Ghost From The Past
They finally found her that night.
No one else was at home and the intruders even managed to not trip the alarm. Had it not been for the broken bottle shards in the kitchen floor, she wouldn't have heard them. EMF was not reacting and nor booby traps they set up for hunter intruder. They seemed to know the layout of her house very well but she was certain it was not her team. None of them dared to pull something like this on her, not even Andy. She quickly left her room, knowing that would be the first they searched for her. Her legs kept on running, away from them, but the hallway seemed to never end. Hell, she never knew her house was this big. She didn't even dare to check who the intruders were. All she knew that they scared the hell out of her mind. Adrenaline and fear seemed to be the only thing that kept her from crashing down. She didn't dare to look behind but there were no other footsteps than her and the only voice other than her footsteps was her own labored breathing. Her heart was hammering hard against her chest, as if it tried to break away from its cage, and veins in her temple started to pulsate angrily, slowly causing a massive headache.
But she couldn't stop. Even if she wanted, her legs seemed to have its own brain. She had to run away and she did, as fast as she could… until she realized someone was standing in her way and immediately stopped. Her eyes widened when she finally recognized who it was. "Dean…" she breathed out, taking a small step away from him. He looked pissed and angry as hell, just like the way he usually acted around her before his death. To her surprise, that dull, aching feeling no longer appeared as they used to anymore and instead she felt her shoulder slumped down and her limbs went lifeless on their own accord.
When Dean was few steps away from her did she finally regain control of her body and turned around. A surprised gasp escaped her lips when she saw Sam standing behind her, looking equally angry. "Sam, I─"
"Tell him what you did, Elaine," Sam cut her, his voice was toneless, "tell him why you left me in the mercy of demons."
She shook her head vigorously, tears started to brim on her eyes, "I didn't know that─ Sam, I didn't mean to leave you. I─" she turned to Dean, pleading, "please trust me. I have to follow their condition." Her eyes widened when both Dean and Sam started to advance on her. She stepped backwards to avoid them, "Dean… Sam… please…" she pleaded again when her back bumped into the wall. "You have to understand, I don't have other choice."
"Oh boo hoo, Elaine lost her boyfriend. Let's make it about her, shall we? Hm, what should we do to cheer her up?" Sam said mockingly before his eyes narrowed, "oh, I know," he smirked, lifting his hand. Next to her, Dean suddenly let out a painful gasp. Elaine turned quickly to find Dean was suspended in the air and his hand clawed and scratched at his own neck, trying to free himself from something invisible that was holding him. Her eyes widened when she heard him choked and gasped for air.
"Sam, stop it!" she cried out as she frantically grasped Dean's leg and tried to pull him down. "It's Dean. What are you doing?!" But even as she used her full strength, she couldn't help him down.
"Why not?" Sam countered. His smirk widened as he clenched his hand tighter, crushing his windpipe. "If you get to screw me up, why can't I screw him up? You should be glad, El. If he's dead, then you won't have to feel guilty." He glanced down to her, his eyes flashed white, "or would you like to tell him everything?"
Elaine froze noticing the brief change on his eye color. "Impossible…" How did she not notice it before? How did none of the other hunters even notice it? Her eyes flicked towards his upper left chest, trying to get a glimpse of his anti-possession tattoo under his shirt. There were Devil's Trap painted in every hallway and room. He couldn't possibly get to where they were right now without destroying half the house. And as far as she could see, there was no damage around them. What the hell was happening?
"What? Do you think you can just trust demons and there won't be any consequences?" 'Sam' snorted, "don't be naïve, Elaine. It's really unbecoming for you." He glanced at Dean and sighed to find him still struggling, "he just can't die that easily, can he?" 'Sam' tilted his head before grinning back, "oh, I know."
"Dean!" Elaine screamed out as she watched Dean was flunked hard into the wall just by a swish of Sam's hand. Another wave and Dean was thrown into another side of the wall. "Stop it! Sam, I know you're in there! Stop it!"
"Hm," he stopped for a moment to the point that Elaine thought the real Sam could finally hear her, "how about no?" Then he waved his hand again to throw Dean to the wall again. This time he put more strength in it and grinned in satisfaction when he saw cracks on that wall. 'Sam' snorted again when he noticed tears on her face. "If you finished crying, could you check if he's dead already?" He smirked when he noticed she pulled out a familiar blade and pointed it towards him.
"Let him go," she demanded.
There really was no other outcome than this. If she wanted to keep Dean alive, like she always did, she had to do it quick. Dean might not survive another round of that. She had tried to make Sam fought the demon from inside, but so far there was no response. The blade felt really cold on her sweaty hand as she dreaded the near future. If she did this… if she killed Sam, Dean would hate her forever. He would blame her for not trying hard, for being fooled twice.
Once again she was back to that night in Seattle three years ago. Same cause, same choices, and it always ended the same: she would lose Dean.
"Finally. I thought you lost that blade already. Come on," 'Sam' mocked, "I'm not going to defend myself. Come on, I'm waiting, El." He smirked seeing the barely hidden tremble on her hand. "No? Okay."
Elaine could watch in horror when Sam flicked his hand slightly and Dean was once again thrown to the wall again. But this time she could hear a loud cracking noise. "Dean!" she ran towards where he was slumped down when he didn't show any movement. Her hand was immediately stained with red fluid when she touched his head. "No… Dean?" Elaine slapped his cheek, trying to get him awake, "Dean? Dean!" She moved to shake him, "Dean, wake up! Dean!" There was no flutter of breath or even a flinch. He was not responding either to her frantic voice or touch. "Dean?" her voice was shaky now and she could feel the salty taste from her tears.
This was not happening. He just got back from Hell. They hadn't even resolved their fighting. There were so many things she wanted to tell him or do with him. He couldn't just… Her fingers trembled when she reached out to touch his vein, desperately seeking for a pulse.
"Dean, no… DEAN!"
Elaine gasped for breath, shooting up, as she opened her eyes and looked around frantically in her dark surrounding. When she noticed her hand on a white sheet, then she realized where she was. She was in her room, all alone. Nor Dean or Sam was anywhere near her. The damp sheets were twisted around from her trashing, her heart was still beating frantically. She raised her hand shakily to find there was no trace of blood. Her head was still pounding hard when she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. The reality started to sink in to her mind what had just happened to her earlier.
It was a dream.
Oh thank God, it was just a dream. She let out a relieved breath as she laid back again, her eyes closed, trying to shake away traces of the dream on her mind, with her hand covering her face. Everything on the dream felt so real… she could still remember vividly the constant fear she had in the dream or feel the warm blood she had on her hand when checking Dean after that last impact. And when she could not find a pulse on his veins… A sob escaped her lips when she remembered how she thought she would lose him again or how scared she was when she thought Sam was possessed by Lilith.
Just when she could finally control herself, her bedroom door suddenly opened. Elaine quickly grabbed the gun under her bed and aimed it towards the door. "Liz!" she lowered down the gun when her mind finally registered who it was. "Don't scare me. I could kill you just now!"
"Hey I'm not the one who screams loudly in dead night!" Liz defended herself. She rested herself against the doorway, her eyes frowned as she noticed how disheveled her friend was. "I thought the nightmare should stop already," she said quietly, "you know, with him back and all."
Elaine glanced at the broken photo frame on her nightstand. The others kept offering to get a new frame and printed out a new copy but she always refused. Liz tried to throw it away once out of frustration but Elaine managed to save it before garbage truck carried it away. "I guess it won't that easy…" she whispered, lifting the frame gingerly. A sad smile appeared on her face as she gazed at the people in the picture. They were so happy and carefree in that photo, both Dean and her, content with how their relationship was.
How she wished they could back to that time again.
The doorbell suddenly rang, startling almost everyone in the house who had been enjoying their quick breakfast. Dean glanced at his brother who shrugged his shoulder. Neither of them expected any visitor at this moment, but then again they didn't exactly live in this house permanently. Bobby was still nowhere to be found, the last time they checked, he was still in the bathroom upstairs. Dean nudged his brother to do something; either called Bobby or opened the door, as he refused to be part with his food. But Sam only kicked his leg back in response. After nudging and kicking while the doorbell is still ringing, Sam finally raised his clenched hand, challenging Dean to a paper rock scissor match. Few seconds later Sam grinned in victory as his brother slapped his burger back to the plate and shouted, "Bobby!" They waited but there was no response from the old man. "Bobby! Someone's at the door!"
Then the ringing was getting louder and the interval in between rings was getting shorter when Dean finally broke down and stalked towards the door. "Alright, alright! Will you just be patient, you─" he froze when seeing that it was Elaine who stood on the other side and two crates were besides her. Memory of the last time they met and the argument they left unfinished stormed back to his mind and he remembered how pissed he was at her and how it changed into a guilt when he finally calmed down and able to think straight.
For a moment they were standing in awkward silence, pointedly avoiding each other's stare. Neither of them knew the right thing to say after how their last argument ended. Nor did they know if the other wanted to reconcile or not. It was Sam who broke the silence as he walked to the front door, curious on why his brother had said no more words after opening the door. "Hey, who's─" his face scrunched up in a scowl and his figure went stiff when he saw who was standing in the doorway. "Elaine," he greeted curtly. Of course she wouldn't stay away after Dean was back to life again.
Elaine turned and greeted the younger Winchester with a tight smile, "Sam." She could only hold her gaze on him for few seconds before turning away. The memory of her recent nightmare was still fresh on her mind─ how Sam killed Dean in cold blood. She knew he wouldn't even have a thought to kill Dean in real life, but it still etched on her mind how scared she was of him on that dream.
It was hard not to notice the tense atmosphere between those two, causing Dean to frown as well. He completely forgot to talk about this that night he visited Elaine─ to be honest, it went out of control the moment that alarm went off─ and also to Sam when they had spare time after he regrouped with him and Bobby after going off for a 'snack'. At first he thought Sam might be furious at Elaine because she couldn't stop the deal from happening, but now that Dean was standing and breathing again, everything should be good between those two again. Dean glanced toward his brother who seemed agitated being in the same room with Elaine. Sam was never the one who hold grudge between two of them. So what changed?
"Here," she said and pushed the crates at him and Sam before he could even think on what to say. He was glued on his spot, noticing that she had changed her car as well, when she walked back to the backseat to grab more bags. It was no longer the horrible bright pink BMW she insisted to keep just because it looked cute. That blasted car used to irritate him to the point that he was more than ready to run it over with his own but it was part of her. Now that it was also gone, along with other things he usually associated her with, Dean wasn't sure if there was still shreds of her old self left.
Bobby was drowning alcohol like water, Sam was going bat crazy after Lilith on his own, and Elaine was probably replaced by a look alike. He had gone only for four months and everything had changed. Now it felt like he was the only one still trapped in the past.
Then his arm started to grow tired from holding the crate, causing him to shake away his thought. He closed the door with his foot and dropped the heavy crate next to the one she put earlier. "What the hell is this?"
Elaine shrugged her shoulder and answered, "Bobby called me to bring anything I know about angels,"
"And you're supposed to know a lot about them, aren't you?" Sam said snidely, dropping the crate careless to the floor.
"Finally. What took you so long?" Bobby came down to find her inside his house already, unknowingly stopped the impending argument. He frowned seeing their each expression, "what?"
"Really? Her?" Sam asked accusingly, surprising Dean for his open hostile, "After what─"
Bobby rolled his eyes at his antics, "you both wanted to know about angels. Can't think anyone who has better collection."
"Everything that has the word angel in them," Elaine cut before Sam had a chance to argue again, her hand motioned towards the two crates. Then she walked towards the desk, opening her laptop on it. "Those are the ones we haven't had time to put it on database." It took few seconds before the welcome screen popped out again. Dean pursed his lips together─ another thing in her life that changed completely. She used to have their picture from the last Christmas they celebrated together, not this EC yellow logo with black background thing. Elaine pressed few keystrokes─ new password, he noticed again─ and opened her digital collection. "These are the rest. Just do a normal search and it will pop out and sorted by book title. I don't know which one you already have, Bobby, so I bring everything." She glanced around before stepping back, letting Bobby to feel around the laptop.
It was when Dean and Sam finally crowded themselves around the laptop that Elaine quietly stepped away towards the door. Liz was right─ she should've let Dean steam off after their argument and sent out the others for this. She inwardly flinched when the door creaked loudly as she opened it, alerting the others. "Really? You're just creeping out like that?" As always, Dean was the first one who reacted.
Elaine turned around slightly, her glance lingered in Bobby longer, "You have it all handled."
"Wow. Here I thought you couldn't be more heartless and you just prove me wrong."
"Dean, it's not─" she sighed, "I'm sure three of you can─"
"─cut the crap, El." Dean gritted his teeth, seeing how she kept glancing towards the door. "I don't need your half assed excuse again. What, your demon buddy told you to stay away from me now? Hm? Is that how it is now?" He then turned around to Bobby who was taken aback by his rather harsh words and Elaine who didn't sound a protest. "Bobby? Any word to add?"
These two idjits. Bobby rolled his eyes, feeling headache threatening to show up again. "Well, you kinda dump lots of things here…" he trailed off, looking at the woman pointedly. A frown slightly appeared on his face when she bit her lips while her eyes still flickering between Dean and him. He never saw her being this hesitant before, not when it concerned Dean's well-being. Maybe Dean was right. Maybe Elaine really changed and he was buried too deep on his own problem that he didn't notice it.
It wasn't until Elaine closed the door again and took off her coats that the heavy feeling in the room immediately disappeared. She pulled out her phone and texted to her team not to expect her in the house any time soon before settled herself in the sofa and grabbed a book randomly. "What?" she added when Dean was still staring at her, "I thought you want me to help out."
Dean clenched his jaw to clamp down any bite remark waiting on his tongue before grabbing the big crate and pulled the crates towards him. Beside him, Sam also did the same with her laptop while Bobby skimmed through another crate, taking out the books that he didn't own. For few moments, there was no sound other than rustling of papers or clicking of the keyboard. Elaine tried to focus on the book but her eyes kept straying towards Dean. It felt surreal to see him actually there, breathing and moving in front of her. Few days ago the only time she could see Dean was from her memories or nightmares and she couldn't even treasure those moments without feeling guilty or angry.
Maybe she should have apologized for their last fight. She just had him back and they were already fighting again. This was not what she wanted, what she pictured their reunion to be. Elaine quickly ducked behind her book, hiding the smile that immediately plastered on her face when she noticed Dean rummaged through her plastic bag and took out the pie she prepared earlier. At the very least, she was glad to know there was one thing that never changed in him. Maybe they could properly talk after this and things would return to the way it should be.
"Why are these stuffs only about angels?" Dean asked, throwing the last book he skimmed through carelessly back to the crate.
Elaine looked up from the book to see Sam and Bobby had a matching exasperation look on their face. She then glanced to Dean with a frown, "I thought you want to know more about the angel who rescued you."
"Well what if it's not angel, huh? Care to add that to the scenario?" he countered back, not wanting to back down.
She could only stare at him, completely bewildered. Few nights ago he stormed into her house in the middle of the night just to tell her that he managed to summon his rescuer and it was an angel. Then Bobby called her last night to bring all she could find about angels─ on which Liz grumbled all the time since they had to chase the last flight back instead of sleeping in after hunting rugaru. Now he didn't believe it's an angel? Did she miss something in between?
"Dean, we've been on this argument over and over again." Sam cut in, still looking peeved, "unless you can tell us what else it could have been, my money's still on angels."
"I was not groped by some angels, okay!" Dean snapped back, startling all of them, including Bobby who chose to ignore their argument earlier. He clenched his jaw and when he spoke again, his voice was calmer, "look, it could be something else. Maybe… maybe he's some kind of a demon. Who knows? Demon lies always."
Elaine casted a questioning look towards Bobby who only shrugged in response, before turning back to Dean. "So you're saying a demon who could go past through Devil's Trap, salt rounds, and the knife, which Lilith really scared of, got you out of Hell, after all the troubles she had sending you there." she said carefully, her eyes watched his reaction closely. "Do you know how ridiculous and far-fetched that sounds?"
But Dean was still stubborn on his opinion. "It's a working theory," he said curtly.
Sam sighed, "Dean, we already have a theory."
"One with the less fairy dust on it, please." Dean crossed his arms then stared at each of them expectantly. "Well?" he demanded.
"Well what?" Elaine asked back, "what's wrong with the angel theory, really?"
Her question left Dean really stunned and speechless. He already expected Sam to immediately latch on the angel theory since the beginning since Sam still believed in what the bible said─ that even though bad stuff happened around them, there was still God and His angels. Bobby being neutral on the revelation didn't surprise him at all─ he was the type who rather waited until the proof dangling in front of him before making his opinion. But her questioning his reason not to believe in angel? Elaine didn't believe in that crap. She even laughed at the priests when they were defending their faith on her. He saw it so many times. They shared the same view─ if there was God, then why didn't He do anything about stuff that happened right now?
Glancing around in the room, Dean found out that he wasn't the only who was taken back. Even Sam dropped down his glare at her and gaped at her openly. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he finally managed to speak out.
Elaine frowned back at him, "what are you talking about?"
"Since when you believe in angel crap?"
"I'm just following what you said before," she said, defending herself, "because right now, that's more believable than your demon theory."
"Well then why no hunters have seen one, at some point, ever?"
Sam shook out of his stupor and turned to his brother, giving him a pointed look, "you just did, Dean."
"Are you kidding me?" Dean stared at his brother in disbelief, "you decide to believe this thing is a freaking Angel of the Lord just because it says so?"
Fed up from hearing their arguments, Bobby finally spoke out, "You chuckleheads want to keep arguing about religions or do you want to take a look at this?" He waited until three of them settled themselves around his table before grabbing the book he wanted to show them. "Every lore I read─ Biblical, pre Biblical, some even in the damn cunneiform─ said an angel can snatch a soul from the pit."
Elaine froze when she looked at the page Bobby showed them properly. It was the same. The drawing on the page was identical to the window mural she saw in that church, down to the position of each figure and coloring. When Dean told her about the identity of his rescuer, she thought someone overheard her conversation with the Reverend and used that in hope she could convince Dean to just buy that story and ask no more question. Clearly they didn't know Dean, whoever rescued him. But now that she knew the mural didn't come out from the Reverend's weird imagination… she wished she immediately investigated about angels the first time she heard from him. Her eyes widened when she noticed that the supposed angel grabbed the supposed man on the left shoulder. Didn't Dean's hand print mark also in the same place?
"What's with you?" Bobby was the first one to notice how pale Elaine's face was. "You look like you just seen a ghost."
His comment prompted the Winchesters to turn around at her. "I saw that picture before, exactly the same," Elaine reluctantly answered, knowing Dean would see through her lies and get really upset after that. "It's the new stained glass the Reverend put up when I visited few days ago. I thought he just used it to annoy me but…" She looked up from the picture only to find them stared at her weirdly, and frowned. That was the second time she received the same look. From Bobby she wouldn't think of it much─ it was more of his default look on her. But to have it from Dean and Sam at the same time? Now that just made her more uncomfortable. "What?"
"You visited a priest? As in the creepy guy living in a church?" Dean asked back and then turned to Bobby, "she went to a church?"
Bobby raised his hands up in surrender, "hey, don't ask me." He quickly said, defending himself from Dean's accusation for not telling everything. Few nights ago after their encounter with the so called angel, Dean stormed back to his house, looking livid. When he was asked what happened, Dean snapped at him for suggesting to visit Elaine or how Elaine was completely changed to worse. Bobby glanced at the woman, his eyes shining with curiosity. "I honestly thought visiting the Reverend is your code for having… you know."
"You went to a church? You went to a church?"
Elaine rolled her eyes when he repeated the question again and again like a broken record and snapped, "yes, Dean. I go to a church now. Can we move on to the real problem here?"
"Since when?" Dean asked, still spluttered out about her newfound activities. There were many ways Elaine and church could be put in one sentence but he would never thought of this one. With the way things unraveled right now, he wouldn't be surprise anymore if she decided to drop another bomb like this again. Hell, he would not surprise if she had anything to do with this angel. "Since when you go to church, El?" he demanded once again.
She bit her lips, at first reluctant to answer. But when Dean barked out his question again, she quickly answered, "three and half months ago, okay?"
"So you already know about angels stuff before I was bailed out?"
"No! That's not─" Elaine sighed, seeing that Dean was seconds away from blowing up, again, "when the Reverend found out about your situation, he kept mentioning about angel being able to get your soul out of Hell. All I need to do is to believe and keep praying to them. I thought he was just a crazy man but… since you're really here and your rescuer is supposed to be an angel…"
Dean opened his mouth, ready to interrogate her more, but no sound came out. He was too stunned to be able to form a coherent speech. This was bizarre… even to her standard, this was too bizarre and erratic of a change. He didn't believe what she just said. No. There was something she wasn't telling him. "Alright," Dean finally found his voice, "let's visit this Reverend you're talking about then." Then he noticed her flinched at his decision, "what?"
"He's gone."
"How!?"
"I went back after you and Bobby went to Pontiac. He knocked me out and when I'm awake, he's already gone." A wry smile appeared on her face when she saw Dean grimaced, "yes. Funny how someone we trust always be the one who can knock us out in surprise."
Sam huffed at her before turning to his brother. "Stop over thinking it, Dean. You know, it could be good news."
Now Dean was worried about his brother too. "How?" he asked, staring at Sam incredulously. He didn't get how some self-proclaimed Angel of the Lord who was literally immune to every weapon they had decided to save him from Hell was considered good news. Could this weird change be contagious or something?
"Because for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap. I mean, maybe you were saved by one of the good guys, you know?"
Dean rolled his eyes. Nope, he was wrong. Nothing was wrong with Sam. Him being uncontrollably excited for the prospect of an angel saving his brother's ass was totally Sam. "Okay. Fine. Say it's true. Say there are angels. Then what? There's a God?" He turned to Elaine who only shrugged back, "please tell me you don't just believe it."
"I don't! I didn't," she added after a moment of pause, "but if it's really an angel…"
Sam quickly cut them before the conversation went astray again, "okay, okay, look. I know you're not all choirboy about this stuff, but this is becoming less and less about faith and more and more about proof."
"Proof?" Dean stared at his brother in disbelief. "Proof that there's a God out there that actually gives a crap about me personally?" He scoffed, "I'm sorry but I'm not buying it."
"Why not?" Sam countered back.
Dean was completely stunned when he noticed everyone gave him questioning look. Was he really the only one who thought how ridiculous their conversation is right now? "Because why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?"
"Dean…"
"I've saved some people, okay?" Dean quickly cut her, "I figured that made up for the stealing," he glanced towards Elaine, "─and the ditching chicks. But why do I deserve to get saved? I'm just a regular guy!" He stopped when he felt someone took his hand and squeezed it. It wasn't hard to realize who it was, considering only one person in this room had a smaller hand than his. Dean took a deep breath and all the anger he had built up towards her, and the others, started to diminish as he curled his hand over hers in response. "Fine," he finally said, "what do we know about angels?"
Bobby nodded towards the crate Dean had dragged to the kitchen. "You got your piles. Start reading."
Dean scowled at the gleeful old man in front of him. He had hoped he could trick Bobby into reading the whole piles. One book earlier was more than he could handle without dozing off or getting bored. He stared at his own crate in resentment then turned to Sam. "You're gonna get me some pie."
"You just had pie!" Sam exclaimed, not wanting to drive just to get a freaking pie.
The scowl on Dean's face only deepened in response. "Pie. Now," he said again, forcefully.
"Ugh, fine."
Elaine didn't mind at all when Dean unintentionally dragged her to the kitchen, as if he forgot they were still holding hand. In fact, she tightened her grip, just to ensure herself she was not really holding a thin air right now, that it wasn't just a fragment of her delusions. She didn't even want to think of how they left their argument few days ago. Right now she needed to feel Dean, to calm her mind from the latest nightmare. Neither of them said anything when Dean grabbed few books and dragged them back to Bobby. Or when they settled down in the sofa, contently reading their own book. Not once did they release their clasped hand. And if Bobby noticed it, he didn't comment at all, aside from a little smirk he still sporting on his face as he flipped through the next book. At least Dean was not complaining anymore for the number of books he had to read.
Their peaceful moment was shattered few minutes later when Bobby swore after fiddling with his phones for awhile. Elaine glanced up from her book in time to see Bobby threw his cellphone to the table in frustration. "Need help to use a cellphone, grandpa?" she called out. Next to her, Dean failed miserably on hiding his grin.
Bobby rolled his eyes, "I'm old, not ancient, missy."
"What's wrong then?"
"I got a friend one state over, Olivia Lowry. Been trying to reach her for three days on this angel thing." Bobby sighed, "It's not like her to ignore this many calls."
Elaine frowned, trying to remember the name from every hunters she had encountered, "Lowry? Seriously? I know way more than her. What could you possibly need her for?"
"I know more than you yet I still called you in," Bobby countered back.
"Oh please," she scoffed, "she is good on hunting but you and I know how crappy she is in keeping her researches. Besides, my house is closer to hers. I'll ask the standby to check on her rather than we wasted few hours in the road, if you're really that worried of her." Elaine stood up from the sofa, finally breaking their clasped hand, and reached for her phone inside her bag. She waited patiently for the other line to pick up but it went to voicemail. "That's weird," she frowned, walking to where her laptop is, "no one's picking up either. And they're at home," she added after staring at her laptop screen.
"How could you possibly know?"
Elaine turned her laptop around towards Dean, showing one blinking dots above where her house was located.
"You put a tracker on your friends?" Dean asked in disbelief.
She raised her hand to dangle her watch, "I wear one too. And I put one in your car," she added, couldn't help but smirking when Dean immediately launched on how he definitely did not give her permission to butcher up his baby etc. Once again she tried to call her teammate who had to guard the house but it went to voicemail again. "Okay. Now I'm worried too. Everything was fine when I left this morning and Tom wouldn't dare not to answer my call this long." Elaine glanced to Bobby who sported the same look with her. "I'll check on my house. You go to Lowry?"
"I'll go with you," Dean said immediately.
"Why? Because only I need to be protected?" Elaine rolled her eyes, "just because an angel saved you from Hell, doesn't mean you get to play hero, sweetie. And I'm definitely not your damsel in distress." She glanced towards Bobby while grabbing her bag and coat, "call me when you got something."
"Tom? Are you there?" Elaine called out as she opened her front door to, surprisingly, an empty and silent house. She checked on the alarm box next to the door. It wasn't activated when she came in earlier so there must be someone in the house that they didn't need to activate the whole system. There was no way Tom didn't hear the screeching sound her wheels made when she made the last turn into the driveway. The first room she checked was the soundproof basement, where the door leading there was locked, and ready to berate her teammate for not bringing his phone down when she found no one was inside. Now she couldn't ignore the sinking pit she felt on her way here. Something must have happened to Tom. Elaine grabbed one of the guns in the storage and went back upstairs.
Still the house was pretty quiet when Elaine shouted his name again. The living room was empty, so did their meeting room, and so did other rooms in first floor until she went into the kitchen. It lacked of occupant just like the others, but everything was all cluttered there and not from cooking. The stove was untouched but the cabinets above it were open. Cans and bottles were everywhere, some of them were broken and their contents were spilled out. Some of their cookware was carelessly abandoned in the floor. Then she noticed salt packs were missing in one of the top cabinet. Her eyes widened when she realized what happened in their house. She quickly ran back to the living room where fireplace was located and found one of the fireplace pokers was missing.
Their house was haunted.
Elaine immediately grabbed the other poker and discarded her handgun as it wouldn't do her any use if it was ghost since this one wasn't filled by salt packed bullets. She glanced around warily before pulling the lever disguised as a book on the cabinet to open one of their weapon storage. One shotgun and two packs of salt shells were also missing, along with one of the EMF meters. Tom must have been in the living room or kitchen when the ghost appeared and went to the same storage as she did. She snagged a shotgun, checked the breech, locked the gun, and filled the belt with shells before grabbing the EMF meters. The EMF was not responding and the room temperature hadn't decrease since she came. There was no electrical disturbance as well. Still it didn't hurt to arm herself, just in case.
"Tom! Are you okay?!" she shouted, only to receive another silence again. "Damn it," she cursed under her breath. Elaine walked quietly with the help of carpeted staircase to the second floor where their bedrooms were located. Her eyes widened when she found trail of blood and salt on the hallway. She pressed herself against the wall and peeked from behind it to check if the hallway was clear. Once she was sure that there was no ghost or anything else, she quickly followed the trail to the only open bedroom in the floor. "Oh my God, Tom!"
Tom was in his bedroom, as she thought he would go, with broken salt line on the doorway. Just as she feared, he was already dead and his inside was torn apart. Elaine released a shaky breath─ she had no problem seeing corpse in any kind of condition, but it always shook her when it hit close to home. Especially knowing that she might be dead as well, had Bobby didn't force to come first thing in the morning. She glanced back at Tom's body─ he was still holding the shotgun when he died and the EMF meter was near him─ but the way his body was mutilated, it was too brutal for a spirit activity. Never had she seen a ghost done this before. Even if it was really a ghost… then why it never appeared before? They had searched the house when they first moved in and there was no history of a ghost wandering in there.
Elaine reached out the cell phone he dropped on the floor─ Tom probably was going to warn one of them before the ghost killed him─ and dialed Liz's cell number since she was the nearest to their house right now. The others were too far to get back immediately. "Liz, grey code," she said once the dialing tone stopped, "Tom's down and─" the beeping noise from both EMF meters stopped her. She glanced to see the reading had gone haywire. Next was a loud crackling noise on her speaker, cutting her call with Liz at once. Elaine tightened her grip on the shotgun and when she felt cold air behind her, she quickly turned around and pointed the gun towards the ghost. Her eyes widened as she realized who the ghost was, "Bela?!" and her hand unconsciously lowered down the gun.
"Hey, El." Bela greeted, slightly smirked, with her usual heavy British accent. "Fancy seeing you here."
She was not dreaming it then. It was really Bela's ghost. But if she was standing in front of her, then… she glanced back at Tom's mutilated body. "Is this your doing then?" Her fingers tightened their hold on the shotgun as she waited for her answer. This was not what she pictured herself would do to Bela.
Bela tilted her head to get a better look at the corpse behind Elaine and scoffed, "of course not. I don't even know that guy. I was in Hell when something pulled me here and voila, here we are. Who is he again? Your new Dean?" She immediately stepped away and raised her hand in defense when Elaine pointed the shotgun at her. "Whoa, I'm just here to talk. No need for the gun."
"If it's not you, then who killed my friend?"
Bela shrugged her shoulder, "Do you think I know every ghost there is just because I'm dead?"
"Well, I'm glad to see sarcasm hasn't run off from you after you're dead." Elaine countered with a smile. She truly missed this─ her casual banter with Bela was one of the things she really looked forward to take her mind off hunting. Not to mention, it was nice to have someone who didn't throw her suspicious look every minute. Hunters had gone wary of her if she barged into their hunting unannounced, as if her demon 'friend' was always around her. Even Dean and Bobby had their share of being cautious around her. "Why are you a ghost?" she suddenly asked. Never had she heard someone who made a deal with demon returned as a ghost before.
"Where is Dean, El?" she countered back.
Elaine stared at her friend in disbelief, "are we seriously going to talk about him of all people?" Then she frowned, "was there something happened between you and Dean that I should know of? You really couldn't stop talking about him after lucky rabbit thing." She pursed her lips as she unconsciously started imagining what might happen between Bela and Dean behind her. What transpired in her mind was not to her liking at all.
It wasn't hard for Bela to guess what the other woman might be thinking right now. She was dead, brutally killed, then became a ghost, and all Elaine could think of was if she was sleeping with Dean. "Oh I'm sorry. What do you want to talk then? About me perhaps? About how I spent every waking second in Hell being skinned alive bit by bit and that when there was nothing of me left, they just put me back in whole and do it over again and again. Is that what you want to talk about, El?" Her wry smile appeared when Elaine flinched hearing her statement. Served her right. El was a good hunter. No, scratch that, she was one of the best hunter Bela had ever seen but it only took one name to reduce her into an insecure woman.
"Typical Elaine," Bela scoffed when the other woman didn't say anything, "did you even ask Dean how he's faring after Hell? Or did you just let your stupid, petty stubbornness won you over?" She grabbed her neck and slammed that woman into the ground. "What the fuck is wrong with you, El?" she shouted as her temper had gotten better of her. Beside them, the EMF meters were beeping furiously, showing how Bela was getting stronger by minute. "I didn't get to go behind Lilith's back for this!"
Elaine coughed, trying to get her vocal cords to work. "Bel.. calm… down…" she croaked, struggling with the increasing pressure from Bela's hand. Her finger could touch the shotgun but she couldn't bring herself to shoot Bela. She knew she was already dead but… it's Bela. There should be a way to calm her down. If her anger was gone, she could return back to a normal ghost. "Bel…" she reached out to touch her friend's face, "please…"
"You didn't even try to save me! I'm your best friend, El, and you just let me die like that!" The anger had clouded her mind that Bela couldn't hear her plea to calm down. In her eyes, this was the woman who just cruelly abandoned her to die alone. This was the woman who did nothing to save her from Hellhound, despite the favor she could pull in from her demon 'friend'. And all could she think about was to repay the amount of pain she had to endure in Hell ten folds to this woman. "You even went to church and pray for him! He broke your heart countless time. And you chose to save him over me?!"
Under her, Elaine tried hard to release her death grip on her throat after realizing Bela couldn't see reason anymore. The anger had consumed her too much that she was not herself anymore. During her struggle, Tom's body caught her gaze. Was this what happened to Tom before his death? He knew better than not informing anyone else or at least chose a better place to fight the ghost. Did he also get caught off guard with whose ghost appeared? And that when he started to fight back, it was already too late? Elaine gasped, trying to suck more air into her lung. Her vision started to be blinded by bright spots. If she didn't do anything, she would meet the same fate as Tom. One of her hand frantically searched for that shotgun now.
She couldn't die this way. Not now.
Then suddenly Bela disappeared from above her and she could breathe again. There was a clanking noise near her before someone grabbed her shoulder and helped her to sit up. She could hear that same person talking something and another voice responded but her mind still couldn't process it. Then she felt the hand on her shoulder tightened its grip while another hand went to behind her knees and she was lifted out. As she coughed out to relieve the pressure and let air filing up her lung, her blurry vision started to come back to normal. That was when she recognized who saved her from Bela. She opened her mouth only to find her throat was too dry and there was no voice coming out.
"Hey, hey, relax." Dean stopped her from moving around before raising his head, "grab me that water, Sam."
Sam blindly reached for the plastic bag Dean threw at passenger seat carelessly earlier and when his hand touched the bottle, he threw it to the back seat. He glanced up on his rear mirror, "she okay?"
"Yeah." Dean answered rather absentmindedly as he helped Elaine drinking the water. There was no wound other than bruises on her neck. "Nope, you're definitely a damsel in distress," he grinned at her, earning a confused look from Sam.
"Oh shut up," she mumbled, remembering her last words to him before she went back to her house. Her voice was still hoarse and she was still dizzy from the lack of air earlier. Then she sat up to find herself in Impala. "Why are you taking me away? Shouldn't we do something to Bela's ghost?"
The grin then disappeared from Dean's face. "Lowry is also dead, just like your friend back there. Also some other hunters in the area. Only hunters. The civilians are all okay." He then frowned, remembering the ghost he had hit with iron stick. "What the hell is Bela's ghost doing killing every off duty hunter?" That didn't make any sense to him. Bela died more than four months ago and she didn't have a grudge on hunters. She trolled them yes, but never to the extent that she returned to the living world and killed the crap out of them. If she was targeting him and Sam, maybe he would believe it since she might be bitter after their last encounter.
"It's not Bela."
Dean rolled his eyes, "I saw her ghost, El."
"I meant yes, Bela was trying to kill me, but she didn't kill Tom or other hunters. It's someone else doing this." Her hand automatically reached for the demon blade which was usually on her person only to have it missing. She looked around frantically, "we have to get back. Now!"
Seeing her panicked made both Dean and Sam also panicked. "Why? What?" Did they miss someone else in the house?
"You left my demon blade back there. Someone could steal it away from me. Sam, turn around!"
"Are you kidding me? No! Unless you can explain how Bela suddenly appeared at your house and how to stop her madness, I'm not going back there just to get that blade. Bobby told us to regroup at his place so that's what we're going to do right now."
Dean smirked, so proud of his brother to take a firm stand once in a while, "what he said." He then noticed her frowning at him, "what?"
Bela's words earlier came back to her mind. She had told her how her life in Hell had been. If those demons would do something like that to Bela, then what did they do to someone like Dean? Unlike Bela, Dean went to great length to stop demons' plan. Elaine bit her lips─ was her nightmares from before his revival true in any way? "Nothing…" she reluctantly said. This was not the time to think about it. Nor was it a good time to ask Dean. Maybe after this ghost killing hunter business ended.
It took a visit from another ghost to convince Sam and Dean that it really was not Bela's doing. They stopped at the next gas station because Impala was running rather low on gas and Dean kept complaining on how uncomfortable the backseat was. That was when a ghost, went by Agent Henriksen, suddenly appeared behind Sam when he was in the restroom. Elaine overheard struggle from the men's restroom and went in to find a ghost was beating the crap out of him. She swung the iron stick Dean insisted her to bring for her protection and when the ghost disappeared, she went to Sam. "Are you okay?" she reached out to touch his wound, only to have him slapped it away.
"Don't."
Elaine sighed, "Sam…"
"Just because Dean is all about forgiveness and start a new page with you, doesn't mean I'll do the same. I don't trust you and I never will," he spat before storming away from the restroom where Dean was just arriving, holding a shot gun. Dean threw her a questioning look when he noticed the scowl on his brother's face, which she brushed away.
The remaining drive back to Bobby's place was tenser. Dean was driving as fast as he could while kept glancing at Sam who was still massaging his temple. There was a bruise in there from when Henriksen slammed him against the sink. Elaine had tried once again to check his wound but he slapped her hand away once again. She dialed again Bobby's number to warn him about what had just happened but still there was no answer from the old man. Dean kept glancing at her from the rear mirror, waiting for an answer, but all she could do was shaking her head.
"How you feeling, huh? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Sam rolled his eyes, "none. I'll be fine, Dean."
"What the hell is going on?" Dean demanded an explanation, one that neither of them could explain.
"First Bela and now Agent Henriksen. This is crazy. Why is there a mass appearance of ghosts all of sudden? None of my team encountered any ghost in other states, so it only centered in this area." Elaine glanced down at her phone. She nicked Dean's phone and started calling her team who apparently was in panic after her call with Liz cut off abruptly earlier. Liz, especially, was more than happy to scream at her for giving her a heart attack. After debriefing them about the current situation, she had them checked on the other hunters in their current location. They were all fine, no case of strange ghosts suddenly appeared on their house.
Dean pursed his lips, not liking how her news sounded like. "But why? What did he want?" he glanced up to the rear mirror again, "what did Bela want?"
"Revenge. 'Cause we got him killed," Sam answered with a shrug.
"At first it was just for talk. Somehow I seem to set her off and then she suddenly hell bent on killing me…" she trailed off as she realized the situation. That was the connection! Bela's ghost appeared because she was guilty for letting her die like that. For Sam it was Agent Henriksen who was killed by Lilith after the brothers left the police station. He clearly was feeling guilty for letting that happened. "They're all people we failed to save…"
"What?"
"I couldn't save Bela and you couldn't save Henriksen. We couldn't fight back because we're too consumed with guilt. That must've happened to the other hunters too. As mediocre as some of them might be, it takes more than a ghost to catch them off guard." That was the only logical way to explain their situation. The only thing left was to find how those ghosts appeared all of a sudden and why they targeted the hunters instead. It didn't make sense to her. Taking on the civilians were easier since they couldn't defend themselves. What were they trying to accomplish by hunting down the hunters? And why is it only on their area? She glanced at Dean. Would it be paranoid if she had a feeling this might have something to do with him?
"Still no answer from Bobby?" He cursed when Elaine once again shook her head. If what she said was true, then Bobby was in a grave danger.
It was next morning when they finally arrived on Sioux Falls. When they arrived there, Bobby was nowhere to be found, to their horror. They went inside as quietly as possible while whispering Bobby's name, hoping he could hear them and gave a sign that he was still alive. Her laptop was still up and running, which meant Bobby was using it before he disappeared. She checked on the activity log and found that it was not that long since Bobby last used it. There was hope yet. She heard Dean snapped his fingers and followed him to the hallway where they found an iron poker on the end of the stair case. Her grip on the shotgun tightened. It was just like when she entered her house yesterday. Everything was all quiet and nothing was out of place, except that iron poker.
Dean gestured towards the stair, "I'll go. You both check outside."
"There's still basement. I'll check there," she said. That was where she most certain Bobby would go if he was under attack. She went downstairs to find that it was also empty but still trained her shotgun on every direction before she took a step. "Bobby?" her calling went unanswered, causing her to frown again. When she checked the panic room, it was locked but there was no one inside. Now she was getting really worried. Bobby was more experienced on this so he should be able to think straight and quick. She thought regardless who the ghost was, he would fight back.
"Do you actually love him, El?"
Elaine turned around, pointing her shotgun towards Bela. "I'm not in the mood for a talk, Bels." Her shot went through Bela and caused her to disappear. She glanced around to make sure the area was really safe and was about to return upstairs when Bela appeared again by standing on the end of the staircase.
"I never saw you both together so I just take your word when you said he's your first love. Now that I can see everything, I can tell how big fat liar you are." Bela shot towards her and pushed her towards the wall by grabbing her neck and hand which held shotgun. "You don't love him. You never do. Because if you do, you wouldn't get pissed off just because he chained you up. Not after you just let THAT HELLHOUND TORE ME APART!"
Elaine blindly grabbed on the table next to her for something to send Bela away and when she could feel the texture of an iron poker, she quickly swung it through Bela. She was dropped to the ground, coughing for an air again, when Bela's ghost disappeared.
Knowing there was nothing else she could find in basement and Bela could appear anytime soon, Elaine went back upstairs. She was about to join Sam in outside when her laptop screen caught her attention. There was something nagging on her mind since Bela appeared and she wanted to check it. Just when she was about to open her database, she heard loud voice from upstairs and that was not Dean. It was more like a woman's voice and she was the only woman in the house, which meant… Elaine grabbed her shotgun and quickly ran upstairs, thinking Bela had decided to change her target to Dean. Although when she was upstairs, it was another woman who seemed to look familiar to her. Before the ghost could attack her, she shot her, causing her to disappear. When she was sure that the ghost wouldn't return soon, she immediately went to check on Dean. She was relieved to find that there was no visible wound on him.
Dean scowled at her, "I had it under control."
"Of course. Is that why you were crawling on the floor when I came?" She offered her hand to help him stand. "You okay?" When she saw him nodded, Elaine loosened her hold on his hand only to have him tightened his grip and pulled her closer towards him. Her breath caught a hitch when his other hand touched her neck and its thumb caressed her cheek. She parted her lips but words had failed to come through when Dean leaned closer to her. They shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be doing this, but her eyes kept flickering down to his lips as she found herself leaning towards him.
"You didn't even try to save me!"
"Did you even ask Dean how he's faring after Hell?"
Her eyes snapped open, hearing Bela's words replayed in her mind, and she pushed him away from her, just as their lips barely touched each other. She turned away before she could see his expression and quickly walked downstairs. What was wrong with her? They were in the middle of a hunt and Bobby was still nowhere to be found, yet she almost kissed him instead. She could hear Dean following her down from his footsteps. If she stayed inside, they could get into an argument again. So she decided to join Sam on the outside only to find the front door opened and Sam and Bobby went in, looking alive.
"Bobby! You're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," he dismissed their fussing, "so what the hell is going on?"
"Well, our theory is people we couldn't save now turned into a ghost." Dean answered, although his eyes couldn't leave her figure. Right now she returned to her laptop, not listening to their conversation. "Mind joining the party, El?"
She just raised a finger, ordering him to shut up, while her other hand was still clicking the keyboard, leaving the other gave her a baffled look. "Found it!" she exclaimed few minutes later. "I knew there was something going on in here." Elaine clicked to enlarge the picture she had been looking for and was about to explain to the others when her screen was distorted then a static noise came out from the radio on the room. The ghosts were back.
"We got to move. Follow me."
Dean grabbed her shotgun as well and used his free hand to grab her by the arm, "come on!" He ignored her protest that she could walk on her own. "Where are we going?"
"Some place safe, idiot."
Bobby led them towards the staircase leading down to the basement. Then she knew where he was leading them to. The panic room. When she visited him one weekend two months ago, she was welcomed with an empty house. At first she thought Bobby was out on hunting, until she heard loud noises from downstairs. Elaine put down the groceries she bought for him and took out her demon blade. Quietly and carefully, she stepped on the staircase. The sight she found down there was not what she imagined. Bobby was cluttering on the other end of the basement, welding some irons on the wall. He kicked her out later when she kept teasing him on.
This was the first time she was glad Bobby was a paranoid hunter even on his own house. The panic room was supplied with every kind of weapon he could find inside. And since there were no ghosts appearing after they went inside, this room was really a Fort Knox for a hunter. Maybe she really should commission one in her house. Elaine settled herself in the bed, reading on what she had just found connected to their situation, while the boys were still busy marveling the room. "Bobby, do you happen to have opium, hemlock, wormwood in here?" she suddenly asked.
"It's a panic room, not a grocery store. What the hell do you need that for?"
Elaine raised her hand and touched the spot between her thumb and forefinger on the back of her hand. "I saw Bela had a mark in there and I know she never had that one before." She turned her laptop so the other could see it and clicked on the picture of the mark she mentioned. "It's Mark of the Witness." Elaine could feel a lump on her throat, knowing what caused Bela to appear as a ghost out of a sudden. Her death was already a painful one, being torn apart by Hellhounds, and now this happened to her again. She gripped her shotgun tight, determined to find who was behind all of this.
Only Bobby seemed to recognize the meaning of that mark. "Balls," he cursed, realizing what was happening to them.
"Hey, that's the same mark I saw on Henriksen." Sam said after taking a proper look at the mark and glanced up to see the exchanged look between Elaine and Bobby. "What is it? What's with the mark? Witness to what?"
"The unnatural." Bobby answered, "none of them died what you'd call ordinary death. See, these ghosts─ they were forced to rise. They woke up in agony. They were like rabid dogs. It ain't their faults. Someone raised them… on purpose."
Sam frowned, still not getting what those two meant, "who?"
"Do I look like I know?" Bobby rolled his eyes. These boys sometimes assumed he knew everything that happened in the world. Flattering yes, but sometimes, like this time, was irritating. "But whoever it was used a spell so powerful it left a mark, a brand on their souls. Whoever did this had big plans. It's called 'the rising of the witnesses'. It figures into an ancient prophecy."
Dean shared a confused look with Sam. They still didn't get what he was trying to convey. It sounded a terrible thing, yes, but to what extent? "What prophecy? Quit with the introduction and just get on to the point already!"
"It's a sign of the apocalypse, sweetie." Elaine answered. There was no trace of playfulness in her face so he knew she wasn't just teasing him.
He turned to Bobby who also had a matched grim look on him then to Sam who was equally surprised as him. That was too huge of a bomb to kid around. "The four horsemen, pestilence, five dollar a gallon gas apocalypse? That apocalypse?"
Bobby nodded, "that's the one. The rise of the witnesses is like a mile marker."
"Okay, so what do we do?" Sam asked rather dazedly. He was still unsure on how to process the information. First it was demon army trying to take over the world. Now it was apocalypse. He thought everything would be back to normal hunting after Azazel died. But then Dean struck a deal to save his life and just when he finally got his brother back, this happened. When could they have a normal hunting life like other hunters? They never seemed to be able to catch a break, even for a moment. Somehow he had a feeling that in their past life, they must have pissed off wrong person and now they were cursed for eternity.
"Road trip. Grand Canyon, Star Trek Experience. Bunny Ranch. Las Vegas." His comment earning a dirty look from Sam and another eye roll from Bobby.
"Well, I'm all up for getting drunk in Las Vegas and eloped in Elvis Chapel, but we need to get out of here first for that, sweetie." Elaine commented with a smirk, seeing Dean scowling at her. She scribbled down ingredient list needed for the spell she found to return the witness back to rest then showed it to Bobby. "Please tell me you have everything."
Bobby read the list and nodded, "it should work. I think I got everything we need here at the house."
"Should. Great." Sam said sarcastically.
Dean looked around the room, "any chance you got everything we need here in this room?" he asked rather hopefully. With what was waiting for them outside this room, he was all content on staying in here until someone else cleared out the problem for them.
The old man snorted, "so you thought our luck was gonna start now all of a sudden? Spell's gotta be cast over an open fire." He then turned to the only female in the room who was still staring at her laptop and asked, "anything more we need, El?"
"Nope. That's all." Elaine closed her laptop and grabbed her shotgun. Her belt was still had all shells filled. She cocked the shotgun and glanced at the boys, "All set to go?"
It's time to put Bela and other ghosts back to their rest.
It was a close call. They almost couldn't cast the spell and send the ghosts back. All of them were almost killed yesterday. Even though they knew it wasn't their fault and the ghosts were already dead so it wouldn't hurt them when they shot them with salt shells, it was still hard to point a gun at those ghosts. Not that the ghosts had the same compassion to them. It was as if the ghosts knew what they were trying to do and increase their attack. Every step they took, a ghost would appear and tried to attack them. Even after they barricaded themselves inside a salt line, the ghosts didn't cease their violent attack. Had they stayed together all the time, maybe the ghosts wouldn't stand a chance. But there were other ingredients Bobby stashed in different room so he had to send the others to fetch them. Even though it did make less ghosts were chasing each of them, they were struggling between protecting themselves and finding the stuffs Bobby needed.
Elaine closed her eyes with her hand rested over them, trying not to think about yesterday anymore. It was too much for her. Seeing Bela again, hearing what she thought of her, it really hurt her. Never had she thought her friend to think of her that way. She knew it probably just from the strain of being forced into a ghost and she shouldn't mind it. But it was still nagging on her mind. No one ever questioned what she was doing. Not once did anyone ever second guess her decision and she believed them. She thought she was doing Sam a favor by stepping back. Or that Dean would not be hurt if he didn't know the whole truth. She thought what she did was for the best. But after what happened yesterday, she wasn't so sure anymore. Maybe Bela was telling the truth. Maybe she really was a coward who thought herself to be in control.
"Did it ever occur to you that you could have saved me? Did you even think of me when you're praying, El? Or were you just too preoccupied with Dean dearest?"
"Elaine Corbett," Meg said as she appeared behind her, "I saw you when that demon bitch used my body. You're a hunter but you worked with demon? How low can you be? You'd rather let that demon used my body than saving me. I was screaming at you, begging you to save me!" She scoffed, "but you only want to help Dean Winchester, didn't you? You could've saved all of us and you chose to ignore and let us die. But when Dean is in trouble, you run around like a lost puppy."
A knock on the door startled her from her thought. "You up?" Dean's voice was heard from behind the door.
She sighed. This was not a good time for them to have another conversation again. Of all things that had happened, she really wanted to forget her slip with him. So she kept silent hoping that if she didn't answer, maybe he would just leave, when the door suddenly opened. Great, she should have just locked the door earlier. "I could be sleeping," she said pointedly as Dean closed the door and walked over to her bed, holding a steaming cup.
"What? Like I've never seen you sleeping," he countered back.
"Touché," she said softly, taking the cup from him. Her lips twitched into a smile as she inhaled the smell of a hot cocoa. She didn't expect him to still remember her little habit when the hunt was getting too personal to her. For a moment she was content on sipping the hot cocoa until she realized that Dean hadn't said anything since he sat on her bed. She glanced to find him staring at her intently and lowered down her head. "Something's wrong?" she murmured.
"That Castiel invaded my dream just now."
Elaine frowned, not expecting this kind of talk, "did he want something from you?"
"He said it's one of the seals," Dean answered, closing his eyes, "the rising of the witness."
"Of?"
"66 seals off, Lucifer walks out. You're right, apocalypse is coming." He glanced to see a genuinely shocked look on her face. His body immediately relaxed after knowing that she had no idea about the seals. He had no idea what to react if she showed a slightest hint about knowing this beforehand.
"Are you fine with it?"
Dean only shrugged his shoulder back, letting an uncomfortable silence returned between them. She glanced at him again, trying to come up with something to talk to, to keep his mind off of his conversation with the angel. Clearly that angel said something that disturbed him. But her brain betrayed her and couldn't come up with something. Bela's words kept whispering back into her mind. He hadn't gotten a proper rest after yesterday and if she questioned him about his time in Hell… he could go defensive again. Last time it happened he accused her for working with Lilith and it ended up with him storming out of her house in the middle of the night. She felt something cold touching her cheek and slapped it away in instinct.
How surprised she was when it was actually Dean's hand.
"You're avoiding me now?"
Elaine sighed. Of course he would draw that conclusion. "No, I just… You caught me off guard, that's it."
"Yeah, right," he muttered. How stupid he was for thinking that they already moved on from their last argument. That was their usual M.O: no heartfelt apology moments needed. Fine, he admitted what an ass he was before he's dead, but that was for valid reason. Had it been someone else, he would have killed that person already. But after what he had gone through in Hell, it was all the past for him and he was all ready to forget it and do what she wanted before his death─ to reconnect on what they had before. Besides, they were doing fine handling the ghosts together. She didn't blatantly avoid his touch and even teased him once or twice.
Dean took another glance at her and found her staring blankly at the empty mug instead. A stare that was too identical to the one she had on that night in Seattle to his liking. Something must have happened when she encountered Bela by herself. But at least this time it wasn't his fault... was it?
"I'm not blaming you or anything," she suddenly said. "Nor am I still angry about that night." Smile adorned her face when she saw his startled look."You're never that hard to figure, sweetie." But her smiled wiped away from her face immediately when she turned her head away. The signs were there since years before but she was too stubborn to acknowledge it. How ironic it was that it took her being attacked by these ghosts to make her realized what she should have done years before. "I can't believe how right Bela actually was and she died first."
Dean frowned, not liking how weird and forced her laugh sounded, "about what?" There was a sinking feeling in his gut after hearing her. He tried to ignore a warning voice on his head to either steer the conversation away or walk out from this room.
"I can't do this anymore, Dean." She raised her head to face him properly with tears were brimming on her eyes. "Whatever it is between us, it has to stop. Everything is changed now. When you died…" she stopped when her voice wavered again and tears caught up in her throat. "Bela was right," she repeated, "I will always try to find a way to save you, even if I have to sacrifice someone else. I tried to do that with your dad three years ago. I did it again yesterday. I let the ghosts to have opening on Bobby because I was trying to save you."
"So what? You think you're the only one with that kind of problem? I basically killed myself for bringing Sam back to life! Stop using something like this as an excuse to run away, El."
"What if more people died because of us? I'm not going to put those over our head!" she shouted back. "Bela's... and Meg's... their death is in mine, Dean. I let them die for my selfish reason!"
Dean quickly grabbed her arm when she stood and was about to leave. "Well I was the one who ordered Sam to finish the exorcism so Meg's death is on me, not you, El. Stop it!" he said firmly as she tried to struggle away from him. When she tried to twist her arm away, he quickly used his other hand to wrap around her upper chest to hold her in place. "Ouch!" He yelled when Elaine bit his arm instead, causing him to loosen his hold on her. Elaine immediately shot away from his arm's length but at least she didn't leave the room. He rubbed the spot where she bit him while glaring at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
He waited for her answer as she avoided his gaze. Her hands clasped on her elbow as she leaned herself to the wall. "I could have saved Bela. Her contract was something I can bargain easily but I didn't do it because I need that leverage for you. I let her die so I could have a chance to save you. I could have saved Meg as well when she offered me a deal. Your father for your safety. I could have trapped her and exorcise her out of that body, but I didn't do it because if I know which body she was using, it would be easier for me to put surveillance on her." Elaine raised her head to face him. In front of her, Dean clenched his hand, as if he was trying to hold himself rooted on the spot. "She's my best friend, Dean, and I let her die just like that."
"That's it? You just believe on what they said and cut me off like that?"
"Isn't that what you actually want when you walked out on me three years ago?" Elaine bit her lips when she saw him flinched. It was rather low for her to bring up that night again, but that was the only way she could make him see the problem between them. "Look at us Dean, when was the last time we're not arguing? Even before that night, the only thing that could stop us from killing each other is sex. We're not a couple. We never had a real relationship, Dean!" She breathed heavily after screaming out the last part. "You were right," Elaine suddenly talked again, more quietly, stopping Dean who was in the verge of blowing up at her, "I was too hung up around you. I should've listened to you and step back when you walked away. I should've kept my distance. Dean…" She raised her hand to touch his arm, to turn his attention back to her from any thoughts spiraling in his mind right now. "It's not that I cut you off completely. I will still help you, with stopping the 66 seals and the apocalypse if it came to that, but that's just it. I can't do more than that."
Elaine didn't react at all when Dean shrugged her hand away from him and walked towards the door. This was better, she thought. If he tried to talk her out of it, if he even spoke a word against it, she knew her resolution would dissolve right away. He stopped when he almost stepped outside her room. "I'm not going to do a do-over on this," he stated coldly.
"I know…" she murmured.
Right after Dean slammed the door shut and left her alone in the room, Elaine slid down to the floor, gasping and sobbing as she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. It was over. Just let him go, you both weren't meant to be. This was for the best. She kept chanting those words on her mind. But she couldn't ignore a small part of her whispering that if those were true, then why did she only feel all horrible and guilty inside?
This was not fair. All she wanted in exchange for everything she had done─ throwing away her identity, her future, and risking her life everyday─ was a chance to have someone to love as a tiny glimpse of what a normal life was. But why, just for this once, why couldn't she get her happy ending?
Right, so I have to reluctantly admit that I can only update every month, at least not until I finished with my school. I hope you all can be patient for the next update :)
To those of you who's wondering where is Castiel, he will appear on next chapter. I promise! :D :D Please leave a review if you're reading and enjoying the story. I'd loved to hear your opinion.
