6 Days left before I leave. Eek! That's why my chapters are slightly longer than before. I have a lot of ground to cover and only a short time before I leave.
Then again, the worst thing that could happen is that I don't finish it in time and have to post the ending after I get back. Wait, that does sound bad! Come on Muse!
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Two muscle cars rumbled into the driveway of a brick house, each sounding like a barely leashed wild animal. They pulled to a stop and their riders climbed out, stretching the muscles that had fallen asleep during the long ride.
Sam was ecstatic, Jilly had let him drive the Charger, and the feeling of the throb of the engine of classic American muscle was matchless. And with a car free of random gas station junk food, but rather stocked with gourmet candy, he was one happy guy.
"River sent me a text, said that she's working out and to just come in." Cait told them all as she headed for the door.
They headed inside, and immediately heard the sound of rock music coming from the back of the house. The four went towards the music, looking for the woman they were there to see.
"River!" Jilly called over the sound of AC/DC screaming about how did a woman make her money.
A slender girl with incredibly long dark hair and huge brown eyes flew backwards through the room, slamming into the wall on the other side. She leapt to her feet without even a hint of pain and smiled widely. She then ran back towards the direction she'd come from.
Sam and Dean stared after her in shock, but Cait and Jilly just laughed and shook their heads in amusement. They followed her out the door just in time to see her tackle a large African-American man to the ground. To both the male Winchester's surprise, the pair immediately started kissing passionately.
Jilly rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she put two fingers to her lips and whistled piercingly. Everyone around her groaned and covered their ears with their hands. She smiled when all eyes were on hers.
River climbed off the man she was lying on top of and turned off the music still blaring out of the stereo. "That's one way to say hello Jill." She said with a raised brow. "Normal people wave."
Jilly laughed. "Have you ever known me to be normal?" She asked with a smile.
River walked over to her friend and gave her a hug. "No, you always were a little off. Even for a military brat."
"Oh please, this from the almost porn star? If we'd stayed quiet I'm sure we would've gotten quite the show."
Both women laughed.
The man River had mauled cleared his throat dramatically. Everyone looked over at him, as if noticing him for the first time, which was mostly true.
"No freaking way!" Cait cried as she ran over to the man and threw herself into his arms.
"Oh my god!" Jilly abandoned River and also ran into his embrace.
Dean and Sam just stared at the two women. By now they were used to the girls acting oddly, but they hadn't expected them to recognize the man their friend had launched herself at.
"They're odd ones aren't they?" River asked with a smile. "Not like I can talk. Hi, name's River." She held out a hand to Dean. "The guy they're wrapped around is Sniper."
He shook it. "Dean, this is my brother Sammy."
When Dean released her hand, Sam shook it. "Sam, actually."
She smiled widely. "I like Sammy better."
Sam groaned silently.
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"What should we cover first? La Llorona, how Sniper and I hooked up or how I know about Cait and Jilly's pastime?" River asked when everyone was sitting around the dining room table and digging into their food.
"How about that last one?" Sam replied. "That'd be interesting to know."
"She's a witch." Sniper said, biting into his sandwich. "Mmm...Good roast beef." The three girls glared at him. "What?"
Cait rolled her eyes. "You always did kill the funny stories."
He shrugged and flashed her a bright white smile.
"You're a witch?" Sam said in surprise, while Dean just looked at the rail-thin young woman suspiciously.
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, card-carrying, broom-flying, hex-casting, green-skinned witch."
Jilly nodded. "Except she doesn't fly on a broom."
"And she doesn't cast hexes." Cait added, between bites of her turkey sandwich.
"No card either." Sniper added.
"And your skin's not green." Sam observed, while Dean was still watching her.
River rolled her eyes and heaved a large sigh. "Fine. You guys are no fun."
"So you're really a witch?" Dean finally spoke.
She smiled widely. "Yep."
"She's also as mad as a hatter." Sniper told him with a shrug.
"You make her sound like a psychotic!" Cait said reproachfully.
"She's more like..." Jilly stopped, at a loss for words. "Uh..."
"Pleasantly crazed?" Their doe-eyed host suggested helpfully.
Dean and Sam both stared at the self proclaimed witch.
"You don't mind that your boyfriend just called you crazy?" Sam asked in surprise.
She shook her head. "Maybe, if it'd been untrue."
"You're cool with them all saying you're all kinds of buckets 'o crazy?" Dean asked.
"Sure. I mean, there is a thin line between genius and insanity." Her smile practically reached from ear to ear. "I just dance along the edge, and tend to fall off occasionally."
"Huh." The Winchester brothers said in unison.
"So...La Llorona." Sniper prompted. "Dealing with her first would be best."
"Right." River nodded decisively. "La Llorona legends are all over Central and the south-western part of North America. They're pretty close to lady in white stories."
"We've dealt with one of those before." Dean interrupted, earning him a look from the slightly off witch sitting across from him. "A man cheats on his wife, she's taken over by temporary insanity and kills their children. Then she hunts down cheating men and makes them disappear."
She shook her head. "Don't jump to conclusions." She took a deep breath. "One version, the one that's common around this city, Las Cruces if you didn't remember, well it's quite a unfun one. A young Indian peasant girl secretly weds the son of a rich man, because they're desperately in love." She blew a kiss at her boyfriend. "They settle down in secret have a few children and live happily ever after."
"Doesn't sound too bad." Sam replied.
Jilly shook her head. "She's not even close to done yet, she's just grabbing some air."
"The boy's father, having no knowledge of the fact that his son is already married, arranges a wedding between the boy and a young Spanish lady." River rolled her eyes. "Having absolutely no spine, he immediately caves and marries the other woman. Even though Catholics don't believe in polygamy."
"She takes their three children to the river and drowns them to spite her husband. Which of course is totally illogical, but that's beside the point." She smiled. "When he found out he and a posse he rounded up went after her, but she killed herself before they could apprehend her. Thereafter she is doomed to walk the Earth searching for her missing children, drowning passers-by in an attempt to replace them."
The five others around the table continued to watch her, but she shrugged. "Okay, I'm done." She prompts. "Next person."
"Seein' the crazy thing now." Dean muttered under his breath.
"That's not the legend that this spirit is following." Jilly said after a moment. "A young peasant girl was forced into a shotgun wedding with a rich man's son. Together they have three children, but he tired of her quickly. So he decided to kill their children so that he could leave her without guilt. She tried to intervene to save them, but died when a blow meant for one of her babies hits her instead."
"La Llorona isn't dangerous. River just wanted Tech here to come and help her put the spirit to rest." Sniper explained.
River nodded. "I thought of offering her a book of Vulcan logic, but Sniper said it wouldn't be helpful."
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The dancing on the edge of madness bit is a bow to the great goddess that is Yasmine. May she shower me in a John-centric fic. (crosses fingers)
Oh and bonus love for whoever guesses where the newest character is from. Not that it's difficult if you watch Joss Whedon's stuff. She's not cloaked at all. Please don't hurt me of great and powerful Joss, I'm just borrowing her.
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John climbed wearily out of the Impala, scooping up the boys as he did so. Neither boy woke up, they both tended to sleep like the dead. And not like those pesky zombies either. Like the un-undead. If there was one thing John hated to have to mess with it had to be zombies. They always tended to want to eat his brains, and he just never had the patience for that kind of nonsense.
He walked up to the front door, having to shift his hold on his sons so that he could press one finger against the doorbell. The lights were out, but he knew that Jake always did go to sleep early. He was like a old lady that way, and John loved to laugh at him over that fact.
The door opened without hesitation mere minutes later, probably because Jake always had been a light sleeper. He slept deeply, but could be roused by a change of direction of the wind outside.
Jake's hair was still cut rather short, but even at its miniscule length it stood up like Alfalfa's in the middle of a hurricane. John couldn't resist released a quiet laugh at his friend's appearence. It felt good to laugh, something he didn't get the chance to do often, and mostly only at his sons' antics, whether it be Sammy's attempts at making something to eat (that boy somehow set fire to a tortilla with only a microwave and a paper plate), or at Dean's flirting with women much to old to be falling for his charms.
"Damn, I'd been hoping it'd be the Easter Bunny." Jake said after a moment, looking at his old friend. John looked tired and he had his sons slung over his shoulder and propped on one hip like so many catches during rabbit hunting season.
"Sorry, I forgot my buck teeth and my ears in Houston." John said with a slow smile.
Jake laughed. "Get your ass in here, the guest room is actually not trashed or full of giggling seven year old girls for once."
John stepped inside the warm house, glad to be out of the cold night air. "She's got you wrapped around her little fingers doesn't she?" He asked, referring to Jake's seven year old daughter.
"Those green eyes get me every time." Jake conceded. "She's got that same habit as her mother had, when I try to say no she just bats those long lashes at me and I find myself bending to her will. It's gonna be hell when she's a teenager." He led the way up to the second story. He headed into what was obviously a young boy's room. "Jimmy's at a friend's house tonight, your boys can bunk here for the night."
"Thanks." John said in a low voice as he lay his sons one by one on the twin bed. He pulled off their shoes and removed their jackets, but was satisfied to leaved them in their jeans and tees. After pulling a comforter decorated with pictures of footballs on it to just under their chins, he stood back and looked at them for a second. "I'm not looking forward to them as teenagers either, Dean's already trying to get in girl's pants as it is."
Jake laughed as they left the room. "So like father like son huh?"
John shook his head. "God I hope not."
