Anna

Anna follows behind Dean and the kid, the basement stairs creaking under their feet. She still thought it was a mistake to bring Gary along, but it wasn't like they could leave him in the car. So she let Dean take point, and sandwiched the high schooler in Sam's body in between the two of them, and kept her eyes on their surroundings. No matter how simple this salt and burn should be, it didn't take demigod intuition to know something was going to go wrong.

Gary was snickering with excited disbelief, waving his rock salt filled shotgun with all the enthusiasm of a five year old playing war. Anna flexed her grip on the iron crowbar she'd convinced Dean to let her carry, since he still wouldn't give her back Eleos. Her lips tightened as she glared at his back. Why he thought that giving the seventeen year old a gun was a better idea that giving it to her, she had no idea. She might still be a little crazy, but she was less likely to accidentally shoot one of them. They'd had a full on fight about it outside the house and it had taken all of Anna's tenuous self control not to attack Dean for standing between her and a weapon. Being unarmed made her itchy. The cool iron crowbar in her hand had been a concession to her terror, but Anna still wished she had her sword back. She feels naked without it.

Dean had the duffle bag of salt and accelerant slung over his shoulder. He clicked on his flashlight, waving it across the basement methodically. They both scanned the floor, looking for signs of a witch's grave.

"Boo-yeah!" Gary shouted, a wild grin spread across his face. "Master Chief is in the house bizatches!" Both Anna and Dean froze, staring at the kid in disbelief. Anna seriously could not believe that Dean gave the kid the gun and not her.

"Are you alright?" Dean asked incredulously. Anna just stared. Gary looked over at them both guiltily.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." Anna reached over and flicked on the basement light, and the dim bulbs flickered to life. Dean set his flashlight to the side, as both he and Anna spotted the willow moss at the same time.

"Well I'll be damned. Kid's right. Willow moss." Dean muttered. Gary gestured awkwardly, the shotgun dangling lazily at his side.

"Yeah, it's supposed to grow over witch's graves right?" Dean just rolled his eyes. He dropped the bag to the ground and pulled out the shovels. He tossed one to the kid. Gary dropped the shotgun to catch the shovel.

"NO!" Anna roared, lunging forward to catch it before it hit the ground. There was a loud bang, and Anna shrieked as she was blasted back.

Metal clanged as both shovels were dropped.

"ANNA!"

"OhmygodohmygodohmygodI'msosorryIdidn'tmeantodothatohmygodohmygodohmygod." Anna gasped and coughed as she tried to move. It felt like she'd gotten sucker punched by a cyclopes. The blast had caught her full in the chest, and she'd been less than a yard away. Her chest burned, and she could feel the plastic packing shell shift where it had lodged in her shoulder. Her head smacked back against the floor as she blinked the white spots of pain out of her eyes.

Dean's face appeared above her; Sam's too. Except the facial expressions were all wrong. Anna blinked slowly. Right. Not Sam.

"Move kid." Dean snapped at Not-Sam, and soon it was only the older Winchester brother kneeling over her.

"Ow." She muttered. Anna flinched away when Dean went to help her sit up. She shot him an apologetic look, but pushed herself up into a seated position on her own. Gary was standing in the far corner of the basement, wringing his hands. Terror was clearly written across his face. Anna glanced down at her shoulder, dark flecks of blood spotting her previously clean shirt where the salt round had dug into her skin. She reached towards her shoulder, batting Dean away as he tried to interfere.

"Anna, you shouldn't-" She grunted as she pulled the plastic packing shell out of her shoulder. It clinked against the rotting wooden floorboards, dark blood gleaming in the dim light.

"It's fine." She muttered. "This is why we don't give the child a gun Dean." She shot him the stink eye. Anna knew something like this would happen. She huffed and turned back to her shoulder, saving her I told you so for later. Carefully picking her shredded shirt, Anna pulled it away from her bleeding shoulder. It hurt, but it wasn't going to kill her. She could ignore it for now. The smell of sulfur filled the air, and she gagged a little at the acidic turn the air had taken. Dean looked at her worriedly, but she shook her head. He got to his feet, his expression almost worryingly dark as he turned on Gary.

"You stupid son of a bitch." He growled softly, advancing on the terrified teenaged body-hijacker.

"H-Hey man. I'm really sorry." Gary stammered. Anna groaned and pushed herself to her feet. She can't let Dean murder the kid for being stupid. She winced at the pull of torn skin in her shoulder. For a split second the basement vanished and was replaced by a red landscape dotted with black glassy cliffs and swirling toxic fumes. She sucked in a sharp breath and stumbled back, her hand instinctively cupping over the bleeding injury. The scent of demigod blood might as well be a flashing neon billboard pointing to where she is. Every monster in a hundred miles would be coming for her. She needs to get back to the safety of the swamp, and the warm hut sitting in the center.

Anna blinked a second time, and the basement snapped back into place. Dean and Gary were both looking at her worriedly.

"I'm fi-" A gust of solidified air slammed into her chest, sending her flying back into a set of rotting wooden shelves. She bit back a yell as her injured shoulder slammed into the wall.

"ANNA!" She groaned, pulling herself out of the boards as both of the boys rushed over towards her. Dean wrapped his hands around her uninjured shoulder and helped her to her feet. Gary hovered worriedly, eyes darting wildly around the basement.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He insisted, grabbing Anna by the arm and trying to tug her towards the stairs. She shook her head.

"We gotta burn the body first kid." She informed him, pushing him back towards the hidden grave. Dean tossed a shovel to the shaking Gary and the two of them began to dig.

Cold air blew over her neck and Anna spun around. A woman dressed in a white colonialist dress, with matted curls tumbling across a dirt smeared face smiled at her, no warmth left in her cold dead eyes. Anna smiled back, teeth bared, and dove for the ghost's feet. Dean yelped as the witch threw him across the room. Her hand closed over the cold iron of the crowbar and rolled to her feet, her arm already swinging. As the iron made contact with the ghost Maggie Briggs screamed, dissipating into white smoke.

She reappeared a couple feet to the left and Anna adjusted her grip on the crowbar. Rage clouded the dead woman's features and she flew towards Anna, arms stretched out into claws. Anna widens her stance, ignoring the throbbing pain in her shoulder, ready to fight off the angry witch.

Unholy shrieking fills the room as Maggie Briggs is consumed by fire, and the ghost vanishes. Both Anna and Dean turn to face a jubilant looking Gary, dirt smeared across his face and accelerant in his hands. Flames flicker at his feet inside of the witch's grave.

"Dude… that was sweet!" Anna and Dean exchange exasperated eye rolls.

AN:

With self isolation going on I've decided to try something new, especially because I have a good idea for how the rest of the story is going to go.

I'm going to start trying to regularly update this story once a week. (I've set like a million reminders in my phone to make sure I'll be on time)

I won't make any promises, cause life is crazy rn but hopefully starting next week I'll update this story every Monday with a new chapter.

I hope all of you guys are staying safe and entertained during this pandemic. Stay at home when you can and don't forget to call your parents/friends/grandparents/whoever because we're all lonely and bored and talking to each other helps. Wear masks and remember to wash your hands!

Thank you to everyone who reads/reviews/favorites. Reviews really make my day and I read all of them, even if I don't always respond to you guys.

Cheers,

Hartley