Stella Riverwood was just a young woman of twenty when she was brought to Bobby Singer's house.
A knock had come at the door and when Bobby came to answer it, he found what looked like a middle aged man carrying a young woman in his arms.
"I need help. Please?" the man had said.
Bobby saw that she was pretty hurt and the man looked in bad shape himself. "Come in."
The man hurried inside and followed Bobby to a spare bedroom and placed the woman on the bed.
"What the hell happened?" Bobby asked, bringing over his first aid kit.
"We were hunting in the woods nearby, but the... creature retaliated and Stella... she... her mother..."
"Are you hunters?"
The man looked at Bobby and nodded. "Yes."
"What creature was it?"
"A Wendigo. Before she passed out, Stella dealt the final blow. I sensed another hunter nearby and came straight here."
"Well, it must have been a strong one to do this much damage."
"Can you help her?"
"Yeah, I can help the girl. Just give me a few moments."
The man watched Bobby bandaged Stella's wounds and paced in the room. After a while, Bobby finished and went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
"Will Stella be alright?"
Bobby nodded as he came out of the bathroom, drying his hands on a towel. "Yeah, she'll be fine. You got here in time."
"Thank the ancestors." the man said. "Thank you, Bobby Singer."
"You never told me your name, stranger." Bobby said, ignoring the fact that he never told him his name.
"Aldir."
"Well, Aldir, it's good that you got here when you did. Any longer she'd have bled out."
Aldir sighed and looked at Stella. "I almost lost her to my own stupidity... Stella's mother, Adrianna, died when the Wendigo retaliated. She protected Stella when I could not... I have failed them both..."
"She's your daughter, isn't she?"
Aldir nodded. "Aye, she is. But a lousy father I have been. And now her mother is gone..."
"A hunter's life is never a good one. There will always be casualties, but it's always harder when it's family."
"You lost someone dear to you?"
"Yeah, my wife."
"My condolences."
"It happened a long time ago, but thanks." Bobby said, then looked at Stella. "How old is she?"
"She's twenty now, but her birthday is in a few weeks."
"She will be safe here while she recovers."
Aldir let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He bowed his head and went over to his daughter. He bent down and kissed her forehead, then started to whisper things to her in a foreign language Bobby didn't know.
Bobby left the room to give him some privacy, waiting out in the hall. He rubbed his neck and stared at the picture of his wife. A whoosh came from inside the room and Bobby looked in, seeing that Aldir was no longer present. He looked all around the room and couldn't find him anywhere. He spotted a note, though, on the bedside table.
"'Bobby Singer, you have already done more for my daughter than I ever have in her entire life. I have failed both her and her mother. I cannot bear the thought of failing her again, so I leave her in your care and ask that you take her under your wing. Her birthday is on the 13th of April and I ask that you give her this bracelet as my gift to her. I hope that she can one day forgive me for abandoning her. Please tell Stella I love her with all my heart and that I'm sorry.'" the note said.
Bobby cursed under his breath and looked at the girl. 'Damn fool... What kind of father leaves their daughter with a stranger...?' He sighed and pulled a blanket over Stella and made sure she was warm before he left the room and closed the door slightly. "This will be fun trying to explain this to the boys..."
-O-
Stella stirred in her sleep and tried to sit up. She felt a sharp pain along her side and across her chest and bit her lip, trying to fight off the tears stinging her eyes. She took a deep breath and moved her legs slowly out of the bed. Standing, she grimaced at the pain she felt and made her way to the window. Opening it, she saw the woods she had been in before off in the distance and a junk yard below her. She found a robe on the chair next to the window and pulled it on, feeling really cold. She moved along the walls to the door and pushed it open. She looked around the hall and found that she was in someone's house, someone she didn't know. She heard noises in the kitchen downstairs and quietly made her way to the stair well. Taking slow steps, she made it to the base of the stairs and went towards the clinking of dishes. She stepped into what looked like a living room or study, littered with books and papers. She looked to her right and saw the kitchen, but she had already used up most of her strength and she slumped against the doorway.
In the kitchen, Bobby Singer sat with the Winchester boys, Sam and Dean. Bobby was going over a few jobs with Dean as Sam washed the dishes. Sam looked up from the sink when he heard a rustle. He set the towel he had on his shoulder down on the counter and went to the study to investigate.
"Bobby!"
Bobby looked up and hurried into the study to find Sam kneeling next Stella where she had sunk to her knees. "Stella, are you alright?"
Stella looked up at him. "Who are you?"
"I'm Bobby Singer. These boys here are Sam and Dean Winchester."
"What am I doing here? Where's my father?"
Bobby looked at the boys before he turned his gaze back to Stella. "You were injured during your last hunt. You father brought you here and I treated your wounds. Your father, though..."
"What about my father?"
"He disappeared, Stella. He just completely vanished from the room."
Stella scoffed at that, grimacing in pain. "That bastard... He always leaves when I need him most..."
"Are you alright?" Sam asked.
Stella looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, just a bit tattered. I have had worse wounds before."
"Sam, help her back to bed." Bobby said.
Sam nodded and Stella let him lead her back up the stairs to her room.
"Bobby, who is that chick?" Dean asked, crossing his arms.
"Her name is Stella Riverwood."
"Is she a hunter?"
Bobby nodded. "That's not all."
"What do you mean?"
Bobby took out a large book of Irish legends and flipped open to a page. "Here, read for yourself."
Dean took the book and read the page. It was a legend of a young woman named Adrianne who came from a long line of hunters known as the Riverwood Clan. Adrianne was considered the greatest of her clan. It told of her exploits, her travels, but it also told of how she fell in love with the god of the hunt, Aldir. Aldir was the protector of the Riverwood clan, but fell out of favor with the other gods for marrying a human and granting her eternal life. He was cast out and joined with the Riverwood hunters and they travelled all throughout Europe until they travelled west to North America around 1809 AD.
Sam came into the room and took the book as Dean handed it to him. "What is this?"
"Read it, Sammy."
Sam read through the legend of Aldir and Adrianne as Dean crossed his arms again and pacing. When he was finished, he looked up at Bobby. "What about this legend do we need to know, Bobby?"
"That legend, boys, is the story of Stella's parents." Bobby said, pulling the cuff bracelet left by Aldir for Stella's birthday from his desk drawer. "This is the bracelet Aldir, Stella's father, left for her as a birthday gift. Apparently her birthday is on the 13th of this month, but that's not the point. Look at the crest engraved on it."
Sam took the cuff bracelet and looked at the engraving of the bracelet. The crest on the silver matched the crest of the banner illustrated in the legend. "They're identical."
"So what are you saying, Bobby?" Dean asked. "That this Stella chick is some half god offspring?"
"Stella Riverwood is the last descendant of the Riverwood Clan of hunters from Westmeath, Ireland. She is the daughter of Adrianne Riverwood, the Eternal Blade, and Aldir, the god of the hunt." Bobby said. "That girl is the offspring of a god and of an immortal being."
"If that's the case, then she should be fine no matter what wounds she has." Dean said.
"Not necessarily." Sam said. "People like Stella, born from a god parent, tend to either be born immortal or at least have longer life spans than normal humans or they are born with the choice to choose to immortal or remain human but keep the abilities they gained from their god parent. Most of them, from what I have seen in other legends and folktales, make their choice when they come of age, but in some cases their abilities don't waken until their twenty-first birthday, which means that they are as mortal as you or I and any healing abilities they may have won't work yet."
"Exactly, and if that's Stella's story, then we have about two weeks. Aldir said that she turns twenty-one on April 13th. If that is the case," Bobby said, taking a seat. "then we need to make sure that we take every precaution. Who knows what manner of demon or witch or other supernatural beings would want a girl like Stella for their own purposes. She's a special kid, that much I can tell. Something about her is different from anyone I've ever met."
"So what do we do?" Sam asked, handing Bobby back the book and the bracelet, which Bobby put back in his desk drawer.
"Aldir asked that I look after Stella. I will do that for as long as she lets me, but while she's here boys, I expect you to be on your best behaviors and not try any funny business. She's healing right now and is not in the state to be trying to do anything but rest."
"Will she need protection?" Sam asked, exchanging glances with Dean.
"A chick like Stella? Come on, Sammy, of course she will. We can't let demons or witches get their hands on her. She'd be safer with us." Dean pointed out.
"Exactly." Bobby said, agreeing. He took off his hat and rubbed his head. "This is gonna be a hassle, but that girl needs to be protected."
"We'll do what we can, Bobby, you know we will." Sam said, reassuringly.
"I know, boys. Now, I'm going to make a few calls and check up on some things. Sam, could you make something for Stella to eat? I'm sure she's probably hungry by now."
"Sure."
Bobby stood and grabbed his keys before heading out the door. Sam went into the kitchen to make Stella some soup and tea while Dean grabbed a beer and went outside on the front porch.
Leaning against the railing and looking out over the junkyard at the forest beyond, Dean wondered how a god and an immortal woman could have lost so easily to a Wendigo. As he lost himself in thought, something caught his eye. Turning to look at what it was, Dean saw a small owl perched on the railing, looking at him. He went to shoo it away, but as Sam opened the door to ask Dean something, the owl took off into the house. Sam was taken aback and watched the owl fly upstairs.
"What the hell?"
"Damn owl."
The boys hurried upstairs and looked around the rooms, only stopping when they reached Stella's room. They looked inside and saw Stella sitting up with the owl perched on her knee.
"Sorry, Stella, that damn owl got right passed us." Dean said, coming into the room to try and grab the bird.
"No, it's alright, Dean." Stella said with a smile. "I know her."
"You know this owl?" Sam asked.
"This is Moa. I raised her from an egg." Stella said, gently rubbing the owl's head. The owl cooed and hopped on her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek. Stella giggled and let the owl cuddle next to her neck. "Moa is a northern saw-whet owl that I found as an egg when I still lived in Connecticut." Stella explained, looking at the boys. "Her nest had been in an area of forest that was being torn down to make room for some grand hotel and she was the only egg left when I found the nest. Her egg was intact, thankfully, so Mom and Dad let me take care of her."
Sam and Dean watched as the owl seemed to purr as she rubbbed her head against Stella.
"Since I was the first she saw, Moa imprinted on me and I became like her mother. I fed her, washed her, taught her to fly and to hunt. She keeps watch for me when I'm out hunting, even when I sleep. She'll whistle to let me know something's up."
"Wow, that's actually kind of cool." Dean said, sitting in the chair by the window. "So, Stella, I gotta ask you something."
Stella sighed and looked down at her hands. "I assume Bobby already figured it out and told you guys everything."
"About your father being a god and all, yeah." Sam replied. "I think what Dean and I are both curious about is whether or not it's true."
Stella smiled sadly. "Yeah, it's true... Mom was the mighty Eternal Blade Adrianna Riverwood and Dad is the Westmeath god of the hunt. Or was until his family kicked him out of their inner circle."
"So are you like immortal too or something?" Dean asked.
"Not quite. Dad said that we wouldn't know for sure until my twenty-first birthday what kind of abilities I'll have." Stella replied. "I don't even know if I'm immortal or not, Dad doesn't even know I don't think, and I don't plan on testing it out any time soon."
"What happened out there?" Dean asked. "A god and an immortal taken out so easily by a lowly Wendigo?"
Stella's face hardened and she glared at him. "Let's get something straight, you Oedipusian prick. That Wendigo killed my mother, who if you haven't been paying attention, was a fucking immortal. It nearly killed my father, who is a fucking god, and if I hadn't dealt the final blow, I would have died too. That thing was more powerful than I have ever seen of a Wendigo and it was powerful enough to take my mother away from me. It was not just so lowly Wendigo, it was stronger and faster."
Dean looked at her and saw she was pissed. He stood from his chair and backed away from her, towards Sammy and the door. "Look, I'm sorry. We've faced a Wendigo before ourselves and it wasn't as strong as you say this one was."
"I do not care what lowly Wendigo- as you put it- was like for you, but all I know is that my mother is gone and my father abandoned me. All because of a fucking Wendigo and a hunt that went wrong. I find it insulting that a beer-drinking, whoremongering moron like you would stoop so low as to think you are a better hunter. My mother was the pride and joy of her clan and she had nearly five hundred years of experience hunting! My father is the fucking god of the hunt! If you ever insult me or my family again, I will cut off your balls and shove them down your throat!"
Sam and Dean watched as Stella threw a hand towards the door and they were pushed back by some invisible force, the door nearly closing on their noses. They looked at each other, eyes wide, and Dean immediately regretted saying what he had.
"Pissing off the daughter of a god?" Sam said, shaking his head. "Real smart, Dean."