Chapter Six
Author's Note: Hey everyone we hope you had a happy holiday! We were working like dogs but thank goodness it is finally over! Here is the next official chapter that follows up with the actual story. Also if any of you were curious there will be a Supernatural Christmas chapter but that just depends on when we get to that part of season 3. In an attempt to post regularly we will be updating this story every two weeks usually on a Tuesday (or the latest a Wednesday if we forget to upload a chapter). As usual any responses to comments will be at the end of the chapter and we hope you all enjoy this one!
- A & J
Alexandria, Virginia
"Wanted Dead or Alive"
*-*-*Point of view shift - Winchester*-*-*
The brothers walked outside, leaving Camilla in the diner. Dean huffed as he and Sam heard the door shut and they walked over to the Impala. His hand found his forehead and he could feel a migraine starting to settle in. This was the last thing he needed, that's for damn sure. Between the demon bullshit, and Sam's lecture every five minutes about how Dean shouldn't have to die, everything was exhausting. Deans gaze shifted over to his baby brother and Sam gave him a hard look. A mixture of concern, and the "you're-about-to-get-a-lecture" look. Dean knew it a little all-too-well.
"What?" Dean snapped at his brother, not in the mood for whatever was about to come out of his nerdy face.
"Do I really need to tell you how everything you just did was on various levels of wrong and cruel?" Sam retorted.
"How was I supposed to take that Sam? Am I really supposed to buy that? A kid that shows up outta nowhere says that I'm her father, and then tells me that her mother is APHRODITE! The Aphrodite, you know the whole nine yards: the immortal and pagan goddess of love who curses people and accepts human sacrifice! And that said supposed daughter is a demi-god."
"I understand that this is weird Dean but weird is kind of our norm. Would you rather her just continue to lie to us about what she is or who she is after we came clean about hunting monsters?"
"She is one of those things that we hunt!" Dean snapped. Although he immediately regretted putting that statement out in the universe. Sam balled up his fists and stepped closer towards Dean.
"Camilla is not evil Dean! We hunt evil things that run around eating or killing humans! She's been with us for an entirety of two days and I've not once seen any malicious or evil behavior. She even said that she doesn't do the human sacrifice thing, she gives up half her food! That seems pretty damn tame considering all the black altars and usual pagan god sacrificing we've repeatedly come across."
"And you believe her?! What if it's all a lie? What if she has a black altar that she has in a different part of the country, or if she falls in the same pattern as literally everything else?" Dean's anxiety started growing high. The more he thought about it, the more he truly believed Camilla was going to turn on them.
"If she wanted to kill us or try something she would have tried already back at the motel. We should at least hear her out." Sam pointed out.
"So you're suddenly ok with this?! She's not human!" Again, instant regret to his choice of words. Some part of him was protesting that he was talking about his daughter like that.
"She's half human and she's not hurting anyone! And I'm not saying I think she's 100% safe, I'm saying we should listen to what she has to say and take it with a grain of salt. Maybe she has proof to what she's saying. Maybe she as an explanation to it and we're not giving her the chance to say it while we're out here. She deserves a chance." Sam's gaze hardened. He could feel that he almost got Dean to buckle. That poor kid was probably just sitting in there by herself thinking somethings seriously wrong with her.
A freak.
Sam practically shuddered thinking about it. He knew that feeling all too well and Camilla was too young… Too young to be feeling that way about herself.
"She lied to us. From the moment we met her she's been lying. She doesn't get a damn chance." Dean spat.
"To be honest Dean, we haven't been super honest with her either." Sam spat back, raising his eyebrow at his older brother.
"We have every excuse not to be." Referring to the fact that they travel the country hunting dangerous shit and that Dean has one foot in the grave. Below the grave.
"And Camilla is just a twelve year old girl who bussed across the entire country trying to track down her very human dad, and build some sort of relationship with him. Who was scared about showing a very not normal part of her life with him and he just made that fear real."
Dean could feel that right in his gut. Sam was right. Annoyingly, but very right. He heaved a heavy sigh and Sam's shoulders relaxed.
"Ok, fine. Let's go talk to her." Dean relented. Sam nodded and they both went back towards the diner.
When they walked back inside the first thing Dean noticed was the strawberry milkshake that was sitting all by itself at the table. While he didn't actually tell Camilla to stay put he sort of figured that the unspoken command was there. With a slight grunt Dean sat at the table and Sam stood beside it looking a little worried.
"What?" Dean sounded tired as he rest his chin on his palm, and casually leaned against the table looking at Sam. Another lecture-face.
"You're not the least bit concerned that Camilla isn't here?" Sam asked, and Dean frowned a little.
"What? She's a kid Sam. She probably went to the bathroom or something. Her duffle bag is in baby so it's not like she's just going to run off." Dean said. "Listen, I want to talk to her too but I don't think kicking down the bathroom door is going to help."
"And what if she did run off Dean? You're weren't exactly being the most understanding person here, and she might have decided to run off." Sam argued.
"Don't need to scold me again," Dean rubbed his temples, "and if she wanted to run off she would have had to go out the front door. There isn't another entrance and we would have seen her. Plus these windows don't open." Dean motioned to the window beside the table. Sam gave one of his famous bitch faces and Dean sighed.
"She could have gone out the back door." Sam argued. Dean frowned at the thought, and he doubted that the staff would let a little girl wonder into the kitchen and out the back door. But now that the idea was in his head it seemed to just stick. After a moment Dean waved over a waitress and gave her one of his charming smiles. She was a pretty blonde with curly hair and the uniform seemed to hug her just right.
"Hey," Dean took a moment to look at the name tag she wore, "Susan, you know the girl that was sitting here. Did you see where she went?" He asked and the waitress gave him a look and didn't offer a smile in return. The slight frown was actually rather hot on her, but he imagined a smile would look nicer.
"The pretty little blonde? Yea, I saw her." The waitress answered a little flatly and Dean's smile faltered a little. When she didn't say anything else Sam jumped in.
"We stepped outside to talk for a minute and she was gone, um, did you happen to see where she ran off to?" Sam asked, and the waitress turned an unimpressed eye to him now. She brushed some of the blonde curls face from her forehead and looked at the Winchesters.
"Well after your little stunt here, oh you know, the shouting. Poor thing looked about ready to cry." The waitress was full on glaring at the brothers now. "So she went to the bathroom and that was about seven minutes ago." The waitress added.
"Seven minutes? That's a long time right?" Dean asked. The waitress smiled then, but it was more like a smirk really.
"Well.. If I wanted to get out of an awkward situation I would excuse myself to the restroom. Then I would climb out the window, which are fully functional in there."
Dean's face fell, and Sam's went white. With that, Dean dashed towards the restroom and Sam ran out the front while the waitress disappeared into the kitchen and the scent of flowers went with her. When Dean threw open the bathroom door he felt his face drop more and he cursed when he saw the open window. He didn't hesitate to walk in there and look out the window to see where it lead, and frowned as he looked down the alleyway. He closed his eyes for a second as he thought of what route his daughter would take when running away.
"If I was running…. I wouldn't go to the main street, because I would likely be seen by the two people outside and probably by someone in the restaurant because of the windows… So then I would have gone the other way, but I have no car so… Bus." Dean opened his eyes and looked down the alleyway again and saw his brother turning the car to head down it. Luckily Sam had a sense of where the bathroom window let out.
"Sammy!" Dean shouted and leaned his head outside the window, because it was unlikely he was gonna fit his whole body out. "I think she took off down the alleyway. See what you can find! I'll meet you out there." Dean turned and ran out of the bathroom and tossed two twenties on the table and shouting to his waitress to keep the change before rushing out the door and going to where Sam was. By the time he got there his brother was already out of sight and Dean wasted no time moving through the narrow walkway to try and get some idea of where his daughter went.
*-*-* Camilla's Point of View *-*-*
I was walking down the side of a clothing store I walked out of, and tried to push the memories of Christmas with foster families out of my mind. I sniffed and rubbed at my eyes some more, but no makeup smudged onto my hand so luckily the charm was still in place despite feeling like a mess right now.
Now isn't the time to be feeling sorry for myself. I thought bitterly. I needed to find a bus station so I could get out of this little nightmare trip and go home. Home where Mattie was waiting in the Hermes cabin and where my sisters would gush about the newest makeup palette that Sephora had coming onto their shelves soon. While I would have to do camp activities and possibly clean the battle arena at least I would be with my people… Since apparently being half human pushed me all the way into the deep end of being classified as a Monster. Cause you know; monsters typically hunt other monsters right? Eat them and kill their friends.
I huffed while feeling more cooped up as my rage continually built at the thought of my own father rejecting me. Cause while I may have been rejected before-although I can't imagine why seeing as I am a treasure-they were never my real family. Those families with the large smiles and broken promises were temporary homes while I searched for my real one, and I hoped that my real home would be with my mortal dad… But I never should have come here, and I never should have searched for them. They didn't want me, and my own grandpa dropped me at an orphanage with a fake name. I always hoped it was circumstantial, and they were only trying to "give me my best chance at a good life" but really… I was a probably a problem to them before then. Maybe John always thought I was a monster too… Even before he knew me.
I stopped walking then, and it felt like my legs just wanted to give out as I slumped against the wall. Slowly I slid to the ground, and for once I didn't care about how dirty it was or that I was in public sitting on the concrete of an alley. I wiped more tears and bit down on my knuckles to stop the sobs that were breaking their way from my throat. I was done crying… I've cried enough.
"Oh looksies~What do we have here?" An annoyingly familiar shrill voice had the audacity to sound amused and I groaned. I also considered hitting my head against the wall but frankly Mimmi would have enjoyed that way too much and I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.
"Gods… Why are you here? And now of all times? Don't you have children to snack on the dreams of?" I asked and slid my hand to my boot and felt for the hilt of my knife.
"Why would I need anything like that when I have a little lost Demi-God right here? And no Saytr to save you this time Cami." She was trying to provoke me. I swear. No one gets to call me Cami. Ever.
*-*-* Winchester Point of View *-*-*
"I don't see her, and there's no way she had enough time to get too far from us." Sam called out as he came into view from around the corner.
"Then she ducked into a store, the question is which one." Dean said as he looked around he followed Sam into a space where the alley opened up into a square and there were several little shop displays. He looked at the different stores and tried to figure out which one she went into. Probably not the comic one, and I don't think she would have walked into the gift card looking thing. Maybe the clothing store? Honestly he barely thought about going in there when he heard a scream come from down a different alleyway.
"You're not getting away this time Cami!" The voice had an edge to it, like it had just won. It took Dean an actual 11 seconds before clicking it in his head.
"Camilla!" He shouted, bolting towards the direction of the voice shouting "Cami", and Sam was right on his heels as they whipped out their guns. The sight that Dean was greeted with was rather… weird. Sure enough his daughter was there, weilding a tooth-pick of a knife that seemed to have a faint golden glow, and across from her was a… woman? He wasn't sure how to describe her. Her hair almost seemed to be on fire, and she was pale, baring fangs.
She wore some sort of store uniform top, and a black skirt that showed two different types of legs: one was bronze and the other one was a donkey's leg. Her flaming hair seemed to dart out in all directions and she crouched as she prepared to lunge at Camilla. Honestly he didn't hesitate to put a bullet in the chest of the creature.
"What are you doing?!" Camilla shouted as the donkey legged woman hissed in annoyance and bared her fangs towards Dean. Some really fugly looking vampire. "You're going to get yourselves killed!" She shouted as she took a swipe at the vampiric donkey lady.
Sam quickly raised his gun as well and let a bullet loose that flew by Camilla (who screamed in a different language) and hit the woman in the forehead, right between her eyes. If only Dean could get to his machete… His eyes drifted to Camilla's toothpick again and furrowed his brow.
"Mortals have no business interfering!" She hissed. "This is between me and Cami."
"I've told you, that's such an uncute nickname!" Camilla yelled back, swiping at her again. The creature jumped backwards, away from the knife. As if it would do any actual damage to her at all.
"Well you're not a very cute child now are you?" Mimmi hissed and Camilla gasped at the insult.
"How dare you?" Camilla shouted as she charged forward and Sam shouted out against the action. "I am the cutest of all my sisters!" Camilla huffed as she brought her knife down and barely grazed the Vampiric donkey woman. The creature jumped back at the last minute and Camilla's foot work made her stumble a little.
Dean glanced around for anything that he would be able to use to decapitate the creature before his daughter got herself murdered for fighting something that was beyond her level. The girl barely could shoot a gun and now she was trying to take a vampire in a knife fight? They were going to have a serious talk about this later.
If she lets you talk to her again.
Dean shook away his thoughts and did the only thing he could do to keep Camilla safe. He lined the vampire up in his sights and charged. He tackled her down on the ground but it was a struggle to keep her there. She tried to claw at him, and he tried to keep her contained under him and away from Camilla. He honestly had never had to struggle so much like this with a woman, and to be honest it was kind of embarrassing. She got a hand free and nicked his neck with her nails and bared her fangs at the wound. Dean grunted in pain and grabbed her hand in an attempt to keep it away from the money maker, but instead she flipped them over and was now on top. Sam came overhead in view and he saw him bring down a large shard of glass on her neck. Nothing.
"Idiot! Move it!" Camilla shouted as she rushed to them and slammed her knife into the monster's throat. Dean was sure he was going to get splattered in blood but that wasn't what happened. Instead Dean got coated (from the stomach up) in some smelly golden dust. If it wasn't for the fact that it didn't reek of sulfur he would have thought it was a demon. He coughed and quickly got off the ground, since there wasn't anything on top of him now (as it should be) and looked at his daughter. Camilla looked rather annoyed as she brushed dust off of her dress and he wasn't sure what to think of his daughter's violent display.
"Camilla-" Dean started, and was intended to have a long and patient conversation about what happened. Determined not to blow up like he did in the restaurant.
"What kind of neanderthal are you?!" Camilla shouted as she put her hands on her hips and glared at the brothers. His patience was gone.
"Your tone is at about a ten, and I need you at a two." Dean snapped.
"Well your attitude is over here and I need it over there!" She shouted, pointing away from her.
Authors Note: and that wraps up this chapter, the next one there will be a heart to heart for Dean and Camilla so look forward to that! Onto questions, comments, and then the trivia about Camilla.
Writers Obsession: ah thanks for the writing tip! We will try to work on that. As for the Davidson's they were awful and we are sorry the chapter was so sad. We are glad we kept Dean in character even though he hurt Camilla. As much as we hated hurting her.
WeylandCorp4: we didn't do the christmas special episode to create suspense, because it was merely an extra chapter that we wrote to show more about Camilla. But we are hoping right back into the action.
Ylnadiir: the next chapter will show more of Dean and Camilla's reactions to the issue at hand, and we are glad that you like Camilla. Dean is sort of a rough guy cause on one hand he wants to love and be around his daughter but hearing what she is was a punch in the gut.
Slim A Lou Prime: when do you think he will meet Aphrodite again? Mother is always watching her little doves.
WiseSunny: oh yea! Castiel will make an appearance in Season 4, which will take place once this season wraps up (since this is season 3 technically) so he will be in later chapters.
Chrisloveschoco1ate: thank you! we don't know how we managed it either but we love Camilla's character a lot! She's a lot of fun to play with and I think it is probably because she's an Aphrodite cabin member.
Trivia: Camilla was originally gonna be a daughter of Athena and she was going to be Sam's daughter. However we would have had to choose a much later season and Aphrodite sounded more fun.
Question: J is curious, can you tell who writes which sections (because we are two different people)?
