So here is the requested next installment of the Madison saga. I have another idea already coming up... I'm just trying to decide whether I should post it here or create a new story, repost the chapters from here relating to it, and continuing with the story. What do you guys think?
"Take Me On That Ride"
Prequel Chapters: "The Curious Case of Dean Novak" and "When a Story Ends"
Characters: Gabriel and Madison (also short appearances of Alistair, Azazel, Benny, Momma [from "Alex Annie Alex Ann," SPN 9x19] and Ruby)
Theme Song: "Trust Me" by The Fray
Themes: friendship, attempted rape
I really don't know how I got stuck with these three jokers. I know how I met them. It was on a hunt, that one hunt that was so mine. They had no right to be there. Okay, Gabe saved my life. But that's no excuse. It's no good reason for why I joined their little gang.
Madison had been on more hunts than she could count. But she wasn't as invincible as she thought, which she found out on the day she finally found the vamps that had almost killed her grandfather and great-uncle.
Maybe it wasn't such a good excuse to go after that female monstrosity who called herself Momma and set up new nests wherever she went. She hadn't actually killed Grandpa and his brother. But it made Madison's blood boil that she had even tried.
So she went all out on this hunt, made sure to have everything she could possibly need, down to an extra machete.
I stood, breathing hard, looking at the room around me. Three vamps dead, decapitated.
Not bad, Maddie, I congratulated myself with a little smirk. Not bad.
"But there's still the spider to find," I spoke aloud.
"Oh, she's here," came a voice from behind me.
Before I had time to whirl around, I was pinned to the wall, my stomach and ribs almost squashing the life out of her me.
"A hunter, are you?" the female voice hissed by my ear, and as I turned my head as far as I could to see who was speaking, I was met by the view of a middle-aged woman with dirty blond hair - not the shade, but actually dirty.
I tried to kick at the vampire, but she had pushed me too tightly against the wall. The woman spun me around and pinned my back to the wall instead.
"Hmm... you remind me of someone..." the vampire mused, reached out a hand to stroke my cheek with long fingernails. I couldn't help flinching, but I kept my cool. A hunter always kept her cool.
"Well, maybe that's perhaps because you almost killed my grandfather. Does the name Winchester ring a bell? Yeah, that's him. Sam Winchester."
Momma started at the name. But her amused demeanour almost immediately became angry.
"Another Winchester?!" she hissed. "God, do they ever stop coming!"
And blah blah blah yakkity yak. The rest didn't matter. All that is really necessary to know is that it ended with fangs coming towards me and Momma's voice crying out, "Die, Winchester!" as if she were some villain in a Disney movie. It would have been downright hilarious if I wasn't able to die.
But, suddenly, Momma's head fell to the side - I mean, it literally rolled off her shoulders. Then her body toppled to the ground along with the head, which was rolling across the floor. I watched the head, enthralled in a sick way. The head suddenly stopped, a foot coming down on it.
I followed the foot up to see a young man standing in front of me. He had brown hair, a little too long for my liking, sideburns, and a cheeky smile that made dimples in his cheeks. He was also super short. Seriously, even I was taller than him, and I had always been the shortest kid in school. Yet another reason on my list of ending reasons of why I didn't go to college.
"Who the hell are you?" I asked. While this guy had obviously just saved my life, I suddenly felt annoyed that my hunt had been interrupted.
"The name's Gabe. Actually, it's Gabriel, but that sounds tacky, don't ya think?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "You seem real grateful for me just saving your life."
"Get your own hunt," I told Gabe, striding forward. "I've been following these vamps for years."
"So have we," he told me, stepping in front of me.
"We?" My annoyance rose a couple more dozen points and I sidestepped Gabe. "Wait, no... I don't want to know. They attacked my family years ago, so it's my hunt. I don't need any help."
Gabe moved again to block me. "Yeah, sure you don't."
When I moved again to get around him - did he think this was some kind of game?! - Gabe put a hand on my arm. I tried to shake it, but his grip was strong.
"There are fifteen more vamps coming. You're desperately outnumbered. So are me and my friends, though less so than you. You fight well. If we work together, then we can stop these bloodsucking dicks. They've been targeting families," he pleaded as I tried to move again.
The last sentence stopped me. "Families?" I asked, weakly.
"Yeah, families, bitch," Gabe replied, his careless demeanor returning. He let go of my arm and stepped back. "So if you want to leave, go ahead. It's your choice. But even if you do manage to evade them, you're risking so many lives. Babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, mothers, father, grandfathers..."
"Okay, okay, I get it," I said, stopping him. "Fine. I'll stay and help."
Gabe smiled. The smile lit up his entire face in a way that I had to admit was kinda cute.
"Awesome sauce," he said.
"Yeah, well I'm only staying until we kill these vamps, so don't get your hopes up," I said.
Gabe pouted. "Bitch."
"Jerk," I replied back at him.
Gabe suddenly laughed out loud. I couldn't help grinning back at him.
Gabe's "team" consisted of a young man and woman - Ruby and Alistair. And damn, they were annoying. Of course they turned out to be a couple - and not just any couple, but the type that pretend to be so lovestruck like some friggin' Romeo and Juliet. After the hunt, we all piled into Gabe's car. I sat next to Gabe, pretending that I didn't notice that Alistair and Ruby were making out in the back like teenagers and Ruby was basically in Alistair's lap.
"So... where are you guys headed?" I asked Gabe, trying to make conversation. My voice was raised about two pitches higher than usual because I was trying to be heard above Tristan and Isolde in the back. Seriously, the noises coming from there were unholy.
"Lawrence," Gabe answered shortly, his eyes on the road. "We've got another case there." The muscles in his face were taut, as if he, too, were annoyed by the commotion in the back.
I stiffened. My home town. If there was anywhere where I didn't want to go, it was there. Back with old memories of mistakes and broken promises and a girl who wasn't good at anything.
"You wanna come? We could use another good hunter." Gabe's voice startled me back into recollection of the present, and I realized that we had stopped at a gas station. Gabe was parked right by the pump and he was looking at me, expectant, waiting for my answer before he got out.
I bit my lip, unsure. I did want to avoid Lawrence, but there was something about Gabe that made me want to say yes. After that vampire fight (which actually wasn't so hard in the end, but I have to admit that Gabe was right... I would have never been able to handle it on my own), Gabe noticed the gash on my arm.
"Let me fix that for you," he said.
I made a pretence of indifference even though my entire arm throbbed.
"Nah, it's okay," I told him, waving him back. "It's just a scratch. Let's get out of here first."
Gabe shook his head, but he did look slightly impressed. Somehow, that made the lie worthwhile. Even though my arm was hurting even more now, and I had to concentrate to not show that.
"Eww, no way," Ruby suddenly spoke up. "We're fine the way we are. We don't need anyone else. What do they say? Three's a company, but four's a crowd!"
"Actually, it's two's a company, and three's a crowd," Gabe snapped.
I raised my eyebrows. And here I thought he was a happy-go-lucky guy. I also began to feel a little uncomfortable. I felt as if though Gabe was arguing about me... for me, in fact.
"Uhhh... I'm just gonna use the restroom. I'll be right back," I said, quickly getting out.
"I'm coming, too," Ruby chirped.
Once inside the washroom stall, I locked the door and then leaned my head against the door, just standing there, breathing and thinking for a moment. I don't know what kind of game he's playing, I thought to myself. But I'm gonna find out. No man is going to play with me again.
Even if he's got a cute smile?
Even if he's cute, I told myself firmly.
Ruby decided that she needed to reapply her lipstick, so I told her that I would wait for her back at the car. She nodded, probably being too engrossed in herself to even notice that I had spoken.
I was just rounding the corner of the tiny convenience store when Alistair's voice made me stop short.
"Don't pretend to be so innocent, Gabriel," he sneered. "I know what you're up to. You just want to get down to first base with her, don't you? Don't you?"
"Of course not!" I heard Gabe protesting. "Just because I like her doesn't mean that I want to have sex with her. I'm not like you, Alistair."
"Not like me. Right." Alistair snorted. "At least I stick with one girl. What happened at that party that you got kicked out of high school for?"
"She'll hear you!" Gabe sounded panicked.
"Good. Then maybe she'll leave," Alistair retorted. "We don't want her. It's just the three of us. It always has been."
He suddenly raised his voice. "Hear that, Mad-whatever-your-name-is? Back off! And if that doesn't convince you, maybe you should know that at that party he was with every girl. In the Biblical sense. And he had a girlfriend at that time. Poor Annie was heartbroken when she heard the news."
I found my legs go weak at this news and I had to support myself by leaning against the wall. So Gabe was a player. A cheater, like every other boyfriend I had had. I felt tears come to my eyes, angry, hot ones. Why did this always happen to me? Just when I thought I had made a new life for myself, a better one, I got pulled back into the world of disastrous relationships yet again.
"Hey, you alright, sister?"
I turned to see a burly man covered in tattoos standing beside me. He looked like the biker/thug type, but his eyes were kind and sympathetic. They made me trust him, even if only slightly.
"Bad break up?" he asked.
I nodded, not sure what else to call it. "W...would you mind giving me a ride? I asked him.
"Yeah, sure," he agreed. "Where were you heading?"
"Anywhere," I replied. "Anywhere but Lawrence."
"Well, good news for you, I'm heading in the opposite direction," he told me. "Come this way, sister."
The man's name was Benny and he was a trucker, not a biker. I climbed into the front seat next to him, feeling my hopes rise just a little. Maybe my future was still clear of my past.
As the truck pulled away from the curb, I suddenly heard my name being called in a desperate tone.
Gabe.
Benny looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Do you want me to stop?"
I looked straight ahead at the road. "Keep driving," I said firmly.
Three days and five hours and fifty-two minutes. That's how long my luck lasted.
Benny dropped me off in Little Falls, Minnesota. He wanted to take me farther, he said, but he had a shipment to get back to, and his boss wouldn't be happy if he wasn't back the next day. I waved him off, saying it was okay and that he had already done more for more than he knew... which was true, especially since he gave me some cash and wouldn't take no for an answer.
I spent a night at the motel in town. Then I started walking. I didn't think Gabe would follow me, but I wanted to put as much distance between myself and Lawrence as possible. No cars stopped for a young girl hitchiker until later in the evening.
"Hey, you need a ride?" A man with greying hair looked out the window.
I didn't like the look of him - there was something about his eyes that spooked me - but I nodded. I was exhausted from walking all day.
"I'm Azazel, by the way," he said as I got in.
"Hi Azazel," I said wearily.
Maybe warning lights should have gone off when he didn't ask me where I wanted to get off. They definitely should have gone off when Azazel pulled off the main road. But, to my credit, I was almost falling asleep as it was. All I know is that one moment I was dropping off, only subconsciously feeling the car stop, and the next, I was shocked awake by feeling the greying man pushing my seat back so that I was lying down and he was pressing down on me, yanking at my clothes.
I screamed. I yelled. I kicked. I tried to get at my knife. But it was all to no avail. I don't know what would have happened to me (actually, I did, but let's not go into that), if someone hadn't suddenly intervened. Suddenly, the weight of Alistair was gone. There was a sound of cursing and punching outside. I sat up, shaking all over.
Then, it was silent. And suddenly, Gabe's head popped through the open window. He wasn't grinning, but rather, looked serious. Maybe even concerned.
"Madison, are you okay? Did... did he hurt you?"
"Like shit he did," I snapped, partly glad to see Gabe, partly not as I suddenly remembered what I had heard about him four days ago.
Gabe's face went pale. "Oh God," he said quietly.
I suddenly realized what he meant and I felt myself blanching as well.
"No, no, not like that. No, he didn't... hurt me," I said.
"Oh... good." A little of the colour returned to Gabe's face.
Then he just stood there, awkwardly, looking at me.
"So why are you here?" I finally asked.
"To make sure you were okay," Gabe replied. "I wasn't gonna intervene. I was going to leave you alone. But when that big bag of dicks..."
"Wait," I interrupted. "You were worried about me?"
"Hell's yeah," Gabe said, with more than just a little heat in his voice. I raised my eyebrows and he continued in a softer tone. "Yeah, I was worried about you."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
Gabe smirked. "I left them. Ah, they had it coming. There was only so much longer I could put up with those two. It really pissed me off that they kept having sex in the back of my car..." His voice puttered off as he realized what he was saying.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that about me," he said quietly.
"I'm sorry, too," I said. I wasn't sure what else to say.
There was another awkward silence and then Gabe spoke up. "Well, can I drive you to wherever you were heading?"
I hesitated, then nodded. "Okay."
We walked over to Gabe's car (me walking around the unconscious Azazel on the ground, Gabe stepping over him) and Gabe opened the door for me. I raised my eyebrows when I saw all the candy wrappers on the passenger seat.
"I eat candy when I'm stressed," Gabe said, quickly swiping them off the seat and out of the car.
"I see," I said, wryly.
After Gabe sat next to me, he looked over at me for a moment and opened his mouth as if to say something. But then he turned back to the wheel and started up the engine. There was obviously something on his mind, but I was too exhausted to try to pry it out of him. Let it come out in its own time.
"So... where are you going?" Gabe finally asked after a few minutes' silence.
"I don't know," I shrugged. "Anywhere, I guess."
Silence again.
"I... I suppose you still wouldn't consider sticking around?" Gabe spoke up. There it was.
But I found that after all that had happened, and the last three days giving me time to cool down, that I didn't even have to consider the possibility this time.
"I suppose I could do a test run and see how it works out," I stated casually.
Gabe's eyes opened wide and he took his eyes off the road to stare at me.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously," I said. "I mean, you did just save my life. And I could use a hunting partner."
"But... uhh... do you really want to trust me? After everything you know about me?"
"Like I would trust you," I teased, but stopped when I saw the solemn look on Gabe's face as he turned back to the road.
"Yeah, I trust you," I said softly, reaching out to put a hand on his arm.
Gabe's grin slowly came back.
"Sounds good," he said gruffly, softly.
I thought the silence was going to get really awkward then, but then Gabe leaned forward and switched on the radio. Country music began pouring out of the speakers.
"Dude, seriously?" I asked. "Country music?"
"Florida Georgia Line!" Gabe protested.
"Late at night? This loud?" I persisted.
"Let them be exposed to good music," Gabe grinned. He began cranking back the window.
I had to grin back. As the chorus came on, Gabe started singing loudly over the music. He wasn't a bad singer, actually.
He looked over at me and yelled, "Come on! Sing with me, Maddie!"
I bit my lip. Maddie. Grandfather Winchester's name for me. But I had to smile. I liked being called that name again. By Gabe. So on the second chorus, I joined in with him.
This is how we ro-o-o-o-o-o-oll
We hangin' 'round singing every song on the radio woah-o-o woah-o-o
We light it up with our hands up
This is how we roll
This is how we do
We're burnin' down the night shooting bullets at the moon
Baby, this is how we roll
I suddenly realized that the music had been turned down low and I felt Gabe reach out and take my hand. I looked over at him, a little startled. But Gabe was smiling.
"I trust you, too, Maddie. I trust that you'll have my back when we're hunting down those son-of-a-bitches. And I... I trust you won't wreck my heart like the other hunters I tried working with. I don't want to work alone anymore, either."
I felt myself catching my breath at this sudden revelation of information. So Gabe had a past, too - a past he needed help healing from.
"And the same goes for you," I said slowly.
"Together, then," Gabe said softly.
"Together or not at all," I agreed. At Gabe's puzzled look, I added, "Doctor Who, man. Don't tell me you've never watched it. Oh, I am so making you watch it. Every single episode."
"Only if you watch Downton Abbey with me," Gabe said after a slight pause.
"Sweet teeth, country music, and period drama? You're so weird," I grinned.
"I'm sure you've got a weird streak, too," he teased.
"Yeah, I do. I'm sure you'll see that soon enough," I agreed.
So we settled back and listened to Gabe's country songs - which actually weren't that bad, I had to admit. And as the night went on, I suddenly realized that while I didn't have a house, a building to call home, for the first time in my life, I felt at home with a person. I had a feeling that this was going to be a wild and exciting ride.
