Hey all! Sorry I didn't post yesterday (earlier today?), but it was (is?) my birthday, so I was celebrating with my roommates... :) I hope you all have enjoyed this story. I have a lot of things in the works, so for those of you who have requested a verse out of this: I am considering it, but it might be awhile, because I have some plans for other stories that I am very excited about, that I hope everyone will be excited about. :)

Anyway...here's the chapter!

John maintained the upmost focus as he approached the house they had spent the last week trying to find.

Mark Harris was in that house. He was the cause of all this suffering.

John wouldn't let it happen any longer.

Some part of him was glad that Bobby and Pastor Jim were with him. He was less likely to outright shoot the kid with the two of them there, though it was mighty tempting to do just that considering the horror he had had to witness the last few weeks, watching his youngest son waste away, taking his older brother and daughter with him unintentionally.

Forcing his mind back to the hunt, John nodded to the two hunters on either side of him, then kicked the front door down, storming into the house.

He was going to end this today one way or another.

...

Sam was almost gone.

Dean was frightened by how fast Sam was fading away, despite his fight against it. Some days it felt like trying to swim up a waterfall, trying to hold back a stampeding herd of cattle with a whisper.

"Come on, Sammy. They'll get this jerk soon. I promise. You just have to hang in there."

...

The creature was in the corner.

John noticed this even as he and his two friends exchanged gun fire with a cornered Mark Harris in his basement.

The creature was nearly invisible, engulfed in the shadows, part of the darkness one moment, visible and raging against its invisible bindings the next.

It was ticked off.

Mark clearly had no idea what he had called on. That or he didn't care. Neither boded well for the young hunter.

John ducked as Mark took another shot at him.

"Please, Mark. We don't need to do this! Just give up. We just want to keep you from hurting Sam." Pastor Jim called out in a temporary cease fire as the hunters reloaded and resettled.

John forced himself not to comment.

Mark didn't answer for a moment. "My family is dead." he said finally. "I'm going to get revenge, revenge for all of them. Sam is the key to that. You're all going to hurt like I am. I'm going to make you all suffer if it's the last thing I do."

"Mark!"

A shot fired ended the very short negotiations.

...

Ellie wouldn't eat.

Dean spent an hour trying to coax her, but nothing worked. It wasn't until Sam finally woke for the first time in too long and teased her, calmed her, that she let Dean feed her.

What if Sam...how am I going to feed her? Ellie's just as stubborn as her dad. What am I going to do?

Please, dad. Hurry up.

...

John was running out of ammo.

A quick look at Bobby alerted the older hunter to this fact, another glance sliding towards the alter in the opposite corner from the shadowy creature alerted him to John's solution to this problem.

Cover me went unspoken, but was easily picked up.

John counted to three, waited for Bobby to start firing his gun faster, giving John cover fire, then took off, straight for the altar.

Even when Mark picked up on his movements and started to fire, John didn't stop.

He didn't care about anything, not the bullets, not Mark, not even his fellow hunters, at that moment. He only had eyes for the altar that's destruction would almost guarantee his son's survival.

John crashed into the altar, barely slowing down before he reached it, grabbed it, and flung it onto it's side, spilling its contents all over the floor.

Immediately, a horrific shriek filled the room.

The creature lunged forward, ignoring the other hunters and going straight for its former master.

Shrieking and screaming, Mark began to wither away right before their eyes, as the creature attacked him.

Bobby was already shouting an exorcism that should get rid of the creature, but it was too late. Even as the creature screamed its displeasure, disappearing in a puff of smoke, Mark fluttered to the floor as little more than dust.

It was over.

...

Dean was relieved, no, more like ecstatic, to get the call from his father.

Sam was safe. The danger had passed.

The recovery was still ahead of them, but Dean didn't really care, because Sam could recover now and that was all that really mattered.

Maybe we can finally have some peace.

Heaven knows we've earned it.

"It's over, Sammy. You're safe. It's finally over."