Alright, last update for tonight... I swear. This chapter is all about background on Earl and Cal. How they met and why he's chasing her down. It's a little different than what I've been doing with this fic so far.
Feel free to review and let me know what you think! Enjoy:
Chapter 12
Well, it felt better to be on the road at least. Even if it wouldn't be for long. Dean had wisely decided to stow the Metallica tape for a while in deference to Cal's moodiness. So the ride wasn't as tense as the last one they'd taken together.
Sam and Dean had been walking on egg shells around her ever since she'd lifted her machete blade and let the angry-wrestler type dude get away. Not exactly something she was happy about but at the time there had been no other choice.
Dean didn't understand why she'd put herself on the line like that. Earl was a nasty character on a good day. On a bad day he was nothing short of pure evil. Turning all of his wrath directly on to herself like that was more than a little dangerous. Sam and Dean may be seasoned hunters of the supernatural but they were still fairly inexperienced with the vampire phenomena. I mean, one little run-in with a small and relatively peaceful group of five or six is not really that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.
Still… the guys knew enough about them to understand the risk she was taking without having to be told. Neither were happy about it.
Earl had a nest of fifteen that she had seen with her own eyes, and she knew for a fact that there were at least ten more that constantly came and went. Constantly roaming. Looking for new places for the group to feed. His 'family' was strong, bloodthirsty and ruthless. There was only one rule: Earl made the rules. His word is law. What the guy wanted he got, no matter who or what the cost may be to get it. And if he didn't get what he wanted heads rolled…. Literally.
At the moment what Earl wanted was Cal. Badly.
Too bad for him Cal didn't feel the same.
The moment Dean was behind the wheel and the Impala shifted into drive the questions started. Gently at first… until they realized she was still trying to stall them. Again. Then they became relentless. Especially Dean. It was the only way to get the whole story to come out.
It had been another version of the same old story. Small town USA suddenly suffers from the shock of bizarre disappearances in their little law abiding community. All she'd had to go on were a couple of missing girls who had suddenly disappeared without a trace one night walking home from cheerleading practice.
At that point it could have been a number of different things… including a demon.
The local bar had been the perfect place for intel on urban legends for the area. Get a few beers into a few guys, flirt them up a little…or a lot depending on what the situation called for and how good-looking the local wildlife were. It was amazing what a few carefully placed innocent little questions could dig up. Especially when paired with a little cleavage and a dimpled smile. This time she was digging up a whole lot of nothing.
Well...not exactly nothing. Just not anything to do with the hunt. There was plenty of something for her to do with her evening should the hunt turn out to be a bust. Right at the top of that very interesting list was Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. Unfortunately for Cal He turned out to be Earl.
Oh, he was everything Cal usually went for; at least in the looks department. Turned out the guy was funny and charming too. The man knew how to dance… and how to compliment her in all the right ways. She should have known there was something wrong with him… should have been able to tell from the get-go. There was always something fundamentally effed up with the ones who seemed perfect. It was a lesson Cal had learned… hard…when she was very young.
Earl had a dark side and it had to do with women. Unfortunately for Cal she didn't find out about it until they were back at the motel in the heat of a 'clothing optional' kind of moment.
The man may have been nice on the eyes… but window dressing meant nothing, nothing to Cal when a man turned violent on her. All it took to bring it out in him was a 'no'. She had the nerve to refuse him something. Didn't matter what it was. As far as Cal was concerned all that mattered was the vicious backhand he managed to get in. The bastard split her lip open with the ring he'd been wearing.
She'd caught the flash of fangs as her head whipped to the side.
All the weapons training in the universe does not make you a good hunter… none of it means a damned thing if you can't act your way to the information you need. Cal… well Cal was an excellent actress. So Earl never saw what was coming when she suddenly became quiet and submissive. All she was doing was buying time so she could get to her bag. Oh she had a crossbow and arrow with this Earl's name written all over it.
The quiet, obedient act lasted all of, oh: forty-five seconds. She got up and dug into her bag for something… and produced the crossbow. Well, Earl was insulted. A woman was going to try and take him down? Dude rushed her fully intending to take the weapon away and teach her a thing or two in the process and wasn't afraid to tell her as he did either. Big mistake. Huge. Of course, in his defense he wasn't expecting to find himself pinned to the wall with an arrow sticking out of his chest and holding him firmly in place.
Cal would have given him the close shave he deserved right then and there but she wasn't equipped for it. Vampires weren't her usual gig. So instead she gave him a quick lesson on the reasons why it was never a good idea to piss a girl off by hitting her and then pumped another couple of arrows in him for good measure.
Her mistake had been leaving him there. Earl did not take 'no' well at any time. When it came from a girl who could kick his ass he took it personally.
The vampires had been following her ever since. They'd only managed to catch up with her once and when they did they caught her off guard and dragged her back to the nest. Cal had been lucky to get away without even so much as a scratch. Of course that had a lot to do with the fact that she had taken to carrying dead man's blood around with her. Just in case. She'd slipped it into their drinks. They never saw it coming.
That's when she started carrying the machete around with her. That's when she realized she'd need more than weapons to take care of Earl and his group. She needed help. Ugh, even just the thought of the word left a bad taste in her mouth… still she was no fool and had no interest in becoming some macho sadist vampire's plaything. Go big or go home Cal. That's when she started tracking down the Winchesters.
It had been a gamble… chasing down this near-myth of demon hunting brothers. The stories about Dean alone were pretty unbelievable. Taking on a Wendigo with a flare gun? The guy couldn't be for real! And Sam… he was supposed to be something special… although no one really knew how or why. Just that it had something to do with the fire demon that had killed his mother and girlfriend.
When she finally caught up with them… well she had been pleasantly surprised. Digging through six feet of dirt to get to a casket was hard work no matter how you cut it. Doing it when the ground was frozen beneath you with a very angry spirit viciously attacking you for the very thought of 'salt and burn'? Impressive just wasn't the word.
Then she had to go and muck it all up by helping and getting herself hurt. Well, at least the knife she had been carrying hadn't been the machete. Had she been carrying it instead stitches would have been the least of her worries.
"So that thing you wore to the bar… it wasn't just to get a rise out of me was it? Or even to help you get intel from the men at the bar. You were trying to draw him out weren't you?" If she thought annoyed Dean hauling her out of the backseat of the car was intimidating then angry Dean was downright scary. "That was the plan." "It was a death wish was what it was." He bit out, temper barely in check. Rage was burning in those eyes of his. Cal was actually starting to worry.
"So then you must have known that the big guy at the bar was part of this." Thank god for Sam. At least he was a distraction. Plus he was the only one in the car that was anything near calm. Now him she could rationalize with. "I wasn't positive until after the fight started. It wasn't until he got up from that smashed table that I knew for sure."
"Oh, but you didn't need my help with that because you had the guy right?" Alright, so maybe Sam wasn't as distracting as Cal thought. Dean was still livid. "As a matter of fact…" Well what? She just didn't do 'back down'. Cal just wasn't that kind of girl. "Don't say it. Cal Do not finish that!" If looks could kill she would have been struck down right then and there. "When the hell were you planning to tell us that you knew the steroid-cowboy-from-hell was in on this?"
"Oh, I don't know Dean… somewhere between nearly bleeding to death, the hotel room being trashed and those damn kisses of yours." Urg. She was tired, cranky and sore. A bed… her kingdom for a bed. Just a little more sleep… but sleep was not on the agenda yet. Dean was angry, and hurt, and loud. Stupid Metallica was in the tape deck again in an effort to help him calm down. Yeah… those kisses were good alright…but were they worth putting up with this? At that very moment she wasn't so sure.
