Hi! Welcome to the first installment of The Nephilim Rules!

Summary:

Erika Winchester is fifteen years old and nephilim; her life is threatened on an almost-daily basis by angels and demons alike, and her very essence is at risk of corruption.

Laurel Tanner is one of only two survivors of a disaster that ruined her peaceful suburban life, yet she knows she is one of three - and whatever took her family is after her too.

The two are about to be drawn together in ways they could never imagine. They don't know what's out there, and they don't know what it wants with them, but one thing's for sure: they sure as hell won't let it get them.

[This has background Destiel and Sabriel, and whilst these ships don't have much of a bearing on the plot, if you don't like them you may want to turn back now.]

THEN

"As I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Thy angels watch me through the night, and keep me safe til morning light."

Seven-year-old Laurel Tanner of Denver, Colorado, believed in angels. Or at least, she thought she did. She had to, because if nothing was looking out for her then what protection did she have from the monsters beneath her bed and in the closet? There was something in the darkness, she was sure.

"Ready for bed?"

"Yes, Mommy." Laurel allowed herself to be tucked in, and her mother kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight."

Her mother didn't believe her about whatever is in the darkness. Laurel tried to warn her. She never listened.

Laurel couldn't see herself sleeping with the night light off, ever, but she knew she was safe. Something was watching over her, protecting her, guarding her.

But what about the rest of her family?

Miles away, in another state entirely and in another kind of building altogether, a very different child was saying the same prayer.

Erika Mary Winchester also knew that there was something lurking in the darkness. She knew too much for someone so young. She knew what was out there.

She knew how to weaken it so it couldn't hurt her.

She wasn't allowed a gun - not then, anyway - but she had rock salt and holy water by her bed. And if the salt wouldn't deter it and the water wouldn't harm it, she had her Grace (or whatever semblance of Grace it is that constituted the spiritual soup within her). And her family wouldn't even let it enter the bunker to begin with anyway.

She knew she wasn't safe, but she knew she had safeguards.

"You don't sleep." A familiar voice responded. Her father. (The human one.)

"I know. I'm lulling the demons into a false sense of security. They'll think I'm easy prey, then BAM! I can gank 'em." The child grinned triumphantly at her own hypothetical cunning.

Dean ruffled her hair. "That's my girl." But there was sadness in his voice.

Erika lead a very different life to Laurel, and their paths had yet to cross.

Laurel's parents took her to ballet lessons.

Erika's parents had been teaching her to fire a shotgun.

Laurel's parents had regular jobs with regular paychecks.

Erika's parents were as far from that as you could get.

Laurel's friends (the few that she had) knew her real name.

Erika's classmates thought her name was Rikki Lawrence.

Laurel was mortal.

Erika was...not exactly.

The world had never seen two people less likely to form any kind of bond.

Caroline Tanner smiled as she walked back to her room. It was the first time in six weeks that Laurel hadn't mentioned the monsters. Maybe she'd realised it was all in her mind.

Caroline worried about her daughter sometimes.

Laurel was a little too imaginative for her own good. She was sweet, and innocent, and considerate. She was a wonderful child; there was none better. But her brain wouldn't stop working for a moment.

She really believed there was something out there waiting for her. She was genuinely afraid.

Thank goodness she's recovering, thought Caroline.

Except Laurel wasn't leaving the darkness behind.

Not at all.

To the casual observer, Laurel seemed to be resurfacing at long last, when everyone thought she was drowning.

In fact, she was destined to wade further into that bottomless ocean of the unknown, the inexplicable - the supernatural.

Caroline wasn't the only parent in America that night hoping against hope that their child would grow up unafraid of the dark and able to lead a normal life.

Seven years prior, Dean Winchester made a promise - to himself, to Cas, and to their baby daughter - that Erika would never become a hunter.

He would teach her how to protect herself and any family she may have in the future, but she could not go down the path he and Sam travelled. He wouldn't allow it.

In the distant future, Erika Mary Winchester was going to go to college. She was going to graduate. She would have the freedom to be whatever the hell she wanted.

But her life would never be truly normal, because Erika wasn't fully human.

She was destined to fight. To hunt.

To save the life of a young girl by the name of Laurel Tanner.

Destiny can never be truly swayed from its course.

Laurel started having nightmares at eight, and Erika 'accidentally' smote her teacher after being told Enochian wasn't a real language.

Erika performed her first (albeit impromptu) exorcism at nine, and Laurel caught a glimpse of the predicted something.

Laurel became interested in the paranormal at ten, and Erika learned the truth about angels.

Erika decapitated her first vampire at eleven, and Laurel started feeling more and more alone in the world.

Laurel encountered a man with black eyes at twelve, and Erika figured out that combining salt, holy water and a hypodermic syringe made a pretty good weapon at close quarters.

Erika started tagging along on easier hunts at thirteen, and Laurel started having panic attacks because she had never felt so afraid.

Laurel started barricading her bedroom door at night at fourteen, and Erika told her parents and uncle she'd rather just go straight into the family business than start high school.

In their fifteenth year, Dean bought Erika her first hunting knife.

And Laurel?

Laurel became the target of the kind of thing she'd only read about before.

And it turned out she was right, all those years ago. There were angels watching over her.

Only it wasn't just angels.