Aquamarine eyes. Black hair. Black eyes. Fighting. Flames. Angels. Michael. Father. Screams. "Kathryn!"
Jocelyn awoke with a start. She rolled over and looked up, trying to calm herself as she realized she was no longer in that hellish nightmare. She, Tom, and Sam had made it home the same night as Dean and Kathryn. Tom had locked himself away in his new room with a photo album as company. The five of them were the only ones in the warehouse considering this was the weekend when the rest of the Nephilim were out hunting or out with their parent Angels. Taylor was working in an orphanage with his father, Haniel. Castiel and Eremiel were gone, leaving them all with questions about how there could be two Nephilim per Angel and why they had been lied to. In the meantime, they had busied themselves with videogames and movies all night in the living room. Dean was passed out on the couch, his arm thrown over the edge. Sam and Kathryn were asleep on the loveseat, the blonde woman curled against him with her head on his chest. Jocelyn was curled up with a blanket on the floor beside the couch.
Jocelyn stretched out slowly, testing her muscles. They were cold and stiff. She stretched her toes and grimaced against the pain shooting through her calves. She rubbed her muscles alive and ran her fingers through her long brunette hair. Her dark brown eyes blinked against the harsh cold light of the TV, which had been left on all night. Faux light poured in through the skylights. She stood up and snapped the TV off. She accidentally kicked an empty beer can, which bumped a small tower of them they had stacked last night. Kathryn snapped awake and Dean snorted, waking for a moment, then dismissed the noise and rolled towards the back of the couch. The blonde Nephilim untangled herself from Sam, who writhed in his sleep for the sudden cold against him. Kathryn slid to the floor, groaning. Sam curled farther into a ball, muttering, then fell into a deeper sleep. Jocelyn's friend stretched on the floor, fighting to push herself to her hands and knees. The brunette walked past and bent down to pet her head, smiling quietly.
"Go back to sleep, I'll wake you when breakfast is done," she murmured gently. Kathryn's head fell and she groaned, rolling to the side and pulling her limbs in around her belly. Jocelyn covered her in a blanket and went into the kitchen. By the time she had the buttermilk pancakes done, everyone was awake, if mildly. Kathryn grabbed a plain one in her hand and ate it bit by bit. Sam and Dean grabbed a couple on a plate each and poured syrup over the plops of butter. Dean started the coffee machine while Jocelyn got out Kat's favorite carbonated grape juice. Sam brought it to her and sat down at the table beside her. Jocelyn reflected on how many of Kathryn's favorites she herself had filled the kitchen with. She smiled. If they were sisters, surely the brunette was the older of the two.
"So what all have we got planned today?" Dean asked, yawning and brushing sleepily past Kathryn. Kat jumped and Jocelyn noticed how there were shadows beneath her flickering eyes. So she wasn't the only one having nightmares. This was the only time in several weeks that Jocelyn had actually slept.
'Strange,' she thought. 'Kat used to be the most Angelic of all of us. Now she's practically human. Her Grace can't even keep her awake for a day before she has to sleep.' The brunette Nephilim passed her friend the plate with the most buttery pancakes and handed her the syrup bottle, from which the blonde doused the pancakes. Dean poured himself and Sam a mug of coffee. Kathryn was still fighting off sleep at the table, her head nodding. Sam rubbed his eyes and yawned.
Dean sat down and ran a hand through his hair. "So." Everyone looked at him, some groggier than others.
"I say we have two rest days then a spirit or demon hunt if we can catch wind of one," Kat sighed, scratching her head. She propped her chin up on her elbow. "I need to practice smiting on the job." Thoughts flickered over her glossy eyes. She took a drink and started to wake up. "Plus I need to kill one of those black eyes sons-of-bitches." She dug into her pancakes after another drink.
Sam sighed and rubbed his neck, clamping his eyes shut for a moment. "So is today a rest day rest day, or a goof-off rest day?" he asked. Everyone but Kathryn looked around.
"Could be both," Dean suggested.
"Hey, we could introduce them to Bobby," the younger brother cried, suddenly happy.
Kat looked up. "Bobby Singer?" The tallest hunter nodded. The two Nephilim shared a glance and smiled. "Let's do it!"
"Okay," Dean said, getting another cup of the coffee. "Road trip to Uncle Bob's. Get ready, kids."
An hour or so later, the boys had showered. Jocelyn stepped into her room, freshly dressed and drying her hair. It was almost dry. She was just about to tie it off into a ponytail when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," she called. Kathryn entered. They shared a look and Jocelyn sat down on a chair in front of the mirror above her dresser. Kathryn brushed her hair out and started working it into a French-braid. Jocelyn closed her dark eyes and tilted her head back, enjoying the gentle tug. The hair tie secured into place a few minutes later, but Kathryn wasn't done quite yet. She twisted Jocelyn's bangs back and pinned them with a cream-colored flowery barrette. She sighed happily and nodded, backing up.
"Beautiful," she said. Jocelyn smiled up at her. This was a side of Kathryn nobody but her got to see. She was the one person Kat was like this around. This soft side, hidden behind the sass. This hidden, nervous, sisterly side that nobody else got to see.
"Thanks, sis," Jocelyn murmured. She stood up and pulled on her favorite misty gray jacket over her gray and white striped shirt. She slipped on her gray Converse and stood up. Kathryn looked at her outfit, completed by a golden moon-and-stars necklace and faded gray skinny jeans. "What?"
"Why do you wear gray so much?" Kat asked. "I get that it's your favorite color, but seriously."
Jocelyn blushed and toyed with the hem of her shirt. "This shade is my favorite," she replied bashfully. "It's like mist. Like mist over the ocean or a lake. It's clean, but it's natural. It reminds me of dawn just before sunrise." She trailed off, eyes unfocused. She looked back up. Kathryn was smiling at her, eyes soft.
"You're so poetic," she said sarcastically. Well, there was her glimpse for the day. She laughed and nudged her friend. They started out of the room and Kathryn lunged into her room, which was directly across the hall, to grab her combat jacket. She slipped it on as they walked silently. They reached the kitchen door and Kathryn grabbed Josie's arm. She spun quietly back without a second thought. "I just wanted to say that… I hope nobody else is as close to me as you are," Kat said bluntly. Josie felt taken aback and confused, then hurt for a moment.
'Does she really not want me to be this close to her?' she asked herself.
"What I mean is-" Kathryn had clearly seen her expression. "-if anybody else tries to get this close to me, it'll be pointless. You are the only person that could ever understand me. I'm closer to you than anyone else. That may change sometime soon, but you were my first, and you will always be first to me." Her eyes sharpened viciously. "If I had to choose between saving you and saving the world, I would save you every time. You're not my cousin. You're not my best friend. You're not even my friend. You're my sister, Jocelyn. You're my sister." She lashed out and pulled Josie to her. After a moment of stunned silence, Jocelyn hugged back full force. She tucked her chin over Kat's shoulder and bit back tears. Then, as if that moment hadn't happened, Kathryn let go and entered the kitchen where Sam and Dean were waiting. Kat stepped to Sam and held his hand while Jocelyn tried to kill the joyful ache in her chest, laying a hand on Dean's shoulder. The hunter clearly saw her red eyes, but didn't say anything as the two Nephilim joined hands. "You two focus on where we need to go," Kat said, focusing her aquamarine eyes on her friend.
'But wait… She said I wasn't her friend… She said I'm her sister…' Jocelyn smiled and let Sam and Dean's thoughts carry her to Bobby's house. Her Wing muscles roiled pleasantly in her back. Her hand slipped from Kathryn's. When they landed, she looked around for her sister. The blonde Nephilim appeared a few moments later with Sam. Kathryn stumbled into him but quickly righted herself. Dean loped off through the stacks of books and chairs littered with papers.
The room had ornate red wallpaper and wooden floors. On the off-white ceiling were black devil's traps painted in front of every doorway. The windows were warded against Angels. Kathryn looked pale. Sam saw this too. He looked at Jocelyn as she nudged her away from the sigils. Dean's voice sounded from the kitchen.
"Bobby! You in here?" No answer. The older brother popped his head back into the room. He paused for a blink, then continued. "First, I'm guessing Bobby's out back. Second, Kat looks like she's seen a ghost." He pointedly laughed once. Kathryn stumbled away, Sam in tow.
"Shut up, douche," she grunted. "It's the sigils. I just need to get away from them." Dean shrugged. Jocelyn moved closer to her sister. She cast a glance at Kathryn's Wings, invisible to everyone else. They were held stiffly out behind her, like always. Everyone followed Dean out to the shop behind the house through stacks of old, torn up cars. Evidence of the old cars being cannibalized lay everywhere, bits of old Chevys and Buicks scattered over the yard throughout the weeds and grass along the gravel path. Jocelyn's mind finally directed away from her friend's blue Wings when they rounded a corner and saw an older man bent double under the hood of an old green 1971 Chevelle SS. Kathryn, looking and acting much better, whistled. "Nice car," she commented as she came closer. "I've always had a thing for classics with original paint."
"Paint's chipped," he growled, standing up and wiping his greasy hands on his vest. He wore a baseball cap that said 'Singer Auto' on it and flannel beneath the vest, sleeves rolled up. His blue eyes never flickered from the engine.
"Did I say I give a damn about the condition of the paint?" Kat asked brusquely, and Jocelyn was taken by surprise by her sudden hick accent. "That don't matter. The body and the memories, now that's what matters." Bobby looked over at them finally, eyes unreadable under the brim of the ball cap. The old hunter and young woman almost imperceptibly squared up, as if about to argue. Kathryn's stance was snarky and defensive, lilting casually to her left leg, her smirk and eyes screaming wit. Bobby's stance was less casual and more commanding, features hardened by a sharp tongue hidden behind his short, scraggly beard. They locked eyes for a moment, sizing each other up. Silence stretched between them like thread and Kathryn's smirk faded the tiniest bit into a slightly sarcastic, unimpressed grimace.
"Who are you?" the old hunter asked.
"Cas's kid," she answered. She walked forward and stuck out her hand, straightening her stance and nodding down a little. "Kathryn." They shook.
"Bobby Singer. I'm a friend of the boys'. You thirsty?"
"Parched." She took a step back.
"I got water or whiskey." He eyed her up and down again.
"Whiskey."
Bobby pointed. "Cabinet beneath the counter," he growled. He went back to the engine. "Don't have any glasses out here." Kathryn looked around, proffering the bottle to everyone. Dean took it and took a drink. He passed it to Bobby, who took a sip. Kathryn got her hands on it and took several deep gulps. She looked like she was trying not to smirk as she put it on the counter.
"Jack Daniel's is my favorite." A look of respect passed between them. The tension finally dispersed and Bobby dove back under the hood of the Chevelle. Jocelyn looked back at Kathryn.
"Am I detecting an accent when you talk to him?" she whispered. Kat shrugged and grinned.
"I can't help it," she said.
"So what brings you all here?" Bobby asked, twisting a piece of the engine into place.
"We came to introduce the girls to you," Sam said. He nudged Jocelyn forward. "This is Jocelyn, daughter of… who?"
"Gabriel," she answered, hoping she hadn't paused too long.
"Oh yeah," Sam said thoughtfully. Josie held back a sigh of relief and glanced back at Kathryn, who pointedly stared into the engine, twitching under her friend's gaze. She reached out a tiny, pale hand and tweaked something.
"There," she said when Bobby looked up at her.
"Go try it now," the old hunter ordered. She did as she was told, sliding into the driver's side of the old car. The SS roared to life, headlights flashing. Bobby motioned to cut it and slammed the hood shut. He wiped his hands on an oil rag in his back pocket this time.
"Where'd you learn how to fix a car?" Dean asked, surprised.
"Not quite sure," she answered thoughtfully. "Might've picked it up from the mechanic Nephilim."
"Mechanic Nephilim?" Bobby asked. "You're Nephilim? Ain't Nephilim supposed to be big people with anger issues?"
"Breeds of dogs, Bobby," Kat said. "They're known for random wrath, we're known for wrath caused by protective instincts."
"How d'ya mean?" Bobby leaned back against the car.
Jocelyn smiled. She knew this answer before it came. When Kathryn had first joined the Nephilim, she had studied what they were immensely. She read through every version of the Bible. She knew all the Anglo-Christian myths inside and out. Jocelyn knew her response because she was the one who gave all the Youngers the full explanation.
"Those Nephilim are impure, born through sin and made of hate," she began. "We were born through purity. We were made to fight demons and to protect humans. That's all we're made for, Nephilim like Jocelyn and me. We were made to blend in so we could assimilate until we are needed. Both kinds of Nephilim, pure and impure, are beautiful, but we are beautiful inside and out. It is true both kinds have Angel blood, but one of us is known for wrath caused by love and the other by hate." She laughed. "Basically, with them you're fucked whatever you do. With us, you're only fucked if you're trying to hurt someone else." Her eyes sharpened with manic fire. "When we're angered, the only greater wrath is that of God himself."
Bobby didn't look impressed, per say, but he looked intrigued. "So you said mechanic Nephilim," he egged.
"Nephilim are split into Factions, just like Angels. Some don't fit into a group or just have a specific job. Taylor raises the Youngers, so he stays at whatever base we choose. Jocelyn and I are part of the manipulation Faction, along with Jacob and Alaina. They're little pricks because they have popular dads. We can all alter fields of perception, including messing with thoughts or feelings. Alaina can alter fields of perception, like hearing and touch and sight. Jacob is basically good at talking people into stuff. Josie here can't lie, but she can use her Grace to say something and make it real. I have my singing."
"Yer singin'?" Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow. Kathryn glanced around at the brothers and her sister. Sam nodded vigorously. Dean smiled and tilted his head, silently telling her, 'If you want.' Jocelyn glowed with pride as she gave Kat her 'knock his ass out' look. Kathryn's eyes sharpened and she nodded mischievously. As she opened her mouth and began singing, the whole world fell silent.
"The old, the young, the brave got stung all around you.
The lights fell down upon the world and did surround you.
Take care of all the lonely souls and love will hold you.
Oh how you walked through the dark and love destroyed you!"
When her song was over, Bobby opened his eyes. A new light shone there. He smiled behind his beard. "Damn, you gotta set 'a pipes on you," he muttered. Kathryn lost her cockiness and scuffed her feet in grit shyly, looking down. Jocelyn knew her well enough to know she was glowing on the inside, yet berating herself for not saying thank you because it seemed self-centered to her. Jocelyn smiled.
"So you boys already told me about the demon war over the phone. Any new news?" Bobby grabbed the bottle of liquor again and leaned against the nose of the car. Kathryn hopped up on the hood beside him, stealing the bottle and taking a swig. Josie felt Sam chuckle beside her.
"Well," Kat began. "We got a big ring a' vamps to go with us. Their leader, Dio, is tryin' to get us more little groups along the coast while we take inland. We're gonna try to get a couple bigger groups in a while. We're gonna have to dress up for that."
Everyone who knew her pretty well looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Dude, seriously," Dean said. "Where the hell did that accent come from?" Kathryn pointed at Bobby. Everyone but the two on the old car laughed.
"I think it's cute," Josie laughed.
Kat grinned pointedly at Dean. "Thank you, Josie," she said smugly. Dean chuckled and shook his head. Josie looked between the two.
"Are you two secretly dating?" she asked. Kathryn choked on her mouthful of whiskey.
"Yes," Dean answered. He jogged over and put his arm around the red-faced Nephilim. "Right, honey?"
"Hell no," she gasped, still coughing. He kissed her cheek and she punched him in the arm. Sam coughed beside her and caught Dean with a bitch-face. Dean grinned and walked away from her.
"Nah, we aren't together," he laughed.
"Why would you think we're dating?" Kat asked.
"You reeked of Dean when you got home the other night," Josie explained. "I figured you both got lonely, so… you know…"
Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "Josie, you know as well as I do that wouldn't work," she said exasperatedly.
"Oh come on, am I that ugly?" Dean groaned. Kathryn laughed.
"Yes, but that's beside the point," she said teasingly. "Nephilim have an unspoken chastity vow. They can't break the vow unless forced or if it's the person they love the most in their whole life. It has to be their one true soul-mate. If it's not and they're not being forced, they can't break their chastity vow. That's how demons determine who to use to kill a Nephilim."
"What?" Sam asked suddenly.
"We're Djin, bronze is our silver, and that person's blood is lamb's blood, get it?" she explained. Everyone but Sam nodded. He looked down. Jocelyn cast a glance at him.
"So wait, why did you smell like Dean when you got home?" she asked.
"The last room they had available only had one room, plus she was freezing," Dean announced. "Completely platonic, get it? No chastity-vow-breaking involved." He laughed.
"You're hilarious," Kat snickered sarcastically.
"Plus we agreed that we're gonna act like siblings now." Kat raced over to the older brother and gave him a loud auntie-kiss on the cheek. He groaned and wiped her off. Sam coughed again beside Jocelyn. She looked and his jaw was clenched.
"Idjits," Bobby muttered gruffly. He walked past them towards the house. "Come on, I got a hunt for ya' if yer up for it." Kathryn giggled, gave up on Dean, and followed the old hunter into the house. Jocelyn followed, patting Dean's shoulder on the way past. The sound of muscle on muscle sounded behind her as one brother shoved the other halfheartedly.
She entered the kitchen and saw Kathryn about to step over the threshold into the living room. She twitched violently, stumbled, and backed up a step. She stared down at where the tile changed abruptly to wood with sad eyes. She looked up apologetically, glancing at the sigils on the windows. Sam walked behind Jocelyn and touched her shoulder.
"How can I help?" he asked.
"Kat will need a barrier between her and the sigils," the brunette Nephilim murmured. As Sam approached her friend, Josie inspected Kat's Wings again. They were folded ever closer to her body. A brilliant blue feather broke off with a flinch from the Nephilim and sunk to the ground as she shook her head no at the hunter edging her forward. Sam's hand came to rest in the middle of her back and the Wings froze then settled, looking more relaxed. Dean went in to the room where Bobby was. Jocelyn and Kathryn took up positions on opposite sides of the doorframe, Sam apologetically looking back at Kathryn and walking further into the room. Bobby was leaned over a map splayed over some books on the cluttered desk.
"I caught wind of a shifter hunt in Montana from a retired friend of mine," the old hunter rumbled. Kathryn snorted.
"Yeah, a 'retired' hunter," she scoffed. "Bullshit if I ever heard it." Bobby flashed a smirk at her, blue eyes sparkling with gruff amusement. "It act like there's more than one?"
"Shifter? Hell yeah. Seems like there's a whole network meetin' up near Big Sky." The two Nephilim exchanged a glance. Bobby caught it and looked between them. "What?"
"What do you think?" Kat murmured to her sister only.
"Jacob and Alaina?" Josie replied, chewing at a misty gray nail and racking her brain.
"Those trigger-happy shitheads? No." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the foot of the desk across the room, eyes unfocused. "I'm thinking Taylor. He's the best at disappearing acts."
"Alone?"
Kat paused in the middle of shaking her head. "Let's let him decide." She looked at Bobby again. "Can you write down the coordinates for us?" He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote the coordinates down. Kat grabbed the paper on the way to the door. She leapt down the stairs, regaining color from her brief encounter with the sigils. Taylor was waiting in the yard. They stopped in a tight group. "Thanks for coming," Kat greeted him.
"Anything for you guys," he said, smiling a white smile.
"Think you can bag a few shifters as allies alone?" she asked.
"I could take Emily and Tom," he said. "She's ready and Tom needs distracted. I went to introduce myself today and he's really broken up. I told him that over the next few weeks, dad's gonna go work on his mom's cancer and make her better. He's still pretty shaken, he just needs to get his mind off it."
Kathryn nodded, calculating. Jocelyn looked over and glanced at the makeshift leader. Jacob was said to have needed to step up, but he never did. They had needed a leader, so, even though she was the lowest ranked beside Jocelyn herself, Kathryn had sort of risen to the occasion. Jocelyn was shaken back to the present when the leader spoke. "When can you leave?"
"Immediately," he answered.
"Good luck," Kat murmured. He hugged each of them in turn, waved to the Winchesters, and disappeared with a flutter of Wings. Kat turned to her sister. "So, you want to hang out here a little longer?" Josie smiled and nodded.
Jocelyn walked through the halls of the warehouse. Everyone was gone except the Winchesters, who were sharing a spare room down the hall from the girls. They had been asleep since they got home around 10:30. She walked past Kathryn's room and her own room to go to the library. She walked in and saw it had been squished sideways and retracted upwards a couple levels. In the center of the ceiling hung a massive white banner. A screen in fact. Kathryn sat back in a library chair looking up at the projected image of a pair of cute shoes and a couple dresses. "What are you doing?" Josie asked. The blonde Nephilim seemed to jump out of her skin and she wildly fought to shut the projector off, but it was too late. Jocelyn was beside her taking the remote from her. "Looking at cute clothes?" Her dark brown eyes flickered across the screen. "Keds? I thought you were a combat-boot or tomboy sneaker kind of girl?"
Kathryn looked down and away, blushing furiously. "I was just looking," she grumbled. Jocelyn looked up again. The dresses were cute. Moderate, but cute. She nudged her sister and drew her aquamarine gaze.
"Let's go shopping," she said. "We can get you some white Keds and a couple cute dresses. Girls' day out."
Kat lit up. "When?" she asked, clearly trying to hide her eagerness.
"Right now! We can go and the boys will never know!" Kat grinned.
"Okay. Where to?"
New York. They went to different stores and looked at different shoes and dresses and outfits. They stopped a couple times to look at different knick-knack stores and pet stores with puppies and kittens and hermit crabs. Kathryn got a gold fish in one place, something she had wanted for a long time. She named him Faramir. Jocelyn sighed and shook her head at the Lord of the Rings reference. At several bookstores, they stopped and looked at all the Sci-Fi and fantasy novels, including buying a new series for Jocelyn and two Kathryn had been searching for. Jocelyn's favorite purchase of the night was a long black trench coat with sparkles on the pockets.
"What happened to 'misty and clean'?" Kat teased.
"Yeah, but this one looks like night," Josie said, toying with her moon-and-stars necklace. Both women giggled and moved on to the next store. Kathryn tried on a spaghetti strap dress. It was light pink fading to violet-tinted burgundy at the bottom hem. She looked in the dressing room mirror when she came out and Jocelyn couldn't help but giggle at the wonder in her eyes. "You look gorgeous! You should get that!" Kat started to slowly shake her head, tugging at the skirt, when Jocelyn draped a matching burgundy scarf around her neck. She turned and looked at her brunette friend.
"I could never wear this," she said almost desperately. "Dean would never let me live this down."
"You know what? Fuck Dean. He doesn't get it. You're a tomboy for ninety-nine percent of the time, and I know you like to get dressed up! Let's get a little cute, shall we?"
Kathryn slowly lit up the longer she looked in the mirror, and eventually she nodded, though still a bit unsure. "I'll get it." They got five dresses total, a couple matching scarves, a white and a black pair of lace-up Keds, a few pairs of cute jeans, and a lot of colorful, girly shirts. They paid with the bottomless credit cards Eremiel had given them and went home with the clothes, books, and, of course, new fish Faramir.
The next morning, Kathryn, with flat-ironed hair, appeared wearing a forest green dress, a green and white paisley scarf, and her white Keds. Both Winchester brothers were speechless, but Jocelyn cheered. Kathryn grinned and spun in a circle, pleated skirt flaring perfectly. She flounced past Dean and pointed at him and his open mouth. "Shut up, I am a girl after all," she snapped. Jocelyn slipped her a high-five. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Kathryn kiss Sam on the back of the head as she leaned past him to grab a carbonated grape juice from the counter in front of him.