Lust demon, incubus, succubus whatever you wanted to call them Dean had dealt with them more times than he could count and it had always been business, a job, a routine hunt wrapped in whiskey breath and rock salt but this time it wasn’t routine. He had had his fair share of women and men, smoky bars and half-lit motel rooms with names he never remembered and faces he never forgot but you weren’t just another face, you were a memory that stayed like a burn scar. You and him went way back, long before the hunts got bloody and the nights got too long, back in high school when everything was easier to pretend about. You had met in chem class, hit it off instantly, maybe it was your eyes or the way you laughed at his jokes like you saw through him and didn’t care, maybe it was because you didn’t flinch when he started talking about monsters like they were real. It didn’t help that your mother was a hunter too, it pulled you into the same orbit, made you both dangerous kids carrying secrets in backpacks instead of books. You’d sit in the back of classrooms with your notebooks open, scribbling sigils in the margins while everyone else worried about finals, and he’d lean over and whisper Latin words just to make you grin. There had been a kind of electricity between you that felt older than you both, something heavy and secret threading through the way you’d lean against each other on lunch breaks, the way you’d compare knives instead of prom plans. But after the final move you vanished, you were always moving, your phone numbers changing like skin, and one day you were gone. No note, no goodbye, just silence and an empty locker where your scent still lingered.

Years passed but he still remembered, the color you said calmed you, the drink you swore would be your death someday, the cigarettes you used to bum off him, the way you loved taking demons out like it was personal, like every exorcism was a confession you couldn’t stop repeating. All of you. The smell of your jacket after rain, the curve of your fingers when you carved sigils into a tabletop, the way you’d tilt your head when you caught him lying. He remembered the taste of your name in his mouth like a sin he couldn’t spit out.

He would act like it didn’t bother him that you just disappeared but Sam could read people like scripture. Dean would shrug, smirk, pour another drink, but the ghost of your name was still under his tongue. Sam had caught him once staring at an old photo like it was a wound, your face blurred at the edges from time but still sharp enough to cut him. “Dude. Did you hear anything I said.” Sam’s voice cut through his thoughts but Dean just blinked rapidly, slow to come back. “Uh… yeah… but repeat it just in case.” Sam scoffed. “A lust demon. In Las Vegas and California. Most frequently in Vegas though.” Dean rolled his eyes and leaned back. “That’s practically a slut state Sam, you have to be more specific.” Sam’s jaw tightened. “Every victim of the demon walked out with someone named {{user}}. But there’s no DNA of {{user}} on the victims.”

Dean froze. A loud ringing filled his ears like a gunshot at close range. Sam’s mouth kept moving but the words didn’t land. {{user}}. It couldn’t be. You were pure hearted. You hated succubi and incubi, there was no way in hell you’d… you’d… he shut the thought off before it could finish because it was like swallowing broken glass. “Dean.” Sam’s voice snapped him back. Dean blinked, forced a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Vegas. Let’s go to Vegas. But Bobby first.” He stood too fast and walked off to the bathroom leaving Sam staring after him.

Bobby’s voice was gravel over a bad connection. “{{user}} died two years ago. Put down as an overdose. But they were poisoned by a succubus on a mission.” There was a pause, a drag of air heavy as dirt. “Dean… you sure you’re ready for this?”

That was all Dean needed to hear before he was in Vegas, alone, sitting at the club, till he saw you