Chapter Ten
Katerina arms herself with a rusted ax she finds in the farmhouse basement. It's blunt and heavy, but it's all there is. When she comes back upstairs she finds that a window has already been smashed and flames are quickly kindling on the living room rug.
"You ready?" Dean asks her. His body is thrumming with anticipation...or maybe excitement. There is a strange, almost evil glint in his eye.
Katerina nods and grips the wooden handle. "Our best chance is if she stick together. Let's fight our way to the car, then get the hell out of here."
Dean doesn't answer at first. He is looking out the window, his eyes narrowed as if he's counting.
"There's only about thirty of 'em," he says. "I think we can take 'em out."
Katerina studies the man. He's serious. His energy is quickly affecting her, like a contagious virus. She feels a spike of adrenaline.
"Hell, if you're game, so am I," she says.
And then, together, they push out the front door.
Katerina fights like she's never fought before. Her body swings with every ounce of grace and fluidity that she can recall from training with Georgia, from her years hunting on the streets, all the private lessons with Rupert. The ax is like an extension of her being, and she uses it to hack off the heads of every redcap that comes her way. Quickly she and Dean fall into a rhythm. She hacks off a head, he thrusts the first blade into its still moving body and soon they have carved their way through over half of their assailants.
She ducks, she kicks, she flips and turns. No one even gets close to her and Dean.
That is, until Morgan.
Her stupid red hat bounces into view and despite the high heels and the pristine black dress, the woman quickly demonstrates exactly why and how she became the leader of such a gruesome people.
She is fierce and strong and soon she stands right in front of Katerina.
"I never understood what Rupert saw in you," she croons. "He always told us to let you live. To let him have you. At the time, I thought it was all about looks. I'm the first to appreciate a beautiful girl like yourself. But it was more than that, wasn't it?" Morgan is now circling Katerina.
Meanwhile, Dean is busy dealing with the eight or nine remaining Redcaps. He has no time to help, to get to her. Katerina is on her own with nothing but her useless ax.
"For years he was my mate, my equal," Morgan is saying. "Our love was that of which songs are written. He was a fierce leader, a marvelous killer, and a sensational lover. I thought we'd be together forever. The things we built… we were united in ways I can't describe. We created Salvador together, our beautiful son. He was everything we wanted, our own happy family. That is, until you came along." And here, Morgan's face contorts into an anger unlike anything Katerina has ever seen. "You killed Rupert, my one great love. Then my son Salvador. You've ruined everything. I'll take great pleasure in killing you."
Katerina forces out a laugh. "Don't you get it? Rupert didn't love you. He wanted to kill you from the beginning. Why do you think he never let anyone kill me? He wanted to replace you with me. He was mine, always, even in death."
The look on Morgan's face is pure outrage. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I?" Katerina laughs again. "Why don't you think he killed me when he had the chance? He wanted to perform the ritual. He wanted me to be his mate. Not you. You were just a stepping stone to get what he wanted. Your great love?" Kat spits nastily. "Ha! How sad for you."
Morgan's rage snaps and she hurtles toward Katerina, her teeth bared like a hyena, her fangs slick with angry saliva. Katerina raises her ax but Morgan bats it away as if it were nothing.
Katerina ducks out of her grip, but only barely. Alone and unarmed, Kat starts to feel a real prickle of fear.
"Kat!" From across the yard, Dean's voice draws her attention. The first blade is soaring through the air and instinctively Katerina reaches out and snatches the strange, ancient bone.
The feeling that courses through her as she grips the powerful weapon is intoxicating. Her heart hammers in her chest, her fingers tingle, and her blood surges. She actually smiles as she swings the blade in a slow arc, turning on the spot and plunging the ancient weapon into Morgan's otherwise impenetrable chest. Katerina meets the monster's eyes and watches as the light leaves them. She laughs maliciously before pulling the blade out and savagely kicking away the corpse.
She turns triumphantly and meets Dean's gaze. She expects him to mirror her exuberance, but instead she sees a strange revulsion. Fear.
She realizes that while she'd grappled with Morgan, he's effectively disposed of the remaining redcaps. The lawn is littered with corpses and the farmhouse is ablaze.
Dean approaches her slowly, cautiously, like he might a wild animal. He extends his hand.
Kat hesitates. The first blade is sending sparks through her blood. She feels invincible. She feels drunk with power. She feels disappointed that there is nothing left to kill.
Dean extends his hand further, a little more urgently, but still gently, still wary.
Katerina studies his outstretched hand, studies his arms and his face. It would be so easy, she thinks. Just a quick swipe and the blade would be hers. Didn't she hate this man? It would be nothing to kill him.
Fear flickers in Dean's gaze. He takes another step forward. "Kat," he says her name softly, warningly.
Katerina holds her breath, and she isn't exactly how she has the strength to do it, but she does. She hands him the blade.
The moment it leaves her hand, she starts to sag. The power, the blood lust, the strength, it seems to seep out of her, leaving her dry and tired and feeling...oddly relieved.
"Wow," she says to Dean.
He nods understandingly. "Yeah."
…
Sam and Penelope roll away from each other. They are both exhausted, spent a hundred times over, and still Sam can't keep his hands off her. It's becoming unbearable.
"Something-" Sam says between kissing Penelope's face, "-is going- on!" he pulls away, his eyes wild and gasps. Penelope has her eyes closed but her face is screwed up as if she is trying to concentrate.
Outside thunder claps and rain laps at the windows. Penelope opens her eyes and yelps, pulling back from in a huge final thrust.
"There's someone out there," she says.
Sam goes to the window and peers out. He doesn't see anything.
Penelope pulls on her top and wriggles into her jeans. She takes Sam's gun from the bedside table and runs out.
"Wait!" Sam yells after her. He pulls on his pants and runs outside behind her. The rain quickly drenches him, his wet hair falling in his eyes. He looks around wildly for Penelope but she's nowhere in sight. Bobby's junk yard is a maze of old vehicles. She could be anywhere.
"Penelope!" he calls, but all he hears is the rush of the rain.
Suddenly a gunshot rings out. Sam runs toward the sound and comes upon Penny standing over the dead body of an old woman.
Upon closer inspection, the woman isn't a woman at all. Her neck is sprouting feathers and her hands are claws.
"A harpy," Penelope says. Her hair is sopping wet, clinging to her face and back. Sam looks at her with longing, but he notes that the urgency he felt before is quickly subsiding. The rain is lessening, and within seconds the clouds part and the sun shines through.
It's as if Sam has been thrust into a cold shower. The heat, the arousal, the need to keep touching… it evaporates with the rain.
Penelope lowers the gun and she and Sam exchange looks.
…
Dean hangs up his phone. "Sam and Penelope are meeting us here. It'll be a few hours. They just life South Dakota."
Katerina nods. They are at her and Penelope's apartment. She's changed back into her own clothes: a pair of black stretch jeans, black leather boots and a long knit top. Her hair is pulled back in a loose bun, leaving her dark bangs to frame her face. She looks comfortable...and beautiful.
Dean quickly looks away. He can't help himself. Katerina has touched something inside him. Something deep and something scarred and something that hasn't been touched...maybe ever. Maybe it was seeing all her worst memories, how she'd lost her family, how she'd defended her sister, and how close she'd gotten to a happily ever after only to have it yanked away. There are so many parrallels in their lives. It makes him want to gather her into his arms and just…
"That gives us time," she says, interrupting his thoughts.
"Time for what?" Dean nearly chokes out, his mind still on the things he'd like to do to her.
"To return the stuff we stole."
...
They leave the Chevy Cruise back in the parking garage with a wad of cash and a note that simply says, Sorry. Dean gapes at her when she pulls out all those hundred dollar bills, but she smirks at him and says, "Stripper, remember."
When he continues to stare, Kat laughs. "What? It's a good way to pick up cases. Anything strange and evil makes it's way to the Green Room eventually. You wouldn't believe the kind of scum that preys on strippers. Penny and I have saved a lot of girls working there. And it's good money, obviously. We've been on our own since we were kids, you know. We had to survive somehow."
Dean swallows and looks away. "You know I didn't have the best childhood, but I never had it that bad."
Kat just shrugs. They go inside the apartment building and Katerina leaves the clothes and tennis shoes she'd taken folded neatly by the front door of the apartment they'd holed up in. She attaches a note that says, Thanks, with a fifty dollar bill attached.
They get a cab back to Kat's apartment to wait for Penny and Sam, but something has changed between them. Kat can't bring herself to feel the rage for the Winchesters that she's felt all these years. She thinks back to the look on Dean's face when he held that baby girl. The way he had to watch as Lisa was possessed and nearly killed. And despite the fact that nothing has actually changed, Katerina can't help but feel a bit of sympathy for him. The life of a hunter is a dangerous one, a lonely one, and both she and Dean never really had any choice.
Kat and Dean pass the next few hours watching TV and drinking beer at her apartment. They binge watch The Walking Dead, swap hunting stories and wolf down an entire pizza between them. They don't talk about what they saw in each others memories, they don't talk about the first blade or the Mark of Cain, or the Redcaps.
When the Impala pulls up outside, Katerina and Dean meet their siblings outside. Katerina runs to Penelope and the two sisters hug tightly.
"You okay?" Dean asks Sam with a slap on the shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah we're okay," Sam answers shooting a furtive glance at Penny and running a hand through his hair.
The two sisters break apart and Penny approaches Dean. "Thanks for keeping Kat alive," she says. "I know she's a pain in the ass."
"I heard that," Kat says.
Penny rolls her eyes and gives Dean a quick hug. She turns to Sam and hesitates only a moment before launching herself into his arms. The two commence kissing with such ferocity that Dean's face heats up. He glances at Kat who arches an eyebrow. He huffs out a laugh and when he glances back, Kat is smiling back at him.
His heart lurches.
…
Back at the bunker Dean stands alone in his bedroom. He is holding the first blade in his hand and examining the handle. His mind flashes back to the moment Katerina had used it. The look on her face. The elation, the power… the evil.
He shudders. If he looks half as crazed as she did, there's no wonder Sam and Cas are so desperate to free him of the Mark of Cain. He puts down the first blade, wraps it in a cloth and hides it in the dresser drawer.
He sits on the bed and buries his face in his hands.
Sam watches quietly from the doorway. His brow is furrowed with worry.
...
A/N: That's the end of Episode One of Preternatural. I'd really like to keep this series going with more cases where the Drakes and the Winchesters team up. Obviously there's some feelings brewing here that I'd love to explore more. Let me know what you all think. Any reviews are very welcome!
