"Merry Christmas," Charlie's eyes popped open as she sat up, startled and confused.

The last thing she fully remembered was her futile efforts to wrap the vinyl shower curtain around her wounds in a vain attempt to stop the seemingly endless flow of blood.

Her last thought before she had completely passed out was that she'd done so well stitching herself up with floss - why the hell could she not handle a shower curtain?

Well that, and that if this went the way she was kind of expecting it to, the next thing she was going to see was Scarlett Johansson's welcoming arms. Because, really, what was Heaven if it didn't include that?

And, if that wasn't the way it went, she sort of expected Sam or Dean or maybe even Cas to shake her awake still lying in the pool of her own blood or on a hospital bed or some other place that would allow her to lick her wounds before whatever trouble they managed to get into next.

But, of all the possibilities she'd considered, waking up to find Rowena sitting in an ornate armchair across from her bed, tracing her index finger over the lines of the Book of the Damned, with a devilish gleam in her eye, was not among them.

Without looking up from the book, she said, "I told you those boys would be your undoing, but did you listen?"

Charlie blinked a few times, shook her head, decided that this really was her current reality, and started looking around the room.

The walls were covered in tacky floral wallpaper, and there was what appeared to be a guest sign-in lying open on the dresser across from her.

"An inn?" Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Everyone knows how exquisite my taste is. No one will be looking for me in such a tawdry establishment. So best that I stay here to acquaint myself with this treasure," Rowena stroked her hand reverently over the book's pages,"before I let the world know exactly what I am."

"And what is that exactly?" Charlie asked as she chanced a furtive glance at the closed and, possibly, locked door.

"The world's most powerful, and, currently, most needed witch," Rowena said.

"Needed?" Charlie scoffed.

"Those brothers of yours really outdid themselves. Look outside, and you'll see only the beginning of the mess they've created."

Charlie raised an eye before hesitantly turning around and lifting up the lace curtain.

She narrowed her eyes at the dark clouds, hanging lower than they should, spreading across the horizon as far as she could see. She could tell, without Rowena's unwanted commentary, that it was not any ordinary thunderstorm.

And, while she had no desire to continue any kind of conversation with Rowena, curiosity got the best of her on this one. "What the hell is that?"

"'The Darkness,'" Rowena said. "The great and powerful curse upon humanity that I'm going to get rid of."

"Why would you get rid of it?" Charlie asked. "Aren't curses upon humanity kind of your thing? I mean, you're a witch."

"No, no. What I enjoy, dear," Rowena said, as she patted Charlie's cheek, "is power."

Charlie flinched away from her hand before swinging her legs off the bed, testing her weight, feeling no hint of the injuries she knew she had sustained. "So...what am I doing here?"

"You mean why aren't you dead?" Rowena asked. "Because you're much more useful to me alive. Those Winchesters were on to something with you. You're a clever lass."

"So now I'm your prisoner?" Charlie asked. "In your china doll and doily dungeon?"

"Oh, don't worry. You aren't my prisoner. You're going to be my apprentice."

Charlie rolled her eyes. Like that was going to happen.

"I'm sure you'll see it my way, if you give it some time."

"Well, I've given it some thought," Charlie said as she walked purposefully towards the door, waiting for Rowena to blast her back onto the bed or something, "and I'm not really into becoming ancient and evil today."

But, by the time her hand had come to rest on the doorknob, Rowena had still made no move to stop her.

Something about that seemed off, but what exactly, she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She had a feeling, though, that whatever it was lie on the other side of the door. So, with no small degree of apprehension, she turned the knob, and peered into the hallway.

Her eyes grew wide as she took in the battered bodies strewn along the carpet, surrounded by broken wood and shards of glass, spattered with flecks of blood. She held her hand over her mouth as she forced the bile rising in her throat back down.

Rowena's hand came to rest on her shoulder. "These unfortunate souls were merely the first of many casualties to come from this new plague upon humanity."

Charlie shook Rowena's hand off. "But what...what happened?"

"To them?" Rowena said. "A poltergeist."

"A poltergeist?" Charlie repeated. She knew that her hunting skills weren't as good as they could be. She'd only been in the game for a little while, and half that time had been spent in an alternate universe where the rules were different. But, "You're saying a poltergeist is the plague? I mean, yeah, they're a plague on the place they're haunting, sure, but it's not like they can haunt the whole earth. They're bound to wherever they died or wherever the last part of their remains are left."

"You've done your research, I'll grant you that," Rowena said, giving her a pitying look, heavy with implication. "But, I'm afraid, it won't help you anymore, lass."

XXX

"They're heading east, Route 66, outside Albuquerque," the stocky, beady eyed man squeaked as she tugged him in by his collar.

"You're certain?" Bela asked.

"Yes, yes, I swear. Those runes are never wrong. Can barely keep them in stock."

"If you're lying, I'll be back," she said coldly, as she let him drop back onto the shop's hardwood floor.

As she turned for the door, she heard him reach for a shotgun.

She laughed. "You can't hurt me."

"Not with a regular gun, no. But with this, I might," he said, ducking down towards the counter, looking unconvinced. His hand trembled as he reached for the trigger. She grinned wickedly as he pulled it.

She stretched out her hand, catching the salt round as it hit against it. It wasn't painless, but the salt didn't repel her as it had for so long.

She let it rest in her palm before letting the grains trickle slowly through her fingers. "What you fail to understand, darling, is that the rules no longer apply."