Chapter 3
Dean and Melody worked quickly to get the Winchester's gear packed into the Impala. Mel was impressed with the car, constantly gushing about how gorgeous she was. Dean was impressed that the girl seemed to know so much about cars. He was trying not to like her, but it was getting harder. She could cook, she knew about cars, and she had even offered to stitch up his old army jacket that had been torn the previous night. They were on the road in an hour after Dean had woken up, and another four hours before the morning's conversation played back in Dean's head.
"Don't stop the car, Dean; I'll answer your questions without a power show." Mel didn't look up from the spell book in her hands.
How did she know that was exactly what I was going to do? Dean thought. "So how did you know about the spell book? I didn't even know Sam grabbed it, and I was there. Or how did you know Sam was hungry, or how I liked my coffee?" Dean growled. "What are you?"
"I'm as human as you, Dean. I'm a very gifted psychic, so it just makes my job easier to pick through people's heads for specifics. Like how you thought that something bad was going to happen, because it always does." Mel finally closed the spell book and looked at Dean.
"If you're a psychic then-" Dean's mind went to places he hadn't thought in years.
"No, I'm not one of Azazle's 'chosen few'. I'm too young anyway. I'm only 20." Mel tried once again to readjust her legs so her knees didn't bump into the dash when she slouched in the seat. "How does Sam even function with these legs? I mean being tall is cool when you're standing, but I feel like a pretzel!"
The older man started laughing, and shaking his head. "Must not be very tall then, huh? I don't know how Sam does it either. Just remember to duck."
They drove in silence until Dean had to stop for gas. He was surprised when Mel got out and said that she had this covered, so he filled up his baby while the girl went into the store. When he was done he looked around for his brother, and was shocked when he saw him smoking over buy the ice machines. Dean was furious as he stomped toward him. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Since when do you smoke?" He snatched the cigarette out of Sam's mouth and stomped it out.
Hurt flashed across Sam's face before hardening into a mask. "We all have our coping mechanisms Dean," Mel said with Sam's voice. "You drink and I smoke. I went through the whole morning without a cigarette and most of the afternoon." She dropped her voice and added, "Please, I don't think I can handle much more of this."
"Fine, but make it fast." Dean spoke gruffly to hide his embarrassment.
He had momentarily forgotten that it was Mel (a young woman barely out of her teens) inside Sam's body, not his baby brother. He accepted the bag she handed him before he walked away. Although he didn't like the thought of her smoking with Sam's body, Dean understood being pushed to near breaking. He sat in the car looking through the bag. There were cans of energy drinks and sodas, beef jerky, candy bars, and a slice of cherry pie in a clear plastic container. Dean was kind of touched that she had thought to get him pie. He looked at Mel and saw she was walking toward the car.
Mel had her hands in her pockets and her shoulders hunched. She had been struggling not to break down since this morning and every second she was stuck in this unfamiliar body was making it harder. The creaking sound of the Impala's door caused Mel to look up. "Why don't you drive for a while?" Dean tossed the keys at her.
Mel looked surprised as she snatched the keys out of the air. "Is this because I bought you pie?" She smirked and tossed the keys back. "Nah, I was thinking about fixing your jacket. I can't read that book anymore, I'm going cross-eyed."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sam was sitting at the kitchen table watching as the man named Ian made breakfast. He hadn't been asked what he wanted, or what his preferences were, which was mildly irritating. The strange man had simply laughed after Sam explained what happened. The hollow feeling in Sam's stomach made him wish that Ian would cook faster, but the two steel studs in his bottom lip made him wonder if he would even be able to eat. Sam personally didn't see the point in body modifications unless it was for protection, like his tattoo, but this girl seemed obsessed with putting extra holes in her head. Though he hadn't seen anything beyond his new face's reflection, Sam was sure that the girl had lots of tattoos underneath the long sleeved t-shirt she had worn to bed.
"There you go," Ian said placing a plate in front of Sam. "You want anything to drink; juice, milk, coffee, tea?"
Sam stared at the plate before him. It was loaded with French toast, bacon, and hash browns. "Thanks," Sam wasn't sure if he could eat the large plateful, but he didn't want to be rude. "I'll have some coffee, please."
Ian returned with a large cup of coffee, creamer, and sugar. Sam was surprised that Mel's lip rings didn't affect him eating or drinking. Ian sat down with an identically loaded plate and cup of coffee. The both of them ate in easy silence. After breakfast was over, Ian told Sam to take a shower (complaining of Mel's night sweats causing body odor) before going to the library. He made a point of telling him not to leave the property and thus leaving the protection of the wards surrounding it while he was out doing chores around the farm.
Suddenly having to wash a female body was awkward and embarrassing. The young Winchester kept his attitude professional, and showered quickly. He was right about this girl having lots of tattoos, but they were all wards against demons, witches, and even angels. As he was getting dressed, Sam noticed that this girl had strange scars on her chest near her collar bone, on her shoulders, and across her back. They looked like they were from some kind of ritual. He figured he would ask Mel when they met up. In the meantime, he headed to the library to search about body swapping spells. Sam welcomed the daunting task of research. It was something that he was good at and wasn't affected that much by the body swap. The only change was that he now had to use a step-ladder. Searching through books, articles, and web pages almost gave him the same feeling as when he was hunting, but research was considerably safer.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Impala ate away the miles of the road. Dean looked over at the slumped form next to him. Mel had been an entertaining road companion. She told him of some of her hunts; mostly hunting witches, and talked about their favorite muscle cars in between bouts of silence caused by Mel reading the witch's spell book. The sun was starting to set, Dean was exhausted from driving all day, and he figured that Mel would like a chance to get out of the car to stretch. He pulled into a cheap motel on the outskirts of town. Mel stirred as the car stopped, but stayed asleep as the older man went to check in.
Mel woke as Dean returned. "Where are we?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep.
"Just into Indiana," Dean moved the car into the back parking lot. "I'm beat, and you look like you could use a break from being folded up in here." He got out of the car and started grabbing duffels from the trunk.
"I could drive, we'd get there faster that way," Mel said. She grabbed Sam's duffel bag and followed the older Winchester.
Inside the motel room, Dean had tossed his bags on the bed closest to the door and was looking at through the phonebook for fast food the delivered. "Nah, let's rest. Sam's safe; you said so yourself. Let's just eat, wash the road grime off, and get some sleep. What did you find in that bitch's spell book? I mean you were looking at it all day."
Mel sighed and sat heavily on the bed in front of Dean. "Nothing, the witch was just crazy. The spells in the beginning of the book are normal, and interesting, but after about 100 years she started experimenting with ingredients and incantations. She was combining spells for a while, and then she started just mixing things at random. That potion she threw on Sam? She was hoping it would turn him to stone. There's nothing I can get from that book, other than now we know a spell to swap souls between bodies." Mel flopped back on the bed. "Just not a way to put them back."
"I hate to say this, because you got dragged into this, but I'm glad that it didn't work out like she wanted," Dean sighed. "Looks like there's only pick up places here, so what do you want to eat?"
"Chinese," Mel sat up. "Large order of house Lo Mein and egg rolls. I'll take a shower while you're gone."
Dean made sure he had his wallet and keys before leaving. He told Mel to salt the windows and doors as he was leaving. After calling in the order on the way to the Chinese restaurant, Dean decided to call Cas and see if he knew anything about soul swapping spells. The angel didn't know about any such spells, but said that he may be able to put Sam's soul back in his body. Dean told him where the hotel he was staying at, and that he would meet him there after he grabbed his and Mel's food.
Mel had showered quickly, finding it extremely awkward to suddenly wash a body that wasn't hers. She stepped into the motel room wearing only a pair of boxers, and gave a yelp of surprise when she saw a man in a trench coat standing in the middle of the room. "Dammit, Castiel!" she exclaimed. "Can't you wait for Dean outside?"
The angel tilted his head and squinted at her. "How did you know Dean wanted me to wait for him?" He stepped forward and reached toward Mel.
Mel stepped back with her arms raised. "I'm psychic, and I'm not going to let you touch my soul. Go outside and wait for Dean, okay?"
Castiel disappeared and Mel quickly got dressed. As she finished, she heard the Impala's engine roaring through the parking lot. She could hear Dean and the angel speaking and knew the hunter was going to have some questions for her, so she pulled out Sam's phone and a called her phone number. "Sam?" Mel asked when the call was answered. "It's Mel, I'm gonna put you one speaker in a minute. I'm gonna have to tell Dean something, and you should hear is too."
"Did something happen?" Sam asked, suddenly worried.
Before Mel could say anything Dean busted through the door like an enraged bull. "What is wrong with you?" he bellowed. "Cas says your soul is tainted! What the hell does that mean?"
Mel flinched at the volume and intense anger of Dean's thoughts. "Dean, please calm down. None of this is going to affect Sam. Why don't we sit down and I'll explain?"
"Oh I ain't sittin' down, sister," Dean was seething with anger. "Now you better start talking or I'm gonna-"
"What are you going to do, Dean?" Mel snapped. "Tie me up and torture me? Did you forget that this is Sam's body? There's no way you can hurt this body. So just sit down and shut up." The older hunter was fit to be tied, he was so mad. He lunged at Mel, and was shocked when he was forced to into a chair. Mel kept her eyes on Dean as she sat the other chair at the small table. She pressed the speaker button on the phone and placed it on the table. Dean tried to move against her hold, but couldn't. "I told you I was a powerful psychic Dean, you shouldn't have pushed me.
"Dean?" Sam called out over the phone. "What did you do to him Mel?"
"He's fine, Sam, and so is the angel. They just can't move right now. I'm only going to tell this story once so everyone shut your mouths and listen." Mel took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "Every hunter gets started somehow, right? Well this is how I got dragged into this hellish life." She looked down at the table to pick at a spot on the cheap tablecloth. "I was born in some small village in Germany. I lived there for four years with my father before he was killed by witches. I was taken by them. I wasn't the only child either. There were over a dozen children throughout Europe that were taken by this coven. Turns out, each witch had had a child and left them with the father after faking her death. My mother happened to be the leader of them.
"They were planning on resurrecting some ancient god to control, but they needed a body to sacrifice in order to contain that power. The body had to be pure and uninfluenced by the ways of corruption. All of us children were chained so we couldn't run away as each one of us was taken to the altar. One by one, each kid was carved into and this overwelming power would enter their body, and one by one, each kid died in some horrible manner."
Mel paused and covered her face as the memories of the children's screams overwhelmed her. Dean realized that he could move again, so he placed a comforting hand on her shoulders. She jerked upright and wiped at her dry eyes. "Soon it was my turn. One of the witches threw me on the altar that was covered in blood and chained me down so I was kneeling. They carved symbols into my skin and started their chanting. This pain exploded everywhere all at once, and all I could think was that I wanted it to stop. I would do anything if it would just stop. Then there was this voice that called out to me. It said that it would stop the pain. It felt like I could reach out to the voice so I did, and the pain stopped.
"I was shielded from what the witches did while that thing was inside me, but sometimes flashes of memories come in my dreams. I know that after the ritual was successful they killed the rest of the children, and they forced the god inside me to do their bidding. My uncle was a hunter who had tracked the witches. He finally found them and helped break the hold the coven had over the god. The god killed the witches and left my body. I was thirteen by then. Because I that god was in my body so long, shielding me from everything, it left a mark on my soul and left me with these psychic powers."
No one spoke as Mel finished her story. "What happened to the god?" Sam asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I don't know." Mel said quietly. "It just left and suddenly it was like I woke up from a long sleep. I remembered the ritual and the kids dying, but nothing after that. Not until a few years later, when the memories started coming. I'd like to think that it went back to wherever it came from, but that never happens." Mel looked to Castiel who had moved to stand next to Dean. "Since my soul is tainted, angels can't touch my soul without dying. I know you want to help, but no one wants you to get hurt Cas. We'll figure this out."
"How do you know this?" Cas asked.
"An angel told my uncle when he tried to find a way to remove these psychic powers." Mel said. "I don't know the angel's name, and my uncle's dead so we can't ask him." Dean and the angel watched as Mel stood and walked to the door. "So know you know my sob story, and I obviously know yours, so we're even now. Let's just eat and move on."
