Jack kept uncharacteristically quiet.

He and Fi had been living out of the Mustang for five weeks and hadn't come any closer to finding their mother. The pair had driven from Stanford to Black Water Ridge, Colorado, per Molly's message, where they had a run-in with a wendigo but found no trace of Molly, if she had been in Black Water Ridge at all. Still hopeful, they stopped at the family's home in Hope Springs, only to find the house empty and a notice of foreclosure taped to the front door. Jack had suggested scamming some cash to buy it back from the bank, but Fi merely shrugged in response.

Jack did his best to keep her from getting involved in his hunts, wanting to grant her time to mourn, but the cases seemed to find them. State after state – no Mom, just monsters. Fi was easily adapting to the hunter lifestyle. She excelled at the training Jack provided, and she was already familiar with most of the lore. She was accustomed to life on the road, though the Mustang was far snugger than a tour bus. Jack missed the luxury of having a bed. And walls. And Ned to drive.

He had contemplated paying a visit to the Bells while they were in Colorado but ultimately decided against it. Fi didn't feel like explaining why she'd left college and Jack didn't want her to have to.

Fi was as fearless as ever, which proved beneficial to their hunts but worried Jack deeply. She hadn't yet talked about what she'd witnessed. Fi just got in the Mustang and told Jack to drive, so that's what he did. She would occasionally clench her jaw while scrolling through her cell phone. Jack suspected she had been trying to delete Jesse's number, or maybe fighting the urge to call just to hear his voice on his outgoing message.

Jack suddenly felt eyes on him from the passenger seat.

"You okay, Fi?" he asked. "You hungry?"

"Your phone's ringing."

Fi turned down the volume on the radio as Jack glanced at his phone screen. He seemed to hesitate before accepting the call. Fi could hear an unfamiliar female voice on the other end but couldn't quite make out what she was saying.

"Nah, it's all right. Thanks for checking it out, Van," Jack finally said. He lowered his cell to hang up when the voice returned.

"Maybe after this one you can stop home, rest for a few days?" Fi heard the woman ask. Jack frowned and quickly brought the phone back to his ear.

"Yeah, maybe. We'll see," he replied, then ended the call.

Fi raised an eyebrow as Jack pretended not to notice.

"It's not like that, Fi," he finally sighed. "I keep a spare toothbrush and a couple shirts in a drawer. It's not home. This is home," he added, patting the steering wheel.

"Does she know that?"

Jack squinted an eye.

"Better question," Fi continued. "Does whatever's after us know that? Because what happened to Jesse…" She stopped to take a breath. "Maybe she should be with us."

"Van? No. She's fine where she is," Jack assured her, though his confident tone sounded forced. "Besides, she's a hunter. If something shows up, she'll know what to do."

"We could use the backup. And we've got vacant seats."

"Hey, listen to me. She's been through some scary crap but she's not ready to take her act on the road. She'd say otherwise, but I can tell, she's not cut out for it. Sad to say, not every tragedy is a superhero origin story, Fi. Sometimes, it just messes you up."

Fi lowered her head and opened up her mother's notebook.

"I didn't mean…" Jack began apologetically. "You want to talk about it?"

Jack's offer was met with silence.

"Fiona, c'mon. I'm worried about you. You wouldn't even let me take you back for his funeral. And I get it, I know what this feels like – God, trust me," Jack paused, removing his hand from the steering wheel and bringing it to the angel charm around his neck.

"It's not fair," Fi said quietly. "Why do we lose everyone we care about?"

"I don't know," Jack lied. He let a beat pass before adding, "I think we could both use a pit stop."

Jack pulled the Mustang up to a dive bar just inside of Clear Lake, Indiana. He smiled wide and rubbed his palms together as he and Fi walked inside. The bar's walls were decorated with road signs and license plates, and the air smelled of stale beer and cigarette smoke, just how Jack liked it. He and Fi took a seat and waited for the bartender to finish serving the only other patrons in the place, a group of men huddled around the pool table. Behind them was a makeshift stage. Jack found it hard to imagine any musicians drawing a crowd in a place like this.

"What'll it be, sis?" he asked Fi.

"Whatever's the cheapest," she answered, counting the remaining bills in her wallet.

"Ah, you forget. We may be broke, but…" Jack grinned, pulling a set of IDs and a credit card from his pocket, "Richard and Karen Carpenter are not."

"The Carpenters, really? Fi said, accepting one of the IDs.

"Yeah. Mom's ID guy does this to amuse himself. His taste in music, however… questionable."

The bartender approached their table.

"Hi, folks. What can I get you?" he asked, his grizzly voice matching his appearance. "Taps are all empty but we've still got plenty of bottles."

"Customers cleaned out all your kegs this early in the week? Damn, this is my kind of town," Jack joked.

The bartender gave a light chuckle. "No, we got a complaint, I'm afraid. Had to empty them out. Ah, just some nonsense. Bunch of lightweights who can't handle their liquor."

"Well, thankfully, that's not us," Jack said with a grin.

"We'll take two shots of rum to start, please," Fi interjected.

The bartender nodded and began preparing their drinks.

"To start?" Jack said under his breath. "Spoken like a true Phillips."

The shots arrived and Fi promptly lifted her glass. "To the family business," she cracked, clanking her glass on Jack's.

Jack felt the familiar sting of alcohol on his throat and exhaled.

"You think Mom's all right, wherever she is?" Fi asked mindlessly.

Jack opened his mouth to answer but was distracted by a bearded man in flannel suddenly standing behind Fi. His sister followed his scowl and swiveled on her chair to face him.

"It's not too often we get a fresh face in here," the flannel-clad man began, speaking directly to Fi.

"We're just passing through," Jack answered for her, to Fi's annoyance.

The man ignored him and kept on, saying, "My name's Reggie. Where're you from? 'Cause it's sure as hell not here."

Fi jumped to respond before her brother had the chance. "I'm F- from California. I'm Karen, nice to meet you. This is my brother, uh-"

"Richard. Rich. Whichever is fine, as long as you don't call me Dick," Jack cut in awkwardly.

Reggie hardly heard him and continued on with Fi. "Oh, California. Makes sense."

"That obvious, huh?" she asked.

"No, not really. Just hard to find locals brave enough to come in here anymore."

Fi's ears perked up. "What do you mean, brave enough?"

Reggie leaned in, to Jack's disapproval. "I'll tell you what. Let me buy you a drink and I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Sounds good to me," Fi said, shooting Jack a look. She hopped up to follow Reggie, discretely adding to Jack, "Relax, will ya?"

Fi leaned against the edge of the pool table, now unoccupied. "All right, I held up my end of the bargain," she said to Reggie, taking a sip of her bottled beer.

The man smiled. "It all started when a handful of the regulars got sick, said the beer was bad. Mind you, it's perfectly fine – I tasted a fair share myself. But these guys got some rough hangovers, lasted for days at a time. Looked like the life had been sucked out of them. Idiots kept coming back and drinking more anyways."

"The beer made them sick and they still drank it?"

"Nah, that's why the whole thing has to be bullshit. I've been coming here for years. Those liars barely touched the beer. It wasn't the damn booze that was making them sick." Reggie looked around and lowered his voice. "One of them checked himself into the hospital and went missing the next day. I think it was his old lady or something, trying to hide the evidence."

"You think he was poisoned?"

Reggie shrugged. "I'm just sayin'."

Fi stared down the neck of her beer bottle, then eyed the bartender. "They were all being poisoned by their significant others? What are the odds of that?"

"Ha, pretty good if they knew why their men kept coming back here." Reggie glanced up at the empty stage.

"The music?"

"Yes, ma'am. The only act we ever get. A singer, plays acoustic guitar."

Fi tried to stifle her excitement. "Is her name Molly?"

"No, no. I don't think so anyways. Tawny, something like that. Tall blonde, real cute girl—not as pretty as you, though—about your age, actually. Talented. Not quite my style of music. What kind of music are you into?"

"Hey, Reggie," Fi started, ignoring his question. "Can I ask you something sort of strange? How do the men here react to her music?"

"Well," he chuckled nervously, "to be honest, I think the men are paying more attention to her than her music."

"Oh… got it. And you're sure it's an acoustic guitar she's playing? Not a lute?"

Reggie laughed, "I'm not sure what the hell a lute is but I know guitars, and that's what she's got. I mean, you can see for yourself. She's playing later tonight."

"Great. Maybe we'll come by and check it out."

Fi set down her unfinished beer and motioned to her brother.

"Hey, you want to play a quick game of pool before you get going?" Reggie asked, noticing her gesture.

"Hm, why not?" Fi said with a smirk. "How would you like to make a friendly bet?"

"Two hundred fifty bucks. Not too shabby," Jack laughed, counting his sister's profits from the driver's seat of the Mustang.

"I don't feel great about it. He was sweet."

"The gullible ones always are."

"God," Fi groaned, "I can't believe I stooped to your level."

"I can't say I'm not proud. So, what's the story on the bar?"

"Well, we have regulars dragging themselves back there despite some brutal-sounding hangovers, all to catch a glimpse of some female music act, and, one missing patron who vanished after drinking a bad batch of beer or being poisoned by his wife for ogling Singer Chick, depending on who you ask."

"You think Singer Chick could be using Open Mic Night to lure these guys in and away?"

"Like a siren. That's exactly what I'm thinking. And I'm hoping this missing guy isn't the first of many."

"Hey," Jack said to his own amusement, "if that's the case, we can call up Carey to chase her off with his charm. Seemed to work the last time."

"Jack," Fi chuckled. "The only thing I can't figure out is why she would affect some guys and not others. Reggie said her music isn't his style."

"Unless we're forgetting another creature from Fi's anthology of weird stuff," Jack suggested.

"Eh, I'm a little rusty. I'll need my laptop."

The siblings decided to use their newly-earned cash on a motel room, with actual beds to sleep on instead of the narrow bench seats the Mustang had to offer.

"Jack, check this out," Fi called from behind her computer screen. "So, the guy who went missing, his name is Andrew Mitchell. According to this article, he was unmarried – rules out that jealous wife theory – and disappeared after checking out of the hospital. His abandoned car was found in the bar parking lot."

"Kind of strange to rush back to the place that warranted a hospital visit, isn't it? Unless he was looking for revenge."

"Guess who was playing a show there the night he checked out? It took me a while to find her since Reggie told me her name's Tawny. She actually goes by Lily Eden. Here's her website," Fi said, cautiously clicking a key. "You might want to cover your ears just in case."

Fi let the audio play for about thirty seconds before Jack removed his fingers from his ears.

"Anything?" she asked.

"Nope. Nice voice though." Jack leaned in to get a look at the screen. "Whoa, is that her? Maybe it's not so hard to believe men would crawl in to see her."

Fi zoomed in on the image. "She's as pretty as Reggie made her out to be. Though she's not a blonde like he said."

The woman's hair was dyed the same shade of auburn that Fi had picked up at the beauty supply store one week before her life unraveled. It likely went up in flames with everything else she owned. Fi did her best not to dwell on this unhappy coincidence and closed the computer tab.

"Let's head back to the bar," Jack insisted, getting his coat.

"Yeah, okay," Fi said in a sarcastic tone.

"What?"

"You know what. You clearly just want to meet this girl, and I'm not in the mood to be your wing-woman tonight. Or ever. I'm going to hang back here and do some more research. Besides, I could use some sleep."

"C'mon, sis! A case is a case. You used to live for this stuff. Thirteen-year-old Fi would have hijacked the tour bus to go investigate this."

"Thirteen-year-old me collected butterfly hair clips."

"And enough paranormal data to fill an encyclopedia. Fi, you were born for this. Besides, you can't abandon this case now, when-"

"Don't," Fi warned with a groan.

"We've only just begun," he sang jokingly.

Jack and Fi returned to the bar shortly before Lily Eden arrived. The crowd had quadrupled since their earlier visit. When Lily appeared in the doorway, Jack was quick to run over and offer to carry in her guitar case for her.

"Hey there," he began, "Let me get that."

"Aw, aren't you incredibly kind!" she answered with a smile.

Fi watched on from her seat along the bar. Lily hardly matched Reggie's description. Not only was her hair auburn instead of blonde, but she only stood about the same height as Fi, even in heels. In fact, as Fi observed her, she noted many of Lily's features were strikingly similar to her own.

"I'm Richard," Jack said to Lily, extending a hand. "You playing tonight?"

"Lily Eden. Pleasure to meet you. And yes I am."

Lily spoke with a tinge of an accent that Fi couldn't quite place.

"Great," Jack grinned. "I hear you're an amazing performer."

"Isn't that sweet," Lily responded, a blush coming to her cheeks as she shyly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She leaned into Jack and said something in a low voice that Fi couldn't hear from the bar and followed her suggestion with a playful wink. Fi was able to guess the context based on the dumb look that appeared on Jack's face.

Jack pulled himself together and asked, "So, I heard an odd story about someone going missing from here? Did you know them?"

"Oh, yes. Poor Andy. He was so loyal. Never missed a show, until…"

"You must have known him fairly well then?" he prodded.

"I'll say!" Lily laughed and gave another playful wink, a nervous habit perhaps.

"Oh, I'm shocked he had the guts to approach someone so stunning," Jack said smoothly, bringing another blushing grin to Lily's face.

Fi rolled her eyes. If this woman was in fact some sort of siren, she had Jack in the palm of her hand.

"Showtime!" Lily said excitedly. "You better be staying for my set, Richie. I won't take no for an answer!"

"Wouldn't miss it."

Lily smiled and took the stage.

"To the man of my dreams, dream of me…" Lily sang.

Jack bobbed his head to the music, as Fi, to his annoyance, struggled to be heard over the noise.

"There's something suspicious about her, Jack," she insisted.

"I don't think so, Fiona," he responded. "She's perfect. Now shut up and enjoy the song."

"Oh, please. I'm all for supporting the local music scene. But… I don't know… Something's not sitting right with me."

"Maybe it's the poison beer?" Jack joked. "I mean, what could possibly be off about someone like that?"

As Fi went to answer, Lily wrapped up her first song and was met with deafening applause, predominately from Jack. Fi waited for the next song to begin to continue.

"I know, Jack. She's very pretty, but that doesn't mean anything. My gut's telling me we need to dig up more on her."

"Already on it," he wisecracked.

"Hey," Fi said sternly. "Okay, I'll just spit it out. No woman acts like that."

"Like what?"

"That. The giggling, the blushing, the little… hair tuck thing. And what the hell is that accent? It's like she was raised by old romance movies. And porn."

"Fiona…"

"I'm being serious, Jack! Talk to her again after her set and this time, try using your upstairs brain. In the meantime, I'll be at the bar working toward one of those infamous zombie hangovers."

"No problem," Jack grinned.

"Just… be careful, okay?" Fi added.

Fi returned to her seat along the bar top. The man next to her was involved in an animated one-sided discussion with the bartender, who was trying to slip away to take her order.

"Calm down, man. You're distracting Hank from helping the nice young lady," a voice said from behind. Fi instantly recognized it to be the man she spoke with earlier, Reggie. He dragged a chair up next to hers. "Nice to see you again, pool-shark."

"Hey, I got lucky," Fi responded with a chuckle.

"What can I get you?" Hank the bartender asked.

"I owe my friend here a drink," she answered slyly. "His choice."

"You damn sure do," Reggie joked. "This pretty thing took me for every penny I had this afternoon. How about a couple of Jack and Gingers?"

"Perfect."

As Hank mixed their drinks, Reggie dragged his palms over his eyes and let out a long yawn. "Damn, I am exhausted. Haven't gotten much sleep these past few nights," he explained.

"I know how that is," Fi agreed, hearing sadness leak into her voice. Thankfully, her new friend didn't seem to notice. She forced a lighter tone and clinked her glass against Reggie's. "To a good night's sleep."

Fi's words narrowly made it past her lips before they were drowned out by more applause for Lily. As if on command, everyone around her stopped to clap their hands, all except for the bartender. In fact, he appeared to frown before resuming his task.

"Not a fan?" she asked him. He offered a small smile but didn't respond.

Reggie leaned in and lowered his voice, explaining, "She reminds him too much of his wife. He lost her this time last year. Cancer. That's her picture up there behind the bottles. They used to run this place together."

Fi squinted to get a better look. The woman in the photo bore little resemblance to the singer onstage.

"I know what you're thinking. Looks nothing like Tawny, right?"

"Lily," Fi corrected him. "And no, it really doesn't."

"Like I said, it really took a toll on him."

Fi sipped her drink and stared at the photo when a thought occurred to her. "Reggie, what does Lily look like?"

Reggie let out a laugh. "Are you messing with me?"

"Humor me. Earlier today, you told me she was a tall blonde, but she's average height at best, and a redhead."

Confused, Reggie spun around on his barstool to get a better view of the performer. "Nah, that's just the lighting tricking your eyes. She's a blonde – see? Blonde," he insisted.

Fi could see the singer clearly. She was exactly as Fi stated, of average height with auburn hair, but Reggie was adamant. Following her hunch, Fi turned to the man opposite him.

"Excuse me," she said. "That singer, wow. Wouldn't you say she looks just like… oh, what's her name again? It's on the tip of my tongue…"

"Donna Summer. A young Donna Summer," the man grumbled.

"That's it! Thank you so much!" Fi immediately abandoned her seat and made a beeline for Jack. Her fake smile quickly wore away to worry.

"Jack," she said firmly, "there is definitely something weird going on with Lily."

"What's the matter?" he asked, sensing her concern.

Before Fi could elaborate, Lily's last song ended and once more, the bar erupted into applause. The singer set down her guitar and threw a pick to Jack. He happily caught it and tucked it away in his back pocket. Lily gave a playful curtesy as the stage lights went dim.

"Jack!" Fi spat, realigning his focus.

"What happened? Can I at least talk to her?"

"No!" Fi exclaimed, watching the subject of their conversation intently. She inadvertently made eye contact and a chill ran through her body. Fi turned away and lowered her voice, asking her brother, "Jack, if I asked you what color her eyes are, what would you say?"

"That guys don't notice that type of stuff."

Fi gave him a pleading look.

"Fine. Uh, brown?"

"Green. I think you might already be under her spell. We need to get out of here, now."

Jack, too bewildered to object, followed Fi outside to the parking lot. He struggled to keep up as she hurried her pace. "Hey," he called after her. "Why does Lily's eye color have you so spooked?"

"It's not just her eyes, Jack," she began, getting into the Mustang. "It's everything. Eyes, hair, height. She's a different person to everyone she meets."

Jack pulled closed the driver's side door. "I'm not following."

"That guy I was drinking with, Reggie, he described Lily as a tall blonde. The guy next to me thought she could pass for Donna Summer. And the bartender, he couldn't even look at her because she reminded him of his late wife, but I saw her picture and the two don't share a single physical trait. I don't know how she's doing it, but she's changing her appearance to whatever's appealing to the person who's looking at her. A glamour, maybe?"

"So what's she look like to you?" Jack asked.

Fi fumbled for a moment. "Kind of like me, actually."

"Hm, someone's vainer than they let on," Jack mumbled under his breath.

Fi swatted his arm. "Anyways, once we figure out what this woman really is, I bet we'll get an answer as to what's happening to these sick and missing bar patrons."

"If you're right, I hope we figure it out before anyone else goes missing."

In the early hours of the morning, Jack awoke to the rhythmic tapping of computer keys, though he didn't remember falling asleep. He hazily squinted over to Fi, diligently working away on her laptop, and observed through the curtains behind her that it was still dark. His head throbbed.

Fi's focus broke from the screen when she noted the pained expression on his face. "You all right?" she asked.

"Yeah," he fibbed. "Find anything?"

"Nothing helpful. In addition to siren, we can rule out shapeshifter, vampire and something called a púca, unless she's had some extensive laser hair removal treatments."

Jack found he could barely crack a smile. He felt a blistering pain in his side and his head grew heavy.

"They're hairy," Fi offered. "Never mind."

"It's not that," he explained. "I feel like garbage."

Fi gasped, "The zombie hangover! But I drank a hell of a lot more than you and I feel fine."

"Case solved, the beer is bad. Very, very bad…" Jack grumbled, stumbling hurriedly to the bathroom.

Fi cringed upon hearing him dry-heave and tried to preoccupy herself with her research. "Hey," she called out. "Here's something I haven't heard of before. An encantado. They love music, take human form at night and… oh, perfect… kidnap humans."

"Hats," Jack replied weakly into the toilet bowl.

"What?" Fi questioned, moving to the doorway. "Ugh," she let out, turning away. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"They wear hats," he repeated. "Encantados. They can't get the heads right so they cover them up."

"You've seen one?"

"No," Jack said, getting back on his feet with a wince. "I'm just smart."

"You don't look very smart at the moment," Fi joked. "Seriously, let's get you some greasy food."

Jack's stomach turned at the thought of any food at all. He ran the sink and splashed some water on his face. "That might be a good idea. My whole body hurts. And I kept having the same really strange dream…"

Fi paled. "Was it about Lily?"

"Of course it was. She's all we talked about before I fell asleep," Jack answered. He grabbed a hand towel and pressed it against his eyes.

"What was she doing… in your dream?" Fi asked, masking her building concern. There was one more monster on her list she hadn't mentioned.

Jack smirked beneath the towel. "Yeah… I'm going to spare you the details on that one."

Fi quickly returned to her laptop, rapidly clicking away at its keys. "I found something else," she began, "but it didn't add up until now. Reggie told me he hasn't been sleeping well. Now you're telling me the same thing, and that Lily showed up in your dream in a way that, as your sister, I'd rather not hear about."

Jack sat down on his bed with a groan. "Please, Fi, take a break. How about that fast food?"

Ignoring him, Fi continued, "There's all kinds of lore about creatures with the ability to manipulate dreams, especially ones that take on the form its victim would want to see them in; loved ones, ex-girlfriends, celebrity crushes, you get the idea. And in some cases, they can use the dream realm to prey on the victim's physical body."

"Let me guess. Sexy Freddy Kruger?" Jack groggily offered.

"Or," Fi went on, turning her laptop screen toward him, "a succubus. It's the female counterpart to an incubus."

"Oh, like a cover band," he mumbled, snickering at his own joke.

"No, it's a creature that seduces men through their dreams, though I'm sure you already knew that. It says here that they leave a token on their victim in the physical realm so it knows when he's asleep, and then it attacks him in the dream realm. That's why the victims wake up weaker," she paused, hearing her brother snore.

"Seriously, Jack?" Fi sighed and reread the article to herself. "A token?" she asked aloud, suddenly recalling the guitar pick that Lily had tossed to Jack hours earlier. She frantically began searching for it, dumping the contents of Jack's wallet and sifting through a pile of loose change, only to find the item sitting plainly on the bedside dresser. She swiftly tossed the pick into a nearby ashtray and held Jack's lighter to it until the plastic began to melt.

Fi watched Jack closely. He fidgeted slightly, then tightened his brow as if in pain.

"Jack, wake up," she commanded, but he didn't stir. She abandoned the burning pick to shake him and was surprised to find he was radiating heat. "Jack," she started to repeat, when he shot up with a start, clutching his side and rolling over in anguish.

"Jack!" Fi eyed him worriedly.

"It was her again, Fi," he said through sharp inhalations of breath.

"Same dream?"

"Same general idea, yeah."

"I knew it!" Fi exclaimed, rotating to analyze the melted guitar pick. "That girl is a monster in a meat suit, and that pick was the token."

"That's what I get for acting like such a groupie," Jack hissed. "So, is it over?"

"For you, yes," Fi answered, grabbing her bag.

"Hey," Jack winced again. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Burning the pick only stops her from getting to you. I have to help Reggie, and whoever else she may be after. There's no way of knowing how many picks she's given out. It'd be impossible to find them all."

"So what are you going to do?"

Fi stopped packing for a moment. Jack could tell his sister was trying to think up a lie to reassure him.

"Nope, I'm going with you," Jack insisted while unsuccessfully attempting to sit up.

"No," Fi said sternly, tossing her favorite knife from his collection into her bag. "You're staying here and getting some rest. I'll need to borrow the car."

Jack felt panic set in. "Fi, hold up. There's no way I'm letting you face this thing on your own."

"Too bad," she responded, throwing her bag over her shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

"Listen, Jack. I'm not a kid anymore. I can handle this myself."

"Yeah, but you shouldn't have to. We're a team, remember? If things go sour, even if you just get a bad feeling, you get the hell out of there, okay?"

"All right," Fi said to mollify him.

"Hey! Anything at all. You hear me?"

"I said all right!" Fi shouted, shutting the motel room door behind her.

Fi returned to the bar parking lot and dimmed the Mustang's headlights. Most of the patrons had already left for the night. She watched the bartender walk out with another man, lock up and go their separate ways. When the two drove off, there was only one other car remaining in the lot aside from the Mustang, an older-model truck with rust eating away at the metal above its tires. She remembered seeing it in the same spot when she and Jack arrived in town.

Reggie, she immediately thought, and carefully exited the car. As she approached the truck, she noticed its windows were fogged despite being coated in a layer of ice. She yanked open the driver's side door to find Reggie slumped over in his seat.

"Reggie!" she shouted, shaking him. His breathing was shallow and his lips were a troubling shade of blue, but he somehow regained consciousness enough to open his eyes and look at her. "Hang in there."

An overwhelming scent of whiskey hit her nostrils as she searched the truck for a guitar pick. It was nowhere to be found.

She returned her attention to Reggie when she saw a figure in the distance dashing toward the wooded area behind the bar. Fi quickly closed the truck door and followed it, catching glimpses through the trees as she ran.

After several minutes, Fi reached a clearing and could see Lily's shape in the dark, standing still on the area's border. Upon closer inspection, Fi determined that the clearing was actually a broad lake. Even by moonlight, the water appeared oddly murky, hardly reflecting the sky above.

Must not be the one the town's named after, Fi thought, before closing the distance between herself and Lily Eden.

"Lily!" she shouted.

The woman turned slowly, displaying an eerie smile as she lowered her head, and with a shrill scream that echoed on the lake, Lily Eden disappeared.

Fi removed a flask of holy water from her bag and tore a piece of cloth from the bottom of her shirt. She saturated the fabric, recapped the flask, and stood on alert with knife in hand. What she had intentionally kept from Jack at the hotel was the unfortunate detail that the lore provided no information on how to kill a succubus. She would have to improvise.

Jack sat on the pier of a lake, breathing in the fresh air. He sipped a cold beer and let out a satisfied sigh. He never got to have days like this anymore.

He knew he was dreaming and embraced the moment of serenity, no matter how temporary it may be. He leaned back in his chair as two long arms gently wrapped around him.

"Hey, Gabe," he hummed.

"I'll try not to be offended," a less familiar voice answered.

Jack turned to find a feminine shape, silhouetted by the bright sun. It didn't belong to anyone he'd immediately recognize. And then it hit him.

"Lily," he said, trying to appear relaxed. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"Hmm," she sing-songed into his ear. Jack played along as she ran her fingers through his hair. "Can I ask you something, baby?"

He cupped her cheek. "Anything you want, gorgeous."

"Why did you let your sister burn the little gift I gave you?"

"Better question," Jack replied, dropping his act, "why didn't it work?"

"Baby, you should know something about me. I'm not your mother's succubus," Lily stated, her tone shifting from playful to sinister. Jack aggressively grabbed for her wrist but Lily managed to push him off. Jack instinctively reached for his pistol and was surprised to find it in its usual spot even in this dream, and aimed.

"Sorry to have to leave so abruptly, love, but it'd be rude of me to leave your sister out there in the dark."

"She's not asleep. I know what you are, and you can only attack people in their dreams."

"Says you," she replied too cutely for a monster, and suddenly vanished.

"Lily!" Jack growled. "You better show your face, I swear to God!"

Fi still had her knife drawn when Lily reappeared in front of her, her disturbing scream hitting Fi's ears just before Lily dragged her nails across Fi's torso. Fi quickly tangled the soaked piece of fabric in her fist and pressed it against Lily's face. Lily shrieked and reached to tear it away before disappearing once again.

Jack had his gun extended in front of him when a shrill cry rang out from behind him. He swung around to see Lily throw a wet piece of cloth to the ground, and she charged at him, digging her nails into his skull as she pulled his face toward hers. As he fought against her hold, he realized the fabric had the same pattern as the shirt Fi was wearing when she left the hotel.

"How'd you get that?" he asked mindlessly, not expecting a response. He lunged for the cloth as Lily screamed again, and took the opportunity to ring out its liquid into her open mouth. She clasped and clawed at her throat, her skin turning an ugly gray. Jack didn't dare let up, firing a round into her chest. She spun and let out another wild scream, her eyes now bloodshot and gold.

Jack fired another round, but the bullet cut through thin air. Lily had disappeared again, her cries suddenly distant. Jack pivoted in all directions. He needed to wake up and get back to his body.

When Lily reappeared, her skin was graying and wrinkled and her eyes shone ruby red in the moonlight. Fi was ready for her. She ignored the stinging pain in her torso and plunged her knife deep between Lily's ribs. Infuriated, Lily held up her palm. Her blood-stained eyes focused on Fi as an unsettling grin spread across her face.

"You shouldn't have left your brother alone, Fiona," she hissed.

Before Fi could register what was happening, her body was airborne. She rolled several times upon hitting the hard ground, then reached for her bag. It was missing, as was Lily. She finally registered the monster's words.

"Shit!" Fi shouted into the darkness. "Leave him alone in there, you bitch!"

Notably weaker, Lily fell to her knees and let out another bone-chilling scream in Jack's direction. She waved the gun away from him with one swift hand motion before standing and confidently approaching him.

"There's no getting out of this one, baby," she teased. "Might as well enjoy it."

"I don't think so," Jack stated.

"As much fun as I'm having with your little sister in the waking world, I prefer to have home field advantage, and I'm so, so hungry," Lily teased.

"You're flipping channels," he posited. "That's where you keep disappearing to." He revealed the cloth he had tucked into his back pocket and quickly coiled it around Lily's neck. "Well then, I hope you enjoy this dual ass-kicking." Jack winked sarcastically as Lily vanished from sight.

As soon as Lily reemerged, Fi jabbed her knife through the monster's chest, twisting the blade until she felt a snap. Steam rose from the cut. Another all-too-familiar cry emanated from Lily's mouth. Her hair had thinned and was now turning a pale white, making the creature much easier to detect against the dark backdrop of the lake. Fi noted it took Lily a moment longer than the last time to make herself disappear.

Lily reappeared on her hands and knees on the shore of the lake. Jack lifted her head up by her hair and was disgusted when a handful came detached from her skull in his grasp.

"What's the matter, Jack, or is it Richie? You don't think I'm pretty like this?" she whispered through rationed breaths. "It'll grow back, baby. I promise. As soon as I finish eating your flesh!"

In response, Jack pressed into an already-existing wound in her chest plate. Her body flickered in and out of sight twice as Jack tried to hold her in the dream realm, but Jack soon found himself alone once more.

Or was he? He thought he heard a grunt echo off the lake. He suddenly felt cold and the sky darkened in an instant. He reached down and dug his hands into the mud beneath his feet. It felt real.

Fi expected the creature to show herself again shortly. Her intuition assured her that Jack was alive. The monster kept coming back weaker, and she knew her brother was the reason.

Her thoughts were broken by the sensation of cold hands tightening around her neck, and she was suddenly confronted by the horribly transformed image of Lily Eden. The monster sneered and showed its pencil-thin, yellowed teeth; its lips curled back so far, they were no longer visible. Fi's feet dangled beneath her body. Her limbs began to go numb when she heard her name echo off the trees.

"Fiona!" it called again. Jack's voice.

Fi tried to yell back but she couldn't form a sound. She fought to keep a firm grip on her knife's handle. With her last bit of strength, she sank the blade into Lily, breaking the creature's hold and sending them both tumbling into the frigid lake.

Gasping, Fi watched in bewilderment as the creature that was once Lily Eden disintegrated upon contact with the icy water and washed away with the current.

Fi crawled back to shore, shivering. She suddenly saw a shape running toward her. Had her teeth not been chattering so profusely, she would have screamed.

"Fiona!"

To her surprise, it was her brother. He stumbled toward her, nursing his side. Despite his apparent injury, he removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders before his legs gave out on him.

"I blessed the lake," he muttered from the mud, laughing at his own cleverness. "I can't believe it worked."

"How did you get here? You were at the hotel-" Fi started to say before dropping down next to him.

Jack breathed out, "Sexy… Freddy… Kruger," before giving into his exhaustion.

Fi forced herself to stand and suddenly remembered the state Reggie was in when she left him.

"Jack, get up!" she urged and helped him to his feet. The pair staggered through the woods until they reached the parking lot. Fi jogged unevenly toward the truck.

She leaned against the vehicle's body for support as she heaved open the driver's side door. Reggie was sloped in his seat, holding his side but breathing steadily, the color returned to his face. He opened his eyes just long enough to acknowledge Fi then fell back asleep.

"You're welcome," she said dryly.

The siblings anonymously called for help before slipping away. Jack concocted a white lie about stopping in the parking lot to check a tire when he spotted Reggie's truck.

"If Lily wasn't a typical succubus, what the hell was she?" Fi asked later that day once they were back on the road.

"A cannibalistic one. Apparently, she liked hunting her prey in dreamland before chowing down on their flesh."

Fi was quiet, finally confessing, "Jack, that guy who went missing and the others… We were too late."

"Fi, you saved someone's life. Who knows how many other people that thing would have gotten if we hadn't been here to stop it."

Fi didn't answer. She had her phone in her palm, her thumb dragging itself up and down the center button. Jack took his eyes off the road to observe the mindless gesture. He bit the inside of his lip a few times as the Mustang rolled to a stop at a red light. He turned to Fi, grimacing. It took her a moment to notice.

"What? Oh," she said, suddenly aware of what she was doing. "I must've zoned out."

"It's time, Fi. Call it. I've seen you go through your phone about a hundred times, stopping on his name. Just go ahead and hit the damn button. I'm not going to judge you for it."

Fi didn't sigh or protest as Jack had expected. Instead, she reluctantly brought the phone to her ear and held her breath as the line rang. Finally, Fi heard the click of the voicemail prompt. She tensed, unsure of how she would react to hearing Jesse's voice again after everything she had been through.

"I'm sorry, your party cannot be reached. This number may be out of service-"

She silenced the emotionless voice coming out of the earpiece. Jack's chest sank for her as her eyes clouded. She gave a half-laugh, half-sniffle and redirected her attention out the window.

"Fi, I'm sorry," Jack started to say. "I… Okay, something's been eating at me and you're not going to like it."

"Not now, Jack," she pleaded. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But first let me explain. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I was already looking for Mom, and you guys are more alike than you realize. And I knew, and I was afraid, that you'd run after it just like she did."

"Run after what?" Fi asked.

Jack sighed. "There's a reason I only keep a toothbrush and some t-shirts back in New Orleans. I mean, you said it yourself, we lose everyone we care about. So, I stopped getting close. And I won't lose you and Mom."

"Run after what?" Fi repeated.

"The way your boyfriend died…" Jack began, carefully choosing his words.

Fi let out a shaky breath. "It was the same thing that got Dad, wasn't it?"

Jack locked his jaw and kept his eyes on the road ahead.

"All our lives, we were told Dad died in a car accident, but I swear, I saw him the same way, above my crib…" Fi's voice trailed off.

Jack remained silent. Fi suddenly realized why.

"You knew," she said. "For how long?"

"A few years," he admitted. "There was a car crash but that's not what killed him. I remember the fire, Mom yelling, all of it."

Fi's voice became small as she asked, "Do you know what it is? What's after us?"

"A demon," he forced out. "Fi, it's a demon."

"And you knew this the whole time? Before Jesse…?"

Jack nodded, though he didn't dare take his eyes off the highway, unable to look at her, even when he heard Fi start to cry.

"Drive," she instructed. "Just drive…"