Good Morning! Did you know you're fantastic? Because you are.
Here's part 3 of Perks! Thank you to all of you who had read and reviewed- thank you especially to all my new follows and favorites. Hugs to all of you!
So the best beta (and awesomest person) in the world, Jenmm31 just published again last night! If you haven't already, go show her some love and appreciation by checking out her stories. Y'all, they're GOOD. Go- go check them out!
Still taking requests- hit me up! 3
A/N- in this story, Natalie is 16. This is the 3rd part of a 3 part story. If you haven't already, go back and read the last two chapters, otherwise this ain't gonna make a lick of sense. Please see profile page for disclaimer.
Part 3
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose and began the trek around the motel room for the fifth time since his phone had rung. "Okay. Say it one more time."
On the other end of the line, he heard his daughter give an angry huff at having to repeat herself yet again. "Dad. The blood. Soaked into. Her face."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, seeing as how there was no trace of blood anywhere after it happened and I watched it first hand, yeah, pretty sure."
Dean rolled his eyes at the sarcasm. "Can the lip, little girl. I've just never heard of anything like that before."
"I know. Like- I don't even know what to BEGIN to search for."
"And her eyes turned a purple color, you said?"
"Yes. There was barely any light on in the room- just a desk lamp, regular bulb. No chance I was catching a reflection of something else."
"Did they light up, or go solid, like demon eyes?"
"There was definitely a glow behind them. Looked like that freaky guy from Ghostbusters Two- the original- except in purple."
Dean shook his head, and looked over at Sam. "Well, Sam's working on it. Hold on." He put his hand over the speaker on his cell. "Dude- you got anything?" he asked his brother.
Sam had been frantically typing, cross referencing, and Googling for all he was worth since getting details from Natalie. He ran his hands through his long hair; an angry, frustrated gesture.
"I got dick on this," Sam growled. He scrubbed his hands up and down his face, desperately trying to think. Trying to do research without Natalie right next to him was almost foreign to him anymore. Dean had been pumping her for any and all possible details that she could come up with, but they were going in circles. As if she was reading his mind through the phone, Natalie suddenly spoke up. Dean put the phone back up to his ear.
"Hey Dad, can you put Uncle Sam on?"
"Yeah. Sit tight a second." Dean walked over to his brother and handed him the phone. "Wants to talk to you," he said by way of an explanation. Sam took the phone and pressed it to his ear.
"Hey Bug," he said in a tight voice. To his surprise, he heard her chuckle on the other end. "What?" he said, a bit defensively.
"You sound just as frustrated as I am that I'm not there with you," she commented. Sam could hear a real smile in her voice, and his heart warmed a bit to know that she was missing him just as much as he was missing her. He snorted a half-laugh.
"Guess I've gotten rusty solo," he admitted.
"Nah, I just help you rule out the crap. You do fine on your own." Sam couldn't help but smile at Natalie's attempt to make him feel better about being an epic fail. He took a deep breath, and started from the top.
"Okay. So I've researched every blood ritual thing I can find, and I've got nothing."
"So maybe it's not a blood ritual," Natalie said quietly, her brain finally getting a jump start from talking the situation out instead of reciting details.
"You said that there was blood on your teacher's face."
"Yeah but- maybe there's something IN the blood. You know? Like maybe it's not a blood ritual because it's not a ritual- just blood." Sam took two extra seconds to puzzle out her words, and then suddenly began typing. He wedged the phone between his ear and his shoulder, his fingers flying over the keyboard.
"That's a good theory. Hang on," he muttered. He looked up at his brother watching him. Dean silently spread his hands as if to say Well? Sam parroted to him Natalie's theory. "Maybe there's something in the blood- like a toxin or something."
"Like metachlorians?" Dean said, perking up and looking at his brother excitedly. Sam rolled his eyes.
"Unless her teacher suddenly starts light saber fighting, I'm pretty sure we can rule out the Jedi DNA that gives you the Force," Sam mumbled sarcastically. Dean shrugged. It had been worth a shot.
"So some sort of agent in the blood," Dean mused, running his hand across his unshaven jaw. "It causes the blood to get sucked into the chick's face. Something in the blood-"
"-absorbed into another person-"
"-does...what?"
Sam shook his head, looking confused. "I don't know. Maybe-"
"-mind control. That person's under the will of the person who's blood it is," Natalie, who could hear their voices, finished the sentence on the other end of the phone. "Think about it. The girls were losing chunks of memory right around the time that the murders happened. When that happens with a demon, it's because the demon's in control- the person doesn't always remember being possessed or anything that happened."
"So possible demonic possession then?"
Dean shook his head. "Naw- those sons of bitches just shotgun themselves down people's throats. They don't need blood."
"Maybe we're dealing with something we've never come up against here," Natalie said quietly. The boys looked at each other and exhaled in tandem, realizing that she was probably right. This was weird. Dean shook his head, then made his way over to the end table where John Winchester's journal laid open. He grabbed it and began thumbing through it. Sam kept feverishly typing. On the other end of the phone, Natalie was patiently waiting, while walking back to her dorm room. She was still on high alert, looking around her at the nighttime campus. She took the moment to rethink through the last couple hours, desperate for any details she may have missed.
After Miss Princeton's eyes glowed purple, there had been no further sound from the room. Natalie had expected to hear screaming, the sound of a body hitting the floor, even some footsteps, but there was just- nothing. After waiting for a good five minutes in the deafening silence, not even daring to move, Natalie had crept along the floor towards the entrance of the door, slowly peeking her head around to see what the hell was happening. To her immense surprise, Miss Princeton was seated at her desk, feverishly writing. She didn't look bloody, harmed, or even inconvenienced. From her low vantage point near the floor, Natalie had scanned the rest of the classroom. It was empty. The open window by Miss Princeton's desk was the clue to how the -killer? psycho? blood donor? - escaped. She had done an on-foot scan of the entire building and the surrounding grounds, but found nothing else. Nothing else happened except Miss Princeton scratching out some things in her notebook and shuffling through more papers. After about two hours, Natalie heard Miss Princeton scoot her chair back. Natalie had quickly flattened herself to the wall next to the door, having no time to find a better hiding spot, but it didn't matter. The teacher had simply walked out the door and down the hallway, never even giving a backwards glance. Natalie had stealthily followed her from a distance until she had gotten in her car and driven off. The second she was in the clear, Natalie had whipped out her phone and called her father.
"Hang on," Dean said suddenly to Sam, looking up from their father's journal. "Think I got a bite." He made his way over to the table, holding his finger in place on a word scribbled in ink on the page. "Here- type in 'phaeren'." Dean quickly spelled the bizarre word out for his brother. As the search engine was loading, Sam looked up at Dean.
"What does the journal say?"
"What- Grandpa's journal? You found something in there?" Natalie's voice piped up suddenly from the phone. Sam almost dropped the cell in surprise- he had forgotten that she was still waiting for them on the other end of the line; he had been so wrapped up in typing.
"Hey- uh, yeah Bug. Hang on. I'm going to put you on speaker." Sam set the phone down on the table and pushed the speaker button. "Can you still hear me?" he asked, wanting to make sure Natalie was still there.
"Loud and clear."
"I didn't really find anything- there's a question mark next to the word."
"How do you know it has anything to do with us then?" Natalie asked.
"Dad wrote a couple bullet points underneath the word- one of which is blood."
"Well, hell, it's worth a shot." Just then, the search engine yielded its results. Sam quickly clicked on the first link. His mouth dropped open.
"Son of a bitch," he whispered.
"What?" Natalie said, not being able to see what had caused him to exclaim like that. Dean stepped behind his brother, reading over his shoulder.
"Fuck me," Dean's angry exclamation echoed Sam's whisper in surprise.
"Anyone wanna fill me in here?!" Natalie yelled into the phone.
Sam shook his head, once again, caught off guard. "Yeah- yes. Sorry." Sam scrolled back to the top of the page and began to read. "A Phaeren is a mythological creature, said to be the descendants of Sirens...and Roman Royalty."
"Say what now?" his surprised niece said.
"Legend has it that in Roman times, a Siren fell in love with a Roman Royal, being attracted to his power. He, in turn, was drawn to her beauty and of course, her siren's call. Apparently, they got a little frisky one night, and thus was born the Phaeren."
"It's the freaking love child of The Little Mermaid and Julius Caesar?" Dean said, raising an eyebrow.
Sam just tilted his head to the side, agreeing. "Something like that. Phaerens are attracted to people who are thought to be powerful-"
"In their day, a Roman Royal was akin to a god," Natalie interrupted, her brain whirling at ninety miles a minute.
"Exactly. Apparently, that trait of being attracted to humans in power carried over from the mother."
"What does it say about the blood of a phaeren?" Natalie asked in a rush. Sam grimaced and read to Natalie what made him swear in the first place.
"Says here that a phaeren's blood is powerful- powerful enough to rule anyone."
Dean snapped his fingers. "That's gotta be a trait carried over from the father. Royal bloodlines, and wasn't Rome one of the most vicious armies in all history or something? They were born rulers." Sam slowly turned to Dean, surprise and admiration in his eyes at the historical fact that Dean had just spouted. Dean shifted uncomfortably. "What? I hear you two talking about all your school crap. I'm not deaf, you know."
Sam just bobbed his eyebrows once more in surprise, and then turned back to the website. He found what he was looking for, and pounded his fist on the table excitedly. "Get this- Phaerens use their blood to rule others- to make them do their bidding. I'm guessing that it's a Phaeren controlling your teacher right now."
"Awesome. My English teacher is a marionette for a mythological Roman creature," Natalie shrugged. "Sounds about right."
"Hang on- so their blood controls their victims. That's not what a siren does," Dean said, not fully understanding. Sam twisted his hands away from the keyboard in an I don't really know gesture.
"Well- Sirens use their song to control humans. My guess is whatever was in the Roman guy's baby juice genetically flipped that trait, making the Siren's control come from the blood of its offspring," Sam ventured to guess.
"Fantastic. We have a mermaid/emperor hybrid with a penchance for wiping blood on people's faces and controlling their brains. Awesome," Dean said, shaking his head. He held up a hand. "Before, when all those girls said they couldn't remember anything- which I'm willing to bet was the Phaeren taking control of their asses- there were deaths. If this thing wants to kill, why isn't that chick dead?" he asked. Sam shrugged, having no clue.
"Don't know. But the website says they're obsessed with power- and with sucking the essences out of humans they consider powerful."
"What the hell?!"
"Yeah. Says here that they suck the essence out of the powerful, and that sustains them."
"Does it say anything about their appearances? Like, are there any traits that we should look out for?" Natalie asked, wanting to figure out who exactly the Phaeren was before it took control of someone else. Sam opened a tab entitled "Description". He quickly scanned the page.
"Okay, here we go. It says they appear as humans and that nothing directly distinguishes them from us."
"That'll narrow the field," Dean grumbled.
"It does talk about the eyes- that the people the Phaeren brainwashes usually share some sort of trait with them."
"Hang on," Natalie said slowly. She remembered the first time she looked at Hayden. The first thing she had noticed was her large, violet eyes. She gasped.
"It's Hayden," she said quickly. "She's got purple eyes."
"What does that have to do with this?"
"Wasn't purple a color that denoted Roman Royalty?"
Sam rolled his eyes heavenward. She was right. "Yes. Sounds like we may have our Phaeren."
"Okay. Now that we got the target, next thing we need is a plan."
*SPN SPN SPN*
The next day at lunch, Natalie was sitting with her usual table of girls. She was nervous and tense, but trying not to show it, which of course made the whole thing worse. She had kept close tabs on Hayden as much as possible since her discovery last night with the boys. Nothing seemed out of place today, except their English class. The only bizarre thing Miss Princeton did was to ask Hayden to stay after briefly to discuss something. Confirming her suspicions in her mind, Natalie had tried to take her time putting her stuff up to eavesdrop, but the ever-helpful Lindsey saw her "struggling" and offered to help her pack up her stuff. There was no way that Natalie could have refused without it looking suspicious, so she had slapped on her fake smile and accepted the help, losing all chance of overhearing what it was that Miss Princeton was talking to Hayden about. She resolved to find a way to ask about what happened, if nothing else, just to see the look on Hayden's face and see if that gave anything away.
Sam, Dean, and Natalie had decided last night that she was going to stick like glue to Hayden as much as possible. Sam was close by, keeping eyes on her at all time, but of course from a distance, despite Dean's insistence on how good Sam would look in the school's uniform. Dean was on patrol of the rest of the campus. Natalie had a walkie talkie on her, stashed in her backpack. She had made them swear they wouldn't try to contact her with it while she was in class, and Sam had threatened to slash Baby's tires if Dean couldn't control his immaturity and not yell out dirty things over it while Natalie was in math.
As the rest of the girls were dropping their book bags at their respective seats around the lunch table, Natalie tried desperately to come up with a way to ask Hayden about Miss Princeton holding her after class without drawing attention or suspicion. To her immense surprise, Ainsley actually crossed the bridge for her without any prompting or anything.
"So- Hayden. What was it that Princeton wanted? Is she wanting to audition for one of your dad's movies or something?" Ainsley asked bluntly. She turned to Natalie. "I think Princeton's a wanna be actress."
"Better than just a wanna be," Kirsten muttered under her breath in Ainsley's direction, but only Natalie and Nevaeh heard it. They both quickly had to turn their snickers into coughs, but the three girls shared a quick smile. Hayden swept her long hair behind her casually before answering. The gold bangle bracelets on her wrist clinked as she did so. Suddenly, Natalie remembered the soft clinking sound she heard last night right before the hand touched Miss Princeton's face. Natalie gritted her teeth, wanting to take care of the bitch right then and there. But a lunch room was hardly the place to gank a monster. She tried to focus on Hayden's words.
"She said that she got a chance to look at my paper over again last night, and she decided on a different grade," Hayden answered in her soft voice. Natalie schooled her nerves to stay calm. So Miss Princeton was manipulated into changing Hayden's grade. She sent up a quick, thankful prayer that Princeton had changed it- otherwise, she had a nasty feeling that she would have ended up as the next corpse on the list if she had refused. Lindsey nodded furiously at Hayden, her usual brown-nosing routine going full speed.
"Good! Your paper was so awesome. It seriously gave me goose bumps," she said in her tiny little voice. Ainsley didn't say anything rude, but she couldn't resist rolling her eyes at Lindsey's eagerness to stay on Hayden's good side. Maybe staying on Hayden's good side is the smartest thing she could be doing, Natalie thought bitterly to herself. Hayden smiled at Lindsey.
"Thanks," she said in her quiet, sweet voice. "She bumped it up to an A minus. I still don't think I did as good as Nevaeh, though." Her violet eyes sought Nevaeh's across the table. Nevaeh shifted awkwardly in her seat, and blushed.
"No- I just...I mean, I really understood the material- not that you don't or anything," she said awkwardly. Hayden's eyebrows went up, but then she smiled benignly on her.
"No, I understand what you mean. I just wish that I could do as well as you in that class," she said, a touch of sorrow in her voice.
"Nevaeh, what grade did you get?" Lindsey squeaked. Nevaeh blushed even deeper, wanting the focus off of her.
"Well, I- I mean, I added that whole section about the Greek culture at the time Eurydice was written, so...I guess she took that as extra credit. I got an A plus."
"Nevaeh, that's great!" Kirsten said, patting her on the back a little harder than necessary, sending the girl pitching forward towards the table. "Oops, sorry," Kirsten apologized. "Just got out of boxing. I guess I'm still a bit pumped from that."
Hayden smiled again, shaking her head. Her eyes trained on Nevaeh and narrowed a bit, but she continued to smile. "Well, congratulations. I'm sure that A plus was well deserved."
"Sydney? Why are you so quiet today? Are you sick or something?" Ainsley suddenly asked, looking at Natalie. All eyes at the table swung to her. Natalie quickly focused on Ainsley with her fake smile.
"Sorry- just got a lot on my mind today," Natalie said in what she hoped was a carefree manner, even though she felt anything but. It looked to her like the Phaeren had found her next target.
*SPN SPN SPN*
Later on that night, Natalie headed to Hayden's dorm room. Hayden had declared another movie night- this time, with a movie that hadn't even been released in theaters yet. Natalie had texted Sam and Dean at once. She knew Hayden was going to make her move tonight towards Nevaeh, and all three of them were ready. Sam had stationed himself in the adjacent building, keeping an binoculared eye on Hayden. Natalie tried to ignore the fact that if someone was really determined to do so, it was apparently really easy to see into the girls' dorm rooms. At the moment, she was nothing but grateful for the fact.
Dean was actually on the grounds now, the dark providing his cover. He was watching the building also, watching the door for anyone with glowing eyes either coming in or out. Natalie had armed herself to the teeth- as much as she could without actually having any fire power on her. She felt almost naked without the gun now, knowing what she was walking into, but there had been absolutely no way that she could have ever smuggled one successfully onto the campus. Along with the usual- salt, lighter, and holy water- she had her favorite Bull's-eyes; her nickname for her silver throwing knives. She even had a iron spoon in her right pocket, but wasn't sure that it would even do any good. The only thing that they had discovered on the website was a way to "stop" a Phaeren, not kill it. Sam had discovered that cutting off the Phaeren's hands removed its power. The website was unclear as to whether or not this actually killed the Phaeren, since they were still widely thought to be mythological creatures. They had all hoped that if the Phaeren resembled humans so closely, it could be killed like any other human. But first, they had to start with the hands.
Natalie shifted her weight as she walked down the hall towards Hayden's room to feel her favorite knife shift in her sock. She knew it was there, she just like the sensation of feeling it- almost like it was a security blanket for her. She knew those knives were sharp enough to cut through flesh- she gritted her teeth at thinking about them cutting through bone. She shoved the rising bile down as she reached Hayden's door. She took a deep breath, and knocked.
"Come in," said the gentle voice from inside. Natalie opened the door. As usual, Hayden was sitting in her expensive, lumbar supporting, pink leather desk chair, while Lindsey ran around the room, making sure all the popcorn was perfectly popped and the ice was still frozen. Kirsten was stretched out on the floor, one leg in the air as she pulled it towards her, stretching it out. At Natalie's confused look, Kirsten grinned.
"Just came from soccer," she said. Natalie couldn't help but chuckle.
"You going for the gold in every Olympic sport known to man?" she asked. Kirsten laughed.
"You bet I am," she replied saucily. Natalie looked around, and immediately noticed that Nevaeh wasn't there. A moment of panic overtook her- was she too late? Had Hayden already made her move? Lindsey caught her looking around, and as if reading her mind, piped up with the answer.
"Nevaeh's not coming tonight- she said she had some homework to finish. I don't know why- seriously, is there anything more important than movie night? I don't think so," she declared with a squeaky little huff. Hayden reached out a hand and gently took Lindsey's wrist as if to calm her. Natalie focused intensely on the connection, her eyes almost straining to see if there was any blood on Hayden's hand.
"It's okay. School stuff, like grades, are important," Hayden said, giving Lindsey's hand a sweet little shake. As she did, the gold bangles clinked together on her wrist again.
"I've been meaning to tell you- I really like your bracelets, Hayden," Natalie said, watching the girl like a hawk for the reaction. Hayden looked surprised at the sudden compliment. She released Lindsey's hand, and shook her own, the bangles sweetly clanking together again.
"Thank you," she said in her soporific voice. "My best friend gave them to me." She smiled again at Lindsey, who was busy opening tiny cans of Diet Pepsi.
"Wow- that's great. They must be really special to you, huh? I don't think I've ever seen you take them off."
"Oh, no. Never. I never will." Bingo, thought Natalie. Got you red handed. HA! Red handed! Because of the blood on her hands! I'm hilarious.
"Hey Linds- you know where Ainsley is?" Kirsten suddenly piped up. "I'm dying to see this movie. Supposedly, there's a scene where you can totally see Zac Efron's butt," she said with a throaty laugh.
Hayden looked at Kirsten disapprovingly, but she couldn't hide the smile that was creeping onto her face. "Kirsten- he's old enough to be your father," she reminded her gently. Kirsten shrugged and threw on a cocky grin.
"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy it," she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Ha! Well, Dad would totally love hanging out with you, Natalie thought to herself. Lindsey piped up again, as if she hadn't heard any of the previous conversation.
"Not sure. Let me go try to call her," she said, darting out of the room across the hallway into her own dorm room. Once she was out of the room, Hayden suddenly turned to Natalie.
"Hey Sydney?" she said quietly. Ever fiber in her body alert, Natalie tried to play cool and answer her casually.
"Yeah?"
"Can you do me a huge favor? Will you go get me a bottle of water? I don't feel well, and Diet Pepsi isn't going to do it for me tonight," Hayden asked, a bit anxiously. Natalie was thrown. There was no way that she wanted to leave Kirsten alone with a monster, but if she didn't do as Hayden asked, she might go full beast right now. The knowledge that Sam was watching Hayden's every move was the only reason she agreed to go. After assuring the girls that she would be right back, Natalie practically sprinted out of the girl's room towards her own, where she kept plastic bottles full of holy water. No harm in trying, she thought. She darted into her room and grabbed a bottle. However, as she was barreling out of the room, she ran smack dab into Ainsley.
"Whoa- sorry, didn't see you there," Natalie said quickly, grabbing Ainsley to steady her. But Ainsley seemed fine. Actually, she didn't seem affected at all. She didn't say anything, she just walked past Natalie down the hallway. Natalie's jaw dropped open- in the entire week she had known her, Natalie had never heard Ainsley quiet- ever. "Ainsley?" she called out tentatively. But the girl simply kept walking. "Ainsley!" Natalie yelled with force. Ainsley stopped in her tracks, and turned, looking Natalie full in the face.
Her eyes were glowing purple.
As Natalie's heart leapt into her throat, Ainsley turned back, continued down the hallway, and around the corner. Without missing a beat, Natalie pulled out her walkie talkie.
"Dad! Uncle Sam! Are you there?" she hissed frantically into it, her head whipping back and forth between Hayden's door and the hallway that Ainsley had just turned down.
The walkie talkie crackled with sudden static, and with an accompanying flood of relief, Natalie heard Dean's voice.
"Hey- I'm here- what's up?"
"Ainsley's been possessed by the Phaeren. She's heading out of the building."
"That doesn't make any sense," Sam's voice crackled through the speaker. "I didn't see Hayden move at all."
"Maybe she fed Ainsley something that had her blood in it or something- I don't know," Natalie said in a rush. "Dad- should I follow her?"
"Hell yes. I'm right outside. Stay a safe distance behind her, but stay with her. I'll join you in a minute. Sammy, keep your eyes peeled on Hollywood girl, got it?"
"Copy that," Sam said before signing off. Natalie obeyed orders, swiftly but quietly walking down the hallway. Just as she rounded the corner, she spotted Ainsley at the large oak doors that led into the campus courtyard. Natalie kept peering around the corner, but made sure that the rest of her was hidden. Ainsley pulled open the heavy wooden doors and exited the building. Natalie swiftly made her way down the hallway, keeping in mind Dean's instructions to stay a safe distance away. When she reached the doors and slowly pulled them open, she was unsurprised to see Dean standing there.
There was a brief moment of joy, seeing as how she hadn't actually laid eyes on her father in over a week. The only time that they had ever been apart that long was her previous foray into public education. She still hated it that feeling of separation, ten years later. Seeing his face again reminded her of all the times she had seen him pull up to her elementary school and the subsequent elation she felt. The joy was still as sweet now. Dean grinned upon seeing her.
"Hey kiddo," he whispered, giving her a quick one armed hug. As the large wooden door was shutting, he swiftly looked down the hallway behind her. Natalie could see him calculating the distance versus how long ago Ainsley had crept out of the building. He gave her an approving grin. "Nice distance," he said with a pleased jerk of his head. Natalie gave him a genuine smile back at his praise. God, he had missed that smile. The piece of him that had been missing all week was locked back into place. He felt like he was whole again. But they had a bigger problem on their hands at the moment. "Come on," he hissed, turning his attention back to the courtyard. He nodded towards a small figure in the distance- Ainsley. "I'm dying to know where Purple Eyes is headed. Stay close to me." Dean began a casual lope in Ainsley's direction, far enough back that it wouldn't look like they were following her. Natalie kept pace right with him.
They followed the girl to the library. Natalie took a moment to hiss into Dean's ear. "I think the target is going to be Nevaeh- Hayden seemed upset that she got a better grade on our English paper. She said that Nevaeh was working on homework tonight- and knowing her, she's in the library." Dean just nodded, once, to show he understood. They quickly approached the doors and cautiously opened them. Once they slipped inside, Dean gently put his arm out, pressing Natalie against the wall beside him. They silently crept towards the study tables. Natalie couldn't help but think that this place sort of looked like the library at Hogwarts, when a movement caught her eye.
Nevaeh was sitting at the far table, her books spread out all over one of them. There was a can of Red Bull next to her, and she looked like she was completely engrossed in whatever she was reading. Suddenly, a figure sprinted out from between the bookshelves at Nevaeh. Natalie could see a streak of purple light as the figure rushed past. Without fully meaning to, Natalie took off sprinting towards Nevaeh. "MOVE!" she screamed at her. Nevaeh looked up, startled at the loud voice breaking the silence, but upon seeing two people barreling towards her as fast as they could, she dove off her chair with a scream. Just as Ainsley reached the chair, Natalie slammed into her full force, tackling her to the ground. "Dad!" she hollered, locking her hands around Ainsley's wrists as the girl struggled to buck Natalie off of her. Dean understood what she meant. He bolted over to Nevaeh, helping her up off the ground.
"You okay? Hey- you okay?" he practically shouted at her; the adrenaline was coursing through his veins. When she nodded frantically, terrified, Dean shoved her towards the door. "Go hide- we'll come get you! We'll find you, just go!" Nevaeh didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted for the door to the library. Dean watched as the frightened girl ran out the door, then turned his attention back to his daughter. Natalie had pulled herself and Ainsley off the floor, and had her arms locked around the struggling girl. Natalie whipped her head around, and saw a janitor's closet on the wall to her left. With a great heave, she pulled the still struggling Ainsley with her towards it. Both girls were roughly the same size, but Natalie had years of Marine-style training under her belt, while the biggest thing Ainsley had ever broken was a nail. Dean saw what Natalie was doing, and ran ahead to yank the door open. When Natalie finally dragged the enchanted girl over to it, she promptly tossed her head first into the closet and slammed the door shut. She threw the deadbolt latch, while Dean grabbed a nearby chair and wedged it under the door handle, both of them ignoring the yells and pounding fists from inside the closet. After quickly double checking that the lock and chair were holding, Dean looked at his daughter approvingly.
"You're getting stronger, squirt," he said, still a bit winded from his sprint across the room. Natalie shrugged.
"Apparently the Phaeren doesn't give you supernatural strength- just controls your mind. Ainsley's a weak thing- she can't even open jars by herself." Natalie looked at the door where Ainsley was trapped. There was still wild pounding on the door. Natalie smirked at Dean. "I can't pretend that it didn't feel good to shove her in there."
Dean chuckled. "Well, live it up, kiddo. You deserve it." He stepped away from the door, as the sounds coming from the closet now suggested that the still-under-the-influence Ainsley was throwing her body against the door in an effort to get out. "Persistent little devil, ain't she?" he asked, looking at the door in disbelief. "Guess we just wait for the Phaeren juice to wear off-" He didn't get to finish his sentence.
Out of the darkness, a small body came hurling at him from behind, wrapping its arms around his neck and choking off the rest of his sentence. Natalie instantly whipped her knife out of her sock and made to attack, but stopped dead when she saw the large butcher knife being held to her father's throat. She froze, unable to move.
"One wrong move and he's dead," came a small, squeaky voice from Dean's back. Natalie had to shake her head. She knew that voice, but she couldn't be hearing properly- there was no way.
"Lindsey?" she said disbelievingly. No. There was no way. Except that...it was. Lindsey peered over Dean shoulder, still clinging to him like a child getting a piggy back ride. The knife at Dean's throat glistened dangerously in the soft light from the lamps on the mahogany library tables. Lindsey looked down on Natalie, her eyes full of disdain.
"You are NOT going to ruin this for me," Lindsey hissed. Natalie still couldn't believe it. Lindsey? Brown noser, squeaky, subservient Lindsey? While she was trying to wrap her head around the facts that were right in front of her, Natalie slipped her hand into her pocket. She rolled her weight back onto her right foot, trying to look casual. Lindsey snorted.
"You really think that's convincing? I'm holding a knife to your father's throat. Don't try to play calm with me," she sneered in her tiny voice. Natalie dropped the casual stance, but kept her hand in her pocket, squeezing the button on the object in there.
"Fine," Natalie growled back. "So I take it that you're the Phaeren."
"There you go, living up to that big brain of yours," Lindsey spat at her, the squeaky voice bouncing off the walls in the silence.
"Okay. We get it- you're the real Queen Bee around here. How many of them are you controlling?" Natalie said, desperate to keep Lindsey talking until she could figure out a way of getting the bitch off her father, and that knife away from his throat. She made fleeting eye contact with Dean. She could read his instructions to remain calm in his gaze, but it was clear he didn't have a way out of this either. So she just kept talking. "I mean, Ainsley's locked in the closet, and obviously you're controlling Hayden-"
"NO! I would NEVER do that to her!" Lindsey screamed in rage. Natalie took a step back as Lindsey pushed the blade closer in to Dean's throat. "She's the reason I'm here," the girl said, the reverent sound back in her voice. Now THIS sounded like the Lindsey that Natalie knew. The confused look on Natalie's face made Lindsey take a deep breath. Natalie saw the blade move away from Dean's neck a fraction of an inch. "Hayden is the only person who actually treats me like I'm someone. And do you know who I am?" Lindsey hissed, a crazed look in her eye. "I am the direct descendant of the Roman Throne! I am a Goddess! Hayden's beautiful eyes and powerful status was like nectar to me. I could live off of her- feed off her essence. I even gave her my own mother's priceless bracelet as a token of my friendship and affection." As she said that, Natalie noticed the golden bangle on Lindsey's wrist as well. Lindsey saw her looking at it. "Yes. I have one just like it. Treasures from my homeland that remind me of the perks of being what I am."
"And what perk is that?" Natalie said evenly.
"Hayden," Lindsey replied, the tone of worship back in her voice. "In almost two hundred years, I've never found someone like her- someone who doesn't treat me like dirt."
"You're feeding off her life essence," Natalie said bleakly. Lindsey nodded. "But- isn't that going to...kill her? If you love her so much, how could you do that to her?" Natalie asked, truly confused.
"I'm not hurting her. I've been very careful to siphon only what I need off of her. As long as she's happy and wants me around, I still live like a Goddess. I would do anything to keep her happy- anything to keep her in her status."
"Even kill."
"That gym teacher was going to fail her! I can't let her fail!"
"And the other student?"
"She said that she had found some information on Hayden's father that would ruin him. Hayden was so upset- I couldn't let her keep feeling that way. Her eyes are too beautiful to be red from crying. I had to make things right."
"By killing?!"
"I've done worse things to stay alive," Lindsey muttered. "But that doesn't matter. Tonight, I'm going to finish you off, and you won't be able to outshine Hayden anymore," she hissed, her crazed eyes snapping in the light.
Natalie removed her hand from her pocket, and took a fighting stance. "Lindsey- we can talk this out, okay? It doesn't have to be like this. But if you come at me, I'm going to hurt you, and that's the last thing you want."
"Oh, I know that," she said coolly. "So I won't come at you." Quick as a flash, Lindsey spun the knife around in her hand so she was holding it like a dagger. "But HE will." Before Natalie could make a move, Lindsey sliced open her fingertips, and ran her hand down Dean's face.
"NO!" Natalie screamed, lunging forward. Lindsey loosened her grip from around Dean's neck, dropping to the ground. Dean's head was thrown back suddenly. Natalie watched in horror as the blood seeped into her father's face. He looked down on her, his eyes glowing purple. Lindsey looked at him, and his face turned towards hers, under her control. She gave Natalie an evil grin.
"Kill her," she said simply.
"Aw, shit," Natalie whimpered to herself. Dean, being completely controlled by the Phaeren, started stalking his way directly at her. She knew that Dean wasn't himself right now. Both he and Sam had prepared her for this situation. Sam and Dean had been possessed by other things and had attacked each other. They had been very upfront and honest that something like this was a very real possibility. But coming face to face with it was completely different that discussing it during a training session. Natalie shoved away all the sudden rush of memories of Dean tucking her in, soothing her when she was sick, and holding her on the rare occasion that she cried. I have to get him back to normal, and I can't do that if he incapacitates me, she thought logically to herself. She ignored the screaming emotions in her brain, and took her fighting stance. She knew what needed to be done- but there was no way she could throw the first punch. He was going to have to attack first.
She didn't have to wait long. Dean closed the gap between them at an alarming speed. He aimed a cold-cocked punch straight at the center of her face. She was expecting it- it was Dean's favorite way to end a fight before it had begun. She deftly dodged it and planted a right hook into his kidney. He grunted with pain, but his psychotic glowing eyes narrowed. He whipped around at lightning speed, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her straight into the air. Natalie kicked her feet violently as she struggled to breathe. Her hands locked on Dean's wrist, trying to pull away from his crushing fingers, but to no avail. He hurled her backwards onto one of the library tables. All the remaining air in her lungs exited as she hit the table with a grunt. She wasn't heavy enough to break the sturdy table legs, but the momentum of her body crashing into it made it topple, slamming her head into the ground as the table flipped her. She saw stars for a moment. Just as they were beginning to clear, Dean's tall silhouette fell on her. She was still too dazed and disoriented to get up. She tried to scramble backwards against his advance. She felt herself back into the wall, and knew there was nowhere else to go. She watched in horror as Dean reached behind his shirt and pulled out his favorite silver .45. He aimed the gun directly at Natalie's heart.
Before she could even catch her breath to scream, a foot connected with Dean's face in a back roundhouse kick, sending both him and the gun flying. Natalie's mouth dropped open. Kirsten was adjusting the large, fluffy ribbon in her ponytail. She looked down at Natalie and shrugged. "Judo lessons," she explained casually, as if she was telling Natalie how she'd gotten an A on her last homework assignment instead of saving her life. She reached a hand down and pulled Natalie up. "You okay?" she asked. Before Natalie could answer or even ask what the hell she was doing there, there was a loud thud. Kirsten's eyes glazed over, and she toppled forward, hitting her knees before she hit the floor. Natalie tried to grab her, but she had fallen so fast she slipped right through Natalie's hands. Lindsey was standing there, holding a lamp from a nearby table. Natalie desperately wanted to check to see if Kirsten was bleeding, but with Lindsey advancing, there was no way. Just then, she saw Dean getting up out of the corner of her eye. She was backed into a corner, no way out.
"You should have left well enough alone," Lindsey said, her squeaky voice betraying the evil in her words. "I had only planned on killing one person tonight- now it's going to have to be four." As she slowly closed the gap between herself and Natalie, Dean did the same on the other side. Natalie's eyes darted back and forth between the two, finally landing on Dean. If she was going to die, she wanted his face to be the last thing she saw.
Just as Lindsey reached her hands back to club Natalie over the skull with the lamp, she let out of scream of horror. Natalie's face whipped around to see another tall figure standing right behind Lindsey, and a gleaming silver machete blade in his hand. Sam pulled the machete back, and Natalie heard two small thumps on the floor. She looked down just in time to see Lindsey's hands hit the ground before Sam ran the girl through with the full length of the blade, pulling her body in to his to make sure it had gone in all the way. Lindsey gave a final gasp as blood began pouring out from her torso. She landed in a pool of her own blood, and moved no more. The blood around her body began turning into a purple gas, wisping away into the night. Sam jumped back quickly to avoid it just as Lindsey's corpse disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Natalie risked a glance at Dean. Purple gas seemed to be seeping from his eyes, and she saw them return to their normal, beautiful green. Natalie lay her head back against the wall, and just breathed, grateful that it was all over.
*SPN SPN SPN*
Natalie revived Kirsten, while Sam and Dean respectively rescued a very confused Ainsley from the locked janitor's closet, and found Nevaeh cowering in the girl's bathroom. The six of them limped back to Hayden's dorm room, only to find her passed out cold on her bed. Kirsten pursed her lips angrily.
"I'm betting that Lindsey drugged her- she fell asleep before you could get back with the water," she said to Natalie, turning to her with her hands on her hips. "When you didn't show up, and Lindsey didn't come back, I figured something weird was happening, so I followed Lindsey to the library." She shrugged, as if to say that following creepy brown nosers with bloody hands was all in a day's work. "So. Anyone want to explain what the hell just happened?" she said, looking at the Winchesters. After checking to make sure Hayden was actually asleep and in no danger, Sam, Dean and Natalie sat the other three down. Not for the first time did Natalie wish that she had that memory wiper gizmo from the Men In Black movies. Sam and Dean explained the entire situation to the girls. When Nevaeh shakingly asked how Natalie was involved, she sighed deeply, and came clean. Ainsley looked simply stunned that "Sydney Bonham from Denver Colorado" was actually a full time supernatural hunter, and was struck dumb. Nevaeh was still shaking, but Kirsten seemed to take it in stride.
"Good thing you guys figured this one out, or we all might have been killed," Kirsten said, putting her arm around Nevaeh, trying to help her calm down. Dean smirked at the girl approvingly.
"You'd make a kick ass hunter. Do you know that?" he said. Kirsten snorted.
"If the whole Olympics thing doesn't work out," she grinned at him, "I'll give you a call."
After getting their fake stories straight, Sam called in anonymously to the police, giving them the location of a "note" that Lindsey had "written", taking responsibility for all the murders. After that, the Winchesters packed up as fast as they could, and hightailed it across the state line.
When they reached a motel close to a roadside exit, they checked in, strictly needing to regroup for at least one night. Sam and Natalie had been sitting together on the couch, talking over the details of the case.
"It was a good thing you pressed the "talk" button on that Walkie Talkie in your pocket- otherwise, I never would have known that you guys had run into major trouble," Sam said, patting his niece on the knee.
"It was the only way that I could think of to tell you- with Lindsey holding a knife on Dad, any move I made to contact anyone would have been suicide," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. He leaned down and kissed the crown of her hair.
"Well, I'm glad you're back, Bug. It wasn't the same around here without you," he said, his voice a bit husky. She gave him a rare, genuine smile.
"I missed you too," she said, before her smile twisted off to one side.
"I didn't miss you at all," Dean quipped, sitting next to her on the couch, and plunking his bottle of beer on the table. He turned and offered one to his daughter. "Here. You've earned this."
Natalie sat up straight, her green eyes wide as saucers. "You serious?" she asked, eyeing the bottle. Dean shrugged and smiled.
"First solo hunt. WITH permission," he said, a tone of teasing in his voice. "Absolutely you've earned it." Natalie didn't need to be told twice. She twisted the top off the bottle, and took a tentative sip. She swished the unfamiliar drink around in her mouth a few times before swallowing.
"Huh. That's...interesting," she said, before taking another swig. She looked at Sam as she swallowed. "You're okay with this?"
Sam grinned. "For once, I agree with your dad's poor choices. No doubt you've earned that." Natalie sat back, put her feet on the coffee table, and took another sip. It was getting easier, the more she actually drank. She turned to Dean, her grin twisting off to the side as per usual.
"Like hell you didn't miss me," she taunted. Dean shook his head, acting nonchalant.
"Didn't think about you once."
"Bullshit."
"Hand to God."
"We'll see about that," she said, sitting up again and grabbing his phone off the coffee table.
"Hey- what are you doing?" Dean asked, perplexed.
"Checking your score on Candy Crush," Natalie said, making quick work of unlocking his phone and diving into the app. Dean sat bolt upright on the couch. Sam chuckled.
"Dude- you play Candy Crush?" he asked his brother, not even bothering to contain a laugh.
"No," Dean said hotly. "It's...from when Natalie was a kid. I haven't gotten around to deleting it yet." He made a swipe for the phone, but Natalie jumped off the couch, out of reach. Sam's arm instantly slammed Dean back onto the couch, soccer mom style, wanting to see how this played out.
"Again- I call bullshit. You only play Candy Crush when you're really worried or upset," Natalie said as the game loaded. "AHA! You've gone up seventeen levels in the week I was gone." She waved the phone tauntingly at her father. "You SO missed me."
Dean rolled his eyes with a grunt. "Okay, I missed you. Just a little." But his cheeky grin at his daughter told her a different story. In reality, the week away from her had brought back all of Dean's nightmares of being separated from her when she was little. He hadn't had those dreams in a very long time, and had been hitting the coffee hard to disguise the fact that he hadn't been sleeping well. But his Baby Girl was back, and he was more proud of her than ever. When she sat back down, he put his arm around her, and pulled her in, close. She rested her head on his chest, finally feeling complete again.
"You guys totally owe me for what you put me through, by the way."
"We do not."
"I'm thinking a week in Maui ought to do the trick."
"Keep dreaming."
"I would be okay if it was Disney World, too."
"Not in this lifetime."
"How about we go tour the Jack Daniels brewery?"
"Forget it, Bug."
"Hang on Sammy. She may be on to something."
