Hi. You can read my extensive apology for my super long absence at the bottom of the page.
Disclaimer: Supernatural does not belong to me. Anything you recognize from the TV Show is NOT MINE. Don't sue. It's REALLY not worth your time.
Secrets of the Street
Chapter 1
Decisions
Dean shifted, staring impatiently at the screen that Bobby had forced him and Sam into watching.
"Is this bad?" Sam asked nervously.
Bobby snorted. "You'll see lad." And he hit play. The image was apparently of a meeting, but the strange thing was... They all seemed to be either in their early twenties or younger. The youngest were around twelve, the oldest maybe twenty-five. The group was actually rather small, maybe ten to fifteen people. Someone next to the camera called to someone in the crowd in a different language, the strange syllables odd to Dean's ears. The woman was a dirty blonde with light brown eyes. She responded in affirmative and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, a girl, maybe seventeen years old, with silver eyes and brown hair, maybe eighteen or seventeen, called out in English.
"Lightning, I think we're safe now." Another person in the audience let out a bitter laugh.
"We're never safe, thanks to our most revered hunter parents. They are always after us. Always."
"Watch your mouth Alexa. Not all our parents willingly dumped us at the nearest foster home as soon as we were three weeks old." The woman next to the camera warned and Alexa shifted, but said nothing more. Whoever Lightning was, her voice carried weight with everyone else. Someone else in the audience called out, this time a male, with hazel eyes and sandy brown hair.
"What are we gonna do Lightning?" His identical twin brother added to his statement. "Demons, blood-suckers, angels, hunters, they're all coming after us. What are we gonna do? We can't stay two steps ahead forever." The hunters watching were suddenly riveted on the screen and the Winchesters wished silently for the hidden leader to speak. However, she remained defiantly silent, apparently watching the crowd. At last, someone in the audience spoke up. "What about-"
Lightning cut them off with a brusque, "No."
"Or maybe-" He tried again.
"Can't," She snapped.
"Well how about-" Came the third attempt.
"They moved." Lightning's tone had a ring of finality.
"Well, can't we-" He tried.
"To Australia." She finished as though uninterrupted.
"Oh." There was a slight hesitation and then he spoke again. "Isn't that-?"
"It's in a different hemisphere. How did you get into high-school again?" The exasperation was out in full force and the Winchesters grinned. On the screen, the meeting became chaos as quite a few people had burst out laughing at the flushing, but smiling, boy.
"So? What are we going to do with the attack rates going up all the time and you leaving?" Someone called as the hilarity died. Immediately, the hunters were focused again, staring intensely at the screen.
"You have a four options after I leave to rejoin my family, as I see it." Lightning began. "You could join the demons and allow them to control you." The hunters tensed further at the mention of their enemy while the crowd shifted and murmured in disgust and displeasure.
"You can join the things that go bump in the night." The twins that had asked about the apocalypse leaped to their feet, shouting in rage.
"And become dinner?!"
"Martin and Daniel Monterey, sit down!" Her voice cracked out like a whip and the twins sat.
"I am going through your options." She said slowly. Many of the faces twisted with disgust, but this time the crowd remained silent.
"Or..." Lightning hesitated before a deep sigh and then, "Those of you who want to can join the hunters." It was instant pandemonium. Many had stood and were shouting at Lightning. But what shocked the other hunter's more, was the tone of the crowd's voices. There was anger, but it wasn't the primary emotion. Pain, anguish, and helplessness ruled their faces and voices.
"Hold it!" Lightning silenced the entire crowd with just those two words. Immediately, everyone sat down, shame coloring their faces.
"Now. One at a time." Lightning sounded far calmer than what they saw of the others.
The girl addressed earlier as Alexa instantly shot to her feet and began to rant, "The hunters? Why would they help us? They abandoned most of us on the street before we turned eight." Nods of agreement, though not from everyone, made the two very tense.
"Why? Because it was safer that way." Alexa gave a sarcastic snort. "Lightning, you can't go out in public because otherwise the monsters that your family killed... Their family will go after you."
"Alexa, I can go out in public." Lightning protested.
Alexa snorted again. "Yeah..." She drawled. "With a mask, a hood, and thirty-six throwing knives hidden in your jacket."
"Also," Lightning continued, again acting as though she had not been interrupted. "Not that many of us were abandoned on the streets. Our families placed most of us into the foster system."
"Yeah but-" Alexa began.
"They had no way of knowing that the families of the monsters they killed would come after us." Lightning snapped.
Dean hit pause and turned to Bobby.
"Is this true?" He indicated the screen.
Bobby nodded. "Lots of them just get left in foster care because the hunt is a dangerous place to grow up. We don't realize that vampires, werewolves, and other lovelies will go after them because they smell like their parents. Judging by what Alexa described, Lightning's family has pissed off a demon, and it's been after her to get revenge."
Bobby frowned. "Most of them run for it, grabbing silver, iron, and everyday metal where they can, melting it down into knives. They all know how to fight. They have to fight for every breath of air." Sam hit play again and Alexa continued.
"They could have checked on us! They could have made sure that we would be alright in the foster system! And now we're supposed to forgive and forget?!"
"NO!" Lightning's shout caused Alexa to freeze, then sit meekly back down. "No." She repeated more calmly. "Those few that have actively been abandoned by hunters on the streets are not being asked to forgive and forget. I am trying to give you other options after I go back to my family."
"Will you stay with them Lightning?" Silver's voice was gentle and they heard Lightning take a deep breath.
"Yes Silver. I'm planning on it."
"And if we don't want you to?" Alexa's voice was challenging.
"Then I will anyway. My family is my family Alexa. Not even you can stop me from going back." Lightning's voice contained a harsh sound of determination and quite a bit of resignation.
Silver stood suddenly, "I agree with Lightning. It is her choice to return to her family, and we have no right to interfere as a gang. But I also think that we should go one step further. Our gang should ally with the are large enough to keep away those who decide that we should not do as we please.." The twins stood as well. "It has our support. All who agree?" There was great scraping sound as many stood.
"Then it's decided." Lightning regained their attention. "We will assist the hunters. Silver, as our best runner, take a tape of this meeting and deliver it to Robert Singer. He will know how to get the information to my family without too much suspicion. Martin, Daniel, you will accompany her for safety reasons. Now that we have formally declared where our loyalties lie, everyone must go out in groups of three or more. Look out for gangs that were our friends yesterday. Our changed status of 'neutral' to 'hunters', isn't going to be taken lightly." Silver and the twins exchanged one last meaningful glance, then the tape cut out.
"Silver!" Bobby called and there were running footsteps. The same woman from the video, with her brown hair pulled into a messy ponytail and gray silver eyes skidded to a halt in front of him. She looked to be about seventeen off screen and she gazed at them with eyes that seemed way too old for such a young face.
"Yes sir?" She asked without sparing more than half a glance at the other hunters.
"It's Bobby." He grumbled. "Not Robert, not Mr. Singer, and not sir." She only blinked at him. "Where are the twins?" He asked, sending a wary look up the stairs. Silver groaned and turned back to the stairs. "Martin! Daniel! Get your asses down here and don't put pink hair dye in Bobby's shampoo!" Two complaints came down the stairs immediately.
"Aw Silver!"
"Come on! You're no fun!"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not meant to be fun; I'm meant to keep you two lunatics out of trouble. Now get down here!"
"Alright, alright."
"We're coming." And come they did, sliding down the banisters and crashing into each other.
"Guys, how many times have I told you not to crash into each other because you don't have the braincells to spare?" Silver said with a sigh.
The twin on the bottom piped up immediately, "Five hundred thirty-six thousand, six hundred and twelve times."
"No, it's five hundred thirty-six thousand, six hundred and fourteen times." His brother argued while Silver groaned and placed her head in her hands.
"Bobby?" Her voice was muffled.
"Yeah?"
"Do you have any aspirin?" She sent him a pleading look. "These two are driving me crazy."
"How 'bout you tell us who your family is and then you tell us who Lightning's family is and then we'll give you aspirin?" Dean bargained.
"My family..." She mused. "My family is dead, killed by a vampire nest. There were only two survivors. One of the vampires and myself. He's been after me ever since." Her eyes gazed at the group of hunters in exhaustion. "I've been on the run since I was ten. My real name is Tempest Martinez."
Martin and Daniel had sobered and both were staring at the ground, and one of them began to tell their story, "Our mother was very superstitious and believed that twins were bad luck."
His brother took up the story, "She decided that she couldn't have her perfect family touched by this bad luck."
Now they spoke in perfect synchronization. "She dumped us on the street when we were six and said," Their eyes flicked off the carpet and bored into their audience's. " 'I hope you die' " Silver placed a gentle hand on each of their shoulders in sympathy and compassion.
"And all your stories are like that?" Sam looked horrified.
Silver grimaced. "Most. Some of us were kidnapped and managed to get away or were dumped."
"So what happened to Lightning?" Sam asked.
Silver sighed. "There are parts of the story that she never told me, so you'll have to ask her on your own. What do you want to know first? Her real name or the story?" "Her name." Bobby ordered.
"Don't freak on me." She muttered. "Ravena Mary-Anne-" She hesitated again, her strange eyes focused on Dean. "Winchester."
And she cowered as Dean exploded. "WHAT!"
"Let me explain!" She rushed, her head still ducked. "Lightning told me only bits and pieces of what she believes happened. A shapeshifter or demon took her at the hospital right after her birth and left her on the street. Dallas Hernandez found her there and took her with him. As she grew older, the demons always came after her and she became accustomed to wearing long sleeves and a mask no matter the weather."
Dean swallowed. "What does she look like?" Silver sent him a sympathetic smile and held out a photograph. It was face down, he would have to flip it over. Instead he glanced back at Silver. "How old is she?"
"Twenty-six. She's your twin sister." He stared at the white back of the photograph, then quickly flipped it over. The woman on the image seemed to have the same eye-color and hair-color he did. Her hair was past her shoulders and tumbled down to her lower back. Sam peered at the picture over Dean's shoulder.
"How tall is she?" He asked.
"Shorter than you." Silver's voice was quiet.
"Why shorter? Aren't they twins?" Sam inquired quickly.
Martin tensed slightly but it was his brother who answered.
"Undernourishment. It's uncommon for any of us street kids to grow to the proper height. We just don't get enough nutrition."
"How much shorter?" Bobby asked.
"Three, four inches at most." Silver reassured. Dean examined the picture, looking at her face and stance.
"Is there anything different about her?" Bobby asked.
Silver sighed. "She has a photographic memory and the I. Q. of a genius." Dean and Sam stared at her.
"You have got to be kidding." Sam said in disbelief.
"I'm not joking." Silver murmured. "We had her take an I. Q. test and Dallas moved hell and high water to get her through high school."
"She passed all the honors classes and got pushed up two grades." Martin added.
"After Lightning graduated, she spent the next two years trying to find out who she was. She finally managed to find the hospital she was taken from and stole the records to find out what her name was and should have been." Silver continued.
"And what else can she do?" Dean asked. He wasn't particularly concerned with academics.
"Lightning can pick locks, throw knives, you know, the stuff that any street kid does like second nature." Martin said.
"What do you mean?" Sam questioned.
"Stuff like stealth. Raven's one of our best pick-pockets. She's a gang leader-" "Which means that she's defeated ten supernatural entities with at least three witnesses and defeated at least three gang leaders." Silver broke in.
"Nice!" Dean exclaimed.
"Anything that makes her different from Dean aside from gender?" Sam interrupted.
"She has tattoos on her back." Martin quickly responded. The hunters raised their eyebrows.
"Of what?" Bobby rumbled. If it's some boyfriend or something, I swear I'll... he thought in disgust.
Silver bit her lip, before making eye-contact with Bobby. "I think..." She hesitated a moment longer before continuing. "I think you should ask her when you meet her sir. They're personal, and I wouldn't be able to explain why she got them." This merely roused their curiosity, but the way Silver was gazing at Bobby, he figured he'd get nothing else out of her.
"Speaking of, when do we meet her?" Sam asked. Silver glanced at Martin who looked at Daniel who stared pointedly back at Silver who shrugged.
"I'd have to know her current cell-phone number." Silver muttered with a sigh and the twins snickered.
"What's so funny?" Dean asked, amused.
"It's a joke for everyone who knows Lightning." Daniel began.
"She always ends up losing or breaking her cell-phone," Martin continued. "Right now she's on her..." He turned to Silver. "What was it? Fourteenth?"
"Sixteenth." Silver corrected with a grin and Daniel snickered again.
"When'd she get her first cell-phone?" Sam asked with a slight smile.
"When she was ten." Dean and Sam stared at the twins before they started howling with laughter. Bobby was fighting a smile.
"You're telling me she's needed a new cell-phone every year?" Dean asked incredulously. Silver nodded, giggling.
"Anyway." Bobby called them back. "Do any of you three know her current phone number?" Silver bit her lip again, her eyes turning a gray blue as she thought.
"Three, one, four... Nine, three, one..." She frowned. "Eight, three, seven, two?" Then she shook her head with a grimace.
"No, that was her first cell-phone." Daniel muttered distractedly.
"Oh!" Martin stopped pacing. "Three, zero, two, one, zero, four, one, nine, two, three."
"How do you remember that?" Daniel gaped at his brother.
"Genius." Silver breathed.
"Yes I am." Martin grinned.
"What's her lucky number?" Dean asked with a grin.
"She doesn't have one." Martin said with grimace.
"Why?" Sam raised his eyebrow.
"Well, she always says that to have a lucky number you need to be able to have good luck, and for some reason, she never has good luck." Martin explained.
"Seems she got the Winchester curse." Bobby muttered with a slight smile.
"If the Winchester curse is bad luck, then yes, she did." Silver groaned.
"This is all very interesting, but can you, I don't know, call her?" Bobby asked in irritation.
"Oh, right!" Silver turned to glare at the twins. "Now, which of you lunatics stole my cell-phone?"
"He did it!" Each twin immediately pointed at their brother.
"You guys can tell me who did it later." Silver said with an overly sweet smile on her face. "However," Her eyes sparked. "I need it back... NOW!" A small knife flashed slightly as she half drew it from its sheath. Martin threw an old cellphone at Silver who caught it easily one handed.
Silver pasted the sweet, plastic, smile back on her face. "Thank you."
She flicked it open and typed the number in, placing the phone to her ear. "Lightning? Yeah it's me, Silver." She waited, tapping her fingers on her thigh. "Yeah, we're fine." Another pause.
"No, no trouble. Just one lunatic witch, a close miss with a werewolf, a zombie, and a few spirits." No trouble? Dean mouthed in shock and Sam shrugged. Silver paid them no mind as she waited. "Yes, I told them."
A pause and Silver laughed. "No, no violent reactions."
Then she groaned. "No, I don't have any broken bones, stitches, or concussions."
Martin and Daniel grinned at Silver's expression and she stuck out her tongue, before getting a wicked smile on her face. "Martin got cut by one of the spirits though." "WHAT!" This time everyone heard the response and Martin glared at Silver who smiled.
"Yeah, he's right here." She handed the phone over and Martin groaned, before taking it.
"Lightning, I'm fine; it was only five stitches. I got them because Daniel wasn't paying attention." Daniel gaped at his brother before backing away from the phone as though it were a bomb. Martin listened for a minute, flushing slightly at times, finally sighing in relief and handing it back to Silver.
"I hate you." He muttered and Silver sent him a smile, placing the phone back to her ear.
"Yeah... They're here." Silver rolled her eyes.
"They seem to be physically fine Lightning." She let out a strangled exclamation. "Look, do you want to talk to them?" She started towards the Winchesters, then shook her head.
"You can't avoid it forever. Which brings me to why I called. They want to meet you."
Silver paused a second, then, "Why? Wouldn't it be quicker if you come to us?" She frowned. "What kind of trouble?"
She waited again before turning white. "Okay, we're coming. How long can you guys hold out?"
A minute passed and Silver gaped. "Lightning, we're not just leaving you guys there!" Whatever Raven was saying made Silver stiffen, her eyes becoming an angry granite.
"Fine." She snapped. "We're heading back tomorrow though. As soon as the sun rises." She snapped the cellphone shut, glaring at it as though it contained a personal insult.
"Where's Lightning?" Martin sounded tired.
"Trapped." Silver spat and Daniel bolted upright.
"What!" Martin asked loudly.
"My point exactly. And guess where they are?" Silver snapped bitterly.
"Not-" Daniel began.
"Yes. Some thingy activated the alarm a few hours after we left. She and a few others haven't managed to get everyone out yet."
She bit her lip, worry clear on her face. "Apparently, she and Alexa are still stuck. She sent Dallas out with all children younger than fourteen." She turned towards Bobby.
"They're headed this way."
"You want me to take them in?" Bobby asked warily.
"Just for two days?" she pleaded. "They all have food, and they'll sleep in the junk yard. It's only until we can bust Raven out and make sure she and Alexa are mostly unharmed." Bobby gazed at the girl for a moment, watching her silvery gray eyes plead with him.
"Alright." The three street kids sagged in silent relief.
"Thank you." Silver murmured.
"Where is Raven trapped?" Dean switched the subject.
"Where we last made camp," Daniel gazed at him in confusion. "Why?" Dean and Sam stared at him.
"We're gonna help, that's why." Dean said firmly and a ghost of a smile flitted across Silver's face.
"You Winchesters are all alike. Too damn stubborn for your own good."
"She's stubborn?" Sam asked quickly and Daniel grinned.
"Like you wouldn't believe."
"Trying to convince her to do anything that she does not want to do, is kind of like telling sandstone to be marble," Martin continued.
"Not physically possible." Silver grumbled, irritation and amusement warring themselves in her expression. "If I've told her once, I've told her a hundred times, getting herself killed is unhealthy." She glanced at the two Winchesters solemnly.
"If you guys are coming along, we'll need a transport system for four people. Martin, Daniel, and I walked here, but it took us seventeen hours almost non-stop and we don't have two days to spare. And," She lifted a hand to stop Dean from talking. "I need to drive."
"Why you?" Sam asked curiously.
"Martin and Daniel don't know how." She stated matter-of-fact. "And you two don't know where." Dean grimaced at the truth.
"How long should it take?" He asked warily.
Silver smirked. "The way I drive? Forty-five minutes at most."
"Why only four people?" Sam asked.
"Martin and Daniel aren't coming. If Dallas arrives, and Daniel and Martin aren't here, they won't trust any of you. It's easier this way. Trust me."
"You guys are paranoid aren't you?" Bobby asked and Silver's face hardened. "We're alive, ain't we? There's a lot of us who aren't. If you want, you can ask Lightning, though don't blame me if she gets pissed off. Ask about Spike, or better, Emily, and see her reaction. Or ask about Sean, Jacquelyn, Xavier, Mary-Lynn, Jack, Andrew, Riley, or ten others." Silver's eyes pierced the hunters angrily. "None of them are alive anymore. None. So yes, I'm paranoid. But I'm also one of the ones who survived the first five years on the street." She allowed her eyes to reprimand them for a few more moments, before stalking out the door.
"Is that true?" Sam asked the twins who stared up at him with a look that he could associate with street kids. Harsh, angry, and bitter.
"Yep. Andrew got torn to pieces, Riley got bitten, Spike vanished, Emily-," Martin swallowed. "Emily went down fighting." Sam longed to ask, but examining their expressions, thought better of it.
"Jacquelyn ran into a vampire. Xavier was killed by a curse on a knife that we picked up. A demon possessed Jack. Mary-Lynn hasn't been heard of for three years." Cold brown eyes analyzed the hunters in the room.
"Yeah, a lot of us are dead. But we're alive, and that should count for something. Besides," Their tone became lighter. "How many of you sleep with a knife or gun under your pillow?" Dean grinned wryly. He was one of them and he knew it.
"So you guys are staying here to do baby-sitting?" Dean asked with a smirk.
"Sort of," One of them remarked soberly.
"Silver wasn't exactly kidding when she said I got hit, you know, and Lightning always says, 'Between three injured people and one who's not injured, always take the non-injured one.' " He grimaced.
"As much as I hate this, Silver's right. We gotta stay behind." They shrugged and, in perfect tandem, turned to the door. One of them headed out, but the other stayed in the doorway. Both gazed down the road for a moment, then the one outside headed into the junk yard. Martin stood in the door a moment and turned back to the Winchesters with a slight smile.
"Silver has an annoying habit of waking people up at dawn."
Dean groaned. "Seriously?"
Martin's smile widened. "Seriously. So to be honest, we really don't care that Silver's going somewhere." Now it was a full-blown grin. "We get to sleep in!" With the same smile pasted on his face he hurried to the junkyard.
"Dawn?" Sam groaned. "Really?"
Dean shrugged. "We can sleep in the car if we're tired."
"Wait," Sam stared at Dean. "You're going to let a girl you've never met drive your baby?"
Dean scoffed. "Of course not! She's gonna have to tell me where, and I'm driving."
Sam laughed. "Now that sounds like my brother!"
"Bitch." Dean muttered as they walked up the stairs.
"Jerk."
Hello. Yeah, I'm still alive. I realize that I haven't updated my other stories, and I'm sorry, but they're probably going to stay on hiatus for now. All of them are up for adoption, except for Marauder's Map (which was already adopted). If you are willing to wait, they are going to be completed sometime in the future. At the moment, I'm too busy, and I have no inspiration. Especially after my labtop deleted the newest chapter for a lot of them.
On a different note; please review. I haven't written in awhile, and I've never tried to write Dean and Sam Winchester, or Bobby Singer, so tell me if I was a complete and utter failure, or if I managed to get them right. Heck, tell me if you want anymore. I have the second chapter complete, if unedited, but unless I know that there's an interest for it, I'm not gonna post it.