Chapter 2 - Chance of Rain
She had made it every step so far without pause and without alerting her brothers to anything being amiss, but now, holding the box of demon ingredients and standing in the middle of the crossroads, she was having to coach herself to squat down and bury the box. And she was so ashamed of that fact. Throughout the case with the comatose little girl, Kat was reminded with glances and words how much pain Sam was in over losing Dean soon. She had gotten away to the crossroads as early as she could after they'd wrapped up the case and before they'd left town.
"Come on, Kat," she breathed. "Come on." Her legs wouldn't bend. She bit her lip, holding back tears, arms shaking. The box fell from her grasp into the middle of the crossroads and opened, the picture of her, Sam, and Dean fluttering out. She didn't have any fake badge pictures yet, though Dean had promised them to her once she turned eighteen in a few months, so she had had to use a family photo. It had been taken May 2, 2002, on Sam's eighteenth birthday, just months before he left for Stanford. Kat had been almost twelve, and she wore the last smile she could remember that was nearly innocent. Kat had been aware of her family's hunting for about two years at that point, and it would be soon after that she would go on her first hunt, spurred by Sam leaving and her dad and Dean needing an extra pair of hands. After that, she had hardened out of necessity, compartmentalizing the darkness and shadows and monsters to keep the nightmares away. She stayed strong, and she had ever since. Gone were the days of carefree smiles that hadn't yet known the true horror of the hunter's life.
Kat fell to her knees before the spilled box, dropping her head into her hands. Her shoulders heaved with the effort of holding back sobs, and she combed her fingers across her scalp. With every fiber of her being she wanted to save Sam and Dean. They had saved her countless times, and she wasn't even their full-blooded sister. She didn't share the connection with Mary. She was just the child of a woman John Winchester knocked up after a hunt, the results of a drunken, one-night stand. At least, that's what John would tell her when he got too many beers in on a night he missed his youngest son, when Dean was working out his own emotions in a girl he picked up at a bar. Though Sam and Dean had never treated her this way, she knew her bond with them could never be the same as theirs with each other, sharing that common thread of a mother caught in a blaze. They needed each other far more than they needed her.
She steeled herself. This is why she could do this. The Winchesters had taken her in and raised her as their own, and for Sam and Dean, who had loved her and protected her for as long as she could remember and treated her as a full sister, she could save them. She loved them both that much. Enough to fix the box, enough to bury it, and enough to stand and face the footsteps she heard behind her.
Kat knew she must look mortified as she turned, and she didn't even bother to hide it. A man was approaching, clad in a knee-length black coat and black suit. He had brown hair with a trimmed beard, and he was only a couple inches taller than Kat.
"Ah, the Wee Winchester." The man stopped a few feet from Kat, who was still kneeling on the ground. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" The man had a gruff, British-sounding accent, and he bobbed his head slightly as his eyes flicked briefly to demon red and then back to his vessel's hazel eyes.
Kat stood, brushing off her hands on her pants instinctively. "It's Katherine," she said. "Or Kat... Um,... I'm pretty sure you know why I'm here." She faltered awkwardly.
"Got me there," the demon slid his hands into his coat pockets. The demon began to circle her slowly, and Kat just remained still facing the moon in the black, cloudless sky. The demon crossed behind her, and she shivered, uncomfortable to be unable to see him. But she didn't turn, and the demon spoke when it faced her again.
"In my day, the name Katherine hadn't become popular yet." Kat didn't know what she had expected the demon to say, but it sure wasn't that. "Mostly, there were Katarinas. And I think I'll call you that, it speaks of a bygone age, and you seem like an old soul."
Kat shrugged, confused. "I don't care, call me whatever you want."
"Well then, Katarina," the demon continued. "We can proceed with the exchange if you wish."
Kat felt like she couldn't breathe, "You'll take me instead? Just like that?"
"Just like that," the demon bobbed his head. "It's simple really, just like it was with Dean. Dean sold his soul for young Sammy, and Dean provided a purer soul than Sam's. Sammy had all that demon blood in him, you see, and Dean has a regular human soul, and a mostly good one with a lot of future potential that you'll know about soon enough. And you, Katarina, have a soul even purer than Dean's and with even more potential, thus you bring a sweeter deal. You're young, you haven't yet permanently darkened or blurred your soul in any way that generally comes with age and experience."
The demon spoke so candidly and openly that Kat was taken aback. She had expected this to be hard, for the demon to be cruel, but he was so matter-of-fact. "What's the catch?" Kat asked, knowing she still had to check her boxes.
"No catch," the demon said. "Like I said, you're a sweeter deal for me. It's simple, I swap your soul for Dean's, and Dean is released from his deal and Sam still walks the Earth. You get to enjoy the time Dean had left on his clock, which is still several months."
Kat nodded in acknowledgement and took a deep breath, "Okay, let's seal the deal."
The demon took a step closer to her, and Kat prepared herself for the touch of a demon's lips. But, the demon just held out his hand. On her confused look, the demon said, "I'm the King of Hell, I'm not a predator."
Kat took the demon's hand, and he led her in a brief handshake. As they let go, Kat commented, "Hell has a king?"
"Sure does, somebody's got to keep the demons in line," the demon stepped back. "The name's Crowley. I'll be seeing you."
A soft rumble in the distance caught Kat's attention, and she whirled around. She saw headlights behind the row of trees before the road, and she would know that car anywhere. She whipped back around to see that the King of Hell had disappeared, and she hurriedly unearthed her box and took off running for the line of construction vehicles nearby. She ducked behind one, hiding herself as the Impala parked and Sam got out and walked to the middle of the crossroads where she had just been.