OLIVIA – CHAPTER ONE
When I was sixteen, I developed terrible yet amazing powers. All of a sudden, I could open any door with my mind or cause a book to fly across the room. I could slice a tomato in half by moving the blade of a knife right through it. If I didn't feel like doing it myself, I could use a special tone in my voice and my sister and my parents would do anything I told them to. At school I could make the bullies leave me alone, or I could tell a teacher to not give out homework or give me an A on a terrible paper. Anything I wanted them to do they did if I told them too.
At first I thought it was a gift. I could be lazy and productive at the same time. I could walk through town during a weekday and no one would tell me to go to school. But with every gift comes a price.
The price I paid was high.
When my mother found out, she freaked.
"What are you?" She held a cutting board in front of her in case any more objects came flying at her. I had reached out to her.
"Don't touch me! Get away!" My mother swung the board at me, catching my fingertips.
"Back up Olivia!" My father ordered me back and I had turned to face him.
"Daddy – " My voice broke.
"Don't talk to me! There's something wrong with you" I remember that his hand shook as he pointed at me.
When I looked at my little sister in the corner, she had been timidly glancing between me and my parents, and cast her eyes downwards as mine fell on her.
"Lily, please-"
"Leave her alone!" As my father grabbed my hair and pulled me backwards, the pain sparked something in my head and a white china plate flew out of cupboard and into the fridge three inches from his head. The cupboard door smacked my mother on the head and she cried out in pain.
"Get out!" She screamed. "Get out of this house now!"
"Mom!"
"Now!"
Grabbing me by the arm, my father pulled me out of the kitchen, down the front hall, and to the front door. He flung the door open and threw me out onto the porch, the momentum carrying me down the steps and onto the wet paved walk-way.
"Stay away from this family! Do you hear me?! Stay away from us!"
"Livvy!" Lily tried to push through my father.
"Get back in the house Lily!" He shoved her back inside. "And you!" He pointed at me with a terrified, angry glare. "You need to leave and never come back! I had better not see you around here again!"
I suppose I could've used my mind control, but I was too scared and couldn't bring myself to do that to my family.
The door slammed as I picked myself up off of the pavement, my knees, elbows, and cheeks scraped by the gray stones.
That was the day I left home and never looked back.
But that was seven years ago. Since then I've become a hunter. In other words, I am a person who hides from the law and hunts monsters.
We're all over, but no one sees us. If they have we've disguised ourselves as someone else in order to get into a place or get information.
Within our little secret society of sorts, we have celebrities; famous hunters that the rest of us look up to or envy. Two of the most famous are Sam and Dean Winchester.
I know more about them than most people do because I know Bobby Singer. I haven't known him for more than three years, but he gives me a place to stay between jobs if I'm in the area and valuable information I can use on hunts. For ages he's been trying to hook me up with the Winchesters; tried to get me to hunt with them.
"Just once." He said. "Just once. You'll like 'em."
Every time I refused, Bobby would give up, only to try again the next time I passed through. I would say no again, and the cycle would continue.
I've never been interested in working with or socializing with other people. It's never been necessary. I've survived being possessed by a demon, attacked by vampires, hunted by werewolves, and a number of other things. No one helped me survive an apocalypse, and no one will ever have to.
Today I'm at Bobby's again. There's never really a room to sleep in, so I clear off an old mattress in an upstairs room and shove the stacks of books and papers aside to make room for my duffel bag. I don't mind the clutter. I've been forced to stay in worse places and it makes it harder for someone, or something ¸to get near me unnoticed.
The room I'm using currently has a full-length mirror on the closet door. My long, black hair is always getting in my face, so I use the mirror to pull it back into a braid. When I'm done, I turn from side to side, admiring myself. I'm wearing the same jean-jacket, black jeans, and red high-tops I always do, but I enjoy admiring myself.
My best features – or so I've been told, are my eyes. They are a deep, solid, blue with the blackest of black pupils.
I hear the front door close downstairs, and then voices.
"Hey Bobby." A man's voice.
"Hey boys. How'd it go up there?" Boys? Oh crap. Sam and Dean must be here.
"Uh, not bad actually." A third guy. Definitely the Winchesters.
"Not a big challenge compared to a lot of other things."
"You guys okay with hittin' the road right away again?"
I step out of the room and step over to the top of the stairs where I can see into the living room. Bobby is standing with his back towards me, and there are two other people in the room with him. I've never met either of the Winchesters, but Bobby has talked about them enough for me to recognize them.
"Why? You find something?" The first guy, probably Dean, is only slightly taller than Bobby with dark blond hair cut close to his head and is wearing a dark green jacket.
"Yeah. Up in Michigan. Flint I think."
"Flint? I thought that place was usually pretty quiet." The second guy, I'm guessing Sam, is a heck of a lot taller than I imagined. He practically towers over Bobby. His hair is actually kinda long and dark brown, and he's wearing a blue, plaid shirt.
"It is, mostly. But there's something goin' on up there."
"Got any clues?"
"Yeah. But there's somethin' else we need to do first."
"What is it?"
Bobby turns towards the stairs and shouts, "Liv? Get down here!"
I respond with a sigh. "You set me up Bobby!"
"Yeah, so?"
"So, I keep saying no!"
"Just get down here ya idjit!"
As I groan internally, I reluctantly walk down the stairs and into the living room, where I cross my arms and glare at Bobby.
"Sam, Dean, this is Olivia Maxwell, Olivia, this is Sam and Dean Winchester." Bobby gestures to each of us in turn. I look at them for a split second, but refuse to acknowledge them.
"Wait. Olivia?" Dean raises his eyebrows and looks at Bobby. "Olivia, as in, the girl with the mind-crap?"
Now he's got my attention. "Mind crap?" I glare first at him, then Bobby. "Mind crap?! Bobby, you told them?!"
"Yeah."
I huff in irritation. "Jesus, Bobby! Is nothing confidential?"
"I told you all about them."
"Yeah, okay, but they don't have a whole lot of secrets to hide!"
"Okay I beg to differ!" Dean takes a step forward.
"Oh yeah?" I get right in his face. "Like what? Everything Bobby knows, I know!"
"Oh I highly doubt that." Dean grins at me.
"What happened in your life that could possibly be so dark that he wouldn't tell me about it?"
"Guys!" Sam interrupts and Dean and I both turn to look at him. "Bobby, you had a job?"
"Yes I did. And if you two idjits wouldn't mind, I'll get to explainin' it!"
Dean and I glare at each other for a moment, then turn to face Bobby.
"Whaddya got Bobby?" Dean crosses his arms.
Bobby walks behind his desk and pulls out a folder. "Couple of guys up in Flint've been murdered. Police report says they found strange wounds in the victims' necks, like some kind of animal bite. Bodies were drained of blood too."
"Vampires." Dean and I speak at the same time and he looks at me.
"That's my guess. There's been a couple of other similar murders in a few of the surrounding towns, but they seem more focused in Flint."
"How many victims so far?" Sam asks.
"Eight, last I checked."
"How many in the other places?"
"Two or three in each place."
"So, what, we thinkin' maybe more than one nest?" Dean asks.
I take the opportunity to cut in. "As close together as these places are I'm guessing one large nest with the stronger vamps dominating the Flint area and the weaker or new ones extending into the other places."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's now how vamps work, alright?" Dean looks right at me like I've said something stupid.
"Bobby, tell him about Tampa." I roll my eyes. Dean has no idea what I know.
"Tampa? You mean that job you worked in Florida?" Bobby raises an eyebrow at me.
"No 'cuz I worked a job in Tampa, Virginia. Yes Florida!"
"We don't have time for that. You guys need to get goin' on this." He gestures to all three of us.
"Wait. Why'd you say you guys?" I look at him apprehensively.
"All three of you are going together."
"No!" Again, Dean and I speak in unison.
"Why not?"
"Bobby, can I talk to you for a second?" Dean pulls Bobby into the kitchen out of earshot, leaving me and Sam alone in the room. I immediately fall back onto the couch, arms crossed and legs stretched out, feet crossed at the ankles. Sam sits next to me.
"So." He says, not looking me in the eye. "You're name's Olivia?"
"Yeah. I go by Liv."
"Cool." A moment of silence passes. "How long have you known Bobby?"
"Three years."
"You hunt with him?"
"Nope."
"You been a hunter long?"
"Yep."
"What got you started?"
I face Sam. "Look, what little information Bobby hasn't told you, I'm keeping to myself."
"Fine by me." He faces forward again, elbows on his knees.
As I lean my head back, I catch a little bit of Bobby and Dean's conversation.
"Why does she need to come anyway? Sam and I do fine on our own."
"She could use the experience."
"Experience?!" I sit up and yell into the kitchen. "Have you forgotten about Washington D.C? And how about Vegas? Or Lincoln, or Ypsilanti, or Cincinnati, or Phoenix?" I stood up. "And please don't say you've forgotten that whole shape-shifter, demon business in Texas!"
"I mean experience workin' with a group ya moron!" Bobby hollers back. Then to Dean he says, "She's good in a fight too."
"I'm not any better than any other hunter!" I yell at him again.
Bobby walks back into the room. "Oh for Pete's sake Liv! You can fling a damn chair across the room with your mind and make people bend to your will!"
Ignoring Dean and Sam again, I say "You know I don't like using either of those, and mind control doesn't work on monsters anyway!"
"This conversation is over, Liv. You three are going to Flint together, and that is final!" All three of us stare in silence at Bobby.
I look down at my feet. "Fine." I say quietly. "But I'm taking my car. I refuse to ride with them."
"Fine. Just get outta here." Bobby waves his hand dismissively.
"Let's go Sam." Dean walks out the front door with Sam following close behind.
Before I follow them out, I give Bobby a look of disapproval.
"Don't look at me like that. The experience will be good for you. Now git!" Bobby shoos me out the door.
Outside, Sam and Dean are standing on either side of their Impala, probably talking about me.
"Problem boys?" I pick up my duffel bag from the front porch and walk past them to my own car. It's a Camaro I found in Bobby's yard. When I first saw it, the thing was a piece of junk that most other people wouldn't have looked twice at, but because I have way too much time on my hands and don't like hitch-hiking, I fixed it up until it was perfect. The entire thing is black and sleek looking, with silver rims and fins on the back. On the inside, the leather seats are black too, with red and gold accents.
"No." Sam replies. Then he looks at my Camaro. "Nice car by the way."
"Thanks, but we don't have time to talk." I open the driver-side door. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can be done with the two of you." I slide into my car and close the door. Sam and Dean do the same.
Because I feel like it, I roll down the windows as soon as the car starts and rev the engine, just to show the boys that my car is much better than their Impala.
"Try and keep up, okay?" I holler over to them. Dean looks at me with confusion and a slightly insulted expression. "See you in Flint!"
My foot steps on the gas pedal, and I fly ahead of them out of the lot and into the street. About a hundred or so feet down the road, I check my rearview mirror and see the Impala pull out of the lot. There's no way they're going to get ahead of me to Flint.
It's early evening, so the sun hasn't set yet, but I won't get to my destination before dark, so I open the passenger-seat glove box and pull out a bag of Warheads. Sour for sure, but guaranteed to keep me up. To assist with this, I pull out my iPod and turn on the Bluetooth so I can play some music. Most of what I have is loud, heavy, metal type stuff; useful for staying awake.
With AC/DC blasting through the car, I look in my mirror again to see if the boys are behind me, but I can't see any sign of them.
A few hours into the drive, my phone buzzes. I pick it up to see what it wants, bright screen illuminating the now dark car interior, and discover that Bobby has texted me Sam and Dean's cell numbers. I won't need them much, but I add them to my contacts anyway so the numbers won't get lost. Who knows? Maybe they'll get lost and I'll have to text them directions. Bobby probably sent them my number too.
Sure enough, my phone buzzes again at one AM. It's Sam.
Getting late. Want to find a motel to stay the night?
I respond. Nope. Driving straight through. Go ahead and find a place if you want. See you in Flint.
There's no response after that, so I assume that they decided to keep driving.
I'm the first one in Flint, and there's no sign of Sam or Dean anywhere. Eventually, I drive by Chevy in the Hole – an old factory site, it's just pavement now – and decide to pull into the lot and see if I can't sleep for a little while before the boys catch up. I drive into the lot through a large gap in the fencing, turn off my car, and lean back in the seat.
I don't sleep heavily, so I don't dream. It's just something I've never done since I left home.