Disclaimer: Again, I seriously do NOT own Supernatural. I sure as hell wish I did though!
NON VENATOR (Not a Hunter)
By: Dean's Leather Jacket
Chapter Ten
The next morning I woke up and actually didn't feel all that bad. I was able to get around some people into the shower, did my usual morning routine, dressed and went downstairs. I was unusually hungry and I knew that Sue would accommodate. She always thought I didn't eat enough when I knew I ate PLENTY.
I notice Raina sticking close to Laura. I hadn't even noticed that Raphael and Jaime had brought her in. I guess we were all a little distracted by other stuff. Mainly trying to stay alive against a massive attack of vampires.
"What are you doing up?" A deep voice asked from behind me. I turned around and there stood Dean and I must have been looking at him in a whole new light now because he looked so sexy. Not that I hadn't noticed that before. A light from a window shone behind him and gave him this aura. He wore torn jeans, biker boots, a black t-shirt and a black jacket with the collar popped. He just screamed "don't mess with me." What am I going to do with myself?
"Uh…" I began totally feeling stupid for getting up when clearly I shouldn't have gotten up. He rolled his eyes at my answer or lack thereof and ushered me over to a table.
"Doc said that you had to rest. What the hell is your problem?" He asked. I raised my eyebrows.
"Excuse me! My problem? Nothing is my problem! I feel totally fine!" And it didn't help that I wobbled a little before I sat down in the chair. Dean gave a pointed look.
"Stay there, I'll get you something to eat." He said.
"I can do it myself!" I shouted after him as he made his way to the kitchen.
"Hey!" Came another male voice beside me. A tall, lean body plopped itself in the chair next to me. It was Sam.
"Hey. Is your brother always a pain in the ass?" I asked. He gave me a pointed look. "I take that as a yes." He laughed.
"So, have you guys learned anything from the vampire you caught?" I asked Sam.
"Not that much actually." He replied kind of down. I could feel my own face fall. "Just that they were ordered by their "demon commander" to attack us as kind of a warning. Since demons can't cross the Devil's Trap, they send in the undead instead."
"Nothing else then?" I asked. Sam shook his head.
"Nope, unfortunately. I don't think he'll give us anything else so, they're going to waste him soon." I nodded.
"So, Sam, I heard you were a Stanford grad…" And so Sam and I had a nice "get-to-know-you" conversation that lasted well after Dean had plopped some breakfast in front of me: a few of Sue's famous and oh-so-delicious chocolate pancakes and a few slices of bacon. I wanted to turn to Dean and say that this was pretty much why he had such a hard time carrying me last night. I inhaled the breakfast and the rest of the morning was helping sweeping up the glass. I noticed that the archangels were MIA. Dawn told me that they had said they had somewhere to go and they'd be back later. I shrugged and threw the last of the glass into a trashcan.
That night after dinner I found myself revisiting the part of the cornfield I had nearly died in. Some of my blood still stained the ground where I had lain. Flashes of the night came back to me. The vampire snarling, the feel of its weight on top of me as it bit into my neck, and the feeling of dread knowing that I was going to die. But I didn't die. I had my own dark knight savior. I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't want me to fawn over him; not that I'm the fawning type which I most definitely am not.
Footsteps sounded behind me and then the person stopped next to me. Through the corner of my eye I saw that it was in fact my savior.
"You shouldn't be out here." Dean said.
"And why can't I?" I asked snidely.
"Well, one, it's kind of cold out here; two, you were attacked here and I'm not sure you want to relive that; three, you're still recovering from said attack and you should be in the warmth drinking tea and listening to my geek brother tell you about Stanford." He replied in one breath. Man this guy did a lot of talking.
"I don't want to go back in." I replied childishly.
"Alright, little Suzie, am I going to have to drag you back in?" He asked with a straight face.
I couldn't help myself. I laughed. Sometimes, he had some good lines that he came out with. I laughed till my neck started to ache again. I reached up to touch the bandage gingerly.
"You should go inside and have the doc look at it and change the dressing." He advised turning to me. I turned to face him and looked up into his eyes. I literally had to crane my neck I was so short and he was tall. I'm glad that earlier I had been sitting when I was talking to Sam. He was even worse to stand next to.
"I will mom, geez. I'm not made of glass." I replied.
"Yes, I kind of figured that… I just… I don't want anything bad to happen to you." He replied. The last part he had said in a half whisper, almost as if it was something that he didn't say too often which I'm sure that he probably didn't.
"Aww, I'm touched Dean. Thanks for caring so much." I said somewhat sarcastically. I wasn't sarcastic about that fact that he saved my life though. That was a different story that I could never begin to repay him for.
In reply, he took a step closer to me, and then another until we were pretty much in the same position we were in last night before the attack. He was so close I could feel his breath on my face and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. It was rather chilly outside and he made me shiver not from the cold. He reached up a hand to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear and that same hand stroked my cheek as well. Jesus, I had only known this guy a few days and he had me in a puddle at his feet. This was exactly like it had been with Jackson only with Jackson I had never felt this strong a reaction to his near proximity.
He lowered his head agonizingly slowly and as I had done last night I closed my eyes and angled my head upwards more for him to get a better angle. He was so close I could almost feel his lips on mine, my breath had quickened in anticipation, my heart was racing… and then the sweet tones of Foreigner's "Cold As Ice" filled the night. Dean's movements stopped and he huffed in impatience. He righted himself, reached into his pocket, extracted his cell phone, and glanced at the caller idea. He muttered a curse under his breath and flipped the phone open.
"Bela, what the hell are you doing calling me?" He asked angrily. Bela? Was this his girlfriend? Ah shit, I should have known that this guy would have had a girlfriend. What the hell was he doing going to kiss me? Ah damn, I sure know how to pick 'em. I gave him a short smile, turned and made my way back to the Saloon. Dean made no moves to stop me so I just kept walking.
When I returned I noticed that the angels had returned. The dining room was actually lively. Most of the men were huddle around a large table playing poker. The women were sprinkled here and there gossiping about stuff. The mood in the room was genuinely light and carefree. This was a welcome change and relief to what the mood had been.
Surprisingly, the three angels, Sam, Dawn, Beth, and Jaime were playing their own game of poker. Dawn spotted me and motioned me to join them. I sat down in a chair next to Gabriel who gave me a polite smile.
"How are you?" He asked me with a pointed look at my neck.
"I'm just fine. I didn't turn into a vampy or anything so, that's a plus." I replied. He laughed a pretty, musical laugh. Figures since he was an angel.
"So who's winning?" I asked. Raphael raised his hand looking very pleased with himself.
"Not for long now that Connie is here." Beth said actually smug which was something she didn't do often.
The three angels and Sam looked at me curiously and incredulously.
"You play poker?" Raphael asked.
"Of course! What self respecting college graduate doesn't know how to play poker? I'm actually surprised that you guys know how to play." I said with a pointed look at the angels.
"We have poker nights on Tuesdays." Michael replied. "Raphael usually wipes us into the ground… or rather… the clouds."
"If the Exorcist thinks she has skills. Let's put them to the test." Raphael challenged.
"Alright, bring it on, Wings." I said. He chuckled and the chips were redistributed and the game started over. Gabriel took the deck of cards and dealt them. Now, originally, when I was in high school and even into my freshman year of college I had no clue on how to play poker. My sophomore year I moved into an apartment with a few good friends of mine and thus began the tutelage. They still regret it to this day. I had abnormal luck when it came to poker. Me, the person that laughs at pretty much anything, can hold a mean poker face. Me, the girl who had the shittiest luck since birth, wiped everyone out when it came to poker. It was my one useless skill. Well, it wouldn't be useless if I was ever on the World Series of Poker.
About an hour later (and the almost kiss between Dean and I pushed to the back of my mind), Jaime, Michael, Beth, and Dawn had lost all their chips so they were sitting back sipping beer and watching the spectacle. It was actually so cool how Raphael and I fell into witty banter and teasing when it came to this. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be playing poker with an archangel.
"Well, I'm all in." Sam sighed pushing the rest of his meager chips into the center of the table.
"Me too." Gabriel replied doing the same. Since the rest of us had placed our bets we turned over our cards and showed them to everyone. Sam had two pair: fives and kings. Gabriel had one pair of aces. Raphael had a flush and I had the higher hand with a full house.
"Sorry boys." I said happily sweeping the winnings closer to me. I began to neatly pile them up. There was a collective groan from Sam and Gabriel as they leaned back in their chairs. I looked up at Raphael.
"Guess it's just you and me now old man." I said.
"Who're you calling old?" Raphael asked.
"You." I shrugged. He rolled his eyes.
"Just deal the cards pip squeak." He demanded. I shuffled, shuffled, and shuffled. Then I dealt out the five cards to each of us. Thus began the betting, exchanging of cards, etc.
"You know what?" Raphael asked. "I'm going to go all in." And with that said he pushed his huge pile of chips into the middle of the table. I shrugged and did the same.
"Alright, well, let's see what you got Wings." I stated. He laid out his hand on the table with a satisfied smirk.
"Straight flush in hearts." I sucked air through my teeth in a mock show of pain.
"Ouch, oh man, that sucks." I said and threw my hand onto the table. "I've got a royal flush." Raphael's mouth literally dropped open upon seeing this and he stared in disbelief as I raked in all of my chips. "Sorry Wings." I said not really sorry at all.
"That's impossible!" He exclaimed.
"'fraid not." I said with a huge grin on my face.
Michael and Gabriel were both silently laughing their asses off at Raphael's shocked and humiliated look. The fact that he finally got beat, and by a mortal as well, just seemed so freakin' funny to them. I thought it was pretty funny myself.
I glanced around the room and noticed that at some point Dean had reentered the Saloon and taken a seat at the table of guys playing poker. He looked like he wasn't doing too bad himself—raking in the chips. The name Bela flashed across my brain again and I wondered how his girlfriend must be doing and if she knew he was a flirtatious guy that was almost on the verge of cheating on her. It figures that I would pick the guy with the pension of cheating. Dean wasn't the kind of guy I'd want to get involved with anyway. He was a hunter that would be away for long periods of time. There would be the risk that he would be on the road and see a nice piece of ass that he wouldn't be able to resist. He wasn't the type of guy that would settle down and have 2.5 kids and a white picket fence.
"Hey Sam?" I asked as Raphael began yelling at Michael and Gabriel for laughing at him. Beth, Dawn, and Jaime just looked on laughing their asses off at the sight.
"Yeah Connie?" He asked.
"How long has Dean been dating Bela?" I asked. Sam, who was taking a sip of his beer, nearly choked.
"Dating Bela?" He started laughing. He laughed and laughed. I couldn't understand what was so funny about this.
"Bela isn't Dean's girlfriend." Sam finally managed to get out between laughs. Wow, those four words made me feel like a jackass.
"Not his girlfriend?" I asked. He shook his head furiously.
"Oh Hell no." Sam began. "She's just some pain in the ass mercenary that only brings us trouble. Dean hates her guts. On many occasions, he actually expressed an urge to kill her." I looked shocked.
"Really? Is she that evil?" I asked.
"Well, put it this way, she shot me in the shoulder." Sam stated. My eyebrows rose and my eyes bugged out of my head.
"You're shitting me?" I said. He shook his head. "What a bitch." I said. He nodded.
Well, now that the cat was out of the bag, I felt like an idiot. When Dean's phone had rung and he answered it to the name Bela I figured it was his girlfriend calling to check on him. I thought that Dean was the typical guy that I seemed to find myself liking. I left to give him privacy. I guess I was mistaken though. It wouldn't be the first time that I jumped to conclusions. I was pretty quick to judge sometimes and I've always tried not to.
I looked over at Dean. His profile was to me as he examined the hand that he had just been dealt. Judging by the twinkle in his eyes, it must be a good hand. His head turned towards me and our gazes locked. He smiled a pretty genuine smile, not a smirk. I returned the smile. He turned back to his hand and started the betting. I thought to myself whether he would try to initiate a kiss again. I hoped that he would and hopefully this time there wouldn't be any interruptions.
"Connie, let's do a rematch." Came Raphael's lilting Scottish brogue. I looked back at our table and over at him. I shook my head.
"Alright, but if I win again, you'll have to be in my debt." I replied.
"What would you want me to do?" He asked wearily. I shrugged.
"I'm not sure but when it comes time I'll collect." He nodded and we shook on it.
Yeah, a couple hours later, I still kicked his ass.
A/N: Well, there you go. I actually know nothing about poker. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and went by what it said on their about the hierarchy of the hands etc. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I thought that the hunter's deserved a pretty smooth night.
Thanks, as always, to my lovely reviewers. I love you guys and I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it)!