So this is my new story. It's Supernatural based because I'm a huge fan, and the new season airing on TV has me inspired.
This is an AU, it has alive Mary, kidnapped Dean, and it's based in a world where society is incredibly aware of the Supernatural, and Hunters are like royalty. The Winchester family are the best hunters around, and highly respected. They had two sons, Sam and Dean, however Dean was taken by Demons when he was four years old, and is believed dead. This is set about twelve years after that, but first chapter is prologue. BTW, I also aged Jo up a bit for this story, for reasons that shall become clear. The reason I haven't been updating my Harry Potter reading the Darkness Within story is because I got distracted by this one, but fear not! It hasn't been forgotten!
Enjoy.
Mary smiled down at her six month old son as she gently placed him into a high chair. She grabbed a napkin from the counter, and poured some water on the tray, scrubbing the sticky substance clinging to it off.
"Sorry Mary." Ellen cringed, leaning over the bar to hand Mary a cloth, taking the dirty napkin from her friends hand. Mary resumed scrubbing, having far more success with the cloth and smiling as the substance finally came off.
"What was that?" She dramatically exclaimed, exaggerating her exhaustion at the effort she had to put into removing the mess.
"Jo spilled her juice all over it this morning," Ellen sighed. "It completely slipped my mind, we've been so busy today."
"How many 'Hunters' have come through?" Mary questioned, rolling her eyes at the word 'hunters.'
"Too many." Ellen sighed. "I'm getting real sick of having to chase them all off. Why anyone would want this job is beyond me."
"You mean the job that earns you satisfaction, fame and money?"
"Hey! We're not all as rich or famous as the Winchesters!" Ellen teased with a smile. Mary grimaced, sighing as she gave her finger to her youngest son to play with. He gurgled happily, sucking on her finger and giggling when she tickled him under the chin.
"I wish it wasn't so." Mary admitted quietly. Ellen leaned forward in order to hear her friend more clearly, knowing that she would only confide in her while their husbands were out of the room. Mary refused to look Ellen's way, instead smiling at her adorable son. "I don't want this life for my boys."
"No one wants this life, not once their living it." Ellen wiped down the bar, smiling at her friend. "Try telling that to the 'Ghost Facers' though."
"No." Mary turned to her, "surely not."
"Oh yeah." Ellen giggled at the horrified look on Mary's face.
"They called themselves that?" Mary groaned, rubbing her hand over her eyes and pinching her nose in frustration.
"Yep." Ellen smiled at the memory of the two fake hunters. "Came round this morning." She hunched over, deepening her voice as she grunted out, "Mrs Singer! A job if you will!" She laughed along with Mary at her imitation of the two men who came to her bar earlier in the day. "Had to chase 'em off with my shotgun."
"Honestly, haven't they read the decrees made years ago?" Mary shook her head, before reciting;
"Official Government Decree Number 1, on the subject of the Supernatural and those who hunt them: In order to become a Hunter, one must be born or marry into a family. In the case of one marrying a Hunter, one must have full prior knowledge, and have gained the permission of the Supernatural Council before the marriage takes place."
Ellen nodded in agreement. "I recited the whole bloody thing, all fifty decrees! I swear, it went in one ear and out the other!"
"At least none of them offered to marry Jo," Mary raised her eyebrow at Ellen, remembering the man her brunette friend had hospitalised for proposing to her three year old daughter. Ellen glared at the glass of water she placed in front of Mary.
"The decrees are good though, stops lots of young idiots going out unprepared and killing themselves." Mary drank from the glass, swallowing hard. Ellen snorted,
"Makes my job harder though! Having to look up every dumbass that comes through those doors to see if they're legit, before assigning a job based on their bloody rank." She adopted a mocking tone, "Official Government Decree Number 2, on the subject on the Supernatural and those who hunt them: All Hunters shall be assigned a rank, dependent on their efficiency. This rank shall determine the difficulty of the hunts assigned, to eliminate unnecessary risk."
"Unnecessary risk my ass," Mary snorted.
"Pain in my ass." Ellen agreed. "Bloody hell, don't know what I was thinking, taking up the job of a damn assigner."
"Ah, you wanted to raise Jo. Can't do that if you're out on those bloody hunts all the time."
"Didn't stop you." Ellen said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't see you holed up at some hunter bar, assigning jobs to every damn hunter that comes your way."
"I may still be hunting, but that doesn't mean I'm hunting." Mary glowered.
"John still not letting you out?" Ellen queried. Mary shook her head with a glare. "Come on sweetheart, you know why." Ellen leaned over the bar and grabbed her friends hand. "Your boys still need their mum."
"But hunting is my family business. I love the boys, I really do," Mary cupped her chin in her hand, "but John seems to forget that he married a Hunter, he wasn't born one."
"So become an Assigner," Ellen tugged her friends hand when she scoffed and looked away, "No, really. You still get to go out on some hunts, and picking the hunts out is always fun. Besides," she smirked, "you can convince John to let the boys become Assigners, instead of Hunters." Mary gasped.
"Bobby agreed?" Ellen nodded.
"Yep. Guy mightn't be Jo's real daddy, but he's bloody persistent. Wanted her to be a Hunter right up till a few hours ago, when he found out about the Johnsons kid."
"Dead?" Mary asked, sympathy in her gaze.
"Ripped apart." Ellen nodded. "Poor thing just turned two." After a moments silence, Ellen continued, "So anyway, Bobby seemed pretty set on not lettin' Jo become a Hunter after that. Maybe it'll work on John too."
"Maybe." Mary smirked. She liked the prospect of raising her sons in a safer environment than John had planned. "Alright," she decided, "I'll take you up on it. Know any places in need of another Assigner?"
"Yeah," Ellen smiled, "here." The mothers laughed together as they continued to chat about meaningless things, Mary bottle feeding her son while Ellen organised some paper work for her to sign.
Screams caused the women to tense, relaxing as Jo came tearing into the room, little legs pumping fast. She shrieked with laughter as Mary's oldest boy came flying into the room behind her, grabbing her from behind and stumbling, pulling Jo to the ground with him.
"Dean!" Mary snapped, rushing over to make sure the kids weren't hurt.
"Sorry mum." The four year old mumbled, shuffling to his feet and helping Jo up.
"He didn't hurt me, mwisses Winchwester." Jo exclaimed, standing defiantly next to her friend with her hands on her hips.
"No?" Mary smiled. "Well aren't you a tough one!" Jo looked proud, preening and nudging Dean in the side, whispering excitedly in the older child's ear. Mary and Ellen exchanged smiles as they listened to the whispered words.
"Told you I was tuff!"
"Never said yous wasn't!"
"Yous did!"
"Didn't!"
"Did!"
"Didn't! I ain't stupid."
"Oh." Jo looked confused for a moment. "Well, boys are tuff too, I spose." Dean blushed hard. He ran away from the girl towards his younger brother to avoid answering, reaching up to grab the baby's leg.
"Sammy's tuff too, isn't he mum?"
"Course he is, sweetie." Mary crouched down beside her son. "But he still needs his older brother to look after him. Yeah?"
"Yeah!" Dean happily agreed.
The familiar roar of an engine distracted the boy, as he squealed, "Dad!" Bolting towards the door with Jo hot on his tail, clapping her hands delightedly. John and Bobby walked through the door, embracing the two youngsters. John ruffled Dean's hair, making the boy grin delightedly, before holding his hand and walking back towards Mary. Ellen grinned at her husband, seeing he had been conned by Jo into carrying her back over. She gave him a peck on the lips, laughing when Jo wrinkled her nose and pushed her way between them.
Mary hugged John, inhaling his scent and clinging to him, relieved her husband has returned safely to her. Ever since Ellen's first husband had tragically died on a hunt with John, she became increasingly stressed whenever her husband was out hunting. John rubbed her back reassuringly, before detaching himself from her and taking a seat at the bar. He tickled Sammy under the chin and pulled Dean onto his lap, sighing happily when Ellen placed a glass of scotch on the table in front of him. Pushing Dean's curious hands away from the glass, he took a long drink, washing away the tension from the hunt.
"Good hunt?" Ellen asked, handing Bobby a glass of Johnny Blue.
"Long." John answered.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Mary sighed, glad she didn't have to suffer longer than a week away from her husband. This time, at least. John chuckled, bouncing Dean up and down on his knee. Ellen pushed the hiring papers over to Mary, along with a pen to sign.
"What's this?" John frowned. Mary smiled at him.
"You'll be glad to know that I've finally decided to retire from hunting. This," she gestured towards the papers, "are the forms I have to sign in order to become an Assigner."
"Really?" John could barely keep the grin off his face, "that's fantastic!"
"Well don't hold back on your enthusiasm." Mary scolded playfully. John looked down, pretending to be abashed while his ever loyal friend, Bobby singer, laughed at him.
"It's a good thing you live close by mate," he clapped John hard on the back, causing Dean to jolt forward and scowl at him. "Oops, sorry little man."
Mary signed the papers and stood up, grabbing a sleepy Sam from the high chair. "Ellen, do you mind if-?"
"No, go ahead." The other woman said, waving her friend off. "The cribs in the room next to Jo's, you can't miss it." Mary nodded, taking Sam up the stairs to the residence above the Harvelle/Singer Bar. Finding the room, she placed her youngest into the old crib, kissing him on the forehead as he yawned sleepily, drifting off almost instantly.
"Night Sammy," She whispered leaving the room. Distracted by the prospect of her new job, she failed to notice the absence of noise coming from the ordinarily clicking tock on the wall, and the way the night-light briefly flickered.
The adults laughed together as they played pool under the watchful eyes of Dean and Jo, who stubbornly remained awake despite the late hour. Ellen had closed up early, not wanting to miss out on the company of her friends. Mary cheered as John sunk a six, then shrieked with drunken laughter as the cue ball followed it into the hole. John grumbled, pecking his wife on the lips as he retired from the pool table. As he made his way over to the kids, intent on putting them to bed, the lights flickered completely out. The change of atmosphere was instantaneous, everyone seemed to sober up immediately as Ellen and Mary grabbed their children and rushed behind the bar, hiding them behind the counter. They threw John and Bobby their salt filled shotguns, grabbing iron knives themselves, and joined their husbands in the center on the room. Ellen nervously fidgeted with the flask of Holy water on her belt, cursing her lack of preparation when she realized it was only half full.
"Shit." John muttered as the scent of sulpher filled the room.
"Demon." Bobby growled.
"Demons, darling," an oily voice corrected, as multiple figures emerged from the shadows. Under the counter, Dean covered Jo's mouth with his hand to muffle her whimper.
"And, of course, a very special Knight." A woman stepped out of the shadows, causing the Hunters to instinctively flinch back.
"Abbadon." Mary hissed, recognizing the demon who had killed the Johnsons child. "You fucking bitch."
"Language." The red head laughed, circling the group. "After all," she cast her gaze towards the bar. "There are children present." Bobby exchanged a look with John before subtly nudging Ellen. She cleared her throat, acknowledging that she knew what to do while simultaneously letting Mary in on the plan.
As Abbadon took her gaze of the group of Hunters to direct one of her demon minions to the bar, John leapt forward ramming the butt of his shotgun into the side of her face. Bobby kicked her hard across the room, while Ellen flung Holy water at the Demons who dared come near. Abbadon hissed in fury as the adults ran towards a pentagon that had previously been carved into the ground, knowing she couldn't follow for fear of being trapped. She disappeared, materializing behind the counter and grabbing the two children huddled there.
"No!" Mary screamed, running forward only to be held back by John.
"Let's go." Abbadon sneered. "We've got what we came for." She smirked in victory as her demons disappeared from the room one by one, until it was just her left. The Hunter's charged forward, dodging furniture she flung their way. "Say goodbye." Abbadon sung, shaking the children hard. Dean gave a wordless yell as he kicked Abbadon with all the strength his four year old body could muster. Abbadon shrieked, loosening her grip on the children. Dean yanked his arm free, pulling a crying Jo from her grip as well and pushing the younger girl towards their parents with all his might. Abbadon grabbed him tightly before he could follow, disappearing with a vindictive smirk.
"NO!" Mary and John cried together, crashing into the spot their child was moments earlier. Jo sobbed in her parents arms, as shocked sadness filled the room.
Dean struggled against the mean ladies grip, kicking out and digging his heels into the ground as he was dragged down a dank corridor. He was thrown roughly into a room containing an older man, who looked up in surprise.
"I require your services." The mean lady demanded. The man leapt from his chair, bending his protesting body into a bow.
"Anything, M'lady."
The lady looked at her prisoner, smiling as he stubbornly held back tears while meeting her gaze. He would do nicely.
"Make him loyal." She smirked, "unquestioningly loyal."
So there it is. Yay. I'm back. An with a new story! What do you think? Should I continue?
Please let me know!