A/N: Let me just start off by saying that one character in Supernatural who just DID NOT DESERVE IT is Charlie freakin' Bradbury.
And I died a little inside trying to write this chapter.

xoxo
Kuraki-chan

36: Who Can Save Me Now?

Sofia's eyes widened, her long lashes brimming her eyebrows, when Zarya's magic sigil actually burned into the small, metal plate. The human laid on the floor of the manor surrounded by various candles and herbs. After an hour Sofia had began to doubt that the girl could accomplish the task. She contemplated pulling her out or letting her die when the blank, silver talisman started getting etching into it on her table. The wax of the white candles surrounding it turned indigo as it dripped down.

"Unbelievable," the vampire breathed. When the tiny indigo flame marking the silver talisman finally stopped, a small gasp actually escaped her lips; Zarya's sigil was even more intricate than Sofia's. She recognized some of the linework in ties to both archangels, but there was also a small triskele and etching she couldn't tell where it came from. Her blue eyes stared at Zarya still laying still on the floor. "That is why he chose you, child," she spoke in barely a whisper.

Zarya's eyes shot open and she sat up coughing. She was surprised at how quickly Sofia was at her side with a bottle of water. "How long was I under? Did it work?"

"About an hour and a half." She held out her closed hand which confused the hunter. Sofia's slender fingers unfolded slowly to reveal the silver talisman in the palm of her hand. "I underestimated you, Zarya." She admitted.

With a shaking hand the younger Vasile took the little, silver circle with her own unique sigil engraved in it. Sofia stood and offered her a hand to do the same. "So what does this mean? I can do magic now?"

"In essence, I suppose. Never lose that talisman; it is a show of your rank within our family. It is a reminder and a warning of what lies inside of you. Having and knowing your sigil is what connects you to the infinite power that binds our blood."

"Assuming what I saw was a metaphor for that 'infinite power' and how it relates to my specifically, do you know what the actual source of our power is? Where it comes from? How it disobeys nature?"

Sofia hesitated, but thinking of the girl's sigil reminded her what actually lied within Zarya Vasile. "Oblivion," she answered honestly. "You know there is Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and the Other Side but that barely covers the surface."

"They all really connect, don't they?"

She nodded. "And they work hand in hand. Heaven and Hell, Purgatory and the Other Side, the Empty and Oblivion."

"The… Empty?"

"Try not to think of it, child. The most I know is the name and that it coincides with Oblivion without being equal allies. They are both essentially black holes of the celestial realm. God created Remiel with the power of Oblivion. I will never understand why the maniac decided she would then be the Angel of Hope of all things. If you can dip into Oblivion without allowing it to suck you in and eat you whole then you ought to be able to accomplish anything."

When she heard Sam and Dean beginning to argue, Zarya's pace quickened down the stairs of the bunker. "What'd I miss?" She offered a smile as she stepped between them, tossing her bag on the table.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dean questioned first. "Have you been out snuffing vamps' nests?"

She blinked a couple of times. "A few ghouls, actually. Garth caught wind of some in his area and was looking for you two but got me instead. Killed 'em dead and his wife made dinner. You think I was gonna pass up a home cooked meal?" She laughed a little, then noticed the open folder on the table. "Ooh, Dean is actually reading?"

The elder Winchester snatched the folder before she could grab it. They both knew she couldn't be entirely lying because Garth had left them a couple of voicemails. "Yeah, I do that sometimes." She chuckled and grinned up at him. "Those goons that were after the book - the, uh, the Stynes - well, the one that we killed said that he had a big family. So if there's more out there, I figure we should probably get to know as much as we can about them since that's about where we're at for the Vasiles."

Sam chuckled dryly. "Two mysterious families coming out of the dark. Right. And?"

"Well, they screwed with financial markets, helped Hitler get started along with God knows what else… probably disco." The ravenette snickered. "But you go back to the 1800s and the trail goes dead. There's nothing in the research, there's nothing online. It's like the family just popped up one day."

"Not even the Vasiles managed that," Zarya commented. "We just got buried under lie after lie 'cause everyone wanted to save their own asses."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Families don't usually do that."

Dean shrugged. "No, they do not. Hasn't been a total waste of time, though. I think I caught us a case. Y'know, if you two don't have your own secret hunts to go on."

Zarya and Sam exchanged guilty but accusing glances before they each slapped on their own fake smiles. "As long as I can shower first and it's not ghouls because I am so sick of being covered in ghoul goo."

"Nah, it's a murder in Omaha. Victim's eyes were cut out. Janitor runs in just as the killer jumps out the window."

"That's it?" Sam questioned skeptically.

"Well, the window was on the third story."

"Sold!" The ravenette shouted with a wide grin.

After her shower and packing her bag, Zarya found that Sam had already left on some 'errand' and would meet in Omaha. She bit the inside of her cheek realizing that she would be left in a car ride alone with Dean all the way to Omaha. She looked down at the silver talisman in her hand. In a last second decision Zarya cut a small pocket on the inside of her right boot and slipped the charm into the pocket. She would have to get a new chain or bracelet for it after. With her bag slung over one shoulder, she met Dean outside at the Impala.

He had to do a double take when he saw her while he was loading up the trunk. Her boots looked brand new except the recent mud and 'ghoul goo' in a few splatters, she wore nicely fitting black skinny jeans, a dark grey camisole, and indigo leather jacket with ¾ sleeves. She had straightened her hair so it brushed across her shoulders. "Now I know you have to be a ghoul that's trying to be Zare."

She laughed a little. "You gonna bash my brains in and find out? It's me, I promise. I got Nashville leather boots and the jacket was a present from Bess. She said she never wore it but it would look great on me. I guess it's not so bad. Ready to go?"

"When Sammy ditched and said he'd meet I figured you'd follow suit."

She tossed her bag to him which he caught with ease. "Nah. I'll take shotgun and not having to drive."

Dean laughed as he put her bag in the trunk and closed it. "You're not touching my radio."

"I'm glad you think so!"

It was mostly silent until they were out of Lebanon. Zarya noticed the way Dean kept glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. Would he say something first? Should she? What even was there to say?

"I'm sorry you're in this mess because of me, Zare."

Her head turned, bright and wide eyes staring up at him. I guess he decided to speak first, she thought. "What are you talking about?"

He let out a heavy sigh but kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead. "You shouldn't have that Mark on your arm and it's my fault. To be honest, I never should have let you become a hunter. This wasn't supposed to be the life for you."

"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous. One way or another, I was gonna end up a hunter. My birth mom was a hunter, remember? And apparently your mom knew her and her mom. It was an endless cycle of hunters. Do you remember when you and Sam took me back to Pike Creek to get some of my stuff before they foreclosed my house and I took my machete from between the mattresses because it took a life?"

[Flashback]

Sam was just short enough to fit in her closet and grab her tiny frame with ease. He helped her slide out of the cove with a dark mahogany box in her arms until her feet were safely on the floor. She smiled up at him before taking the box over to her bed and kneeling onto the floor. "Okay, and that is?" Dean questioned, pointing at the box.

Zarya waved him off momentarily, digging between her thick mattress and boxspring. She slid out a long machete with a sharp edge and serrated other side. It honestly looked like there was blood still caked on parts of the serration and dried onto the blade. She let it drop onto the bed beside her box before grabbing a dark backpack from under the bed and going to her dresser. "The machete was originally meant to be a collectable displayed on my wall," she told them as she tossed clothes into her bag.

"What happened to put it between your mattresses?" Sam asked.

"Took a life," she answered quietly, moving down her drawers.

"What?" They both were in disbelief.

She shrugged and stood when she was done with her drawers. "When Nick and I were barely 18/19 and on our own for the first time, someone broke in. Nick tried his best, but I grabbed the machete and swung. He died and we ditched the body. End of story."

[Present]

"Yeah. Why?"

She took a deep breath. "I've actually never admitted this to anyone. Nick and I were the only ones to know what happened that night. We had this little loft space - totally illegal and everything, but it was cheap." She shrugged. "This guy who harassed me in high school had stalked me after graduation. When he found out where I lived he broke in. He'd been obsessed with me since freshman year and I refused to feed into his delusion. It made him so angry when Nick heard the break in and met him with a bat. I heard them fighting and grabbed my machete off the wall. It had originally been a birthday present from Nick, ergo my initials in it." She smiled sadly. "Nick had lost the upper hand. I ran in and just… swung. Took his head right off and it rolled across the floor. We got rid of the body, cleaned what we could, and took off."

Dean was quiet for a while as he took in the story and all of its details. "What's the speaking of a 'to-the-grave' secret got to do with anything?"

"Because you seem to think that you brought all of these bad things into my life, but my life already had it, Dean. I was buried in it. I've never been okay with any of it, but I'm not gonna cry about it either. I'm alive… more or less. And as for the Mark…" Her hand subconsciously found itself over the leather sleeve covered arm. "It turns out it's apparently cherry pie compared to the darkness actually already in me. It wasn't your fault the Mark of Cain mirrored onto me; it was my darkness trying to grow stronger."

He scoffed, which caused one of her brows to raise. "What darkness could possibly worse than the Mark of Cain and in you, Zare? The dhampir gene in your blood? Don't get me wrong, it's not exactly an easy idea to cope with - half vamp, half human and we don't know jack about them, but there's no way they're worse than the friggen Mark of Cain."

She shrugged. "Whatever it is, you've seen the way I make even Crowley's skin crawl. There's something real bad somewhere in me, Dean. I don't know what exactly it is, but I know it's something both Remiel and Lucifer obviously want."

"Then they ain't getting it." He responded sharply. "If there really is something that dark in you just waiting to blow then we'll figure it out, Zare."

She turned her head and smiled softly at him. With his eyes focused on the road he couldn't see the sadness behind it. There was nothing he could do to save her. He couldn't just destroy whatever was lying in wait, there was no knowing what it actually was or when it would show. Perhaps it always showed, lying in wait for her to turn her back. All she could do was wait until it got what it wanted and tossed her where it needed her. She could only wonder where she would end up when she finally stood toe to toe with whatever darkness she had.

Charlie could only muster a confused half smile when Sam pulled up in an unusual car. "Hey, it's you… in a beat-up, prehistoric subcompact. But why are we meeting here? I could have come to the Death Star."

"No, no," Sam shook his head. "This is, uh… this is better, actually. We're not gonna be working in the bunker, so…"

"Uh-huh… What is this about again? You were kind of vague."

He sighed and rubbed his face. "Okay, so here's the thing… Dean is not getting any better. Zarya puts up a good front, but it's…"

"Easily read?"

He nodded. "I actually… I kind of think she might be worse off than Dean, honestly. If we don't fix this now, that is. She's hanging on while he's starting to slip and it's just a matter of time before we lose them both. If we don't get the Mark off of both of them it's gonna swallow them whole."

She blinked a couple of times with emotion filled eyes. "I get that, but what are we gonna do about it?"

"I got ahold of a codex which is sort of a collection of supernatural code-breaking tools, and it should help crack the Book of the Damned."

"That would be awesome… if the book, you know, actually existed anymore."

The guilt on Sam's face was almost heartbreaking. "It… it does. I uhm, I swapped it out right before it looked like I burned it."

Charlie's face fell in her hands when she realized. "And of course Dean and Raven don't know. Geez, you guys!"

Sam's brow quirked. "Raven?"

The redhead couldn't resist the smile. "Zarya's new haircut reminds me of DC's Raven. She'll always be my Arya Stark, but she's a badass Raven."

Doesn't she have a darkness that keeps trying to take over too…? He thought gravely.

Having not gotten very far with the scene of the crime, Dean called his brother saying they were just coming back to the bunker. Zarya complained that the waste of time in a pencil skirt had made her hungry to which Sam laughed and suggested pizza. The idea made the ravenette light up. So Dean then laughed and said they'd pick it up when they got to Lebanon. Zarya let out an annoyed, hangry groan.

She was surprised at the way her and Dean just fell back into routine after one barely awkward conversation. Nothing actually got said or done, but she figured then that nothing would progress. So the entire way back to Lebanon Zarya repeatedly screwed with the radio. As punishment Dean made her call in the order and kept trying to mess with her while she talked. When they finally retrieved the pizza Zarya was elated. She could smell the sweet bacon and cheese. As they walked down the alley to get back to the car, two cars pulled up and closed them in. A hangry rage erupted in the raven haired hunter.

"You fuckers are not getting in the way of my goddamn dinner!" She yelled when one of the Stynes emerged from the car. A second Styne (Eldon) got out from the second car.

"Alright, hold it right there," Dean told them sternly. The Stynes ignored him and advanced on the pair.

Zarya snatched her revolver from the back of her jeans and fired a warning shot into the air. "The man said 'hold it' assholes!"

The darker haired Styne advanced on her even with her revolver pointed at him. She and Dean stood back to back. Dean tossed the pizza box onto a stack of discarded boxes against a wall before dodging a hit from Eldon Styne and taking out his knife. Zarya fired two shots directly into the other Styne's heart which staggered him but he continued on. She got two more shots before he grabbed her wrist and tossed her onto the hood of his car. Her revolver landed on the ground with a thud. While Dean struggled with Eldon, a cool metal slid against Zarya's arm and came out of her ¾ sleeve.

At least it seems to work, she thought. The dark haired Styne lunged to grab her neck but she thrust Lucifer's angel blade up into his chest. A look of horror and panic filled his face. Zarya flung him off of the blade and to the ground just as Dean got the upper hand against Eldon with his knife to the Styne's throat.

While Zarya inhaled some pizza upstairs, Sam and Dean interrogated Eldon Styne in the basement. If the earliest record of them was in the 1800s, Zarya thought that maybe Nova might know something. Curious enough, the ravenette called her Romanian ancestor. "Do you have five minutes and know anything about the Styne family?"

The line was quiet for a brief moment before Nova spoke. "Yes I do, and who?"

"The Styne family," she spelled it out for the Romanian. "The earliest record of them goes to about the 1800s when they just magically popped up. Then they went on to be some serious slime helping Hitler and shit."

"Fucking gods," Nova muttered. "How do you always manage to find these kinds of people, Zarya? The Stynes are the worst of the worst in Europe. Where do you think my parents got most of their techniques?"

"Seriously? So they do, like… torturous experiment crap like Whitmore?"

"It's their family specialty - bioengineering and surgical enhancement. That's exactly what my parents did to me. They wanted me to be superhuman but the Stynes… they take it even further. My parents experimented with supernatural adjustments while still keeping me human. The Stynes just add on for protection. Extra leg muscle, two hearts, you name it. They were one of Europe's oldest families."

Zarya gasped with the realization. The piece of pizza she was bringing to her mouth fell down onto her paper plate. "The House of Frankenstein… it's real?"

"And much worse than some man put together and zapped alive by lightning. Chaos breeds fear, fear breeds panic, and panic breeds desperation. They profit from desperation. Everytime some mess happens they swoop in and take care of it with their dark magic. They feed on the fear of the Earth. They're monsters even worse than us because they are still technically human."

She hung up hastily and scrambled from her chair. She could hear Sam and Dean talking nearby, but she also heard a door slamming. She knew the sound would be heard by the brothers and all three ended up in the basement. A trail of blood led out of the room with Eldon's arm dangling from the chain he had been confined to. Zarya could almost feel the three pieces of pizza she already ate starting to come back up.

"Oh, my God," Dean spoke with bewilderment in his voice. "He… he ripped it off."

Zarya's hand was over her mouth, eyes unable to look away from the severed arm. "Nova had heard of the family… they're the real deal - the Frankensteins. Juiced up with extra skin and organs and things. Like, arms, apparently…"

She was the first to turn and walk out of the room. The brothers took an extra second but followed nonetheless. She could hear them talking behind her but her brain was too fried to make out the words. Dean was trying to coax the truth from his brother after Eldon told him that the Book of the Damned can't be destroyed.

"-he hit me with this little fun fact," his words finally made it through as Zarya sat down with her head in her hands. "He says that the book can't be destroyed. Says that it can't be sliced, diced, shredded, burned, drowned; cannot be destroyed. Ain't that crazy? Because… I know I saw something burn." Sam's phone began vibrating on the table. "Sam, you answer that and so help me…"

Hesitantly, Sam did answer the call. Castiel's voice greeted him. "Sam, she's gone."

"Who's gone?"

"I've looked everywhere. Charlie is gone."

Zarya's head rose from her hands, eyes wide with a wrathful panic. Before Dean could lash out at his brother, the ravenette's phone then rang. She scrambled for the device to find Charlie's ID on her screen. "Red, where the hell are you?!" She exclaimed with a frantic worry. "Why did Cas just call Sam to say he lost you?"

"Uhm… I'm at a-a motel," her voice shook with fear. "T-t-the Blackbird. G-guys… someone is here. T-they think I have the book…"

Zarya's eyes were wide as she stared up at Sam. His mouth twitched before he spoke. "If you have the book, give it to them."

"Charlie has the damn Book of the Damned?!" Dean exclaimed with anger.

"No!" The redhead spoke quickly. "I don't have it. I just… I-I just have my notes."

"Then give them your notes, Charlie!" Sam urged. "Give them the code… whatever they want!"

"Charlie, please," Zarya pleased. The three of them were already headed towards the door. "I don't know what the hell is going on, but you need to listen to me. Give whoever that is whatever they want. Do you understand me, Red?"

She sniffled and something pinged on her end of the call. "I can't do that, Raven."

"Dammit, Charlie! Don't get yourself killed for whatever this is, please!"

The line went dead before they got in the Impala. Zarya tried at least ten times to call the redhead again but it wouldn't go through. While Sam and Dean argued the whole way, Zarya couldn't stop trying so hard to call Charlie. A notification for an email came up but by then the Impala sped into the Blackbird's parking lot. Zarya tossed her phone on the seat and went running before either brother could open their door. Each of them shouted their respective nicknames for her but she couldn't hear. Her boots pounded heavily against the pavement until she found the broken door to Charlie's room.

Zarya pushed past the broken wood to find the girl's laptop in smithereens on the table. There was clear evidence of a fight all over the place. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the bathroom door partially open. Sam and Dean ran in as she slowly opened the bathroom door. A deep, aching sob erupted from her mouth when she saw the redhead crumpled up in the bathtub, covered in blood. Tears poured down her face. She dropped to the floor, cradling Charlie's lifeless body against her own while she cried.

"No, no, no," the brothers watched her sob from the doorway. "You are not dead… you are not dead… not you too… please, Charlie…"