Rise of the Righteous

Chapter 1

I remembered. That one night, almost six years ago. I was sitting on cold, cement floor,

surrounded by thick iron doors. There was no light in the dungeon, at least that’s what I thought

it was back then. Filthy, hair matted, sick, hungry; I was probably a horrible sight…not that I

could tell anyway. There were no others down there with me, at least not anymore. Originally

there were about six of us down there. The last one had been taken away the previous night and I

had never heard from her again. With a sinking feeling, I had realized that I was next. That was

supposed to be my last night in that hellhole, my last night on earth. That was when they arrived.

I remembered lying on the bare floor with barely enough body heat to keep myself alive,

shivering furiously as I thought about how my life had been just one bad thing after another. My

mom’s death…my father’s abandonment…and then finally being captured by some lunatics

when they found me outside a convenience store praying for either some spare change or a kind

individual to buy me a snack to keep me going. And that night, it was supposed to be my last. I

remembered the sound of gunfire above, ringing surprisingly clearly through the empty dungeon-

like room. The shouts of angry people as they fought back. Until there was silence once again

pressing painfully against my eardrums.

The door to the dungeon swung open, immediately blinding me with the light from

above. Letting out a shriek of surprise and terror, I had immediately flung my hands up to cover

my face as I heard footsteps carefully making their way down the stairs.

This is it. I thought. This is my end. Then the footsteps stopped in front of me.

“Hey…hey, are you alright? Are you hurt?” A deep and slightly gruff voice had asked

me.

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That was how I met them. The Winchesters. My saviors. It had taken my eyes forever to

adjust to the newfound light, and when they did, the man took me out of the dungeon and back

into reality. They were so kind to me, so caring. I remembered how they asked me repeatedly

what my name was and if I had a home. It took a while, but eventually I found my voice. My

name was Alexa. No, I didn’t have a home, but there was no way in hell I was going to child

protective services. They wanted to help me, they really did. They offered many alternatives, but

I refused every single one of them. They couldn’t make me do something I didn’t want to do. I

had my rights. I had free will. But it didn’t take long for my body to wear out, leaving me falling

to the floor as darkness rushed through my head.

I woke up in a motel room where I was being attended to by both boys. Concern was

etched on their faces, most notably the one who came down and hauled me out of my personal

hell. Dean. His name was Dean. And the other was Sam. I remembered that they fed me, clothed

me, and nursed me back to health, and for that I was ever grateful. In the end, my decision was

one that I would later reconsider…but never regret. I became a hunter, like them, and started a

new life.

My memory shifted. That case was a mistake to take. The hellhound was too strong,

Lilith too powerful. I had been thrown back, my head bashing against the wall and making me

crumple into darkness. That tended to happen to the three of us quite a lot, so my brain had an

easier time recuperating than most people. When I came to, at first I could only see a haze of

light, and then the room snapped into focus. Sam was crying, holding a lifeless form in his arms.

It took me a moment to realize that it was his brother, Dean. My hero. He was supposed to be

invincible, unwavering, and yet there he was…gone. I was never to see his bright smile again,

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never hear him joke about stupid things, never call me “Ass” in a purely loving manner the same

way he called Sam “Bitch”.

In the time I had known him, Dean Winchester had become like a brother to me, as did

Sam, but when it came to the two of them, I had always felt closer to Dean. After he was buried

due to Sam’s insistence instead of a proper hunter’s burial, the youngest Winchester went off the

radar and I was left to fend for myself…again. I assumed I was never really that important to him

in the first place, so I decided to cut my ties with the remaining Winchester, with deep regret,

and leave to do my own thing. Every now and again I called up Bobby to say hi and relieve my

need to socialize with someone who understood what I was going through, but other than that, I

was completely by myself. I didn’t deal with the loss well. I hunted every monster I could find.

Every person I saved made my heart repair itself piece by broken piece as I struggled to keep

myself together, but I was still waiting…waiting for the moment when Dean would rise from hell

and come back to our little family. Because god dammit, he was a freaking Winchester! And

from what I had learned, Winchester’s didn’t die very easily…

~(Springfield, Illinois…4 months after Dean’s death)

“Hey baby, mind if I buy you a round?” A nice looking, but very drunk, man sidled up

next to me as I sat at the bar, staring down at my computer in a complete daze even though I had

been researching more information on the deaths in this area not a few minutes ago. Bodies were

found, completely drained of their blood. The most likely suspect was a vampire, or in this case,

vampires. An entire freaking nest of vampires.

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“I would rather you left me in peace, if that’s even a possibility.” I mumbled and quickly

minimized my web browser, though it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference. The

guy was probably too drunk to even focus his eyes. I felt a hand lightly brush my leg, making me

prickle angrily as he said, “I don’t bite…I promise.” There was something faint on his breath,

something besides the alcohol that was quite prominent. It was something that didn’t go away

even with intense scrubbing…especially if you had subjected the surface to the same thing

multiple times over. It was the metallic tang of blood. There was no mistaking the scent. I had

smelled it enough times to recognize it immediately. So either this guy just really liked the taste

of blood, or he was a vampire. I was willing to bet the latter as my hand instinctively twitched to

the silver knife I had hidden in a sheath on my waist. It would only take a split second to remove

the knife, slice it through the air, and connect it with his throat. It would be enough just to slow

him down. But instead, I decided to humor him.

“That’s too bad, baby,” I crooned and turned my puppy-blue eyes on his face, hoping to

dazzle the dazzler. “See, I like guys with a little bite.” With a flip of my wrist, I fleetingly let my

hand graze his jawline. His intense brown eyes betrayed a hint of amusement and curiosity as I

gave him a little smirk and played enticingly with a strand of my hair. This was disgusting, but it

needed to be done. I needed to get him someplace solitary, and then slice the bugger’s head off in

one go. It would be one less vamp for me to worry about later.

“Hmm, I suppose…” He drew out the last syllable teasingly and fixed a cocky grin on his

face. “I might be able to make an exception for you, darling.” His eyes traveled down my body,

making me shiver uncomfortably as they lingered just a bit too long on my chest.

“Then how about you say we get out of here, hmm?” I reluctantly placed my hand ever so

carefully on his lower thigh and carefully traced circles over his leg. This honestly wasn’t the

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first time I had to flaunt myself in such a manner to get a monster to go somewhere with me, but

it didn’t change the fact on how thoroughly disgusted I was with myself as I played right into the

guy’s fantasies. A male was still a male, regardless of his species…and I was willing to bet that

after he had his way with me, he’d kill me and drain my blood.

“Mmm, I like the sound of that.” He growled in what he probably hoped to be an

endearing manner, but I felt my guard rise immediately. I calmed myself, praying that my heart

wouldn’t race too much to give me away, but not so little that he wouldn’t think I was

disinterested. Lightly leaping down from the barstool, I let both of my hands, against my better

judgement, wrap around one of his and tug him out the side door to a more secluded back alley.

The moment the door closed, I roughly shoved him against the exterior brick wall

of the bar and pressed myself up against him. His eyes betrayed excitement and a hint of

amusement as I positioned myself better, but not for what he was hoping. A sudden inspiration

had sprung to my mind. I could knock him out, tie him up, and bring him back to my motel room

for a nice conversation. I could learn where the nest was if I played my cards right.

The moment his guard was fully down, when I was letting my face close in on his, I

swiftly removed a needle from the inside of my jacket and was about to plunge it into his neck

when his arm shot up and stopped me. A malicious grin spread over his face and suddenly I was

pushed backwards into the ground. In seconds he was on top of me, pinning me quite nicely…

but I didn’t stay like that for long. Instinct kicked in and I wrapped my legs around his

midsection, using leverage to flip him over so I was on top instead. Then for precaution, I flipped

him onto his stomach…all in one swift movement. He wriggled on the ground as he attempted to

get free of my grip, but I was insistent…and once I wrap my legs around something, my

opponent always loses. Always.

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“Be a dear and hold still. This’ll only pinch for a moment, and then I’ll smash your head

against the ground so you fall asleep. That sound fair?” I purred in both amusement and a sense

of accomplishment. His struggle became more insistent and he hissed out “You little bitch” under

his breath. My hand reached for the second needle that was concealed right next to the original

one, which had fallen out of my hand and most likely rolled behind a dumpster. With a practiced

hand, I jabbed the needle into his neck and injected Dead-Man’s blood directly into his jugular. It

would move fast that way, and before he could spit out another obscenity at me, I grabbed a

fistful of his hair in my hand and brought his ear up next to my lips.

“I’m not a bitch. I’m an ass. Get your facts straight you blood-sucking bastard.” And then

it was lights-out for the vampire.

Chapter 2

With the vampire tied tightly to the armchair and five more vials of Dead-Man’s blood

lying at the ready, all I had to do now was wait for the vamp to regain consciousness and then we

could have our little… “chat”. A sigh escaped my lips as I looked around the motel room that I

had managed to talk the person behind the counter into lending me for the night. It wasn’t bad,

but it wasn’t exactly good either. At least there was a bed…and at the moment, that was all I

required. Finally the monster stirred. His head rolled to one side and a low groan escaped his

lips.

With a quick stride, I walked up to the chair and slapped the vampire’s face so hard that I

swear the sound echoed through the air. I couldn’t help it…I was in a mood. I had managed to

procure a drink back at the bar, even though I wasn’t twenty-one yet, and I was in a mood. At

this point, my actions most definitely spoke louder than my words. The slap seemed to do the

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trick. With a cry, the vampire raised his brown eyes to my face and I heard a growl escape his

throat. He made a move to spring at me, finding himself tied down rather tightly. Eyes darting

down to the ropes that bound him to the rather comfy-looking trap, a sneer crossed his lips and

he looked back up at me, a look of admiration flitting briefly across his face.

“Hah. You little bitch…you got me. Call me impressed.” He growled softly, a grin

playing on his mouth.

“It’s ‘ass’, sweetheart, and I’d rather if you didn’t talk unless you’re telling me something

that I want to hear.” I removed my silver blade from its sheath and leveled it pointedly at the

bridge of his nose, right in between his eyes. For a brief moment, fear flicked through his eyes,

but it was immediately replaced by cockiness.

“Oh that all depends on what you want to hear, darling. And it depends on what I’m

willing to tell you.” He was pressing his luck. The damn guy had a knife pointed at his face, and

yet he proceeded to act like I was just going to let him walk out of here freely…like it was his

god-damn right. My fingers itched to punch him in the jaw, but I managed to restrain myself

from doing so. It would only be a minor irritation to the monster anyway, and I had to play my

cards right.

“Let’s get something straight here.” I brought my face down to his level, my free hand

keeping me balanced as it gripped the arm rest. “I’m not your bitch…but you’re mine. I’ll be

doing whatever it takes to get what I want from you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Came his reply and he opened his mouth in a wide grin, pointed fangs

glittering dangerously.

“Excellent.” With that word, I turned my back to him for a brief moment to grab a vial of

Dead-Man’s blood. I spun on my heel and waved the flask in the air for him to see. His eyes

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widened, immediately shrugging off his nonchalance from before and becoming dark as he

recognized its scent. “Now you typically can’t die from knife wounds because you heal too

quickly, but then I remembered something important. Dead-Man’s blood doesn’t just slow

vampires down, it also diminishes their powers…specifically their reaction rate and their healing

abilities. So I thought we might have a little bit of…fun tonight.” And with that, I swiftly plunged

the needle back into his neck.

The vampire let out a cry and a hiss of frustration as it felt the poisonous blood entering

its arteries. I watched his eyes flicker open and shut a few times as he attempted to keep himself

conscious. Two doses of poison in less than two hours was taking its toll on the creature, but I

figured that with the first dose still somewhat in his system, the vampire wouldn’t be able to flee

even if I untied him.

“You…you…” He wheezed as he tried to fight the exhaustion and pain that swept over

his body.

“Alright, let’s start.” I said cheerfully and toyed with the knife in my other hand, letting a

finger gently slide over the smooth side of the blade. He looked up at me, chest heaving as he

fought desperately against the force behind the Dead-Man’s blood.

“I won’t break easily, sweet-cheeks.” He growled, managing to get a bit of his sass back

as I sidled up to him and let one of my legs rest in between his. I carefully brought the sharp side

of my knife up to his face and playfully let it glide over his cheek, allowing it to graze the edge

of his jaw in a manner that made him shiver.

“Where’s the nest?” I asked bluntly. His response to me was a throaty growl and I let the

silver blade pierce through his skin, opening a shallow wound on the skin right below his eye.

The vampire let out a howl of pain and tried to jerk away from me, but the ropes kept him firmly

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secured. The bastard wasn’t going anywhere until I found out where the nest was, and then I’d

send him to hell…or wherever the slimy creatures went when they were decapitated.

“Bite me,” He hissed, sending a shiver down my spine as I felt a rush of power spread

throughout my entire body.

“As you wish.” A flash of silver, and a deeper slash appeared on his cheek…not one

centimeter away from his lips. Another hiss of pain followed and his eyes glittered maliciously

as a smirk made its way across my lips. “How many of you are there?” A feral snarl ripped its

way past his lips, probably hoping to intimidate me, but in a flash I was on top of him, holding

my knife to his throat in a rather threatening manner. “Let’s not play games, because I don’t

really have the patience at the moment. So you’re going to tell me where your nest is and how

many I can find guarding it, and then I’m going to slice your head off your shoulders. Right…

here.” I finished my statement with emphasis, letting my knife slice a paper thin line across the

area on his neck where I’d start by decapitating him. Blood trickled down his neck and face,

dripping on the upholstery of the armchair and onto the floor.

The vampire remained silent, and just as I was about to put another gash on his face, or

maybe even start on his chest, I heard a soft vibration as my phone buzzed in my pocket,

betraying a call coming through. With a sigh of exasperation, I removed myself from atop the

monster and strode back over to the desk. With an air of contempt, I stabbed the pointed end into

the wood and took my phone out of my pocket. Bobby, read the caller ID. My anger let up a bit

and I snapped the phone open.

“Bobby! It’s great to hear from you, but now isn’t really the best time to talk.” I said into

the mouthpiece while glancing back at the blood-sucker that was currently eyeing me like I was a

piece of rotten meat.

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“Alex, this’s kind of-, hold on…what’re you up to?” His voice becoming slightly

suspicious.

“Just a routine vampire case…nothing major. I’m just trying to get toothy here to give me

some information on his comrades-in-arms and their secret base.” I grinned and threw the

vampire a wink, to which he replied with an extended growl that made the hairs on my arms and

back of my neck stand on end. To steady myself, I leaned up against the table that held my

equipment and gave a small sigh. “So far I’ve gotten nothing.”

“You’re takin’ on an entire nest? Alex, that’s a new low…even for you. Aren’t you

supposed to be the one with common sense?”

“Bobby…”

“Don’t ‘Bobby’ me, Alex. We’ll talk about this later, but right now we have something

bigger to deal with.”

“Like what?” I asked and pinched the bridge of my nose. After Dean’s death and Sam’s

disappearance, Bobby had gotten majorly protective of me. If this was going to be anything like

that ghoul case up in Chicago…

“It’s Dean.” Those two words made my heart lurch uncomfortably in my chest. I

swallowed down a bitter retort and steeled myself for whatever he was going to say next. “He’s

back from hell.” The room spun, my eyes widened, and my heart just about stopped right there.

“He’s…what?” I finally managed to gasp out. My grip on the edge of the table intensified,

a small creak of wood being heard, and I struggled to maintain my standing position. I could feel

my heart rate speeding up, my breathing becoming irregular. The vampire noticed it too. A

curious gleam shone in his eyes and a smirk crossed his bleeding lips.

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“… Don’t do anything stupid. We’re comin’ to get you…it’ll only take a few minutes.

Y’er not far away from where we are. Passin’ through Rochester now.” Bobby said, but it

sounded like he said even more before that. I must’ve zoned out. That tended to happen

whenever my emotions peaked dangerously.

“Bobby-.” The phone cut off abruptly as Bobby hung up and I was left there, my jaw

dropped in utter disbelief. It wasn’t possible. Dean back from hell? He’d been buried for four

months now…no way he’d even look human anymore. It was a joke. Something was playing a

joke on me. Something… My eyes darted up to the vampire accusingly. It must’ve been one of

his nest-mates calling me, trying to confuse me, to take me off-guard. With an angry cry, I

charged the vampire. My blade plunged through his chest and he let out a noise that sounded like

a cross between a cry of pain and a snarl.

“Tell me everything. Tell me now.” I hissed in his face, my own teeth bared and meeting

his pointed fangs. “Where are they? How many are there? Talk!” I twisted the knife in his chest

when he didn’t answer me and he yelled so loudly it almost broke my eardrums. But I didn’t care.

He and his buddies played with my emotions, and there would be blood to pay for what they did.

Ten minutes later I sat down on the edge of my bed panting heavily. The vampire was a

mess of wounds and blood, but it was still alive…barely. I lost my head, and now that I had

taken all of my pent-up rage out on the creature, it felt like a two ton weight had been lifted from

my body. Though I could still feel the adrenaline racing through my being, making me quiver as

my eyes closed, I felt like I could sleep for a week. I was exhausted physically, mentally, and

emotionally.

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I must’ve closed my eyes for a few minutes because I awoke to frantic banging on my

motel room door and a loud, male voice shouting, “Alex! Alex, are you okay? Open the damn

door, you idjit!”

“Bobby,” I whispered under my breath and I hauled myself into a sitting position with a

groan tainted with both pain and exhaustion. My head spun as the blood rushed from it, sending

the room spinning for a few seconds until I shook my head and carefully got to my feet. With a

quick glance down at my clothing, I winced and realized that Bobby would very likely have a

minor heart attack once he saw how blood-stained they were. Of course it was all the vamp’s

blood, but still… The knocking become even more frantic.

“Alex! Alex you’d better not be dead in there!” That voice…I knew that voice. It sent a

violent shiver down my spine as I recognized it, and I couldn’t get over to the door quicker. My

hand touched the knob and hesitated.

Careful, Alex. It could easily be a trick. You’ve already met a few vampires that can

mimic the vocals of another person. My common sense berated me.

But they’d have to have heard that person’s voice before they could mimic it! So unless

this vampire met Dean Winchester and lived to tell the tale…

There was sense in both of my thoughts. But which one was right? With better judgement

leading me, my grip tightened on the bloody knife that was still clutched in my right hand and I

swung the door open, immediately charging at my visitors with whatever strength I had left.

“Whoa!” The one I attacked first caught my wrist as it sliced through the air in a deadly

arc right before it could hit its mark. I was immediately disarmed, I bitterly realized. Hands

grabbed my shoulders before I could fall to the ground, my remaining energy almost completely

spent, and hauled me into a pair of strong arms and a broad chest.

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“Monster!” I hissed weakly and tried to remove myself from its strong grip, but to no

avail did I succeed. The grip on me loosened and pulled me just a few inches away from its

body, and it forced me to look into its face.

“D-Dean?”

Chapter 3

An amused grin broke across Dean’s face as his eyes caught mine. His green eyes. There

they were. Two things I never thought I’d ever see again. I wanted to cry. It was all real…or just

a really good dream. Maybe I was still inside, passed out on the bed and dreaming about

something that shouldn’t have been real…but it was. It was so real. Real down to the minor detail

of his scent; whiskey and leather, which for some reason was never detracting to anyone in the

slightest. It just…fit. It was Dean.

“Miss me?” He chuckled softly and helped me steady myself as I took it all in. He was

alive and walking, and certainly didn’t look like he had just dug himself out of hell. I could feel

other eyes on me besides his, and I figured that one of them was Bobby, but who was the other?

It didn’t matter to me, though, as I let out a soft cry and flung my arms around his neck, pulling

him into a crushing hug.

“You dick…don’t you ever die on me again, do you hear?” I choked out next to his ear as

I nuzzled into his neck. His arms went around me tightly, hugging me back with the same

amount of force I was using, if not more.

“No promises,” Dean said with a laugh and then carefully set me down as I tried to pull

away from him, albeit reluctantly. I hadn’t even realized that he had quite literally swept me off

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my feet, but it didn’t take me long to remember the fact that he was at least eight inches taller

then me…it kind of came with the territory of height. But there was still a job for me to do, that I

hadn’t finished yet. “Hey, are you okay?” His question snapped me from my daze, pulling me

right back into reality.

“Huh?”

“You’re fucking covered in blood!” Over-protective brother mode engaged, Dean’s eyes

widened and he frowned as he took in my sight. I knew there was blood on my clothing for sure,

but I hadn’t even noticed my skin until he pointed it out. “Your hands, your hair, your… face.

Dude, what the hell happened to you?”

“Oh…uh…” Suddenly the ground was a more interesting place to look at and I stared at it

for about ten seconds before answering him. “You see, there’s, um, sort of a nest of-”

“Vamps, I know. Bobby told me. But that’s a lot of…” He broke off and sighed, placing a

hand over his eyes. “You, um…you have one in your room, don’t you.” It wasn’t really a question

at all, more of an “I already know the answer so don’t give me any bullshit” statement. I couldn’t

help but grin.

“Of course! Would you like me to give you a tour?” I asked him mockingly and made a

show of flourishing my hands at the door.

“Only if you have tickets for three,” He replied and jerked his head at the people who

stood behind me. There was an awkward cough, immediately followed by another, and I spun

around, coming face to face with Bobby and Sam.

“Sam.” I greeted rather tersely and felt my throat threaten to close up. I steeled myself

against his rather persuasive puppy-dog eyes as he started talking to me.

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“Listen…Alex, I’m sorry. These past few months…” He trailed off when my gaze

hardened and a soft growl escaped my throat. Dean moved so he was off to the side of us, able to

see our conversation a bit more fully. A confused look crossed his face and a frown worked its

way on his mouth. Bobby clapped his hands together as he attempted to break the awkward

silence.

“Well, let me see if I can go attend to your…pest problem, Alex. Anything in particular

you still need out of the thing?” Bobby asked in a somewhat upbeat tone. He remembered how I

had felt when I found out Sam had left without a second thought, the anguish I had to fight

against for a couple of weeks after I came to the conclusion I had lost both of my brothers. And

how I said I’d kick Sam’s ass the next time I laid eyes on him. At the moment, I think Bobby just

wanted to get out of there before I used my knife on the tallest Winchester. Without blinking, I

answered Bobby.

“What I know so far is that there are at least seven others in his nest, though I still don’t

know exactly where the nest is.” Bobby nodded and turned to walk in. “Oh and Bobby? Be

careful. The guy’s been dosed twice with Dead-Man’s blood within a little less than two hours. If

you go too far, you’ll probably kill him before you can get any information out of him.”

“Noted.” Bobby replied and poked his head inside the room. With a whistle, he turned

back outside and looked at me. “Did a pack of werewolves get to the guy?” I felt my cheeks

heating up as I remembered the blind rage I had ravaged on the creature. It was a freaking

miracle the thing was still alive.

“I…got emotional.” Was the only reply I gave him. It seemed to satisfy his curiosity and

he walked in, closing the door behind him. As soon as Bobby left, I turned on Sam, getting right

up in his face.

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“Where. Were. You.” I hissed through gritted teeth and shoved him up against the wall. A

cry sounded from inside my room but I ignored it, and Sam looked thoroughly frightened and

remorseful.

“Ah.” He almost said something but I immediately cut him off, placing my hand on his

throat. He could’ve shoved me off, he certainly had the strength to, but instead he let me hold my

position of power. Why?

“Dude!” Dean’s cry made me blink, making me hesitate and giving Sam the edge he

needed. He pushed me away…not too hard, but hard enough to get some distance in between me

and him.

“Alex, listen, I can explain-” Sam started, but I ignored him, propelling myself forward

with a mixture of grief, anger, and surprisingly, relief. We grappled together for a few moments

until I managed to get a leg around his waist, immediately pulling him to the ground and pinning

him down. Not even Sam could escape the death grip of my legs.

“When Dean died, you and Bobby were all I had left. We buried Dean…we buried him,

Sam. And then you fucking dropped off the fucking face of the fucking earth, leaving Bobby and

me alone. You are family to me, and you just abandoned me without a fucking second thought!”

Both boys’ eyes widened as they heard the obscenities just flowing out of my mouth. I didn’t

curse at that kind of frequency, so they both knew immediately that this was troubling me

deeply. “And now that Dean’s back, you think it’s okay to just waltz right back in like nothing

ever happened? I would’ve thought Bobby at least warned you that I had already promised to

him, after I got over my small emotional breakdown, that the next time I saw you I would be

sticking my foot so far up your ass that you would be singing soprano for a week.”

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“He…he kinda did, uh, warn me.” Sam mumbled and closed his eyes as he remembered

the way Bobby had told him on the ride over.

‘Now you listen, Sam. This girl’s been goin’ through a difficult time. She’s still family, and

you really hurt her the way you stormed off like that. Hell, I’m still irritated at you for doin’ so…

but she’s pissed. She told me right to my face that the next time she saw you she would kick your

ass into the next county, and believe me, she was very sincere about it.’

“I’m sorry. Look, I know what I did was wrong-”

“Oh it was wrong on so many levels.” I growled, the hand holding my knife twitching

anxiously.

“-but I’m here because…Alex, I’m so sorry. I…I was trapped in my own world where

only my own grief mattered, and that was wrong. You’re like a sister to me…I should never

have-” I cut him off with a sniff and a rather spastic hug that made him freeze for a moment

before hugging me back just as enthusiastically.

“Dammit, Sam.” I grumbled and snuggled into his chest. I mean, the guy was a giant

teddy bear…I was amazed at myself for being able to last this long and not succumb to his

teddy-bear charms.

“Oh I am so taking a picture of this.” Dean gave a chuckle and I heard his feet shift on the

black top. “Alex, you do know that it looks like you’re making out with Sam in the middle of a

parking lot, right?” I blinked, my cheeks flushing bright red, and then removed myself from on

top of Sam, who was also blushing a brilliant shade of red as he heard Dean’s observation. The

door to my motel room swung open and Bobby strode out, but as soon as he saw Sam sprawled

on his back on the pavement, he took a step back inside, eyeing me carefully.

17

“Done kickin’ ass?” Bobby asked me pointedly as his eyes flitted between me and Sam

cautiously.

“Oh yeah, they kissed and made up and everything.” Dean smirked as I shot him a death

glare.

“Good, because I just found out the location of the nest.” Bobby said, visibly relaxing as

he strode out the door and walked over to give Sam a hand up. “I’m calling another group of

hunters to take care of it for us. Meanwhile we have other stuff to do, like find out what rode

Dean out of hell.”

“Bobby you make that sound so suggestive,” I couldn’t help but input, watching the smirk

on Dean’s face turn to a look of horror.

“You’re an ass.” He snapped.

“Dick.” I shot back with a smile and a wink. And then it dawned on me. Bobby was

pulling me away from my job. My job. As much as the idea of riding in the Impala with my

family again tugged at my heartstrings, this was still my job and I needed to finish it. “Bobby I

have a case…a rather important-”

“Come on, dude. Wouldn’t you rather spend time with your big brother Dean? I mean, it’s

not like I didn’t just get back from hell or anything.” Dean mused and slipped one arm around my

shoulders while the other hand messed with my hair playfully.

“You’re missing the point,” I grumbled and lightly shoved him off of me. “This is my

case. I can’t just abandon it…”

“You’re not abandoning it, Alex, you’re just passing it on to someone else. Relax, this

town is in good hands.” Bobby reassured me, though it didn’t work very well. “Oh and, uh, your

18

vampire boyfriend is kinda dead now. Hope you don’t mind. I did the honors of chopping off his

head for you.”

With a sigh, I relented. At least I’d be back with my brothers again. I ran a hand through

my hair, stopping as I met a drying substance with the tips of my fingers. With a suppressed gag,

I realized that some of the vampire’s blood had somehow managed to get into my hair…because

for the one night in my entire career in hunting, I forgot to put my hair up. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“Ugh… Well if you boys don’t mind cleaning up the room, I’m going to go clean myself

up because I’m not feeling so hot right now. Especially with the blood all over me, you’d think

I’d just walked out of a slasher movie.” I grumbled and walked backwards a few steps before

turning around and dashing into the bathroom so I could clean myself up. When I finally stepped

into the invitingly warm shower, I couldn’t help but reminisce about my day so far. I seduced a

vampire, knocked him out, tied him up in my room (if that wasn’t BDSM enough), and then

proceeded to torture information out of him. Then I found out Dean was alive, flipped a lid and

more or less turned the vampire into a puree, and then tackled Sam to the ground in a moment of

rage.

Oh yeah…my life’s totally normal.

Chapter 4

Not thirty minutes later I was tucked contently into the back of Baby, Dean’s Black ’67

Chevy Impala, as it rolled down the road following Bobby’s pick-up truck. The sky overhead

was darkening rapidly and I could almost feel my body shutting down automatically. As of

recently, i.e. the past four months, my body didn’t listen to anything I told it. Sometimes it kept

19

me going for days, most notably whenever I was on a case, and other days it crashed for over

twelve hours like it was trying to play catch-up. The last time my body actually was in sync with

the time of day was when I was on the road with the boys…back before Dean went to hell. It

must’ve been because I felt safe again, I noted as I felt my eyelids flutter down. The familiar

motion of the car was making me sleepy, and I very nearly started snoozing away when the car

suddenly gave a huge lurch, making me almost fall over the front seat.

“Hahah, sorry dude. Didn’t see the pothole.” Dean apologized, his hands gripping the

steering wheel tightly. I saw his eyes looking back at me from the rearview mirror and I just

shrugged in response. “You look tired. Maybe I should call Bobby, see if we can pull over for the

night and rest.”

“Nah, it’s okay. J-Just keep driving. We’ll get there faster.” I mumbled as I stifled a yawn,

letting my head rest on the back of the front seat, right in between Sam and Dean’s heads. The

boys exchanged looks and Sam gave a brief nod, pulling out his phone.

“Bobby? Yeah I think it’s time to stop for the night. Yep, about to pass out. It’s been a

long day for all of us, and between you and me, I don’t think Dean’ll be able to drive much

longer.” Dean sent a scowl Sam’s way but his brother just ignored it as he continued talking.

“Okay. Okay, yeah. We’ll just follow you. Thanks, Bobby.” Sam snapped his phone shut and sat

back in his seat with a sigh. Noting the look Dean was giving him, Sam got on the defensive.

“What?”

“You know what.”

“Dean, I said what I had to so we could stop for the night. Besides, I’m looking at you

and you look like, well, shit. You just crawled out of hell and you’re driving through the dead of

night. You need rest.” Sam insisted. My eyes might’ve been shut at the moment, but I could hear

20

the pleading in Sam’s tone as he begged his brother to understand why he had said what he said.

And if I knew Sam well enough, he was using those puppy-eyes of his for emphasis. Sure

enough, Dean released a soft sigh from his lips.

“Whatever, dude.” Came his tired reply. The next few minutes were driven in silence, and

then I felt the Impala slowing down into a turn, finally stopping.

“Dibs on the backseat.” Dean suddenly announced and prepared to swing his legs over

the seat when Sam spoke.

“Dude, the backseat’s my place. It’s bigger, and like it or not, I’m taller than you.” Sam

retaliated with a very reasonable argument, so reasonable that it took Dean a moment to come up

with a retort.

“Yeah, well, there’re three of us again, Sammy.” Dean explained rather tersely. “And

since the backseat’s bigger, wouldn’t it make sense to put the two…smaller…people back there?”

I snorted as I heard the disgust in his tone as he demeaned his height in comparison to his

younger brother. Both brothers were quiet for a few moments before Sam grunted in agreement

and more or less shoved his older brother over the seat so he could stretch out.

“Right, so, let’s see if we can work this out.” I heard Dean grumble as he managed to

wiggle his way past me and stretch out on the seat. A few moments of cursing and squirming

passed before his hands suddenly grabbed my waist and pulled me backwards in the seat. It had

been so long since the last time he did that, that I let out an embarrassing shriek of surprise.

“Sorry…sorry.” Dean mumbled a quick apology and tried to push himself into the back

of the cushion in order to give me more space, without succeeding. It felt weird being snuggled

by him again, especially after my months of being alone. I’d been devoid of physical contact,

21

unless you counted killing monsters to be physical contact, and sort of forgot what the sensation

was like.

“Do you two need some privacy back there, or something? Because I’m more than happy

to go sleep in Bobby’s truck if need be.” Sam said from the front seat in a slightly sarcastic tone.

“Shut up, bitch.” Dean replied as he sat up a bit, trying to figure out a good position for us

both to sleep comfortably in.

“Jerk.” Sam mumbled as he snuggled down into the seat.

“Dammit, did you grow or something?” The question was directed at me…and I frowned

thoughtfully.

“I…highly doubt it. Women typically stop growing once they hit their mid-teens, and in

case you haven’t noticed, I’m twenty.” I replied back softly as Dean carefully tried to settle

himself back down on the seat. The guy was trying to sleep on his back, and I was on my side. At

this point I could only see three solutions; one, we could both sleep on our sides and be either

back to back or back to front, two, he could lie on his back like he apparently wanted and I could

sleep on top of him, or three, I could sleep on the floor. The question was, which one would be

less awkward? “Dean.”

“What? Hey I’m trying…sorry. This is…weird. It’s been a while.” He gave a short laugh

and flipped onto his side, though he looked quite uncomfortable. “Shit.”

“I could…sleep on the floor like one of us used to. Doesn’t really matter to me.” I

mumbled, feeling my body slip closer to dream world.

“Won’t work. Too much stuff on the damn floor. Trust me, if there was room I’d be down

on the floor before you could say ‘pie’.” A groan escaped his lips and he flipped over to lie on his

back again. “Shit…this isn’t gonna work.” Before he could object any more, I summoned

22

whatever strength I had left and hauled my body up on top of his, letting my head drop to his

chest as exhaustion swept over me. His chest rose sharply and he tensed up for a brief moment

before relaxing his body and putting an arm around my back to keep me from falling off.

“Yeah…that works.” He mumbled as I drifted off into unconsciousness.

*~*

I awoke to the familiar rumbling of Baby’s engine, letting memories wash over me as I

regained consciousness. Immediately I noticed that Dean was no longer underneath me, that he

was driving the Impala with Sam in the passenger’s seat, like usual. It was almost as if nothing

had ever happened yesterday. Except…I could feel that twinge in my side as I recalled all of the

physical stress I put my body through yesterday, and waking up on leather seats (and not a warm

body) didn’t help the soreness. With a rather loud groan, I managed to haul myself into a sitting

position.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” Dean greeted me from behind the wheel. His green eyes

flashed in the rearview mirror before refocusing on the road in front of him. “Coffee? Sam, let

her have some of your coffee.” Without a second thought, Sam, without looking up from his

book, grabbed his semi-full coffee cup and handed it back to me.

“Uh, no thanks, Sam, though the offer is appreciated.” I mumbled sleepily and gave a stiff

yawn, wincing as my muscles twinge painfully. “I’m more of a tea person.”

“Since when?” Dean sounded incredulous. He previously remembered how I would drink

Lattes (technically not coffee if you thought about it in the loosest sense) in the mornings

whenever we were on a job, but I never really enjoyed it the same way the boys did. If the coffee

was too bitter, as in the scent made the hairs on the back of my neck dance the Macarena, I

23

would downright refuse to drink it. As of recently I started getting tea as my wake-up drink, and

I hadn’t gone back.

“Since three months back.” I explained softly and ran my fingers through my hair in order

to make it look somewhat presentable.

“You chose tea over coffee? What kind of monster are you?” Dean jokingly asked and he

quickly turned his head to give me a mocking, incredulous look.

“The worst kind,” I replied back sarcastically. “Leaves are better than beans.”

“Better for you, maybe, but when it comes to waking up in the morning…” Sam injected

himself into our conversation, still looking down at his book. “…coffee’s better.”

“See? This guy knows what I’m talkin’ about!” Dean slapped the wheel for emphasis.

“Never dis the coffee, dude. You’ll be squashed to the-”

“Dean!” Sam shouted. The car swerved as Dean yanked the wheel to the left, just barely

missing the poor rabbit that had wandered out into the center of the road.

We were very quiet after that as we contemplated the meaning of that bunny’s life and

how very close it came to ending in that moment.

~

Jumping out of the car and closing the back door, the boys, Bobby, and I made our way

up to the porch of the supposed “best psychic in the state”. I’ll admit, I was a skeptic at best.

Within the first three weeks after Dean’s death, and about a week after Sam left, I first tried to go

to a psychic in the hopes of maybe being able to communicate with Dean’s spirit…I mean, I

needed guidance and Bobby was the only person left in my life. At first the psychic seemed legit,

but after a while I started noticing minute details that left me doubting her credibility…like the

shifting of the table cloth, indicating her moving around down there when she should’ve been

24

focusing. I mean, she had me closing my eyes so I could “concentrate”, but I could hear her

shifting around underneath there…could hear the tug of a string. Immediately after that, I asked

for my money back and left with an angry retort of “fucking fraud”.

But Bobby vouched for this woman, so I could at least give her the benefit of the doubt. I

mean, we were only trying to find whatever or whoever yanked Dean out of hell. What could go

wrong? Immediately a sinking feeling presented itself in the pit of my stomach as the thought

crossed my mind. Bad Alex…you should know better than to think like that by now. There’s

always something that can go wrong.

Bobby knocked on the door and it opened immediately, like we had been expected. A

woman appeared, a smile wide on her face as she took in the sight of a model, a giant, a man that

(still) smelled like alcohol, and a young woman who looked like she had just crawled out of the

most uncomfortable bed in the world. Her eyes gave us a quick once-over before she let out a

laugh and greeted Bobby with a rather…er…firm-looking hug that had him lifted off the ground

for a brief moment (to the boys’ and my utter astonishment) and a loud exclamation of “Bobby!”

“You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Bobby replied to her enthusiastic hug as he took in the

sight of his friend. Pamela smiled happily and crossed her arms over her chest, completely

ignoring Bobby’s comment.

“So are these the kids?” Pamela asked, her eyes reaching each of us in turn.

“Sam, Dean, Alex, meet Pamela Barnes; the best damn psychic in the state.” Bobby

introduced us. Dean gave Pamela a few approving looks as his eyes swept up and down her body

at least twice, saying “hey”. Sam merely nodded a greeting and said “hi”. Me, well, I stayed a few

steps back from her…still in obvious distrust.

25

“Mmm, mmm, mmm.” Pamela and Bobby exchanged looks, her attraction to Dean

extremely apparent in a way that made me bristle. A psychic I barely knew and barely trusted

was making a rather seductive pass at my recently resurrected brother…no way I would let that

slide, at least that’s what I thought until she continued speaking.

“Dean Winchester. Out of the fire and back in the frying pan, huh?” At that statement,

Bobby shot Dean a quick glance that was very much ignored by the oldest Winchester. “Makes

you a rare individual.” Dean shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and fixed a somewhat fake grin

on his face as he replied with: “If you say so.” I’ll give it to her. Pamela grasped Dean’s semi-

sarcastic comment and took it in stride.

“Come on in.” She said with an eye roll and a quick motion of her hand towards her front

door. The boys stepped past her and went in first with me following hesitantly behind. The

moment I stepped foot over the threshold, a nasty feeling wormed its way into the pit of my

stomach. Something was off, but I couldn’t tell what. As I stepped past her, I shot a quick,

nervous glance at Pamela who just gave me a reassuring smile in return. Dammit, she was

supposed to be the psychic…could she not tell something was wrong?

“So…heard anything yet?” Bobby inquired as he worked his way into the center of the

house, Sam and Dean treading carefully behind him. I gave an indignant sniff and crossed my

arms over my chest, a behavior that I rarely performed unless I was feeling extremely

uncomfortable.

“Well, I ouija-ed my way through about a dozen spirits.” Pamela closed the door and

turned to face the four of us with a sigh. “No one seems to know who broke your boy out and

why.”

26

“So what’s next?” Bobby asked pointedly and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, a

cue I had come to recognize as his “I’m extremely interested in this conversation so keep talking”

look.

“A séance, I think. See if we can see who did the deed.” Pamela offered like this was a

totally normal conversation between old friends. Three years back, I’d have probably freaked out

majorly at the mere thought of a conversation like this one. Just goes to show how much I’ve

changed over the years I’ve spent with the Winchesters.

“You’re not gonna summon the damn thing here?” Bobby asked cautiously and he

narrowed his eyes, seeming to contemplate what would happen if this thing was summoned here

and what would be the most efficient method of killing something that could resurrect a human

soul from hell. Dean seemed to be thinking the same thing as his hand drifted towards his demon

killing knife almost subconsciously.

“No.” Pamela gave Bobby a reassuring smile and strode up to him. “I just wanna get a

sneak peak at it, like a crystal ball without the crystal.” With a swish of dark brown hair, Pamela

strode in to her living room.

“I’m game.” Dean shrugged and followed her like an obedient puppy (though he was far

from). Bobby sighed as Sam followed his brother and turned to raise his eyebrows in mock

surprise when I gave him a confused look.

“Is she…is she for real?” I finally asked hesitantly as soon as the other three were out of

hearing range.

“Damn straight, Alex. She’s about as real as it gets around here.” Bobby explained, a

ghost of a smile crossing his lips as he steered me into the living room with everyone else.

27

Chapter 5

I sat on a rather comfy sofa and watched Pamela set up her stuff. Even with Bobby’s

reassurance, I was still wary. I watched her hands very carefully to make sure they weren’t doing

anything suspicious, like hiding a string or a lever somewhere while she worked. What really got

me was when she bent down to get some stuff from a low cabinet, exposing the small of her back

where a rather obscure (at least from where I was sitting) tattoo was written in black ink.

Naturally, Dean found it first before Sam did, and the brothers seemed rather interested in

Pamela’s tattoo.

“Who’s Jesse?” Dean finally asked her, nudging his brother to take a look. Pamela let out

a laugh and turned to look at the boys from her crouching position.

“Well it wasn’t forever,” Pamela said, a sincere smile on her face.

“His loss.” Dean replied on reflex. He gave a soft chuckle, and watched her as she

straightened up and walked back over to the table that the others were scattered around.

“Might be your gain.” Pamela said softly and left Dean hanging. My eyes widened and I

gave her a reproachful look as she walked closer to me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see

Dean and Sam having a private conversation. My eyes darted back and forth between my

adopted brothers and the woman who had managed to get underneath both of their skin. A flicker

of admiration coursed through my being as Pamela threw me a wink and walked back over to the

boys, saying to Sam “You’re invited too, grumpy.” and then striding off.

As Pamela finished getting the rest of her stuff gathered together, Bobby helped Sam pull

up five chairs to the little table we would soon be crowded around. Dean looked over at me,

28

noticing my sulking, and sidled over to the couch while keeping out of the way of his brother and

Bobby.

“What’s up your ass?” Dean asked under his breath, fixing a smile on his face to show he

meant no harm with his word choice.

“Pamela.” I replied softly and sighed as I watched her go back and forth around the room

in quick strides.

“Hmm?” Dean urged me and cocked his head to one side as though he didn’t quite

understand why the other woman was getting under my skin.

“She’s just…throwing herself out there. And I don’t trust psychics as a general rule…” I

whispered and with a sigh, dragged my hands down my tired face before placing them on the

sofa cushions and leaning backwards to loosen up my tightened back muscles. Honestly, I was

curious as to how Dean was even able to walk upright at the moment. He was the one who had

his body in the seat the entire time, so he must’ve been tense in some way…or maybe he was just

used to it and I had just gotten soft from having a semi-decent motel bed to sleep in every night.

“Plus, it’s just…I don’t know. She’s being very…flirtatious, and I don’t like it. I don’t know why,

but I just don’t. Maybe I just need more actual human interaction in my life. Bobby and monsters

were the only things I talked to for the longest time, and a very small percentage of those

monsters actually talked about something interesting instead of the usual ‘I’m gonna gut you’

mantra. … Wow, I sound kind of pathetic…” To his credit, Dean chuckled and placed his hand

on my shoulder comfortingly like he was trying to say “You’re such a dork, but we love you

anyway”. I scowled and shrugged his hand off. Dean opened his mouth to say something, but

was stopped when Pamela called for everyone’s attention.

29

“Alright, ladies. Let’s get this thing started, shall we?” She said and motioned for us all to

sit around the table. I got up from my comfy seat on the couch and chose the seat right in

between Dean and Sam, the place where I felt most comfortable and relaxed. “Now everybody

hold hands.” Pamela held out her hands for Bobby and Dean, and I attempted to stifle a snicker

as I watched the looks on the mens’ faces contort into awkward confusion. They hesitantly

obliged and Pamela continued. “Now…I need to touch something that our mystery monster

touched.” Pamela’s hand snaked under the table, and almost immediately Dean’s knee shot up

and knocked painfully hard against the underside of the wooden table.

“Whoa! Well he didn’t touch me there.” Dean announced, his cheeks flushing a light red

and his eyes wide as he looked up at Pamela’s face.

“My mistake.” The psychic teased and a playful smirk crossed her face. Immediately I

felt my face flush an even darker red than Dean’s, and I looked the other way, trying to keep my

temper down at a simmer at the very most. I didn’t look up until Pamela said “okay”. The candles

on the center of the table flickered, catching my eyes and making me give them my full attention.

I barely noticed when Pamela started speaking. The room felt distorted, like there was more than

just the five of us in there, and some of my doubt for Pamela’s abilities started fading away as I

felt a slight chill run through the air.

“I invoke, conjure, and command you- , appear unto me before this circle.” Pamela

repeated the line a few times, sending a shiver down my spine as the atmosphere seemed to shift

in the room. The tv flickered on and became static, and my hands started shaking. Something bad

was happening…I could just tell. I wanted more than nothing to break the circle, but Sam and

Dean had their hands tightly around mine. They could probably feel my shaking hands and were

trying to reassure me that I’d be alright, because that’s what big brothers are supposed to do.

30

“I invoke, conjure, and command-, Castiel?” Pamela stopped chanting, her eyes still shut,

and she started a conversation with an invisible entity. My eyes widened, all doubt gone. The

pressure in the air was incredible and I was surprised the others weren’t being affected by it as

well. It made my breathing tremble, my heart race, and I almost couldn’t take it anymore.

“No. Sorry, Castiel, I don’t scare easy.”

“Castiel?” Dean sounded incredulous as he prodded the psychic with his question.

“Its name. It’s whispering to me, warning me to turn back.” Pamela replied back quickly

and resumed her conversation with the entity. “I conjure and command you, show me your face.”

“Pamela.” I whispered softly and looked up at her. Flashes of images appeared before my

eyes, but they were so quick that I wasn’t able to discern much from them…only that they were

bad. Very bad. “Pamela, stop…please.” I could feel the eyes of the boys on me, but I ignored

them. I just wanted this to stop before someone got hurt.

“Maybe we should stop-” Bobby tried to say, getting interrupted by Pamela immediately.

“I almost got it.” The stubborn woman insisted. “I command you, show me your face.

Show me your face now!”

I shrieked as the candles’ flames grew drastically until they were almost two feet tall. The

heat coming off of them licked my skin in both an inviting and repelling way, and I would have

fallen onto the floor if Sam and Dean hadn’t been gripping my hands so tightly. I could hear

Pamela’s cry of pain, which quickly turned into a shrill scream as her eyes started glowing

dramatically. It was like the flames had touched her eyes, but in a more intimate way. The flames

that shone on Pamela’s face didn’t start in this room. This thing…this entity produced them, and I

was genuinely afraid for the first time in quite a while.

31

As soon as everything had started, it just stopped. The flames died down, the room

returned to normal, and Pamela fainted onto the floor as the shock that was very prominent on

everyone’s faces made their grips loosen. I slumped back in my chair, rubbing my temples as I

fought for clean air to enter my lungs. The boys were crowed around Pamela, and I immediately

knew it wasn’t good.

“Call nine-one-one!” Bobby ordered and I heard heavy footsteps fleeing the room.

Lighter footsteps flocked closer to Bobby.

“I can’t see. I can’t see! Oh, god, no.” Pamela sobbed and I could feel her pain from

across the room. Her eyes, something was wrong with them. Shakily, I got to my feet and

wobbled over to crouch down next to the psychic. Her eyes were gone, only two blackened pits

remaining in their place. My weakened stomach flipped over helplessly and it took all my

willpower to keep anything from coming up.

“Pamela…” I whispered softly and gently let my fingertips brush the back of her hand,

letting her know that I was there for her. Guilt flooded my body. Regardless of how I felt about

her, Pamela didn’t deserve this.

“I’m sorry.” I brought my face down closer to hers. “I’ll find what did this to you and I’ll

make this right.” The psychic let out a moan and shook her head.

“No. No, don’t. Don’t any of you. It’s too dangerous…” Pamela closed her eyelids and her

head dropped to the side. She had fainted from blood loss, and very likely shock. Sam thundered

back into the room.

“Paramedics are on their way. Bobby, can you stay with her? Dean and I should

probably…” He left that hanging, begging Bobby to understand their situation, to which the older

man nodded and waved us off with a flick of his wrist.

32

“Get outa here ya idjits. I’ll take care of her.” Bobby replied and continued to cradle

Pamela gently in his arms. Dean got to his feet immediately and was about to follow Sam out the

door when the two noticed I wasn’t moving.

“Alex.” Dean said sharply, lifting me briefly from my daze. The older Winchester walked

over and knelt down beside me, giving me a cautious glance. “Can you walk?” I had to think

about that for a brief moment before slowly nodding and, with Dean’s help, climbing carefully to

my feet. For a moment I was unsteady, my head spinning in a few different directions before I

found my bearings and waved Dean’s hand away, letting him know I could walk by myself.

I could feel the eyes of the boys on me as we walked back out to the car, Dean standing

close on my left and Sam on my right…both obviously making sure I wasn’t about to fall over.

“Before you ask, I don’t know what’s going on.” I muttered as soon as we all climbed into

the car.

“I wasn’t-”

“Oh shut up, Dean. I know you. The look on your face before you ask a question…it’s

been seared into my head.” I hissed in annoyance. It wasn’t Dean in general that was actually the

cause of my irritation, but the fact I had been reduced to a quivering mess in front of my family,

and I never did that. In fact, that little séance had taken me so far out of character that I felt like I

was from an entirely different universe.

“Alex, you freaked out…majorly. Neither of us have ever seen you act like that.” Sam

explained while the disgruntled Dean turned around in his seat and gave me a look that could

only be described as a mixture of confusion, surprise, and irritation. With a sigh, I flashed Dean

an apologetic look and sat back in my seat.

33

“Honestly? I don’t know.” I murmured as Dean started up the Impala and started driving

away from the psychic’s house. Both boys were silent, giving me a clear notion that they wanted

me to continue talking. In the end I just decided to run with it. “I had this, um, feeling the

moment we stepped foot in Pamela’s house. It wasn’t exactly a reassuring feeling. More like that

nauseous feeling you get right before you puke, and it kind of sat in the pit of my stomach up

until we all joined hands around the table, and then everything just, well, went downhill from

there.”

“Well, do you know who this Castiel guy is?” Dean asked insistingly.

“No. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a name like that in lore.” I replied and suddenly felt

weary. Stretching out on the seat, I stifled a yawn and closed my eyes. Actually, the leather seat

was quite comfortable, I realized and let out a content hum. “What about you, Sam?”

“Nothing that I’ve come across. Let’s stop somewhere with internet and I’ll do some

research.” And with that, Sam disappeared into a book like the geeky guy he was.

“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry for breakfast. Whaddya say?” Dean

asked, to which Sam gave a grunt without looking up from his book.

“How can you want to eat after all of that?” I couldn’t help but ask with an incredulous

tone. I mean, Pamela’s eyes just disintegrated out of her skull. Why would anyone want to eat

after witnessing that?

“See, when a man doesn’t eat breakfast-”

“You’ve made your point, Dean…”

Chapter 6

34

Johnny Mac’s Diner actually had a semi-decent atmosphere. The seats were a little worn,

but I suppose you could think of them as “well-loved”. The air, however, wafted delicious

breakfast smells that actually made my stomach rumble…and it hit me just how hungry I was. I

hadn’t eaten breakfast, nor dinner or lunch yesterday, and now that I was off my hunting high, I

wanted to eat everything edible in the diner. It just smelled…so…delicious. While my brain was

busy trying to figure out how many biscuits I could shove into my mouth and not look like a pig

in the process, a waitress came over, asking for our order.

“Yeah, I’ll have coffee, as strong as you make it, and some waffles. Make sure to drown

them in syrup. Oh yeah, and a slice of your best pie.” Dean looked up at our waitress, for once

not interested in the fact her body was, well, quite stunning (something I could definitely

respect).

“And your girlfriend?” The waitress scribbled down Dean’s order and then asked without

looking up.

“Oh she’s not my…she’s my sister.” Dean shot me a side glance but I was too busy

inwardly drooling as I thought about the glorious idea of food. “And I think she’ll get what I’m

having…tea instead of coffee.” The waitress gave a soft laugh and said, “Be up in a jiff.” It was at

the moment that Sam decided to make a reappearance, hanging up the phone as he neared the

table.

“What’d Bobby say?” Dean asked his brother.

“Uh…Pam’s stable and out of the ICU.” Sam replied, replacing his phone in his pocket

and sitting down.

“And blind ‘cause of us.” Dean snapped, wringing his hands together angrily. The force

of his anger was strong enough to raise me from my daze and I looked up at the boys.

35

“And we still have no clue what we’re dealing with.” Sam replied back with a sigh,

shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

“That’s not entirely true.” Dean stated and looked down at his hands for a brief moment.

“No?”

“We got a name- Castiel or whatever.” Dean lowered his voice, making sure he was only

including the three of us in the conversation. “With the right mumbo jumbo we could summon

him. Bring him right to us.”

“Pamela said we shouldn’t mess with it, dude.” Sam said, leaning back a little in his seat.

“You’re crazy.”

“Correction, you’re insane.” I inputed, but then a smirk crossed my lips. “I like it. When

do we start? I’d like to kill the son-of-a-bitch that hurt Pamela.”

“Thought you didn’t like her?” Dean asked, giving me a curious glance out of the corner

of his eye.

“Yeah, well, when supernatural creatures hurt people, I hurt back…especially since

Pamela was starting to earn my respect.” I crossed my arms over my chest, daring him to object

to my logic.

“Absolutely not.” Sam asserted with a shake of his head. “It’s too risky. You saw what it

did to Pamela’s eyes for just sneaking a peek at it. What do you think’ll happen if you meet it

face to face?”

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Dean argued insistingly, leaning in closer, his eyes

taking on a threatening stance.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I do.” Sam replied with a tilt of his head.

“Lay it on us.” I urged him, cocking my head to let him know I was listening.

36

“I followed some demons to town, right?” Sam started.

“Okay?” Dean and I chorused. Sam leaned in forward dramatically, making my heart leap

as the spark of excitement sent a jolt through my entire body.

“So we go find them.” At those words, a chill settled in my body. Lifting my head up

from our conversation, I immediately felt eyes on us. What’s going on?

“Someone’s gotta know something about something.” The waitress came back with our

food and I looked down at it, suddenly not feeling so hungry anymore. With a frown, I looked up

at the young woman and fixed her with a curious glance. In reply, she tilted her head to the side

ever so slightly like she was sizing me up. Then suddenly she sat down at our table, surprising us

all. Both boys looked up from stuffing their faces and gave her an incredulous look.

“You angling for a tip?” Dean asked with a hint of sarcasm and fixed a very Dean-ish

smile on his face.

“I’m sorry, I was under the impression you were looking for us.” The woman replied back

sassily and blinked, her eyes turning pitch black. I very nearly leapt up from my seat in surprise.

Last time I faced a demon was two months back, and I didn’t exactly have a fun time. Being

around a demon always made my insides churn. But why hadn’t I felt it… With a startled gasp, it

hit me.

“The food. The-the overwhelming smell of, ugh, delicious food.” I suppressed a shudder.

“You guys did that on purpose, didn’t you? I can’t, couldn’t, smell you.” The boys fixed me

curious looks.

“We…are talking about this later.” Dean hissed out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes

darting all around the diner as we all started noticing the fact that we were quite literally

surrounded by demons. A bigger guy (still a demon on the inside) got up and went over to lock

37

the door, and then promptly stood there like a bouncer outside a night club. No one was getting

in or out.

“Dean. To hell and back. Aren’t you a lucky duck?” The sarcasm in the demon’s voice

was so thick it could’ve been cut with a knife. She fixed Dean with an icy glare, promptly

followed with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Dean, ever the man of sass, cocked his head to

one side and fixed the demon with a scowl.

“That’s me.” Dean leaned forward slightly to put a bit of threat in his statement, but the

demon didn’t exactly seem to care. Instead, she looked casually laid-back as she replied to the

oldest Winchester.

“So, you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me, what makes you so special?” The

demon’s voice oozed malice. I could tell she wanted nothing more than to slice Dean in half…so

what was keeping her from doing so?

“I like to think it’s because of my perky nipples,” Dean replied sassily and a very cocky

grin spread across his lips, though his eyes remained hard on the demon that sat not two feet

away from him. It took all my willpower not to laugh at his statement. Dean always knew how to

make the best out of a dangerous situation and put a spin of humor on it. He continued, “I don’t

know. It wasn’t my doing. I have no idea who pulled me out.”

“Right.” The demon sighed, like it was done bull-shitting around. “You don’t.” Sensing

the threat in the few words that came out of her mouth, I felt myself bristle in response…trying

my best to hold back a growl that threatened to escape my throat.

“Calm down, puppy. No need to bite.” The demon turned towards me, apparently

catching my aggression very clearly.

38

“Did you just call me a bitch?” I demanded of her, rising to my feet immediately. I saw

her eyebrows raise hesitantly before her calm mask slid back down over her face.

“You should put your attack dog on a leash.” The demon said to my brothers and it took

everything in my arsenal to not jump at her. Fingers lightly touched my wrist, it was Sam, and

from the look on his face I knew he was trying to calm me down. We were horribly outnumbered

and our chances of survival didn’t exactly look promising. With that thought dancing through my

mind, I sat back down, narrowing my eyes threateningly at the demon…letting her know I wasn’t

done with her.

“No, I don’t know,” Dean replied after the atmosphere relaxed a bit.

“Lying’s a sin, you know.” The demon retorted rather quickly. I snorted at the irony of

her statement, not even bothering to give a shit when she threw me a glare. Dean, on the other

hand, looked incredulous as he replied with: “I’m not lying. But I’d like to find out. So if you

wouldn’t mind enlightening me, Flo…” Dean left his statement hanging in the hopes the demon

might prove somewhat useful.

“Mind your tone with me boy. I’ll drag you back to hell myself.” Sam shifted in his chair,

about ready to get up and in the demon bitch’s face. I had about a thousand curse words on the

tip of my tongue, but before I was able to verbalize them, Dean placed his hand on top of my

balled-up fist, warning me to keep my mouth shut, raising the other to stop Sam. Reluctantly, we

both relaxed ourselves. The demons in the restaurant looked a bit nervous, or maybe I was just

seeing things, but I thought I saw them all tense up when Sam and I made threatening moves.

“No, you won’t.” Dean said confidently and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side.

“No?”

39

“No. ‘Cause if you were, you’d have done it already. Fact is, you don’t know who cut me

loose, and you’re just as spooked as we are.” Dean explained. The demon looked unnerved, like

Dean’s statement had struck a deep chord. Her eyes darted away from Dean’s face almost

ashamedly as he continued speaking. “And you’re looking for answers.”

“Makes sense…something with the power to raise a human from hell should be more

than a match for a demon.” I mused, the hardness in my features melting slightly as I looked at

the scared creature sitting in front of me. Sam and I exchanged a glance before listening to Dean

again.

“Well maybe it was some turbo-charged spirit, hmm? Or, uh, Godzilla.” I covered a laugh

with a cough as I thought about Godzilla taking Dean from hell. “Or some big, bad boss demon.

But I’m guessing at your pay-grade, they don’t tell you squat. ‘Cause whoever it was, they want

me out…and they’re a lot stronger than you. So go ahead, send me back. But don’t come

crawling to me when they show up on your doorstep with some vaseline and a firehose.”

The demon gave a soft growl, almost inaudibly, and gave Dean a mirthful look. “I’m

gonna reach down your throat and tear out your lungs.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but human anatomy doesn’t work that way.” I muttered under

my breath and rolled my eyes. Dean had come to the same conclusion I had, that the demons

were scared of whatever had reached into hell, gripped Dean tight, and raised him from the fiery

pits and back into hell on earth. They wouldn’t try anything until they found out what they were

dealing with. At that point, I could feel my confidence levels rising dangerously high as I

retaliated her snarl with a snort of laughter.

Dean leaned in closer to the demon with a snarky grin on his face, his eyes searching the

demon’s for a bluff. Then he drew back his hand and let it slap across the demon bitch’s face, the

40

sound lingering for a moment in the air. Instead of retaliating, the demon just shook her head and

looked away from Dean’s face. Dean slapped her again, this time with what seemed to be more

force, but still no retaliation. I felt air rush out of my lungs, and it took me a moment to realize

that I had been holding my breath.

“That’s what I thought.” Dean’s icy glare kept the demon from meeting his face, and I’m

sure that if I was in the same situation, I’d be terrified out of my mind. Being unable to do

anything after getting assaulted, not once, but twice, actually stirred up a bit of sympathy for the

obviously scared demons, but I brushed it aside immediately with a sniff. “Let’s go, you two.”

Dean and Sam’s chairs scraped backwards, the shrill screeching of metal making me

flinch slightly, and they got to their feet. Dean hesitated for a moment, digging into his wallet

and taking out a few dollars before throwing it down on the table and saying, “For the pie.”

For a fleeting moment I remained sitting, just staring at the demon…an uncomfortable

silence stretching between us. Something electric filled the air, making the other demons look

over at Flo and I as Sam and Dean started making their way towards the door. She blinked once

and was about to open her mouth to say something when I exhaled sharply and got to my feet as

Dean called out my name. I could feel her eyes on my back the entire time as I made my way

over to the door and followed the Winchesters out of the diner.

Chapter 7

As soon as the door closed behind us, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Tension,

though still tight inside me, felt like it was being lessened ever so slightly as I almost matched

the boys stride for stride.

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“Holy shit, that was close.” Dean retorted, relief lightly decorating his voice.

“We’re not just gonna leave them in there, are we, Dean?” Sam asked his brother, moving

in slightly closer like he forgot I was there. I suddenly felt very crowded and lessened my pace

slightly so I fell behind them, my body relaxing as it no longer felt confined.

“Well, yeah. There’s three of them…probably more.” Dean replied, jerking his thumb

back at the diner we had just exited. “And we’ve only got one knife between us.”

“I’ve been killing a lot more demons than that lately.” Sam’s statement made me

involuntarily shudder as I remembered my own demon encounters, though I probably didn’t have

to deal with as many as he did. I typically tried to stay away from high profile cases until

recently, when I kind of gave up and decided that hunting demons was really the only good thing

I could do at the moment…especially with the aftermath of the gates of hell being opened.

“Not anymore. The smarter brother’s back in town.”

“Dean, we gotta take them. They are dangerous.” Sam insisted.

“They’re scared, okay? Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out.” Dean turned

pointedly towards his brother. “We’re dealing with a bad mofo here. One job at a time.” A

prickling feeling made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I quickly turned my

head, wondering if we were being watched or followed, but I didn’t see anyone. The Impala

came into view and I let loose a soft sigh at the familiar sight. Dean unlocked the car and we all

climbed in. I stretched contently in the back seat as the car started up and we started driving

away.

Tuning out the voices in the front of the car arguing about whether to kill the demons or

not, I felt my stomach rumble uncomfortably. Regardless of the fact the food had been cooked by

demons, it still smelled incredibly delicious. But I didn’t even get to taste it, and now I was

42

regretting that decision. Even a small bite would’ve helped put the edge off my hunger for a little

while.

“Alex!”

“Huh?” I rolled over in the seat at the sound of Dean’s voice. “You called?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna go grab a motel room and try to do some research. Bobby said he’d

meet up with us later. Wasn’t sure if you heard all that or not.” Well crap, I must’ve mentally

drifted off again… “You still hungry?”

“Ugh, yes.” I groaned and sat up, giving the boys both light pokes on the backs of their

necks playfully. “If you find a place that does room service, I will be forever in your debt.”

“Careful wording, Alex.” Sam warned light-heartedly and flashed me a side smile. He

reached his hand back and lightly ruffled my hair, to which I replied with a flip of my hair, as

soon as his hand left my head, and a huff of amusement.

“Great. Now we’ve got that settled, mind telling us what you meant back there when you

said you couldn’t smell them? The demons, I mean.” Dean inquired, his voice turning hard. The

atmosphere in the car thickened and I wordlessly opened and closed my mouth a few times,

trying to find the best words that could be used in the situation. What did Dean mean? Didn’t he

smell the sulfur too? He and Sam were trained to single out the scent (I knew that because they

were the ones that trained me), and yet why was I the only one that smelled it?

“I…I don’t understand. You didn’t smell the sulfur?” I asked both boys cautiously.

Swiping my fingers through my hair to relax myself, I listened as Dean replied.

“No. Demons don’t typically emit the smell of sulfur until they vape out and leave behind

a residue.” Dean explained rather tersely, giving me a curious side glance. “So explain to us…

what do you mean that you couldn’t smell them?”

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“Uh, the smell of the food kinda overwhelmed me, so it was kind of hard to pick out the

smell of sulfur…especially since I wasn’t looking for it.” It shouldn’t have been this difficult to

explain, but somewhere deep down I felt like this was something that should solely remain my

secret. “I thought this was kinda common. I mean, can’t you smell sulfur in the room even when

you don’t know there’s a demon possession going on?”

“No.” The brothers harmonized. My heart dropped into my stomach, making it flip over

uncomfortably. I thought everyone could do that.

“Oh.” I mumbled softly and leaned back in my seat, my eyes narrowing as I thought

about the situation. Finally Sam broke the silence.

“Know what? Let’s just drop it and be thankful that you have hyper senses. Who

knows…maybe that’ll help us later on down the road.” Sam said with an upbeat tone, but it felt a

little forced to me. Dean just grunted his reply, obviously not very happy about dropping the

topic.

A freak…that’s what I am. Fantastic. I thought bitterly as I frowned and pushed my side

into the familiar leather, trying to drown myself in its scent and block out the rest of the world.

*~*

We were quiet for the rest of the ride, but eventually we stopped at a semi-decent hotel

called the Astoria and booked a room for the night. I felt awkward as I stood behind the two

taller (and quite obviously older) men as they booked our room with the woman behind the desk.

Said woman kept throwing me curious glances like she was questioning my presence with the

boys, trying to figure out if they had me hostage or not most likely. It was a relief when Dean

retrieved the key from the suspicious woman and turned around to Sam and I, giving us each a

separate key so we could come and go as we pleased.

44

“Right, Bobby should probably be getting here in about an hour. Until then, we might as

well just make ourselves comfortable.” Dean muttered and shifted anxiously from foot to foot.

Apparently he didn’t like the way the woman had been staring at us either. It had to be sold, and

instinct kept the woman from calling the police on us as I stepped up to Dean’s side and hooked

my arms around one of his. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I let out a sigh of relief. A

small smile had graced the lips of the receptionist and she had turned away to deal with other

guests like nothing had ever happened.

Dean glanced down at me, a curious gleam dancing in his eyes. He opened his mouth,

likely to ask a question, but then thought better of it as he turned his head slightly and noticed

that the receptionist was no longer paying us any attention. With a shrug, he smiled and

murmured “Shall we?” with a hint of sarcasm as he lead Sam and I over to the stairs.

“Uh…”

“Sammy, don’t say a word.” Dean warned his brother, who was probably about to make a

sarcastic comment about my holding onto Dean’s arm like we were an old fashioned couple.

“I was gonna say that we’re out of sight if you wanna…you know.” Sam gave an

awkward cough, and Dean and I immediately slid apart. An involuntary shiver made my arms

tremble slightly and I brought them up to cross over my chest for comfort. Dean cleared his

throat and jerked his head to the side as he took the lead down the hall to our room.

As soon as he opened the door, I immediately knew we made a somewhat decent choice

in living quarters, if we compared it to past options at least. There was a queen sized bed, only

one, but the sofa that sat on the wall appeared to be a pull-out of some sort, so that was a bonus.

My eyes happily darted around the room as I took it all in. Pictures dotted the walls, there were

45

mirrors on the ceiling (kinky thoughts made a smirk flash across my lips), and a cute little tv in

the corner. In another corner an arm chair rested, and right next to it was a desk.

“Awesome.” Dean muttered and walked in, immediately throwing his stuff on the main

bed as though he was claiming ownership of it.

“One of our better choices,” Sam agreed and followed in after him, also claiming a spot

on the bed. The pull-out sofa was starting to look tempting after the boys claimed the Queen

sized bed, though my body wasn’t thrilled at the idea. I could feel it aching in protest as I walked

over, a smile still on my face, and sat down on the sofa with a languid sigh.

“The queen demands food,” I mumbled and I heard Dean snort in amusement, but it was

Sam who replied.

“This might help, your highness.” I heard something rushing at me through the air and I

threw my hand up to catch it, just narrowly missing the laminated piece of paper that served as a

menu. “Impressive catch.”

“That’s not the only impressive thing about me, I can assure you,” I opened my eyes and

raised my eyebrows in amusement as I watched a hand come up to cover Dean’s face and Sam

slowly shaking his head with a broad grin adorning his lips, both trying to cover up their

laughter. “Anyone else want anything?” I asked as I got up from my ‘oh so comfortable’ seat and

glided over to the room’s phone.

“Burger sounds good right now.” Dean grunted and spread out lengthwise on the bed

lazily.

“Sam?”

“Uh, a salad sounds nice.” He replied immediately, already starting to immerse himself in

research on his laptop.

46

“Lovely.” I replied and dialed the number on the menu. “Hello, room service? Yeah, I’d

like to place an order. Hmm? Uh, room…two-thirty. I’d like a cheeseburger with everything on it

(Dean flashed me a thumbs up from the bed), a Caesar Salad, and chicken tenders. Drinks?

Mmm, two waters and a Coke. Twenty minutes? Yeah, I’ll live. Thank you.” I hung up the

phone.

“I’m not gonna make it.” With a groan I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my

throbbing temples. Lack of food didn’t sit well with me when my body craved it, something the

other two knew quite well. I felt a finger gently poke my side. Looking around, I saw Dean’s

grinning face staring up at me from his position on the bed. He hauled himself up onto his

forearms, an expression unknown to me playfully dancing in his eyes, and cocked his head to the

side.

“How about you tell me what’s on your mind?” The eldest Winchester asked me.

“Other than, ‘I’m starving’, nothing much is on my mind right now.” I replied truthfully

and leaned back, placing my hands behind me on the bed and stretching out the upper half of my

body. I could feel Dean’s eyes on me, and I was about to make a snarky comment when he

suddenly spoke up.

“Have you been getting enough rest over the past few months?” His question caught me

off guard.

“Yeah…no, not really.” I grumbled and rolled my eyes before falling back on the bed, my

arms stretched out above my head. “I worked solo cases, so I didn’t really have much of a choice.

I got used to functioning on maybe two hours of sleep when I was on a case, and then after the

case was over I’d sleep for like an entire freaking day.” I paused for a moment in thought and

47

then added: “I didn’t eat much either. I mean, yesterday I hadn’t eaten lunch or dinner, just

breakfast, and the day before I hadn’t eaten any food at all.”

“Alex…” Dean sighed and shook his head. “You promised me, to my face, that you’d

always take care of yourself. No matter what.” Immediately I felt guilt welling up inside me. I

had forgotten about that promise. It was something I made to both boys after I officially became

a hunter, and officially screwed up on my first hunt. Watching the two getting tossed around by a

monster freaked me out, and I abandoned my own safety to help them out, resulting in me

suffering from a minor concussion and several lovely claw marks to my abdomen. I still have

some very light scars to this day to remind me.

“Yeah, well, you know what?” I was about to finish my retort when a knock sounded at

the door. “Our food’s here.” Dean bit back a retort and I could feel his eyes on my back as I

walked over to the door to retrieve the food.

“Whatever, dude. But since I’m back now, no more skipping meals. Comprendo?” Dean

was sitting up on the bed when I walked back over, food in tow.

“Yessir,” I mumbled and threw his burger at his face, then turning around to hand Sam

his salad.

“Thanks, Alex,” Sam said and looked up to give me a grateful smile before returning to

his work. Then as a second thought, he looked up and fixed his best bitch-face on Dean, and said,

“Shouldn’t you be doing research?”

Dean looked up from biting into his burger, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, and

retaliated with a rather sassy look. It took him a few moments to chew and swallow before he

could reply with, “Yes, dad.”

48

With a laugh, I rolled over onto my stomach and hauled myself off the bed to retrieve my

laptop from my bag on the sofa. I heard Dean mutter something along the lines of “this is a damn

good burger” and I shook my head, smiling as rather happy memories of us all gathered together

like this and working a case together like the old days. With a content sigh, I plopped myself

down at the foot of the Queen bed and started working.

Chapter 8

With some decent food in my stomach, and some still in the box it was originally in, I

could feel sleepiness washing over me. I was sprawled out on the bed with my feet closer to the

head-board and my head at the foot of the bed. Dean snored softly from his position at the head

of the bed, somehow sitting upright and sleeping at the same time. This guy never ceased to

amaze me. I could hear Sam still typing away on his computer off to the side, somehow still

awake even though he was so obviously tired.

Bobby had stopped in a little earlier, joining us in our meal for a little bit as he had

booked a room right next to ours. His room had two beds, something that our room lacked. He

offered a bed to one of us, and Sam ended up accepting the offer…though he still insisted on

working in the same room as Dean and me. I’d probably be fighting Dean for the bed later. This

thing was so freaking comfortable…no way I was passing up on the opportunity to get a good

night’s rest. Several thoughts crossed my mind as I thought about getting ready for bed. A

shower sounded amazing at the moment, so it kind of took priority in my head.

At this point I had two options. One, I could just lie here and fall asleep on the bed like

my brain so desperately wanted me to do, or two, I could go take a shower like my body insisted

49

upon. In the end, my body actually won a mental battle and I got up from the comfy bed. Sam’s

eyes flashed over at me and I offered him a sleepy smile.

“I’m gonna go take a shower.” I explained and he nodded, turning back to his work. The

bathroom was really good if I compared it to previous hotels and motels. Water pressure

certainly didn’t suck, I mused as I stepped into the shower-tub. Warm water caressed my body,

leaving me with a lazy, relaxed feeling as I ran my hands through my hair, letting the water soak

into it. Rather than the rushed shower I took yesterday, this time I took my time, enjoying every

minute I spent in there. I couldn’t even remember the last time I took a shower for this long.

By the time I got out of the shower, I was certain I had used all of the hot water. I quickly

dried myself off and, with a towel wrapped around my body, stepped back into the room. Dean

was still fast asleep on the bed, poor guy, so I took it as an opportunity to just get dressed right

there rather than take my clothing and run back into the bathroom. I was sliding my pajama pants

up over my waist when I heard it. A faint whispering sound that echoed throughout the room. I

could hear it with my ears, but on a deeper level it felt like I was hearing it inside my head. With

a frown, I snapped the waistband of my pajamas into place and stared up at the ceiling.

The tv snapped on suddenly, filling the room with a static sound and at the same time,

waking Dean up. In a flash, he had his shotgun in his hand nervously, like he knew what was

happening. My eyes flashed around the room, and I realized that Sam wasn’t here. Did he go

back over to Bobby’s room while I was in the shower? I didn’t have time to think about that as

the whispering turned into a high-pitched mosquito-like noise that made me twitch

uncomfortably. I didn’t like high-pitched noises, especially with my strong hearing. It only made

noises less bearable than normal.

50

Shotgun in hand, Dean jumped up from the bed and started pointing it around the room.

His eyes stopped on me, still half-naked (but I was wearing a bra) and he gave me a sharp nod, a

cue I had come to recognize as “get your weapons out”. Without hesitation, I reached inside my

bag and pulled out my own sawed-off shotgun. Off to my left, the radio jumped stations

randomly. My first thought was “ghost”, which was likely what Dean was also thinking as he

pointed his gun around the room.

The whining got louder, making my arms shake from the effort of not crying out in pain.

My eardrums felt like they wanted to burst, and the pain etched on Dean’s face told me I wasn’t

the only one having to deal with it. Dean fixed his gun on the door like he was waiting for

something to burst in through the frame and I mirrored his movement. As the noise continued to

build, I finally ended up dropping my gun and covering my ears in the hopes of blocking out

some of it, but it was inside my head too so my hands were only able to do so much.

“Dean!” I cried out, pain riddling my voice as I dropped to my knees. Dean groaned, the

pain finally getting to him too. Faintly I could hear the glass in the room cracking. Oh shit… The

windows blew out, the mirrors on the ceiling following close behind. I looked up to see a

widening crack in the ceiling and froze in fear. Falling glass wasn’t exactly the safest thing in the

world. With the room already dotted in glass, and my exposed midriff, the recipe for intense pain

was nearing completion. Suddenly arms went around me just as the ceiling started to collapse,

and rolled me out of the way as a portion of the glass on the ceiling fell, covering the room in

dangerously sharp shards of glass. I opened my eyes, seeing Dean crouched over me

protectively, his hands covering his ears from the intensity of the whining sound. There were a

few scratches on his cheeks where glass had cut him, and blood was dripping down the sides of

his face.

51

Another loud crack on the ceiling alerted us to to more falling glass and his immediate

reaction was to pull himself down closer to my body, once again protecting me from a good

majority of the shattered glass as it rained down from the ceiling. At this point we were both

covered in lacerations and blood, and praying that our ears weren’t bleeding too from the high-

pitched noise, when Bobby ran in and pulled us to our feet. I felt shards of glass dig into my bare

feet, but at the moment I was only focused on running out of there as fast as I possibly could. I

hadn’t even registered the fact that the noise had stopped until we got out of the hotel (through

the side door of course) and out to Bobby’s truck, the Impala nowhere in sight. There was still a

faint ringing sensation in my ears, and I repeatedly shook my head to try and stop it. No such

luck.

“You two alright?” Bobby asked immediately, turning on Dean and me, alarm present in

his face.

“I think I’ll live,” Dean replied, slightly out of breath. He let out a frustrated growl and

looked down at his arms, which were covered in scratches. Shaking out a few shards of glass

from his hair, Dean turned to view the empty parking space that once held his car. “Sammy…”

“Alex? How ‘bout you?” Bobby sounded concerned, and he had full right to be as I

looked down at my midsection. I could feel blood dripping lightly down my back from when

Dean had pushed me to the floor in order to protect me from the falling glass, and a glance down

at my arms and stomach told me I was no better off than Dean in the scratches department.

“My feet hurt,” Was all I could say as the pain in my feet started to grow intensely, my

adrenaline fading away. With a frown, Dean turned around and swept me off my feet into a

bridal position.

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“Well, that might be because you have glass in your feet,” Bobby commented dryly and

shook his head as he took a closer look at my feet.

“Cut me some slack, Bobby. I literally just got out of the shower…and in case you

haven’t noticed, I’m kinda missing a shirt.”

“The two of you are covered in blood.” Bobby grabbed one of my feet and started

carefully removing the glass. I hissed as I felt the glass tug on my skin, but managed to keep

myself still while he worked. “Idjits.”

“Could you tug less painfully?” I growled and winced as he pulled a bit harder on a larger

piece in order to get it out of the sensitive flesh on the bottom of my feet.

“Sorry, I was under the impression that you wanted to get the glass out of your feet.”

Bobby replied sarcastically and held tight to my ankle as a particularly painful yank made me

jerk my foot up. As soon as my feet were clear, Bobby opened the doors to his truck and Dean

placed me in a seat.

“Hey Bobby, you got any bandages back here?” Dean asked. He started to fasten my

seatbelt for me, but with an indignant growl I snatched the buckle from him, fastening it myself.

My feet were cut up, but that didn’t mean I was freaking helpless.

Yeah, here.” Dean looked up at Bobby’s voice and caught a package as it soared through

the air towards his face.

“Thanks.” Without hesitation, Dean immediately picked out gauze and bandages, his

hands expertly wrapping up my feet in less than two minutes. He fixed a cocky grin on his face,

tilted his head, and looked up at me. “You good?”

“I’m peachy.” I muttered dryly, trying desperately not to crack a smile as Dean’s

intoxicating laughter reached my ears. We worked rather quickly to get each other’s wounds

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covered and cared for, taking us only about an extra five to ten minutes to finish up my arms and

then move onto Dean’s arms and face. Another three minutes were dedicated to me insisting that

Bobby run back in and grab our stuff while we waited out here in his truck, and then fish out a

shirt from my bag that I could throw on to cover myself.

“Shirts aren’t exactly a priority right now, Alex,” Bobby muttered and glanced back

towards the hotel nervously as though he expected whatever attacked Dean and me to come out

and attack us all over again while he was away.

“Shirts are always a priority, especially when you’re a girl, Bobby.” I chastised him,

giving him a sour look as he rolled his eyes. “Listen, just because you’ve all seen me without a

shirt on doesn’t mean that the rest of the world wants to. Bobby, societal norms-”

“I think we kind of stray outside the societal norm, Alex.” He retaliated, making the

corners of Dean’s mouth twitch as he tried desperately to hold back a laugh. The old man made a

fair point…what part of being a hunter was ‘normal’? Whatever that word meant.

“Yeah, well, my societal norm says to get me a damn shirt because I’m not going to let

men stare at my bare chest.” I firmly stated and crossed my arms over my chest, giving Bobby a

firm look. “Any part of that difficult to understand?” Dean had a hand over his face and mouth,

trying so hard not to laugh as he listened to Bobby and me go back and forth. Finally Bobby

relented, rolling his eyes before he took off at a jog back towards the motel and disappearing

inside.

“Alright, when Bobby gets back, I say we go after this thing.” Dean insisted from the

front seat of the truck. I couldn’t see his face, but by the sound of his voice I could tell he was all

business at the moment.

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“Do you have any idea how to take it down?” I finally asked him after a brief moment of

hesitation. In all honesty, I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of going after whatever it was at the

moment, seeing as it had just tried to kill me and Dean and very nearly succeeded. “I mean, we

don’t even know what it looks like…let alone how to kill it.”

“Something out there can kill it,” Dean replied thoughtfully and turned his head to look

out the window where we watched Bobby walking back to the truck, bags in hand. “I’m sure

there’s something in our arsenal that can do the job.” Bobby opened the driver’s side door and

hopped in.

“Alright. Alex, here’s your shirt.” He tossed a rather colorful-looking shirt back at me and

I immediately slipped it on.

“Cupid’s got a bow, and my brother’s got a .45. I’m flattered, Alex.” Dean said with a

chuckle as he read the writing on my t-shirt.

“Glad you like it.” I muttered as I straightened it carefully, making sure not to knock any

bandages out of place.

“How you doing, kids?” Bobby asked as he started up the truck and pulled out onto the

road.

“We’ll live,” I replied softly and stared out the window, thoughts racing through my

mind. So Dean wanted to confront this Castiel thing? It seemed like a very bad idea, and I wasn’t

all too keen to go along with it…but once Dean set his mind to something, he would always

make sure to follow through with it. I could honestly see no way out of the situation, so I might

as well just go along for the ride.

55

“Aside from the church bells still ringing in my head, peachy.” Dean grumbled as he

brought a hand up to the side of his head and massaged his temples. From his pocket, he pulled

out his phone and speed-dialed a number that I wasn’t able to see.

“What’re you doing, Sam?” Dean asked into the mouth piece. I immediately sat up and

leaned in, curious as to what Sam had to say. I mean, one didn’t just take the Impala without a

very good reason and live to tell the tale.

“Couldn’t sleep. Went to get a burger.”

“In my car?”

“Force of habit, sorry. What’re you doing up?”

“Well, uh, Bobby couldn’t sleep either. We decided to grab a beer.” I frowned and gave

Dean a confused look. Apparently Bobby felt the same way as he gave Dean a curious side

glance.

“Alright. Well, uh, spill some for me, huh?”

“Done. Yeah, I’ll catch you later.” Dean hung up and there was silence in the car for a

moment before I spoke up.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell him we’re going after this thing?” I demanded. Normally

Dean was somewhat good at telling his brother when he was about to do something really stupid,

but something must’ve changed.

“Cause he’d just try to stop us.” Dean replied nonchalantly like it was such an obvious

answer.

“From what?” Bobby asked suddenly…and then I forgot that we hadn’t exactly told him

what we were planning to do quite yet. Oh he wouldn’t like this at all.

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“Summoning this thing.” Dean shot Bobby a determined look, and immediately I knew

there was no talking him down. “It’s time we face it head on.”

“You can’t be serious,” Bobby muttered and shook his head as though he couldn’t believe

what he was hearing.

“As serious as a heart attack.” Silence filled the car for a moment and then Dean cracked

a grin. “It’s high noon, baby.”

“We don’t know what it is! I-It could be a demon…it could be anything.” Bobby stated

desperately.

“That’s why we gotta be ready for anything,” Dean muttered and rummaged at his side,

pulling out the demon killing knife. “We got the big-time magic knife. You’ve got a freaking

arsenal in the trunk.” Dean shrugged.

“This is a bad idea.” Bobby said and shook his head. I grunted my agreement and rested

my arms on the backs of both of their seats.

Dean sniffed and looked out the window into the night. “Yeah I couldn’t agree more, but

what other choice do we have?”

“We could choose life.”

“Bobby, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it’s after me. That much we know, right?”

“Well in that case I say Bobby and I do this while you stay out of it!” I couldn’t help but

input. Dean had just crawled out of hell and there was no way I would let him go back…ever.

“Well, you know what? I’ve got no place to hide.” Dean asserted strongly and turned his

head back to face Bobby and me. “I can either get caught with my pants down again, or we can

make our stand.”

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“Dean, we could use Sam for this.” Always the voice of reason, I couldn’t help but agree

with Bobby. Sam should be here with us, helping us take this thing down…and he was out

getting a burger, blissfully unaware of the shit his family was about to get into.

“Nah, he’s better off where he is.” Dean dismissed quickly and turned his attention back

to the window. “We’re playing a dangerous game, Bobby…and I’d rather Sammy didn’t get

involved in it.”

“You and your brother…always doing stupid things to look out for each other.” Bobby

shook his head and sighed.

Dean and his brother, he said. So…if I wasn’t staying behind, then where did I fit in the

equation of their lives?

Chapter 9

Spray paint in my right hand, I carefully started drawing the symbols I had become so

accustomed with over the years. The wards that protected us from ghosts, from demons, it made

me question whether they’d be enough to stop this entity that we were about to face. Whether

we’d even walk away from this meeting with our lives, well that was an entirely different

question that I wasn’t willing to address quite yet. I was still in a bit of shock that Dean was still

seriously considering going through with this crazy-ass plan of his. Off to my left, Bobby drew

every other symbol that I didn’t know even existed…but would they hold?

“That’s some hell of an art project you two’ve got going on over there,” Dean said from

his corner of the room where he was carefully laying out all of our tools and weapons. His

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fingers meticulously brushed over each of them, as though he was making sure they were all

accounted for.

“Traps and talismans from every faith on the globe.” Bobby replied as he capped his

spray paint and walked over to Dean’s side. I sighed and snapped the cap on my spray bottle.

Flicking my hair out of my eyes (and ignoring the tugging pain I could feel all along my back), I

backed up from the wall and walked to the center of the room.

“And you know, a few old-fashioned demon’s traps on the floor’ll never hurt anyone.” I

added, a bit impressed with my own handiwork. I’d never been much of the artist, but when it

came to traps and wards, I was a friggen genius.

“How you doing?” Bobby sighed and looked down at the arsenal Dean had spread across

the wooden table. A bit curious to see everything we had, I walked over and let out a low whistle

as I noted what lined the table.

“Stakes, iron, silver, salt, a knife…I mean, we’re pretty much set to catch and kill

everything I’ve ever heard of,” Dean answered with a flourish of his hands. Out of pure curiosity,

I leaned forward and gingerly touched the machete that was on display, happily noting its

sharpness and wondering at the same time if a creature that could pull a human soul out of hell

could be killed by be-heading.

Bobby sighed and with a shake of his head, said, “This is still a bad idea.”

“Yeah Bobby, I heard you the first ten times.” Dean said exasperatedly with a roll of his

eyes. The tension that curled through the air made me look up from the machete that was now

playfully turning over in my hands as I analyzed every little piece of it. “What do you say we

ring the dinner bell?”

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“I say we’re about to go suicidal,” I said with a sad smile and my eyes flicked up to meet

Dean’s as Bobby left his side to start his summoning ritual.

“Amate spiritus obscure-”

“You ready?” Dean asked me, a grin playing on his face.

“Nope.” I replied truthfully. “And if this starts going south, I’m gonna get the hell out of

here.”

“Whatever floats your happy boat.” Dean walked over from his side of the table to mine

and placed his hands on my shoulders. “But seriously…stay safe, okay?”

“Yes sir.” I replied with a hint of sarcasm and poked his chest with my index finger.

“That’s my girl.” He winked and clapped his hand down on my shoulder before walking

over to Bobby’s side, leaving me standing there with my heart beating at an unnatural speed. I

could feel my anxiety surfacing, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I freaked out.

There was some deep shit going on tonight, and for once I didn’t want to find out what it was.

~

For a while we sat in an agonizing silence that stretched on for over an hour. To pass the

time, the boys and I played a game of who could keep the machete balanced on the tip of their

finger for the longest…until Dean figured out I had an unhealthy fascination with machetes and

decided it would be best to end the game, even though he was winning. I-Spy was no better. Do

you know how hard it is to play I-Spy in a warehouse? I spy an old norse protection sigil. Is that

it? Nope, that’s greek. And that one? Uh uh…Egyptian. But I thought the Eye of Horus was-.

Nope…that’s still Egyptian. How do you know? Because I’m Bobby.

After a while we kind of stopped playing games. Dean sat one table, Bobby on another,

and I sat on the floor right between them, not very thrilled at the idea of stretching myself more

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than I could handle at the moment. The oldest Winchester fiddled with the demon knife

anxiously. I could tell he wanted nothing more than to stab something, and that thought was

enough to make me scoot away from him ever so slightly. Bobby just looked bored beyond

belief while he started whistling a tune I couldn’t discern. Finally Dean broke the silence.

“You sure you did the ritual right?” He asked with an exasperated tone. A quick glance

over at Bobby made me stifle a giggle as I watched him give Dean an incredulous look and tilt

his head in a way that made Dean say “sorry”.

“Touchy touchy, huh?”

“Dean…” I groaned, not wanting the two edgy men to start getting at each other’s throats.

Now was seriously not the time.

“What?” Dean asked defensively.

“You know what,” I muttered, shooting him a soft glare as I pulled my legs up to my

chest. We fell silent again. Outside the wind howled, making me shut my eyes as images of wind

monsters danced in my head. The howling quickly turned to rumbling, which turned into the

crashing of shingles as things rapidly turned violent, making me leap to my feet and brandish my

silver knife in a threatening manner. Both men turned their eyes to the ceiling, the knife now

clutched tightly in Dean’s fist. They got to their feet, closing me in on both sides protectively.

“Wishful thinking, but maybe it’s just the wind.” Dean said hopefully, his eyes still

darting around nervously as he closed in, an arm slowly making its way in front of my chest like

he was trying to keep me from harm’s way. I gritted my teeth and covered my ears as the lights

overhead broke, sending glass and sparks everywhere. When I looked up again, the latch that

held the door in place broke and the door itself started opening agonizingly slowly. I felt the

hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and every molecule in my body was shouting at me to

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run…but the sensible part of me got pushed to the side like it always did during a hunt. With a

surge of fear, and a bit of protectiveness, I pushed Dean’s arm down and strode forward to put

myself in front of my family.

“Show yourself, you son of a bitch!” I shouted at the figure that was slowly making its

way inside. Light hit its features, illuminating a middle-aged man with spiky dark, brown hair

and a rather plain-looking trench-coat. Forgetting my knife, I fished in my pocket for my hand-

gun and aimed it straight at his heart…but something made me hesitate. Despite the sparks that

raged around the enclosed space and the fact he was quite obviously a threat, I couldn’t move.

All I could do was stare.

“Alex, get down!” I heard Dean shout over the raging wind, and that was all I needed to

break free of my stupor. Crouching down, I heard gun-shots ring out through the midst of the

chaos…but nothing stopped the man in his tracks. So he wasn’t a ghost…one thing down, about

a million and a half other things to go. The man was nearing where I crouched and I could feel

panic welling up inside my chest.

“Dean!” I scrambled out of the way as Dean positioned himself between me and the man,

the demon killing knife gripped tight in his right hand.

“Who are you?” Dean demanded. The knife twitched eagerly, like it couldn’t wait to stab

the man that stood in front of us.

The strange man looked up at Dean resignedly and declared, “I’m the one who gripped

you tight and raised you from perdition.”

“Yeah.” Dean growled. “Thanks for that.” The man smiled like this was all he was

looking for, and then Dean lunged forward, plunging the knife deep into the man’s chest. I wish I

could say it was all over, but the man just stood there like nothing had happened…as though the

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knife was only a minor irritation. Bobby, Dean, and I looked on in astonishment as the man

looked down at the knife protruding from his chest and quickly removed it without a second

thought, letting it drop to the side. Against his better judgement, Bobby lunged forward with a

crowbar and swung it in a lovely arc towards the man’s head, but he never met his target. The

man grabbed the crowbar without even looking and turned around to face Bobby. All I could see

was the fear on Bobby’s face as the man’s fingers touched his temple, and then Bobby crumpled

to the ground. I let out a soft cry and crawled over to the man I considered my father while Dean

had a stare-off with the strange man.

“We need to talk, Dean.” He said plainly while Dean stared on, a look of shock present

on his face.

“What did you do to Bobby?” I cried and looked at the man, who only looked back at me

with a frown.

“Alone.” The man said and turned towards me, his hand outstretched. I immediately

backed up, scooting my butt over the earthen floor like my life depended on it…which it

probably did. Fingers gently caressed my cheek and I immediately closed my eyes, hearing Dean

shout “no!”…but nothing happened. I waited and waited, for what felt like an eon…but instead,

all I could feel was frustration emanating from the person in front of me.

“I knew it.” He hissed under his breath. “You are the abomination. How did I not see this

before?” With a sigh and a frown, the man got to his feet and turned back to face Dean. “It

appears our conversation will not be as private as I had originally hoped for.” When I opened my

eyes, I saw Dean crouched in front of Bobby, his fingers searching for a pulse on the older man’s

neck.

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“Your friend is alive.” The man explained and turned to the side, admiring our weapons

collection. All I could do was sit there silently and wide-eyed, wondering why his creepy magic

didn’t work on me the same way it did on Bobby.

“Who are you?” Dean immediately demanded once he was sure the man was telling the

truth.

“Castiel.” The man replied without even looking up.

“Yeah I figured that much. I mean what are you?” Dean clarified, impatience creeping

into his tone. He slowly started making his way over to where I sat, but not too quickly to alert

Castiel to his movements. Castiel looked up slowly and Dean stopped moving.

“I’m an angel of the lord.” At those words, I felt my heart skip a beat. An angel? An

actual freaking angel? I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. If angels were real, if God was

real, then why did my life suck miserably? I believed in God, but I still questioned it all at the

same time…and this moment was making me question my beliefs on a much deeper level. Dean

slowly got to his feet, making his way slowly over to me and helping me to my feet. I felt his

arm curl protectively around my waist and pull me in close to him, like he could protect me from

whatever this…angel…decided to throw at us.

“Get the hell out of here,” Dean growled, “There’s no such thing.” Castiel’s eyes flicked

over to me for a brief moment like he was blaming me for how Dean was acting before looking

up into Dean’s eyes.

“This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith.” Castiel explained softly, as though he

was telling off a small child.

“It’s kind of hard to have faith after our lives have been absolute hell.” I grumbled,

feeling Dean’s hand tighten on my side as he nodded. A sudden crash of thunder and a bolt of

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lightning made me jump in closer to my brother’s side, illuminating the walls and showing off

the shadows of magnificent wings. I felt my heart flutter at the sight, sending a shiver down my

spine. For a moment, I thought Dean was going to give in. The wings were enough proof for me,

and if the lore was true, then this was not something we should be messing with. And yet, for

some reason it didn’t surprise me when Dean retorted, “Some angel you are. You burned out that

poor woman’s eyes.” Castiel sighed and shook his head like he had known eventually the

conversation would come to this.

“I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be…overwhelming to humans.” Castiel

explained in his defense. “And so can my real voice…but you already knew that.”

“You mean the gas station and the motel. That was you talking?” The angel nodded.

“Buddy, next time lower the volume.” I instinctively shuddered as I remembered the pain that

forced its way through my ears. I could still hear the faint ringing in the back of my brain.

“That was my mistake. Certain people, special people, can perceive my true visage.”

“English?” Dean muttered under his breath.

“He means that only a select few people can understand his words when he speaks with

his real mouth, to translate loosely.” I explained to him softly out of the corner of my mouth.

Castiel nodded to me, his lips pursed as though he didn’t find the idea of agreeing with me,

agreeable.

“I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong.” Castiel finished and suddenly a

lightbulb lit up in my head. The whispering I heard before everything turned DEFCON 2, was

that Castiel’s voice?

“I…” I started and then hesitated as both men turned towards me. With better judgement,

I shook my head quickly and muttered, “Never mind.”

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“And what visage are you in now, hmm? What…holy tax accountant?” Dean quipped.

“This?” Castiel seemed a bit amused, if angels had feelings. “This is…a vessel.”

“You’re possessing some poor bastard?” His tone suddenly aggressive, I felt Dean’s grip

on my side tighten again.

“Dean,” I muttered and tried pulling away from him carefully. Dean frowned and looked

down at me, realization flashing through his eyes and he released me to stretch my body and

shake it out, letting myself relax ever so slightly while in the presence of a holy being that was

fully capable of smiting me without a second thought.

“He’s a devout man. He actually prayed for this.” Castiel defended quickly as soon as he

had Dean’s attention back.

“Look pal, I’m not buying what you’re selling. So who are you, really?” Castiel looked

confused as he listened to Dean’s words, like what he had initially said hadn’t gotten through the

Winchester’s thick skull.

“I told you.”

“Right. And why would an angel rescue me from hell?” Dean barked out angrily when he

realized he was getting nowhere. The angel took a few steps closer and got right up in Dean’s

face. If any other person had done that, Dean would’ve given them a solid right-hook, but this

angel was something else. He did something that not many people could achieve and live to tell

the tale.

“Good things do happen, Dean.” Castiel explained softly.

“Not in my experience.” At Dean’s reply, I felt my heart wrench painfully in my chest. It

wasn’t just that I could agree with his statement, but at the fact he didn’t think he deserved good

66

things to happen to him. I could hear it in his voice, and it made my hands shake from my

position off to the side as I looked at his forlorn face.

“What’s the matter?” Castiel looked truly confused as he tilted his head to the side like a

puppy. Then his eyes widened in realization. “You don’t think you deserve to be saved.”

Fighting to gain control of his emotions, Dean asked the angel, “Why’d you do it?”

“Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you.”

Chapter 10

“Well, why Dean?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Why anything?”

“I do not question orders, child.” I flinched as he called me that. “I merely follow through

with them. God commanded me to raise Dean Winchester from hell, and so I did.”

“Don’t bullshit us. You know exactly what she was asking.” Dean growled softly.

“I rescued you because I was ordered to, and that is the truth. There is nothing more and

nothing less.” Castiel sighed resignedly. “All else will be revealed in due course. There is a time

and place for such knowledge, and it is not now.” With a flap of invisible wings, the angel

disappeared, leaving Dean, Bobby, and me in darkness. The older man groaned and stirred,

snapping me to attention and I made my way over to him, gently resting my hand on his shoulder

and giving him a careful shake to wake him up.

“I don’t like this,” Dean grumbled, and shifted back and forth between his feet uneasily. “I

mean, an angel? A freaking angel?”

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“I know…and I don’t like this either. He’s not exactly the friendliest guy ever,” I muttered

under my breath. Bobby’s eyes flickered open and he blinked a few times before he focused on

me. “I mean, did you hear what he said to me?”

“Huh?”

“That’s right. That was just a conversation between Castiel and me.” I grumbled and

helped Bobby into a sitting position, who mumbled a thanks and rubbed his eyes.

“Okay, anyone mind telling me what the hell just happened?” Bobby demanded

immediately as soon as he regained his bearings. His head darted around frantically, most likely

looking for the angel.

“Angel boy knocked you out cold, and then we had a little conversation about how God

and his squad of angels have some big plan for me,” Dean replied rather sarcastically and walked

over, stretching out a hand to help Bobby to his feet. The older man gratefully took the extended

hand and got to his feet, dusting off his pants as soon as he was vertical.

“Plans? What kind of plans?” Bobby asked.

“Apparently the info’s classified. As in, ‘if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you’, classified.” I

muttered and crossed my arms over my chest as I reflected upon the prior events.

“Fantastic.” Bobby grumbled and gave Dean and I an exasperated look. “Come on. Let’s

go gather your brother.”

The men went out ahead of me after gathering their toys, leaving me to look around the

small building we had sheltered in. Things were splayed everywhere. Tables were on their sides,

dust particles clouded the air, and broken glass dotted the ground from the exploded light

fixtures. Striding forward, I took extra care to step around the broken glass as I wandered about

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in a slight daze. Angels, demons, God…what was next? Would I be able to handle it? Better

question…would I even have a choice?

“Hey Alex, you coming or what?” Dean called out for me from outside. They were

waiting by the truck for me so we could re-group with Sam. How would the younger Winchester

handle the news of heavenly interference? I glanced down at my feet. This place would be

forever seared into my memory. It was the place where everything started…and everything I

previously knew ended. I turned on my heel and jogged out the door, shouting “I’m coming!” as I

left the warehouse behind me.

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