Author: DMartinez
Email: dmarttx
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Kripke and the WB, CW. No infringement intended.
Rating: R
Category: Supernatural; Caleb/Claire
Summary: Sequel to Lost. Claire left John for good and had to make her own way.
Prologue
Night time. Lonely time. Caleb Bailey hated the night. Bad things happened at night. The last decade had been a blur but he remembered the lonely nights. He'd filled them with booze-laced coffee, books on lore and weapons maintenance. The more obscure the lore, the better. The stronger the coffee, the better. The bigger the bang, the better. Not tonight.
Tonight, he wasn't alone. He was lonely, still but he couldn't do any of the other things that filled his nights. Tonight had been about booze and sex. He sat on his side of her bed, still sipping whiskey and she was snoring softly. Some girl with dark hair and small tits. He had to keep himself awake. He didn't sleep in other people's beds.
Darkness was everywhere. Outside where the wind whipped by. Outside where the shadows were deep and the hours still long. In every city, in every small hamlet. He beat it back with knives and guns and booze. He spoke the words in languages that no one cared to learn anymore. He read each word until it was burned into his brain for later use. Books from all over the world. Paid for in blood and guns. The bigger the bang, the bigger the buck, the harder the price, the higher the price.
Somewhere, in some detective's mind, Caleb was the monster in the closet. Caleb had his own monsters. Possessed folk. He knew incantations in 14 languages and he was happy to teach them to anyone who asked. He whispered one, a short one, just in case. The brunette didn't budge. Good sign.
An hour later when she woke, she smiled up at him. Her eyes were brown. She ran her hand up his thigh and it was a way to kill the rest of the night. Watching her small tits bouncing, releasing his frustrations and pretending to sleep while she got washed up and answered the phone. It was early but some people had regular jobs, complete with carpools.
"He's alright. Quiet." She whispered into her phone, the water running but not quite enough to cover her voice. The room had already turned to pinks and oranges. She laughed. "That… was… QUITE satisfactory. He's asleep for now but I'll have to kick him out before you get here… He's got this… gap between his teeth and you know I hate that but when he smiles… Ooh… I want to lick it."
And up he was. He was hunting for his shirt when she came skidding out of the bathroom with her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes."
"I have to go to work."
He motioned that it was fine. He couldn't remember her name anyway. He slipped out before she finished brushing her teeth. All the way home, he saw shadows shrinking. People waking up who had no clue what happened at night. All he saw when he saw them was his lost innocence. 19 years old when he went looking for answers and came back with knowledge of the darkness. Once a person knew about the darkness, there was nothing else. Even in the light of a bright shining sun.
When he got home, he stared up at the house for a long moment but all he saw was her face. Her beautiful face, cut and bleeding and her dead eyes staring back at him. His love had died alone. Had been brutalized by a monster wearing human skin. He unlocked his door, ignored the flashing light on his answering machine and gone to bed for his usual four hours of sleep.
TBC
