A/N: Oh don't you all worry, ya girl is here to stay after the last, like, three plus years working on this series LOL it'll just take me a little extra time now with a baby but believe me: I will not stop writing this till it's COMPLETE!

The next chapter is the last though... Supernatural season 10 grand finale then it's onto 11!

So thank you to everyone who has been continuously supporting me and this work. You all rock!

xoxo
Kuraki-chan


37: Sweet Innocence Burned.

Sam's eyes widened at Rudy's phone call. "I just bumped into Dean working a fang banger case in Superior."

"Dean's in Nebraska, w-working a case? Is Clarke with him?"

"No, she's not. He's uh… he's not playing well with others. Can't blame the girl for avoiding him today."

Sam rubbed his face with his free hand, anxiety growing rapidly. "Neither of them are in the best place right now. It honestly probably would have been more comforting if they had been together. Just text me the details, would you?"

"Alright. Whatever you need."

Cas approached him cautiously after the call ended. "What's going on?"

He quickly handed the angel a plastic bag. "Take this - it's Dean and Clarke's hair. You need it for the spell. Cas, I need you to do this for me. Make the spell happen, whatever it takes. Please."

"Has something happened to Dean and Zarya?"

"I don't know yet, Cas. They aren't together right now."

The angel's brows furrowed together. "Should either of them be alone right now?"

"Absolutely not."


Zarya's coup de Ville sped down an open road. Her eyes were painfully focused ahead, the greener than blue hue stiff with pain and rage. Sam never burned the Book of the Damned. It couldn't be destroyed anyways. He had been sneaking around in an attempt to remove the Mark of Cain from her and Dean and got Charlie involved. All she could see were flashes of her beloved redhead dead and bloody in the motel bathtub, then laying on a pyre as it went up in flames. She was deeply hurt, broken, and painfully enraged. Sam had tried calling her six times already in the last ten minutes. She finally sighed and answered the seventh.

"To what do I owe the current displeasure, Sam?" Her tone was flat and cold.

Sam sighed in relief when she answered, regardless of how mad she clearly was. "Clarke, thank God you're alright. Where are you?"

"Why the hell would I tell you jack right now, Sam? Charlie was good! So fucking good, so innocent. She didn't deserve this."

"I know she didn't Clarke, and I will apologize to you and Dean for the rest of the damn eternity if that's what you want to hear. But I need you both to not go flying off the handle right now. Please."

She shook her head though he couldn't see. "No, not this time Sam. I'm gonna find the bastards who did this, and I'm gonna shred everything and everyone they ever loved. Then I'm gonna tear out every single beating heart those fuckers have in their chests."

"Is that you talking, or the Mark? Because you're starting to sound an awful lot like-"

"Like Nova? Or Damon? To be honest, I did get the idea from Damon. Did you know that he was also imprisoned in Whitmore for five years back in the 1950s? Tortured and experimented on every fucking day until he finally broke out. From that day forward he killed every single member of the Whitmore family, leaving one alive each time to keep the family going. As it grew again, he slaughtered the family again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Except I don't have the patience for that so I'm just gonna slaughter them all in one go. Have fun entertaining that thought, Sam."

Zarya ended the call and tossed the phone out of her window. Her expression was icy and vacant. After a half hour of more silent driving she pulled into a convenience store and bought herself a new burner phone. Getting back in the car, she called Nova.

"New number must mean you're ditching at least one or both of the Winchesters," the Romanian drawled. "I'm unfortunately going to need you to make this quick, kiddo. Shit is about to hit the fan in Mystic Falls."

"That's fine, I have things to do. I just needed to know if you got that address for the Stynes."

"Of course - the plate you gave me is registered to Eldon Styne out of Shreveport, but no physical address. Best I've got for you, kid."

"That's plenty of help. Thank you, Nova. Don't get yourselves killed dealing with those Travelers and maybe after I do this I'll swing back up a little north and help you myself."

After the call ended, Zarya stared at the screen pensively. Dean was just as pissed off and distraught as she was. Hell, Sam was his own brother! Her thumb quickly pressed the digits she was all too familiar with.

"Dean Winchester," he greeted the unknown number gruffly. "What do you want?"

"It's me," she replied. "I ditched my actual phone because of Sam. Care to meet me in Shreveport?"

"Zare? What for?"

"Do you not want the Styne family dead as much as I do?"

He was quiet only for a quick second. "I'll be there in a few hours."


A Shreveport officer was flipping through Dean's box of fake IDs when the door was thrust open. Zarya stormed in wearing her pencil skirt combo and even a pair of heels. She had a briefcase in her hand. "What the hell is going on here?" She demanded.

"Who the hell are you?" the officer retorted.

"Maxine Clarke, attorney at law and attorney for one Dean Winchester. Now, I demand to know what charges brought my client here in such unlawful manners. Where was his phone call? Why is he cuffed to a chair? Do I need to file a suit against this entire department, officer?"

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'll ask the questions h-"

"No," she barked venomously before slamming her briefcase down on his desk. "You will not. You arrested my client unlawfully. I already arranged a meet here with him because, not that it is any of your business though our case is now absolutely ruined, Dean Winchester is an FBI agent under deep cover. We have been working for months on bringing down a sex trafficking ring that also happens to be one of the largest dealers of cocaine and heroin Shreveport has ever seen. But did you town cops know a damn thing? Of course not, with your noses up in your cheap donuts and coffee." She sneered down at the officer who was staring up at her with wide eyes. "You could not even begin to comprehend the lengths we went to for this case and yet when I show up to meet my client I find his car battered and damaged?"

"He… he had two faulty lights-"

"That look just like they were bashed in with a police baton." She glanced down with a glare at the scratched up baton on the officer's desk. "I can assure you that you will be hearing from my supers. And they are nowhere near as calm as I. Now how about you get the fuck out of my face so I can have a private conversation with my client?"

It took only a second before the officer was scrambling out of his chair and out of the room. Dean looked up at the ravenette with wide, admiring eyes. "I'd clap for that performance but ah," he jingled his still cuffed hands. Without a word Zarya opened her briefcase away from his sight and took out a lockpick. As she worked on the cuffs he asked, "What even was all that? How did you know I was here?"

"Who else drives the world's cleanest 1967 Impala?" She quipped back as his hands were released. "Now come on, we haven't got a lot of time - this whole town is basically owned by the Stynes. It's even worse than True Blood."

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, a town of vamps would be easier to deal with. Speaking of, how about-"

"Don't even suggest wiping out Mystic Falls, Dean. Today is not only not the day for it but unfortunately it's also something I'm just not gonna let happen. Now, let's go."

"Why are you in such a rush? Shouldn't we find out-" There was a loud shout, followed by a couple more, and footsteps rushing closer. "Zare, what the hell did you do?"

Finally, she turned the briefcase towards him. It was filled with guns, knives, the whole nine that she could fit. She tossed him a loaded gun, took out her revolver from the back of her skirt, and shut the briefcase. "We've got to go see Monroe Styne. I may have used some slightly excessive force to get that information and get in here so gun at the ready because we're shooting our way out."

"From a police station?"

"From a police station."

They both cocked their guns and Dean smirked down at her. "And this is exactly why I enjoy having you around, Zare."


As Zarya came to, scorching hot rage flooded her bloodstream. She got flashes back to sneaking onto the Styne property with Dean, killing a few of the grounds guards, but as soon as the front door opened the whole damn family was waiting for them. They knew the Stynes would be. To be honest, they counted on it. Zarya especially. She heard Dean going back and forth with Monroe Styne on a table a few feet away from her own. Her talisman started to burn from its hidden slot inside of her boot. As her anger became more and more immense, her greener than blue eyes flashed a bloody crimson.

Before Dean could snap one of his own restraints, Zarya shredded through both of hers in a malefic burst. It took Dean by surprise almost as much as the Stynes, but rather than hindering him for even a second it fueled Dean's rage. He moved swiftly, grabbing a knife and slitting Eli's throat. Zarya leaped off of her table to the nurse who was trying to reach for a syringe. In one fluid movement the ravenette's feet touched down on the floor, her hands around the woman's chin, and gave a violent twist.

Before he could make it to the door, Dean grabbed Monroe by the throat and slammed him against a wall. "You took something from us," he told the elder Styne in a dark and vicious tone. "Now we're gonna take everything from you."

"It's too late," Monroe choked beneath his grip. "Your home… your family… they… will…"

Not caring what he had to say, Dean snapped his neck and let him drop into the corner. He took a gun from Monroe's pocket before turning to Zarya. She had done the same, taking a gun from Eli's pocket, and was cocking it when Dean turned around. "Let's kill these sons of bitches, yeah?"

They kicked the double doors open with their guns at the ready and sure enough plenty of Stynes came running. With some of the most precision either of them had ever had shooting, one by one the lackeys were taken down with headshot after headshot. Each time one of them ran out of ammo, they just picked up another gun. When they made their way to the main level Zarya ran out in her clip again. She tossed the gun and was going for another when one of them charged for her. Dean noticed after he dealt with two of his own and lined up a shot, but Zarya made him stop. He watched as she sprinted full speed at the large man and actually tackled him to the floor. Over and over again her fists collided with his face until it was almost unrecognizable. As three more made their way towards the hunters, Zarya caught sight of a machete hung on a wall. She ripped it down and swung.

For a moment Dean just stood there watching her. One by one she shredded through the Stynes as blood poured and splattered all over her. There was something darkly admiring of the ravenette in his eyes as she danced in corpses and blood. The rational part of Dean still buried somewhere within knew that Zarya should not have been doing what she was. Neither of them should have been. But to watch her with such strength and boldness mercilessly slaying those who wronged her… there was something alluring about it.

"Zare, he's dead." He told her before putting a hand on her shoulder when she was still trying to hack away at what seemed to be the last Styne. "I think that might actually be all of them."

"We should check upstairs and make sure." She stood and quickly moved towards the stairs when Dean grabbed her blood dripping hand.

"They're dead, Zare." He assured her. "We need to get back to the bunker because a few pricks were missing. I'm sure that's what Monroe was trying to say." He reached up slowly and attempted to gently wipe off some of the blood splatter from her face, but only smeared it across her cheeks like warpaint.

Had Zarya not been so consumed by and focused on her revenge and bloodlust she probably would have noticed the familiar softness in Dean's eyes. Or perhaps the fact that his hand was still resting on her cheek. Yet she was so determined to wipe out the Stynes that she was doing her own headcount, realizing that he was correct - Eldon and a couple of others were missing from the body count. She opened her mouth to speak, when his lips came crashing down on hers. Her eyes widened to the max, body frozen in place as a stabbing weight flooded all around the inside of her chest with a pit deep in her stomach. When they parted the look on her face told him everything he needed to know. Angry regret crept up quickly.

"Zare, I-"

She held up a shaking hand as the machete fell from her latter hand. "D-don't… please." Her voice cracked noticeably, mind racing at a million miles a second. She took a step back and the room began to spin around her. Her body did the only thing it knew to do in reaction and that was to run. Part of her felt undeniably awful, but she couldn't stop herself as she turned and sprinted full speed out of the mansion and to her car.

Dean watched her rush off, and even heard how quickly the de Ville started up. He stood amongst the corpses and blood splatter stiffly and stone-faced. His rationality wanted to give her space to figure out her racing thoughts, but the Mark of Cain burned deeply against his flesh.

"I don't know what to do," Zarya's voice shook and sobbed into her phone as she sped down a dark road. "I know… I know you're busy, I think I'm just leaving this voicemail because I… I have no one else to turn to. I'm scared, Nova. The Mark… it hurts so fucking bad and I… I just… I killed them! I killed so fucking many of them and next thing I know Dean's kissing me. Why?!"

Hours away in Lebanon, Dean returned to the bunker. The three missing Stynes had made a disaster of the place, ready to burn a pile in the meeting room. As Roscoe walked off to grab more things, a bullet went through his skull. The sound caught Eldon and Cyrus' attention.

"Been looking for you," Dean told them coldly.

"Oh yeah?" Eldon smirked. "Why is that? Oh, wait! You're not still sore about… uhm, what's her name?"

"Charlie. Her name was Charlie."

"Yeah, well, Chuckie got what she deserved. Wanna know how I did her? It's kinda a funny story-"

"Shut up."

"Straight to it, then. I respect that. See, you got lucky before with your little girlfriend by your side. Where is she anyway? This time I'm sporting some new upgrades. See, my old man-"

"Your old man is dead. They're all dead. So you can save me the speech about the three hearts, two spleens, the seven nipples, for the ladies… or the fellas, I don't judge. But even with all that, you still only have one brain."

"So?"

Without another word or hesitation, Dean raised his gun and shot Eldon in the forehead before he could even realize. He then aimed the gun at a panicking Cyrus.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" Zarya sobbed into her phone. "All I wanted in the very beginning - the very start to all of this - was to find Nick. That's all I wanted. I had lost Sarah, and my goddaughter, and then Nick. How the fuck did it spawn into this? Eons of secrets, a fifth archangel that's apparently lost her fucking marbles, a whole family hidden in the shadows, hybrids, dhampirs, what the fuck am I supposed to do?!"

"No, no, no, don't!" Cyrus begged. "Don't! Please!"

"Why not? You're one of them."

"No, no I'm not Okay? I hate my family! See? Look!" He lifted his shirt to show his bare abdomen. "No stitches! I'm not like them, I promise!"

Dean shrugged with his gun still aimed at the kid. "Oh, you are like them. There's bad in you. It's in your blood. Now you can deny it and you can run from it all you want, but that bad… will always win."

"I feel something really awful inside of me, Nova," Zarya continued. "Something even worse than the Mark of Cain. I… I don't know what to do anymore. Who I can turn to anymore. I feel barely human anymore… and I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world, Nova. The simplicity of working at some dingy diner for a half ass paycheck to just barely pay my bills with my best friend right there to drink away our problems. I'm losing what little grip I had on reality and I don't know what it'll do to me."

"I'll do anything you want," Cyrus pleaded with tears in his eyes. "Please. You don't need to do this."

Dean stared Cyrus in his eyes, but he could only see the ghost of Zarya. Her lightness, her smile, her laugh… was it all gone? Was it because of him? For a brief second he retracted his gun, just to hold it right back up. "Yeah. I do."

"Dean!" Castiel shouted after the shot rang out and Cyrus' body hit the floor. "What have you done?"

"I wish I was dead," Zarya's voice broke. Tears streamed down her face. What she couldn't see was the ghost of Katia sitting in her passenger seat with pain on her own face for the girl. "I wish I never survived that stupid car accident. I know you hate her and everything, but Katherine probably should have tried harder to end my life. I don't know what to do, or why your phone lets me leave such long voicemails. I don't know where I'll be whenever you finally get this, or if I'll still have this phone. Just do whatever you've got to to keep surviving, Nova. Because you'll always be stronger than me."

"Dean, stop!" Cas tried to yell against Dean's tirade. They had gotten verbal about Dean's behavior and the Mark, but he full blown snapped when Cas brought up Zarya's name. Over and over Dean just wailed on the angel until he laid on the floor coughing up blood. He grabbed Cas' own angel blade from his coat and held it at the angel's chest. "Dean," he coughed up some blood, "please."

Dean stared down at him coldly, still holding the angel blade. His arm retracted back before slamming the blade down. Rather than it going in Castiel's chest, it pierced a book next to the angel's face. Dean got up and started to walk away. "You and Sam stay the hell away from me. Next time I won't miss."