Almost as soon as she had joined the vampires, Shadow had been taught that hunters were bad, out to hurt her and her new family
Almost as soon as she had joined the vampires, Shadow had been taught that hunters were bad, out to hurt her and her new family. She'd spent a long time running from them, then fighting them, and it's all she'd done for the last five years. Run from hunters, fight hunters, kill hunters.
Dean had been different.
Dean was not like any other hunter she'd ever met; maybe because the hunters she'd killed off had been ones specialising in Vampires, mostly stupid mortals who had hated her kind with a passion. Well, her half-kind, although she considered herself far from the humans she killed now.
"It's going to be OK Tim." She whispered, pulling up a rickety old chair next to the bed. "Promise. Dean knows what to do; we're going to save you."
"How can you trust him?"
Shadow turned her head to see Poison standing in the doorway, eyes narrowed as he stared hard at her, his eyes a deep blue.
"Because no matter what, you trust the people you love Poison. Not that you'd know anything about it." She snapped her head back to Tim, taking her brother's hand.
She didn't have to look to see if the jibe had hurt him.
"You know how I feel Shadow."
"Yeah well, you've got a funny way of showing it."
"I'm trying to protect you. He will kill you Shadow."
"No he won't." She found herself squeezing Tim's hand. "You see Poison, he's not like you. The complete opposite in fact."
"You know I'd never kill you."
"Do I Poison? You killed what's her name…the flapper."
"Shadow…"
She snapped her head up as she heard the sound; an almost inhuman noise from downstairs, despite the ferocity behind it, she knew it was Dean.
"Sammy!"
A smile had stretched itself across Blake's face once Poison had gone. He fixed his gaze on Sam, who now stared at the vampire with pure horror on his face.
iNot here, not now Sammy! /i Dean thought, frozen in place as he looked from vampire to man. "You can't hurt us." Dean stood up now, lifting his head as he stared at the vampire. "We're protected remember? And you need us to help Tim."
The laugh that came from the vampire's mouth sent shivers down Dean's spine, but he kept his head up, kept his eyes still, resisting the urge to run from the building.
"You, kid, are an idiot."
Dean felt anger boil. "Kid?"
"Yes kid. You're what, twenty-six? Compared to me you're a child. Now listen; you are protected, not your brother. We need you, not your brother. He," he lifted a finger, pointing it straight at Sam. "is expendable."
Even as he stood there, his blood running cold, his knees began to feel weak, his whole body felt about to collapse on him. "If you hurt him, I won't help you."
"Oh I think you will, because otherwise you'll have to put up with Shadow…she won't be angry. She'll be disappointed. And upset. Not to mention she'll lose her brother forever and do you really want to put her through that?"
Dean looked at his brother, at Sam's wide eyes, begging him to get him out of here alive. He shook his head, not knowing what he could do.
"I thought not."
Blake moved too fast for Dean to even see, suddenly his brother had hit the floor, a crack making it sound like he'd broken something. As he looked, he could see Sam's arm bent at an awkward angle as the vampire descended on him, pinning his shoulders to the floor.
"Sammy!"
The sound ripped from Dean's throat like a dog's growl as he dove forward, pulling the vampire off and sending him reeling backwards, hitting the wall as Dean turned and ran towards him.
He joined his brother on the floor, Blake's weight crushing him. "Run Sammy!"
Sam managed to get to his feet, and out of the corner of his eye Dean watched his brother stumble to the door, stopping as a figure appeared there. The figure pushed past Sam, walking briskly towards Blake and pulling him away with a ferocity Dean hadn't seen in a long time. A loud thud as Blake slammed into the wall, and the figure, whom Dean could not see clearly due to the water in his eyes, welling up from the pain, walked over. Another thud as a palm collided with his face.
"I swear to god Blake, you touch either of these again and I will pin you down in the sun myself."
"Think you're strong enough kid?"
Another slap.
"Why do you think the vampires are so scared of me?" She hissed, and it was the last thing Dean heard before he blacked out.
When Dean woke up, the first thing he realised was that Shadow's hand was stroking his hair.
The room was deathly silent, and as Dean's senses kicked in he realised he was laying on the sofa, his head in Shadow's lap. He looked up at her, and for the first time realised her eyes were two different colours. One was the striking blue he'd come to associate with her, the other was a soft green colour.
He lifted his head up, rubbing it as he realised how strange his body felt, how weak.
Shadow stirred turning and giving him a soft smile.
"You're awake then."
It was then he noticed Sam, sitting in the armchair, his arm in a make shift sling.
"How long have I been out?"
"About half an hour." Shadow stood up now, the smile completely gone from her face. "Poison and Blake are upstairs with Tim. You two are staying in my sight until we figure out how to save my brother."
"We can't." Sam shook his head. "We're leaving."
He stood up now, walked towards the door. Shadow moved quickly, blocking his way.
"You leave this room and you're in shit loads of danger Sam Winchester." She took a deep breath. "There are two more vampires out there. Possibly more. But you two, until I've sorted it out, are on their danger list. You'll be free once you've helped Tim."
"Blackmail?"
"No." She stepped forward now, and all Dean could do was watch in surprise. "They are my friends. Believe it or not they are, and they all know Tim. You save my blood relative, and I can save you."
Sam frowned at this, before throwing himself back into the armchair. "So what do we do?"
"Dean?" She turned to him, hope in her eyes as he nodded and looked around the room for the notebook he had.
"Um well…" He spotted it on the floor, and even as he went to reach for it, Shadow had scooped it up and put it in his hands. He flicked through the pages, trying to find the marked ones. Finally, he stopped and cleared his throat. "Essential elemental creatures…draw power from the Earth whilst in our Realm…because of this it is best to get them above a ground floor…humans alone can not fight a fairy and therefore should enlist the help of spirits, demons, werewolves or…" He paused, lifting his head up. "Best of all a vampire."
"Why vampires?"
"Because vampires are not elemental. They are not bound to the earth, and are actually able to cross into the fairy realm if they need to." He frowned at this point. "Even taking humans with them…"
"What good will that do?"
Dean swallowed, lifting his head up. "It basically means that you can enter the fairy realm to find your brother and bring him back. Once that's done…he should be safe."
"But he's not there." She stepped towards Dean. "He's here."
"His spirit is in there." Dean replied. "Shadow, it looks like this is our only hope."
Shadow paced in front of her brother's bed, hands in her pockets as she fixed her gaze on the floor. Dean sat on a chair in the corner, Sam standing next to him whilst Poison and Blake leant against the opposite wall.
All held weapons in their hands, weapons either the vampires had stored nearby or weapons that were in the back of Dean's car.
Dean held an elaborately carved sword, his hand gripped so tightly onto it that his knuckles were white. Poison carried two daggers, one of which Shadow had seen used many times before. Blake's weapon was properly the simplest of them all; what looked like an old, battered medieval sword. Sam had picked out another sword from Dean's car, this one decorated on the helm with wards. Shadow's weapon – a samurai sword – lay on the edge of the bed, near to Tim's feet.
All of them carried guns, knowing they'd do no damage but would slow the fairies down for a few seconds.
Now all they had to do was wait, and the waiting was killing Shadow.
She hoped they'd come before sunrise; otherwise they'd lose Poison and Blake before the fight even began.
Nothing happened before sunrise, and Blake and Poison disappeared to wherever their resting place for the day was.
They took their weapons.
Shadow refused to rest, instead preferring to pace the room, to keep moving and to keep an eye on her brother.
"Shadow come on…" Dean stood up, moving towards her. She stopped her pacing as he came closer.
"I'm going to the toilet." Sam muttered, standing up and moving towards the door. He cast one glance over his shoulder at the pair, as Dean wrapped his arms around the girl Sam thought of as 'that damn vampire bitch'.
"Shadow, it'll be OK."
"But what if they come during the day?" She asked, shaking her head. "Dean, we need Poison and Blake…"
"No we don't. Me and Sammy can hold them here, stop them getting to your brother while you get him back."
"What if they kill you though?" She could feel the tears in her eyes, could feel the fear building up inside her. "Dean I may lose my brother and you. I don't think I could cope."
"Hey it's going to take more than a jealous vampire and a bunch of fairies to get rid of me."
She laughed now, leaning into his chest and holding tightly on him, scared that this would be their last embrace.
Sam leant on the sink, his one hand holding tightly onto the rim. He had considered escaping, but knew he couldn't leave his brother, and if what she had said was true, he wouldn't survive the night out there on his own.
But this, this was risky. They were giving themselves into the mercy of bloodthirsty creatures who wanted them dead. He had no doubt that as soon as this fairy thing was over, Shadow would turn around and kill his brother, leaving him to the other two.
It made sense; why else would she keep them alive for so long if not to save her brother? The love she showed Dean was superficial, shallow and fake. Well, Sam had a weapon willingly given to him by the vampires. He could fight, and as soon as Tim was saved he'd cut off their heads, one by one, and he knew he'd relish it.
She had clamed down by the time Sam came back to the room, now sitting on the bed with the sword in her hands; still waiting, still anxious. Her eyes were locked on her brother, at his rising chest and still face.
"He looks dead." She muttered, turning to look at the two hunters as Sam picked up his sword in his good hand and held it up. "Like…he's not even in there."
"He is." Dean turned his gaze to the sleeping boy. "He is Shadow, and you're going to get him back."
"What if I don't though?"
"You will."
The rest of the day passed by in silence, the hours stretching out. Around midday, Shadow pulled the curtains across the windows, blocking out the strong sun. Uncertainly, she chewed her lip, wondering what she'd face once in the fairy world.
It was almost half an hour until sunset when they heard it.
Soft giggling filled the room, a child like laughter that was unnerving. Tinkling bells sounded out, echoing. Tim thrashed out, Shadow leaping off the bed as he kicked.
"NO!"
He screamed it, his body convulsing before stopping, before he lay there once again, frozen.
The three of them held their swords out, ready for battle.
With a soft popping sound, fairies surrounded them. A quick count by Dean, before he muttered.
"Six of them. Two each."
He and Sam moved to the bed, Shadow standing at the foot as Sam ran to the other side.
"Give him to us." The first fairy spoke, his voice harsh and cruel. Shadow gazed at him as he faced her; barely half her height, his nose was long and curved, his face wrinkled, dark green hair tied back by what looked like bark. He smiled, sharp teeth revealed in the fading light.
"No!" She stepped forward, eyes shifting to the light, almost transparent wings. "You bastards aren't taking my brother again."
A red haired fairy leapt up, giggling as she clutched her revealed stomach, bending her legs in the air as her wings fluttered. "Stupid silly vampire. He is our's, our King demands it."
"Why?" She gazed at the others, all of them slightly different in their own ways. Some with red hair, some with green or a muddy brown. They all had wings; though three of them had almost-transparent wings like the one who had spoken, others had wings that were almost black, splattered through with white lines looking like veins. All of them were ugly; not like the beautiful fairies in tales.
"Because he's special." The third one tilted her head, distorting her voice to sound sarcastic. "He's a special little boy like his brother and sister before him."
"What do you mean?" Shadow asked, her hands gripping the sword tighter.
"Stop it." The first one snapped. "You've said too much. Now, are you going to give us the boy?"
"No." She held her sword up.
"Then so be it." Another cruel smile. "You will not win vampire, not with those puny weapons. And you couldn't save him from here anyway; his spirit is trapped in our world."
She swiped at him, her sword swishing through the air. He laughed as he flipped up, doing a back flip in the air before flying towards her.
They attacked then; flying in the air towards them. As soon as they'd wound one, another would place it's hands over the wound and it would heal. They'd fly at Shadow, Dean or Sam, as others tried to get through to Tim. However, the three of them deflected the fairies, sending them sprawling back through the air. The first one laughed in Shadow's face, as they kicked and bit the two hunters and Shadow.
The last of the dying light faded, and barely moments later Poison and Blake had crashed into the room, Poison diving a sword into a fairy that was attacking Sam, right through the heart.
A pop and the fairy disappeared, returning to the fairy world.
"You killed it?" Shadow yelled, as Poison and Blake joined the fight. The first fairy; the one with green hair and the transparent wings; flew backwards, surprise on his face as Blake and Poison fought the fairies alongside Sam and Dean.
"They can't die; not here." He grunted, stepping alongside Dean and using his sword to deflect another fairy. "I wouldn't suggest it; they can come back stronger."
Shadow nodded, as a fairy flew towards Dean. Poison struck, hitting the fairy away. It tumbled in the air, and Dean sent him a grateful smile.
"I'm doing it for her." He hissed, as the fairy attacked again, snarling and hissing at them. "Not you."
"Caltic," The fairy-leader yelled at the fairy who had tried to attack Dean. "Get back, get the King's reinforcements."
"Shadow grab a hold of him!" Poison yelled, and Shadow nodded. Blake moved beside her, ready to take her place as she dropped the sword and ran towards Caltic. She stopped in front of him as he closed his eyes, whispering something under his breath. "Shadow hurry up!" Poison yelled, throwing his arm wide and striking two with one blow. She looked over her shoulder at Poison and Dean, fighting side by side, and suddenly knew that if she left, Dean would die.
Whether by Poison's hand or the hand of the fairies she didn't know, all she knew was that if she left, she'd never see him again.
So she did the first thing that came to her head, she leapt towards him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards Caltic. She grabbed the fairy's wrist, and with a pop, they disappeared.
