Supernatural
The Other Side of the Tracks
"Asylum"
"You falling asleep, there, Em?" Emily was a bit startled by Dean's sudden comment, realizing that her body had naturally slipped into a peaceful, restful state. Not quite sleep but too close to it for her personal comfort. "You know me. I don't sleep." She said, stretching out her tired limbs. She reached beside her into the crumbled, non-descript brown paper bag and removed the last cheeseburger, feeling that it was now cold. "Are you two SURE you don't want the last burger?" she asked, holding it up to them. Sam smirked and shook his head while Dean seemed to ponder his cheeseburger-future. Finally, he said no and Emily unwrapped the greasy delight and immediately drove her teeth through it, feeling as though she hadn't eaten in years from the first bite. "Hey, Em. What's up with the sleeping and eating?" Dean asked, Sam turning to better hear her response. Emily looked up at them in disbelief, hesitating enough to finish chewing and swallow the chunk of cold beef and cheese in her mouth. "Do you two, like, discuss how you're going to ask me questions before you do or what? You both always seem to have the same mindset when it comes to asking me about, well, me." She responded to Sam's smile in kind. "It's just a side effect. We've been on the road now together for what? Almost 5 months? For the time being, I'll just eat when there's food available if I feel like it. But, in a couple months, I will need to eat and drink and sleep just like you do." Emily stroked a hand through her hair. "I tell you, sleep isn't anything when you do it as regularly as humans do. But I haven't actually slept since Victorian England. The day I actually sleep will be the day where I need you guys the most." She paused a bit. "Well, more like days." Sam and Dean both gave her an odd kind of expression. "Am I going to get that look every single time I tell you something about me? I'm thousands of years old and what shocks you is that I'm going to sleep for 43 hours straight?" Sam seemed a bit taken aback but nodded slightly as he understood how preposterous the idea was. Dean, however, kept that same odd look on his face. "Thousands? I thought you were only a couple hundred years old." Emily smirked, then tried to hide her laugh, then just began to laugh, the cheery sound filling the car. "Oh Dean. That's like saying 'You don't look a day over twenty' to me."
Emily sighed softly, a smile still on her face and leaned back, looking down at the cheeseburger. "Anyway, when the time comes, and I don't know when it will, you'll notice that I'm losing my reflexes, becoming a bit dazed or confused, stuff like that. The faster I get into a bed, the faster my sleep will start and the faster it will be over. You see, I sleep anywhere from 36 to 72 hours straight and during that time, I cannot be woken up by anything. I need protection at all times. It isn't due for another couple months at this rate. That's why I didn't tell you two yet." She brought the cold burger back up to her mouth and took another bite, slowly chewing and allowing the meat and bread to move around, giving her the full flavour. "How do you know your patterns so well? I thought you lived on your own for the most part." Emily met Dean's eyes as he fluidly asked the question, realizing now was just as good a time as any to discuss bits and pieces. There were things they had to know. For both her safety and theirs. "While this isn't exactly sharing time, I'll be honest. I didn't just kind of pop into existence as the drop dead gorgeous creature I am today." She said, leaning back up between the seats. "I was born to a human a long, long time ago. I lived in that tribe as their protector for almost seventeen winters. My powers were mostly dormant and I had basic human needs but I was still more powerful than any human. Plus, we still had supernatural threats back in those days." She shrugged slightly, as if it was nothing. "Then, almost my entire tribe was wiped out, save for myself and two others who had been hunting with me. I left after I buried my mother and that was when I learned the true extent of my powers and that's when I stopped aging. Over the millennia, there have been short times here and there where I've been around humans enough to add to my age but, overall, this is one of the longer times I've been around humans." She stopped and looked between them as they processed the information. Sam was the first to say anything about it. "So, essentially, you were seventeen when you went out on your own and slowly, over time, you just kind of aged here and there? You look in your mid twenties." Emily paused, her eyes very nearly welling up with moisture at sudden memories. "Story time is over kids." She murmured as she leaned back in her seat, looking out the window. She could tell both brothers were disappointed by her sudden silence. "Don't worry, guys. There's plenty of time to get to know me. But some wounds are fresh and I don't know you that well."
Sam turned back to the front as Emily lifted up the current research from the floor, sifting through the folder. "This place sounds like cat nip for paranormal activity. And a mental hospital to boot. That's almost cliché." She muttered, not taking her eyes off the words on the pages. "Well, I'm not surprised John sent you guys here." "Sent us." Emily looked up as Dean interrupted her, for what could be the first time. His eyes locked with hers in the mirror and she just smiled and nodded. "Sent us here. Looks like its unpredictable, you know? There are dozens of teens that went in and came out unharmed. Just a few freak times where people just kind of went bezerk." At that moment, Sam kind of gave Dean a look that she was sure Dean didn't see. From what she could tell, Sam was getting frustrated about that wild goose chase John was putting them on. She had gotten a text as well, but one she kept to herself. It simply said 'Look after my boys'. She huffed, nearly silently, at the frustrating text. She wanted to respond with 'How about you come and take care of them' or 'They can take care of themselves'. In actuality, when Sam and Dean had been sleeping, she had considered leaving again. Not to be chased or followed like most women but she had to wonder why she stayed. John was an acquaintance, yes, and a damn fine hunter, fair enough, but what business did Emily have here? Had she grown attached to the Winchesters? Was it even about John or was she just lonely? It had been centuries since she had been this close to, well, anyone. She looked at the back of their heads, from one to the other. Was it the brothers who had, by chance, endeared themselves to her? 'Why am I here?' she thought, looking out the window into the passing countryside.
Emily watched from the pool table as Dean and Sam put on their little show for the cop. There were only so many ways to get information out of a cop who had just lost a partner. There was the reporter who would ease into the discussion with questions about the cop himself, the empathetic ear, and the woman. Emily didn't feel right using her wiles on this man and he was seasoned and knew better than to talk to reporters. Emily leaned over the table, lining up her shot. "Four ball, corner pocket." She murmured quietly. With great ease, she hit the ball in, watching the purple solid roll in. "Nice shot, gorgeous." She heard over her shoulder as she leaned upwards. "If you'd like, I could show you how to really handle a stick." The moment she felt his hand on her, Emily slammed the butt of her pool cue into the man's groin, turning as he fell to his knees. "Two ball, center pocket." She leaned down, grabbing his hair to force him to look at her. "Touch me again and I will make damn sure it's just the one ball, next time." She hissed. She released him and moved around the table. "Eight ball, corner." As if nothing had happened, she sunk the eight ball and collected her eight hundred bucks from the man she challenged, who probably couldn't concentrate either from the v-neck shirt she had selected or from the mighty groin hit that left most of the men crossing their legs, feeling it themselves. She saw Sam getting up to leave and followed him, leaving her cue on the table. She shoved the money in her bra, catching up to Sam as he left the door. "I didn't know you could hustle pool." He muttered, smiling that wickedly handsome smile. "Please, I've been hustling pool since before you were born, boy." She drawled with a deep south accent. "Besides, I didn't have 800 to lose. Kind of had to win." Approaching Dean, Emily pulled the bills from her shirt and showed him her winnings. "Nice. What did we find out about the cop?" Emily slipped the money into her jean pockets and opened the back of the Impala, stripping off her v-neck and donning a tank top and shrugging her coat over her shoulders. "Right out in public? Really Em?" Emily turned to Dean as she zipped up her coat. "Quit looking if you hate it so much." She stated simply, smiling a bewitching smile as she rejoined their little circle, shoving her hands into her coat pockets. "So apparently he and his wife were generally happy and planning on having a baby, correct?" Dean reiterated, looking from Sam to Emily, then back to Sam. "Essentially yeah. They had spats like every couple but the cop doesn't believe that his partner would kill his wife or himself."
Emily wandered down the hall in front of Dean, listening to him mocking Sam's visions, asking him to identify the most attractive psychic, himself included in the choices. She laughed as Sam pushed Dean forward, making him nudge her. She looked around the dank hallway, not sensing anything at all. They walked into a room that looked like something out of a horror movie. Well, since they pretty much lived a horror movie, she supposed it wasn't too much of a stretch. "So, when are we going to talk about it?" Emily turned to Sam as Dean did, creating a triangle. "Talk about what?" Emily looked to Dean and then back to Sam questioningly. "The fact that dad's not here." Emily frowned and moved away, breaking the triangle. "Sam, you want us to leave a job to go look for John. We're here now, ok? Let's just do the job."
"Dammit. Do any teens understand why a lock is there?" Emily whispered to Sam, holding her shotgun firmly to her shoulder. "What's the fun in an easy job?" Emily shook her head and smiled at that, standing back to back with the younger brother. "So you never really answered me last week…" Emily quickly moved around a corner, inspecting. "In regards to?" she asked, not taking the time to actually look at Sam. "What was up with you and Missouri? She seemed pretty fascinated by you." Emily frowned suddenly and huffed. "Is this really an appropriate time?" she asked quietly, nudging him slightly with the butt of her shotgun to impress upon him her point. She heard him sigh with what no doubt was a frown. "You have to understand, Emily…" She felt the brush of air behind her as he moved quickly to check a room. "Dean and I are curious about you. We need to know who we're travelling with. Nothing against you but, our family isn't terribly fond of the supernatural. I'm a bit surprised dad didn't kill you himself." Emily shrugged and stopped moving, facing him but looking beyond him as he faced her, also looking behind her. "I understand your concern and I appreciate your honesty but my life is not a memoir, nor is it for the faint of heart. I don't know what I am, for I've never met anything quite like me. I'm 100% sure you have both researched my powers trying to figure me out but I am the only one. I don't know the extent of my powers. I do know, however, that I will never bring harm to you or Dean. I can promise that." She turned once more and moved once again, keeping low, her footsteps nearly silent. "Where did you learn this stealthy walk?" he teased, poking fun at her. "I was a SEAL for six years until my identity came under scrutiny." She answered without hesitation, looking back at him with a smile. She turned back to find herself impaling a spirit with her weapon. She gasped audibly, the spirit's mouth moving peacefully as if he was having a simple conversation with her. She tried to listen but her gasp brought Sam around as he fired a salt round, causing the ghost to dissipate. She began to breathe very softly, making sense of that encounter in her head. "Are you ok?" Sam said, quickly looking around them. "Yeah…It just…I don't know what to make of that. I'm used to spirits throwing me around the room and whatnot. That one…" She shook her head and began moving forward once more. "Let's regroup with Dean." She turned to look at Sam, who just wanted to get this over with. Just from looking at the stressed line of his jaw and the tightness of his facial features, she could tell John's little hide and seek game was wearing down his patience. And she was sure that her clever manoeuvring around their questions wasn't helping. She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialled Dean quickly. "Where are you. We just saw one. He didn't attack us. At all. Seriously. Alright. We'll be there."
Emily ran up to the door where the Katherine was stuck inside, followed swiftly by Sam and her little boyfriend, Gavin. She wanted to force her way in but something held her back. It was that damn spirit, the pacifist who didn't harm her. Or even try to. "I don't think the ghost will hurt her." She murmured to Dean, listening through the door. Dean and Sam reasoned it out and yelled for her to simply listen to the ghost. The girl screamed for them to come and listen to him instead. "Quit your bitching! Listen to the spirit and stop being a giant coward!" Emily yelled through the door, earning her a look from the three men around her. She mouthed the word 'what' and then focused her attention on the now silent room. The quiet hallway seemed to remain that way for an eternity before the door latch finally released and Kat came out looking rather shocked. Her boyfriend moved over to her and she stated the ghost mentioned a room in the basement. Emily looked at Dean and nodded at him, implying it was about time to get the kiddies out of here so they could hunt some monsters. It wasn't that Emily didn't like kids. It was teenagers that were the problems. Not kids. Dean turned towards the exit, Sam turning and escorting the teens away. Emily followed as Dean headed off to see about the room, Emily taking up the rear. Arriving at the exit was very disappointing. "I didn't choose this job so I could be a babysitter, dammit." She whispered, hitting the door with the butt of her shotgun. The boyfriend opened his mouth to say something as she turned around but she simply held up her hand. "Please, you have a lifetime of dumb moments so let me stop you before you commit to this one." Sam tried to stop from smiling but failed readily, looking at her with disbelief. "Alright Missus Ray of Sunshine! You look for an alternate exit in the east wing, I'll look around." Emily nodded at Sam as he left and looked at Kat. "Sorry Doll." She said, heading out. However, as she looked for the exit, not a single ghost was to be found. It seemed as though they had said their piece and left. Or perhaps they were silently watching to see what had been happening. Or what was going to. She suddenly felt uneasy in her surroundings. She was waiting for something bad to happen. She paused and counted Mississippis. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi.
Nothing bad happened. She released a breath and continued into the lower sections of the east wing, hoping for a window that, perhaps, didn't have bars on it in a doctor's office or something. Perhaps a window where the bars were seriously damaged and could be broken. She searched every room high and low. Nothing. All at once, she wished she had been listening when the room number had been told to her. She made herself very aware of the salt and lighter fluid taped to her ankle. She had nearly forgotten about it with all the commotion. She paused in one room simply because two of the bars were missing in the small window. The main goal now was to get the teens out. The girl was slight enough and the guy's little shoulders would fit through. She spun her shotgun around, ensured that it would go off, and hit the small window with it. The decrepit wood only took two hits to completely break off. The glass shattered on the floor, the noise echoing down the long corridors. She set her weapon down on an overturned desk and lifted herself up on the wall while holding the bars, giving her the ultimate leverage. She braced her feet against the wall and pulled with all of her might, dislodging one of the severely rusted bars. She let herself drop to the ground and tossed the bar aside, the metal clanging against the hard floor. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and turned to dial Dean. For just one second, she realized she should have called Sam, knowing he was the one with the two kids who could bring them to the window. Even to give her a bit of help with the bars. She heard a massive creak and looked behind her as a door that she hadn't even seen before swung open. Her finger accidentally hit the call button as she went for her gun. A large metal pipe swung from the ceiling, aimed right for her. She raised her hands to defend herself but the heavy pipe smashed into her, cracking her phone nearly in half as it dropped to the floor in the room, and sending her, ass over tea kettle, into the hidden room, knocking her out cold. The hidden door slammed shut as Emily's unconscious body was approached by a dark figure who kept whispering that everything would be alright.
Emily slipped in and out of consciousness, feeling the hot liquid seeping from various wounds on her face. It smelled, and tasted like, copper. She knew she was badly wounded since she could barely move. Moving her fingers was almost so exhausting that she could barely stay awake. Finally, she mustered the strength to move her arm, wiggling her fingers as well. The disfigured, ghostly face of the doctor appeared above her suddenly, surprising her. She then realized she was strapped down tightly to a metal table. A surgical table. "Everything is going to be ok." Those were the least comforting words she could ever have imagined. He moved his hands over her face, small electrical sparks pouring over her skin. But aside from being slightly annoying, they didn't do more harm than a mosquito bite. He pulled his hands away and looked at her. "I want to make you better." Emily felt the light draining from herself, her consciousness waning. She felt his hands on her face again. However, this time, it was like a shot of lightning through her; painful and hot. She cried out as a pulse of white light exploded from Emily's body, forcing the doctor's spirit to retreat and successfully knocking Emily out.
Emily was shocked awake by the sound of a gun blast and smashing sound. She looked over to see Dean lying on the floor with rips in his shirt and what she would assume was salt round powder all over the place. Her eyes moved to the shooter, Sam. In her haze, she believed she was simply hallucinating but, after closing her eyes a few times, she realized that Sam had been possessed, as it were. He was bleeding from the nose and saying the weirdest things; things that were amplifications of true events and actions. Sam had shot Dean. Emily struggled against her bonds, realizing her hands, legs, and chest were all bound by the good doctor. The restraints were too tight. She grunted softly and laid still as Sam looked over at her, smirking. "I'll be getting to you in a second." Emily closed her eyes and focused hard, taking deep breaths. Her arms began to glow, an eerie, yet relaxing, white glow. Her hands slowly began to shrink, any fat and muscle in them disappearing. She yanked her hands free her first chance and focused once more, her hands returning to something useful. She quickly undid her chest restraint and sat up to get to her feet just as Dean knocked Sam into unconsciousness. Her hands fumbled a bit with the rubbery safety cuffs but Dean made quick work of them as he came over to help. He briefed her on what was happening: The good doctor had been performing tests on the mental patients and tried to make them angry to the point that it cured them. The cop, and Sam, where just put under so much rage that they became potentially homicidal. "And you think the body is down here?" she asked, looking over his shoulder at the unconscious Sam. Dean nodded and began to look around the room. "I was attacked to, I'll warn you, but I don't think it worked on me. I don't feel different." She said, simply informing Dean to be on his toes just in case. She grabbed Sam's flashlight and started looking around, keeping low to the ground. "I saw a medicine cabinet earlier. It had the weirdest rust on it. It's somewhere over there." She informed him, standing straight. She wiped her forehead absently, pulling some partially dried blood away as her wound had already closed.
Her peripheral vision caught a shadow behind some curtains so she immediately shifted, facing that way. "Dean..." the whispered sound slipped across the room, beckoning Dean's attention. She motioned with her hands for him to look just ahead of her. She moved closer to him, knowing she only had a flashlight which, believe it or not, was not nearly enough to defend her against an angry spirit. Pulling one curtain open sharply, they found nothing but more curtains. Again, moving forward quietly, they ripped open several more shabby, disgusting curtains, finding nothing. He turned to look at Dean and shrugged her shoulders, looking behind her. She felt it then. That inexplicable chill that touches every inch of your being. The chill that happens as soon as a spirit enters the room. Emily grunted as she flew across the room, slamming into the wall high up, falling onto a white metal cabinet, and finally falling to the floor with a hard thump. She groaned and looked up, seeing Dean just getting up as well. She looked to her right, seeing the cabinet he had mentioned before. "Dean!" Without thinking about such things as, 'what if the body wasn't there' or 'if it was, how long it's been there', she whipped open the doors and was hit by the most foul odour that she had ever smelt. She reared back and fell onto her back like a turtle, gagging slightly as Dean ran over, being hit by the smell so hard he nearly fell over on her. Emily quickly composed herself and leaned down, grabbing the lighter fluid and salt she had strapped to her ankle. She passed the salt to dean and snapped open the lid on the tiny lighter fluid bottle, spraying it on as Dean threw salt at the disgusting corpse. Emily made a startled choking sound as Sam came up behind her, slipping his large arm around her neck and dragging her to her feet. Her hands immediately grabbed at his arm, instinctively trying to relieve that pressure. "You know too much about me and you always tell Dean before I would like. You just sort of came into our lives uninvited." Sam started to tell her what made him angry but most of the complaints were simple and repetitious. Emily composed herself once more and leaned into Sam, slightly lessening the pressure. Straining slightly, she kicked her right foot straight up, hitting Sam's nose over her shoulder, the sudden pain forcing him to release her. She turned on the ball of her foot and immediately assaulted Sam, not so much to hurt him but more to incapacitate him. It was just hard because Sam had such a high pain tolerance. He composed himself quickly, throwing jabs at her as well. Sam was strong but Emily was faster and smaller. Her hits wouldn't do as much damage but there were more of them. Finally, Emily dodged one of Sam's punches, took a bit of a running start and drop kicked him in the chest, taking both of them down. Emily landed on her hands, pushing herself back up before Sam could ever have gotten up from that. As he pulled himself to his knees, she moved over, kicking him swiftly in the face, knocking Sam out for the count. She looked over to Dean as the doctor positioned himself over him. Dean had the lighter in his hand, lit up with a brave flame. She looked down, scanning for Dean's shotgun. She rolled fast, grabbing it on the way, and looked up, firing off a shot. It didn't hit, probably because she was coming out of a somersault without aiming, but it disrupted the spirit enough to get Dean's hand moving, lighting the entire cabinet on fire. She watched as the spirit died away and locked eyes with Dean. She moved her legs so they were splayed out in front of her. She stroked a hand through her hair and caught Dean's eyes again. The both of them flopping down on their backs as if it were synchronized. "Oh god my head what the hell happened oh my god!" Emily's head picked up as she heard Sam's confused moans and groans. She smiled slightly, looking up at the rotting ceiling. "Emily had to put you down." Emily kicked Dean's foot. "God dammit, Dean. You didn't have to tell him!"
Emily sat on the hood of the Impala as the young girl leaned against it, the two of them sitting in silence as the brothers and the hard headed boy helped to seal the gates once more. Haunted or no, it was a dangerous building to be in. Her wounds had closed up but the bruising and damage was pretty evident. "How in the world did you get into this job?" Emily looked at the girl, surprised to see her looking straight at her. Emily shrugged slightly, looking to the boys and then back to the girl. "We flunked out of high school." Cheesy, maybe, but the girl looked scared enough that maybe she'd believe her. Maybe tomorrow morning or the next day, she'd decide that was bullshit but tonight, her grades were the most important thing in the universe. "If you don't want to find out about the things that go bump in the night, don't go into abandoned buildings at night and don't flunk out of high school. Got it." Emily smiled at the girl after she confirmed what she had learned tonight, the brothers approaching as they finished fixing. "May I recommend giving the boy another chance? Everyone has stupid moments." The girl nodded and Emily hopped off the hood. "Can't guarantee it will keep everyone out forever but it'll do its job for now." Emily smiled at Dean, and then to Sam. Sam looked a little worse for wear and just gave her a meek kind of smile, Emily returning it as she rubbed the back of her neck. As the kids headed home, Emily slid into the passenger seat before Sam could, causing Sam to give her a 'what the hell' look. "You tried to either strangle me or break my neck. I think I earned this seat." Sam frowned and slid into the back seat like a brooding young boy. "Well this will be a fun ride." She heard Dean murmur. She closed her door and turned to face him. Dean smiled slowly leaked onto his face. "Sam got his ass kicked by a girl."
