Elizabeth Giles walked into the Winchester garage and was confronted with a rather yummy sight. Both John and Dean were out of their usual layers of t-shirts and flannel and had stripped down to a single t-shirt and jeans, rather tight jeans in Dean's case. Too bad they were both involved with the current slayers, she wouldn't mind getting involved with either of the grease smudged men. However, as they were involved and she wasn't suicidal, she would just have to keep her thoughts to herself. "Dean, might I have a word with you?"
"Sure, just give me a minute." Dean waved at her. He liked Giles' cousin. She had really given Willow a talking too about manners that no one had been brave enough to do. He sure hadn't. Willow really hadn't needed to share the information on Spike and Xander being married; there was nothing that could be done about the situation that either of them hadn't already considered. Dean knew just how easily either of them could have killed the other to get out of the marriage, either with a stake or a by hiring a hit. If they wanted to live with it, that was their business and no one else's. Dean wiped his face off and gestured her towards Sam's office. Sam was currently over at the college campus getting stuff sorted out. What sort of stuff, Dean wasn't sure, but he did know it would take a while. "What's up Elizabeth?"
"Dean, I've sorted out where the girls are magically, but you've never come to see me about getting lessons and I was wondering why. Rupert told me a little about your abilities." Elizabeth asked. She was curious as to why none of the Winchester men had asked for help. There wasn't much that could be done to teach a seer, of course, but Dean really should have come to her before this.
Dean froze. "I didn't know there was anything you could do." He said quietly. He looked at his gloved hands.
Elizabeth was appalled. No one had even thought to tell this young man that he could train his gift? "Why didn't anyone tell you about training?"
"No one has any idea what exactly it is I've got, so Sam got me the gloves. Tara helped me figure out that a salt water bath would clean stuff off so I could handle whatever I could wash, but I thought that was the best anyone could do for me." Dean shrugged. He looked up at Elizabeth. "Don't get mad at them. We got a line on the demon that my family has been hunting for the last 22 years, and Sammy's been concentrating his research on that." Elizabeth gasped. Even among Watchers and other's who fought against the darkness that was far longer than she'd ever heard of one human family tracking a demon. "We finally found out which demon clan it belongs to. It killed my mom when I was four and Sammy was only six months. Last November it killed Sammy's girlfriend. He was planning on asking her to marry him."
"That's incredible! I've heard of demons taking a dislike to certain kinds of humans and having it last for centuries; but never anything this long from the human side of the equation." Elizabeth paused to consider the determination, or obsession required to pursue an adversary for that length of time. Yes, she could see why the family would have neglected to do further research into Dean's abilities. She didn't think that Dean was the sort who would have encouraged any investigation either. "Well, I can see where that is a priority. Are you close?"
"Sammy thinks he's found a copy of the prophecy that got the creeps on our tails in the first place. He's working on a translation right now. Dad's working with Giles on figuring out where the clan is and they've got it narrowed down to a tri-state area." Dean beamed with pride over his father and brother's accomplishments. "They really shouldn't have declared war on us. We're a deadly bunch, just like the rifle." Elizabeth thought that must be the family motto from the way Dean said it. She could also see the truth in it. They were deadly these Winchesters, even right down to little Dawn. She had seen Dawn at practice with her throwing knives when she had come to collect her for the evaluation of her magic. Adding her deadly accuracy after just a short time of learning to use them with her vast potential for magic and she was easily a match for either of her parents.
"Well, I certainly can understand that. Now, there is something I can do for you. Your abilities are mostly mental, but they are also partially magical, just like your father and brother's. Have you read any of the Valdamar Books? They are a fantasy series." Dean shook his head. "That's all right. I've just found that they provide a very good mental image of what we are about to do and I love the series." She sat down on the floor and gestured for Dean to sit in front of her. "Now I'm going to use my magic to watch what you do. There is no right or wrong here. You need to be able to do what feels right for you and what works for the other students I've taught probably won't for you."
"Why not?" Dean asked warily.
Elizabeth smiled. "Because they don't have your background, Dean. Simply because they know what is out there doesn't mean that they react to it the same way you do. Have you ever met any professional hunters before?"
Dean snorted. "If you're talking about those idiots who make documentaries on ghosts, yeah I've met some. I've also grown up around hunters, mercenaries, preachers and priests, the whole nine yards."
"And they all react differently to the same situations. It is the same way with magic and psychic abilities. What is up here," she tapped the side of Dean's forehead, "determines what you will do and how you will be able to do it." She activated her magical sight and 'looked' at Dean. "Now, see if you can find your center."
Dean just gave her an odd look and shifted his body. Elizabeth was amazed. With just a small shift, Dean had perfectly centered himself. No one she had taught had ever been able to do that before. "How did you do that?" She asked suspiciously.
Dean snorted. "I've studied martial arts for over twenty years. Finding your center is a basic concept. I can't remember the last time I had to think about it."
"Well, when you centered your body, you also centered your mind. That isn't what usually happens. Remember what I just said about what works for most of my students not working for you? You just jumped ahead about six full weeks of lessons. Do you meditate?"
"Only when I sharpen my knives." Dean was firm about that. He was definitely going with the knives. No stupid girly chanting for him.
"Ok," she said. "I can work with that. Now, picture in your mind something connected with the earth. Nothing nasty either, Dean." She wagged her finger at him. Normally she would have told him to make sure it was a living connection rather than a mechanical one, but seeing as how he had already surprised her, she didn't want to give him any ideas. Dean smirked, but obediently closed his eyes and thought. A picture sprang to his mind of this natural bridge he had once seen. Elizabeth watched in amazement as she watched the magical portion of his abilities sink into the ground below him and establish a strong link with the earth. Whatever his image was it was working. "Good. Now, slowly, see if you can stand up while holding the image in your mind."
"Shit!" It should have been easy, but there was something that kept getting away from him every time he moved.
"Don't worry Dean; you're not doing something simple." She reassured him. "What you are doing is forming a connection between yourself and the earth. Without that connection, you cannot control your abilities. So I want you to practice keeping that connection while moving. When you can do that then come and tell me and we'll go on to the next lesson. Keep up your meditation too."
"Ok." Dean was willing to do whatever it took to get his life back, within reason of course. Sharpening his knives and thinking about that stone bridge wasn't that hard. He thought he could figure out how to keep the connection thing and move pretty quick. "Thank you, Elizabeth."
"That's what I'm here for." With a wave Elizabeth left the garage.
"What's up?" John asked, curious as to the reason for Elizabeth's visit.
"She's got some stuff to teach me like she does Dawn. It isn't really magic, more like the focusing your mind and spirit stuff that Sensei was trying to teach us years ago. Elizabeth said some of the stuff he taught me shaved about six weeks off of the lessons she was planning on giving me." John nodded. Sensei was the name the others from Pastor Jim's special flock had given to the tiny little martial arts master who willingly taught any who would take a stand against the darkness. Dean and Sam had been his youngest students. Dean had also been his most difficult as he had been a very active child who had a horror of being still.
John smirked. "I told you that stuff would come in handy." It had been very useful for him. It hadn't reduced or clarified the nightmares, but it had allowed John to put his own reactions aside so he could analyze the dreams better. Maybe he should talk to Sam about using Sensei's teachings to help with the nightmares. Nothing helped with the visions. They still hit like a sledgehammer and left you feeling like a hung-over drunk.
"Yeah, yeah, we still got an engine to pull Dad."
Sam couldn't believe he'd gotten so lucky. Everything else with the Jekfoontar clan had been one step forward and two steps back it seemed like for as long as he could remember. But as he was working on getting his credits transferred from Stanford to UC Sunnydale, the secretary had been trying to get him to take ancient languages with her. She'd been gushing about the languages the teacher knew and that had been when Sam had found out about it. The languages teacher was fluent in the same language that the prophecy was written in.
After a quick check with Giles over how to identify a member of the Jekfoontar clan, (he was taking no chances after Meg) Sam was now consulting with the teacher.
"This is the best I can do:
The warrior shall sire a line and the line shall produce a hunter. To this hunter's line will be born three children of power. The hunter will be a seer and seer will be a hunter. The warrior and the witch will follow. When the family is united and all take up arms against the darkness, then comes the time of danger for the something (Jekfoontar) clan. The warrior will destroy the clan link. Unless all are destroyed, the clan will fall.
"I don't know what it means, but this language was often used for obscure prophecies of the nastier sort. It was almost like whoever was writing them actually wanted the terrible things they wrote about to happen. Fortunately most of the so-called prophecies never came true. Parts of them did however, and that is the really interesting thing about this language. There is very little written in it other than these prophecies and frankly some scholars argue about whether it is a language or a code. It is a fascinating puzzle. Thank you for bringing me the sample. It was well worth the trade."
"No, thank you." Sam said. He hated using people like this, but at least she thought she was getting a good deal out of her afternoon's work. All he needed was the translation, he didn't need the actual copy he'd found. "That thing has just been driving me nuts ever since I found it. Not that it makes any sense of course, but just not being able to read it was driving me mad."
"I fully understand." The teacher agreed. He smiled at the teacher and left after shaking her hand. He had to get the translation back to the others.
Meg watched Sam from across the distance of the campus grounds. He was so weak. He wasn't even able to see her for what she really was. He had even thought he had sneaked up on her in Chicago. He was just the way she liked her humans, strong enough to have fun with and weak enough to crush whenever she wanted. She was so glad her father had allowed her to watch and play with this one. He wanted the father of course, but she and her brother would be rewarded with the boys to play with. So Sam was settling in here at school, rather than go back to Stanford. He's pitiful, she thought. He can't even stand to go back to the same town, although I should be grateful that he doesn't have his father's drive. The hunter has cost us so much in the way of allies over the years. He would pay for that. She wondered who among the clan would win the right to have the daughter.
Buffy and Dawn were getting cones at the ice cream shop, having completed buying Dawn a new wardrobe both as a reward for saving the slumber party a short time back and because she had grown another half inch over the summer. "Faith shouldn't try to get her GED, Buffy. It's too hard. The lady I talked too told me that even most kids who just finished high school can't do it. That's not fair to her. All I'm saying is that she should do the home school thing with me." Dawn held the door for Buffy and then followed her outside. "She never finished, and nobody is going to ask any questions because they won't be seeing her. It'll just be the two of us unless we take some courses at the high school. Willow said we might take a course a year or something for the science requirements because we don't have the lab equipment. I'm probably right at the point where she dropped out to start slaying."
Buffy smiled. "You just don't want me following you to the high school."
"That too," Dawn agreed. It was the only way any of her family was going to let her go unescorted to the high school. She wouldn't mind so much if she didn't know that having any of them there, male or female would put a complete stop to any potential social life she might have. Having any of her family giving a potential boyfriend the shovel speech and she was rather sure that the Winchester version would include a more frightening weapon of some sort, did not thrill her. Just as she was contemplating the death of a romance that hadn't even hit the first sight stage, they were attacked.
They might have looked human, but they were sending Buffy's spidey sense into overdrive. If there had been more than two of them, they probably would have won, as it was, Buffy could barely hold them off. Dawn had thrown both of her knives, but neither of them had any effect. The holy water squirt gun did, but only enough to drive the demons back. Thanking every PTB she'd ever heard of that they'd already dropped the bags of clothes off at Joyce's art gallery, Buffy broke free of the demon that had her by the arm and pulled Dawn away from the other. With a quick shove she managed to push one of them into a dumpster, and as she turned to deal with the other one, Dawn pulled the top down and locked it. Seeing that the demon couldn't get out, Buffy began to beat the second demon back, steering it with kicks and punches until she could repeat the same trap with it. After Dawn locked the second demon into the second dumpster they both ran for the Magic Box.