I had always been a perfectly normal girl. Straight, brown hair and glasses. I was smart, I had friends, I had a boyfriend. I got good grades. My life was great. Until the cancer hit. I had leukemia, a blood cancer, and I was told that I had another month to live. This was one of the hardest times for my family. They were scared, and I wasn't. I wasn't afraid of dying. It was a part of life. Someone was crying every day and it always seemed like I was the one telling them it was ok. It was a really depressing time for me because I thought they were the ones who should have been strong and they should have been telling me it was ok. But as I was on my death bed, the meds took control and I was better. Of course it took me time, but I healed. Now, a whole year later, I'm a normal girl again that gets chemotherapy once every six months. It's hard because no one treated me the same. I got sympathetic looks as I walked through the hallways, people offering me chairs to sit in and helping me carry my books. I was the sick girl, the cancer girl, despite how healthy I felt. And I really hated it. I hated everything about my life, and I would have done anything for a new one. So when the opportunity came, I took it.
Weird things were happening in my small town in Ohio. There had been three deaths in one week, and one of them was one of my teachers I was relatively close to. Apparently their hearts had been ripped out. I wondered how the hell someone got their heart ripped out, but I left that mystery to the police on the case. I had spent the day crying in my room and tissues were scattered all over the floor. My parents had gone out a while ago, they knew I needed some alone time. All of a sudden, the doorbell rang throughout the silent house and I froze. My face was red and tear stained and my eyes were puffy. The doorbell rang again. Panicking, I threw some concealer on my face and dashed downstairs and peered out the window to see two utterly attractive men. One had short, spiked up golden hair and green eyes and freckles sprinkled across his face. The other was enormously tall, with shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes. The tall one saw me and held up an FBI badge. Oh god what did I do, I was a suspect wasn't I. Shaking, I opened the door.
~Dean~
When a tear stained, short haired girl answered the door, I was a little taken aback. I was expecting an adult, even though we had come for her.
"Casey Matthews?" I asked.
"I didn't do anything I swear!" she blurted. Sam, my brother, grinned at her.
"It's ok. We know you didn't, we just want to talk to you about Mrs. Karr."
"Oh. Oh right. Um, come in I guess. I'm home alone so I really hope you aren't like serial killers or anything so uh yeah come in please yes," she rambled on, stepping back to let us in. I chuckled to myself and stepped inside the house. Pictures of Casey and her parents were up on the wall, they were all happy smiling pictures of a perfect poster family.
"Sit, sit," she said shakily, sinking into an armchair. Sam and I sat down on the leather couch. "I'm-I'm Casey-well wait you already know that sorry uhm-"
"Calm down," Sam said gently. "Just because were FBI doesn't mean were mean."
"Attractive FBI," I heard her mutter. I raised an eyebrow and she blushed bright red as Sam pretended he didn't hear.
"Well, I'm Agent Stark and this is Agent Banner, we'd like to ask you a few questions about Mrs. Karr. From what we hear, you were rather close with her?" I asked. She nodded.
"I was. It was a shock when I learned that she died."
"Do you happen to know where she was last night?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow.
"Um...no I don't. We don't really talk about our plans."
"Do you know anyone that would want to hurt her? Or if they had some sort of…vengeance for her?"
"I'm sorry are these questions relevant?" I gave Sam a sideways glance.
"We just have to explore every possible scenario," Sam said.
"Well no. She was an old lady. Everyone loved her but we were just particularly close." Casey gave us a weird look. "Are you really FBI?" Crap. Busted. I clenched my hands into fists.
"Of course we are. Never question authority," I added at the end for good measure. She shook her head.
"Agent Stark and Agent Banner? What, you think I've never seen the Avengers?"
"Uh...um lucky coincidence," Sam said. Casey stood up.
"Right well if you would like to get the hell out of my house now, that would be great," she said sweetly, but with a look that could kill a tiger.
"Look Casey-"
"I'm sorry 'Agent Stark' I don't have time for your bullshit. And next time, do a better job with your fake IDs. I don't know who you are or why you care about what happened to Mrs. Karr, but I'm sure you weren't as close to her as I was. Now get out of my house before I call the police." I looked at Sam and we both knew she was tough. She could handle the truth about us. But the question was how would she take it. Most teenage girls don't really react well when they're told that their favorite teacher was killed by a monster.
"Sam?" He raised his eyebrows, asking me without saying anything if we could really trust Casey, but we both knew that answer was a yes. Right from the start I had sensed something different about her.
"Dean. Go ahead."
"What the hell is going on?" she practically screamed. "If you're trying to tell me something, please say it or LEAVE!"
"Fine. You caught us. We aren't FBI. Casey, your teacher was killed by a werewolf."
At first I froze, then I realized what he said and I burst out laughing.
"You really think you can lure me into letting you stay by telling me my teacher got killed by a werewolf?! I don't think so. Get out."
"Casey. I'm being serious. Look, I'm Sam, that's my brother, Dean," the taller one said. "And we aren't normal people. We hunt monsters and demons." I picked up the phone, but right before my finger pressed 9, another man appeared and I dropped the phone. He literally appeared out of nowhere.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said to me. The man was wearing a dirty trench coat over a suit with messed up black hair and piercing blue eyes.
"This is Castiel," Dean said. "He's an angel." I felt myself get lightheaded.
"I'm sorry?"
"An angel. You know from Heaven."
"This man. In a dirty trench coat. Is an angel?!" He looked slightly offended. I grabbed my hair. "Shit. Shit I'm going crazy. It's official. I'm officially insane and I'm hallucinating oh god."
"Casey. Casey listen to me," Dean said. Oh god my mind was bringing up insanely hot men. Hallucinating was not an effect of chemo. "Casey you are NOT going crazy. Sit down and breathe." I fell into my arm chair and looked at Sam and Dean, who sat on the couch. "Listen to us. Demons and angels and monsters are all real. There's a Heaven and a Hell. And we know for a fact that it's a werewolf that killed your teacher and we need to find it. You know it's real because you just saw Cas. You know humans can't just zap in and out of places." I shook my head.
"Nope. I absolutely refuse to believe you. There is no such thing as monsters. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go search some nearby mental institutions so I can put you guys in one. You seriously think I would believe that story?!" I laughed. "So stop with all of the bullshit and get out of my house."
"Casey. Listen to me right now," Dean said forcefully. "There are real creatures out there that will come and kill you."
"It's true," Cas spoke up. "I really am an angel. Heaven and Hell are real, and there are plenty more angels where I come from. You need to believe them, because if you don't, then you have a much higher chance of being killed." Dean shot him a look.
"C'mon Cas. Really? You can't just come out and say that." Cas squinted his eyes at Dean.
"Um, hello! Still here!" I said.
"Please, Casey. Believe us. We're the only hope you have now." I couldn't believe I was saying this.
"Fine. Fine I believe you for now. But if I learn that you're lying…let's just say you are in deep doodoo."
They all looked relieved.
"So…what other kinds of monsters are there? Assuming there are actually monsters." Dean ignored the last part.
"Plenty. There's shapeshifters, vampires, witches, ghosts…I could go on for days." I felt like I would throw up. They weren't lying. I felt goosebumps rise on my whole body. "Casey?"
"Oh...my god."
"Are you alright?" I choked back a gag. There was a moment of silence before Dean spoke. "Now that you know, you're more vulnerable." I looked outside. The sky had begun to get dark. My parents should have been home by now.
"Then I'd like to help."
"Excuse me?" Sam asked.
"I want to help you hunt these things or whatever. Someone has to do it and there can't be that many of you guys out there. I'm strong and I can fight. So I'd like to help." Plus it gave me a chance to be with very hot men, but I didn't say that out loud.
"Whoa whoa whoa, absolutely not," Dean said. I thought about the past events of my life, the way people looked at me. When I caught my boyfriend cheating on me. I only had one true friend.
"No. I want to help you find this thing."
"Casey-" Sam's phone started ringing. "Agent Banner," he said officially. His eyes widened and then said, "Ok. We'll be right there. Thank you." Sam hung up and looked at Dean. "Two more deaths downtown. Let's go." A dark dread filled me but I pushed it away. That wasn't possible.
"I'm coming," I said, standing up. Dean looked me up and down. "Right. Let me change."
"Casey-"
"I'm coming!" I yelled, already halfway up the stairs. I changed in under five minutes, putting on jeans and a sweatshirt and did my makeup in 30 seconds, which was only mascara and a thin line of eyeliner. I then sprinted back down. "Let's go," I said breathlessly.
"You're out of breath?" Dean asked, as I grabbed my keys and locked the door behind me. They had no idea I was a cancer kid, and they wouldn't find out.
"I haven't exercised in a while," I lied. I was good at lying. He snickered and I jumped in their back seat. "So how long have you been hunting...these monsters?" I asked shakily.
"Whole life," Dean said.
"We have a good ten minute drive," I said. "Explain everything."
~Dean~
The kid wanted to know our life story. That would scare her, and I didn't want to scar her for life. I don't even think she noticed Cas had disappeared, and she was already vulnerable as it was. But for a fifteen year old girl, she was strong. And she would make good hunter material, but no girl should live that life.
"I don't know..." I trailed off. Something told me to go the other way about this whole thing. I didn't want to drag her into anything that would get her hurt.
"Please. I want to know." Sam looked at me.
"She needs to know."
"Alright um…I'll try to give you the shortened version. Basically Sam died, I sold my soul to bring him back alive then I went to Hell but Cas pulled me out then Sam let Lucifer-"
"Lucifer as in the Devil?" she interrupted.
"Yep. Sam let the Devil outta the cage, so Sam basically let Lucifer use him as a vessel then Sam jumped in the cage, he came out with no soul, we had to get his soul back, then Cas and the king of Hell, Crowley, opened the gates of Purgatory letting all these leviathans out which we shoved back in following the Leviathan tablet and now were trying to figure out his Demon tablet to shut the gates of Hell forever," I finished. I heard silence.
"You still back there?" Sam asked. I looked at her face. She was white as a ghost and her mouth was slightly open.
"You're a little pale." She shrugged.
"No no I'm totally fine." I chuckled. It was a lot to take in for a girl like that. I was just worried that now that she knew, demons and angels would want her. I didn't want to take her on a hunt in the slightest.
"Well prepare yourself even more. You wanna be a hunter, you need to get a good look at these bodies," Sam said. Was he willing to take her in? To let her live the crappiest life out there?
"Are you saying I can become a hunter?" she asked anxiously, her hands gripping the seat. Oh god. Why did she want this so badly? To have this life was like Hell and I didn't wish it upon anyone.
"Casey, listen. The life of a hunter is not something you want," Sam said. I breathed a sigh of relief. Sam would convince her to stay, maybe Cas could wipe her memory. Then everything would be normal again. I felt myself relax in relief, knowing this would work and she would forget about all of this horrible stuff. "You lose all communications with your friends and more importantly, your family. You may never see them. Every hunt you go out on, every monster you chase, you may die." Her face didn't even fall when Sam said that. "Do you really want that? To lose your family to a life where you could die and they may not even know?"
Oh yes I wanted every bit of that life. Sam didn't know how sick I was of my family aiding me to my every need. They didn't even care if I was healthy, it was like I wasn't even allowed to do anything myself. 'Mom I'm making a sandwich.' 'Oh no no no! You stay there I'll do it for you!' 'Mom I'm going for a bike ride.' 'Oh I'll go with you then.' Some people would say that's a good life, having your family cater to your every need, but it was a pain in the ass. I had no friends anymore to leave behind. I had already almost died, and now I was stronger. I could hunt.
"I hate my life!" I finally burst. "I hate it, I hate everything about it and I want this more than anything. I want to be a person that helps save other people from these creatures that actually exist and boy, you don't know how badly I wanna do that," I gushed. Sam and Dean looked at each other.
"I know you're saying you want to get away from everyone, but once you're gone you'll miss it more than anything. It's dangerous," Dean said.
"I won't miss it. And I like danger," I stated stubbornly.
"Fine, fine we'll think about," Sam said, but only to shut me up. I bit back a smile anyways. Hunting with two insanely hot guys was a good thing.
"Look, when we get there just don't touch anything. Some of these people are a little strict. Maybe you can look at the bodies, I don't know. Please be careful and don't goof off," Dean instructed.
I looked at him with wide eyes. "Goof off? Seriously, I'm fifteen and I'm not stupid."
"I know I just…this doesn't feel right."
I looked out into the dark night sky as Dean pulled the car over into an empty spot. They simultaneously jumped out and I followed lead. We were on a street that wasn't very busy or popular, and one large section was roped off filled with policemen and what not. I quickened my pace to keep up with Sam and Dean. "Agent Stark and Banner. She's with us," Dean said, gesturing to me.
"Um, I'm sorr-"
"She's. With us," Sam repeated in a hard voice. The policeman lifted up the crime scene tape and I ducked under. I felt so official, that was until I saw the bodies. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. The people moving around me, Sam and Dean talking, my steps towards the bodies. When I got there, it was all I could do to not pass out. The dread I had unwillingly pushed out of my body had returned with such a full force I wanted to puke. Those bodies were my parents.