The motel room that had seen all types of people welcomed Sam and Dean back to their makeshift home. They came back from the bar, where Kat worked. She had refused to take a day off, saying that she, 'needed to eat somehow'. Sam suspected though, that she needed to be away from the craziness that they had exposed her to, regardless of having a bum arm. Even amidst the unfamiliarity, they had gone to ensure she was safe.
Sam sat down on the bed, and sighed as he laid flat. "You know what Dean…I like her." He admitted almost childishly making the decision to let this newcomer into their group.
"She's funny." Dean allowed. Ripping off his boots with more force than was necessary.
"I mean, she's right she could be useful…ever since Charlie…" he trailed off and Dean picked up the silence.
"She's not the same." Dean said with finality.
"I'm not saying they are Dean. I'm just saying this seems big, maybe Eve big. We're gonna need all the help we can get and she can help." Sam said kindly, but forcefully as he sat up to look at Dean.
Dean had positioned himself with his elbows on his knees, head in hands, like a Greek statue, concern etched on his face. "Just give me a minute, man. I'm trying to adjust to the idea of dragging another person into this." He sat in labored silence for another minute then stood up and grabbed his toiletries pulling out his toothbrush. Each movement he made was acting as if a different point had presented itself in his head and he worked his way through each one until he had finished his night time routine and was in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt.
Finally he sat back down on the bed next to Sam's and said "We have to monster-proof her place tomorrow." Then, he flipped off the light.
"So what exactly are you doing?" Kat pressed as she tried and failed to look over Dean's shoulder to see the gray powder he was handling.
"It's voodoo, if you put it at all the windows and doors, certain creatures can't step over it." Dean replied.
"So you've got pepper, Sam over there has got salt…if I fling mustard at something will it melt? Should I collect an arsenal of condiments?" She said sarcastically, baiting them to laugh at the ridiculousness of everything she was taking in.
Dean did smile but simply said, "No." Not satisfied with this, Kat said dryly, "Horseradish then?"
"You know not that I oppose your sense of humor, but you're taking this better than most." Sam said from across the room looking up from the devil's trap he had just started. Kat, giving up on examining exactly what the boys were doing, sat on the bed.
"Well, I guess I have my profession to thank. You can't truly understand something unless you accept the fact that these beliefs were just as real to pre-historic Celts as Christianity is to its practitioners today. Ancient people had to have seen something to make them believe and I certainly just did. Doesn't mean I'm not thrown through a loop." Kat believed what she was saying, she just hid the true depth of her fear from the men before her. They were essentially strangers, albeit trustworthy ones. She hid away the falter in her expression as they kept working. She was anxious to learn as much as she could before they left. "So this Rowena…she's a witch, a powerful one, who wanted you to kill her son, so she could be in control of Hell?"
"Pretty much." Said Dean as he began to pack up his supplies. He looked over at Kat who was sitting cross legged on the bed. Her curly hair was piled on top of her head and she simply wore jeans and a white t-shirt. He couldn't help but notice the way in which she stared without seeing when she was thinking. Scrunching her brows together and shifting her lips to one side, to bite on the inside of her cheek. 'Don't get her more involved than she is.' He counseled himself as he fiddled with the hex bag he had made for her.
"Well here's what I'm thinking…" she began, "…If I'm Rowena and willing to kill my son for control of a third of the universe, I'd kill a whole lot more people for the whole thing. But, to kill a boat load of people…I'd need an army." She finished, hoping that she wasn't making a fool of herself by assuming things about a world she knew nothing of outside of books and theory.
"She is definitely power hungry. Go on." Dean afforded her as he stopped and gave Kat his full attention.
"The Kelpie wasn't part of American folk legends obviously, and while there are some Celtic traditions in place because of immigration, I'd say it was brought here, by Rowena to build an army." Kat finished hoping the revelation she'd spent all night formulating wasn't something the Winchester's had already come up with.
Sam put away his can of spray paint and nodded in approval. Dean slow clapped his hands in jest and they shared a smile as they playfully mocked her. "I'm glad you convinced me to keep this one around Sammy." said Dean sarcastically.
"Oh, please." Kat said as she stood and fed into their joke by taking a small bow. She crossed the room to pass by Dean, slowing slightly to whisper, "You couldn't resist me if you tried Winchester." And with that triumph, left the room to order food. She had only meant to goad him, because Kat really wasn't looking to get herself into more of a mess than she already had, but damn if he wasn't fun to play with.
Throughout their meal of pepperoni pizza, Sam and Dean had taken Kat through the basics of protecting herself. They gave her a silver knife; a flask of holy water and a small amount of holy oil. Although she was going to be 'riding the bench' as they put it, she didn't disregard their guidance. She was getting tired of being the student however, because her pride didn't like feeling like the least intelligent person in the room.
Allowing herself to embrace this less than positive quality she interjected, "So maybe it's time for me to teach you all something?" She raised her eye brows and hid behind her dripping slice of pizza. She gauged their reactions before continuing, "Basically what I am to you guys is a library…"
Dean held up a finger to silence her and said, "We already have a library. You're the librarian." He smirked as Sam threw his brother a scolding glance.
Kat took a deep breath and said, "I'm gonna take that as a compliment," not allowing her train of thought to be derailed, "I can set up files on your computer so that you have access to the same databases I do so you can see what I see if or when I find something. But, I need to use the library's network on campus to access it…and its Sunday so it's closed. " She finished.
Dean glanced at Sam as they shared a knowing look. "So?" Dean questioned with an air of impatience.
"While I didn't take you for people who would break a sweat over a B&E, I figured I'd warn you first." Kat explained, taking a sip of her soda.
Dean clapped his hands together, rubbing them clean from his lunch. He leaned back in his chair allowing a booted leg to stretch beyond the table and gave Sam a satisfied grin. "Isn't this like a wet dream for you Sam? You and Captain Badass over there get to break into a library." He laughed devilishly as he got up to clear his place. Both Sam and Kat gave him an indignant look. Fueled by their reproving faces he continued, "Well come on you two, let's get ready to mission impossible our way into that library."
From an outsider's point of view, the three of them walking along would have looked kind of hilarious. Two very tall men on either side of a girl just over five foot, practically bouncing along to keep up with them. They kept their cool but she darted her head back and forth check their surroundings. Kat wouldn't have been so nervous but having Sam and Dean with her she felt conspicuous.
They approached the back of the building and Kat knelt by the window she is always able to jimmy open. Sam and Dean looked on incredulous while she worked. She stuck her leg into the small basement window and shot them a look. "Don't worry your pretty little faces" she coddled, "I'm going in to open that door for you." She gestured to the fire exit next to them and disappeared into the obscurity of the books.
A minute later the door cracked open, and the boys snuck inside.
"Ok…" Kat said as they made their way through stacks of editorials and old newspapers. Sam regarded the stack of New York Times dating all the way back to 1851 with admiration. "Give me your laptop." Kat demanded as they made their way to a table.
She furiously went to work on hers and Sam's computers. "Alright, so I downloaded the program that holds all of the faculty databases so now you can be off network when you use it. I also added the Motif-index of Folk-Literature. That will show us not only common themes in legends but how they connect. Also if they have any counterparts in similar mythologies. Finally, I'm adding a program that can connect our computers. When we both access it at the same time we can see each other's screens. That way we don't have to explain how we got where we did." Kat finished her end and looked up from the screens as she waited for them to load. Dean sat clearly paying no attention, staring at the ceiling. Sam looked on eagerly, thankful she knew what she was doing and he had someone who knew computers. Dean was definitely smarter than he gave himself credit for but sometimes explaining computer hacks to him was like breaking the dream state of a djinn.
"We should get you some of our books too. We've got stuff written by people who actually believe in the answers you're looking for. They might be more useful in your hands than mine." Sam suggested.
"Oooh. Spell books? Should I buy a cauldron…start reciting Macbeth?" Kat half-mocked. She heard her computer 'ping' and looked to see the download had completed.
"Double, double, toil and trouble…" quoted Dean sarcastically "We done here?" He was clearly getting bored, but Sam and Kat stared at him finding it hilarious that he had just quoted Shakespeare even in jest. Picking up on this, he added defensively "What? I read."
Kat giggled almost girlishly and Sam shook his head hiding his full smile. "Yes we're done." Kat said.
The three of them went out the back door, walking along in silence. Kat enjoyed the late April air whipping her face. Despite the tumultuous turn that her life had taken recently she was happy for some reason. Maybe it was just in this moment but she intended to hold onto it for as long as she could.
Once they were in the Impala heading back to Kat's apartment she broke the silence.
"So you guys are heading back home now?" Kat said a little sad to see her companions go.
"Yeah, back to Kansas." said Dean.
"How exotic." Kat quipped.
"I'll be back though, I have to bring you your books so we can get the ball rolling on this whole Rowena deal." He assured. He wasn't sure why he thought he had to comfort her at all. He wasn't ready to admit that it may be for his own benefit.
Rowena stood at the center of carnage. The bodies of twelve witches littered the floor and she smelled the copper of their blood floating in the air. She didn't relish the idea of getting her hands dirty but the destruction of the Grand Coven was a sweet victory.
She walked to the table in the gargantuan hall. The table was at the head of the hall made entirely of mahogany panels, the panels were draped with hunter green velvet curtains most of which were adorned with droplets of blood. Rowena pursed her lips at them and thought, 'unseemly'. At the table were instruments of high witchcraft. She mused for a moment on the proximity of the items she had been denied in recent months. Being held captive by the Winchesters had been intentional, yes. She needed the Mark of Cain. Now that the Grand Coven was marked off of her to-do list for it she turned her attention to the crystals laying in front of her.
She positioned the amethyst, and rose quartz parallel to each other, just below the jade and in its center a low candle. She repeated an incantation and used her scrye to locate the Winchester boys. She saw them with a woman in a dimly lit bar. The woman was attractive her smile a little more familiar when lingering on Dean. The three people's voices echoed in her head. They knew she was up to something, though she was confident she'd remain ten steps ahead of them. The girl troubled her however. She pulled herself out of the world of floating images and called, "Carman!"
A woman peeked her head out of an open door leading into the rest of the estate. "Yes, Rowena?" She answered.
Rowena enjoyed the feeling of pride she had when she called and someone answered. "The Winchesters have a new pet." She spat. "Let's find out just how resilient she is.