I'd like to give a massive thanks to Hicks 07 for editing this chapter for me. So anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural
The first time I realized I wasn't completely human I was four years old; almost five. Young by adult standards, but ancient by own.
I was carefree, innocent, but far, far from normal. At the time my father had left me in the care of Uncle John, he had some local business to take care of and Cody, who would normally care for me in the absence of my father, had a wicked bad case of the flu. Fever, chills, puking, the whole thing.
That fateful day Uncle John had left Cody in the motel room to rest and had taken me on one of his necessary research trips to the library, during which I had been patent and well behaved enough to earn me an hour or two of free time in a park. Though not many people would remember their life at the age of four, I can remember all the details. The shirt I had on was pink with flowers; my car seat was blue; Uncle John had on a green t-shirt.
"Uncle John?" I asked him, swinging my legs back and forth in my car seat.
He looked at me through the review mirror. "Yes Adeline?"
I stuck out my tongue and crinkled my nose at the use of my full name. "Nooo." I corrected him. "It's Addy,'member?"
"I remember, but it seems a shame to not use such a pretty name."
"Cody says it's not pretty, he says it's just long and annoying."
Uncle John frowned deeply, he bit his lip slightly and I could have sworn I saw a look of sadness cross his face. It was only much later I discovered that the name Adeline was one my Aunt Mary had picked out in the event of ever giving birth to a girl. After her sister's death my mother had named me Adeline in her honor. "He's your older brother, but even he isn't always right."
I nodded in agreement, and smiled in anticipation. "Are we goin' to the park now?"
He let out a bark of a laugh and nodded his head yes. "What's the matter? You didn't like the library?"
"I liked the liberary, but the stuuuupid mean old lady wouldn't let me read good books. She said I shouldn' preten' that I could read, so she just let me look at the books with all the pictures in 'em. Only I wasn't pretenden' to read 'em."
"Addy," he warned me with a serious look. "You need to respect your elders."
"Sorry. But I like big books, they're interesting."
"You shouldn't lie either Addy. It's alright if you can't read yet. You're only four." He reminded me.
"I can too read!" I protested, crossing my arms and scowling at the back of his head.
"Young lady, do not look at me in that tone of voice!"
"Huh?" I asked in confusion, dropping my arms as I spoke.
"That's better." He said in satisfaction. "Why are you saying you can read? No one's going to be mad at you if you can't."
"But I can read Uncle John!"
He looked slightly confused for a second, if not a little impressed. "Who taught you how to read?"
"I did!" I said. Didn't everyone teach himself how to read?
He parked the Impala in an empty space and got out to unbuckle me. I beat him to it; I eagerly jumped out of the car as soon as he opened the door and started walking across the parking lot.
"Adeline!" He yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me to a stop. He looked down at me, an angry, worried look on his face. "Do not run off without me. What if a car didn't see you? You could have been hurt!"
"I'm sorry." I told him, sticking my thumb in my mouth. I hadn't meant to scare him.
"You need to be careful. There are a lot of dangerous things out there."
"Like the things you and Daddy hunt?" I asked him, holding his hand as we walked across the parking lot.
"What do you know about what your father and I do?" He asked, looking down at me. He looked sad now, like he didn't want me to know stuff.
"Nothin' much." I admitted. "Just that you make sure that the things in the closet don't get people."
"Good. Look, Addy," He said, kneeling down in front of me to look me in the eyes. "What your father and I do… I don't want you worrying about it. You're safe; we won't let anything happen to you. Go play, have fun, and just be a kid." He told me, gesturing to the massive jungle-gym.
I didn't need to be told twice, I took off running towards the slides.
A half hour passed without much incident. My uncle, would occasionally look up from the book he was reading to yell at me to be careful.
The only thing that concerned me was the old man wearing a suit that was following a boy a year or two older than me. No one but me seemed to notice him; the way he was looking at the boy, it was almost as if he was waiting for something.
Five minutes later I found out what. I saw a bee land on the boy's arm, I saw the boy slap at the insect, and I saw the boy scream as he was stung.
The man who, had previously just stood there, placed his hand over the boy's neck and the boy started choking and gasping for air.
I knew the old man was causing it. I didn't know how, but I knew he was.
"Leggo. Leggo of him!" I yelled, running over and hitting the man with my small fists. "Leave him alone!"
The man let go of the boy's neck and looked down at me. But the boy didn't stop choking, he was struggling to breath and if he didn't stop soon, he would die. The man stared at me, almost as if he was surprised that I could actually hit and see him.
"You have no right to stop me from my duties little one." The man warned. "I am a Reaper, I guide the dead. You guide the living."
"He's not dead!" I yelled at the man. Uncle John looked over at me and as soon as he realized what was happening he started running to me. "Why are you killing him?" By this time people had noticed what was going on; the boy's mother was on the phone, sobbing hysterically.
"I am doing nothing, he is not dead yet but soon he will be. His time on this world is over. I need to carry him onward into his next life, and you need to let me little Guardian."
"What's a Guardian?" I asked in confusion.
He just looked down at me. "You will know soon enough." He warned before disappearing right in front of my eyes.
"Addy." Uncle John called, running over to me and picked me up. He covered my eyes as we made our way over to the car "You don't need to see this baby."
"What's going to happen to him?" I asked as he buckled me into my car seat.
"I don't know baby."
"The man in the suit said he was going to die."
Uncle John paused in his efforts of inserting the straps into the necessary buckles in order to look at me more effectively. "What man in a suit Addy?" He didn't let his face show any emotions.
"I dunno who he was. He said his name was Reaper and that he had to carry the boy into his next life."
"You saw a Reaper?" Uncle John looked scared, like he wasn't sure if he heard what I said correctly.
"Didn't you see him?"
"No, I didn't." He whispered, running his hand over his face. The way he was looking at me… It was a look of surprise mixed with anger and fear. "Addy, do not mention this to anyone other than your dad or me. Ever. That's an order. Do you understand?"
"What did I do wrong?" I asked, tears welling up in my eyes. Why was he so angry?
"Nothing Sweetheart." He whispered, hugging me before he kissed my forehead. "You didn't do anything wrong. I just need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this or the Reaper."
"I promise Uncle John." I told him, meaning the words with all my heart and knowing there was nothing normal about my encounter with the reaper.
The fact that I could somehow see a man that no one else could was surprising to say the least, but the way my uncle stared at me… It was the same exact way Dean looked at me now.
Surprise mixed with anger and fear. As if it was my fault this random demon had chose to attack me. I was sick of it. Sick of the supernatural world using me as a punching bag, sick of having to keep promises to people who were never 100% honest with me, and sick of having the Winchesters catch me in sticky situations.
I stood there, mouth slightly a gape and a look of surprise on my face. I held my knife, my stupid, special, one-of-a-kind knife, behind my back. How was I supposed to answer the Angel's stupid question?
'Where do you get that knife?' He had asked me. I could see how great that conversation would go.
'You see, some random guy showed up at my school like six months ago. He seemed pretty normal until he killed my boyfriend, Ryan, and tried to hurt Riley with the knife. I kinda had to kill him, but not before told me that heavenly ties would protect me on the road to my destiny. After he was killed I took the knife. Turns out you have to kill someone in order to become its rightful owner, sorta like an initiations right. But that's ok, because the guy totally planned the whole thing 'cause I was supposedly destined to have it and he knew I wouldn't kill him unless he provoked me. Even though the knife is only supposed to appear on Earth during times of desperation, I kinda figured that someone had just screwed up because everything seemed relatively normal. Turns out it's the apocalypse and I should have been using it to fight the demons the whole time, and instead I was just being lazy. My bad!'
Yeah, that would go over well…
But here I was, unable to respond, unable to tell my cousin's the truth. And it sucked so, so much. Honesty may be the best policy, but the truth could easily get me killed.
"He asked you a question Adeline!" Dean yelled at me. "And I'd like to know the answer."
"I'm sorry," I apologized with a shake of my head. I meant it too, but that didn't seem to matter to them. "I can't tell you."
And that's all it took for Dean to lose it.
O~O~O~O~O~O
Dean crossed the parking lot in two strides. He was angry, no, he was pissed, fucking pissed. Addy had done nothing but keep secrets and lie to the Winchesters from the start. So far it had done a pretty good job of getting her into trouble.
Addy took a step back, bending down clean her dagger on Freak Boy's shirt and putting her dagger away before looking up, her face doing its best to not show emotions. But Dean knew better, he knew that look. It was the same look Sam had given their father every time he had disobeyed a direct order growing up and knew there was going to be repercussions. It was a look of defiance.
Good, because Dean was going to give it to her; the little brat would not be sitting well this evening. If she was going to act like this; he would punish her just like Dad had punished him and Sam when they'd pulled crap like this. Dean was done with the attitude; it was time for an attitude adjustment.
He tried to grab her arm, to drag her back to the motel room. But she didn't let him. She twisted out of his grasp and took another step back.
"No Dean." She told him, voice stern. "You can do whatever you want to me later, but right now it isn't about me."
"Really Kid?" He asked in an incredulous voice. "Then what the hell is it about?"
"Adam." She snapped before turning to go around the car to the unconscious boy. Dean felt like a dick, he had been too preoccupied by Addy's demon fighting to notice his baby brother.
"What the hell happened?" He asked, bending down next to Addy as she checked Adam over.
"The demon snuck up behind him and knocked him out." Addy said, checking his pulse. "It's normal. I think he just has a concussion. But he's been like this for a while. I think it's a pretty bad one…"
"How long has he been out?" Dean asked, doing his own examination of Adam. He looked so young and vulnerable and wasn't moving; that really worried Dean.
"Longer than he should have been." Addy whispered placing a hand on his forehead, almost as if she was checking his temperature.
Dean felt the void in his stomach grow, his little brother was hurt. Really hurt. What the hell would Dean do if something happened to his baby brother?
"Cas," Sam asked in a concerned voice. His little brother needed help. "Can you heal him?"
"I'm not sure. He isn't supposed to be my charge." The Angel admitted, his eyebrows furrowing in some emotion Addy couldn't quite place.
"I can." Addy said, voice shaking slightly.
"You can heal him?" Dean asked in an annoyed voice. Was the kid that desperate for attention that she would make up a crap excuse like that?
"Yes and no." She did her best to explain. "I have the ability, but-but I don't know how to use it." She looked up to meet the eyes of Cas. "But you do. You can channel my powers and heal him, right?"
"Addy, why do you have the ability to heal?" Sam asked.
"I can't tell you and even if I could, I don't have time to explain. Please," She pleaded. "Just trust me on this is one."
"We've trusted you on a lot lately Kid." Dean told her, looking down at his unresponsive brother as he spoke.
"I know Dean," She closed her eyes for a second before looking up to meet Dean's harsh, judgmental gaze. "But you don't understand. I literally can't tell you. I'm not sure why I can do these things. But I promise you, as soon as I figure it out, I'll tell you."
"I'm going to hold you to that Kid." He told Addy before looking up at Cas. "Can you do that? Can you use her powers to heal Adam?"
"I'm not sure. But I can try." The angel bent down next to Adam before picking up Addy's hand. He placed a hand over Adam's forehead and began staring into Addy's eyes.
The change happened instantly. A white glow erupted from Castiel's hand right before Addy's eyes rolled backward into her head and she fell backwards into Dean's arms. Adam stirred, his consciousness gain at the loss of Addy's.
"Wh, whhat happened?" Adam demanded, sitting up to look at Addy. "Cas? What are you doing here? What's going on? I remember looking at Addy then…Then nothing."
"A demon attacked Addy; great observation job there bro. Cas did something funky and used Addy to help heal you but…" Sam told Adam as he kneeled down to check on Addy. Dean walked over to his little brother, giving him a once over before turning to face a concerned looking Sam.
"What the hell happened to her?" Dean demanded
"The use of her abilities caused her to lose consciousness." Castiel told the Winchester brothers. "She will awaken soon. But you must make sure she does not attempt to use her healing without the guidance of myself or another angel. Otherwise she may end up releasing too much energy and could permanently injure herself."
"Why can she do these things Cas?" Sam asked, looking down at Addy. Adam may be alright now, but they now had Addy to worry about. She had just gotten better, was she going to be out of commission again? "Is she going to be alright?"
"When she awakens she will be tired, but she will be healthy. I am not sure why she can do these things. But Dean," The angel turned away from the unconscious girl to look at the oldest Winchester. "The demons want something from her. You must make sure nothing untoward happens to her."
"There's no way in hell I'm going to let anything happen to her." Dean clutched Addy tightly to his chest as she started to stir.
"Dean," Addy moaned. "You're hurting me."
Dean relaxed his grip; closing his eyes for a second in relief. They were both alright. Thank God, they were both alright. "Yeah, well, that's what you get for passing out like that."
"I didn't pass out." Addy defended as Dean helped her stand. "I just shut my eyes for a brief rest. You okay Adam?"
"Yeah, thanks to you."
"No problem." Addy assured with a yawn. She brought up a hand to cover her mouth as her face turned green.
"Kid?" Dean asked, as Addy began to grimace.
"One sec." She said, lifting up a finger before she turned and emptied her stomach onto the ground.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Dean asked.
"I wouldn't know." Castiel admitted.
"How can't you know? You're an Angel. Aren't you supposed to be all knowing?" Dean snapped.
"That girl… She's not normal. I'm not sure she's completely human. That knife… It's special. Its appearance on earth means that an era of arduousness is coming. The last time a human had possession of the knife was over two hundred years ago. For it to be in her possession, it means that whatever is coming, that girl is going to be part of it. "
"That girl," Addy snapped walking back over to the men and wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "Is named Addy. And there's nothing special about her."
Castiel looked Addy over; he met her defiant eyes with a serene gaze. "I apologize…Addy." He said with a nod.
"Are you really trying to keep up the pretence of normality Addy? You just healed me, normal people can't do that." Adam told his cousin.
"Well," Addy said in a defensive tone. "You're double jointed. Normal people can't pull their fingers back against their hand. You can though."
"I think that's a little different." Adam said in a slightly annoyed voice.
"Ok, so it's a little different." Addy admitted with a shrug.
Dean reached out his hand to gently thunk Addy on the back of the head. He didn't want to hurt her; she was just irritating
"What the heck was that for?" She demanded, rubbing her head.
"A little different?" Dean asked rolling his eyes at her, Addy rolled hers right back.
"What I don't get," Sam began, shifting his feet slightly to bet a better look at Addy. "Is why you didn't just heal yourself while you were recovering from the car accident?"
Addy shook her head slightly. "No, I don't know much about my 'gift'; but, I do know it doesn't work like that." She told Sam, making sure she looked him in the eye. "My powers, my 'gifts' or whatever they are, aren't meant for me. They're meant to help other people. First of all, I have basically no control over any of them except for the whole 'seeing ghosts' thing. So that makes it hard to actually use them. Second of all, I can't use them on myself. At all."
"So what?" Adam asked. "You can heal everyone else, but you can't heal yourself?"
"Probably… Except I don't know to control it. I've only done it a couple of times before, each time as a freak adrenaline punch type thingy."
"And you haven't thought of practicing control?" Sam asked.
"Nooo." Addy said giving him a look that implied that the reason she hadn't should have been obvious. "I have no idea where these powers come from in the first place. Not to mention I just passed out from healing a concussion. There's no telling what other injuries will do to me. The other times I healed people I was out of commission for weeks. My body can't handle my powers; the repercussions aren't worth trying to get control over the healing."
"Good. Let's keep it that way Kid." Dean said. He didn't want Addy to explore her strange powers. What if they were demonic? He couldn't risk having another demon blood infected family member.
"Cas wh-" Dean began, but when he turned around to talk to him the Angel was nowhere to be found. "I hate when he does that." Dean muttered.
"What are we doing now, Dean?" Adam asked his older brother.
Dean looked over the kid, taking her pale complexion and realized he didn't want her anywhere near a hunt in her current state.
"No Dean!" Addy protested, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "I'm fine. Absolutely, 100%, fine and dandy! Come on."
"You don't look it…" Adam muttered, earning him an angry look from his cousin.
"Dean, we've got to do this today. Alan's been waiting far too long; we've got to do this now."
Dean rubbed his forehead, not overly thrilled with her attitude. But she was right. A spirit, especially one of a kid, deserved to 'be at rest'… Or whatever the crap happened to people once they died.
"Fine. But you're taking a nap first. And after this you and I are going to have a serious talk about your attitude problem."
Addy didn't like the sound of that; she didn't like the sound of that one bit.
"Yes, Sir." She gulped. Of course Dean wasn't pleased with her attitude problem. If she had been dealing with her dad, Uncle John or Cody, they would have squashed her long ago… But to be completely fair if it had been any of them, Addy wouldn't have been stupid enough to do most of the things she'd done. She had been pushing Dean, testing him really, to see if he'd leave. And to see what she could get away with. Cody and Uncle John always accused her of pushing the limits. Usually it just took one of them putting their foot down. But lately, lately Addy just didn't care anymore. She didn't care what anyone thought.
"Good. Get your ass in the room. Take an hour nap. Then we'll deal with the Ghost Kid.
Addy set the alarm clock on her cell phone for 55 minutes. That was about an hour, close enough. She grabbed her quilt and curled up on the bed; she was tired enough that she dropped right off and didn't wake up until her phone binged.
"Come on, come on." Addy sat up and looked over at where Sam, Adam, and Dean were playing a quiet game of cards. "Come on, lets go."
Dean rolled his eyes at her impatience. He'd been surprised she didn't fight at being forced to take a nap. He was expecting a line of lip; something like 'But, I'm not five.'
"Ok, let's go." Dean told Addy with a sigh.
"Do you even know what we need to do now Dean?" Addy asked with a smile as they all piled into the car.
"Yeah, we need to… Do something you told me but I can't remember."
Addy laughed slightly before opening her mouth and saying "I just need to talk to Alan and ask him a couple of questions before we can do the ritual. Do you guys have candles and chalk in the trunk?"
"Yeah." Sam told her. "Is that all you need?"
"That and a personal item, but we can get that at his house. Haven't you guys done a summoning before?"
"Not one that you just need candles and chalk for." Sam admitted. "We usually just salt and burn 'em"
"So I've heard." Addy trailed off before muttering under her breath "Freakin' pyros…"
Sam began to laugh, doing his best to turn it into a cough when Dean began to glare angrily at him.
"Alright Kid," Dean began. "If you don't salt 'em and burn 'em, how do you deal with spirits?"
"I talk to them." She explained in a voice that one would normally use on a small child. "I use words, to explain what's going on. You know, talk to them like a normal person."
"Ok smart ass. What do you do when you're dealing with a vengeful spirit that won't listen to reason?"
"Then I make a fifteen foot wide circle of salt around their grave, so they can't get through, and dig up the grave. That usually doesn't happen though. Normally I can calm them down enough to talk to me. They don't usually know how to respond when they figure out you can touch 'em."
Silence broke out in the car, as the men thought about the different technique, before Adam spoke "You make a salt ring around the grave? Does that work?"
"Yeah, I mean it's not like they can get through it. It makes it a crap load easier because then you don't time restrictions. We used to do it the old fashioned way. You know? Just dig the grave and pray to God the ghost wouldn't notice. But after Riley got attacked and ended up suffering from rather serious amnesia, we decided that probably wasn't the best idea anymore."
"Why didn't you guys think of that?" Adam asked with an amused smile. "The salt ring thing."
There was a momentary silence as Sam and Dean exchanged a look. Sam had no idea why he hadn't thought of that. "Because salt rings are kinda conspicuous." He finally decided.
"They are." Addy ensured Adam. "Luckily I have, had, a witch who got rid of them for me."
"Alright, we're here." Dean said as he pulled the Impala to the side of the road. "Let's try it your way. We'll go 'talk' to the Ghost Kid."
"…I think I should probably take lead on this one Dean."Addy told him with a small smile as they got out of the car.
"You're only twelve-"
"Fifteen Dean." Sam corrected.
"Fine, fifteen. You're not old enough to take lead."
Addy rolled her eyes, she wasn't about to tell Dean that she had lead plenty of hunts in her 'twelve' years. "That's the point Dean. You guys are too old, he won't trust you."
But Dean wouldn't have it. "We'll stay back while you talk to him, but you follow my lead. Got it?"
She bit her lip apprehensively but knew that was the best deal she was going to get. "Uh huh, I got it."
Dean made his way to the car, pulling out two shot guns (undoubtedly filled with rock salt bullets) and handed one to Sam.
"I don't get one?" Adam asked in annoyance.
"Sorry Adam, there's an experience requirement you don't meet." Sam said with a smile.
"What about Addy?" He pointed out.
Dean and Sam looked at Addy who just rolled her eyes. "You don't need the shotguns. He's only four."
"Since when has age had anything to do with how capable a person is?" Dean couldn't help but say with a smile. The Kid had told him the exact same thing a week ago when he had caught her outside after her four a.m, run.
Addy didn't bother responding, instead she just began to make her way into the cemetery.
"Wait, Kid." Dean called out, causing Addy to pause and turn around. "Anything gets weird or goes wrong you get your ass out of the line of fire so Sam and I can take the shot, alright?"
"Dean, it'l-"
"I mean it Kid." He warned. "Do you understand?"
"Yessir." She said giving Dean a mock solute before doing an about face and skipping off towards Alan's grave.
True to his word, Dean and his brothers stayed back a good twenty feet as she approached the head stone. Glancing behind her Addy noticed Sam and Dean tense, guns cocked and ready to shoot.
"Alan?" She called apprehensively. She was close enough for Alan to sense her, why hadn't he shown up already?
"Alan?" She called again, not liking the situation one bit. "Ala-"
She saw the white spectral form come at her right before it made contact with her body. The impact caused her to stumble five feet backward, but she didn't let herself fall.
"Kid!" Dean yelled, raising the shot gun in preparation to shoot. That was the last thing Addy wanted. That would most definitely piss Alan off.
"No!" She warned "I can handle it."
The form made to attack her again, but this time she was ready. Right before he made contact, Addy grabbed the young, angry child and hugged him close to her chest.
Alan thrashed against her iron tight hold, hitting his small fists against her stomach. He looked up at her, if he had been alive Addy knew he would have been crying.
"You promised. You promised I could go to a nice place soon. You lied!" He told Addy, his hits become more intense. They didn't really hurt, but every time he made contact it felt like a little part of Addy died. "You lied! I hate you!"
"I know." She told the young boy, kneeling down to look him in the eyes. She held his shoulder in what she hoped would be a comforting manner to Alan. "I know I told you it would be soon. I'm so sorry." Addy bit her lip so hard a small bead of blood tricked down her lip. "I got sick."
"I don't wanna to be here anymore!" He complained, stomping his feet in emphasis.
"Good." Addy told him, grabbing his hands now that he had stopped hitting her. "Because I'm going to make sure you can go to that special place we talked about. But first I need your help with something."
"Whut?"
"Is your Daddy home right now?" Addy asked him, hoping he actually knew his dad's home schedule.
"Uh huh." He nodded.
Good, that made the situation a lot easier. "Where do you live Alan?"
"654 Blackwoods Lane." He said with a satisfied nod; there was a sense of pride in his words.
"Good job for knowing your address." Addy smiled lovingly at him. He might be a ghost; but, he was a little boy who needed to know that people cherished him. "Because I'm going to go to your house and talk to him and I'm going to do something that makes it so you can go home for a little while. Can you do me a favor?"
"Wha?" He asked anxiously.
"When you go home, can you ask your daddy to tell the truth?"
"About what?" He looked at Addy with wide eyes.
"You know what?" Addy told him with a smile. "That doesn't matter, but I promise that if you do that, things will get better. Okay?"
"Okay." Alan agreed with a slight nod.
"I'm going to go now, but I'll see you at your house soon. Ok?"
He looked kind of worried about Addy leaving; but, Alan gave her a big hug before waving as Addy started walking back to the Winchesters and the car.
"What was that about?" Adam asked Addy.
She looked her cousin's over. They were regarding her in a mixture of frustration, worry, and admiration. Dean, in particular, looked uncomfortable, if not a little angry, with what had just transpired. Addy couldn't blame him. It wasn't like talking to ghosts was a natural normal event for hunters or anyone. Still, she wished he would stop staring at her like she was about to just come out and attack him at any moment.
"He was scared." Addy sighed. "I told him I'd help him then I didn't show up for a week. His reaction was understandable and justified."
"I thought you knew how to handle ghosts." Sam commented with a smile as they headed toward the Impala.
"I do." Addy protested. "I'm just kinda out of it right now."
It was true, the whole 'healing episode' had left her tired and just plain out of it.
"I'll say!" Dean snapped. "I told you to drop if anything went south Kid! Did you? No, no you didn't!"
"Really Dean?" Addy whispered. "Do we have to do this now? I handled it, I dealt with it, and everything turned out fine."
"You disobeyed a direct order! What if it hadn't gone right?" He waved his hands around in the air brandishing the shotgun. "What if you had gotten hurt?"
"Then I probably would have actually had to try and hurt the ghost." Addy pointed out. "You know, considering it takes way more energy to stop a pissed off spirit then it does to stop a scared one."
"I thought we talked about you being such a smart ass."
"And I thought you were waiting to let me have it until after the hunt."
Sam watched the interaction between his older brother and his cousin. Both looked like they were about to explode and, as the mediator, Sam was preparing himself to step in between the two of them in case it got things bad.
"Oh, we're going to discuss it alright." Dean assured Addy, shoving the shotguns back into the trunk before getting into the car.
"You won't freakin' sit straight for a week when I'm through with you." He muttered as Addy slammed her door.
Addy flashed Adam a worried look before Sam cleared his throat in an attempt to stop Dean's angry ranting. "Where are we going Addy?"
"Six-hundred fifty-four Blackwoods Lane." Addy responded as Dean pulled away.
It took Dean all of ten minutes to find the small, rundown house that had been Alan's home while he was alive. The parked a little ways down the street, far enough away to be inconspicuous (or how ever inconspicuous a person could be in a '67 Impala); but, close enough to have a full view of the house. The place was a dump, complete with peeling paint and broken storm windows.
"People actually live here?" Adam muttered as Addy and he got out of the car to join Dean and Sam who were rummaging through the trunk.
"Home is where the heart is." Dean muttered as he gathered a bag of what Addy had told him she needed for the ritual. "Here."
Addy took the bag that was offered to her and slung it over her shoulder.
"Alright, Sam's going to knock on the door and keep Father-of-the-Year distracted while Addy and I break into the upstairs and perform the stupid ritual. Adam, you need to call the cops in exactly twelve minutes, got it?"
He waited until his younger brother nodded before he turned his attention back to the three of them. "Any questions?"
"Should we synchronize our watches?" Addy couldn't help but ask snarkily, even if it did earn her a head slap from Adam.
"Let's get this over with; I want this bastard in jail." Dean mumbled before he started walking over the side of the house were the drain pipe was attached.
"I couldn't agree more." Addy said to herself as she followed Dean.
They waited until Sam had somehow managed to engage Alan's father, a middle age balding man with a beer belly, in conversation before scurrying up the drain pipe and walking across the over roof that hung over the porch to a closed window.
"How fast can you get that open?" Dean asked.
Addy just smiled. "How fast can you get out of my way?"
Dean nodded his head in understanding; Addy got out her knife to unlock the window, but saw that it wasn't even locked. With a roll of her eyes at the idiocy of some people she slid the sash up and gave Dean a grin before she pulled herself through the window frame. Dean followed Addy through the maze of rooms until they found what appeared to be a child's bedroom.
"Think this is his?" Dean asked, looking around the bare bedroom. Where most children would have rooms piled high with various toys and loved objects, this room simply contained a mattress with a blanket, a pillow and a worn out teddy bear on top of it.
"Yeah," Addy whispered doing her best to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach. "I think this is it."
"Let's get to work." Dean said, gesturing for Addy to do whatever the crap she was doing.
Addy nodded before unzipping the duffle and pulling out chalk, five candles and matches. She handed Dean the candles and matches.
"What am I doing with these?" He asked.
"Holding them till I need them." Addy explained as she began to draw a large pentagram enclosed in a circle. She grabbed the teddy bear off of the makeshift bed before placing it in the middle of the circle.
Dean handed her the candles wordlessly and watched as his cousin placed each of the candles on a point of the star before lighting them.
"What now?" Dean asked.
"I hope to God you don't kill me for this…" Addy responded before pulling out her knife and slicing open her wrist.
Dean stood there in slight shock. Had she really just done that? "What the hell are you doing?" He fumed.
Addy didn't say anything; instead she just grabbed her bloody wrist with her hand before slapping it down on the center of the circle. She barely got out the short Latin incantation before Dean crossed the room, grabbed the worn bed sheet, ripped it into strips, and grabbed Addy's wrist to wrap it up.
"What the hell are you thinking Kid?" Dean asked in a hushed voice. The makeshift bandages were already soaking through. He grabbed another strip of blanket and tied it around the cut.
"I was thinking that I needed a lot of blood to perform the ritual."
Dean wanted to kill her, slap some sense into her, lock her in a freakin' closet… He didn't know, he wanted to do something but he wasn't sure what.
"Yeah, well, congratulations. You're officially on my suicide watch list." He told her, putting pressure on the wound to stop the relentless bleeding.
Addy stared at him blankly before opening her mouth "Yeah, well, congratulations." Addy yelled completely forgetting the need to be quiet. "You're officially a frigging idiot."
Dean knew she wasn't suicidal, he knew that just because someone cut their self didn't mean they wanted to die. He also knew that he couldn't stand to see Addy hurt herself, and if he had to watch 24-7 to make sure she didn't get herself hurt anymore then he'd do it.
"Why am I here?" She heard Alan's small voice ask. She turned around to see the young boy standing in the middle of the circle, hugging his teddy bear.
"Hey Honey." Addy said, trying to pull her wrist out of Dean's hand so she could walk over to the boy, but he wouldn't let go.
"Dean." She protested in a whisper.
The man just shook his head and tightened his hold. "Whatever you have to say to him, you can say it right here."
She flashed Dean a pleading look but he was relentless and Addy knew she had majorly screwed up. But she also knew the ritual wouldn't have worked if anyone else had given their blood, she also knew that the blood had to be fresh and from a major artery. Red tape, it'll kill ya.
Alan ran over to Addy hugged her around the legs. "Do you need me to go talk to Daddy now?"
He was scared and Addy couldn't blame him. Seeing his father, after everything that had happened to him… It was a lot to ask of such a small child.
"Yes, Alan." Addy said, rubbing the small boy's hair. "You need you go see your Dad. You don't need to talk to him, you don't need to touch him, and that's all. After that you can leave."
"And go to heaven?" He asked.
Addy let off a small, sad smile. "I don't know." She honestly told the boy. "I think you will, but even I don't know what happens after this life. But I do know one thing. No matter what happens, you'll be in a much better place."
Alan nodded "Promise?"
"I pinky promise." Addy told him, offering her free pinky.
The little boy stuck out his pinky and as soon as he made contact with Addy's skin, he disappeared. A few seconds she and Dean heard the exclamation of "What the hell? You're dead!" from a person that could only be the boy's father.
Dean didn't let her wait around to hear what would happen next. He walked around the room, dragging Addy around with him as he wiped up the pentagram and blood using the bed sheet. After most of the crap was off the floor he shoved the sheet into the duffle along with the candles and chalk.
"Let's go." He grunted before leading Addy back through the window, across the porch, back down the drain pipe and down the street to the Impala. He shoved the duffle in the trunk before slamming it shut and turning to face Adam.
"What the hell did Addy do this time?"Adam asked, noticing Dean's hard gaze and the iron tight grip he had on Addy's wrist.
Dean ignored the question. "Did you call the cops?"
"Yeah," Adam was itching to ask more questions but, judging from Dean's expression it wasn't the time to ask. "They'll be here in a minute."
Sam walked over to the car in a huff. "Way to not draw attentions to yourselves guys. I heard your crap all the way outside. Christ, Adam could probably hear you two. Lucky for you guys that guy was too damn drunk to stand up straight, let alone hear something happening upstairs. What were you two doing?"
One look from Dean and Sam realized this wasn't the time or place. Dean looked at Addy with a scary calm expression on his face. "Get in the car." He told her, shoving her slightly towards the door. Addy obeyed, and Dean slammed the door shut behind her.
As soon as the door closed Dean turned to his brothers and started speaking. Though she couldn't hear what he was saying, Addy watched as Sam's expression slowly shifted from slightly pissed to downright angry.
Dean angry was one thing; Sam on the other hand…
Addy heard the approach of the police cars right before the Winchester boys piled into the car, each giving Addy a look that contained their own mixture of disappointment and anger.
She had gone too far this time. She should have been completely honest about what the ritual needed from the start. But that's the thing; she knew they wouldn't have let her do it if they knew. She didn't get the big deal, it was only blood. The idea that it wasn't about the blood, it was about her trusting them and them being able to trust her, didn't even occur to Addy.
They all watched as a uniformed police officer knocked on the door to Alan's house, wide-eyed Addy watched as his dad opened the door and Alan's father grabbed the officer's uniform in his hand, sobbing something inaudible to the Impala's occupants. But most importantly she watched as the little white figure behind the door frame slowly disappeared, giving Addy a small wave right before he vanished completely.
The Impala pulled away from the curb and started in the opposite direction of the motel. The drove out to a deserted road before Dean pulled off and cut the engine. He pulled out the keys and started twirling them around in his hand before getting out of the car, motioning for Addy to follow suit.
They were in the middle of nowhere, no people around and more importantly no place to go.
"What are we doing here?" Addy asked right before a pissed off angry Dean turned around to face her.
She heard two more doors open and shut right before she found herself surrounded by three very angry looking Winchesters.
"We're talking." Dean told her, and Addy knew there was no getting out of this one.