The branches smacked against his body, scraping his face and leaving fine red scratches on his skin as the fifteen-year-old boy sped through the dark forest, desperately trying to get away from his attacker. He heard his own heavy breathing in the otherwise silent night, heard the scrunching of leaves as his feet pounded hard onto the ground. He felt the pain in his muscles, but forced himself to run faster, though he had already reached his limit and slowly started to lose strength. His teenage body wouldn't be able to take this kind of pressure any longer. But he had to keep on running if he wanted to live.
This was another slightly gone wrong hunt.
The boy tightened his grip on the silver knife, hearing the beast approach. Sweat trickled down his back, hot and sticky, soaking the material of his shirt and the thin t-shirt he was wearing underneath, causing him to shiver in the cool air. The werewolf was close, getting even closer with every second and he could feel its hot putrid breath in his neck.
He wasn't sure whether it was just his overactive imagination, but at some point he was pretty sure the creature had blown a few strands of his hair out of his neck. He needed to get his hair cut, it was getting ridiculously long.
A low growl cut through the silence of the woods, the fifteen-year-old hunter decided it was about time to finally do something, and he spun around just in time when the wolf took a leap, pouncing on him, the huge paws with long sharp claws ready to rip him open.
The world stood still. For a few seconds, the werewolf hovered menacingly above him and the boy imagined it pulling the skin from his bones with those splendidly white fangs and pointy razorlike claws. Damn, that would hurt.
Without hesitation he rammed the blade of the knife into the beast's chest and dragged it down, slicing it open as the wolf wrestled him onto the ground. His last thought before he felt the wolf's weight on his shoulders was whether his sister was okay.
His back hit the cold ground hard, he heard someone firing a gun – once, twice – and the beast let out a howl in pain, blood gushing out and covering the young hunter. Then someone called his name.
Through his blurred vision he saw his sister storming out of the thickit, gun in hand and face as pale as a ghost.
"Robbie! Robbie!" She repeated several times, running across the clearing and falling down onto her knees next to him.
Robbie groaned in pain and used what little strength he had left to shove the wolf's limp body off of him, noticing his sister's bullets had hit the creature straight in the heart. Its intestines were hanging out where he had sliced its stomach open, the blood trickled into the ground.
"Calm down, Sammy. I'm fine." Robbie smirked, hoping to appease his older sister. Samantha frowned, cupping his face to inspect him thoroughly.
"Are you sure? It was pretty bad, I thought the thing had..." She trailed off, not able to get the words out. She could still feel the cold down to her bones as she thought back in horror to the moment when her little brother got attacked by the supernatural creature.
"No, it didn't tear me apart. Guess, you're still stuck with your pain in the ass little brother, huh?" Robbie gave her a little lighthearted smile, brushing the incident off as if it were nothing, although he was pretty shaken up too.
Samantha breathed out in relief, letting out an insecure laugh. "Stop, it's not funny."
"Yeah, it is. Now let me get up." He pushed his sister gently away and sat up slowly, rubbing his back. He sighed, knowing he would wake up in a lot of pain the following morning.
"Ugh!" Robbie grimaced at the disgusting red liquid on the front of his shirt and shrugged out of his jacket first to get rid of the sweaty stinky shirt, leaving him in only his t-shirt. Immediately he was cold and started shivering, but he gritted his teeth and hurried to put the warm jacket back on, telling himself to be a man and suck it up.
"Sam, you're bleeding." He stated alarmed when he spotted her wound, unable to hide the concern in his voice. Samantha had been staring at her brother with anxiety, still too scared to avert her eyes from him and didn't notice her scratched knee.
"Crap!" She said annoyed, inspecting the bleeding spot on her knee where her jeans were torn. In the past few weeks a lot of her clothes had had to suffer. "I just bought those jeans!"
Robbie rolled his eyes at the exaggeration. "Yeah, with stolen money, so don't get your panties in a twist."
"Shut up!" She shot back and glared at him. Taking out her phone, she dialed her cousins' numbers, but neither one of them answered. "Have you seen John and Henry? Are they okay?" She asked concerned, hoping the boys had been able to get rid of the other wolf.
"I'm sure they're fine. We'll get rid of this thing here first and then go look for them." Robbie said, getting up and his sister put her arm around his waist to support him. "God, dad's gonna be so pissed when he finds out we went after a werewolf pack by ourselves, just the four of us."
"No, he's not." Samantha brushed it off casually. "You know dad. He's all bark, but no bite."
"Yeah, you're right." Robbie smiled. "Just imagine his face when we get home."
They both laughed, picturing their dad's reaction and felt the adrenaline slowly subside, the tension leave their bodies.
Samantha and Robbie knew their dad wouldn't punish them for sneaking off and being so reckless, he didn't have the heart to do it. He would explode and lecture them about how dangerous and stupid it was to go on a hunt all alone, but one pleading look from his children and he would cave. It had always been this way. Their dad was a badass hunter, but one of his few soft spots were definitely his children.
As they both started to relax, an eruption went through the ground, forcing the siblings to sit down again. They stopped laughing and froze on the spot.
"Earthquake?!" Robbie exclaimed, looking at his sister wide-eyed. Before Samantha had the chance to answer, a dazzling white light broke through the darkness, blinding them. It absorbed all the trees surrounding them, the dead wolf lying a few feet away and the spot where they were still sitting on the clearing, hunched down.
Samantha squeezed her eyes shut and scooted closer to her brother, her heart beating rapidly. Neither of them knew what was going on, they had never encountered something like this before. It only lasted a few seconds and then it was gone, as if it never even happened.
Samantha opened her eyes carefully, breathing heavily.
"Robbie?" She asked in panic and then relaxed when she felt him squeeze her hand.
"Nothing happened." He said quietly, taking in the unchanged environment.
"What the hell was that?" Samantha said and stood up, slowly walking around the clearing. She noticed some stones, looking like tombs, arranged in a perfect circle around the clearing. Strange signs and symbols were carved into the stone. Samantha felt a shiver run down her spine and licked her lips nervously.
"Robbie... we need to get out of here, we have to go right now!" Spinning around she ran back to her brother. This was serious, she wasn't sure what they had gotten themselves into, but they definitely shouldn't be staying there any longer. Something was off about this place, she could sense it. Why hadn't she noticed the stones and weird scratches before? Why hadn't she been paying attention? On top of that, she had brought her little brother here... crap!
"Rob, let's go, forget the freakin' wolf. We don't know what the fuck's going on, this place could be cursed."
They were good, smart and experienced hunters; and a good hunter who had all his marbles knew when it was time to run. They raced back through the forest as fast as they could and picked up their duffle bags on the spot where they had left them earlier.
Samantha and Robbie took deep breaths, trying to calm down. "Maybe I'm overreacting, but you never know with these kinda places. I haven't read all these books for nothing... and those symbols, I've never seen them before." Samantha explained, hoping she didn't sound too hysterical. Her brother was so damn curious sometimes.
"Are you kidding me? That freakin' light scared the hell out of me, it was really creepy. I wouldn't have insisted on checking it out!" Robbie exclaimed, stuffing his blood-soaked shirt into the bag.
Samantha smiled in relief. "Good."
Suddenly they heard low muffled voices, definitely male, and the sound of branches cracking beneath heavy feet. "What the hell's going on today?" Samantha groaned, getting frustrated and annoyed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we should've listened to dad."
The siblings quickly hid behind a tree and took their weapons out, staying as quiet as possible. Two men, one very tall and the other slightly shorter, both armed with guns appeared in their sight.
The Winchester brothers crept through the thick woods, following the path of the newly turned werewolf to stop it from killing more innocent people. It was an especially dark and crisp night, the full moon glowing high above them in the sky.
In the distance they heard the unmistakable heart-stopping sound of a gun being fired and they stopped dead in their tracks, both their heads shooting in the direction where it had come from. The beast's howl sounded through the forest and shortly after they saw the unnatural white light over the tree tops.
Sam ignored the blood rushing in his ears, focusing on noises that could be a clue. "Did you see that?" He said quietly, staring at the approximate area and saw his brother nodding out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah." Dean mumbled under his breath, jaw tensing in alarm. "Looks like we're not alone." Involuntarily his grip on the gun tightened, knuckles turning white and he stepped in front of Sam in a protective manner.
Sam wiped with his arm the sweat off of his forehead and followed his brother, letting him take the lead. Even though it was rather cool outside, the brothers were both drenched in sweat after one hour of running around in the forest.
A few minutes later Dean noticed a rustle of leaves and instanly knew they were being watched. He could feel the sets of eyes in his back and it made the hairs stand up on his skin. He turned to his brother, locking eyes with him and Sam understood. They communicated silently and walked off in different directions.
"Where did they go?" Robbie whispered into his sister's ear as the two men disappeared out of their sight. The siblings were still hovering behind the tree, waiting for an opportunity to suprise the strangers.
"Crap!" Samantha breathed out, racking her brain to find a way out of this situation. The men had split up, she could tell that this was a trap.
"They know we're here." Robbie stated quietly and despite the situation, Samantha smiled proudly. Her brother might be very young, but he was very quick on the uptake.
"We're gonna have to face them, right?" He asked, meeting his sister's gaze. For a tiny fraction she saw a flicker of fear in his green eyes before he straightened up and banned all emotions from his face, turning from the tall lean boy into a hunter within seconds.
"I'm afraid so, Robbie." She said with a sigh. "Sorry."
"It's okay, we're together in this. Everything's gonna be fine. Remember what dad said?"
"We're an awesome team." Samantha smiled brightly at him. "Alright, let's do this."
The young hunters left their secure hiding place, sprinting through the woods and ducking beneath twigs and branches. They didn't get far, it happened all so fast.
Samantha slid to a stop as the taller one of the two men appeared out of nowhere and blocked her way, pointing his gun at her. She quickly lifted her arm to let him know she was not afraid to use her own weapon. Her brother's back was against hers, and she felt a little better, but it only meant that the other man was holding Robbie at gunpoint as well. The four of them found themselves in a stand-off, there was no way out.
"What the fuck have you two done, huh? Who are you?" Dean barked at Robbie, looking him straight in the eye and trying to make out his features. "Answer, dammit!"
He moved closer to him and Samantha's heart pounded rapidly against her ribcage, the cool metal in her hands turned slick from her sweaty palms. She was beyond nervous, wanting to turn around and defend her brother, but didn't dare drawing her gun back from the menacing silhoutte of the man in front of her.
"I don't care that you're human, if you touch my brother, I'll kill you, so help me God!" She spat over her shoulder at Dean, but kept her eyes steadily on the tall one, watching his every move.
Her words made Sam frown, her voice stirring something inside him. He squinted his eyes and took a better look at the boy and girl, seeing how young they were. They were both pretty tall and it had been impossible to make out this little detail in the dark.
"They're just kids." He pointed out softly, suddenly uncomfortable by the fact that he was threatening a couple of teenagers. By his immediate reaction Sam could tell his brother felt the same way.
"What?" Dean exclaimed, forcing himself not to lower the gun as much as he wanted to. They were kids, but they could be dangerous. For all they knew, those innocent-looking siblings could be shapeshifters, witches or some other nasty creatures.
Robbie kept his arm bravely lifted up, gun still pointing at the man with short hair who was only a few inches taller than him. Something about his attitude gave him away, his posture, the way he spoke and acted. He hadn't had the chance to take a look at the other man who was currently facing his sister, but he didn't have to. He was pretty damn sure who they were.
"You two are hunters." He stated calmly.
"What?" Samantha said in shock, but knew her brother was an excellent observer and therefore his first impresson was probably right.
Dean raised an eyebrow in amusement and smirked. "Yeah, now what about you two? What kind of magic were you doing back there?"
Samantha felt anger flare up at his this man's irritating tone. "We didn't do shit, what the fuck are you talking about?"
Sam and Dean were stumped for a second at this young girl's potty mouth. Dean recovered first, gritting his teeth in annoyance. He lost his temper. "We saw the fucking light. What the hell are you? Nasty little witches or just a couple stupid kids messing around with dark magic, huh? You have no idea how dangerous that is!"
"We're not witches, how dare you say that to us! My brother and I aren't monsters!" Samantha shouted. She was about to open her mouth to really get started and give Dean a piece of her mind, but Sam spoke up in that moment, feeling it was time to interfere. "Listen, all my brother's trying to say is that you need to tell us what happened, so we can fix this problem before people start to get hurt – "
"We weren't practicing any kind of magic back there on the clearing, relax." Robbie interrupted him, deciding to explain the whole situation. "We're not supernatural creatures or anything, we're – just like you. My sister and I are hunters."
"Alright." Sam said, trying to appear as friendly as possible while the girl's eyes were piercing through him, full with suspicion. "We believe you, we're not gonna hurt you, I promise. Let's just put our guns down and talk about this."
"Yeah, right." Samantha snorted. "I'm not gonna do so unless he gets out of my little brother's face, got it?"
Dean put his hands up in surrender before tucking the gun back into the waistband of his jeans. He understood very well where this girl was coming from – she was just protecting her little brother.
Only when Sam lowered his gun as well did Samantha dare to look over her shoulder. "Robbie?"
"It's alright." He mumbled and she relaxed, giving up her defensive position with a heavy sigh. They turned around and took a few steps back to distance themselves from the hunters, just in case, but didn't run.
Now Sam and Dean could look at the siblings more closely, and indeed, those kids told the truth. Both dressed in leather jackets, jeans and boots, they wore their clothes like a uniform. If there were uniforms for hunters. The thought made Dean chuckle; he bet those kids were armed to the teeth.
"Okay, so let's all calm down and get out of this forest first. You two came this way?" Sam asked, gesturing to a path in the darkness between the trees that was leading out onto a road. The Impala was parked on the side there, waiting for her owners to return.
Samantha nodded reulctantly, making eye contact with him. She was still being cautious, not wanting to trust those men that easily.
"Okay..." Sam said, trying to make his voice sound calm and quiet, so the young hunters knew they could confide in him and Dean.
Hesitantly, all four of them turned to walk back down the path they had come from. It was practically pitch-black, you couldn't even make out your own hand before your eyes.
Samantha struggled to get a better look, her eyes were glued to the adult hunters, trying to see them properly in the dark as she walked next to them. The situation seemed so familiar, though she didn't know why. A very crazy thought struck her, she pushed it away.
Robbie narrowed his eyes, he had met those hunters before, but where...? An eerie feeling washed over him. He glanced over at his sister and she looked back at him. She was pale, looking kind of horrified, and he could tell she had the same notion.
"So you said you're hunters?" Dean eventually spoke up, not able to bare the deafening silence any longer. He could tell those kids were watching him and Sam with eagle eyes, inspecting them thoroughly, and it made him uncomfortable.
"Yeah, we were on a werewolf hunt." Samantha stated curtly, never averting her gaze. "We need to find our cousins, they're not answering their phones."
Dean felt anger well up at the girl's words, but he fought it down. What the hell were those kids doing huntin' monsters alone?
He quickly looked them over, searching for any kind of injury. His eyes fixed on the quiet tall boy when he caught a swiff of blood and noticed the dark drying spot on his jacket. It looked really bad.
"Hey kid, you okay?" He asked, genuine concern lacing his voice. Robbie stared at him confused before looking down at himself. "Yeah, it's werewolf blood, not mine. Smells pretty bad, huh?"
Dean laughed at the remark. "Yeah, it really does."
Robbie almost froze on the spot. Something about his tone confirmed his suspicion. It was crazy, but he suddenly knew who those two men really were and why he had the feeling of having met them before.
"We've got a first aid kit in the car." Sam said quietly, smiling down at the 18-year-old girl and Samantha realized he had noticed her scratched knee.
"It's really not that bad." She grumbled defensively, blushing a little. It bothered her, she didn't want to come off as weak and she sure as hell wasn't in the mood for a lecture which they were definitely about to get.
Her scalp started to prickle, a crazy notion forming in her head as the weird feeling intensified with every passing minute. Something about these men seemed very comforting and familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The tall man's low, yet calm and soothing voice; the gruff husky voice and kind of impatient tone of the other hunter... their whole demeanor... everything clicked into place and suddenly made sense. And Samantha almost tripped over her own feet.
Robbie ran a hand through his hair, looking at the hunters again. He wanted to talk to his sister so bad. He wished he could tell her about his theory, so she could dismiss it as insane and then he would feel better. Unfortunately, talking to her privately wasn't an option.
"So... you said you're brothers, right?" He asked, remembering that the tall one had mentioned that earlier.
Sam and Dean stared at him and then exchanged a look. Robbie could feel his sister tense up next to him, her eyes burning a hole in his neck, but he refused to look at her.
The brothers nodded confused, unsure what the boy was hinting at, and Robbie clenched his fists nervously and took a deep breath before getting to the crucial part. "And... you two got names?"
The brothers laughed, amused by the seriousness in the teenage boy's tone.
"Yeah, we do. I'm Dean Winchester. This is my brother Sam." He gestured with his head towards Sam as he introduced themselves.
Robbie swallowed hard and supressed a hiss when he felt his sister's nails dig painfully into his arm. Samantha quickly realized that she was clinging to her brother and let go of him, forcing herself to keep it together, though it all scared the hell out of her.
The Winchesters shot them a weird look, noticing that the young hunters were looking at them as if they had seen a ghost.
"You heard of us?" Dean asked, frowning and looked at his brother for help. Sam shrugged his shoulders, he had no clue why the kids seemed so scared, either.
"You could say that..." Samantha breathed out, her voice almost cracked as she uttered the words. The siblings exchanged a look, finally daring to look at each other.
"My name's Sam, too." She added with a crooked smile, hoping it would cover up her emotional reaction and Sam – her uncle – acknowledged it with a friendly smile. "This is my little brother Robbie."
"It's nice to meet you two. You don't have to be scared of us. Whatever you've heard about us, it's not true." Sam tried to appease them, fearing the shock on their faces was due to some horrific stories people told them about the Winchesters. "Look, whatever happened we'll help you. We'll find your cousins and get you home, I promise."
"Yeah, we're not the bad guys, you can trust us." Dean chimed in, grinning at them.
Samantha and Robbie simply nodded, still processing everything and unable to respond. The Winchester brothers hadn't asked for their last name and the kids didn't mention it on purpose. Winchester was not a common name, and maybe it was just a coincidence that they shared the same last name. But Samantha and Robbie both highly doubted it.
One thing was for sure, they were standing in front of their dad and uncle. A lot younger versions of them. This was freaky, even for them.
A/N: What is wrong with me? Why do I keep starting new stories when I have a bunch of other ones that need to be finished? Oh well... so, new story hope you like:)