| March 6th, 2009 |
She wasn't entirely sure on why she was in this town. Greybull, Wyoming. She'd gone home to retrieve what remained of some personal possessions, perhaps to try and feel closer to home. Bobby Singer had done his best to make her at home in his house in Sioux Falls, of course. But it wasn't the same.
Pressing her lips together and tugging her jacket tighter around her, Avery Hunt paused to look around. She'd intended to grab her things and head back immediately, a recommendation from Bobby. The man who'd showed up on her doorstep - Castiel, Bobby had called him - could show up at any time. It wasn't safe for her to be out alone. Even though Castiel seemed to be a decent person from what she remembered...she knew it was bad. That something as powerful as an angel was after her.
Suddenly, a gunshot snapped through the air and filled her ears. Avery jolted to a stop. Her long dark hair spilled over her shoulder as her head snapped around, her lips parting. Instinct told her to flee as shouts followed the gunshot and someone fled. She saw their shadow streak by.
Worried, Avery jogged over to the commotion, thinking she was the stupidest person in the world for it. But she did it anyways and paused. "What's going on?" she demanded when she saw a man doing chest compressions to someone else.
"He was shot," he rasped, panicked.
Suddenly, the man he was trying to help gasped, breathing heavily. Avery's dark eyes widened in shock. "Hey," he tried to protest, smacking at his hands. "Let me up!"
"Don't move," his friend pleaded. Avery knelt beside them, her eyes narrowing.
"I feel okay." He looked bewildered. "Like...I'm normal. Look." He yanked his shirt open, showing no blood or wounds, just unharmed skin and a holey shirt. He looked lost. "But…"
"How are you...how are you alive?" Avery breathed. He gave her a stunned look.
"I don't know."
| March 12th, 2009 |
Alex was in the middle of watching Dean struggle with a jukebox, seated beside Sam as he typed away on his laptop, looking for jobs, when her phone first rang. Grinning as Dean smacked the machine, she glanced at the caller ID, and then answered.
"Hullo?" she hummed, examining her nails. "Alex speaking."
"Alex!"
"Avery?" Alex nearly dropped her phone, shocked beyond belief. Sam glanced at her, pausing mid-type. He raised a brow when she pressed her lips together. "Is everything okay? What's wrong? Why are you calling?"
Avery laughed on the other end, but she sounded breathless. "Um, researching now, I suppose. Bobby let me go home to get some things and something weird happened while I was here. Like...really weird. I told him, and he said to stay around, watch and learn, and to keep my hex bag on me. So I did."
"Okay?" Alex huffed, narrowing her blue eyes as Dean wandered over. "That doesn't explain anything."
"I'm getting there. Patience is a virtue, Alex. Anyways, I watched someone not die. Like, seriously not die. Shot in the heart. Stood up and walked it off."
Alex choked on her bite of salad, sputtering. "What?"
Dean dropped into a seat across from she and Sam, biting into a burger he'd purchased. "What's going on?"
She shushed him and furrowed her brow. "What do you mean? You can't just walk that kind of bloody thing off. I'd know. It hurts like hell, even if it doesn't hit a vital organ."
"Just like I said. He walked it off like he'd just fallen over. No big deal."
"Huh. Which town?" Alex snatched Sam's notebook away and scribbled the name down. "We'll come check it out. I'll call you when we get close so that you can meet us. Be careful, okay? Let me know if anything else that's weird shows up."
"Aye, aye, captain."
Avery bid her farewell and hung up and Alex slapped her phone down with a frown. Dean and Sam patiently looked at her and she pressed her lips together. "We have a job...maybe. I don't know, this sounds weird."
"How weird?" Sam asked, snatching a bite of his own salad. Dean gave them looks of disgust.
"Small town," Alex explained, snatching his laptop away and burrowing down to look it up. Sam let her with a scowl on his face. "No one's died for the last few days."
"How's that weird?" Dean demanded, rolling his eyes. "Isn't that a good thing?"
Alex scoffed. "A bloke walked away from a gunshot to the heart without so much as a scar. And according to what I'm finding...he's not the only one. This man walked out of the hospice despite having terminal cancer...a woman hit by a car going sixty got to her feet like it hadn't happened."
Dean's jaw dropped. "What the hell?"
"What the hell is right," Alex agreed.
"Locals say it's a miracle," Sam muttered, reading over her shoulder. "It's gotta be something nasty, right? I mean...people making deals or something like that."
"I don't know. It's weird," Dean sighed, and Sam took his laptop back and hastily put it away before Alex could do much. He climbed to his feet and then paused to tell them, "Get that food to go."
Alex agreed, but Dean only looked down at his plate, chewing. He didn't move even as Sam demanded to know what he was doing. Swallowing, Dean looked evenly at him. "Sure you want me to go, Sam? I mean, I don't want to be holding you back or nothing."
"Dude," Sam nearly growled, clenching his jaw. "I told you a hundred times. That was the siren talking. Not me."
"Bloody hell," Alex moaned. "I thought we were past this, Winchester!"
"Yeah, I guess." He sighed and put his burger down. After a second thought, he picked it back up and began to cram it into his mouth, waving for them to lead the way. Alex snorted and gave him a disgusted look before starting for the door, contemplating just how hard it would be to convince the eldest Winchester to let her drive.
Alex saw Avery the second she scrambled out of the Impala. Sam and Dean weren't far behind as she shot over to where the other girl was waiting, leaning against a motel with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Avery," she huffed, hands on her hips when Avery saw her. "Why aren't you with Bobby?"
"Because I have a gun?" Avery gave her an incredulous look. "That you taught me the basis of how to use? Hi, Mr. Winchester and...Mr. Winchester."
Sam offered her a friendly grin. "Please," he told her, offering a hand to shake. "Sam." She wasn't nearly as frightened of him as she took it. This time, she was confident. And there wasn't a dead body at her feet, so that probably helped a little.
"And he's a twat, so call him whatever you want," Alex said, gesturing to Dean.
"I'm not a...twat." He made a face, not used to the word. "I'm Dean," he added, copying his brother and shaking Avery's hand. "We didn't really talk last time we met."
"Nope." Avery gave them a grin. "I'll stay here and hang out unless you guys need me. Bobby said to stay in town with you for now. But he said to be careful, too, because of some angels running around?"
"Trench coat guy," Alex mused. "Cas. And Uriel and Barachiel are both arses, so them, too. Basically anyone odd."
"Look who's talking," Sam muttered and then looked to his brother. "You two going to talk with Jim Jenkins or not?"
"I remember him," Avery mused. "He was the one who I saw get shot."
"We're going, we're going," Dean sighed, rolling his eyes. "You stay with Avery and keep her company. He's nerdy, so I'm sorry if he bores you."
Avery's gaze flashed. "Hope he likes Star Wars, because I was thinking a marathon would be perfect right about now." She exchanged a grin with an amused Sam, who informed her that he didn't mind the idea at all.
Alex promised that she'd make sure they grabbed food before coming back and then climbed back into the Impala. Dean slid into the driver's seat and the second the door shut, she leaned forward, watching how Avery fluttered her eyes at Sam before ducking into a room. "She's...different. She's flirting with Sam for one."
Dean glanced at her starting the car and turning his music down. "Really?"
"Oh, believe me. She is." Alex sat back. "I'm going to warn her off. No offense, but your brother is a magnet for trouble. Both of you are."
"Look who's talking, Miss I-Have-an-Angel-Stalking-Me."
Alex only stuck her tongue out at him and turned her face away. "I was a threat before, though. Skinwalkers get tracked down all the time." She studied a nail, biting her lip. "You two are a prime example. If I wasn't with you two, I bet some other hunters would have murdered me."
Dean paused in pulling out of the parking lot to raise a brow at her. "...you've been really...needy lately, you know that?"
Alex worked her jaw, the scar on her cheek seeming to ripple with the action. "I'm tired. And while you two bloody fools pretend to be constantly angry and mistrustful of each other, you still love one another and see each other every day. The second I go near Matt, his family's at risk and his life goes to hell. So laugh at me if you want, but skinwalkers get lonely, okay?" She didn't look at him, staring harshly out the window. "And since I'm with you two because you bastards decided I'm not allowed to leave and Sam somewhat concerns me when it comes to demons, you're what's available."
"Nice to know I'm the last choice."
She rolled her eyes. "Not everything's about you, Winchester."
He cracked a small grin. "I like to say otherwise."
"I am more than aware of that." Alex rolled her eyes and then settled back to wait for their arrival at the house of the man they planned to interview.
"Now, you two said you were bloggers?"
Alex flashed Jim Jenkins a huge smile, flashing her white teeth even as one side of her face remained stationary. He couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from her scar, and while it bothered her, she pretended it didn't. "Yes, sir."
He eyed her for a few moments and then let his gaze flicker to Dean when he said, "Some of the people around town are saying what happened to you was a miracle."
"It was," he confirmed. "Plain as day."
"How can you be so sure that it was?" Alex asked, pretending to make a note in a notepad she held. In reality, she was just writing random insults for Dean to look at later.
"How else can you explain it? The doctors can't." Jim tapped his chest once. "There's a bullet in my heart, and it's pumping like a piston. I should probably go get it taken out soon, actually. Look, honestly...I was nobody's saint." He glanced into the living room, where his daughter and wife were seated, reading. "Not exactly father of the year, either."
"Okay," Alex hummed, writing another insult.
"But when that guy shot me and I didn't bleed a drop?" Jim pressed his lips together. "I just knew the Lord was giving me a second chance."
Dean gave a wry smile that Jim didn't notice. "That so?"
"I had this feeling...like angels were watching over me."
Alex's pen faltered and she exchanged a look with Dean, because she wasn't exactly looking to meet any angels, and neither was he. Neither had exchanged words about what had occurred in the bathroom of The Honey Wagon, where Barachiel had showed up, but no one liked to think of what would happen if they summoned him now, nearly a month later.
"I wouldn't expect you guys to understand," Jim sighed, frowning. He folded his hands in his lap.
"You wouldn't have happened to have swung by a crossroads in the past week or so?" Alex asked without looking up. He answered "no", looking bewildered. "Maybe you met someone?"
"Someone with black eyes? Red? Even...even yellow?" Dean asked, his voice changing a little as he suggested the last color. It had Alex squinting curiously at him.
Jim frowned, narrowing his eyes as he leaned closer. "Who'd you guys say you were again?"
Dean shook his head and stood, gesturing for Alex to do the same. "Never mind, thank you for your time."
They left quickly, before he could realize what they truly were - not bloggers. As they headed outside, Alex bent her head near Dean's and muttered, "So that's weird. No one should be able to survive a bullet to the heart...should we go talk to another one? See what they felt like when they should have been dead?"
He gave a curt nod. "Let's go. I'll call Sam and let him know on the way."
She said nothing, only climbed into the Impala wordlessly.
When they ducked into the motel room Avery had been using later, Alex arched an eyebrow. Star Wars was still playing, but both Avery and Sam were bent over a laptop, some scribbled notes written down in front of them. Both cheerfully looked up, looking perfectly comfortable beside one another.
Dean gave them a horrified look. "What kind of nerdy hell have I stepped into?"
Sam rolled his eyes and looked to Alex. She flashed him a quick smile and then explained, "That cancer survivor was clinically dead. His wife pulled the life-support and now he's taking her out for their twentieth anniversary and there's a couple more situations like that."
"We talked to a few people," Dean added. "All the same thing. What did you two find?"
Avery flashed him a smile and Alex squinted at her. So different from the nervous woman she'd left behind. She was more confident. Alex wondered if staying with Bobby had been good for her.
"So far, we haven't found any signs of a deal. And no one's died since Cole Griffith, who died ten days ago. It was the last death we could find."
Dean leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a frown appearing on his face. "Maybe it's what people say it is then."
"Miracles?" Sam gave him an incredulous look. "Dean, when do miracles just happen? I mean, we thought angels were cool until they showed up and turned into dicks."
Avery snorted.
"There's no deals, and there's no faith healers in the area from what I've gathered," Avery said, scanning her notes.
"These souls just aren't getting pulled to the light," Alex sighed, going for a cup of coffee that Sam had brewed in a pot. She poured some and then nearly dropped the pot. "Hey, what about-"
"Grim reapers," Sam finished. "I just started looking at that. That's what they do, right? Schlep souls?" Avery shot Alex a confused look and she shrugged, mouthing, Winchester language. "If death ain't in town-"
"Then nobody's dying," Dean realized. He looked lost. "So...the local reaper's on strike? Playing the back nine? I don't know, guys."
"Then how about we talk to somebody who might?" Sam suggested, glancing at Avery. Dean rolled his eyes and Sam huffed. "The kid. Look, if he was the last person to die around here, then he might have seen something. We should talk to him."
"Love how matter of fact you are about that," Dean said snidely. "Strange lives."
Alex sighed. "So we spend all of our time trying to get rid of the dead ghosts and now you want to bring them back? Brilliant. Just brilliant." She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated, and Avery smiled a fraction at her dramatic behavior.
"What do we need for that kind of spell?" she asked, climbing to her feet. "Or ritual or whatever. I can go purchase the things."
"I'll make you a list," Sam sighed. "Dean doesn't know what it needs."
"That's a lie," Dean disagreed, pouting a little, but snatched the freshly made coffee from Alex's hands. She growled over the fact that she hadn't even gotten to drink a little before he stole it and went to make another mug.
"Twat," she called him.
His return comment earned him a nasty snarl.
"Here!"
Avery calling out softly in the darkness of the cemetery brought Alex trotting to her side in canine form, relieved. She hated searching headstones for a particular one. It made her sad, seeing some of the dates. While most were decent lifespans, there was the occasional one in which a child had died.
It stung.
Alex stopped beside her friend, who waited for the Winchesters to come over. Without hesitation, Sam dropped a bag. Dean grabbed a cloth from the bag and spread it out and then went to work helping Sam set up the small "station". Alex and Avery hung back a little, watching.
Finally, leaning on another headstone, Dean flipped through a journal until he found the page he wanted. "You sure this is going to work?"
"No," Sam admitted, earning a snort from Alex, who turned her icy eyes on him. "But if his spirit's around, this should smoke him out."
Dean closed the journal as Sam began to mix something into a bowl. Alex sneezed. Dean cracked a smile before sighing, "This job is jacked. You want me to gank a monster or torch a corpse, let's light it up, right?" He paused, looking at Avery. "Sorry, kinda brutal."
She gave him a nearly dark smile. "You left a body on my doorstep. I learned to bury them. Have no fears about talking about stuff like that."
Sam gave her an odd look and then looked back to what he was doing.
"Look," Dean sighed. "If we fix whatever this is, people will start dropping dead. Good people."
"It's not about that," Avery said gently as Sam climbed to his feet and swiped his hands on his jeans. "It's the natural order. You're born, you live, you die."
"What she said," Sam muttered.
Dean scoffed. "Don't you see the irony in that? Look at us, Sam. We're like the poster boys of the unnatural order. All we do is ditch death."
Alex grumbled something that no one understood, and shrugged her shoulders when Avery curiously looked at her. Normal rules didn't apply to the Winchesters, apparently.
"We're no different than anyone else," Dean began, but Sam cut him off right there.
"Dude, I'm infected with demon blood. You've been to Hell." Sam arched a brow. Dean grimaced, acknowledging that with a nod. "Look, I know you want to think of yourself as Joe the Plumber, Dean, but you're not."
Alex suddenly bristled, fur fluffing up. She growled, leaning her shoulders against her friend, and Avery tangled her fingers in the ruff of her coat, looking over her shoulder when a man called, "Hey!" Avery swore under her breath, hunching her shoulders awkwardly.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, shining the flashlight over all of them. He sidled a short step to the side when Alex's teeth were caught by the light. He shone it over Sam's setup. "What the hell is this?"
"Okay," Dean said carefully. He scrambled for an idea of what to say and Sam glanced awkwardly at him. "This is...this is not what it looks like," he said with a nervous laugh.
"Really?" the man challenged. "Because this looks like devil worship."
Avery bit her lip to hide a smile as Dean stumbled over his words. "What? No! No, no, this is not devil worship. This...uh, this is...this is…"
Alex barked again, snarling at him. Her fur bristled and she shoved Avery back.
"I don't have a good answer," Dean admitted.
"We were just leaving," Sam began, but the man suddenly smiled and Alex made a low guttural sound from deep in her chest. "Alex," he hushed, but Avery had shrieked in surprise when the man smiled broadly at them, eyes rolling back to reveal white.
"You're not going anywhere, Sam." Sam's face paled and Dean's hand went to a gun at his back that they all knew would be useless. Alex pressed back against Avery's knees, bustling her as far back as she could.
"I thought you got deep fried," Dean said darkly. "Extra crispy."
"Nah." Alastair smirked, eyes returning to normal. "Just the pediatrician I was riding. His wife's still looking for him. It's hilarious." His gaze turned to a furious Sam, and then darted curiously to Avery, who fisted her hands nervously in Alex's fur. Her eyes were filled with terror. "Interesting...I've got no time to chat. Got a hot date with death, you know?"
One moment, Alex was standing before her friend, protecting her, the next she was staggering to her feet,ears ringing. Avery cried out not too far away, wheezing for breath and Dean lay beside a headstone, dazed and clutching his bloodied head.
Alex wasn't sure what happened. But she saw Sam raise his hand - and then the demon was gone, sliding from his body and vanishing into the air. Sam dropped his hand, bewildered, and then darted over to check on his brother and Avery. Alex was somewhat insulted he didn't check on her, but shook her fur out and tested her limbs. She tasted blood on her tongue and could only grimace in pain when her tongue swiped over a nasty cut in her lip.
When he'd made sure Dean was good, merely sitting up with a groan, Sam went to Avery, gently prodding her head for injuries. She looked sick, and Alex frowned when she saw the odd angle of her arm.
She shook herself out of her canine form and called, "I'm going to go get the car going."
Dean weakly took his keys from his pocket and tossed them to her with a groan.
Alex snatched them out of the air and ran to find her clothes and get the car ready.
When they got back to the motel - Dean wouldn't get in until Sam was in the driver's seat - Dean went to lay down with an icepack, and Sam took Avery and Alex to the hospital so that Avery's arm could get seen to.
When Avery's arm was casted a few hours later, they left and went back. When they walked in, Dean was lying on a bed, dozing. An ice pack was resting on his head, and Sam frowned a little, asking, "Dean? You okay?"
"I'm in pain," Dean said sharply. "That's how I'm doing. I think I have a concussion."
Alex sighed, recognizing the tone that he'd taken up. He was about to pick a fight with his brother. To Avery, who was ready to go to sleep after being given some pain medication, she murmured, "Go ahead and go to sleep if you want. I'm going to stay here and make sure that they don't kill each other."
"Kay," she said with exhaustion. She went over to the bed Dean didn't occupy and flopped down onto it, out in seconds.
"Aspirin, Dean?" Alex asked. He gave a curt nod. She went to grab the bottle of pills as he turned his attention back onto his brother.
"So, Sam." Sam's shoulders tightened as he went to work on typing something up on his laptop. Notes, Alex saw as she headed back over to the eldest Winchester with the medicine. "Demons, huh?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "So much for miracles."
Dean narrowed his eyes. "And what the hell happened with Alastair?"
"I told you," Sam said with a roll of his eyes. "He tried to fling me or whatever." He awkwardly flicked a wrist to show what he meant, and then looked up. "It didn't work. He bailed."
"Well, why couldn't he fling you?" Dean's jaw worked, his eyes blazing. Alex went to sit on the bed with the unconscious Avery. "He chucked you pretty good last time."
Sam rubbed his temples, sighing heavily. "I don't know, Dean."
He lifted his gaze when Dean spoke in an angry voice. "Sam, do me a favor. If you're gonna keep your little secrets, we can't really stop you." Alex cooed under her breath mockingly, pleased to be included, but hastily shut her mouth when he glared at her. "But don't treat me like an idiot, okay?"
Here we go, Alex groaned silently.
"Dean, I'm not keeping secrets-"
Dean cut his brother off. "Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever." He touched his head with a scowl that hastily changed into a look of utter pain.
"Bobby called," Alex said hastily to turn the subject around. "He did some digging, and he thinks that Sam's right about the reaper. It's not just gone...it's been kidnapped."
"By demons? Why?" Dean looked at her, confused, and she glanced over when Sam spoke up.
"'And he bloodied death under the newborn sky - sweet to taste, but bitter when once devoured,'" Sam recited. "It's from a very obscure, very arcane version of Revelations."
"If they kill a reaper under the solstice moon," Alex finished, "Which is tomorrow, by the way, there's a seal that is broken."
"Where are the angels is what we want to know," Sam told him. "We could use their help if demons have conquered a reaper." He scrubbed a hand down his face, and Alex clenched her jaw. "We could use their help for once."
Dean's gaze flicked to Alex, and she shook her head. There was no way in hell they were summoning an angel. Not when Barachiel was probably running around in an attitude. "It looks like we're gonna have to take care of this one in ourselves," Dean told her calmly.
"Dean," Sam sighed. "Reapers are invisible. The only people that can see them are the dead and the dying."
"If ghosts are the only ones that can see them," Dean began, and Sam and Alex gave him equally horrified looks. "Then we become ghosts." He grinned, as if proud of himself.
"He has a concussion," Alex told Sam and Sam grimaced in agreement. "You're crazy, Winchester," she added.
Dean rolled his eyes. "I know it sounds crazy, but let me call Pamela. She could be here pretty quickly. I'll just tell her that there's some girl she'd be interested in meeting." He glanced at Avery. "And I want to know why that demonic bastard thought Avery was interesting. It can't be good."
Alex murmured her agreement, worried about her friend, and then settled back as Dean fumbled with his phone to call Pamela. Amused, Sam waved him off. "I'll do it," he told him. "Go to bed."
"Yeah. Sounds good." Dean grimaced in pain.
Alex checked her phone as Dean's snores filled the air and Sam stepped outside to call Pamela, speaking in low voices to her on the phone. She bit her lip as she studied the message there, a nervous sound in her throat.
Matt was pleading for her to at least stop by. Demon, he thought. He thought there was a demon hanging around his section of Denver, and he didn't want his children in harm's way.
Alex finally sighed and closed out of the messages.
"You three hunters," Pamela said as she strode into the motel room the next day. "Are quite possibly the craziest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing."
Sam rolled his eyes while a sleepy Avery, who'd been sleeping for quite some time and had just woken up for coffee, blinked curiously at the newcomer. She yawned and Sam muttered, "Nice to see you, Pamela. You're a sight for sore eyes."
"Aren't I? And who are you, sweetheart?" She beamed at Avery, who eyed her suspiciously, cradling her coffee in one hand. Pamela lowered her sunglasses, showing off her white eyes, and Avery gaped.
"This is Avery Hunt," Alex introduced. She flashed Pamela a warm smile. She'd reluctantly begun to like her cheerful attitude since she'd met her. She still felt guilty over Castiel burning her eyes out, to be honest. "Avery, this is Pamela. She's going to help us become ghosts."
"She's not-"
"I'm not a demon, sweetcheeks." Pamela winked and then put her sunglasses back up. She turned to Sam. "Alright, which of you brainiacs came up with the astral projection?"
"Winchester number one," Alex stated, pointing at the same time that Dean raised his hand and said, "Yo."
"Of course." Pamela waved them off with a sigh. "So let's be clear. You want to rip your souls out of your bodies and take a little stroll through the spirit world?"
"Well, three of us do," Avery murmured. "I'm not doing it. I think I'm actually going to go and get that tattoo you mentioned, Sam," she added when he looked her way. She touched the spot over her heart. "This one."
"Good idea," he agreed. "Do you need money?"
"No. I'll charge my ex's credit card." Avery smirked and Pamela gave her a look of approval.
"I like you, girly," Pamela told her. She turned her attention back on the Winchesters and Alex, who was fidgeting. "Do you have any idea how heavy-duty insane this is?" she demanded, folding her arms.
"Maybe, but that's where the reaper is, so…" Dean shrugged.
Pamela shook her head. "You don't know what you're doing, Dean."
"No," he admitted. "But you do."
"Yeah, I do." She suddenly looked agitated. "And guess what? I'm sick of being hauled back into your angel-demon, Soc-Greaser crap. I lost my eyes for you three and Bobby. I'm done."
Alex bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
Pamela acknowledged her apology with a curt nod of the head, but Dean said, "Look, I'd love to be kicking back with a cold one, watching Judge Judy, but the world thinks otherwise." His jaw worked furiously, his green eyes furious.
"Nice. Blind jokes."
"You know what I mean." Dean rubbed the back of his head. "We're talking about the end of the world here, Pamela. Okay? No more tasseled leather pants, no more Ramones CDs. No more nothing." He paused and gave her a pleading look. "Please. We need your help."
Pamela was silent for a long moment. And then she sighed, shaking her head. "Get me some candles."
It took some time to gather the candles that Pamela needed. Avery left in that time to get an anti-possession symbol for a tattoo, to protect her, and Alex wished her luck on the matter. Dean had commented that she really ought to get one for herself, and Alex had muttered an agreement before focusing.
When they were ready, Sam swept the curtains closed and darkened the room. Dean lit the candles and Alex settled herself beside Sam on one of the beds. She looked nervous, her blue eyes wide.
Dean dropped onto the opposite bed. "Everyone ready?"
"No," Alex said at the same time that Sam said, "Yes."
Pamela flashed a grin and she tilted her head. "Tell me something. Even if you do break into the veil and you find the reaper, how are you going to save it?"
"With style and class," Dean retorted.
"You're gonna be three walking pieces of fog who can't touch or move anything. You'll be defenseless, hotshot." Pamela spoke with sharpness, her eyes flashing. "Ghosts have had plenty of time to practice. You better start cramming. Now. All of you. Lay down and close your eyes."
They did as they were told. Alex hesitated as she closed her eyes, not really looking forward to this and wondering why she had agreed.
"Animum vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. Vis, vis, vis," Pamela murmured, the strange language washing over their ears. "Okay, that's it. Showtime."
In a flash, Dean had sat up and studied his hands before frowning at Pamela. He looked at Alex, who hadn't moved, and then at Sam was already on his feet, looking down at his own body.
"All right," Pamela murmured. "I'm assuming you're somewhere over the rainbow. Remember that I have to bring you back." She stood, stretching and then bent to whisper something to the unconscious Sam. Sam snickered and then watched as she headed off to somehow make herself something to eat.
"What'd she say?" Dean demanded.
But Sam didn't answer as Alex - and her body - sat up with a frown. "Did it not work?"
Pamela answered without turning around. "Just curious, Alex. Ever heard of a skinwalker ghost?"
"No," she admitted and understanding ran through Sam.
"She can't do it," he told his brother.
Alex's head snapped around and locked on them, as if she could see them, yet she couldn't. Her head tilted.
"Alex?" Dean tried curiously, striding over to stand behind her. Sam stifled a laugh when he puffed out a breath to bother her - and the skinwalker bunched up her shoulder, whirling around to glare at nothing.
"Alex," Sam said slowly. "Can you hear us?"
But she didn't answer. She merely glared at nothing.
Again, without turning around, Pamela hummed, "Dogs are sensitive to spirits, aren't they? I bet you can sense them. Work at that. See if you can even track them even."
Alex struggled to think over that for a moment and then furrowed her brow. After a very long moment, she shook her head. "I feel something odd. Like a...disturbance. I don't hear or see anything though. How can I track them like that?"
Pamela shrugged. "Good luck," was all she said.
Dean and Sam wandered off after a while, going to investigate what they could. Neither knew where Alex had gone in that time, but both were too busy investigating one dead Cole Griffith, who'd been the last person to die. They'd found him with ease - or his ghost, at least.
Even now, as they watched Cole's mother sipping at a glass of vodka, Cole was serious. He was a kid, Sam supposed. His gaze never left his mother, guilt in his gaze as he rasped, "I was outside all morning." He glanced at them. "They tell you to be careful when it's cold."
"Cold air can cause an asthma attack," Sam told Dean quietly when Dean mumbled a questioning sound.
Cole nodded. "But then I was in my room," he continued. "It happened so fast. I called out for my mom, but nothing came out. Everything started spinning, and then I was just standing there. Looking down at my body." He leaned against the table, biting his lip. "He was this creepy old guy in a black suit. He wanted me to go with him, but…" His gaze slid to his mother. "I didn't want to go."
"Reaper," Sam muttered, and Dean nodded curtly. "How'd you get rid of him?"
"I didn't, the black smoke did." Cole turned his attention back on them.
Sam frowned, silently wishing Alex was around to sniff out sulfur in ways they couldn't.
"It was everywhere," Cole explained. "I hid in the closet, and when I came out, it was gone. And so was he."
"Do you know where the smoke went?" Dean asked, leaning forward.
"No," he muttered. "But I know where it is."
And then the lights flickered. Cole's face filled with anxiety and from where she was drinking her alcohol, Cole's mother looked around, scared. "They're back." He vanished without another word.
Dean shot to his feet and Sam followed suit, arms folded. Their eyes just narrowly caught something fly through the room and up the stairs. "Another reaper," Sam realized.
"Hey! Hey, wait!" Dean suddenly shouted, preparing to storm up the stairs after it. "We need to talk to-"
He cut off, blinking as a woman slowly descended the steps, brown eyes amused. "Hello, Dean. It's been a while."
"Dean?" Sam muttered, looking to his brother.
"Do I know you?" he asked sharply, glaring.
"We go way back." She smirked. She stepped past them, heading for the kitchen. They exchanged looks and followed her into it. "You don't remember me?"
"Honestly," Dean told her. "If I had a nickel for every time I heard a girl say that… You're going to have to freshen my memory." He wore no smile, suspicious, and she met his gaze for a long moment. Suddenly, she lunged forward and touched his cheek. Dean jerked away and Sam narrowed his gaze in alarm, moving to intervene - but Dean rasped, "Tessa."
"That's one of my names," Tessa hummed. "Yes."
"So you do know her?" Sam looked to Dean with confusion. Dean's jaw worked furiously - he'd been doing that a lot lately, Sam noted. Mostly when women were involved - particularly Alex, but Alex wasn't around to make sarcastic comments at the moment.
"From the hospital. After the accident." Sam furrowed his brow. Dean glanced at him, gaze hard and anxious. "The accident with...with Dad."
"So," Sam said lowly as he studied Tessa. "This is the reaper that came after you."
Tessa smiled a little and turned to look at him. "Well this was fun, but if you'll excuse me…"
She moved to step past Dean, but he blocked her path. "Wait, you can't...you can't just take that kid. Demons are in town. They've already snatched your reaper pal. The kid knows things we need to know."
She gave him a biting look. "So?"
"You should leave. For all we know, they could try and snatch you, too," Sam pointed out.
"This town is off the rails," Tessa said sharply, examining her nails. She looked up after a moment. "And someone has to set it straight."
"We understand," Dean said quietly. "But these are special circumstances."
"What?" Tessa sniffed. "Your whole angel-demon dance-off? Look, I could care less. I just want to do my job." She curled her lips back from her teeth a little, annoyed. They gave her pleading looks, their eyes stretched wide, and Tessa sighed heavily. "All right, but just so we're clear. When I start reaping again, I'm starting with that kid."
"Understood," Sam murmured. He offered a weak smile. "Give me a moment. I'm going to go talk with him."
Dean only watched his brother go, left with the reaper. Tessa flashed him a slight smile, one he tried to return - but couldn't.
It was to his surprise that he fully expected a sneering British insult in his ear.
After shaking off the irritation that Pamela hadn't told Alex the spell wouldn't work on her, the skinwalker had made up her mind on something and had left the motel. Avery was still waiting for her tattoo to be finished - the man had apparently had an appointment, which would come before sudden decisions. Alex told her to take her time.
The skinwalker weighed the hex bag in her hand, studying it, and then threw it as hard as she could. Her sharp blue eyes watched the hex bag soar through the air. She turned on her heel a moment later and studied the area around her.
She'd have Sam make her another one later.
Alex took a deep breath to steady herself, and then said icily, "Barachiel? I know you're watching, you bastard. If you can find me with an ultra powerful hex bag while I'm dying, you can find me without it."
The fluttering of wings filled her ears. She spun around, mouth open - and then stopped dead in her tracks, because the angel before her was not the one she'd expected. His blue eyes were troubled. "Alex," Castiel said quietly in way of greeting. "Barachiel is unavailable."
Alex faltered, unsure of what to do. She'd planned on demanding to know what God wanted with her, why He had decided that she was to be some sort of bloody Soldier.
Castiel was not in that plan.
"Why did you approach Avery?" Alex asked after a moment of thinking. It was an important question. She knew that Avery was different - her very scent was different - but she didn't know how. "What do you want with her?"
Castiel tilted his head a fraction. "Avery is...not what you think her to be."
"I gathered that." Alex folded her arms tightly, eyes flashing. "I could smell it. So what is she?"
Castiel pressed his lips together unhappily. "You don't need to know at this moment. Just…" He furrowed his brow in thought. He looked up suddenly, his lips parting. "There are demons here. In this town. Where no one is dying." His gaze softened. "These people could be in Heaven."
Alex blinked. "Heaven...is that an actual place?"
He inclined his head. "Of course. For those who deserve it."
She was curious now, and she couldn't help the questions that bubbled at her lips. "How do you know who deserves it? What's it like? Is...is my family happy there?" He glanced at her in surprise and her own icy eyes widened desperately. "They are there, aren't they, Cas?"
Amused, he murmured, "Heaven is a place where people can be in their happiest place eternally. Your family is happy, Alex. Your mother and father are together. They wonder where their children are, but they are happy."
Alex wrapped her arms around herself, seeming happy with this. "Thank you. So. Where's Barachiel? I wanted to ask some questions-"
"Barachiel is unavailable," Castiel repeated, eyes flashing warningly. "As it is, he is not someone to trust. He cares nothing for the humans. Has he asked something of you?"
She blinked. "Information on Dean. That's it."
Castiel shook his head hastily. "Don't give him information. You were dying, were you not? Should you need such assistance like that, summon no one. Your subconscious has recognized Barachiel as the angel that has been given orders to guard the Soldier. You cannot allow him freedom over you."
Alex tightened her grip on her arms and gave the angel a long look. "So you say, but how are you any better?" She raised her chin. "Why the hell should I listen to you, Castiel? You stand with Uriel. You claim that Barachiel is bad. So what does that make you?"
He was quiet for a short while. Castiel looked up to the sky. He studied the sky, the clouds that raced across its blue mass. After standing there like that, he finally sighed, "An angel who does not believe that everything we do is right." He looked at her. "The angels wish you dead. Wish to use the Winchesters as they see fit. Use you as they see fit. You are a Soldier. Surely you should follow their orders?" He frowned. "I do not understand their reason. God has not commanded anything recently. Certainly not to demand information on Dean Winchester."
Alex chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "So I won't give information to Barachiel then."
She wasn't sure. But for some reason, she trusted Castiel - far more than she trusted Barachiel or Uriel or even Anna. He was honest, truthful and blunt. He wasn't so keen on hiding things - though he did have some secrets.
He nodded and then turned on his heel. "There are many demons here, Alex, many bad creatures. You should leave while you're alive."
"Ah, before you go," Alex said hastily and he froze, glancing over his shoulder at her. She wrung her hands, uncertain. "My brother, Matthew. He claims...he claims that there are demons in Denver. Do you know if there are?"
He gave a smile. It wasn't a large one, but neither was it small. It scared her.
"There are demons everywhere, Alex, just as there are miracles."
And then he was gone.
In his place, where he'd been standing, was the hex bag she'd thrown away.
"I'll tell you...life is funny."
Dean glanced at Tessa, waiting impatiently for Sam to come down with Cole. He was ready to head back to their motel room soon, antsy. He didn't like that they'd left Alex and Avery for so long. While he'd once hated the skinwalker, he appreciated her skills sometimes, and he didn't entirely dislike her hanging around. It was nice to have someone biting out sarcasm every now and then.
Or every second of every day.
And she helped him keep an eye on Sam.
She was useful.
Not liked, he told himself, but useful.
"You're the one that got away, Dean," Tessa told him. "You'd be surprised how little that happens to me."
"Can I tell you something?" Dean didn't know why he was talking. "Between you and me?"
"Who am I going to tell?" she hummed, gesturing at nothing.
"After our little, uh, experience...for that whole year, I felt like I had this...hole in my gut. Like I was missing something. I didn't know what." Dean glanced at her. "Do you know what it was?" She shook her head. "It was you. The pain of losing my father and Sammy. I just...I wish I had gone with you for good. But I guess things are different now."
"What?" She curled a lip, challenging him. "The angels on your shoulder? The skinwalker in your bed?" Dean grunted in disapproval at her words.
"Don't get me wrong. I mean, most angels and skinwalkers are dicks. Alex is...okay, and not in my bed, by the way. Cas is just weird. But still. You know, I've done things. Horrible things. And someone upstairs decided to give me a second chance. It's...weird."
Sam clearing his throat caught their attention. Tessa forced a smile to her face and turned to face Sam and Cole, who stood nervously behind him. "Hey, Cole. I'm Tessa," she murmured. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Cole stiffened. "It's okay," Sam soothed. "Tell them what you told me."
"I saw the smoke at my funeral," Cole muttered. Dean narrowed his eyes. "It was at the funeral home...it was everywhere."
Before he could continue, the lights flickered and they all went dead still.
"Are you doing that?" Dean rasped.
Tessa shook her head. "No," she said slowly.
The front door slammed open.
Within seconds, black smoke had filled the room, blinding them all. Dean ducked down, Sam shoving Cole down - or at least trying to. The eldest Winchester swore furiously as he waited and when it was done, he looked up and shouted for Tessa.
She was gone.
"Cole?" Sam questioned. "You good?"
"How the hell are we supposed to fight that?" Dean barked furiously.
"I don't know," Sam retorted. "Learn some ghost moves?"
"By tonight?" Dean snorted. "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi's-"
"Who's that?" Cole asked, bewildered.
Sam didn't answer.
It was after a long day of running through how to fight as a ghost - under instruction by Cole, of course, who turned out to be surprisingly good at fighting - that the Winchesters went to the funeral home that the young ghost had mentioned.
Dean was getting even antsier than before, foot tapping impatiently as Sam ducked into the building. Dean followed him in and they made their way to a room. Dean froze in the doorway.
The room was hue, and in the middle of it, in an eight-pointed star, was Tessa and another reaper. At the far side of the star was a man, his eyes watching nothing.
"Dude," Dean breathed. "Check me out."
He stepped forward and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was behind the man. He tapped him on the shoulder and then punched him when he turned to look. The man swore, lashing out. Sam copied his brother's actions with a grin, and together the Winchesters beat the man away.
"You know, this ghost thing is kind of cool," Dean said. Sam flashed him a quick grin that vanished when he caught sight of another man approaching. He carried a chain in his hands and grinned when Sam commented, "It's iron."
And it somehow surrounded them.
Dean swore, trying to figure out when it had happened as a third stepped in, eyes rolling back white. "Boys," Alastair laughed. "Find the place okay?"
Sam clamped his mouth shut.
Alastair approached the chain and hefted a shotgun that he'd carried up. Without hesitation, he fired it off at Dean, who disintegrated. "Rock salt," he purred. "Not so much fun now, is it?" Sam scowled as Dean reappeared beside him, lip curling in a motion that was similar to Alex's actions. "Go on," Alastair challenged Sam. "Try your mojo on me now!"
"Go to hell," Sam spat, furious.
"If only I could," the demon sighed. He crossed the room, taking up a new stance. "But they keep sending me back up to this arctic wasteland."
"To kill death?" Dean snipped.
"No," Alastair corrected. "To kill death twice. It takes two to break a seal...I figured another one would show up though. They're like lemmings." He shot the gun and Sam vanished. "By the way, it's...good to see you again, Dean."
"You can shoot us all you want," Dean snarled as Sam reappeared, hands wrapped around himself. "But you can't kill us."
Alastair beamed. "Is that so?" He shrugged. "We'll see. Anyhoo, the moon's in the right spot. The board is set. Let's get started, shall we?" He retrieved a weapon that had been hidden in the shadows, a scythe of sorts. He spun it thoughtfully, smirking.
"You're going to kill a reaper with that?" Dean eyed the scythe warily. "A little on the nose, don't you think?"
"Is it?" Alastair didn't seem too concerned. "An old friend lent it to me. You know, he doesn't really ride a pale horse? He does have three amigos though. And they're just jonesing for the apocalypse." He knelt beside the older reaper, grabbing him by the collar of his suit and hauling him up. He placed the scythe at his neck. "It pays to have friends in low places, don't you think?" And then he yanked, mumbling a cantation. Dean and Sam threw their hands in front of their faces when there was a white-blue light that blinded them.
Alastair moved onto Tessa, who'd taken on a terrified look, awake. She threw a desperate look at the Winchesters, who could do nothing but watch for the time being. Sam narrowed his eyes and suddenly focused sharply on a chandelier, ignoring Dean's demand to know what he was doing. Sam hissed an answer under his breath, and Dean settled down to assist him.
It took a moment, but finally, the chandelier's chain snapped.
It crashed to the ground, breaking the reaper trap. Tessa disappeared and reappeared at the chain, removing it hastily. As she took a stance beside the Winchesters, Dean smiled and wiggled his fingers mockingly. "Bye, bye," he told the fuming Alastair.
And then they were gone.
"How's it going?" Alex asked Pamela quietly as she stepped into the room. She could see the Winchesters, both still unconscious. Pamela had been sitting with them for hours now, not once leaving, even as Avery had returned. The cheerful woman had curled up on the couch to watch Harry Potter and was passed out.
"Fine," she murmured, not turning her head. "I'll give them a while longer before I summon them back, of course."
Alex nodded thoughtfully. Suddenly, her head snapped around. She growled low in her throat. "Stay here."
She bolted out of the room and into the main room, waking Avery and sending her in with Pamela. She waited until she heard the click of the door lock, her gaze flickering this way and that. "Where are you, you bloody bastard?" she growled.
Her answer came in the form of something crashing into her. Alex hit the ground with a snarl and a howl of pain, her arm twisting painfully beneath her. She lashed out, loosening her blade. The demon grinned as she threw him to the side, scrabbling to stab him. He kicked her sharply in the face after shooting to his feet. Alex cried out.
The demon kicked her blade away when she dropped while shooting to her hands and knees, reaching. Ignoring the blood streaming down her chin, Alex snarled. She threw herself forward, crashing into the demon's legs. He crashed down beside her, wrestling. Alex shrieked her fury.
And then, suddenly, the door to the room Pamela and Avery took shelter in flew open. Alex was too busy fighting to look over at who'd come, wheezing when he kicked her in the stomach. She lashed out, catching him with her elbow in his nose.
"Alex!"
Alex distantly recognized Sam's voice as he threw the dangerous black blade she used to her, and she expertly caught it by the hilt before driving it through the demon's eye - at the precise time that it drove a blade of its own into her shoulder. There was a crunch as it slammed through bone. Alex gasped as the demon fell dead before her knees, and let her hands grasp nervously at the blade after dropping her own.
"Sam," she sputtered pleadingly, not sure of how to react.
He dropped to kneel beside her. "You need a hospital-"
"Death's not here," she reminded him, heaving for air. She knew she couldn't die from the wound, logically. Even with death acting like it should in this strange town, she'd be fine. It just needed to be kept from bleeding and her skinwalker blood would handle the rest - and that included healing the bone.
"There was another one, it got Pamela in the gut," Sam muttered, eyeing the blade. "Okay, on the count of three, I'm going to take it out. One-"
Without hesitation, he ripped the blade from her shoulder. It didn't hurt, but it sure as hell felt funny enough that she yelped. She shuddered, feeling the strange sensation as she climbed to her feet, taking her own blade and lining it up along the inside of her arm. She took a deep breath.
"You okay?" Sam asked, standing beside her. He was too tall, Alex decided. Much too tall...with a sigh, she nodded, hugging herself. "Good. Let's go check on Pamela." She murmured her agreement, and they headed for the room that Pamela rested in, her face grim.
They ducked into the bedroom. Avery was white-faced, curled up in the middle of the bed. Her long dark hair was piled on top of her hair, her dark eyes darting around. Pamela sat on the edge of the bed Dean still rested in, her hand pressed to her stomach. Her breathing was ragged, her body shivering.
"Pamela," Alex began, but Pamela waved her off in favor of leaning over Dean's body to touch his forehead. "Imum vult decipi, ergo decipiatur," she whispered. "Vis, vis, vis." When she was done, she stumbled to her feet and Sam stepped forward, catching her arm and helping her.
Avery moved out of the way, telling Alex in a small voice, "We were just...sitting here. And then he broke in through the window and there was a knife-"
"Are you okay?" Alex said fiercely, and then swore softly as pain radiated from her shoulder. She smacked a hand over the wound and felt her face go as white as a ghost as her hand came back red. The reapers were back at work.
"Hey," Sam was saying desperately to Pamela, who was pressing her hand over her heavily bleeding stomach. "We just have to talk to Tessa. That's all. Get her to hold off reaping until we get you better-"
Dean shot upright suddenly, heaving for air. He looked bewildered, looking around as Pamela took a sip of a flask in her hand. His gaze locked on Alex for a moment, and then shifted to Pamela, eyes widening. "What happened?"
"Dean," Sam demanded. "Where's Tessa?"
Dean said nothing, and Pamela laughed shakily. She removed her glasses, showing off her white plastic eyes. She swallowed thickly, coughing softly. "I see," she muttered, and then laughed again at her own joke.
"Pamela, I'm so sorry," Alex croaked, her eyes shining with horrified tears.
"You don't deserve this," Sam added mournfully.
She suddenly snorted blood at him. "Yeah, I don't. I told you I didn't want anything to do with this, didn't I. Do me a favor." She coughed again, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her long dark hair fell into her face and Sam moved it aside for her. "Tell that bastard Bobby Singer...t-to go to hell for ever introducing me to you three bastards in the first place."
"Take it easy, Pamela," Dean mumbled, sliding from the bed. He stood beside his brother, arms crossed tightly, jaw working furiously. After a moment, he murmured, "If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place."
She choked, "You're lying. But what the hell, right? Everybody's gotta go sometime." She suddenly gestured for Sam, and he hastily leaned in. S he weakly grabbed his shoulder and murmured into his ear. Sam's eyes went wide and Alex said nothing, only narrowed her own suspiciously at him. Suddenly, Pamela coughed again. She leaned back, and Avery made a nervous sound when she stilled.
"Pamela!" Alex breathed.
But Pamela was gone.
Some more Avery! I like Avery. She's not going anywhere anytime soon, either.
Thanks to reviewers (Estella Hughes (for chapter 10) and Trench gun!) as well as those who favorited and followed!