Ch 21

Soggy, muggy, dark. Cass found herself in a place she couldn't recognize. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep with Dean, and NOT in a place like this. She tried to feel around in the dark to gather her bearings. She felt what seemed to be an arm to another person.

"Dean?" She asked in a whisper.

"Who's Dean? Be quiet Aideen. It will hear you."

"Aideen? Who's Aideen?"

"Dear child? Have they gotten to you already?" Whoever she was talking to slashed across her arm with a blade they had concealed in their shirt or boddess rather.

"Ow!"

"Shhh! Good, you're still human."

"Of course I'm human. What are you? Who are you?"

"How can you not recognize your own sister? It is me Branna." She stepped into what little light there was from the moon up above. The woman only looked vaguely familiar, but Cass had no real clue as to who she was. To figure this out and possibly save her own life she decided to run along with it.

"I'm sorry sister. I cannot see in such darkness."

"Come, we must go. It's not safe here anymore. We've made too much noise."

Before she knew it this woman Branna was off and running. Cass only had an issue keeping up not being able to see anything ahead of her. This Branna seemed to know this place like the back of her hand, jumping over branches long before Cass could even get the slightest sight of them and had to climb over them herself.

"Sister, why are you falling behind like this is your first time trekking these woods? We have crossed these trees many times before."

Cass didn't know how to respond. This woman must have seen Cass as this Aideen woman.

"Use your foresight at least. Focus and see what is to be ahead. Come, we must not waste any more time. They're coming."

Use her foresight? Did she mean like Cass being able to see spirits? She had never used to it really try to see in the future of sorts. She had heard of some of her ancestors having the ability. Her name in Greek even meant "prophet." The closest she had to it was her gut senses telling her when to turn left or right or when to strike or block during a fight, but never for actually SEEING into the future. She figured she'd give it a shot anyways. She opened her mind and her senses as she continued to follow behind Branna. As she went it became only slightly easier to "see" things ahead. It was all just a blur, but what when she was supposed to jump the branches seemed to be the thicker of the blurs and so forth.

"We're here," Breanna said as they came to an old shack looking cottage.

"Breanna, Aideen…hurry! Inside!" A man of about 5 foot tall with orange reddish hair and bright green/blue eyes rushed them inside. All of these people were striking a far off bell and Cass just wished she could identify them.

"Aengus…are we too late?"

"No, you made it just in time. The moon is almost in perfect alignment."

"Aideen, you must take your spot right here, Breanna here…" This Aengus gentleman was setting up what seemed to be some sort of ritual.

Aengus removed from a cloth what looked like the amulet Cass always wore on a hunt. It looked much more shiny and new than hers, but she knew it was. He handed one to Cass and one to Breanna. He turned to gather a bowl of dark liquid. It wasn't until he spread it on his forehead that Cass realized it was blood. Was her family into witch craft back in the day? How come no one ever told her before? And after all the witches she hunted…she now felt guilty, like she had some connection to them, but her family wasn't killing people…as far as she could tell. Her thoughts were interrupted by Aengus starting to chant an incantation rather loudly. She felt a rush of air that came from nowhere, the orange red locks of Aideen blowing in her eyes for her to only catch a glance of Aengus stabbing himself in the gut.

"No! What are you doing?!" Cass rushed over to try to help him.

"To protect a life, you must give a life. Since I am giving my life to protect the TWO of you, the magic won't be as strong to protect both as it would to protect one…No one in our family….dies a peaceful death…this way…as long as the amulet is passed on before then…the magic won't wear off…one life will be taken to protect another…" Aengus started coughing up blood as Breanna came over to his side as well. She started to cry as Aengus's eyes glazed over and he was gone.

It took Breanna all but a moment to gather herself, close his eye lids and start for the door. "We have to go. It's still coming for us. We may have a slight upper hand, but it's still coming."

"What is?" Cass asked as she started for the door.

"Me darling." Cass couldn't believe who she saw standing in front of her…none other than Crowley…

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Cass woke up in a cold sweat.

She felt a hand on her arm and flung herself out of the bed.

"Whoa! Whoa! What's going on?" Dean said worried he'd possibly be thrown across the room.

"Sorry…bad dream…" She crawled back into bed and nuzzled into Dean.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not right now…"

Dean sighed and rolled over frustrated that she still wasn't opening up to him, even after all he had shared with her.

"Ok…I'm not sure what it was…if it was a dream…a vision…I dunno…It was like I was there, but I wasn't me. I was some Aideen woman and her sister Breanna was there and their brother Aengus…they performed some ritual that had to do with my amulet." Cass looked down at her amulet and played with it on the cord around her neck. "I'm worried it's part evil..they performed a sacrifice for it to work…"

"We can look more into it if you want…especially since you saw what the ritual was, it would make it easier to find out…"

"That's not all Dean…"

"Well, what else happened?"

"They were performing this ritual to prepare for someone in particular coming…"

"Yeah….who?"

"Crowley."

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Cass and Dean slept for only a little bit longer before they started to go out looking for a place to call home. Lots of cute little places to rent, but the more they looked, the more Cass felt off, like this wasn't the right time. She had just had so many new questions come to light and she wanted answers. But she knew she couldn't take Dean with her to search for them. He had real hunting stuff to worry about. She tried not to let Dean see her concern as they went from place to place.

"So…what do you think? Any of them that you really like?" Dean asked seeing Cass being a little distracted.

"Yeah…there were a couple I liked more than the others…I have time to think about it, right?"

"Of course…you're not backing out are you?"

She had to hide her fear of him figuring out her plan to leave and distract from the idea. "No, not at all. I just…I want it to be nearly perfect for us. A place I know you'll come back to no matter how exciting life on the road might be."

"Anywhere I get to call home with you would be more than enough."

It was killing Cass to try to hide it all from him. To leave him again. She knew she would come back and hopefully sooner rather than later, but she knew she had to go…would HE be there when she got back…not moved on with some other woman by then? She chased the idea out of her head. He loved her, she knew that. But she couldn't be selfish and expect him to wait around for her either…even though her gut told her that he would.

To pretend that nothing was wrong Cass talked with Dean about the few that she liked and what she liked about them. All the while in the back of her head she was planning on going through more of hunter book he had from his dad to brush up on more of their recent encounters; Angels, Demons, how to NOT be tracked by them, how to send them away for a time being.

They returned back to Bobby's and Cass fixed them dinner as she always did. The conversation was somewhat light. They had a couple of possible cases pop up. Cass knew she had to leave before they left for a case. They all headed to bed and Cass and Dean did their usual routine.

"Wow…that seemed more special for some reason…or was it just me?" Dean asked as he wrapped his arms around Cass.

"I think it was just you." She laughed. She wasn't about to cave in now. She put every feeling of love she had for Dean into that night. She wasn't sure when she would have the chance to do so again.

After Dean fell asleep, Cass took to studying the book, drew copies of the symbols she would need, then she packed up most of her stuff, and took them out to her Camaro. She wrote a letter to Dean trying to explain how she needed answers and she couldn't take him away from the hunt to find them with her. She wrote how she loved him and always will and that she will come home to him. She said that she would still stay in touch, but by her own means. She promised she would be careful and call him she needed his help. She told him to be careful, to be happy, and look for her in his dreams. She started to cry at the end and knew she had to go before she started bawling. He would wake up hearing her do so. He always did. She left the note on the nightstand next to their bed before placing a kiss on Dean's forehead and heading out the door in search of the answers she needed.

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Sorry to cut it off there, but I felt I was losing some of you with some of the "happier" items happening to them. Had to throw a wrench in there and I said I would give more details about her amulet and where it came from at some point. Thanks for reading, reviews are awesome. Until next time!