Hey Guys :D
So...I totally thought I had sent this to my beta and thought she had already ok'd me to post it...I was wrong. Sowwy!
Here it is! And Chapter three is done. Will be up in a week if I get the reviews :)
Enjoy!
Chapter Two
"I fucking said no Maddie!" Connor growled.
"It's not up to you!"
My best friend gave me a dark look that could give Dean a run for his money. "You're fucking pregnant and you're hunting? I don't think so."
"Connor it's just a simple salt and burn." I soothed.
"Do Sam and Dean know you're doing this with me?"
"Yes." I smirked.
"Do Sam and Dean know you're pregnant?" He shot back. I was silent. "Exactly."
"Bobby does!"
"And does he know about the salt and burn?" I was silent again. "Let's call him shall we?"
I grabbed Connor's phone. "You made your point! I'll be careful!"
"You shouldn't be going."
"Connor please? Yes, I'm pregnant, but I can still do a simple salt and burn. Even if I only light the fucking match! Just let me come!"
Connor was silent for a minute. "You either pour salt or light the match. That's it. Got it?"
"Yes sir." I smiled.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Standing in between Cody and Connor, I smiled. A hunt without my brothers was weird but I enjoyed it. I guess it was something I needed to get used to. Hunting with Connor and Cody. I figured this was where me and the baby would be in a year. I'll be doing hunts while someone watched the baby and Erica. Connor told me a long time ago that he'd always be there if anything happened. His dad backed him up. Now, I was here to help Connor for a few weeks. Especially with the custody battles of Cody and Erica. Even if I had to tap into Stanton and the baby's demon powers that were starting to show, I'd do it.
Cody poured salt on the dead body and I wrinkled my nose about how he still had flesh. "You gonna puke Mads?" Cody smirked.
I glared at him and stuck my tongue out. His smile grew. "How about I puke on you? It'll make your clothes look and smell better."
The younger boy glared back at me I smiled sarcastically and turned away but not before I saw him smell himself. Connor shook his head "I swear I'm raising three kids." I gave him my, who me? Look and he just smirked shaking his head.
Finally, I lit the match "Night Stevey." I tossed the match in and watched the body burn. I stared into the flames thinking about Dean. My anger grew inside of me.
"Whoa! Maddie!" I looked over at Cody and he pointed at my hands.
I looked down and my eyes widened seeing how deep red they were. "Stanton!" I screamed.
Instantly, my boyfriend was there. "What is it?" He asked sounding panicked. I lifted my hands so they were in the demon's view. His eyes widened and he stepped forward. Gently, he grabbed my hands and a look of proudness came onto his face.
"Stanton?" I asked.
He smiled at me. "Our kid will have the death touch."
"Death touch?" I screeched.
"It's very rare, and very powerful. I don't even have that power. I can only produce heat. If his palms touch anyone, they'll die. Human or demon" Stanton smiled.
"I'm glad you're happy our son can kill us!"
Stanton looked up "Oh, we're binding his powers when he's born. We don't need him doing something bad accidentally."
I nodded and looked down at my hands as they slowly turned back to their normal paleness. What other powers did my baby have? I sighed worried about when I find that answer.
A week later, I sat in the court room holding Erica. Cody sat beside me fidgeting. I've been practicing for the past week on how to tap into the baby's powers. The judge was going to let Cody have custody of these two. I wouldn't let them get thrown into the system.
Judge Matthews looked down at Connor. "You're just 18 correct?"
"Nineteen in two months your honor." Conner answered respectfully.
She nodded and made note of that before she met my best friend's eyes. "What makes you think that at such a young age, you can support a 14 year old and a 5 year old?"
"I have a full time job at the auto garage on Jefferson your honor. Then my father left us money in his will. He wanted me to raise them. My mother died shortly after Erica was born, she's used to me taking care of her. Money will not be an issue."
"Are you prepared to grow up faster than you at first expected? Or to put things on hold for yourself to put your siblings first?"
"Yes your honor. My father worked a lot when they were younger. I've pretty much raised them."
Judge Matthews nodded again "Okay, court is dismissed until I make my ruling." I stood up holding Erica once the judge stood. Connor walked over to me and held Erica close. We stood there for about a half hour before the judge came back out. I sat down holding the little girl again.
"This was a tough decision," The judge started. She sighed. "I can see the love and I can see you think you have everything planned out, but, you are only eighteen. You should be taking care of yourself right now, not others. So, I'm releasing Erica and Cody Hope into the custody of the Ward of the State. Court is dismissed."
My face fell. Cody ran to Connor. I watched as both cried before the court's warden walked over. He took Erica and set her down. "NO!" She screamed and ran to her brothers. Connor picked her up and whispered something in her ear as he cried. Tears fell down my face like a waterfall. This couldn't be happening.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Connor had his head in his hands as we sat on his couch. The house was way too quiet. It was empty. "We...We can appeal this." I whispered.
He shook his head. "No judge will grant me custody Maddie. It's fucking over." He shrugged me away from him and stood up.
"Connor-" I tried.
"Forget it Maddie." He growled. He grabbed his wallet that carried his fake I.D and walked out of the house slamming the door shut hard. I couldn't let this happen. Those three needed to be together. I thought about the "family" spell book Stanton told me about. He said that the baby would have access to it later on.
I shut my eyes and put my hands on my belly. If I got the book, I could get Erica and Cody home. I don't know how long I sat there in that position but my eyes shot open when I heard a loud thump. Smiling, I saw the big, large book. It was brown, leather, and thick. The pages were turned brown-yellow from old age. Carefully, I opened the book and started searching for the spell she would need.
Audite hoc versus
Audite hoc placito
Aliquam tempus
Ludicis enim pignus
Gasping, I looked around. Suddenly, I was back in the court room, with Erica on my lap. The judge walked out of her chamber and I stood up in a daze. The spell actually worked. We all sat back down, but Connor remained standing.
"This was a tough decision to make," She started just like last time. I gulped hoping it worked. "There were two different options. Normally, in a case like this, I would send the children into the custody of the state of Indiana, but, as long as you can prove to the state that you are financially able to care for the two, I hereby grant custody of Cody and Erica Hope to their brother Connor." I smiled. "Case dismissed."
Connor turned and smiled at me before hugging the younger kids tightly. He gave me a weird look though. As we walked out he pulled me close. "Thank you, but next time you use your new powers like that...I will hurt you." I looked at him surprised. "Oh, you're not in trouble with me. But him…" I looked over to were Stanton was leaning against the wall. "Good luck."
I gulped and walked over to my boyfriend. "Anything you want to tell me Maddie?"
"Um..." He gave me a look and I sighed. "I had to do it. Connor can't lose those two. They all need each other!"
Stanton stared at me for a minute then sighed. "Next time talk to me first. You don't know how much juice these spells take. Don't tap into his powers anymore. He needs to rest. Time travel spells are hard to do. Okay?" I nodded. "Good." Stanton moved forward and kissed me. Eagerly, I kissed him back.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I sighed and looked at Dean. "Why am I coming with you to see Lisa?"
"She loved you!" Dean smiled.
"Yeah...but I don't need to be there for this." I sighed again. "Can't you just drop me back off at Connor's?"
"Connor has enough people to take care of right now. He needs to learn how to take care of Cody and Erica without your help."
Dean was right but of course I wouldn't tell him that. Five minutes later we were standing in Lisa Braeden's doorway. He knocked and she came to the door looking as pretty as I remembered. She looked shocked but smiled. "Dean!"
He grinned. "Lisa. How's it going?"
"Wow. So, how long has it been?"
"Eight, going on nine years now. Crazy, right?"
"Yeah." She looked at me and smiled at how much I grew. "So, what are you two doing here?"
"Oh, we were just passing through, and couldn't resist. I remembered that you love surprises." He smirked and I gagged.
"Yeah. Dean Winchester. Wow. Just…wow." He laughed and I shook my head. "I'm sorry, you kind of came at a bad time. I'm having a party."
"A party? I love parties." Lisa led us into the backyard. There were balloons, cake, gifts, even a Moon Bounce. Children were running around, playing, while the adults stood around talking. "So, uh…who's the party for?" He asked confused. I smiled looking around.
"Ben. My son."
My head shot towards her and Dean looked surprised. "Oh. You have a—"
"Yeah. That's him." She pointed to Ben. And if possible my eyes opened even wider. The kid was a mini Dean.
"Yes!" The kid shouted. "AC/DC rules! Awesome!" I kept staring at the mini...Pod-Dean person.
"How old?"
"Eight." I looked at Dean and he seemed to be doing the math looking concerned. Lisa saw two people walk into her kitchen. "Oh, Dean, Maddie, could you excuse me a minute?"
Dean nodded. "Yeah, sure. Don't mind us."
Dean and I looked around the party. The cake was designed like a racetrack, with two muscle cars racing. Across the yard, I noticed two women admiring Dean. I smirked when suddenly I could hear them. I rubbed my belly gently. "Did you hear Lisa call him "Dean"?"
"No, why?"
"You don't know about Dean? The Dean? "Best night of my life" Dean?"
" No, tell me." The one demanded.
"Oh, my God. So, they had this crazy, semi-illegal—"Of course that's when Dean turned around from the cake and looked at them confused.
"Um... Hi."
"Hi." The one telling the story smiled.
"Hello." The other one said seductively. I tried hard not to laugh.
Dean looked even more confused and we walked away. I smiled as we headed towards Ben. "What's up?" Ben asked us.
"What's up with you?" Dean replied. I felt the little kid eye me and I wanted to throw up knowing he could be my nephew. Thankfully, a mother and daughter walked by. I watched as Dean and Ben checked them out. I shook my head. "So, it's your birthday."
"Guilty." He nodded.
"It's a cool party." Dean noted.
"Dude, it's so freakin' sweet. And this Moon Bounce –- it's epic!"
I smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty awesome."
Ben looked at me. "You know who else thinks they're awesome? Chicks. It's like Hot Chick City out there."
He left us to go hop on the Moon Bounce. Dean looked pretty concerned and I understood why; this kid was just like him. We walked into the kitchen where Lisa was standing alone. "Hey. So, I met Ben. Cool kid." We all looked at him. "You know, I couldn't help but notice that he's turning eight." I bit my lip as Lisa didn't follow. "You and me. You know."
Lisa scoffed. "You're not trying to ask me if he's yours."
"No. No, of course not." He paused. "He's not, is he?"
"What? No!"
"Right."
A few minutes later I left the house to go to a diner just outside the subdivision. Dean gave me some money so I could eat. Sitting in a booth I was using the internet on my iphone to look up some ritual stuff I got from Bobby.
"Hello, Maddie." I looked up quickly and saw the blonde demon from before.
"You've been following me since Lincoln." I shot at him not stupid.
He pushed my phone away to the side and grabbed a french fry. "Not much gets by you, huh?" He bit the fry and smirked. "These are amazing. It's like deep-fried crack. Try some."
I moved closer and lowered my voice. "That knife you had – you can kill demons with that thing?"
"Sure comes in handy when I have to swoop in and save the damsel in distress." He grabbed the plate the empty coffee cup was sitting on and poured a mountain of ketchup on it. "Where'd you get it?"
"SkyMall."
I sighed and leaned back. "Why are you following me?"
"I'm interested in you."
"Why?" I repeated.
"Because you're a pregnant teen. I love a live MTV show. And then there's the whole anti-Christ thing."
"Excuse me?"
"You know: generation of psychic kids, Yellow-Eyed Demon rounds you up, Celebrity Deathmatch ensues. You're the sole survivor."
"How do you know about that?" I demanded.
"I'm a good hunter. So, Yellow Eyes had some pretty big plans for you, Maddie."
"Had being the key word."
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Ding, dong, the demon's dead. Good job with that. Doesn't change the fact that you're special. In that Anthony Michael Hall, ESP-vision kind of way."
I shook my head. "No. No, that stuff's not happening anymore. Not since Yellow Eyes died." Thankfully, no visions.
"Well, I'm thinking you're still a pretty big deal. I mean, after all that business with your mom."
I tilted my head. "What about my mom?"
"You know, what happened to her friends…" I stared at him. "You don't know? You have got a little bit of catching up to do, my friend. So, why don't you look into your mom's pals and then give me a call and we'll talk again." He grabbed my hand and put his cell number on it then stood to leave. "And by the way, you do know there's a job in this town, right?"
He walked away and suddenly, my cell rang. "Hello?"
"Dude. There is a job here."
I looked out the window trying to see her. "Really?"
"Yeah. You know that one freak accident we read about in the paper? Turns out, there're four more that never even made the paper. All in this Morning Hill gated community: people falling off of ladders and drowning in their Jacuzzis all over the neighborhood."
"That is weird."
"Yeah, something's up. Something these nice, big gates can't protect them from."
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Sam and I sat in the motel room. He was looking up ritual stuff, secretly of course, and I was looking up stuff on the case. I looked up when Dean stormed in. "Something's wrong with the kids in this town."
I scoffed and nodded. "Yeah. Tell me about it. So, what do you know about changelings?"
"Evil monster babies?"
I made a shrugging face. "No, not necessarily babies."
"They're kids. Creepy stare-at-you-like-you're-lunch kids."
Sam nodded and hit the ritual information. "Yeah. There's one in every victim's house."
A little later, Dean sat making a blowtorch as Sam was in front of his laptop, and I paced. "So, changelings can perfectly mimic children. According to lore, they climb in the window, snatch the kid. And there were marks on the windowsill at one of the kids' houses. Looked to me like blood." I clarified.
Dean nodded. "So, the changeling grabs the kid, assumes its form, and joins the happy family, just for kicks?"
"Not quite." Sam answered. "Changelings feed on the mom – synovial fluid. The moms have these odd bruises on the back of their necks. Changelings can drain them for a few weeks before Mom finally croaks."
"And then there's Dad and the babysitter." Dean noted.
I shook my head while pacing. "Yeah. Seems like anyone who gets between the changeling's food source ends up dead."
"And fire's the only way to waste them?"
"Yup." Sam answered.
"Great. Well, we'll just bust in, drag the kids out, torch them on the front lawn. That'll play great with the neighbors. What about the real ones? What happens to them?"
I sighed and grabbed a book not bothering to stop pacing. "According to lore, they stash them underground somewhere. Now, I don't know why, but if it's true, the real kids might be out there somewhere."
"We better start looking." Dean stood up and I grabbed my bag. "So, any kid in the neighborhood is vulnerable?"
"Yeah."
Dean met my eyes and we made the same connection. "We've gotta make a stop. I wanna check on someone."
"Well, Dean, if the real kids are still alive, we don't have time to— " Sam tried.
"We have to."
Sam and I waited in the car as Dean talked to Lisa. I winced when she slammed the door in his face. He ran back to the car. "It took Ben. He's changed."
I sat up. "What? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I checked his windowsill."
"Blood?" Sam demanded.
"I don't think it is blood. And I think I know where the kids are."
We pulled away and drove to another area of the gated community. Dean parked in front of a house that was in the middle of being constructed. After getting out of the Impala, we approached a pile of dirt at the worksite.
"Red dirt. That's what was on the window." Sam observed.
"All right, you take the front. We'll go around."
I followed Dean and split away from Sam and into the half-finished house. Nothing. That's all that was in the house. Suddenly, I heard a crashing noise. I tapped Dean's shoulder and looked around a bit more then finally spotted it: a cage hidden behind one of the walls. The real Ben was inside, reaching his arms through the bars to us.
"Ben? Ben, it's okay. I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?" Dean soothed. Ilooked around and found the other cages and children all lined up. "Come on." Bengot out and instantly wrapped his arms around Dean's neck.
I looked around trying to find a way out without hurting the children. "All right, everybody back! Everybody back! Cover your eyes!" As the kids covered the heads, I used a rock on the ground to smash open the new window.
"Here." I looked as Ben shrugged off his jacket. "Use this."
I smiled at the awesome kid and laid the jacket down. Dean came over to help me lift the kids. "All right, man. Come on, come on!"
I watched as Ben got the other kids out first. One by one, we helped them out."
Suddenly, Sam came running down stairs. "Dean, there's a mother."
I looked over. "A mother changeling?" I demanded.
"Yeah. We've gotta get these kids out, quick."
Dean nodded to another cage. "Right there, there's one more. You've gotta break the lock." Dean sighed as we got more kids out. "I guess that's why the changelings are keeping the kids alive – so the mom can snack on them."
Just then, the changeling realtor entered, causing one of the girls to scream. Luckily for me, and the baby, Sam and Dean ran to fight it off as Ben and I got the rest of the kids out. I looked over and saw Dean finally gets the upper hand in the fight, back the changeling into a corner. Sam finished the job, lighting up the blowtorch and killing her.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I sat at the motel table. It was finally time. I grabbed my cell and made the first call. "Hi. I needed to check some facts with your secretary about a fire that occurred on November 24, 2006, in Lawrence, Kansas. Hardecker was his name…Okay. Great."
Next call. "I was just trying to find out the date he died."
Then the next. "This is Police Chief Jill Jones."
Next call. "July thirteenth?"
Another after that. "Can you check the records for me for a Robert Campbell –- July 19, 2001…Dead on arrival."
Next. "What I'm after is cause of death…Heart condition? Wasn't he a cardiac surgeon? Wouldn't he have known about that?"
Another one. "I'm looking for information on Mrs. Wallace's death."
Yet another one. "Two deaths? Who was the other?...Ed Campbell."
Again. "Any survivors?No, that's all I needed. Thank you very much."
Throughout those phone calls, I continued to cross names off of a list. Finally I hung up the phone, defeated. "Oh my God."
Later, I called Danny, the dude from the diner, to the motel. "They're dead. All of them. All my mom's friends – her doctor, her uncle. Everyone who ever knew her, systematically wiped off the map one at a time. Someone went through a hell of a lot of trouble, trying to cover their tracks."
"Yep – the Yellow-Eyed Demon." He nodded.
"So, what's your deal? You show up wherever I am, you know all about me, you know all about my mom."
"Hey, I already told you. I'm just—"
I interrupted frustrated. "Oh, right. Yeah yeah, just a hunter. Just some hunter who happens to know more about my own family than I do. Just tell me who you are."
"Maddie…"
"Just tell me who you are."
"It doesn't matter—"
"Just tell me who you are!" I yelled.
"Fine." He sighed after a pause. He blinked his eyes once, and they become completely black. I swore and backed away towards my bag on the bed. "Think twice before going for that holy water."
"Give me one reason I shouldn't!"
"I'm here to help you, Maddie."
"Is that some kind of joke?" I demanded.
"God's honest truth or whatever." He rolled her eyes.
"You're a demon." I sneered.
"Don't be such a racist. I'm here because I wanna help you. And I can, if you trust me."
"Trust you?"I held out the flask of holy water ready to throw it.
"Maddie calm down."
"Start talking. All those murders – what was the demon trying to cover up?"
"I don't know."
"What happened to my mother?"
"I honestly don't know. That's what I'm trying to find out. All I know is that it's about you."
"What?" I demanded lowering the bottle a little.
"Don't you get it, Maddie? It's all about you. What happened to your mom, what happened to her friends – they're trying to cover up what he did to you. And I wanna help you figure it out."
"Why would you wanna help me?"
"I have my reasons. Not all demons are the same, Maddie. Not all of us want the same thing. Me? I wanna help you from time to time. That's all. And if you let me, there's something in it for you."
"What could you possibly—"
"I can help you save your brother." Danny face fell and I lowered the flask. He had me.
