4 months after Sam leaves for Stanford
What do you buy a demon hunter for Christmas? That was the problem Kylie Anderson was currently facing. It was nice to have that as her biggest problem. Lately all of her problems seemed to involved the undead.
Kylie met Dean Winchester when he was impersonating an officer and questioning her about the death of a family friend, Terry Simone. He was asking the strangest questions. Had she been seeing things lately? Acting strange? She knew right away that something was off.
She answered his questions the best she could. She left out the fact that both she and Terry, along with two victims killed earlier that month, were gypsies. He was brighter than the real cops, apparently. A few days later, he was banging on her door. He was soaking wet from the rain, and he wasn't in a suit. He wore a pair of worn in jeans, a black t-shirt, and a brown leather jacket.
"What aren't you telling me?" Dean asked when she answered the door.
"Why don't you come in?" she let him in and shut the door.
"What aren't you telling me?" Dean asked again.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what the hell aren't you telling me? I need to know, Kylie. I know that you aren't telling me something. What does the word 'Romani' mean to you?"
Kylie let in an audible sharp intake of breath. "You aren't a regular cop, are you?"
"I can explain." Dean took off his jacket and led her into her living room where they sat down on the brown couch.
"So what's your brilliant explanation for impersonating a cop?"
Dean explained that he was a demon hunter. He thought that the killings in her town were supernatural. It didn't take her long to get over the whole 'ghosts are real' thing as her family had told her legends like that all of her life, claiming they were true. She just never truly believed it until now. "All four of the victims seem to all be involved in something. There are Tarot cards and crystals and charms everywhere. But I can't figure out what they're into. They aren't witches or psychics. They have no books on whatever it is they're doing."
"There are only three victims." Kylie corrected him.
"The fourth was killed an hour ago. Alexandra Callum. Know her?"
"Yeah." Kylie ran a hand through her dark hair. "We're gypsies. That's what the word 'Romani' means, gypsy."
"So what exactly do gypsies do?" Dean questioned. The only gypsy he'd ever seen was in the Hunchback of Notre Dame...well, the at least the porn version of it.
"Nothing much. Live like everyone else but with the occasional Tarot reading. A couple hundred years ago, we would've been traveling all over the country practicing spells and stuff. But things change, and traditions die. The only gypsy tradition I've ever really learned was Tarot readings."
"So you can tell me my future?"
"Kind of. It doesn't always work. Sometimes people misinterpret them. Some times people just don't believe enough for it to work."
"I've seen a whole lot in my lifetime. I think I'll believe enough."
Kylie agreed to give him a reading. They went upstairs and stopped at a closet.
"You have to give the reading from inside a closet? Interesting." Dean asked sarcastically.
Kylie took out a fluffy white towel and handed it to him. "No, I just thought you might not want to catch pneumonia."
She took out the Tarot cards from the desk of her home office. She was an advice columnist in her local newspaper. Underneath about twenty unopened letters in the desk drawer there was a worn in deck of Tarot cards.
"What is the future of Dean Winchester?" she asked aloud as she shuffled the deck and divided them into three even piles. This was the simplest, quickest reading she knew.
She turned over the top card of the first pile. It revealed the Devil.
"It doesn't always mean something satanic. Though with your job it might. But usually it signifies obsession, uncontrolled energy, or sexual desire." Dean smirked at the last option.
"Alright then. I don't really think you needed Tarot cards to tell you that you were horny." Kylie rolled her eyes and flipped the top card of the next deck.
"Lovers. Pretty self explanatory. Though sometimes it can mean getting your priorities straight or re-evaluating what you believe in. But usually it's the self explanatory option. So you're going to get horny, get laid, and then..." Kylie turned over the next card to reveal Death, "and then you'll leave her. So basically, you'll have a one night stand in the near future."
"I didn't need Tarot cards to tell me that."
"I never said they'd tell you a future you didn't already know."
"What if you misinterpreted it? What else could it mean?"
Kylie sighed. "Well, first is the Devil. You could be a bit too obsessed with something. Lovers, you'll re-evaluate your beliefs. Maybe you'll get over the obsession. And then you'll die. Personally, I prefer option number one."
"You want to be the one night stand?" Dean smirked.
"I meant I didn't want you to die. But you know what? I think I might change my mind on that. What does having a Tarot reading have to do with the killings?"
"Just wanted to know what gypsies do."
"Not much at all really."
"Alright, but there is still a gypsy community though, right? Even though you guys don't really do much..."
"Yeah, our parents and grandparents and all the generations stayed pretty connected. A lot have moved though. There used to be about seventy gypsy families here in Carlson, but now there are only about fifteen, maybe twenty."
"Can you tell me every family's name?"
"Probably, why?"
"There is a spirit, and it's going after gypsies. I need to find out who it'll attack next."
Kylie stayed up most of the night with Dean. She helped him with research and listing the gypsy families still in Carlson, Georgia. She stayed up a lot of nights with Dean doing research. After about a week, Dean asked her, "Don't you have a job or something to go to in the morning? I probably shouldn't be keeping you here."
Kylie explained that there really wasn't any place she had to be. She was an advice columnist. She worked from home half the time. "Unless I'm getting in your way. If you don't want me here, just say so."
"No, no." Dean quickly said, "I like you here. I mean you being here is fine. I just didn't want to interrupt your life or anything."
"This is far more interesting than my life." Kylie smiled.
He smiled back. She had wondered about the one night stand. He'd been with her every night. Had he had any time to be with another girl? She mentally slapped herself for thinking about it. Kylie didn't want to get involved with him. She barely knew him. He'd be gone after he killed the spirit.
Yet three days later, after they'd had a night of more research and a couple beers, she didn't stop him when he kissed her. She didn't stop him when he deepened the kiss. Hell, she was the one who started taking his shirt off. She was officially screwing Dean Winchester.
That was three weeks ago. It was hard to find the spirit. There was a killing about once a week. There was almost no pattern. Research was always followed by fooling around. Or fooling around was followed by research. Either way, it made the research a hell of a lot more enjoyable.
She took a break from researching to do some last minute Christmas shopping with Elle four days before the 25th. She was a lifelong friend of Kylie's. Elle was completely aware of Dean as she was also a gypsy. They didn't get a long much.
"So you're sleeping with the demon hunter. What do you get a demon hunter for Christmas?" Elle asked.
"I have no idea. He likes girls, beer, and his car. And guns. He lives on the road. He doesn't keep little knickknacks like everyone else."
"Demon Hunter sounds like more of a gypsy than we do." Elle said as she tied her long blonde hair back in a ponytail.
"Tell me about it."
"Do you really like him?"
"No, I mean he's going to leave. I can't. He's just around for now. He'll be gone in a few weeks. I can't get attached."
"Alright, who are you trying to convince of that? You or me?" Elle questioned.
"Car cleaner. He likes his car. He'll like that."
"I'd go with lingerie."
"I'm not getting serious."
"That isn't getting serious. That's getting laid." Kylie playfully smacked Elle's arm. "C'mon, he isn't even living at his hotel anymore. You are living with your boyfriend."
"He isn't my boyfriend. He's just a friend. And he needs a place to stay. My house is better than a motel that smells like puke. I'm just being a good friend giving him a place to crash."
"So the sex is just how he pays rent? I need to get a roommate like that." Elle smirked.
"You're horrible. Just absolutely horrible." Kylie rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I am." Elle grinned as they walked into another store.
Kylie walked into her house and heard Dean on his cell phone.
"Hey Sammy, it's Dean. Look, I know we haven't talked in a while...but I just wanted to say Merry Christmas. Dad and I are doing alright. I thought maybe you'd pick up your phone now. Guess not. Or maybe you're actually not home this time...Dad didn't mean what he said. You know how he gets. He'd be okay if you came back, you know." Dean sighed. "It's been four months, Sam. I really want to hear from you. I just want to know that you're okay. I'll leave my cell number again. 212-555-0846. Anyway...take care of yourself, Sammy." Dean hung up the phone and dropped his head into his hands.
"Hey." Kylie said.
Dean's head shot up. "Hi."
"Who is Sammy?" Kylie asked.
"He's my brother. He's at college. Stanford." Dean answered.
"Wow, nice school."
"Yeah, so you look like you bought the whole mall." Dean quickly changed the subject and tried to put on his best smile.
"Yeah, six brothers and two parents. Lots of presents. They're all scattered throughout the country now."
"Even your parents?"
"Yep, they're in Oregon. My dad works for a paper company. He got transferred a couple years back." She said as they walked to the kitchen.
"You going to see them for Christmas?"
"No, plane tickets are expensive, and advice columnists don't get paid that well. I did a road trip there last year, but that sucked. I'm just going to chill out here and pig out on Christmas cookies this year. What about you? Are you going to see your brother?"
"Uh, no. We don't really talk much anymore. I doubt that the case will even be finished by Christmas. I'll probably still be here."
"Good. I can have a cookie eating partner. You better be prepared for some real competitive eating. I was raised around six pigs for brothers and tons of pie eating contests." Kylie decided not to press the brother issue as it didn't seem like it was his favorite subject.
Dean grinned. "Oh, I can eat. I am awesome at eating."
"We'll have to see about that."
It was Christmas morning and Dean was in bed with Kylie. Neither had slept all night. It was about five thirty in the morning. Kylie kissed Dean. "Again?" he asked.
"No," she giggled, "just kisses."
"Good. I can go for a long time, but I need a couple minutes to recharge here."
Kylie kissed him again. "I need longer than a couple minutes. I don't think I'm going to be able to get up tomorrow as it is."
"Well then I guess you'll have to stay in bed all day today and tomorrow too." Dean grinned.
"Somehow, I don't think that would help with you around. And I have to go out with Elle tomorrow."
"You chicks and shopping." Dean shook his head.
"Hey, sales are kick ass the day after Christmas. What would I tell Elle?"
"That your Christmas present was a night of mind-blowing, orgasmic sex. Maybe she'll come up with another nickname for me besides 'Demon Hunter.'"
"Trust me, you won't want the nickname she would give you if I tell her that."
Dean kissed her again. He glanced out the window. "Shit. I gotta go."
"Now? The sun is only just starting to come up. It's like five in the morning, Dean." Kylie told him as he zipped his jeans.
"I figured out a way to kill that stupid spirit...at least I hope so. I'll tell you about it when I get back."
Dean had realized that there was one cemetery in town. If this person died in town, he was buried here. It was Christmas. Before people thought of it as the birth of Jesus Christ, they thought of December 25th as the Winter Solstice. Dean learned that by placing a certain mixture of powerful herbs at the north, south, west, and east sides of the cemetery, along with at every entrance and exit, at sunrise on Winter Solstice, it would put all spirits buried in the cemetery to rest.
Dean pulled into the cemetery and stepped out carrying a small garden shovel and six little satchels containing herbs like cacao, agrimony, and mullein. Dean easily dug the holes at every entrance, exit, and side and buried all the satchels.
The sunrise would be over in a few minutes. He thought it seemed too easy. He wondered if he was too late. He got in his car and began to drive off. He would have to wait and see if it worked. All of the thoughts he had of failure were put to rest when he looked back saw a transparent golden dome form over the top of the cemetery. It was gone a second later. Dean knew that it must have signified that it worked.
He went back to Kylie's house to find her asleep. He decided not to wake her up. He took the green gift bag with the Sonus Perfect Leather Interior Kit that she'd given him hours earlier. She said that it was more of a 'thank you' gift than a Christmas. She was thanking him for protecting her. She'd kissed him and had this look in her eyes. It made Dean want to run like hell.
He didn't do relationships. He did one night stands. She was getting attached. He'd leave tomorrow. Tomorrow would mark the first whole week without a murder. As long as no one died tonight, he'd be able to leave.
Dean began to rub the leather cleaner on the driver's seat.
It wasn't that he didn't like Kylie. He thought she was gorgeous and was a huge fan of the various things she could do with her tongue, but she looked at him like she wanted him to be around. She didn't know his past. She pretended that she knew everything she needed to, but she didn't have a clue.
About an hour later, after conditioning the leather seats of his car, he went back inside the house. He found Kylie in the kitchen making coffee in her white cotton pajamas. "Hey, your phone beeped a couple minutes ago. I think you've got a voicemail or something." Kylie informed him as she gave him a cup of the coffee.
"Thanks." Dean kissed her and grabbed his phone off the counter. He sat down at the table to check his voicemail while Kylie decided what to cook.
"You have two new messages." said the automated voice, "First message:"
"Dean, it's Dad. Call me today. I finished up that job in Wilmington. Let me know if you need help down in Georgia." Dean pressed 4 to erase the message. He'd call his dad after he ate.
The automated voice returned. "Message two:"
"Dean...um, it's Sam...I guess I just wanted to let you know that, um, I'm okay. I'm doing really good actually."
"Sam, are you almost ready?" Dean heard a female voice in the background of the message.
"Yeah, Jess," Sam's voice became more distant as he probably held the phone away from his mouth, "I'll be down in a second...so um, yeah. Be careful, Dean. Merry Christmas."
"Press 4 to erase message. Press 5 to send a reply message. Press 6 to save message." the automated voice said. Dean pressed 6. "Message saved. End of messages. Goodbye." That message would stay on Dean's phone until November 2005.
Kylie smiled at Dean after he hung up the phone. "Did you like your Christmas present?"
"Yeah, that was the best Christmas present ever." Dean said, staring at the phone.
"So what did you run out for this morning? You said you found a way to kill the demon?" Kylie asked.
"Yeah, I did." Dean finally took his eyes off of the cell phone and explained the whole idea of Winter Solstice and the cemetery to her.
"So it's dead? No one else is going to be killed?"
"Hopefully. I have to wait until tomorrow morning to make sure. But I think it worked."
Kylie leaned down over the table and gave him a long, passionate kiss. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He wasn't sure what to do.
The upstairs brain was telling him to leave now. Stay in a motel tonight. Downstairs was thinking about whether the kitchen table would be stable enough to hold their weight, or if the counter would be more steady.
As always, the downstairs brain won, and the kitchen table can hold both their weights. The day passed by quickly and they went to sleep together that night.
The next morning, Dean was putting his duffel bag in the trunk of the Impala. No one had died that night. It was safe now. "Leaving Demon Hunter?" Elle had just parked in front of Kylie's house.
"Yes, I am." Dean said.
"Are you at least going to say goodbye?"
"I didn't think you were that fond of me, Elle."
"I"m not. I was talking about Kylie."
"I'm not that much of an asshole." Dean shut the Impala's trunk.
"Could've fooled me." the petite blonde said dryly.
"That's cute, Elle. I'm waiting for her to wake up." Dean took a sip of his coffee from the bakery around the block.
"I'm going to see if she's awake now."
"Bye, Gypsy."
"Bye, Demon Hunter."
Kylie came out of the house a few minutes later with her robe over her pajamas. "Were you even going to say goodbye?"
"Does everyone think I'm that much of an asshole?"
"You never said you were leaving." Kylie crossed her arms.
"I told you when I came here, Kylie. I told you that after I finished the job I'd go meet up with my dad."
"I guess I just got used to you being around."
"I know. I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have let things get so...comfortable between us."
"It's okay. I should've listened to you. I should've listened to Elle. She was right."
"I have to go, Kylie. It's my job."
"No one can replace you?"
"Not really. I can't stand by and let people die when I know that I could prevent it."
"Why do you have to save the world? Why can't you get Clark Kent or Peter Parker do it for you?" Kylie asked, referring to the true identities of Superman and Spiderman.
"Because guys in tights don't kick half as much ass as guys in leather jackets." Dean smirked.
That got a small smile out of her. "Call me sometime?"
"Yeah, sure."
The two shared a long kiss.
"Goodbye Dean."
"Bye Kylie."
Elle stepped out onto the porch. She'd been watching from inside. "You know he isn't going to call."
"Yeah, I know." Kylie sighed.
"So how about some retail therapy? Nothing makes you feel better than a new little black dress that you look hot in." Elle put a comforting arm around her friend.
Dean looked in the rearview mirror. He knew that he wasn't going to call her. She'd want him to come back.
He headed out to meet his dad in Atlanta. He picked up his phone and called his voicemail.
"Dean...um, it's Sam...I guess I just wanted to let you know that, um, I'm okay. I'm doing really good actually."
"Sam, are you almost ready?" Dean heard the female voice in the background of the message.
"Yeah, Jess, I'll be down in a second...so um, yeah. Be careful, Dean. Merry Christmas."
Dean hung up the phone. "Yeah, definitely the best Christmas present ever."
A/N: Sooooo, it's February and I just posted a Christmas story...which was written in 2007. I'm posting a fic four years after writing it. I decided recently that I want all of my fanfic in one place so that I can keep track of it. It was posted on LiveJournal in '07, but I wanted it here too. If you liked the fic, or if you didn't like the fic, drop me a comment or review.