths at a time.

“What are you doing? Let him go!”

“Not until you tell me who you are and why you’re here.”

Kendall shot Logan another worried look before he turned his attention to the girl. “My name is Kendall. I’m your brother.”

Katie’s eyes widened slightly and the invisible hold around Logan’s throat loosened just enough to allow him to breathe more normally. “What are you- I don’t have a brother,” she said, and shook her head firmly.

Kendall’s eyes shone with tears and he took a careful step towards her. “Yes, you do. I’m your brother. You were just a baby when you were taken, but I remember. When you were just a little baby, I used to sneak into your room at night and watch you sleep in your crib. Then…then the Demon took you and killed our mom,” he said softly, voice thick with emotion.

Katie stared at him for a moment and she looked like she believed him for a second before she shook her head. “No! You’re lying!” she yelled, and Logan’s airway was suddenly completely cut off. He choked, trying to get in a breath but unable to. He thrashed weakly, fists banging against the wall behind him. “I was abandoned. No one wanted me. Azazel took me in. He’s the only family I’ve ever had.”

“Is that what he told you? He’s the one that’s lying. He took you, took you from me and took our mom too! Katie, please-”

“No! Just shut up or I’ll kill him!” she exclaimed, slamming Logan against the wall again with her powers. Logan grunted in pain, vision starting to blur from lack of oxygen, tears leaking out from the side of his eyes as he scrunched them closed.

“Please, I don’t want to do this. Just let him go,” Kendall said desperately and Logan forced himself to open his eyes to see Kendall pointing the Colt at Katie.

Katie’s eyes widened and once again her hold on Logan loosened a bit in her surprise. He gasped in what little air he could, legs thrashing hopelessly.

“The Colt,” she breathed, eyes fixated on the weapon.

“So, you know what this is, huh? Then you know what it’ll do to you if I were to shoot you.”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked between Kendall, the Colt and Logan. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

“No deal. Let him go, or I shoot.”

“Give me the gun, and I’ll let him go,” she countered smoothly. She seemed to have regain her composure from earlier and she regarded Kendall coolly, waiting for his response.

“No way.”

“If you don’t, I really will kill him and I can do it before you can even think about pulling the trigger.”

“I’m thinking about it right now,” Kendall said, voice low, and pulled back the hammer of the gun.

Logan wanted to shout at him not to do it. It would ruin Kendall to have to shoot his own sister, no matter what she’d done or become.

Katie only laughed at Kendall’s threat, seeming unperturbed by the gun aimed at her. “Okay, okay,” she said, after a few moments, amusement lacing her tone and lifted both hands up in surrender.

Whatever had been holding Logan up completely disappeared and he slid down the wall to collapse on the ground, coughing. He didn’t see what happened next, his eyes clenched shut as he gasped for air, but he heard Kendall cry out then the gun went off.

Logan’s eyes snapped open and he struggled to sit up. He saw Kendall laying on the ground a few yards away, gun laying a few feet away from his prone body. He wasn’t moving and Logan feared for the worst as he scrambled to his feet when he realized Katie was walking towards the gun.

“No!” he shouted, stumbling forward a few steps towards her as she leaned down to pick it up.

She glanced over her shoulder at his outburst and smirked. “Tell my big brother I said thanks,” she said, lightly waving the gun at Logan before she turned away and started to walk away.

“Wait!” Logan shouted after her, taking another few steps forward only to fall down to his knees. She didn’t bother looking back and Logan started to get back to his feet to pursue her but stopped when he heard Kendall groan softly, coughing as he woke up.

“Kendall,” Logan breathed out in relief and instead made his way to Kendall’s side, dropping down to his knees beside him once again. “You okay?”

“No, fuck, where’s Katie,” he said, pushing himself up quickly. He looked around frantically and Logan did the same. In the few moments he’d turn his attention to Kendall, she’d disappeared. “Fuck, we have to find her.”

Logan immediately nodded and started to get to his feet again. Once he was up, he reached down and helped Kendall back to his feet as well. “She has the Colt,” he said and Kendall paused to glance around the area and realize that the Colt really was gone.

“Damn.”

——

Logan heard James shout and he and Kendall both stopped, heads snapping in the direction it came from. Their search for Katie had turned up fruitless. It was like she completely disappeared. They shared a brief look of horror before they both spun on their heels, feet skidding across the ground as they both broke into a run. James didn’t sound like he was far and when he turned around the corner of the abandoned building, he saw him, kneeling on the ground. Logan looked around for Carlos, heart in his throat, stomach twisting into knots.

“James!” He called out and then he was running again, Kendall right on his heels.

James looked up at him as he ran closer, sliding to a stop in front of him, but Logan’s eyes were focused on Carlos, lying in James’ arms. Carlos and James both had their hands pressed into his side, blood seeping through their fingers despite their efforts to keep it in.

“Carlos,” Kendall whispered in disbelief. He dropped down to his knees, shaking his head. “No, no, no, what happened?” he asked, reaching forward to press his hand against James and Carlos’, adding more pressure to the wound.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. It all happened so fast. There was this girl, she had the Colt and Carlos tried to stop her but she stabbed him or something! Jesus, Logan, do something, please!” James’ voice broke on the last word and he looked down at the bloody man in his arms.

“Wha- I don’t- What do you want me to do?” Logan asked, finally breaking out of his shocked state to drop down to his knees beside Kendall.

“I don’t know! You’re the doctor, help him!”

“I didn’t- I can’t! I don’t-!” Logan grabbed a handful of his hair, tugging hard as his mind raced to think of the right course of action. He needed to do something, anything to help Carlos.

Carlos whimpered softly and James’ grip around his shoulders tightened as he pressed down further on the wound, more blood seeping through their fingers. There was just so much blood. Logan’s eyes flicked up to Carlos’ face, features marred with a pain expression. His eyes focused on the blood trickling out of the corner of Carlos’ mouth, the color standing out against Carlos’ unnaturally pale skin. His eyes were drooping closed and that’s when it hit him.

Carlos was dying.

The realization hit him like a bucket of cold water and he sprang into action. “Kendall, give me your shirt,” he said urgently. Kendall quickly nodded and pulled his hand away and started to tug at the front of his plaid shirt, ripping the buttons off in his haste. Logan snatched it from Kendall as soon as it was off and wadded it into a ball. He wouldn’t be enough, he knew that, but it was something for now.

He tried to think what they should do, if they tried to move Carlos, he didn’t know what would happen. He needed to look at the wound, but he was too afraid of Carlos bleeding out. If Carlos-

He stopped that train of thought before it could go any further. Carlos couldn’t die. He just couldn’t.

“Hurry, Logan!”

“Shut up, James!” He snapped and swatted James and Carlos’ hands away from the wound, quickly placing Kendall’s shirt over it. “Here, press down hard,” he said, grabbing James hand and placing it over the cloth.

James nodded jerkily and did as he was told, pressing down hard and holding Carlos close when he whimpered at the pressure. “You can’t die, Carlos, you understand? You can’t leave me with these two. They don’t know how to have any fun. I’ll be so pissed at you if you die, okay?”

Carlos chuckled weakly. “Okay,” he said and Logan watched as his fingers tightened in James’ shirt briefly before they loosened.

“We need to get him to a hospital,” Logan said, tearing his gaze away from Carlos towards Kendall. He knew it was hopeless. Carlos would bleed out before they ever got close to a hospital. He’d already lost too much blood and they were too far out, in the middle of nowhere.

“I’ll go get the car.”

“No,” Carlos said weakly, reaching out for Kendall.

Kendall reached out and grasped Carlos’ hand in his own, squeezing desperately. “I’m just going to get the car, Carlos. I’ll be right back, okay,” Kendall said, but he didn’t try to move away again.

“Don’t leave, please,” Carlos begged softly. “I want you here.”

“Carlos, we need to get you to a hospital or you’ll-” Logan choked slightly on the word. Tears sprang to his eyes and he swallowed thickly before he continued. “You’re going to die if we don’t.”

“I want you all here,” he said, voice weaker than it was before. Logan bit back a sob, looking down at Kendall’s shirt pressed against Carlos’ midriff. It was already almost soaked with blood and he knew it was already too late and Carlos knew it too. “Just stay here, okay?”

Logan nodded quietly, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. Beside him, Kendall lifted Carlos hand, clutching it in both hands and he leaned over and pressed his forehead against Carlos’ knuckles. He didn’t seem to notice or care about the blood that Carlos’ hand left on his skin.

“Carlos, please, you can’t,” he choked out, closing his eyes. “I- we need you.”

Carlos tried to smile at Kendall, corners of his mouth twitching weakly. Logan watched as his chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to breath, eyes fluttering to stay open.

“No!” James cried out softly and gathered Carlos closer to his chest, arms wrapping securely around his body.

Logan closed his eyes when Carlos finally let out his last breath, the soft exhale feeling like a sharp blade in Logan’s heart. He pressed his closed fists against his thighs, throat feeling tight as hot tears spilled down his cheeks.

——

Then
The moment Logan saw Kendall sitting on the steps outside his dorm building, he knew what had happened. He stopped a few yards away, heart pounding in his chest as he blinked backed the sudden onslaught of tears.

After taking a moment to pull himself together, he closed the remaining distance between him and Kendall. “Kendall! What are you doing here?” He tried to sound surprised and happy to see Kendall but the words came out forced and the smile plastered on his face felt like it would break at any moment.

Kendall looked up at him, eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot and Logan dropped the pretense immediately. “What happened?”

Kendall just stared up at him and Logan could feel his heart breaking all over again. He had thought he had grieved for Jo already but he had been so wrong. Seeing it now on Kendall’s face, he knew he would never stop grieving for her.

“Jo,” Kendall eventually whispered hoarsely then dropped his head into his hands. Logan crouched down next to him immediately, hand settling on Kendall’s trembling shoulder.

“Where are the others?”

He waited patiently as Kendall pulled himself together, sniffing and wiping his face. “Uh, motel,” he said, voice thick with tears, then cleared his throat.

“Let’s go, then,” Logan said, getting back to his feet. “They shouldn’t be left alone. None of us should.”

He reached down and tugged Kendall to his feet. “Give me the keys. I’ll drive.”

“Logan…”

“Let’s just get back to James and Carlos. They need us, Kendall.”

Kendall stared at him for a moment before he nodded, eyes hardening slightly in determination. Logan smiled sadly and reached for Kendall’s hand, giving it a small squeeze, knowing that Kendall’s protective instincts would kick in and help distract him from his pain.

Kendall clutched at Logan’s hand tightly, squeezing so hard it almost hurt, before he shoved both hands in his pockets and led the way to the car.

When they got to the motel, Carlos immediately launched himself at Logan, wrapping his arms around him tight. Logan squeezed Carlos, rubbing his back soothingly as Carlos sobbed into Logan’s shoulder. He glanced at James, seeing the same devastated expression on his face but more tightly controlled.

“Shh, it’s okay, Carlos, it’s going to be okay,” Logan murmured softly into Carlos’ ear, trying to fight back tears of his own. He had missed them a lot and he hated that it took Jo’s death to bring them back together.

Logan glanced at Kendall, silently asking for help. An emotional Carlos was too much for Logan to handle. Carlos never held anything back, even when he tried, it was always easy to see what he was feeling and he definitely wasn’t holding anything back right then.

Kendall was watching Carlos with a pained expression on his face and Logan almost regretted looking to him for help, but he knew this was what Kendall needed- someone to take care of. It was what Kendall always needed. After a moment, Kendall reached over and placed his hands on Carlos’ back. “Come on, Carlos. Let’s go lay down for a bit, okay?”

Carlos nodded and reluctantly released Logan, turning towards Kendall and pressing himself against Kendall instead. Logan watched as Kendall wrapped his arm around Carlos’ shoulder and led him to the bed, helping him lay down. Kendall sat down on the edge of the bed and Carlos rolled over to face him, curling himself around Kendall’s sitting form.

Kendall smiled softly and twisted a little to run his fingers through Carlos’ hair, murmuring something softly. Carlos nodded and closed his eyes, a few more tears escaping as he did so.

Logan sighed quietly, knowing that taking care of Carlos would help keep Kendall’s mind off his own pain. He glanced over at James, who was sitting at the small table located in the corner of the room. He hadn’t said anything since Logan arrived, but Logan wasn’t really surprised. James often went quiet when he was upset, sometimes not speaking for days.

“James,” he murmured quietly, walking over to him. He placed his hand on James’ shoulder and squeezed gently as he pulled a chair close and sat down next to James. “How are you?”

James looked at him, eyes red-rimmed, and Logan wished he could take the question back. He felt like an idiot for even asking it.

“I’m dealing,” James said, surprising Logan. “Kendall told you what happened?”

Logan shook his head. “Not really,” he admitted, but he didn’t need Kendall to tell him what happened. He’d already seen it.

“Jo…we got separated…,” James could barely get the words out and he quickly stopped trying.

Logan reached over to place his hand over James’ hand, tears springing to his eyes. Despite knowing nothing could’ve stopped it, he still wished there had been something he could do. “If only I’d-” he started to say, but quickly cut himself off. He knew it wouldn’t have made a difference. Even if he had been there, nothing could’ve changed what happened, but he still couldn’t stop himself from thinking about it.

James looked up at him sharply. “If only you’d what? Been there?” he snapped, snatching his hand out from under Logan’s. “Yeah, maybe if you had been there, none of this would’ve happened!”

Logan flinched at the words, but he wasn’t surprised at James’ sudden anger. Anger had always been easier for James to deal with than sorrow or pain.

“James,” Kendall admonished from across the room. His tone wasn’t as stern as it usually would be when he got after James. “You can’t blame Logan for what happened. It wasn’t his fault.”

Logan kept his gaze down, closing his eyes against the tears that threatened to fall. He wanted to be grateful to Kendall, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Kendall really meant what he said. He wouldn’t blame Kendall for thinking the same thing as James. A part of him wanted them to blame him. He had known after all, known what was going to happen but hadn’t said anything to them about it.

It wouldn’t have made a difference. He knew that, and a part of him was always afraid that if he pushed too far to try to change something, he’d end up losing the others too. That was one thing he constantly worried about, seeing a vision where one of the other boys died, knowing he couldn’t do anything to stop it.

“It’s okay, Kendall,” Logan finally said, glancing over at the blond before turning back to James. “If James wants to blame me, he can.”

“No. The demon that killed Jo is the only thing he should be angry at.”

James pushed his chair back and stood up abruptly. He walked away from the table, towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Out,” James snapped as he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Logan jumped slightly then sighed and sank back in his chair, shoulders drooping. “He’s still mad at me, huh? For leaving?”

“He’s just upset.”

“We’re all upset. What makes him so special?”

“You know James. He just needs some time alone. He’ll come back once he’s cooled down.”

Logan sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah…” he looked around the room and didn’t know what to do with himself. He felt useless now, out of place with the only people he’d ever felt comfortable with.

“Do you guys want anything? I can go get us some food,” he suddenly offered, getting to his feet.

Kendall shook his head. “I’m not really hungry.”

“Carlos?”

Carlos shook his head, sniffing softly. “No, thank you,” he said softly.

Logan sighed and looked around the room. “Well, you’ll probably be hungry later, so I’ll go get us something to eat and we can just heat it up when you guys get hungry. Sound good?”

Kendall smiled slightly and nodded. “That sounds great, Logan.”

“Get pizza. It tastes better cold anyway,” Carlos called out softly while Logan grabbed the keys and headed towards the door.

Logan chuckled softly and nodded. “Okay.”

By the time he got back, James had also returned. He was sitting at the table again, leaning forward on the table, hands interlocked and resting against his forehead as he stared down at the table top. Logan sighed at seeing him and glanced over at the bed he’d last left Kendall and Carlos. In the time he’d been gone, Kendall had laid down with Carlos and they both looked like they were sleeping.

Logan sighed again and slowly walked further into the room. James didn’t bother looking up at him when he set the pizza boxes on the table.

“Hungry?”

James looked up at him, an angry expression on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “No.”

Logan nodded and sat down next to James again. He wasn’t hungry either, but at least he’d had something to do, something that made him feel like he was helping. His shoulders sagged as the silence in the room spread out and he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. He could feel himself falling apart and he pressed his face into the palms of his hands for a brief moment, trying to keep himself together.

“How long do you plan on staying?” he asked, letting his arms fall down to the table top, crossing them in front of himself.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of your hair in a few days.”

Logan sighed and looked up at James. James’ expression was closed off, jaw set. “That’s not- that’s not what I meant, James.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I just…I just wanted to know how long I had to talk to the school.”

“What are you talking about?” James asked, brows furrowing.

Logan took a deep breath. He’d actually just made this decision while he was out getting the pizza. “I’m going with you guys whenever you leave again…,” he said, then quickly added, suddenly unsure. “That is, if you still want me around.”

“Of course we do,” James replied quickly, leaning forwards slightly. “Fuck, man, how could you even think we don’t want you back? But why? Going to college, becoming a doctor, that’s always been your dream.”

Logan sighed, nodding. “It’s been my dream since I was a kid. It’s hard to let it go, but I don’t belong here,” he said, and looked down at his palm, rubbing at the scar there with his thumb. “I belong with you guys. You’re my family and you need me right now.”

James was silent for a long moment, studying Logan intently. “If that’s what you want, I’m not going to stop you, but don’t do it because you think you have to.”

“I’m not…” Logan said quickly, shaking his head. “I want to. I want to come back home.”

——

Now
Logan walked into to the room where they were keeping Carlos’ body and found Kendall sitting quietly next to the bed, head down, shoulder slumped. It was a heartbreaking sight and Logan swallowed past the lump in his throat as he leaned against the door frame. “Hey…”

Kendall looked up at him before turning his gaze back to Carlos’ still form. “I promised him we’d go vampire hunting, just the two of us, when this was all over,” he said, voice rough. He cleared his throat then sniffed softly, reaching up with his free hand to wipe at his face.

Logan wasn’t sure what to say. Nothing seemed right, nothing could make it better. Carlos’ death was tearing him apart and seeing it reflected in Kendall made it a hundred times worse. He walked across the room and stood by Kendall, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. Losing Carlos was like losing a limb, his loss left a gaping hole in their lives. He couldn’t even imagine how things were going to be without him, didn’t want to think about it at all.

“I’m worried about James,” he said, breaking the heavy silence between them. He needed to focus on something and James was the best thing. He’d left an hour before without a word. Logan had been too distraught to question him at the time but now he wished he had. James was liable to do something insane in his grief. He felt anxious, chest tight as he thought about James doing something stupid and losing him too.

Kendall’s hand covered his own and Logan realized he was squeezing Kendall’s shoulder again, fingertips pressing tight into the flesh. He quickly let his hand fall back to his side and took a step away from Kendall. “Sorry,” he murmured, avoiding looking at Kendall.

“It’s okay,” Kendall said softly.

Logan turned his gaze towards Kendall, seeing him slumped over, forearms resting on his thighs as he gripped Carlos’ hand in both of his. “It’s not,” he said, swallowing past the lump in his throat. “How can it be okay? Things will never be okay again.” He knows that’s not what Kendall meant but he can’t stop the words from coming. Panic rose up in him and he ran a shaky hand through his hair, tugging on it sharply. “What are we going to do, Kendall?” he asked in despair.

He looked toward Kendall, needing him to make it right, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, but Kendall only looked up at him, staring into Logan’s eyes with the same lost and broken-hearted expression Logan knew was all over his own face.

Kendall let out a heavy sigh and didn’t say anything for a moment. “Have you tried calling him?”

“Huh?”

“James. Have you tried calling him.”

“Oh...yeah, it goes straight to voicemail and he’s not answering my texts.”

“And you don’t know where he went?”

“No. He didn’t say and I didn’t think to ask…”

Kendall nodded, then sighed again. “James can take care of himself,” he said confidently, then added, almost to himself, “I just hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Logan forced out a laugh because that’s exactly what he was afraid of. “Come on,” he said, voice shaking slightly with too much emotion. “It’s James. Of course he’s going to do something stupid.”

Kendall barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Yeah…that’s the one thing we’re good at, huh? Doing something stupid.”

Logan’s mouth twitched involuntarily and he chuckled softly. “Wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t…”

——

A few hours later and Logan went from worried to angry, anything to keep from thinking about the unbearable sadness that lurked in his chest.

“He’s such a selfish asshole. He acts like he’s the only that lost him!” He suddenly exclaimed, throwing his arms out as he paced across the room.

Kendall just looked up at him from his seat by Carlos’ body. “They were close,” he said softly, looking back to Carlos.

“And we weren’t? We loved Carlos just as much as he did. What gives him the right to just take off like this. We should be together! For Carlos!”

Kendall sighed and got to his feet, walking over to Logan who stopped his pacing when the other approached. Kendall laid his hand on Logan’s shoulder and Logan tried not to shake it off in his anger or worse, throw himself at Kendall in his grief.

He swallowed thickly, jaw clenched and shook his head. “I hate him,” he said quietly.

“No, you don’t. You’re just angry right now because it’s easier.”

Logan swallowed again, tears welling up in his eyes. He tried so hard to blink them back, keep them from falling but they spilled over anyway. “It should’ve been me. I thought it gonna be me…”

“Logan, you can’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known.”

“But I did!” Kendall reared back at his outburst and stared at him. Logan quickly licked his dry lips and looked away. “I had a vision last night…”

Kendall gasped softly. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Logan bit his lip and took a deep, shuddery breath. “They’re not always clear, ya know? Sometimes they’re like a movie. They’re so clear and vivid that it feels like I’m living them. But other times they’re just a jumble of images, feelings and sometimes just sounds…”

Kendall didn’t say anything for a long time. “It’s still not your fault.”

Logan shook his head. “I should’ve tried to do something.”

“But you said it yourself, right? No matter what, you can’t stop your visions from coming true.”

“But for Carlos I would’ve tried!”

“Like you did with Jo?”

Logan inhaled sharply, eyes widening. “I tried to warn her. I told her what was going to happen.”

Kendall took a step closer and placed his hands on Logan’s shoulders. “It’s not your fault,” he repeated. “None of it is. Carlos wouldn’t want you to blame yourself, you know that.”

Logan let out a chuckle that sounded more like a sob because of course Carlos wouldn’t blame him. Carlos wouldn’t have blamed him even if he had been the one shoving the knife into his back. When Kendall pulled him in, he didn’t try to fight him, just pressed his face into Kendall’s shoulder, eyes squeezed shut and sobbed.

Kendall wrapped his arms around him and squeezed. Logan clutched at the back of Kendall’s shirt as Kendall buried his face in Logan’s neck. He felt Kendall shaking gently, breath hitching and Logan just clutched onto him tighter. “It’s not fair,” he choked out and Kendall shook his head, whispering something against Logan’s shoulder.

Kendall suddenly shuddered against him and he let out a choked sob, shoulders shaking silently. “I can’t, Logan. I can’t lose him too,” Kendall was saying, voice broken and wrecked and Logan hated James. He hated him for being selfish and leaving him to try to hold together a broken Kendall. He could barely keep himself together.

Logan took a deep breath and squeezed Kendall tightly. “It’s okay, Kendall. We’re going to be okay,” he whispered.

Kendall shook his head, arms tightening around Logan like he was trying to absorb Logan into his body so he wouldn’t be able to lose him too. “No, it won’t. Not without Carlos. It’ll never be okay.”

“It will, Kendall. Carlos would want us to keep going. He’d want us to find the demon and save your sister.”

Kendall didn’t say anything else and Logan held him until his sobs subsided and he was left taking deep shuddering breaths. They held each other for a little while longer until Kendall pulled back and turned away to wipe his face. Logan did the same and then made the mistake of glancing at Carlos’ body and a new wave of grief hit him. He pushed it back and swallowed thickly before he turned back to Kendall.

“If he’s not here by tomorrow then we’re going to have to do it without him.” They needed to burn Carlos, put him to rest, before they moved on. It was something Logan wasn’t looking forward to, but it needed to be done. James or no James.

“He’ll never forgive us.”

“I don’t care! He should be here! Not off throwing himself a fucking pity party.”

Kendall sighed but nodded. “Alright. We’ll do it in the morning.”

——

Carlos came back with a gasp, the sound both beautiful and horrifying. Logan sat frozen, as he watched Carlos cough, rolling over onto his side. Logan’s heart skipped a beat before it seemed to double to make up for it. He didn’t move for another second before he sprang to his feet, knocking his chair over as he called out for Kendall.

Kendall ran into the room, eyes wide with worry and fear. “What? What is it?”

Before Logan could say anything, Carlos let out a small groan. “Ow.”

Kendall gaped and stepped forward. “Carlos…?”

“I hurt. Why do I hurt?” Carlos asked, expression pained.

Kendall took another step forward and Logan reached out to grab his arm, stopping him before he could get too close. Kendall turned towards him in surprise but Logan just shook his head. Kendall seemed to get it because he nodded in return and retreated a step away from Carlos.

Carlos was looking at them now, confusion marring his features instead of the pain from moments before. Logan felt like his heart was lodged in his throat and he swallowed thickly. He looked so much like Carlos. Logan wanted desperately for this to be real.

“Guys? What happened? Why are you looking at me like that?”

It sounded like Carlos, too. It sounded like him but Logan still didn’t trust him- it. He tightened his grip on Kendall’s arm, wanting answers, wanting to believe that this was real, that it was Carlos sitting there, looking confused and a little scared now.

“Get out of him!”

Carlos’ eyes widened and he backed up against the wall. “Kendall, what?”

“I said get out!”

Logan’s brain finally caught up with him and he knew what he had to do. He hurried to the next room and rummaged through their bags, grabbing the bottle of holy water they always carried with him. Fingers tight around it, he ran back to the other room, approaching Carlos’ body quickly.

Heart thundering in his ears, Logan twisted the bottle open and flicked his wrist, spraying the contents onto Carlos. The water splashed onto Carlos’ face making him flinch, eyes widening in realization, but nothing else happened.

“You think I’m a demon? I’m not a demon!”

“Well, yeah, we know that now,” Logan said, relief flooding through him.

“Why would you think I was a demon? What happened?”

“James,” was all Kendall said, eyes widening as if he’d just made a realization.

Carlos’ brows furrowed in confusion and he shook his head slightly. “What? What about him?”

Logan also turned towards Kendall in confusion, brows knitted together waiting for him to explain himself.

“He brought Carlos back.”

Logan shook his head, still confused. “What are you-?” Logan cut himself off as he made the connection that Kendall already had. There was only one way James could’ve brought Carlos back. He shook his head again, this time in denial. “No…no, he wouldn’t…Would he?” He couldn’t believe James would do something like that. Except, James would totally do something like that.

“Wouldn’t you?” Kendall shot back, eyebrows rising high on his forehead. “I know I would if I had thought about it.”

Logan knew he would too if the thought had crossed his mind. And James was dumb enough and heartbroken enough to do it. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Guys? What are you talking about? What happened?”

Logan and Kendall both glanced at Carlos before exchanging a look. Logan wasn’t sure if telling Carlos he had died was a good idea. “Carlos, what exactly do you remember?”

“I remember me and James splitting up and then I ran into that girl and she…she stabbed me,” Carlos said slowly. He placed his hand over his stomach and lifted his shirt. The wound was still there, but not as dire as it originally was. It still looked pretty bad, but Logan could easily patch him up this time.

Kendall and Logan both winced at the sight and Logan quickly moved forward, kneeling down by the bed. He reached for the first aid kit that he’d left by the bed when he was trying to clean Carlos’ body earlier. His chest constricted at the thought but he quickly shook it away. “Lay back,” he ordered, placing his hand in the middle of Carlos’ chest and pressing him back.

Carlos lay back without much of a fuss, looking up at Logan with eyes full fear and confusion. “Did I die?” he whispered softly in horror.

Logan looked over his shoulder at Kendall, exchanging a quick look with him, still not sure what to tell him.

Kendall cleared his throat and stepped forward, grabbing the chair he was sitting in earlier and moving it closer to the bed. He sat down and reached over and took Carlos’ hand in his, squeezing it tightly. “Carlos,” he started, then stopped, licking his lips quickly.

Carlos was looking up at Kendall expectantly. Logan knew that whatever Kendall told him, Carlos would believe without a doubt. He didn’t know what Kendall was going to do, if he was going to tell him the truth or lie but whatever he decided, Logan would back him up 100%.

Logan looked away from them and rummaged through the first aid kit, looking for a piece of gauze to put over Carlos’ wound.

“You did die,” Kendall finally said softly then stopped to swallow as he said the words.

Carlos was silent for a long moment as Logan placed the gauze over his stomach and taped it down. “But…how am alive now?”

Kendall shook his head. “I don’t know, but James disappeared after you-” he stopped and cleared his throat. It was still too soon to be talking about this, even Logan felt a surge of emotion at Kendall’s words. “We think he made a deal.”

“A deal?”

“With a Crossroads Demon.”

Carlos continued to look confused for a second before his eyes widened. “He wouldn’t!” he exclaimed and pushed himself up into a sitting position and wince softly at the movement.

“Carlos, be careful,” Logan warned softly, not wanting him to overexert himself.

“Sorry,” Carlos mumbled at Logan, before he shook his head. “He wouldn’t,” he repeated firmly, looking up at Kendall.

“He would, Carlos. We all would, he was just the first to think of it,” Kendall said softly.

Carlos blinked rapidly and looked down, hand hovering over his torso. “But that means…”

It meant that James sold his soul for Carlos’ and that in ten years, they’d have to go through this pain and heartache all over again, but with James instead of Carlos.

——

Logan heard the car pulling up and quickly got up, rushing out the door. Kendall called after him, but Logan ignored him, fists clenched at his side.

When he made it out to the front, James was heading towards him, a hopeful look on his face. “Did it work?” he asked as he approached Logan.

They met halfway and Logan pulled his arm back and punched James as way of answer. He usually didn’t like to resort to violence, especially against the other guys, but he couldn’t control himself this time. He was just so angry with James for doing something so stupid.

James stumbled back a bit in surprise, but quickly caught himself. “What the hell, Logan?” he asked, rubbing his jaw.

“You idiot! Are you really that stupid? What were you thinking? ” Logan shouted, shoving at James chest angrily.

James stumbled back another step, but he quickly regained his footing and stood his ground, jaw tightening stubbornly. He took a step forward into Logan’s space, leaning down until their faces were only inches apart. “I was thinking that Carlos was dead and I needed to do something about it,” he spat out, voice low. “Now, tell me. Did. It. Work.”

Logan’s jaw clenched and he almost punched James again, but he took a deep breath and stepped back, nodding his head. “Yeah, it worked.”

Relief flashed across James’ face, smile spreading wide across his face with it. He didn’t say anything else to Logan and pushed past him, walking into the abandoned house they’d taken refuge in for the past day.

Shoulders sagging, Logan spun around on his heels and slowly followed after James. By the time he got back inside, James was already sitting on the bed next to Carlos, enveloping him in a hug. Logan leaned against the doorway and watched as Carlos tried to shove James away.

“I’m mad at you, James,” he said in a slightly muffled voice.

“I don’t care. You can be as mad at me as you want, as long as you’re alive,” came James’ muffled reply.

Carlos closed his eyes and finally leaned into James’ embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around the other man.

Logan looked away, diverting his eyes from the two. He looked to Kendall, who had turned away as well. He shot Logan a small, almost sad smile and Logan returned it with one of his own.

He should’ve been happy that Carlos was back, but all he could think about was the cost. James’ life for Carlos’. It wasn’t fair. Sure they’d have another ten years to be together, but it wouldn’t be enough and James deserved more than just ten more years.

——

After the small reunion between Carlos and James and after they all berated James for making such a rash decision without talking to anybody first, they turned their attention to figuring out where the Demon and Kendall’s sister went. They had the Colt and who knew what they were planning on doing with it.

They contacted Gustavo and Kelly first, telling them everything that happened and asking them to keep an eye out for anything weird happening. Kelly said they’d look into it and get back to them if she found anything. After that, the boys decided to call Camille and ask her to keep a look out for anything too, then Kendall turned to Logan and told him to call Mercedes.

Logan’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wh-what? How am I supposed to call her? It’s not like I have her on speed dial!”

“How do you normally get in touch with her?”

“I don’t. She’s the one that usually pops up when she needs something from me.”

Kendall sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath before he took a deep breath. “I guess we’ll have to summon her.”

“She’s not going to like that.”

“I really don’t give a fuck what she likes.”

Logan nodded. “Right, okay,” he said, then jerked his thumb towards their bags. “I’ll see if we have everything we need then.”

“I’ll draw the Devil’s Trap, then,” Carlos offered but was quickly shot down by Kendall.

“No, you’re going to sit there and rest. James’ll draw the trap.”

Carlos’ bottom lip protruded petulantly but he didn’t try to argue. He was probably too weak to even stand.

“Is the trap really necessary?” Logan asked doubtfully.

“Yes,” Kendall answered immediately.

“She wants the Demon dead as much as we do.”

“I don’t care. She’s a demon, therefore we can’t trust her,” Kendall said and it was apparent in his tone that he wasn’t going to budge in his decision.

Logan sighed and shook his head slightly before crouching down by their bags. They didn’t summon demons often, but sometimes it was necessary so they usually kept a good stock of the items needed for a ritual. He quickly found everything he needed and prepared while James sketched out a Devil’s Trap on the floor with a marker.

“Okay, ready?” James asked when he was done, tossing the marker on the bed with Carlos.

Logan nodded and moved to stand in front of the trap. Taking a deep breathe, he spoke the incantation, the latin flowing from his lips naturally after years of use. Once he was finished, he waited with bated breath. No matter how many times he did this, there was always that doubt that it wouldn’t work.

“What the fuckam I doing here?” Mercedes suddenly said, appearing in the middle of the symbol on the floor.

“Mercedes! I’m sorry, but we need your help. The Demon-” Logan started, but was quickly cut off by her.

“Is still alive! I know! And he has the Colt! You said you’d kill him! Do you have any idea what’s happening out there?”

“No! That’s exactly why we summoned you!”

“Let me out! I need to fix your mess.”

“No,” Kendall said, finally stepping in. “Not until you tell us what’s happening and how we can stop it. We’re going to finish this. Not you.”

“Let me out now,” she growled out, voice low and threatening. It sent a shiver down Logan’s spine.

“Or what? You can’t do anything while you’re trapped. Just tell us what we need to know.”

“Please, Mercedes,” Logan added plaintively.

Mercedes’ gaze snapped to Logan and she gave him a long hard look before she sighed. “There’s an old cemetery in Wyoming that houses a Devil’s Gate. The Colt is the key. It’s in the center of a huge Devil’s Trap, though.”

“What? But if it’s in the middle of a Devil’s Trap, then the demon can’t get to it, right?” Carlos asked, finally piping up from where his position in the bed.

“No, but his sister can,” Mercedes said, sending a pointed look at Kendall. “And then your entire world will be flooded with demons led by her.”

“Wait, what? Sister?” James asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

“Katie. The girl that killed Carlos was my sister. She’s been with the demon this whole time,” Kendall quickly explained before turning back to Mercedes, ignoring James’ attempts to ask more questions. “And what do you mean? What does my sister have to do with the Demon’s plans?

Mercedes rolled her eyes. “That’s what was happening here. Azazel was trying to weed out his special children and decide which one would lead his army of Demons.”

Logan exchanged a look with the others, swallowing thickly. If that was true, then this was bad. This was really, really bad.

“Fuck,” James breathed and Mercedes snorted softly.

“You said it, big boy.”

——

They were too late to stop Katie from opening the Devil’s Gate. By the time they got to the cemetery, black smoke was billowing into the sky, spreading out. The boys hurried out of the car, looking up at the sky.

“What is that?”

“Demons,” Logan said, turning to the others. “We’re too late.”

“Fuck,” Kendall swore harshly. “Come on, we have to try to close it!”

He took off running towards the crypt in the distance, pulling his gun out. Logan and the others quickly followed after him, drawing their weapons as well. As they neared the crypt, they slowed to a walk, approaching cautiously. Kendall motioned for them to stay back while he stepped forward slowly, approaching the opening where the demons were escaping through the Gate.

Logan watched with his heart in his throat. They all had anti-possession tattoos, but he still couldn’t stop the dread from building up as Kendall neared the mass of black smoke. When Kendall was close enough, he lunged forward and pulled the Colt out from the door of the crypt. He slipped it into his jacket pocket before he grabbed the door and started to tug on it to close it.

Logan watched as he struggled with the door, entire body tensed with anticipation. After a moment, Kendall stumbled back, shaking his head before turning towards them. “Come on, help me close it!”

Logan nodded and hurried forward to help, Carlos and James right next to him. They kept their heads low, as the surge of demon smoke still continued to billow out of the crypt. “Come on,” Kendall said, tugging Logan closer. Logan stumbled forward a few steps before he caught his balance, finally tearing his gaze away from the demons escaping.

James and Carlos both seemed to snap out of their daze as well and moved forward. They all grabbed the edge of the crypt door and pulled, grunting with the effort. Logan was surprised at how difficult it was, but they kept trying.

Finally, they got it shut and stumbled back as it slammed closed, cutting off the dark cloud that had been spilling out into the night sky. Logan reached out and grabbed onto Kendall and Carlos so he wouldn’t fall over, looking up to see the sky as it cleared, demons disappearing to who knows where to do who knew what.

Silence descended in the graveyard as they watched the sky. “Shit, how many do you think got out?” Carlos asked, voice sounding a little off with his head tilted all the way back to look up.

“Too many,” Kendall said grimly, turning his face down towards them.

Logan sighed at Kendall’s words. Even one demon was too many; that had to have been thousands of them escaping.

“Well, looks like we’ll have our work cut out for us for the next few years,” Carlos said, tone lighter than the situation called for.

James rolled his eyes. “It’s not funny,” he said, reaching out to smack Carlos’ arm roughly.

Carlos frowned, rubbing his arm and glaring at James. “I wasn’t joking.”

Kendall sighed and shook his head. “We’ll need to call Gustavo and Kelly so they can put the word out to other hunters about this,” he said, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the Colt. “But at least we have the Colt back.”

“But where’s the Demon?” Logan asked, looking around at the others. They’d totally screwed up everything. Who knew how long it would take them to track the Demon down again.

“And Katie,” Kendall added.

“What are you doing?”

All four spun around in surprise at the voice. They hadn’t heard anyone approaching. Logan’s eyes widened when he realized who it was.

“Katie!” Kendall exclaimed, taking a few steps forward before stopping himself.

She glared at them, hard stare sweeping over all of them. Her eyes stopped on Carlos, brows rising subtly. “You survived?” she questioned in surprise.

“Yeah, kinda,” Carlos said, shifting beside Logan while James moved to stand a little in front of him.

“Too bad. I’ll have to make sure to finish the job next time.”

“You fucking bitch,” James spit out angrily, taking a step forward and aiming his gun at her. Katie turned her attention to James, a bored expression on her face and raised her arm, flicking her hand at him.

Just like with Kendall and Logan back at the town, James was knocked back by an invisible force. He cried out in surprise and slammed into an old headstone a few yards away. Logan and Carlos rush to his side, making sure he was okay, but he quickly brushed their concern off, getting back to his feet quickly.

Katie smirked slightly at them before she turned to Kendall. “Were you really going to let him kill me, big brother?” she asked mockingly.

Kendall gritted his teeth, fists tightening by his side. Logan could tell that Kendall was torn. He didn’t want to hurt his sister, but she’d hurt them if they weren’t careful. “Dammit, Katie, please. Why are you doing this?”

Katie laughed. “Why am I doing this? Because I want to, duh. It’s what I was meant to do. It’s who I am.”

“No! You’re were never meant for this! Katie, you’re my sister, please help me stop this.”

Katie’s eyes hardened and she glared at Kendall. “You think that just because you say you’re my brother, that we’re blood, that I’m just going to help you? Where were you when I needed you?”

“Katie…” Kendall murmured softly, swallowing thickly. “I’m sorry. I would’ve been there for you if I could, but that Demon took you away from me. I didn’t even know you were still alive until a few days ago!”

Katie scoffed lightly. “How convenient.”

“It’s true! Katie, if I’d known, if I had even a little clue that you were still alive, I would’ve come looking for you a long time ago. You have to believe me.”

“Well, I don’t and now I’m going to kill you and your friends,” she said breezily and raised her hand.

“No, wait!” Kendall cried out, taking a few more steps closer to her. Surprisingly, Katie did stop, shooting him another dirty look.

Logan watched Kendall warily, as the blond took a few steps closer to his sister. He wanted to reach out and pull him back. They were a couple yards apart, but Logan still didn’t like Kendall getting so close to Katie.

He rubbed his neck nervously, remembering what happened back in town. He supposed it didn’t really matter how close Kendall got. She would still be able to hurt him even from a distance. His eyes flicked back and forth between Kendall and Katie and he forced himself to bite his tongue to keep from calling out to the blond. The air was tense between the two long estranged siblings and he knew that if he said anything he’d only make things worse. His eyes flicked over to Carlos and James and he saw them watching Kendall with the same uncertainty he felt himself.

“Well? I’m waiting.”

Kendall swallowed and took a deep breath. “You don’t have to do this, Katie. You say this is what you were meant to do? That’s not true and you know that.”

“How would you know? You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Yes, I do. Or at least, I can make a guess. You hurt one of my best friends, someone that means a lot to me. I almost lost him forever,” Kendall said then exhaled shakily, shoulders heaving slightly. “But you’re my sister and if you’re anything like me, you don’t do anything just because you’re supposed to.”

Katie listened with a bored expression on her face. When Kendall didn’t say anything else, she raised an eyebrow. “Are you done now? Was that all you had to say? I gotta admit, I was expecting something a little better than that from you, big brother,” she said, the last two words heavy with sarcasm.

Logan couldn’t see Kendall’s face from his position behind him, but he could just imagine the desperate expression he most likely wore. Kendall was usually good with words. When they were down and discouraged with a case, Kendall was the one that uplifted their spirits and got them motivated again. It was heartbreaking to see how much seeing Katie after all these years was affecting him.

Suddenly another voice came out of nowhere. “I was wondering what was holding you up, Katie.”

Logan spun around at the sound of the new voice. Beside him, the others did the same, but his eyes stayed glued on the newcomer. Behind them, just a few yards away, was a man dressed in a business suit. His gray hair was combed neatly and he looked like he just stepped out of a business meeting.

Kendall’s eyes widened, gasping sharply as he took a step back. Logan knew without a doubt that this was the demon that Kendall had seen when he was a small child.

The demon stopped when it noticed them, head tilting slightly as it studied them. Its eyes suddenly brightened, a smile spreading across its face.

“Oh, Kendall! Is that you? You’ve grown up so much! I remember you when you just this high,” the man, demon, said, holding his hand up around his knee. It looked happy to see Kendall. Like a grandfather that hadn’t seen his grandson in years.

Kendall scowled, brows furrowing angrily. His hands were tight fists at his side. They shook slightly, from fear or anger, Logan wasn’t sure which.

“You…” Kendall gritted out, taking a threatening step forward. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Colt.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the demon said, and lazily flicked his wrist at Kendall.

The Colt flew out of Kendall’s hand, landing in the grass. Kendall immediately took a step forward to retrieve it, but the demon just flicked his wrist again and Kendall went flying in the opposite direction.

Logan felt frozen to the spot as the demon turned its gaze on him and the others, eyes flickering yellow. It didn’t seem too bothered by them. If anything it looked amused by them. That only made him feel worse though, if he was honest.

“So, what are we going to do?” James whispered into Logan’s ear.

Logan tore his attention away from Kendall and the demon, and looked up at James. “I don’t know…”

“You’re the genius. Think of something.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“We gotta do something…!”

Logan exhaled sharply. He knew they had to do something, anything to distract that Demon long enough for Kendall to get a shot at it with the Colt. But what? They couldn’t get close to him.

The Yellow-Eyed Demon didn’t seem to be paying them any attention anymore, focus solely on taunting Kendall.

Maybe if they…?

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Yellow-Eyes said, turning his head to look right at them.

Logan and the others froze. Could the demon read his mind? His heart pounded heavily in his chest, blood running cold. He felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face as he stared at the demon in fear.

Suddenly, Kendall launched himself at the demon with a yell of outrage, tackling the demon to the ground. “Get the gun!” he cried out, struggling to pin the demon down, wrestling him across the ground.

Logan stared for a moment before he snapped out of it, springing into action. James and Carlos weren’t far behind him and all three of them rushed to grab the gun.

Katie beat them to it, however, and damn, Logan had forgotten all about her when the demon showed up. “I don’t think so,” she said, snatching the gun up before they could get to it.

They skidded to a stop in front of her and Logan felt his heart drop, despair washing over him. It was all over now.

Except before he knew what was happening, Carlos let out a wordless shout and charged at Katie, crashing into her. They both fell to the ground, the Colt flying out of her hand. This time Logan didn’t hesitate to go after it as James went to help Carlos subdue Katie.

Logan quickly picked the gun up and reaching into his pocket to pull out the bullet he had. They each had one so no matter who got it, they’d be able to use it. He quickly loaded the bullet into gun and turned to Kendall.

He was still wrestling with the demon, and it would’ve been funny if Logan wasn’t terrified out of his mind. He swallowed thickly, heart pounding as he stood in indecision. He couldn’t shoot now. He might hit Kendall, but the longer he hesitated, the more he risked everything going to wrong again.

In the next moment, the demon finally threw Kendall off him. The blond rolled across the ground, before he stopped, laying still.

“Kendall!” Logan cried out in horror, heart jumping into his throat. Was he dead? Please, don’t be dead, he thought.

Kendall groaned softly and started to pick himself up. He got to his hands and knees and turned towards Logan.

“Logan, now!” he shouted, voice hoarse.

Logan jumped and turned his attention back to the demon. It had already gotten back to his feet, yellow eyes focused on Logan now. His once immaculate suit was now dirty and torn from rolling on the ground, but that didn’t make him any less terrifying.

Logan couldn’t do it. In a panic, Logan threw the gun at Kendall before he even knew what he was doing. He watched in horror as it flew through the air, heart once more lodged in his throat. What had he done?

Fortunately, the demon hadn’t been expecting Logan to do what he had, so he by the time he realized Logan didn’t have the Colt anymore.

Unfortunately, Kendall also wasn’t expecting Logan to throw the gun at him. His eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment Logan thought he wouldn’t react fast enough to catch it, but in the last second, he snapped out of his stupor. He reached out and managed to catch the gun, and in one smooth motion, aimed at the Demon and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The Demon’s eyes widened in disbelief as the bullet hit him in the shoulder, half turned towards Kendall. He glowed bright for a moment before he disintegrated into dust.

Carlos and James quickly backed away, releasing Katie in the process, to stare in awe at the spot where the Demon had been standing.

“No!”

All four of them spun around to face Katie. She had a wide-eyed expression on her face. Surprise and what Logan could only describe as heart-break written all over her face. It was gone in an instant and she turned towards Kendall, a scowl on her face.

“You’ll pay for that.”

“Don’t,” Kendall warned, and quickly raised his arm again, his regular gun in hand now. He aimed for his sister, but this time he hesitated. Logan could tell by the way Kendall took an unnecessary breath and licked his lips that he wouldn’t be able to do it.

James also seemed to notice because he stepped in close to Kendall. “What are you doing? Shoot her!”

Kendall shook his head and lowered the gun slightly. “No! I’m not going to shoot my sister.”

“She’s not your sister! Maybe she was at some point, but not now. Not anymore,” James hissed vehemently.

Kendall shook his head again, and lowered his arm completely. He looked down and closed his eyes briefly. “I can’t, James. I just can’t.”

“She killed Carlos! Did you forget about that?”

Kendall flinched and looked up at James like he’d been slapped before he turned towards Carlos. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, Kendall. I understand,” Carlos said, offering a small, sad smile.

Logan turned toward where Katie had been standing and found nothing. He looked around, trying to figure out where she could’ve gone, but he didn’t see anything. “Guys, she’s gone…”

James spun around to look for himself. “Fuck!” he shouted angrily, fists clenching tightly by his side as he turned back to Kendall. “You let her get away!”

“What do you want from me, James? She’s my sister! I couldn’t just kill her!”

“Why not? She would’ve killed you if she had the chance!” James shouted back, but Logan had to wonder how true that was.

Katie could’ve easily killed them all right when they showed up, but she hadn’t. If Logan didn’t know any better, he’d think that she wanted to talk to Kendall, that she wasn’t as indifferent to the idea of family as she tried to come across. He hoped that was the case, for Kendall’s sake.

“I don’t care! She’s my sister, I wasn’t just going to shoot her!” Kendall repeated with vehemence.

They stared at each other intently afterward, jaws set and eyes blazing with anger. Logan was sure they were going to come to blows before James turned away abruptly.

“Whatever,” he muttered as he began to walk away. “Come on, I just want to get out of this fucking place.”

——

They headed to Gustavo’s. They really didn’t have anywhere else to go. Everyone was quiet, trying to process everything that had happened in the past few days. They’d been after the yellow-eyed demon for years. It felt surreal that they’d finally killed it.

Of course, it wasn’t over. They still had to find Katie, and then there were all those demons that managed to escape Hell when the gate was opened.

Logan snapped out of his thoughts when Carlos shifted closer to him in the backseat. “What now?” he asked softly, only heard because of how quiet it was in the car. Not even the radio was on.

Kendall sighed from the front seat. “I don’t know. Right now, I just want to sleep.”

Logan chuckled softly. “Yeah, I think we could all use a good night’s sleep after everything.”

Kendall barked out a short laugh. “That’s an understatement.”

“But what about all the demons that got out when the gate was open?” Carlos asked, leaning forward to talk to Kendall.

Kendall sighed again. “I don’t know,” he repeated, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “We’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

“And what about James?” Carlos questioned again.

James stiffened in surprise at being mentioned and turned to look at Carlos. “What about me?” he demanded. It was obvious he was still angry about earlier.

“Your deal with the crossroads demon.”

“What about it?” James snapped, turning back to face the front.

“We need to find a way to get you out of it.”

“Um, no, we don’t.”

“What are you talking about? Of course we do!” Carlos exclaimed fervently.

“No! The demon told me that if I tried to get out of the deal, you would die again.”

“And we’re just supposed to not try?” Logan asked, finally speaking up.

“Yes.”

“But-” Carlos began in protest, but stopped when Kendall cut him off.

“Guys, relax. We’ve got ten years to worry about that. Let’s just focus on the demon problem for now.”

Logan opened his mouth to argue but then stopped when he realized that Kendall was right. James’ deal was important, but ten years was a long time and they’d have plenty of time to look for a way out.

“Actually…” James suddenly started, reluctantly. They all turned their attention to him, waiting for him to continue. “Um, I didn’t get ten years,” he finally finished, coughing lightly into his fist.

Logan blinked and turned to Carlos to see the same look of confused shock mirrored in his face. “What?”

“What did you get then?” Kendall asked, brows furrowing slightly.

James cleared his throat and actually squirmed in his seat a little bit as everyone waited on him to reply once again. “…One.”

“One…” Logan repeated dumbly, then sat forward as what James said finally sank in. “One year?” he asked incredulously, voice pitching a couple octaves higher than usual.

James winced slightly and nodded. “Yeah.”

Kendall suddenly pulled off the road, slamming on the brakes as he threw the car into park. Logan’s heart lurched forward just as his body did, seatbelt snapping tight against his chest. He reached out instinctively to grab onto the back of the front seat for stability. He glanced over and saw Carlos doing the same thing, eyes wide.

“What the hell?” James exclaimed angrily turning toward Kendall.

“You fucking idiot! A demon deal is supposed to be ten years, why’d you only get one?” Kendall yelled, turning angrily as well towards James.

James stared briefly before he snapped out of it. “It was the only way the demon would agree to bringing Carlos back!”

“So we only have one year before we lose you instead?”

James shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“How is this fine?” Logan demanded, brows furrowing. He didn’t like James’ attitude about this. It was probably just a cover, just James putting on a brave front, but it still grated on his nerves to see James acting so cavalier about his own life.

“Because Carlos will still be alive!”

Silence rang in the small space of the car after James’ outburst.

“James…” Carlos murmured softly, reaching over the front seat to clasp James’ shoulder.

“You can’t tell me that you’d rather Carlos be dead right now.”

Kendall cursed under his breath and slammed his palm against the steering wheel.

“Well?” James prodded cruelly, glancing back and forth between Kendall and Logan.

“Shut up, you know we want Carlos alive,” Logan said defensively. “But we shouldn’t have to trade you for him,” he added sharply. He didn’t know what he was feeling right then. He was angry, so fucking pissed at James for being such a fucking idiot. He hated how nonchalant James was about it, too. Like his life was worth less than Carlos’ somehow.

“Okay,” Kendall suddenly said, after taking a few deep breaths to calm down. “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go to Gustavo’s and rest up for a few days and then we’ll start digging around for information on demon deals. There’s got to be a way to get out of one.”

“Wha- No!”

“Shut up, James. You aren’t allowed to speak or do anything else until we get back to Gustavo’s.”

James opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when Kendall gave him a sharp look, hand snapping up to point a warning finger in James’ face. When James didn’t try to say anything else, Kendall let his hand fall and shifted the car back into drive and pulled back out into the road. It was going to be a long drive, and hopefully a long upcoming year.

Logan knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Some might even have said that it would be impossible. A deal with a demon wasn’t something that was easily broken. But they wouldn’t give up. They’d fix James’ idiotic mistake the way they always fixed their mistakes - together.