Note- If anyone is wondering, yes Kaida is just like anyone else and procrastinates when she doesn't really want to do something. Which considering I am supposed to be spending all of my free time looking for a job, I can't really point fingers.

The Weapon

Chapter 34- Under my skin

Kaida collapsed onto the lumpy motel mattress and tried to remember why she had suggested staying there in the first place. Taking the phone out of her pocket she glanced at the screen for a moment debating whether to call Faye and take her up on her offer anyway. But she didn't. Instead she scrolled through the numbers and pressed call.

"This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this an emergency, call my son, Dean..."

Kaida hung up before the beep of the voicemail and threw the phone down onto the bedside table with a groan. She thought about calling one of her brothers, but decided against it. She had heard more than enough from them on the subject that morning when she had suggested going to see Faye in the first place.

They had stopped for something to eat after dropping the girl Charlie off at her house when she brought it up. Sam was quiet which she expected. He hadn't been around for any of the drama after Faye had gone to college. Dean on the other hand was furious.

"Do you not remember what happened Kaida, because I do. I remember every single damn time she didn't answer the phone when you called her. I remember every single time I had to come and get you because you had drunk yourself into oblivion."

Kaida closed her eyes. She tried not to remember those times, pushed them from her mind.

"But she has information Dean. She found something on me, something on what I can do. I have to go."

The hunter gritted her teeth at the memory. It had gone on for over an hour like that. Back and forth between the two of them while Sam sat in the middle confused. Again she looked at her phone debating whether to call Faye. What she really wanted was a drink, a really big drink. But then she heard John's voice in her head.

"Mary and I grew up in the same town. She was incredible, and some days I still can't believe that she agreed to marry me. When she died my entire world came tumbling down. I was a mess. I still am a mess. She was my everything. I've been there Kaida and I can tell you that the answer isn't at the bottom of a bottle, because I've looked."

Groaning again at the memory Kaida stood up and retrieved the notes from her bag. She had to start on the research. At least it would give her something else to concentrate on. It only took a few hours however before exhaustion and stress took over and Kaida was asleep.

Kaida knew she was dreaming but it felt familiar. She was standing on a mountain top, there were trees further down the slope but where she stood there was nothing but bare snow covered rock. The air smelt crisp and fresh in the moonlight. There was a slight breeze and Kaida closed her eyes to relish the feeling of it on her face and through her hair. It felt so freeing, the wind in her hair, and on her wings. She opened her eyes slowly at that thought. Wings, since when did she have wings.

Flexing the muscles in her back experimentaly Kaida got used to the feel of her new limbs. It was strange how right it felt to have them there protruding from between her shoulder blades, how easy they were to control. It was difficult to see in the dark but they were large and leather like, the wingspan large enough that she could wrap them around herself. Pulling them forward she ran her hands along the pitch-black skin until she reached the talons at the end.

It all felt so familiar, and so right. Like she had been here before, and she knew what was coming next. Stretching the wings back out behind her she flapped them sharply and took off into the cool night air. It felt even better actually soaring through the night sky.

When Kaida woke up the next morning she actually had to take a moment to remember that it had all been a dream. Stepping out of the shower she looked at her back in the mirror but she didn't look any different. Laughing at her own stupidity Kaida got ready to meet Faye for their study session. She hadn't managed to get through much on her own the night before, being too distracted to concentrate, but now she was determined. She was a professional and she could see Faye and understand the research at the same time. She had to.

Faye tried to concentrate on her morning classes, but it was difficult to keep her focus. It had been incredible seeing Kaida the night before, even if it hadn't been for very long. She really had missed her and she felt guilty for how awkward things were between them. She knew the reason that Kaida had stopped calling, knew that she had missed more than a few calls with her busy schedule. But she couldn't help that. She appreciated why the hunter wanted to keep things professional, and why she had insisted on staying in a motel, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt. They had been so close once upon a time, and now they were practically strangers. They had hardly spoken to each other last night, but Faye could see that there was something wrong. She had always been able to tell when there was something on Kaida's mind, when she was worrying about something, and last night that had definitely been the case.

Dean sighed as he got back into the car. It was inevitable that he would give in to his brother, he always did, but that didn't mean he had to like it. They had been on their way to a hunt in Arizona and then suddenly their plans had changed because one of Sam's college friends was in trouble. Knowing that Kaida would want to meet up with them when she was finished in Ohio, he sent her a quick text before pulling out of the gas station.

Kaida sat at a table in the library while she waited for Faye to get out of class. She had gotten the papers out of her bag and spread them out in front of her but hadn't gotten very far through them when her phone beeped. Curiously she pulled it out of her pocket and checked her messages.

Change of plan. Heading to St Louis. Probably nothing. -Dean

Her brow furrowing slightly Kaida glanced around the mostly empty library. There was a line of computers nearby. It wouldn't hurt to have a quick look, to ease her mind. Pushing the papers back into her bag she sat down at one of the computers and started looking for unusual activity in St Louis.

That was how Faye found her an hour later, bent towards the screen with a notebook by her side, flicking through news stories online. Kaida looked totaly engrossed in what she was doing so Faye took a moment to just look at the girl in front of her. The nervousness was gone and there was a look of absolute concentration there instead. She was much more like the Kaida that she remembered. It wasn't often that Faye saw her in full on hunting mode, as Kaida had tried to keep her away from the grisly details, but she had seen it. Nothing else mattered to the hunter in those moments, which was why then, with the light from the screen iluminating her face Faye finally saw what Kaida had been hiding from her the night before.

Slowly the brunette crept closer. She tried to be as quiet as she could, hoping to get a better look at the mark on Kaida's face without her realising, but the hunter was too good at her job. As soon as Faye put a step forward, Kaida's senses picked up on it and she spun around to see who it was. Faye could see her face clearly now and her shock must have been obvious, because Kaida tilted her head down to hide the right side of her face as best she could as she shrunk back.

"Kaida? What happened?"

Faye asked the question softly, but she heard it. And even though she didn't want to talk about it Kaida did. Shutting the computer down and moving back to the table she knew that she would have to get it off her chest. As calmly as she could she told Faye everything, everthing that had happened since she and Dean had gone to get Sam from college. As she talked she wished that she could just disappear, that she didn't need to stay and figure out her big secret, that she didn't need to be apart from her brothers while they fought some creature they hadn't yet identified. Even though for weeks she had wished that she could talk to someone, that she knew for sure what she was, now that she was here she just wanted to run. And the entire time her back itched between her shoulder blades exactly where the wings had been in her dream.

For two hours Faye listened as Kaida talked. She tried to keep quiet, to keep her reactions to a minimum, knowing that it was best for her to get it all out in one go. But it was difficult. The idea of something stronger than Kaida worried her, but not as much as the doubts that she had been having. There was no way that Kaida could be evil. She was her brother's salvation not their damnation, Their protector. She had known that all along, but the research she had done cemented that in her mind. Especially when she noticed that even though the hunter was sitting in front of her it was becoming more and more difficult to see her and to remember that she was there. Faye knew that it was because Kaida was wishing that she could disappear, and that made her even more sure about what she had found.

When Kaida finished speaking Faye handed her the pile of papers they had been ignoring. She needed to know what it said and she needed to know it now.