Kat and Dean stood opposite each other. Kat in the kitchen her hands rested out on the counter forming a V. Dean stood on the other side of the counter, weight resting on his left leg and his hand scrunching his eyebrows together in frustration. Sam watched them both, having slightly regretted bringing up the prospect of a job to his brother.
"So come with us. You shouldn't stay here alone, we'll have to protect you on the road." Dean said, tight lipped trying to keep his composure.
"No…we need someone to keep looking for the cauldron and we know it's here. It wouldn't make sense to leave." Kat countered, her voice raised much higher than Dean's and a flush rising in her cheeks.
"Considering the fact that we've had to haul ass here twice to save your bacon, I'm gonna say you need round the clock protection!" Dean exploded releasing his anger.
"Your chauvinism knows no bounds Winchester. Those were accidents! My life is in shambles, I'm not working anymore, and my dissertation is lost…" she trailed off as she vocalized her growing mountain of misfortunes and sighed. "I'm in this. For real now. It's all I have left."
Dean's face turned downwards for a split second because of the brokenness in her eyes. He couldn't find it in himself to fight her anymore.
Sam spoke up now, stepping forward to bridge the gap between the warring sides. "We'll go, but only if you promise to watch out for yourself. No heroics. Purely recon." He instructed.
"It's adorable that you both think you can tell me what to do…but yes…don't be a heroine. I got it."
"Enough with the ego crap. We're not telling you what to do. We've done this a few times before and know a thing or two about going underground." Dean snapped. Sam thrust out a hand to stop him from going any further.
"We don't want to control you. We just don't want to make any mistakes in keeping you safe this time." Sam said with finality.
"Ok." She accepted begrudgingly, not making eye contact with Dean. "So…I'm using your info on the census to find immigrants, or their descendants, that may have brought an artifact with them or had one passed down? Easy." She mumbled as she sunk into the chair she approached. Dean was infuriated, so much so that he couldn't even tell why. He huffed as he grabbed his jacket off the chair and stormed to the Impala.
"Watch out for princess too." She added in response to Dean's abrupt leaving. Sam smiled, but Kat didn't see because she focused on her energy into practically punching her keyboard. He knew that neither of them were actually mad at each other and it was amusing to him to have a bird's eye view of the relationship growing between his brother and Kat; whether or not Dean wanted to admit it was there or not.
Kat had compiled a list about three pages long of Scottish immigrants that came through Ellis Island and settled in or around St. Louis. She'd started driving around, scouting out the possibilities and so far, come up with nothing. She couldn't escape the creeping feeling that someone was watching her but she chalked it up to the fact that Sam had been calling at least three times a day to ensure she was constantly vigilant. She hadn't spoken to Dean since their pseudo-argument because they were both too stubborn to reach out first; but she knew he was there when Sam called. She heard him rustling around in the background, maybe a little purposefully and a part of her wished he'd say something. She'd felt ridiculous, but she'd become a little attached to him in the past few days, even though they argued.
As she was sitting outside a dump of a bar feeling like an utter weirdo watching the manager take out the trash, her phone rang shrilly.
"Jessica Jones, Private Intelligence." She intoned, enjoying her joke.
"Very funny…I'm glad you've had the chance to catch up on Netflix. We've got a real nut job on our hands here." Sam chided.
"Oh yeah?" Kat said vaguely, as she focused her attention on the manager that had reappeared lugging a huge pot, seemingly made of stone. She could feel the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
"Yeah, shifter, probably. Parading around as the mayor. Mark—the other hunter—has been here for weeks but couldn't move on him because the guy is pretending to be a public figure. Too many civilians would get involved if he went missing…" Sam's voice became distant as Kat zeroed in on the manager dumping what looked like some sort of broth out onto the pavement.
"Yeah…hey Sam…can I call you back?" Kat asked quickly, adjusting herself in her seat.
"Sure…?" Sam said questioningly. She didn't even wait for him to finish before hanging up the phone. She looked down to place it in the cup holder but as she shot her head back up the man was gone, as well as the pot he was holding. In the rear view mirror she thought she saw a flash of movement. But it was gone quicker than it was there.
Kat didn't know what possessed her but she gathered her things, let down her hair, and got out of the car. She marched across the street to the bar.
Its door swung open, easily despite its apparent heaviness. The joint was like any other, littered with the day drinking regulars, stained glass light fixtures, and wood paneling. She made her way to the bar and sat down at its corner spot. The man she had seen outside, eyed her warily and approached.
"What can I get you?" he asked brusquely.
"Food?" Kat asked. Her heart rate rose slightly because she was becoming more aware that she had no idea how to be smooth in a situation like this.
"Got burgers, fries, wings…just put some beef stew on." He listed.
Kat's face lit up and she tried to conceal the prospect at coming close to the basin she'd seen him empty.
"I'll take that." She said, simply.
It took about twenty minutes to come out. But the bartender lugged the thing right out to the bar. Kat startled a bit, scared of how unusual she thought this was. Upon seeing it closely however, she knew this had to be the artifact they were looking for. It had symbols, almost like hieroglyphs around the rim. It seemed thin, but made of a very fine granite looking stone. She was surprised by how ordinary it looked. Though it was embellished and looked vintage, it wasn't unlike something you would find in a present day kitchen. She felt slightly disappointed because she'd painted the picture of a steaming cauldron, like something that would be stereotyped on Halloween. The bartender never stopped looking at her as he ladeled the heavy soup into her bowl. She steadied her breathing and asked, "That looks old."
"It is. Belonged to my grandmother. She said it had been passed down through generations…but who knows if there's any truth to that." He said carefully.
Kat was hyper aware of the tone he was taking. She knew he couldn't have seen her outside but she had the strangest feeling like he knew why she was there. She heard another customer walk through the door and the bartender looked up and quickly moved into the back before going and asking if they wanted anything.
She finished the soup, so she didn't look any more conspicuous than she already did. She smiled warmly at the man before throwing down twenty dollars and leaving. She got into her car hastily but resigned herself to go back later. She heard Sam's voice echoing in her head repeating, "No heroics". But Kat knew that after closing she could be in and out with the relic quickly. It was one less thing for them to do to defeat Rowena, and one step closer to everyone being safe.
The beat up Ford Focus she drove huffed its way up to her apartment. Kat had taken Sam's advice and taken an unusual route home to avoid being followed. Still, she was wary; thinking she saw people in shadows. When she put the car in park and got out of her car she noticed an over turned flower pot.
"Must've been an animal" she justified to herself. She stepped through her door and the vibration of her phone in her back jean pocket made her jump.
"Hey." she greeted Sam.
"Hey, what was up before?" he asked bluntly. She threw her keys down on her table and removed her jacket.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I found it. So I scouted out the place. It's a dive just outside the city limits." Kat neglected to tell him she'd be going after it, because she knew he'd tell her not to.
"Oh. Ok. That's good, so just wait for us to get back before you move on it. We're gonna take down the shifter soon. We'll high tail it back to Missouri as soon as we do. Takes about 11 hours from Savannah." He spoke with such an efficient authority, Kat pictured him as the Q to Dean's Bond. "Everything is ok otherwise?" he added.
"Yeah. I mean, other than the weird sense that you're being watched. But that kind of comes with the territory of being on the run doesn't it?" she said lightly.
"Well that depends. Have you seen anything?" Sam asked urgently. She heard Dean mumble something to Sam on the other line, and she imagined Sam holding out a hand to silence him.
"I haven't actually seen anyone following me. But, like, there was an overturned flower pot. It was probably a stray cat though, right?" she questioned.
"Possibly. But still, be extra careful." He said with finality.
"Will do." She agreed.
Around one o'clock in the morning she had grown impatient, waiting around for the bar to close at four. She got in her car and sped away. It wasn't until her third out-of-the-way turn that she noticed that there were a pair of headlights in the distance. She took another turn, and another.
There were always other headlights but, she couldn't tell if they belonged to the same car. Her paranoia set in and they seemed to mold with any other lights she encountered on the road. Street lamps, store fronts blinking like a warning flashed through her mind.
She turned, they followed a minute later. Kat's heart rate matched her speedometer as she went faster and faster; turning abruptly until eventually there were no more headlights. She pulled up in front of the bar expecting it to be fully lit but it was dark. Doubt crept up inside her chest as she parked and got out, feeling like she had to exert mental force to pick up her feet and walk forward.
The door she'd seen the bartender exit earlier was enveloped in darkness. In fact, the street was darker than Kat had envisioned it would be. It was thick, like tar, covering what seemed like miles. She used the flashlight on her phone as she carefully picked the lock. Once inside, she hurried to the door the man had disappeared into.
Kat threw around pots and pans in her panic, trying to get in and out as quickly as possible. Her hands jostled a pan just as a loud noise made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
She stopped and listened to the sound of smashing bottles and an angry, hungry growl. The kind of sound that comes from the back of the throat, reverberating the saliva enough so the sound is guttural and deep.
Kat panicked. Whatever had managed to follow her, wasn't human. She crept quietly on her hands and knees surveying the small kitchen. She'd gone through the drawers, so she looked upwards, at the racks of hanging cookware. Across the room she saw it, dangling precariously, almost framed in a sliver of moonlight. She ran towards it in her panic, accidently nudging one of the pots she'd left on the floor with her foot.
She heard the creature in the other room still, and then move abruptly towards the swinging kitchen door.
Kat felt like she was in a movie, grasping desperately for the object that would save her life. Just as she got the basin down and started towards the door she heard the entrance opposite her, slam against the wall. It created a smashing sound that rattled all of the pots hanging. Her hands reached out furiously for anything in front of her as if grabbing them would propel her forward. She didn't look back but she felt it getting closer as she shut and barred the entry into the street with a heavy garbage can.
Kat darted across the street to her car, weighed down by the artifact she held under her arm like a small child. There were resounding booms echoing, where the unseen creature was fighting to get free.
She got to her car, started it, and peeled away from the curb. The screech of her tires almost masked the sound of the metal door meeting the trash can and clanking open. She opened her phone and dialed Sam's number without looking back to see the monster following her.
"Hey" he greeted "We're almost there, I had to give Dean stitches before we left—"Kat felt a surge of concern for Dean before shouting at Sam.
"So, there's definitely something after me." She stated.
"Where are you?" Sam demanded, jumping into action over the phone.
"Driving…driving away from the bar. I went back for the cauldron and they showed up." She admitted. Her breath was coming in course rasps. She heard Dean shout something at Sam and there was a thud on the other line before his voice rang out, clear and decisive.
"Go to your house and stay there. We'll be there in three hours." Dean commanded wrathfully. "Do not leave. Ditch the freaks."
"How?!" Kat despaired.
"I don't care, put them in your rear view, and take sharp turns." He snapped.
"I've been doing that all day!" She cried as he heard the screech of tires behind her. She was on the brink of hyper ventilating as if her body was trying to drag in as much air as it could while it was able to. She smacked her hand against her dashboard in raw anger as she heard the sound of silence resonate on the other line. "I have an idea. Kat assured them. "Get here."
She hung up the phone and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal.
The air in the Impala hung thickly as Sam and Dean helplessly drove towards St. Louis. The phone had gone silent almost two and a half hours ago and their anxiety was mounting with each passing second. They were trapped within the earthly confines of the automobile, while somewhere out there, someone needed their help. Dean raced around other cars; until finally they saw the green signs for the city beckoning them off of the highway.
"We shouldn't have left her alone." Sam croaked, wringing his hands around a spare map.
"She's the one that ran off and didn't listen." Dean accused. His anger was getting the better of him. His concern was taking the back burner to the fury he used to fuel him.
They fell silent for another ten minutes and rounded the corner to Kat's street. The radiant phosphorescence that hit them burned through Dean's chest like a flare.
Sam's mouth hung open as he saw the flames rolling off themselves into the night sky. The smoke created an opaque backdrop that framed the space where Kat's small apartment had been. Underneath the flames…there was emptiness.