Chapter 11

Daryl Dixon

The purity of the hunt. Hunter versus prey. I'm in my element, everything made sense here, simplicity. I have control over my destiny, the power of life and death at the command of my fingertips. I become nothing more than a shadow whispering between the trees, and when the time is right- I'll strike.

…Then Sam winchester stepped on a twig. Snap! The deers ears flickered back and forth before it bounded off with a parting flash of its tail.

He looked at me apologetically. "Sorry."

I took a moment to glare off into the woods before replying sourly, "No problem," shouldering the bow slowly. It was time to get back anyhow. "I suppose it's beans for supper again." I added with a reluctant smile.

The girl- Bella had complained about the beans hence why I was out here with stealthy Sam, hunting a nice venison dinner. I looked up through the canopy of cottonwood that cast the fluttering shadows on the forest floor, their colors taking on the warm fall glow. Not for long, soon they would fall, curl up and die. Left by mother nature to rot into dirt. I tried not to think about the fact that food might get scarce come winter time. I turned my thoughts from the rotting world to those still breathing.

That girl Bella was a strange one, hair like a boy, eyes deep brown and haunted some such.

She was back with the older brother. I respected him. Dean was bad-ass, he didn't just talk the talk, he had walked the walk with an impressive swagger in his step. Sam too. They had been fighting things meaner than black bears for much of their lives. First impressions aside it was almost as if I had found some folks that could be trusted.

"We should get back to the books anyway." Sam said with a sigh that trailed out suggesting he had other things on his mind.

I got the impression Sam likes his books. Books were OK if you had nothing better to do, most of the time I had better things to do. Stuff like staying alive. Never thought reading books would actually help me with that survival principle. Live and learn, or rather- learn and live.

"So you guys know a lot about this supernatural stuff."

"You could say it's the family business."

"Damn and folks thought my home life was screwed to hell." I paused, words itching to scratch their way outta me. Instead I scratch the back of my head trying to figure out how to broach the next topic with some lesser known Dixon tact. "So you have any idea how this all happened then?" Sam gave me a questioning look like he doesn't know what I am talking about. "The walkers?" Making things gruffly clear for him.

He's looking off into the trees, then at his feet, anywhere but me. All shifty eyed. There's something he doesn't want to tell me. That gets my back up. "Spit it out before the words go bad boy." I growl, the words echoing my pa's. He used to make me talk- then make me squawk.

A nervous twitch travels down my face and I try and rub it away with my hand. I've never been fully able to master my emotions, they crawl around on the surface bare and naked and then burst out making a monster out of me.

"Maybe Cas can explain it better."

"No offense, but the Angel ain't so good with the talking. I get the feeling he's a big secret keeper except when it suits him."Unlike me the angel had a lead-thick lid down on his shit, and I suspected there was a whole lot of to keep a lid on.

Sam doesn't deny it, he looked at me, his eyes seemed to plead for a moment, silently. Then he started talking, and doesn't stop until we reached the edge of the woods near the cabin. Nothing could prepare me for that punchline when he delivered it.

"We closed the hell-gate network and now the damned are doomed to walk the earth."

They did this? They killed Merle, they fucked the whole planet sideways, them and their shiny little Angel.

I couldn't suppress the rage that burst all bad and bitter inside. For so long I had been looking for someone to blame for all this. Now I had my scapegoats and I wasn't in the mood to listen to excuses. Seeing red I strode towards the cabin. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe a whole lot of shouting, or punching, or glaring or shooting. I didn't know and I didn't care.

Sam yelled out but I'm beyond hearing.

First thing I notice is that the Angels have returned. Castiel was holding Dean up by the lapels of his shirt. The older brother's feet dangling a foot off the ground. There's obviously been a tussle and the Angel's in it for the win. Then… I saw her. The black magic woman looking on, her back to me, but she's unmistakable. Her gloating laugh sliced me like a knife. I ready my bow and take the shot.

Deans Pov

Why…why on earth was she wearing those?

I clear my throat and look away. The scenery out the window was boring in comparison. Where was Cas? This would be a whole lot less awkward if he was here… perhaps! Actually it was hard to say, Cas didn't really do comfortable, agonizingly awkward was the Angel's niche most days. The others had been up at the crack of dawn, Sam left promising venison burgers tonight, reminding me how much I missed real food. My eyes drifted back to Bella's short shorts. Damn it. I try to think of someway I could subtly suggest that she change her clothes without sounding like a pig. Put some clothes on you hussy, weren't gonna cut it. A spaghetti strap singlet and boy-leg shorts weren't clothes, they were a premonition to a sexual harassment suite.

"You want a coffee?"

"Yea sure," I quickly refocused my gaze back to her face. She's Cas's girl, and she's trouble, and she's like family. A bizarro, slightly incestuous family, but there you go.

She got the coffee and put it down in front of him.

"A peace offering, I haven't been very nice lately."

She's gone all sweet and talkative. Shit! Instantly I feel like I'm walking on coals. Don't set a foot wrong here Dean else you are gonna be burned. I scrape my hand through my hair, then picked up the simmering peace offering, taking a hesitant sip at its dark nutty goodness

"Cheers, could do with a little extra flavor though." I joke, It's a bad joke.

She looks at me, "seriously."

"Nah, course not." I'm only partly serious.

"Dean?"

Something in her tone made me quake inside.

"Does Cas still …like me?"

What the hell am I? Agony aunt. "What? Um I'm not sure I'm the best one to talk about this."

"You're close to him. Do you know why he isn't… you know, interested in..."

"Aw shit" I floundered not sure what to say to that… you son a bitch Cas, haven't ya even talked to the girl?

"I'm really not the best guy for this. Why don't you talk to Sam about it. He's really into the… sharing your feelings crap."

She pursed her lips and looked into her coffee cup, "Sam's acting weird around me."

I nodded, "yea actually you and me both Bells…" Sam had been off since yesterday- all bunched up and untalkative. Something was going on inside that over-sized noodle of his and he wasn't sharing.

For people so god-damned keen on keeping secrets we were all pretty bad at it. Except Cas…

I shut the door on that chapter and shoved it back down the shitter with the rest of the bad doo doo of Christmas's past.

"Look I can't speak for Cas…Do you really want me to be honest here?" She gave me a dull nod, those brown eyes swimming in pre-emptive tears. "but yea, if I was Cas I would be wary of you Bells. You got some weird aura going on. One minute sexy kitten," I gesture awkwardly towards the shorts.

She bit her lip and went pink in a way that was illicitly endearing… but I wasn't drawn in, I was made of stone. A rock. An immovable rock.

I continued my lecture,"You have this whole clumsy damsel in distress deal, then suddenly you go- gung-ho, Rambo style and gut yourself some zombies. You see where I am going with this right?"

"No, not really." She replied flatly, giving me a glare.

"Hey no complaints here, its good that you are pulling your pint-weight when it comes to the monster ganking. I can respect that, just like I can respect how good your ass looks in those shorts." I give her a half hearted shrug and a wink.

She looked mortified.

Nice one Dean ol' boy!

" But the object of the lesson is…who the hell are you? You have powers against vampires? Might have been nice to know that earlier, trust is key Bells. None of us are real good with the trust thing, we have been burnt crispy too many times. You have to expect a grumpy crunch-down when we find out about all those supposedly little things that you figured weren't so important. But they are! You know why? Because little things can grow into big things pretty damn quick! "

She broke down before me like a house of cards in a hurricane, messy and emotionally unpleasant.

"Aw Jes." I felt like a jerk. I loathed to ask but sort of felt I had to."Is there anything else? You know… that you think we should know?"

"I don't know how I feel about him any more…" She mumbled as her tears cascaded down and splattered next to her abandoned coffee.

Oh crap, I didn't mean that! I couldn't help it. Girls, mixed with tears and a healthy dose of vulnerability drew me like a magnet. It was instinct. I stood and crossed over to her pulling her up into my arms. Any thoughts regarding my friend Cas falling by the wayside in favor for comforting a weeping woman.

She melted into me, all soft and warm and helpless. No resistance. Her head nesting beneath my chin. "It's OK, it's all gonna be OK. I rub her back and it's all perfectly innocent, until I plant a kiss on the top of her head. Not sure why I did it. But she looks up, her mouth parted in surprise. Those full pink lips suddenly looked so tempting, drawing me in. I started to gravitate towards them. Poison buddy! I have Alice cooper lyrics screaming inside my head. Then the door swung open. I looked up into the storm that was Cas. I pushed myself away from Bella as if I had been burnt. The heat of shame flamed across my cheeks, my mouth flapped open but the words 'It's not what it looks like' refused to pass from my lips, the words abandoning me. Leaving me to my own devices. Oh crap!

Time to look innocent, when have I ever looked innocent? Fuck.

An: I must offer my sincere apologies, I'm sooooo sorry I haven't updated... time got away from me and writers block hammered me over the head and apparently put me in a literary coma for a few months on this one. I'm still writing it though, and have a the next few chapters in draft. Again sorry for any mistakes, I know my tenses shift round wildly from chapter to chapter. It's a bad habit I've become aware of in the last few months which sort of made me want to abandon this for shame, but I won't- I will keep going and hopefully get better at this writing thing. :) read and enjoy, feel free to review or send me a message, I really love hearing from you guys, whether it's fandom or writing related. :) By the way I'm looking at dabbling in a little StarTrek (reboot) FF- but will try to finish this one before I post anything new. :)