A/N: Hey guys! So I know I've been giving shorter chapters lately, this one's a bit longer so hopefully that makes some of you happy :) For the sake of this chapter and the story in general, the scenario in 9.12 "Sharp Teeth" has already happened, (in which Garth has been changed into a werewolf) even though a lot of what's going on in the plot of this doesn't go that far into what happened season nine. It's been awhile since I've heard from you guys, let me know what you're thinking! I love your opinions! Hope you enjoy this next chapter :)
Ana and Connor stayed on the cliff for a while longer, talking about what they had missed in the time they were apart, delving back into the easy friendship they had at the beginning. Neither of them brought up what would happen with their dating relationship, there was a quiet understanding between them that it was something they could discuss later.
When they teleported back to the bunker, Dean and Sam had a couple of bags on the table in the library, each man checking what was already packed as the couple walked into the room. Seeing the duffles out Ana quickly made the conclusion that they had found a hunt, but with how many books Sam was shoving into a duffle they rarely used, she knew something was different about this one. "What's going on guys?" she questioned, peaking into the duffle full of assorted weapons as she passed it to sit down.
"Garth called, there's something big going down at the Devil's Gate in Wyoming. We've been keeping eyes on it for a few days and there's a lot of action in the area." Dean explained, looking between Connor and Ana, noticing that they seemed to be acting friendlier toward each other.
Ana looked back and forth between her father and uncle, "I thought that Devil's Gate could only be opened with the Colt and didn't that go MIA a few years back?"
Sam nodded, "You're right, but we still need to check this out." he double checked what he had packed in the duffle of books before zipping it closed.
"I'll come with." Ana offered, if something was trying to open a gate to Hell, she wanted to do whatever she could to make sure it didn't happen.
Dean gave her a pointed look before he went back to organizing the weapons in his duffle, "I think the three of us can handle this one, Ana, why don't you just take some time and hang out here?"
"Three of you?" She questioned, "Garth is going to be there?! I'm not sitting back on this one, dad, come on! Let me meet Garth and help out."
Dean exchanged a look with Sam and they seemed to be doing their silent communication thing before Dean turned back to look at his daughter, "Fine, you can come with, but we call the shots. Alright? You're told to do something and there will be no argument."
Ana's brow furrowed, "Okay, I get why you want that rule to be a thing, but I'm not inexperienced. I'm not saying that I won't listen when you suggest something, but I'm also not going to be ordered around. I'm a big girl now. I have my powers under control and I'm a quick thinker, add that on top of me being able to instantly get us out of a dangerous situation and heal any wounds, I would say that qualifies me to make my own decisions."
"She does have a point, Dean." Sam agreed, "Obviously we're not going to let her run around and make the decisions, but if she's going to be hunting without us, might as well give her some say in what we're doing when she does hunt with us."
The older brother scowled, he did not like the idea, but he also realized that if Ana was going to hunt he prefered her to do it under the watchful and protective eyes of her family, "Fine, but I retain the power to instantly veto any idea that I deem stupid, deal?"
"Well look at you and your fancy vocabulary." Ana teased with a grin but when she received a glare in return, she simply nodded, "I can live with that." She was thankful that they were letting her go at all, whenever they were out against something that had the possibility of being nastier than the general monsters all she did was worry. Being there would keep her from worrying and learn a thing or two on the job with her family.
"Alright, go get packed, we're leaving soon." Dean instructed, "What about you?" he questioned, turning to look at Connor, "Are you going to insist on coming along too?" It had been awhile since they had seen him and honestly it had been weird at first to not have him or Ana there.
Connor shook his head, "Nah, I'll let you guys handle this one, I've got work at the bar lined up this week. Let me know if I can help with anything though." he told Dean before looking to Ana, "You be careful out there, alright? Don't try to be a hero and please listen to your dad and uncle."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be a good kid." She assured him with a smile, "Tell everyone I say hi. I'll keep you updated on things." With a nod, Connor pulled her into a hug and gave her a light kiss on the cheek before teleporting away. "I'll need to pop into my dorm room real quick, I don't have much stuff here and almost all of my supplies are there. Be back in a flash." she told her dad with a grin before disappearing as well.
Dean sighed and shook his head, "So, what? Are they back together now?" he wondered out loud, hoping that Sam would have some insight on the subject.
Sam shrugged, "I don't know, but by the way Gabriel made it sound they're going to end up back together eventually, anyway. Maybe you should prepare yourself for that."
"Yeah, right." Dean grumbled and zipped up the duffle with the assortment of weapons inside, "I'm going to go pack some clothes, you going to be ready to go by the time Ana gets back?"
The younger Winchester nodded, grabbing both duffle bags off of the table to take to the Impala. It was about a seven hour drive to Calvary Cemetery from the bunker and they planned on driving through the night so they could get started as soon as possible. Some hunts could wait a little longer than others, but when it was something to do with an opening to Hell they moved a lot quicker. Once the bags were situated in the trunk, Sam went to his room to throw some of his clothes in his bag, making sure he had enough to get him through at least a week before he'd have to do laundry. Sometimes they could be gone for weeks at a time and he hated doing laundry more than was necessary. Returning back to the library with his bag hooked over his shoulder he walked in on Dean and Ana mid conversation.
"We can get there faster if I just teleport the three of us." Ana repeated herself as she gave her father an exasperated look.
Dean shook his head, "It's not that long of a drive and you know how I feel about teleporting." he grumbled, one hand resting on his bag that sat on the table and his other pointed at his daughter's chest.
Ana shook her head and sighed, "Dad, it's not the same as what Cas and Gabe do with their flying. It won't kill you to bear through five seconds so we can start on this case faster."
"No. We're taking the Impala and you can deal with it. You don't like it, don't come with." Dean grabbed his bag and headed toward the garage, walking past his brother without saying another word.
After watching his brother walk past him, Sam turned to look at his niece who seemed to be slightly hurt by her father's stubbornness on the teleporting subject. "What's wrong?" he questioned, walking further into the library so they could talk without having to raise their voices.
"It's nothing." The young witch assured him as she grabbed her bag and pulled the strap on to her shoulder.
"No it's not. Ana, you've been dealing with a lot of stuff on your own, at least let me help with something." Sam wasn't the type to let his family suffer in silence, even if that did seem to be how both Dean and Ana liked to deal with their problems.
She shrugged, "I get that he doesn't like any form of supernatural transportation, but part of me just assumes it's because he's not entirely comfortable with the fact that I'm a witch." The worry had been something she had been dealing with since her powers began to surface. It was no big secret how much Dean disliked witches and though he understood that Ana and Connor weren't the hexing and killing innocent people type, she still feared that he wasn't okay with it.
"Oh, come on, Ana. You know that neither Dean or I have ever had a problem with you being a witch." Sam wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder, "It may have been a shock at first, but it was for you too. We love you, crazy witch powers and all, nothing is going to change that."
Dean cleared his throat from the opening to the library, he had gotten half way down the hall before turning around and heading back, "You two done with your chick flick moment?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"You know you want in on this, dad!" Ana opened her arms wide, "Come on, family group hug." she announced with a grin.
"Oh, hell no. If you aren't in the Impala in five minutes I'm leaving without you." He informed them before turning and heading back toward the garage, grumbling under his breath the whole way.
Ana and Sam laughed together for a moment, "Come on, let's go before he decides to leave us." Sam instructed, moving his arm so it was draped across her shoulders, using it to steer her toward the garage.
"I could always teleport us to the car you know." She informed him, a mischievous look forming in her eyes that would have made Gabriel proud. "I have an idea." the comment was barely out of her mouth before she was teleporting both of them into the garage, right next to the car. Quickly grabbing both of their bags, she shoved them into the trunk and signaled for Sam to get into the passenger seat as she climbed in the back. Just as they had settled the sound of a door opening brought their attention to Dean as he walked into the garage and toward the spot he always parked the Impala in, "God, dad, you're so slow!" Ana yelled after rolling down her window.
Dean froze when he heard her voice, his eyes landing on the two bodies inside of his car, "I hate you both, you know that?" he snapped as he continued to walk to the car.
Sam bit back a laugh as Dean threw his bag in the trunk, "You love us both." Ana corrected him once he was settled in the driver's seat, flashing him a cheeky grin through the rear view mirror. Frowning, Dean turned over the engine and turned the stereo up so loud that no one would be able to talk over it, a happy smirk settling in on his face as he pulled out of the bunker's garage.
-A-
It was just before eleven when they rolled into the nearest town to Calvary Cemetery. With a population just over seven hundred it wasn't surprising that the only form of lodging was a small bed and breakfast which, thankfully, wasn't too expensive and had enough vacant rooms to house the four hunters comfortably. Sam booked two rooms, each with two queen sized beds, and was heading back out to the Impala where he could see Dean talking on the phone and Ana in the backseat focused on the book in her hands. Dropping the key to one room in Dean's lap through his open window as he walked past, the younger Winchester moved on to the trunk to start grabbing their bags. The sound of one of the Impala's doors opening had him looking around the trunk lid and at his brother.
"That was Garth. He's about an hour out still." Dean explained, reaching in through the back window to pull the book out of his daughter's hands, "You gonna join the rest of us?" he asked her with a grin.
Ana rolled her eyes at her father and pushed the door open so it bumped into him. Once he was out of the way, she stepped out of the car and snatched the book back from his hands, "So we have time to kill. Research? What exactly are we working on?" she questioned as she moved to the trunk to grab her bag.
Making sure they grabbed everything they needed out of the trunk, Dean closed the lid and shrugged, "Honestly, we're not completely sure. As far as we're aware after the devil's trap had been put back in place at the cemetery, no one's been messing with it, but there's been some demon omens and signs of vampires and werewolves as well."
"Bodies from this town sucked dry and during the last lunar cycle there were at least three victims with missing hearts." Sam explained as they walked toward the old, two story plantation styled home that looked like it belonged in the South rather than a small, dumpy town in Wyoming.
"And we're just assuming that this has something to do with the gate, right?" She spoke softly as Sam led them to their rooms on the second floor.
Sam nodded, glancing back at her, "We think it's a safe bet. Normally when there's this much weird things in one town it's not a good sign."
"Yeah," Dean agreed, "Last time we came across something like this, we were dealing with Eve."
The name of the mother of monsters made a shiver run up Ana's spine, "So we're thinking this has the possibility of being something not just big, but big and world changing. World population turning into monsters, apocalypse, releasing even more demons on to the Earth; that sort of thing?"
"At this point it could be anything." Dean told her as they reached their rooms, "You're rooming with me, Sam can share with Garth." he told his daughter before turning his attention to his brother who stood across the hall at the door to the room he'd be in, "We'll get settled and then we can start research?"
Sam nodded, "Sure, I'll be over in a few." he assured Dean before closing the door and tossing his bag on the nearest bed, claiming it as his. He was aware that his brother knew he wouldn't need to 'get settled' so he figured that it was a que to give the father and daughter time to talk.
In the room across the hall Dean placed his bag on the bed closest to the door, it had been an unspoken rule that he would always take that one to be the first line of defense in the case that a threat came through the door. He watched as Ana set her bag on her bed and he steeled himself, knowing that the subject he was about to breach could have a negative reaction. "So, you ready to talk about whatever is going on with you?"
Turning to look at her dad, Ana sighed, "You mean the hunting?"
"Yeah. The hunting, the anger, whatever is going on between you and Connor." He offered up any of the subjects that had been plaguing his thoughts the whole seven hour trip.
"First of all there's nothing going on between Connor and I, not right now at least and if it does turn into something again, it's none of your business." She sat down on the corner of the bed and looked up at him, "The hunting was bound to happen, even you can't deny that."
Dean sat down across from her, elbows resting on his legs as he looked into her eyes, "Maybe I can't deny it, but you were so damn set on going to school and staying out of this whole mess. What changed?" The hand that brushed through her hair was the signal that told him this was going to take more coaxing to get out of her, he'd seen the action so many times that he knew in situations like this that it was because she was nervous about what she needed to say.
As her hand reached the edges of her hair, she played with the tips, dropping her gaze to the floor. It was one thing to talk about this problem with Connor, he had known how much it had bothered her and though she had been working through the problem, he was still aware that it was there. Her father on the other hand was a whole nother level, she hadn't brought it up to him since before Valac had been dealt with.
"Come on, Ana, talk to me." He reached over and placed a comforting hand on her knee, "Something changed your mind for this to be so sudden and I want to understand where you're coming from."
The touch caused her gaze to shift from the floor to Dean's eyes and she sucked in a deep breath, "It was the fight with Ethan." she started, pausing to make sure he was following her train of thought, "There was a moment toward the end where I thought I wasn't going to be able to stop myself. I just... " she stood suddenly, trying to clearly process the feelings running through her to explain them to her father, "I could have killed him… probably would have. He reminded me so much of Brandon and I wanted nothing more than to watch the life drain from his eyes. I have the power to do it too, that's the worst part. I'm strong, even without my magic, you and Sam taught me so well that I could kill a person with just my hands." She shook her head, red hair flying as she moved over to the window to look outside, "After that all I could think about was ending up like Charlotte, going evil and killing people without a second thought."
"You're not going to go evil, Ana. I thought we were over this a long time ago." Dean stood up and rubbed a hand over his face. How could she still be thinking about going dark side after all of the good she had done.
"We can't know that for sure!" She argued, turning to look at him with a defeated look in her eyes, "I almost didn't stop, dad!"
Walking over to her, Dean placed a hand on her shoulder, "But you did, that's the deciding factor here. You and I both know that you have the power to erase memories or alter them, if there were witnesses you could have dealt with them. In addition to that, if you were even slightly evil, you wouldn't care about who was watching because you probably would have killed them too." His voice was stern, trying to get some reason in his daughter's stubborn head. "Do you honestly think that if there was even the chance of something like that happening that I would have let you leave the bunker without a fight? If there was even the tiniest hint of evil in you, do you think Gabriel would have stashed his grace in you, free for you to possibly take control over and wreak havoc with?" Using his free hand, Dean gently touched her cheek and then pulled her into a hug, "The only thing that caused the murderous reaction was a traumatic experience and the Winchester blood in your veins, you got that?" He felt her nod her head and wrap her arms around him, returning his embrace. It was moments like this that made him wish he would have been present in her life earlier, he wondered what it would have felt like to have five or six year old Ana's arms around him, but since he would never know Dean would have to be thankful for the few embraces he got with her now.
"And you give Sam and I grief for our chick flick moments." Ana teased as she slowly pulled away from her dad.
He scoffed and ruffled her hair, earning the scowl that he had expected, "You two ladies have more emotions than I will ever comprehend, so don't expect this to happen often, alright? I'm just glad you finally talked to me." he turned away from her to take off his jacket, "Next time something is bothering you like that, you come talk to me alright? Remember, no more numb, we talk this out."
She nodded, turning to look back at the window as she remember their first heart to heart, "I haven't tried anything like that since the night with the whiskey." she informed him, voice soft, "I've had a couple of drinks here and there, but I haven't even thought about going numb."
Dean had been walking toward the door when she first spoke, but he stopped once the words were out of her mouth. Turning slowly he looked at her, eyes meeting her back, "That's really good, Ana." he praised her, tone obviously proud, but before he could say anything else there was a knock at the door. Moving to open the door he looked at his little brother and gave him a small nod as he moved to let Sam in, "So where should we start with all of this?" he offered up the subject of their hunt, looking back and forth between Sam and Ana, "You two are the brains of the three of us, starting brain-ing." the questioning look on his face as he contemplated the last word drew a small laugh from his daughter.
"Don't act like there's no brain in that head of yours, you don't need us to do all of the thinking for you." Ana told him, moving away from the window and giving her uncle a smile as she moved to dig through her bag.
Sam noticed the small change in attitude in his niece and was thankful that whatever the two had talked about made some sort of difference, "With something like this, there's no telling where we need to start. Between the signs of demons, vampires, and werewolves… this is just a whole nother level of weird that we've never tried to tackle before."
Ana nodded as she pulled a smaller velvet bag out of her duffle, "Dad you mentioned Eve earlier and it got me thinking… is there a possibility that this is another Jefferson Starship type thing? Obviously not created by Eve, you two took care of that bitch, but I've never heard of demons, vamps, and werewolves working together or even being in the same place, especially in a town this small."
Dean and Sam exchanged a look, each contemplating what Ana was thinking, "I don't think so." Dean shook his head, "As far as we know Eve was the only thing able to wrap more than one monster into the same body, so I think it's a safe bet to say no. Though those Jefferson Starships were pretty awesome, even if they were hell to kill."
"Really, Dean?" Sam questioned, wondering how his brother's mind worked. Without waiting for an answer, he turned his attention back to his niece, "Though I don't agree that they were awesome," he gave Dean a pointed look, "I do think he's right, I've never come across anything else able to do what Eve could."
"So logically if it's not a Eve level thing, then… the three different species are working together?" Ana questioned, shaking her head, it didn't seem like something that would happen to her. "But why? They normally veer away from each other don't they?"
Sam held up the laptop he had in his hand, "We'll just have to see what we come up with, maybe Garth will have an idea when he gets here."
Ana nodded, grabbing her own laptop and holding it out toward Dean. "What do you want me to do with this?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Research." She instructed as if it were obvious, which it was.
The older Winchester rolled his eyes, "Really Captain Obvious? And what are you going to be doing while the two of us research?"
Lifting up the large velvet bag in her hand, she turned to face the bed, "Remember the spell that Connor used to find that vampire nest in Montana?" she moved her duffle out of her way and then set down the bag in her hand, "Same concept, except without the gross black sludge mixture he used." she explained, pulling a bunch of stuff out of the bag. "I need to grab a map. I think I saw some in the lobby area, be right back." with a quick smile to the men in the room she moved toward the door and out of the room.
"She seems like she's in a better mood." Sam commented as he moved to sit down at the small table in the room.
Dean nodded, walking toward an old looking rocking chair, "Yeah, apparently when she had that fight with Ethan she felt like killing the guy, which I would have too, but it threw her through a loop. The whole wicked witch thing." he shook his head as he sat down and opened his daughter's laptop.
"But you got it all taken care of?" Sam questioned, not opening his own laptop yet, all of his focus on his brother.
Flicking his gaze up from the computer screen, Dean shrugged, "I think so. She seems to be acting more like herself, less edgy."
Sam nodded, getting the message that his brother really didn't want to talk about the subject, but it also seemed that he was happy with the outcome. "So, should we run this like a normal case? Coroner's reports and dead bodies?"
"Sounds like our best shot." Dean offered, fingers quickly moving over the keyboard as he began to dig for information via the internet.
Not long after the silence fell between the brothers Ana came back into the room, map in hand and a smile on her face, "That old lady behind the counter is a little off her rocker." she commented as she moved back over to the bed. Opening up the map she laid it down flat over the bed and began to mix things in the brass bowl she carried with the rest of her supplies. She worked completely from memory at this point, muttering a few words as she stirred the bowl without a utensil, using only her powers. With a snap of her fingers, the content of the bowl was lit on fire and she watched as the herbs and flowers were turned to ash. A wave of her hand over the bowl stopped the fire and she knelt next to the bed, softly speaking the spell as she slowly poured the ash on to the map.
Sam and Dean had their eyes glued to her the entire time, both somewhat taken back by how easy it seemed to come to her when they had watched some of her spells go extremely wrong at the beginning of her lessons. "It looks like a giant pile of ash." Dean commented with a little bit of skepticism as he stood and walked over toward the bed.
Ana shook her head slightly and rolled her eyes, but she didn't speak. After taking in a deep breath, she pressed her lips together in an 'O' shape before slowly letting the breath out, blowing the ash across the map. By the time she was done there was only one little spot of ash left on the map, "That's impossible." she muttered, standing up and scowling down at the map.
"What's impossible?" Sam questioned, worried by the look on her face.
"The only sign of anything nonhuman in the area is me." She pointed to the small pile of ash on the map where the bed and breakfast was at. "It's saying that there's nothing else here."
Dean's brow furrowed, "So what, they all just up and disappeared?"
Ana shook her head, "Hold on, let me try something." she muttered before waving both hands over her bed, collecting the ash in the air above the map and speaking a different spell that sounded similar to the first. As the spell went into effect, the ash moved in the air, migrating until there were three levels of the stuff hovering above the map. "There is something seriously weird going on here."
"Yeah and the crazy magic you're working right now isn't one of them." Dean told her sarcastically.
Choosing to ignore his comment, Ana turned to explain what the spell was showing her. "So these levels are the past three hours. The map itself is showing right now, which is just me in a five mile radius of the town, but then we look here," she pointed to the level hovering just above the map, "and there are four different locations of monsters. Two hours ago, it looks like there were six. Three hours ago there were nine."
Sam studied the map and the ash above it as his niece explained, "How is it even possible to see what was here hours ago?" he questioned, surprised that a spell like this one was in existence.
"Residual energy." Ana told him, "Up to about five hours you can get a clear reading on an energy left behind, six or seven if the being is powerful enough. This is actually clearer than others I've done, which means that each location housed at least four or five monsters of whatever kind."
Dean pushed away other sarcastic comments and focused on the information the spell was giving them. As he looked over the hovering ash, his brow creased in the middle, "Why is this little pile thingy taller than the others?" he questioned, point out the pile that looked more like a spike than a mountain.
Ana frowned, glancing up at her dad and her uncle as they looked over her work, "It's not good, guys. Whatever was there an hour ago is more powerful than the rest of what's here." she told them, causing both sets of eyes to focus on her.
"How much more powerful?" Dean questioned, "If these are your run of the mill monsters and demons, then what is so powerful that it caused something like that?"
"My guess?" Ana shrugged, "Upper level demon, an angel maybe. Other options are centuries old witch, which honestly I doubt, an alpha, which you guys got rid of most, right?" When she received nods, she shrugged, "That about sums it up. Pagan god could also give off a reading like that, but it'd have to be higher level. Odin, Zeus, Ra, Dagdha, possibly even Shiva or Vishnu."
Sam and Dean shared a look, "Well at least we can Zeus, Odin, and Shiva. We watched all of them die." Dean offered.
"But that still leaves our options pretty wide." Sam sighed and looked at the map again, "Whatever it is has to be powerful enough to either wipe out or transport a handful of other creatures at the same time."
Ana nodded in agreement, "Maybe we should get a hold of Cas or Gabe and see if they know anything about what's happening? I'm going to assume that if it has something to do with the devil's gate that the angels are going to know something."
Dean nodded, "I tried Cas' phone but got no response, maybe you should try your winged buddy and see if you get something." he gave her a pointed look, not entirely on good terms with Gabriel yet. The sound of a guitar riff came from his pocket, the beginning of his ringtone signaling the call coming in. Pulling the phone out of his pants, he put it to his ear, "Hello?" there was a pause, "Uh, yeah. Second floor, first door on the left is you and Sam, we're just across the hall."
"Garth?" Ana asked excitedly once her father had hung up his phone.
"Yes, but why are you so excited to meet him? You were the same way about Charlie too." Dean looked genuinely perplexed by his daughter's reactions to his friends.
The girl looked back and forth between the men in front of her, "I've literally seen the majority of the interactions you've had with these people. I know what parts they play in your life, I see how each of their personalities affects both of you, how when in a time where you needed love and companionship outside of each other they were there. Can you blame me for wanting to meet these people?" she gave them a minute to see if they would respond, but when it looked like the brothers were contemplating her words, Ana just shook her head. "These people are your family and with how many you've lost over the years… I'm just glad to meet the ones who are still around. Though, in a slightly weird and possibly dark way, I think it's best that Jo and I never met. Could you imagine the trouble we'd get into together." she teased her dad with a soft smile, hoping he didn't take offense to her words. In her own way, Ana had grieved the loss of each of their friends and family, she had watched their deaths happen and each of them had broken her heart.
There was a knock at the door ceasing any response either Sam or Dean could give. Dean being closest to the door turned to answer it and moved out of the way to let Garth enter, "Hey guys." the smaller man greeted with a grin as he walked into the room, taking in the brothers before his eyes landed on Ana. "Little Winchester?"
Ana laughed softly, "I guess that's true in more than one way, but most people just call me Ana." she extended her hand, "It's nice to finally meet you."
Garth glanced down at her hand and then back up at her, shooting her a soft smile before opening his arms and wrapping her in a hug, "It's good to meet you, Ana." he tells her, eyes landing on what looked to be dust floating above a map on the bed behind her. "So. Witch, huh?" he questioned as she let her go from his embrace.
"So. Werewolf, huh?" She countered, watching as he walked over to the bed, his gaze focused on her spell.
"Touche." He offered, though his voice seemed distracted. "What's this showing exactly?"
Walking over to the side of the bed, Ana began to explain for the second time what the map and the spell were indicating. "So whatever was just outside of town an hour ago is powerful enough to either wipe out these others completely or transport them out." she finished, glancing up at Sam, "What's bothering me is why would it, whatever it actually is, remove these others from the town? Mass destruction for, what'd you say, a week and then up and vanish?" she shook her head, "This doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe they were killed?" Sam offered, "It wouldn't be the first time we've seen something big and bad use a weaker species to do the dirty work, then once it was done killed them off."
Dean nodded, "So our next move should be to check out the last places shown on the map and see if there are any bodies." he decided as he walked across the room to grab his jacket and pull it back on.
"Split up?" Ana questioned, "We should check all of nine of the locations and doing that all together is going to take up too much time." A thought seemed to strike her and she turned her attention to Garth, "You have anything against teleporting?"
Garth gave her a questioning look before turning to look at Dean, "Man, your kid can teleport? That's awesome!"
Dean just rolled his eyes and looked at Ana, "You got a plan forming in that incredibly stubborn head of yours?"
"Neither you or Sam are fans of the transportation form I'm fond of, so why don't you guys take the Impala and check out the three closest to here? Garth and I can check out the six that are further away, which won't be much more work because I can get us to each place literally in the blink of an eye."
"And what do you plan on doing if this is some sort of trap?" Dean questioned, "Say these things aren't dead and you appear in the first location then get ambushed, you two going to take an ambush down on your own?"
Garth and Ana shared a look, "Werewolf." "Witch." They spoke at the same time, giving the other an approving look before turning their attention back to Dean. "Look, dad, if something like that happens and there's no chance of us handling it ourselves, I'll teleport us out of there."
"What if the big and powerful is an angel? Gabriel was able to keep you trapped in the bunker, who's to say that whatever it is won't be able to do the same?" Sam questioned, now that there was an actual threat of danger he was becoming worried for his niece.
"Unless whatever we're dealing with is Michael or Lucifer, then not even an angel will be able to trap me." Ana told them, "Archangels are the only ones that have the power to trap me completely. Sure, Cas or someone similar could trap me for a short amount of time, but it wouldn't be long if I was fighting against it. I think it's a safe conclusion that we'll be alright, but we'll go completely armed just in case."
Dean thought on it a minute, there was always the chance that something could go bad and that was the main reason he didn't want her hunting in the first place, but when he thought back to how many hunts he had done alongside his father at the age of nineteen there wasn't much left to think on. "Fine, but neither of you split up and the moment something seems funky, you get the hell out of there."
Ana nodded, "We'll be fine dad." she assured him with a soft smile before turning to Garth, "Need to grab any weapons or are you already carrying?" Most hunters she knew rarely went anywhere without a small assortment of weaponry hidden on their person.
"I'm always prepared." Garth informed her, face falling serious. "I'll keep an eye on her, Dean, don't you worry."
"Give us a call if you find anything." Dean instructed, not really enjoying the plan they had set out before them, but Ana did have a point, it would be faster this way.
Turning her attention to Garth, she raised an eyebrow at him, "Ready? First time teleporting is a little disorientating, so be prepared for that." she warned, moving to stand a little closer to him. It wasn't necessary that she be touching whoever she was taking with her, but it made things a little bit easier. So when Garth nodded at her, she placed a hand on his shoulder and then they were gone from the room.
Sam turned to look at his older brother who was still staring at the spot his daughter and friend had been seconds before, "We should get started." He spoke softly, knowing that none of this was easy on him. Dean didn't speak, he just grabbed the car keys out of his pocket and turned to leave the room, knowing Sam was right behind him.
