'This is a bad idea, a very bad idea', Mar thought to herself, subconsciously worrying her lip. Yet she continued to walk down the street, letting the throbbing pain in her head guide her way. She clutched the strap of her satchel a little tighter and readjusted her backpack, shoulders sagging slightly under all the weight. It would have been nice, peaceful even, walking down the tree lined road in Kansas, not a soul in sight. But she was so stressed, and the murderous impulses and thoughts that stubbornly ghosted through her mental barriers were seemly endless. Honestly, she didn't want to go any further, the closer she got, the stronger the feelings were. Yet, she had to, not only for them but for her too. Usually, the emotions that streamed into her head didn't bother her too much, she'd been an empath since birth. But all of these emotions... they were so strong and horrible, she couldn't keep anything down and could barely sleep. She'd already been underweight (sonic metabolism) but now this was getting ridiculous.
She came to a stop at the off-white building and took a deep breath, steeling herself for whatever lay ahead of her. Walking around, she eventually found the front door, raising a slender hand she knocked loudly before stepping back slightly. A mind came closer, from underground probably. It was the strange one, the one that they called Cas? She could feel that he was confused and wary. 30 seconds passed and she was starting to think he was just going to wait until she went away, huffing quietly she knocked again. This time, the door opened to reveal Cas. He looked different than she had imagined, he was probably a half foot or so taller than herself, he wore a suit with a tan trenchcoat on top. "Hello", he said questioningly, one eyebrow raised slightly.
"Hello," Mar said happily and stuck out her hand, giving her signature disarming smile. He ignored the hand and turned back towards the inside of the building, it was then that she noticed the blade peeking out of his sleeve, and she made a note to be careful.
"Uh, Sam?" he called. She heard some footsteps and a muffled 'ya?' from not far away. 'Great, now the other one was confused, this was going exactly as planned (note sarcasm)' her brain was working hard to try and find a way to fix the situation, but she wasn't exactly the best at social skills.
Another man now stood at the doorway, he was crazy tall with long hair, Sam, she thought. Although it probably wouldn't be best if she revealed that she knew their names, or their emotions... and some thoughts connected to their emotions. He scrutinized her with squinting eyes, "Who are you?" he asked, rather rudely if she might add.
Again she stuck out her hand, "I'm Margot, although you can call me Mar." she said, all the while trying to keep a smile on her face and ignore the pain radiating from downstairs.
Sam was a bit more polite and actually shook the hand, "I'm Sam, but...I think you have the wrong house." he said not unkindly, but hinting that she should maybe leave. But she couldn't take any of that, she had to help Dean, he was in pain.
"No, I don't," she said is a slightly more stern voice, "Look, I'm human and I'm here to help." They instantly became guarded so she put up her hands in surrender, "You can test me if you want, but I think I can fix your brother" she said the last part directed at Sam. She was rewarded with a gun pointed at her head, great. She heard him cock the gun and she froze, keeping her hands in surrender. Maybe she should have been a bit less straight forward.
"Whose side are you on?" he asked. 'What was he talking about? sides?'
"I don't know anything about sides, I just know that someone's hurting and I want it to stop," she decided the truth was probably the best at this moment.
"How do you know about Dean?" he demanded, and she saw Cas lower his blade a bit more.
She internally winced at his question, "That's none of your business," she started, and he wasn't too happy about her answer, "But, I know he's hurt and I want to help." she ended sincerely, adding sympathy to her tone, trying to calm his whirling emotions that kept streaming through her, they were strong due to their close proximity. He looked slightly less tense, so she, ever so slowly, moved her hand down and out, palm up. "You can test me." Slowly he brought out a knife from inside his jacket and cut her hand, she winced but didn't move away.
He nodded slightly before turning to Cas, "Could you bring her inside? I'm gonna go get some salt." Cas nodded before opening the door after Sam and gesturing for her to step in. Once through the doors, they stood on a platform overlooking a large room with bookshelves lining the walls and a giant wooden table in the center. Cas walked down the stairs and she followed. She didn't like being near Cas, his emotions were so strong and fast, she was certain that he wasn't human.
"You can just sit there," he says nodding toward the table, "Sam will return in a moment." She nodded, clutching her hand to stop the bleeding, when she was seated she took a handkerchief from the outer pocket of her satchel, wrapping and tying it around her hand. She then proceeded to unload herself of her backpack and satchel, setting them gingerly on the floor next to her. Just then Sam walked from a hallway and into the main room, holding out a glass half full of water, salt water no doubt.
"Here, taste this" he gave her the glass, she took it and took a generous drink, 'yep, salt water'. He watched her intently, looking for any sign that it had burned her, it hadn't. He then retrieved a flask from his jacket, and held it out for her to see, "Holy water" he merely said before pouring some on her exposed arm. It simply rolled off like any normal water would.
"See?" she said, "perfectly human" (it was only a half-lie) and he looked very relieved, he returned the flask and sat in the chair across from her,
"Are you sure that you can help my brother?" he asked, 'he must really be desperate, to trust someone this quickly'. "And if so, then how? 'Cuz even Cas here can't cure him." he gestured to the silent male a few feet away.
"It's true." Cas add needlessly, but Sam nodded in thanks.
She took a minute to gather her thoughts, she didn't want to say anything wrong. "Imma... healer, of sorts." she took in their surprise and skepticism, "Not born, nor magic... I umm work with... herbs, etcetera..." 'Stupid, stupid, stupid' she tried to get ahold of herself, but she normally didn't tell anyone about her... hobbies.
"... So you're a witch." Sam stated bluntly, he was guarded again.
Mar fought the urge to cuss, she hated it when people tossed that word around like a stereotype, "I'm not a witch." she said a bit more sternly than she'd intended. "Witches borrow power from demons, I do nothing of the sort," she explained. Sam nodded thoughtfully, taking in the information.
"An apothecary then?" Cas suggested.
"Ya, I guess," She answered, she'd never really given it a name. She turned her head back towards Sam, "So, will you let me try?". He exhaled and slumped his shoulders, she felt desperation and slight relief, the latter made her smile softly.
"Ya," he finally answered, "come on, he's this way" he added as he got up and walked over to a hallway, waiting for her to follow. She slung her satchel over her shoulder before going after him. He led her to what looked like a storage room, she was about to comment that his brother wasn't there when he starts to pull open two shelves like they were doors.
She let out a small "oh" before gasping slightly at the scene before her. Dean, or who she supposed was Dean, was bracing himself against a wall in a violent coughing fit, blood flying from his mouth.
"Dean!" Sam exclaimed before hurrying over to him, she stood just inside the room, unsure of what to do. Sam helped his brother stand until he was done coughing, then sat the panting Dean into a chair in the middle of the room. His eyes scanned the room before setting on her.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked her rudely.
"I'm Margot," she said at the same time that Sam answered, "She's here to help you." Dean scoffed,
"The only thing that's gonna help me is someone getting rid of this bloody thing on my arm. And last time I checked; no one can do that." At the mention of a mark, she gave them a curious look before scurrying over to see the said mark. When she got there, she couldn't believe what she saw, the mark of Cain. It made sense now, the murderous impulses, coughing up blood, very...very violent thoughts. She took a deep breath and steeled herself, yet again.
"I can't remove it-"
"See I told you." Dean interrupted her, she shot him a sharp look before continuing on what she was saying.
"I can't remove it, BUT... I think I can repress its side effects," she said before going to sit on the floor and proceeded to pull things out of her bag.
"You can?!" Sam asked flabbergast while she could feel curiosity and faint hope coming from Dean, but mostly skepticism.
Mar knew that she'd have to use something really strong, give Dean enough energy to combat the symptoms, she'd only done this particular one a time before (and most definitely was not looking forward to it). She pulled out a metal bowl, scissors, paint brush, and a few bottles of herbs from the bag before replying, "I said I think... but the chances are good." her voice was hurried and distracted, she was still pondering over the severity of the situation, 'THE BLOODY MARK OF CAIN!'. She reminded herself not to panic while she carefully added a few pinches of herbs from the jars in front of her to the metal bowl before unwrapping her injured hand. She flexed it a few times to get the wound bleeding again, she grimaced when she felt the cut split apart and warm blood drip down her hand.
The brothers were watching her intently, trying to figure out what she was doing, but she tried to push that to the back of her mind and focus on the task at hand. She took the paintbrush and, dipping it in the blood-herb mixture, she began to paint a large symbol on the floor. It looked like a bunch of lines all jumbled together within a circle, but those lines had meaning. Rewrapping her hand, she took the scissors and walked over to Sam and Dean, the latter was once again coughing blood. When had that started? Dean looked at the large scissors in her hand with slight alarm.
"I just need a little hair," she said, and without waiting for permission, snipped off a small lock of hair. They didn't look too happy about it, but she honestly didn't care. She dropped the hair into the bowl with the remaining mixture, and pulled out a few leaves from her bag, she dropped them in too; before stirring the mixture with her fingers. She set the bowl in the middle of the symbol she had drawn, kneeling in front of it, she began to mumble.
"I call upon the grand powers
with them, this man shower
Taketh from mine body a fee
From him, illness free
So mote it be
So mote it be
Curse the wretched power of three" She hoped they hadn't heard her silent chant, it might support Sam's inaccurate prediction of her being a witch. It took a few seconds, but she could hear Dean's breath slowly increase in volume until is sounded almost like hyperventilating. She tried to get up, but stumbled and decided tiredly that she ought to sit down for a minute. She was sure by now that the little color that she'd, had drained from her face. She could hear Sam talking to her in a panic, but she wasn't exactly comprehending the words. She knew this was a bad idea.