Whew! Sorry for the long break guys, we took a much needed vacation and it's summer break so things have been out of sorts here. Hope you enjoy this next chapter. I get so happy when I see new followers and reviews! I appreciate everyone who's stuck with this story and I hope you continue to. As always, constructive criticism is love and so are suggestions!
The day things had changed was rainy, gloomy.
Everyone had been on edge that day, the weather setting them up for bickering and bad moods, trapped again in another day of bunker, stale takeout, and mindless flipping through channels. Dean and Emily had emerged from a few blissful weeks of settling into their relationship, constant sex, all the lovey-dovey, sappy, googly eyes at each other that often made Sam disappear for hours on end, but it had resolved into normalcy as the days dragged on and now here they were, fighting. Dean had threatened to spank her three or four times already that day, until Emily had flipped him off and locked herself in her room with her book, just to get away from them. No one had bugged her and she had started really getting into the latest apocalyptic fantasy series when she heard yelling.
Not normal yelling.
It was Bobby's voice, Castiel's, Dean and Sam intermixed, and somewhere in there, she heard a female voice. Pained, moaning, hurt. Emily had tossed her book aside and rushed out to the living room of the bunker to find utter chaos, Bobby covered in blood and Castiel kneeling over the body of what looked like a young woman but she was also covered in so much blood it was hard to tell for sure who she was or what her age was. Dean and Sam were crowded around them all, both of them speaking over each other as they tried to decipher what was happening until Castiel lost his cool and bellowed "ENOUGH" forcing everyone to fall silent, except for the bleeding girl's whimpers of pain. Emily stood in the center of the room, wide-eyed, trying to take it in before finally moving to Bobby's side. The older man was panting heavily, and Emily went to work ushering him to a chair so she could check him over for injuries.
"Not me," he managed to grunt out, reaching for water and taking a few swigs of it, which seemed to help calm him enough to talk. "Blood is hers.' Ezreil's latest victim. He knew it would draw us out. He was waiting. He slaughtered a whole group of hunter's who answered the call for help."
Castiel was healing the girl, the white light around him as he worked was evident of that, but he didn't speak, clearly also listening to Bobby's story with a keen gaze, as if he already knew what had happened but wanted to hear it reiterated. Sam and Dean came to Bobby's side too, nodding at him to continue.
"She's a hunter, young 'un, but a good hunter. Not sure how Ezreil got his hands on her, but all I know is we got the call that he'd captured one of us, and we responded. She was traveling with a group of 'em, he killed them all before we even made it there. It was a bloodbath, dead hunters, dead demons, that sonuvabitch Ezreil standing there like he was disappointed with it all. We think he was trying to draw you two idjits out, think he reckoned you'd answer the call and he could leverage you or somethin'. Her name's Claire, what I gathered."
Bobby stopped talking as Castiel's light faded and he was able to help the young woman up. She was still covered in so much blood that it was hard to see where it ended and she began, but there was a fierce sadness in her eyes that Emily recognized, the same look she'd had after she had found her dad. Before she could speak, Castiel did, looking to the two Winchester brother's with an urgency Emily knew meant trouble. "She needs to stay here for now, where she will be safe." His voice was low and authoritative, leaving no room for argument. "Ezreil has crossed a line. He killed ten hunters tonight in this vain attempt to get Emily, but he has now caught the attention of both Lucifer AND God. If Lucifer views Ezreil as a credible threat, we believe he will dispatch him himself, however, failing that, God has ordered us to track him and tear him apart. We haven't seen this much destruction since Crowley."
Sam looked to the girl and then back to Castiel, incredulously. "What are we supposed to do with her, Cas? What if she's got tracking on her? We don't know if she's trustworthy."
"She is," Castiel cut him off smoothly, even as Emily saw Claire open her mouth to angrily defend herself. "She was bait. Her companions are dead and she is unsafe now that Ezreil has seen his plan in action."
The girl's shoulders slumped at the words "dead companions" and Emily felt a wave of protective sadness wash over her. She was like Emily, alone and thrust into a world she hadn't asked for.
"Come on," Emily stepped forward to take the girl's arm, looping it through hers. "You can shower in my room while the boy's get your place ready. There's another room next to mine." She looked to Dean, giving him a hard stare that clearly said "just fucking do it," before she lead her out and away from the commotion. The men were still talking angrily amongst each other as Emily closed the door to her room and lead the girl to the bathroom.
"Here," she handed her a towel and got the water running. "Get cleaned up and we can talk. I know this is a lot." She didn't know where this gentle maturity was coming from, but she could sense the girl standing before her needed stability and directions now that the shock of her injuries was gone and grief was going to hit her at any moment. Regardless of who she was or how Emily felt about this sudden development, they both needed time to process. Ezreil had slaughtered an entire group of Hunters just to get to her. If Sam and Dean had gotten the call and gone, they could've easily been among those numbers. And Bobby, how had he escaped it? And this girl, Claire, why had she been chosen? What was her connection to them? Was it to the demons or was it simply because she was well known in their world? A sense of panic welled in her throat as she debated all of these possibilities, but she tried her best to stay calm, and focus on what this woman might need when she emerged. She was taller then Emily was, but she was sure she could fit into some night shorts and a tank top, so Emily busied herself with pulling those out along with some personal items until she could get to Sam and Dean and figure out what they were going to do with her.
The girl stayed in the shower for a long time, even through the sound of the running water, Emily could hear her sobbing. She didn't pry, letting her take her time, letting her grieve, and when the water finally turned off and she could hear Claire getting out, Emily arranged her features into a look of calm and stood, knocking on the door and calling, "Hey, I've got some clean clothes here, they should fit you." The door opened a crack, releasing a rush of steam as the girl reached out to take them, giving Emily a tight smile.
"Thanks," her voice held an accent, southern, sweeter than Emily would've guessed would come from a Hunter. Like a little southern belle, she'd thought as she smiled back and allowed Claire to dress herself. When Claire had fully emerged from the bathroom, Emily was finally able to get a look at her sans all the blood and gore. Claire's gaze was wary and guarded, but she edged herself into the room and sat on the end of Emily's bed. Claire was pretty, a good few inches taller than she was, but slender and willowy, blonde and pale-skinned, Emily would've described her as delicate if it wasn't for the various scars literally her arms and legs, the fierceness in her brown eyes. She was sizing up Emily at the same time as Emily was sizing her up and before Emily could speak again, the girl's eyes had narrowed a little.
"You're Parker's kid, aren't you?" The mention of her dad was like a gut punch. "I recognize you. We all thought you might be dead, we were mighty confused when ole' demon showed up asking about you. All this time, you were holed up here? Hiding?"
There was a slight edge of accusation in her tone, enough that Emily felt uncomfortable, guilty. "I'm obviously not dead," she retorted finally, her arms coming to cross over her chest. "I'm Emily Parker."
"Claire Jackson," the girl responded, her body relaxing slightly as she surveyed Emily's room. "We met once, few years ago. My mom was Amelia Jackson, think she knew your dad." Emily didn't remember the girl, she didn't remember her mom, although the name did register as familiar. "Mom died, cancer, and I took up with a group of Hunters down in Nashville, been with them the last few years."
The wash of sadness that overtook the girl on the bed made Emily relax, and she came to sit next to her. "I'm sorry about your friends, your family," she said gently, resting a hand on her shoulder. "My dad was killed last year, a demon took him. Same one that killed my mom. That's how I ended up here with the Winchesters." She glanced to the door as if saying their names might summon them to the room. "Ezreil started after me by accident. We weren't really sure why, not at first. To be honest, I still don't really understand it-"
The door opened then and the girls looked up to find all four men standing outside of the frame. "You guys doing okay?" Sam spoke first, clearly still shaken from whatever they'd been talking about while the girl's were gone. "Claire, I got the room next door set up, Bobby's gonna go get you stuff tomorrow but tonight we're gonna stay put. We think Ezreil may still be waiting out there."
Claire stood then, and gone was any earlier trace of sadness, replaced with a fleeting bravado that would've made Emily smile if it wasn't so horrific what she'd gone through. "Look, I appreciate the place to stay for the night, I appreciate the hospitality of y'all, but I won't be staying here. Not long-term, at any rate." Emily hid her grin, she sounded so much like Emily had that it was almost comical. Surprisingly, Castiel was the one who stepped forward, speaking in a clear, clipped voice like he always did, but under was an edge that Emily hadn't heard from him in awhile.
"No," he stared her down, matter-of-factly. "You will stay here for now. While you will not be coerced into anything long term, while Ezreil roams the earth, you are unsafe and you will be hunted again. I do not believe for a moment that Ezreil had planned to let you leave alive. If not for Bobby's quick thinking, you'd be with your companions currently. You need to come with me now and tell me everything that happened, leading up to the aftermath of this mess and ANYTHING he may have mentioned about Sam, Dean, or Emily."
Claire, to her credit, shut her mouth and surveyed the Angel in front of her calmly. She was clearly a hunter, and unlike Emily, she didn't seem all that eager to fight them on it. "Fine," she shrugged, and followed Castiel, roughly pushing past Dean and Sam, who both turned and gave Emily a 'do you believe this chick?' look. "The sooner that bastard is dead and out of our hair, the better."
Emily shrugged back at the boys, also trailing a look after Claire as she left with Castiel. She was tough, that was for sure. She couldn't have been more then a year older than Emily, but she acted like she had been on the earth for centuries. The hard life of a Hunter would do that to a person.
"She seems nice," she said cheerfully, which caused Bobby to bust out laughing.
"Woooeee boys, you gotch your hands FULL if that ain't the truth," he was still laughing as he walked away, and Emily finally exhaled the breath she felt like she'd been holding in since Claire had arrived. "Is what they said true? Ezreil killed all those hunters to get to me? But why? What does he think he's going to do with me?"
"I don't know," Dean said gravely, rubbing a hand across the thick stubble growing on his jaw. "Cas thinks that maybe Ezreil believes you can be a powerful vessel for him in the war he's beginning against Lucifer. He also believes he may think your power can be used to kill the Angel's." Emily's face drained of color and she couldn't stop the small gasp that escaped her lips, and as Dean stepped forward to draw her in for a hug, Sam finished the thought for him. "Castiel thinks that Ezreil plans to possess you then use you as a weapon, far more powerful than he would get with a normal person."
The thought chilled Emily to the bone. She had spent her whole life chasing these unholy things with her father, but she had never felt scared of them, the inexplicable power she had had always made her feeling wholly safe. The idea that there was someone who believed he could break past that barrier and turn her into the same kind of monster she'd always hated was more then she could was more then she could fathom. Taking a deep shuddering breath, Emily pulled herself away from Dean and studied them both. "We can't keep on like this. He can't keep killing people in my name. I won't let him. It's time we come up with a plan and I fight like I'm supposed to-don't give me that look Dean, you know what I'm saying isn't wrong- Ezreil killed ten of us, according to Claire, ten. If he's just going to keep slaughtering his way through Hunter's in order to get to me, we have to stop him."
"Maybe you're right, Emily," Sam was the one to surprise her and concede, even as Dean threw him the darkest look she'd ever seen. "But we aren't acting yet. You heard what Cas said, God has taken notice and so has Lucifer, there's a good chance that Ezreil is gone already. A week, then we can talk about action."
"Sam, can I speak to you privately?" Dean's voice was incredibly strained as he shoved his brother out into the hall and in the direction of the library, and Emily knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant fight to witness, so she stayed where she was. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice Claire had returned to her room until her voice cut through the quiet, startling Emily.
"Well, Nephilim explains why you're so pretty," she smiled at Emily and moved past her to flop onto the bed. "I don't think I've ever met one in real life, I kinda thought they were just urban legends. Shoulda known, huh? Sounds like I'm stuck here for a few weeks with the notorious Winchester's," she was mocking them, and it was so comical that Emily actually laughed out loud. "Though I don't know if they're more notorious for their hunting or for having giant sticks up their asses."
"Careful, if they hear that they'll bust yours," Emily grinned back at Claire who snorted and patted the spot next to her. Another woman in the house would be nice, it'd been a very long time since Emily could remember staying in a place long enough to make a girlfriend. "They mean well, they're just very into this "Hunter's code" shit, and they're not afraid to let you know you're fucking up."
"Oh sweetie, please, I'm twenty-two years old, I've been hunting just as long as either of them. They can shove that Hunter's code right up their stuffy, tight-"
"You probably don't want to finish that sentence," Sam appeared suddenly in the doorway, scaring both the girls which caused them to dissolve into a puddle of giggles. Sam sighed, surveying the two of them. Bobby's right about one thing, this is gonna be a tough few weeks with these two. "Come on, Claire, let me show you to where you'll sleeping and give you a tour of the place. Bobby's taking the couch tonight Em, can you make sure he's got a blanket and pillow?"
"Oh yessir," Claire gave Sam a fake salute, which caused his frown to deepen and Emily to giggle harder as she stood to follow them out. Claire gave her a wink and a quick hand squeeze as she left. Emily continued to grin as she went to find the extra bedding for Bobby, for a moment the gravity of the situation they were in forgotten.