Hi guys, this is the second chapter, hope you enjoyed the first. There will be some hints at CastielxOC later in the next couple of chapters. Anyway, hope you like it!!
***
A few hours later, she was driving towards Bobby's house, her mind still buzzing with the conversation with Seth, and all the cryptic clues he had dropped her. She found it difficult to believe that the lightning bolt had been mere coincidence. He had been about to tell her something really significant, about to tell her the secret he was so frightened to say out loud. Demons were powerful, they could do all sorts of things, and Miriana saw Seth's' death as murder, not a freak accident. She didn't know how they'd done it, but she felt certain it was them. He must have been about to tell her something huge if it warranted that kind of action. What the hell did he know?
Miriana had known Seth since she was a lonely teenager at high school in New Richmond in Maine. He had been the only one to befriend her, as nobody else had wanted to make friends with the weird, posh English girl. She was a freak. Seth was a freak too. So they fitted quite well together.
They lost touch over the years, as Miriana had gone her own way, driving all across America, hunting, and Seth had...well God knows what Seth had done. But the next time she saw him after high school he had changed almost beyond recognition. He was always different to everyone else, but in the time they had been apart he seemed to have lost his mind a little. Miriana still didn't know why, and now she never would find out.
She stared out at the driving rain that was hammering against the windshield. It seemed the storm was following her, like she had her own personal weather front. Well, the terrible weather certainly matched her terrible mood. The shock over Seth's death had faded to be replaced by anger and frustration. She wasn't a fan of cryptic clues. She may have an analytical mind, but she was not in the right frame of mind to ponder over a mysterious message, and more in the mood to kill something. Preferably something demonic. Seth's sudden and violent death reminded her with a savage jerk about Cristian, when he had died. She had been so lost without him, and she still was, but with an effort she forced the memories out of her head. She never let herself think about him. It hurt too much.
She slowed her car a little as she reached the turning in the road that led to Bobby's' house. She drove the car into his drive and parked her car alongside a battered truck with half the bonnet missing. She wondered how many more beat up, smashed cars Bobby needed in his yard. The rain was already beginning to lessen slightly, and a weak, pale yellow sun was trying to fight its way through the clouds. She stepped onto Bobby's' porch and banged with her fist twice on the door. There were a few seconds of silence, then the door opened to show Dean Winchester.
"Hey Miriana. You're looking good."
***
Miriana felt as if someone had just punched her in the stomach, so much so that she didn't even feel she had enough air in her lungs to say anything. She just stood there, opening and closing her mouth, trying to get the words out. She must have looked pretty comical, as a smirk lit up Deans' face.
"Hell, Miriana I know I'm stunningly attractive but you're never usually lost for words!"
Her mind was still reeling from the shock of seeing him. You're dead she thought to herself you can't be here! She couldn't seem to get her head around his sudden appearance. She didn't think she could take any more shocks in one day. Her mind might just give out. With a start, she came back to herself, and the logical part of her brain screamed demon!
She bent down and whipped out the short silver blade she kept strapped to the side of her clumpy black boots and swept it towards his throat. He stepped back and dodged the swing, then jumped to one side again as she tried to jam the knife squarely into his chest.
"Who are you?!" she shouted, swinging the knife again, "Where's Bobby? What have you done with him you bastard?!"
He caught her upraised hand as she tried to stab him again and twisted her wrist sharply. She shrieked in pain and the knife dropped to the floor with a metallic clatter. With her other fist she tried to punch him in the side of his face but he moved his head quickly to the side and her fist hit the air beside his head.
"Miriana stop, stop, it's me OK?! It's me! Quit trying to kill me!" Dean shouted.
"The hell you are!"
"Miriana!?"
She stopped struggling for a second when she heard Bobby's' voice, and her eyes focused on him where he stood behind Dean.
"It's him, OK, it's really him! I've been through everything, silver knife and holy water and everything," Bobby explained while Dean nodded enthusiastically.
Mirianas' eyes went from Bobby to Dean and back again.
"You're certain?" she asked.
"Hundred percent."
She was aware that Dean was still holding her fist in his hand, and her other arm was still upraised for a punch. She looked back at Dean.
"You can let go of my hand now. I promise I won't kill you."
He hesitated for a second, then let go of her hand, and she dropped her other fist. She looked Dean straight in the eyes.
"It's really you?"
"Yeah. Look I don't know how-"
He stopped short when Miriana whipped out a tiny silver flask engraved with a cross and splashed the contents into Deans' face. He blinked rapidly a few times, and then wiped the water of his face with a loud sigh.
"Will people stop chucking holy water on me please? I'm not a demon!" he snapped, and glared at Miriana, as satisfied he wasn't burning and screaming at the touch of holy water, replaced the flask in a pocket in her long coat.
"Sorry! I had to check didn't I?"
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as she tried to think of the right thing to say. She cleared her throat to break the silence.
"It's good to see you Dean."
"Yeah, it's good to see you too."
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and squared his shoulders in a macho sort of way. Miriana cleared her throat again.
"Do we have to hug, or anything?"
"No chick flick moments," Miriana stated. She stood for another few seconds, then threw her arms around Deans neck and rested her head on his shoulder. She felt his arms wrap around her waist and he patted her on the small of her back. She hugged him as tight as she could for a few seconds longer, and then released him with a hard slap on the shoulder. He slapped her back.
"Well that was awkward. Can we move past this touchy-feely-huggy stuff?" Dean asked. Well, he definitely hasn't changed.
"Of course.
She stood back and surveyed him with a critical eye, from head to toe.
"Well, I've got to say Dean you're looking good. Especially considering you were ripped to shreds by Lilith's' guard dog and you've been dead for four months. How the hell did you manage to walk out of the pit?"
"I wish I could tell you," Dean said with a sigh, "I think someone just grabbed me and dragged me out. But whoever or whatever it is, it's a bad mother. Like I told Bobby, the grave site looked like someone had dropped a bomb on it; the trees were flattened for a mile around the grave. And when I was in this truck stop, something passed over me, like...A presence, or whatever." at Mirianas' sceptical look he said, "Look, I don't know I'm not into all this new age crap, you know that. But it was powerful. Blew the glass out of the windows and nearly deafened me. And there's this."
He rolled up the sleeve of his t-shirt to show the hand shaped burn on his upper arm.
"Bloody hell!" Miriana exclaimed, reaching out tentatively and brushing the tip of her fingers against the scar. She looked up at Dean.
"Does it hurt?" Miriana asked, probing the mark carefully; her medical training began to kick in at the sight of the burn.
"No. Not at all. But that's gotta be some bad mojo right? I mean, what can just yank me out of hell like that?" Dean asked, rolling down the sleeve of his t-shirt as Miriana stepped back, frowning.
"I didn't think anything could just snatch a soul from hell. And not only that, snatch a soul from hell and bring a person's body back after four months in the ground. Have you got any clues, Bobby?" Miriana looked past Dean to where Bobby was stood in the entrance to his library.
"Not yet. Haven't really had chance to look. We were gonna go and find Sam first. Dean's activated the GPS tracking in his phone. He's in Pontiac, Illinois."
Mirianas' frown intensified, "That's where you were buried," she said to Dean. She looked between Dean and Bobby, reading the expressions on their faces.
"You think Sam's done something, don't you? Think he's made a deal?" she questioned. Dean sighed loudly.
"Yeah, well, I don't really know what to think, but...it's what I would do, in his shoes."Miriana nodded and rubbed a hand across her forehead.
"Look, I'm sorry Dean, I should have made more of an effort in looking out for him, I mean he's as much my little brother as yours, I-"
Dean held up a hand to stop her. "I know. It's OK. I can't expect you to run around after him when he doesn't wanna be found. You're not his mother. It's not easy to find that kid when he doesn't want to be found. I don't blame you."
"I know, but still. I should've tried harder," she ran a hand through her black hair and sighed. "So, you're setting off to see Sam now?" she asked.
"Yeah, if we shagass we should make it there by sundown," Dean said, "You coming?"
"I'll follow you down, but while we're there, I'm going to visit an old friend's house. A psychic. It was actually what I was visiting Bobby about. He's dead. Died this morning."
Dean and Bobby both looked a little taken aback. "I'm sorry."
"Well, it's the way he died that was the problem. He had something to tell me, but he never really got to the point. But he knew something. Something huge. Something that scared the holy crap out of him."
Dean exchanged a worried glance with Bobby. "He tell you what that was?"
"No. He died before he could. Struck by lightning, if you'll believe it. And I don't think it was an unfortunate freak accident, if you get my meaning."
"Demons?" Dean inquired. Miriana nodded.
"Of course it is. It always is, have you noticed?"
"The point is, he told me Lilith was planning something, that the storm was coming. He told me to watch my back."
"Well he was a cheery soul wasn't he?" Dean said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yes well, Seth was a somewhat...troubled person," Miriana sighed and ran a hand through her hair again, "I want to check his house to see if I can find any information on what he was trying to tell me. He hadn't been back to his house in ages, he was living his life in the back of his car, but I might find something if I'm lucky."
"Right, well I'll go and get the car sorted," Dean announced, striding towards the back door.
Bobby headed towards the door as well, but Miriana caught his arm before he left.
"Bobby, I need to tell you something else. Seth told me that I would have to watch out for Sam."
Bobby dismissed her statement with a shrug of his shoulders. "So, everyone says that. I mean, he is like your little brother. You're as good as family to the Winchesters."
He headed for the door once more, but Miriana stopped him again.
"No, Seth said I had to watch him because he's dangerous. To me and everyone. Like he's going to do something terrible. But, he didn't exactly specify why, just that he was bad news."
Bobby frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Why would he say something like that?" he asked.
"I don't know Bobby, but Seth was never wrong when it came to predictions and all that weirdo psychic stuff. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was one of Azazels' gifted children. Like Sam."
"Would he lie to you?" Bobby questioned, but Miriana shook her head.
"No. He never lied to me once, not in all the time I knew him. And why would he lie about that?"
Bobby sighed and shook his head. "What the hell is going on, Miriana?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I wish I knew."
Just then, Dean leaned around the doorway with a frustrated expression on his face.
"You coming or what?" he demanded.
