March 25, 2007
*Normal POV*
"Some ground rules," Dean started, glancing at Cassie from the rare view mirror. His lazed grip on the bottom of the steering wheel matched his ability to some how never look at the road when driving. This may have bothered some people who drove in the Impala with the older boy. But to Cassie, it was normal. Actually, she felt nearly peaceful in the leather clad backseat of the ancient car. "Number one, Me and Sam, we're in charge."
"Sam and I." Sam corrected from the passenger seat. A book held up in front of his nose. Just like him.
"Shut up, Dork." He came back at his brother.
Cassie snorted out in response. The mental picture of her oldest step sibling singing songs as old as her mother on the top of his lungs. "Really, Dean. You're calling him a dork?"
"What! Why is it pick on Dean day?" He complained loudly over the rumbling of the pavement under his baby's tires.
Sam smirked. "No."
"Of course not." Cassie tuned in.
"Shut up and listen to me. In twenty four hours you will be in a life or death situation, Cas. This is important."
"Fine. Go on."
"One, Listen to Sam and I? Alright?" He waited until she nodded from the backseat. "Two, If you somehow get in trouble. Call us. Right away. I don't care if it's just to check in. We need to know you're okay."
"Alright. Fine." She shrugged.
"Three. Don't do anything stupid." He started, but Sam cut him off.
"That's gonna be a hard one for you, huh?" He muttered from behind his book.
"Shove it up your ass, Samantha." Cassie was prepared to start an all out war from her seat when Dean butted in.
"Play nice you two. Or I swear, I will turn this car around." Dean shouted over them. Cassie has decided that he has been waiting quite some time to make that joke. She rolled her eyes, settling for kicking the back of his seat.
Four hours had passed before Cassie actually realized just how long these car rides were. She restrained herself from complain too much. She wanted to act like a hunter. Like this didn't bother her at all. But the Metallica blasting from the speakers was coming to an end and she was officially extremely bored.
"So what's the case?" She needed to get her mind running again. Even if that meant boring talk until they got to their destination.
"Witches." Dean grimaced in the rear view mirror at her. "Those bitches are at it again."
"Witches? Like Sebrena? Or the green bitch from the Wizard of Oz?" Cassie cocked her head lounging against the seasoned leather seats.
"Neither, this coven has got some balls." Dean hit Sam on the shoulder. Sam groaned and hit him back. "Gimme the folder you dick!" Sam did was he was told, of course, maybe throwing it at him wasn't the finest way to go.
He passed the yellow folder to her and she opened it. New paper clippings where the first thing she found. Head lines such as 'Teenage body found in river.' and 'Camping trip gone horribly wrong!' She fingered through them with ease as Dean began to speak her through the happenings.
"So here's the break down, eight teenagers are dead. All of them found floating down a river, all of them drowning to death." He pulled out onto a dirt road. "Each time, the victims are found in twos. One boy, sixteen years old, one girl sixteen years old..."
Sam interrupted. "And get this. Each one had a signal carved into their hands. Like a cross surrounded by a circle. Not sure what it means, but no doubt we've got witches here. They love sacrifices like this."
"I hate witches! I mean, they're always so gross with their dead cats and blood everywhere. Nothing about them is clean. It's disgusting." Dean ranted pulling onto another road. How did he know where to go? Did he do this that often? He was only nineteen? How did he know these streets so well?
"So you and witches? No go?" Cassie smirked eyeing him from the back seat. She went through the papers again. "And here's my only question. How do you kill 'em?"
"Like you'd kill any human." Sam shrugged. "You just have to make sure they haven't cursed you or anything."
"And that's it? You just want to march in and kill them?"
"Yeah, but the jobs never end that well. We're gonna have to find a way to get them out away from the coven in time for them to not kill anymore kids."
"When do they start killing kids?" Cassie asked as Dean drove through the roads until she could see a bridge in the distance.
"Full moon," He smirked back at her pulling up and parking the Impala. "That's tonight. It's a good thing your too young for them."
"Very funny." She growled climbing out of the back seat and stretching out her limbs. She was numb from being curled up in the car for that long. Something told her she'd be doing it for a very long time now. Considering Sam and Dean's love for the car, she figured it was more home for them than their own house.
"Honestly, I was worried about that," Sam popped out from the car staring at her. "So, you don't get to wonder off, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear buddy. Let's go look at the murder sight shall we?" And she couldn't help but laugh. "I've always wanted to say that!"
"What ever Scully. Get over there." Dean followed her up the side of the hill and out towards the bridge, which they know saw was directly over a small waterfall, of course it was beautiful out there. Dean watched Cassie duck under the yellow caution tape and over to the railing. It came up to just above her chest. She took a step to stand on the small concrete ledge. The iron bars now just under her ribs.
"Dean, do you think these kids are jumping? Or maybe, getting thrown over." She put two hands on the rails and pulled herself up, both boys took a sharp inhale of breath. She smirked at them as she sat down on the bars. She figure they feared she'd fall. But she was smarter than that. "I'm short, I know that. But you couldn't just pull me over these. Either I hauled myself up and jumped, or someone carried me up and pushed."
"What are you saying?" Sam asked after pulling himself up on the bar and doing the same as her. His whole body tall enough to be shoved over. But he was tall, most teenagers weren't over six feet tall.
"I'm saying that we're dealing with witches. Powerful witches." She shrugged. "Maybe they're asking these kids to jump and they're doing as their told." She glanced down, the bubbling water was white as it rushed down the river. She figured, the fall isn't what kills them. It's the raging water that brings them down and sucks the life from them. The thought made her ill.
"That's genius. Let's get back to a motel and do some research."
Research as Cassie has discovered, is shit. She sat in the same position on the bed for hours staring at stories on witches. She didn't see why this was useful. Sam was much better at this then she was. But every time she sighed with frustration Dean sent her an annoyed glare. So she pretended to study up on the spells.
Her mind was growing tired looking at spells. She wasn't a witch, she couldn't even do them. Though, she found the writing messy and unkept. Like a fogginess was over her vision.
"Okay stop that!" Sam was behind her causing her to jump. "You're staring at nonsense. If you're so bored go on the computer or get coffee or something. Don't sit there and stare at the same page." He laughed, she didn't understand him. She was reading a spell on how to create fire. It was written in the book. Right there, in front of her eyes. The words were clear but Sammy apparently couldn't read.
"What? I'm reading!" She growled at him. What was her stupid, she looked back at the writing. Black lines of text, messy and scrawled with a loose hand.
"Yeah, reading my ass, Cassie that's not even English."
Her heart stopped, it wasn't.
The black lines of text were loops of black ink and lines scribbled out before her. Not english. She hadn't been reading them. She didn't know how to read them. She dropped the book like it suddenly caught fire.
"I'm going out to get food." She muttered standing and grabbing her jacket from the floor. She didn't look at her step brothers, couldn't look at them. If she did, what would she say? She was reading words she couldn't understand?
"Hey, are you okay?" Dean called out after her.
"Yeah, I'm going a bit stir crazy, I'll get you something."
And she was out of the stuffy room and into the dusk. She didn't want to think, not about the witches, not about the case. So she pulled out her wallet and checked her cash, enough for food she hoped. And she continued down the street. Her hands stuffed in her jacket, her hair pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. She was fifteen now, she smiled to herself. There was a time she didn't think she'd make it this far. A time when she tried to end it...
No. She didn't think about that. She couldn't. So she walked to a cafe and stood in line. A women behind the counter asked her for her order and she gave the usual. Everything burger of Dean, extra bacon. A salad from Sam, and a plate of chicken tenders for her. Extra fries. Or as she called them, deep fried love.
"Oh sorry!" A women gasped as she hit Cassie's shoulder causing her to fall forward into the hostess counter. She paid for the food and smiled back at the women.
"No problem, are you okay?" The women looked frazzled to say the least. Dark hair falling into her eyes.
"Sorry, again." She laughed breathlessly. "I'm just really klutzy, I'm okay though. I'm Karen." She held out a hand for her. Cassie took it with a smile. The women jolted as they shook hands. Like Cassie had electrocuted her.
"Whoa, sorry." Cassie whispered cocking her eyebrow, she didn't understand the women's fear. "Is something wrong?"
"No. No. I'm just..." She stopped and shook her head. "You reminded me of someone. It's nothin' wrong with you... Sorry I didn't get a name."
"Cassie." She smiled at the women and stated. She wondered if this women knew more than she lead on. With a look like that... "Was there a reason you were in a hurry?"
"Oh, yeah. I was meeting some friends down by the bridge."
"The bridge where those kids died?" Cassie knew now that this was a bad idea. Talking to this women was not something she should be doing. "That's not safe is it?"
"Probably not. But you know how kids are. Always going where they're not supposed to." The women, Karen, eyed Cassie in a way that gave her chills. There was no fuckin' way this was this easy. She thought. A women from the coven just jumps right at her within the first day of the hunt?
"Yeah well, not me." Her name was called from the back. She noticed her bag of food and went to pull it into her arms. With one quick move she pulled out her cell and typed in Dean's number.
"So you don't wanna come I see?" Karen smiled at her. Cassie shook away her glance.
"Nope. Not my scene, but I'll see you around Karen."
"You sure, Blake?" Her phone continued to ring. She glared at the women in front of her.
"How the fuck do you know that?" She shut her phone and nearly dropped her food.
"If you wanna know, I suggest you meet me at the bridge in three hours, alone." And she was gone. Cassie gawking back out at her.
She closed the motel door with her foot, Sam was still on his computer looking up whatever he needed to know about the coven that had already contacted Cassie. She placed the food on the table across from him and noticed Dean sleeping on his bed. Still in his clothes with a pile of books surrounding his body.
"Hey, we were wondering were you were. You took forever." Sam smiled pulling out his salad and a fork. She smiled back at him, half heartedly.
"I walked a bit farther than I thought." She shrugged it off and walked to Dean, hitting his foot. Her jumped up awake and alert. "Food, dumbass."
"What? Oh." He smirked standing from the bed and walking over to the food bag. "Aren't you gonna eat?"
Honestly, Cassie forgot she was supposed to eat. She was too busy thinking about the witch at the Cafe. What had she known? Why did Cassie think she needed the information so bad? "Yeah."
They ate in silence, or at least Cassie did. Sam and Dean shared what they had learned from their research and spoke of how to kill the coven. Cassie knew she should tell them about Karen. Knew she should let them know. But she decided against it. After they ate, Sam went to take a shower. And Dean, well, he fell back asleep after claiming he needed to finish reading. So Cassie checked the clocks, two o'clock in the morning. If she left now, she could make it there in time to get the answers she wanted.
The knife in her belt felt heavy as she made her way through the mess of grass and weeds up to the bridge. This was a shitty plan. The shittiest she had ever made. And as she made her way up to the sound of running water she decided it was worse than shitty. It was a suicide mission, so she did the only thing she could think, she dialed Dean's number. It rang twice before he answer.
"Oh you better have a very fuckin' good excuse to where you are, Princess." He wasn't asleep this time. Cassie cursed under her breath before making her way to the water.
"Bridge. I'm an idiot." And she hung up. Slipping the phone into her back pocket. She didn't have an excuse, just a burning desire to get to Karen. To find out what she knew. So she made her way out into the mood light. Eight cloaked figures stood in the middle of the bridge, she could see know that they were waiting for her. Her breath caught in her throat. They knew what they've done.
"Blake." A male voice spoke and the others chuckled as she came closer to them. "You've come."
"I want to know what you know about me." She commanded, again they laughed at her. She didn't care if the laughed. She wanted answers.
"Cassandra Blake, am I correct?" Cassie nodded to him. Her back straight. She let out a powerful breath. She was not afraid of him. She would never be afraid of him. "We have been expecting you."
"Tell me how you know me." Again no answers.
"You were brought her out of curiosity. A spell planted by our own member, Karen." She was under a spell, the burning curiosity she felt. They were luring her in. She was an idiot. A pure moron.
"What was it? The hand shake? The bump?" Cassie spit out at them. Her body already tensing at the thought of magic.
"The handshake." The male spoke with certainty. Of course they knew she would never kill them. They already had her under a spell. "Now. If you wouldn't mind, I believe it's nearly time for you to jump."
"So that's how you do it? I was right." Cassie smirked at them. Her whole idea had been true, they asked them to jump. They did as they were told. Somehow, she was proud she predicted her own death.
"Well, that's because you're strength can be felt even before you came into town."
"What are you talking about?"
"The girl doesn't even know..." The group laughed again. Cassie wanted to step forward, to yell, but she couldn't move. Couldn't even shift her feet to one side of the other. This damned spell!
"Let me go! Let me go you asshole." She shouted at him. Looking down at her converses clad feet in horror.
"Make me." The male taunted and Cassie snarled. If she hadn't been so terrified she would have bit the man a knew asshole. But, it's hard to tease when your life hung in the balance.
"So you've got me, where's the other guy huh? You guys hunt in pairs, where's the boy." She asked, not really wanting the answer, just more time for Dean and Sam to come and get her feet of the fucking ground.
"Oh don't worry, he's already down. We don't necessarily drop them at the same time."
"You son of a bitch!" She gasped. A boy was dead, they had lost already, the witches had claimed their victim.
"Quiet, child, you'll wake the dead." One of the witches called out. Cassie let out a line of curses that could have made her mother faint. It wasn't until the man approached her that she noticed her body had been moving. She was moving towards the coven. He pulled her knife from her belt and spun it in his hands.
"Give it back." She snarled at him.
"It's pretty, seems knew." He lifted it reaching out for her arm. She wanted to flinch away, but she allowed him to touch her. Even if the thought sent her veins burning.
"It is. Now give it back." She watched as he pushed the tip of the blade into the soft skin of her wrist. She gasped, blood flowing from where the mark was made. Her eyes watered slightly, not from the pain, no she'd had worst. From the uselessness she felt. She couldn't even fight back.
"Drop it." Deadly, calm, and damn right frightening was the voice behind her. She wanted to turn, she really did, wanted to see his face. But she couldn't move her feet from their position on the ground. "I said, drop it and let her go."
"We told you to come alone, Cassie." The male sighed cooly moving the knife across her wrist cutting a long gash on her wrist, not the usual signal. He had been more intending to cause pain this time. Cassie whimpered watching the blood fall to the ground. Spilling onto her shoes. "You didn't follow our directions. Now, leave us."
Finally she could turn. Looking Dean in the face. His gun was raised, eye steady, burning holes into the witches skull. Sam stood behind him gun trained on the rest of the coven. Cassie was walking again. No. No. No.
"I can't move..." She looked to Dean who understood the order. "I can't stop." Dean fired his gun, the man dropping to the ground, Sam fired his, a hooded figure had fallen next. But Cassie was turning away walking towards to the railing. She heard Dean scream. Heard him shout her name. Sam was crying out in pain. No. She wanted to help him. Wanted to fight with them. But it was too late. Her feet went to the rails. Her hands shook as she pulled herself up.
No. No.
She sat on the rails, her legs kicked the ledge.
"Dean get my knife back. Get it back, give it to dad." She breathed deep, a gust of cold wind knocked her hair across her face. "Sammy, kill 'em for me."
She took one step out, like she was walking. But she met only air. She didn't scream, but she heard it. Heard screams that were so sad they brought tears to her eyes. Her body stung as she hit the water. The impact hurt more than she expected. But she wasn't dead.
No. She would survive this. So she swam with the current. Allowing it to throw her around until she could push away, her head came out of the icy cold water, she took a deep breath knowing it would be the last she could take until she was out of the river. A current hit her and pulled her under, she was being tossed around the water. Pushed into rocks and hit with branches and leaves. But she didn't panic, panic would get her killed.
Her lungs burned for air, but if she breathed in at the wrong time she would inhale water. So she stayed under until she was thrown into a rock, she held on to it, threw her head up and inhaled. A rush of water hit her back and she was pushed under. A current taking her too far down. She couldn't see anything besides the lines of light streaming though rocks. The world was too far away. She struggled for the first time, screaming under the water and reaching for the surface. But she couldn't see it.
Her mind growing darker. Her world blurry, she kicked out one more time, begging for life. She didn't want to die. Yes, there were times when she had welcomed death. But now, after Dean and Sam. She wanted to live, because life was good. She kicked out, and her body gave up. Blackness. Darkness. Silence.
I will not die.
Burning erupted through her. Power racing through her veins. She pulled herself from the water. Pulled herself to the rocks on the shore. She didn't know how, but she was staring up at the stars. Watching through the long branches of the pine trees. She wasn't dead. Not yet anyways.
"Cassie!" She was coming too once again. She didn't realized she was asleep. "Cass, wake up, please please!" And someone was shaking her. Her eyes opening. Sam. Sam was shaking her, tears running from his eye. Blood running from a cut on his forehead.
"What happened to you?" She asked, her voice raspy and sore.
"Jesus Christ!" Dean shouted falling down to his knees next to her. He looked worse than Sam. Bloody nose, mouth. What happened there?
"Nope just me. But I've been told we look similar." She smirked her hands rubbing her knees. Bloody, her hands, cut, her elbow, skinned. Fuck them. What happened to her? Oh, yeah. She nearly died. That's right.
"I'm gonna kill you." Dean was staring at her now, relief in his eyes. "I'm gonna strangle you."
"Good luck. I've beaten death once today already. I doubt you'd brake my streak." Cassie smiled shivering from the water. "Can we go back to the motel? I'm cold."
"Fuck Cass. We'll go anywhere you want. I'm just happy you're still fuckin' breathing." He sighed rubbing his hands over his face. "Oh, by the way this is yours." He handed her back her knife. Cassie smiled big. She might have nearly died. But she liked hunting. Liked hunting with her brothers.