A/N: Beefer chapter number 2! 14 pages. 8,079 words.
I wanted to make up for my lack of not posting anything (especially since I didn't feel like writing this fic. I started writing other fics that I had in my head). The next chapter is ready, and it has been ready for a while. I literally wrote it in my notebook. I'm also gonna be posting something related to this fic, which is something I should've done a while ago. It'll be the next chapter I post.
Anyway, hope you enjoy! Sorry about the wait!
It had been two weeks since Aline and Dean had left Sam in the rearview mirror and five days since the three of them saw Sei-An City. Honestly, five days wasn't long enough (in Aline's opinion, at least) to get over seeing herself as Rao. She was just as shaken by it as she'd been when she first saw it.
She'd tried reaching out to her mother for answers, but so far nothing, like she wasn't listening anymore.
Would it still have happened even if she didn't take the mark? If she didn't accept that shadow's offer?
There was no way to know for sure...
...but then she remembered seeing Dean stare at her shadow back in the Moon Cave. And what Sam had said he'd seen during her fight with the Spider Queen in the Tsuta Ruins.
Then, she realized while sitting in the Impala as Dean drove to Grantsburg Memorial Hospital (they'd picked up on a video on the police wire that the police in town had arrested a John Doe matching Garth's description for killing a cow), what was coming later down the line wasn't effected by the mark in the slightest.
Too lost in thought, she didn't see that Dean'd pulled up to their destination and put Baby in park until he was poking her arm, making her look his way.
"You good?" he asked, looking worried.
Could she tell him what she'd have to do later? She knew he'd find out eventually. Maybe she could tell him now, otherwise he'd freak out. Instead, she replied, "'m fine, Dee. Let's just go find out if the guy they arrested really is Garth."
Garth had disappeared six months ago, walking out on Sam, Dean, Aline, and Kevin. The fact that they'd possibly found him again...
It was that that had her bouncing her leg in both nervousness and excitement as they got out of the car. The expression on Dean's face, however, told her he didn't buy her lie, which would definitely lead to more questions later.
Now, though, they had things to do, like why Garth (if it was Garth, and there was no doubt in Aline's mind that it was him) had killed a cow.
She fixed her shirt, and they walked inside the hospital.
Suffice to say, the man the police arrested in room 113 was, in fact, Garth. He looked thinner and he was cuffed to the bed, but, thankfully, his breathing was steady. He had scratches on his face, but he was still in one piece.
Yet there was something about him that seemed...off to Aline.
Don't get her wrong, she was happy to see him (despite the fact he'd left Kevin, Sam, Dean and her in the dust six months ago). There was still something different about him. She looked him up and down, and leaned close to him to get a better look at him.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked. He was standing on the opposite side of the bed with a confused look on his face, holding a syringe.
"Something's different about him," she answered.
"Well, he has been gone for six months. A lot can change in that amount of time. I mean, far as he knows, you're a skinwalker."
Aline shook her head. "That's not what I mean." She paused, scenting Garth. He still smelled like himself, but there was an undercurrent of something else that she couldn't really describe, something familiar. "He smells different."
She saw Dean cock a brow. "Like what? What's he smell like, Scoob?"
Rolling her eyes (it wasn't the first time Dean'd called her that, and it probably wouldn't be the last), she stood up straight. "It's...hard to describe."
"Try to."
She had to think about it for a minute. The scent was appealing, that was a fact. But how could she describe it. Then she snapped her fingers. "It's like the very faint smell of wet tree bark."
"...wet tree bark?"
"I don't know! Like I said, it's hard to describe, but I know I recognize it from somewhere. I just can't figure it out. Silver lining? Not demon. They usually smell like sulfur, third degree burns, and fresh blood. Makes my nose burn even when I'm just thinking about it. Cain, on the other hand, smelled like that, but he smelled more like honey. Maybe it was just because of the fact he keeps bees."
"What about angel?"
"No. Angels don't smell like that."
"What do they smell like?"
"Each one smells differently. Cas smells like hibiscuses, Gabriel smelled like cotton candy and violas, Michael smelled like marigolds, and Lucifer smelled like white roses."
"What about..." Dean trailed off, unwilling to say Gadreel's name.
She barely had to think of it. "He smells like dahlias. You and Sam have scents too."
"Because we're archangel vessels."
"Pretty much. I mean, you have your regular scents and underneath those are your angel scents."
"What are Sam's?"
"Sam smells like blood, musk, and libraries with an undercurrent of garden roses. I could actually smell the garden roses more when he was possessed by that angel with the dahlias underneath, but, when that angel was in control, I mainly smelled dahlias with the garden roses, blood, musk, and libraries underneath."
"What about me?"
"Whiskey, gunpowder, and leather with an undercurrent of gladiolus. After you come back from the bar, I smell the whiskey more mixed with sex and cheap perfume. After Hell, you actually smelled a bit like a demon, except you smelled like first degree burns instead of third. After Purgatory, you smelled more like blood and guts."
"So, long story short, angels smell good, demons smell like crap, and whatever Garth is smells like wet tree bark."
"You got it."
With a nod, Dean motioned for her to keep an eye on the door, smirking as he inquired, "Since when do you pay attention to what I smell like?"
"Since we started hunting together, you ass. Whenever we hunt, I had to learn to take both yours and Sam's scents out of the equation just to figure out what monster we're hunting." Her face had heated up. Thankfully, she was facing away from him, so he couldn't see her expression.
A few seconds later, the knob began to move, and she poked Dean. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him hide the syringe behind his back the moment the door opened.
Fortunately, the person who entered wasn't one of the nurses. It was Sam, all dressed up in his fed suit. He shot the two of them annoyed looks, and Dean returned the glare.
Aline, however, was beating herself up, realizing that she should've known that it was Sam all things considered. But the only things she could smell currently were disinfectants, rubber gloves, and clorox, all of which practically overpowered other scents including Sam's, Dean's, and Garth's (which was why she had to lean in to even get a whiff of Garth's).
The trio stood in silence as they watched the unconscious Garth and exchanged wary looks with each other. One would think, after seeing Sei-An City and making jokes about Sam saying the word "stacked", that they wouldn't be wary of each other, but that would be wrong.
Until Sam finally said, "Saw Garth's John Doe on the police wire. You?"
Aline was silent, staring at Garth like he was a puzzle she couldn't figure out.
Which was why Dean answered with, "Yeah. Where you comin' from?"
"New Mexico."
That caught her attention. "Well," she said, "that's a haul. Especially considering that me and Dean got this, uh...pretty much covered, so if you want to..." She clicked her tongue and motioned to the door.
The younger Winchester ignored her, instead choosing to look at Dean. "You spoken to him yet?"
Dean looked over at Aline with an apologetic look on his face before looking back at Sam. "No. Assload of painkillers. He's been out since I got here."
That was when Sam noticed that Garth was handcuffed to the bed. "What's he being charged with?"
"Killing a cow," Aline answered, causing Sam to (finally) look her way.
"Why?"
"We were about to see if we could find out," Dean responded. "Lock the door."
Sam moved to lock the door but rushed back when Dean pulled the syringe from behind his back.
"Whoa. Hey. What is that? Adrenaline?"
"Yes, sir."
"You trying to jump-start him or kill him?"
"Aline & I want some answers. He walked out on Kevin. He walked out on the three of us. So if you got a better idea..."
Sam sighed and then slapped Garth full in the face.
The younger man shot awake, screaming out, "Aah! Aah! Aah!" He stopped, looking between the three hunters standing at his bed. "Dean? Sam? Aline? What is this? A hospital? Wait. Am I in heaven?"
Aline could smell his confusion. "All right," she reassured him (despite her own confusion growing), "take it easy, Garth. You're in Wisconsin."
"You were hit by a car," Sam said. "Do you remember anything?"
"I, uh...," Garth replied, groaning. "Vaguely." He pulled his hand up to hold his head, but it was stopped by the handcuffs. "What's with the hardware?"
Aline unlocked the cuffs and removed them the moment she noticed Sam move.
"You tell us," Dean stated. "And while you're at it, why don't you give us the lowdown on why you went AWOL for the past six months? Only way we tracked you down is that you offed a cow."
"Offed a...what? I—I—I was on a hunt."
"Hunt for what?" Aline asked.
"I—oh, no." Garth turned green, looking like he was about to throw up. "Oh, get back. Ohh. Oh, God." In a panic, he pulled all the monitors and IV off, jumped out of bed, and rushed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him before they could hear him gag and retch.
Dean grinned. "Good thing I didn't give him the adrenaline."
There was a deafening silence between the Winchesters and Aline. They were still sitting in Garth's hospital room, and Garth was still in the bathroom, vomiting and coughing. Dean and Aline were sitting next to each other on one side of the room, Sam on the other.
"Anything on Gadreel?" Dean asked, making small talk.
"Actually, uh, yeah," Sam said. "Turns out he, uh, he left some Grace in me before he bolted."
Aline looked over at him with a raised brow. "You know how wrong that sounds, right?" she pointed out.
"Wouldn't worry about it. Cas took care of it."
Both Dean and Aline chuckled before Dean hummed.
"What?"
Dean waved it off. "Nothing. We're gone for two weeks, and you're like an episode of 'Teen Mom.'" The sound of Garth's continued retching and coughing caught their attention. "Just breathe, Garth! Work it out."
Out of the corner of her eye, Aline noticed that Sam saw part of the mark of Cain.
"What happened to your arm? It's in the same place as..." Sam trailed off, his eyes moving to Aline's arm.
Dean pulled up his sleeve so that Sam could see it better. "Oh. It's a...gift from Cain."
"Like...the wrestler?"
"Nah. That woulda been pretty awesome, though," Aline replied, earning a nod from Dean.
"The, uh...The Old Testament dude," Dean threw in as the toilet flushed in the bathroom. "He got all Biblical on me and gave me his mark."
"What does it even mean? How—how did that happen?" Sam asked, looking between the duo.
Aline rubbed her arm before looking away from the younger Winchester. Her eyes were on the bathroom door, watching for Garth.
"Crowley, Aline, and I found him, and he gave me this so that I could eighty-six Abaddon once and for all," Dean answered, knowing that Aline didn't want to answer Sam.
"You two worked a job with Crowley?"
Aline shrugged, her eyes still on the door. "The devil you know..." She trailed off, noticing that there were no sounds coming from the bathroom. "Garth?" she called out.
"What?"
The three hunters rushed into the bathroom. Garth was nowhere to be found, and the window was wide open.
"Son of a bitch," Dean muttered.
Split up and look for clues. It definitely sounded like they're lives had turned into a real-life episode of Scooby-Doo, but that was the only thing they could do after finding out Garth had escaped. Sam went to talk with the farmer that had called the cops on Garth, and Dean and Aline went to see what they could find on the roof cameras.
The duo were now walking out of the hospital with several papers and photos in their hands. Dean had the papers while Aline had the photos. The pictures were perfect shots of Garth and his escape, the car, and full shots of the license plate.
"I don't think we should let Sam hunt with us," Aline said, catching Dean's attention. "Before you say anything, I know that he's already involved in my replay of my mom's memories, but I don't wanna drag him through this anymore than what's necessary. I hurt him once, and I ain't about to do it again."
Dean took a moment to fix the photos before looking her right in the eyes. "If you think that I'm gonna disagree with you, I'm not. I'd definitely rather Sam not get involved. Let him think we hit a dead end, and we'll find out where Garth went ourselves," he replied.
"That's what I was gonna suggest, you know. It's scary how much we're on the same page nowadays."
He shrugged. "We usually are."
"But not this much."
Just then, Dean's cellphone rang, catching their attentions and distracting them from the topic. He pulled it out and, after showing her that Sam was the one that was calling, answered it. "Yeah."
"So," Sam said, making Aline's ears twitch toward the phone, "the cow wasn't just killed. It was eviscerated."
"Well, why was Garth there?"
"He said he was on a hunt, right? Maybe he was hunting whatever killed it."
"Why would he run? This whole thing's starting to stink. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. What about you guys? Any luck?"
Dean glanced over at her, shaking his head. "Uh, nada. Cameras were pointing in the wrong direction."
"You're kidding." Sam sounded unconvinced.
"Wish I was."
"Hmm. So..."
"...so Garth's a hunter. If he wants to stay gone, he's gone."
"We got nothing?"
"Well, what can I say, Sammy? We lost this one. Send me 'n Aline a postcard."
That was the moment when Dean and Aline walked around an ambulance and ran right into Sam. The younger Winchester immediately snatched the photos out of Aline's hands, looking through them.
Sam glared. "Wow. Make, model, license plate. Really guys?" he questioned, clearly angry.
"The three of us can't hunt together, Sam," Aline told him. "It's for your own good."
"I hear you. And after we find Garth and get to the bottom of this, I'm gone. But until then, no more games."
Aline and Dean glanced at each other before Dean nodded. "Ride belongs to a girl named Bess Meyers," he said. "She lives in the next town over."
It took seconds for them to kick Bess's door down, guns drawn. Sure enough, Garth was inside, holding his hands up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa, whoa! Hey, guys. I can explain," Garth stated. "Everything's cool. Just a simple misunderstanding."
"Who you talking to?" Aline inquired, once again smelling his confusion.
"What?"
"The girl?"
"What—what girl? What the—"
Dean pointed grabbed a bra from the table and held it up.
"What, now?"
Dean motioned Sam to the right, and he went left. Aline stayed where she was, catching that familiar scent again even as she kept her eyes on Garth. It overpowered almost everything in the room. The scent was really starting to bother her. What was it?
The sound of Sam and Dean's footsteps pushed that thought to the back burner, the area apparently clear.
"All right, all right. Guys, everyone needs to take a chill pill and put their guns down. You see? Let's all be grown-ups here and have an adult conversation."
Suddenly, there was the sound of something jumping from the closet behind Sam. Aline whirled around and saw a female werewolf on top of him. Without even thinking about it, she pulled out Tsumugari and went to make a move, but Garth leaped in between Dean, her, and the werewolf.
"No!" Garth shouted.
"Garth, what the hell?" she growled, but Sam was able to nick the werewolf with a silver knife, and the wound burned.
"Sam! Sam, please—don't hurt her."
"What are you doing?!" Dean yelled. "She's a werewolf!"
"So am I." And Aline froze.
Minutes passed, and Garth and the werewolf were sitting on the couch as he tended to her arm. Aline was currently punching herself for not being able to recognize werewolf when she smelled it. Then again, they hadn't been a lot of werewolf cases recently, and she'd had a lot on her plate, what with having to go through Amaterasu's memories and all.
There was tenderness in Garth's touch as he tended to the wound, reminding Aline of how Dean cleaned her up after a hunt gone wrong. "It's okay, baby," he muttered. "Hold it like that."
"What are they doing here, Garth?" the she-werewolf inquired, glaring at the trio.
"They're friends. I promise."
"They're hunters." There was so much disdain in her tone that it made Aline flinch.
"All right. We've all gotten off on the wrong foot here. So let's do things right. Guys...this is Bess...my beloved. And, Bess, that's Dean. Now, he could start a fight in an empty house, but deep down inside, he's just a big ol' Teddy bear." Dean looked annoyed, but Sam and Aline chuckled. "And Aline here—Aline looks like a dangerous hunter/skinchanger, but she's just a cute puppy."
That stopped Aline's chuckles, and she glared at the younger man. "Actually, I'm a child of Amaterasu, Garth," she corrected, making his eyes widen.
"When'd you find that out?"
"Months ago. Don't wanna let other hunters know unless it's absolutely necessary, but I would've told you if I knew where you were. Hell, you would've been one of the first people I told."
Garth blinked, silent as he processed the information, before continuing with his introductions. "And, finally, Sam here—Sam can be a bit insecure at times, but for good reason. Bless his heart."
"Especially about being a little bug," Dean whispered in Aline's ear, making her giggle and making Sam glare at him.
"That's sweet," Aline stated. "Werewolf?"
"All right, look—about six months ago, I was outside Portland, Maine, hunting this big bad wolf. I took him down, but... He bit me in the process."
"And you didn't call one of us?" Dean inquired incredulously.
"And tell you what? That I messed up? No, I-I knew the deal. There's no cure, so I accepted my fate. Ate my favorite dish of egg fu Yung, watched the world's greatest movie, 'Rocky III', and then... was ready to eat a bullet, when Bess here found me."
"And how'd she do that?" Sam asked.
"Smelled him. How else?" Bess answered.
Aline nodded. "Makes sense. You can smell a newbie. And that's why I could smell when you were confused. Normally, I can't do that with humans. Except when they're monsters. No offense."
"None taken, but yeah. She talked the gun out of my mouth, and, as they say, the rest is history. We've been married for four months now."
"You're married?" Sam asked.
"To a werewolf," Dean added.
"Yes. And my pack has taken him in as one of our own," Bess answered.
"Guys, it's not what you think. We don't hurt people," Garth supplied.
"No, you just go all Wolverine on cattle," Aline guessed.
"Yeah."
"At least he's not eating human hearts. Do you have any idea how hard it is for a bitten to control his instincts, like Garth does? How well he's doing?" Bess defended.
"Thank you, baby."
"Well, it's the truth, honey bunny."
Aline cringed at the cutesy nickname.
"Wait," Sam interrupted. "A—a 'bitten'? You're all bitten."
"Not at all. You're either born into it, like I was, or you're bitten, like Garth," Bess corrected.
"Hold on. You said you were—you were born a werewolf?" Dean questioned.
"Second generation."
"Garth, can we talk to you for a sec? Alone?"
Garth looked over at Bess. "Honey, why don't you go find some ointment for that arm? Okay?" he asked her, and she left the room with a nod.
"What the hell?" Dean asked the moment she was out of earshot.
"Look, I know you guys want to shoot first and ask questions later, but I checked everything out. This pack is clean. Everything's Kosher."
"Right. Uh, minus the part where your wife attacked me," Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, because you three came busting in here like a house on fire. Guns waving, the jawlines and the hair—it's very intimidating? What'd you expect? Dean, Aline, no one wants any trouble. You got my word on that."
Aline shook her head. "Oh, no. That ship has sailed. We're gonna need a hell of a lot more than your word," she said.
"Okay. Okay. Tell you what. You want proof? Come pray with us."
Sam, Dean, and Aline exchanged looks.
Hours later, the Impala pulled up outside the farmhouse. Dean and Aline got out and walked back to the trunk as Dean's phone rang. Dean put it on speaker.
"You guys there?" Sam inquired.
"Yeah, just pulled up," Dean replied. "Nothing too sketchy yet."
"That's a good thing, right?"
Aline shook her head. "Not betting on it," she responded.
"Or are we just that jaded? I mean, maybe Garth's right."
"Well, ain't you a glass half full," Dean stated. "Any luck with the cops?"
"Uh, sheriff should be rolling up any second. Be careful."
"Yeah. Aline's got Tsumugari, Snarling Beast, Divine Retribution, Life Beads, Infinity Judge, and the Devout Beads on standby." He then hung up and the duo approached the house.
Aline could hear people singing inside. They stopped, and she heard a man's voice say, "We need to come in strong on the second verse. Let's try it again. Garth, play it from here. And..." The singing resumed. It did sound friendly, like Garth claimed. Then again, so was that old couple that the Winchesters and Aline killed back in Seattle in 2008 and Bonnie. Aline and Dean walked up the stairs, and Dean knocked on the front door. An older woman answered with a smile.
"You must be Dean and Aline. I'm Joy, Garth's mother-in-law. Uh, stepmother-in-law, which I always thought sounded so silly. Please, come in. We're just finishing up," Joy Meyers greeted, motioning the two inside.
Aline shuffled between her feet, clearly uncomfortable and on edge. A very unnoticeable glance in Dean's direction let her know that he was feeling the same. There was also something about the woman that made Aline feel even more uncomfortable and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"Why don't you just tell Garth we're here?" he inquired.
Joy's smile widened. "Dean, you have my word—the both of you are safe under my roof. I only ask the same in return. After all...I'm not the one carrying silver and divine weapons."
Both Dean and Aline slowly entered and walked to the doorway of the living room, where the scent of werewolves was the strongest. Joy joined the group in the room singing some kind of hymn. Aline blocked it out, instead focusing on Garth. The younger man was happily playing the piano, and, when the group was finished singing, he played an off-key conclusion that made both herself and Dean chuckle slightly.
"Uh... Thank you, brother Garth," an older man (who was clearly the group leader) stated. "Wonderful accompaniment, as usual. And I'll see the rest of you in the pews—9:00 am, sharp. No stragglers...Sister Amelia."
The other people in the room laughed, and Garth joined Dean and Aline at the doorway. "Oh. Hi," he greeted. "So, what'd I tell you? It's all good, right?" He sounded pleased and proud.
"Yeah, not all good," Dean said, and Aline nodded, agreeing with him. She leaned closer to Dean, mostly to not be overwhelmed by the werewolf scent that was slowly starting to make her want to sneeze.
"Oh, come on, you two. You just got to meet them." He pointed to two men. "That's Russ and Joba, Bess' first cousins on sister Joy's side." Russ and Joba waved. Garth pointed to the group leader. "That's Reverend Jim, Bess's dad—leader of the pack and a good man."
Jim Meyers walked over and held out his hand. "Dean and Aline, isn't it?" he asked. "Welcome. Jim Meyers. Folks usually call me..."
"Reverend Jim. Yeah, we got it," Dean interrupted, not shaking his hand.
Aline looked at his hand and clenched her jaw while leaning closer to Dean, also not shaking Reverend Jim's hand.
Garth chuckled uncomfortably. "Oh. Uh, my bad. Dean's got this crazy fear of germs. And Aline's pregnant. Heightened sense of smell, ya know?"
Aline's eyes widened at how Garth covered her actions. 'Pregnant'?
Reverend Jim nodded. "I understand your apprehension, Dean and Aline. Hunters and our kind don't have the best history together," he stated.
Joy moved to stand by her husband. "But I think you'll find we're not much different from you," she supplied.
"Oh, sister, I highly doubt it," Dean replied.
"Why don't we break bread and see?" Reverend Jim suggested.
"Why would Aline and I do that?"
The couple sighed and then left for the dining room. Garth's eyes were wide with shock.
"Dean!" Garth admonished.
"What? Also, pregnant? Really?"
A short time later, after both Dean and Aline had gone outside to give Aline's nose a bit of a break, everyone was seated at the table, Dean and Aline next to each other. Joy served raw animal organs to the entire table, but she gave Dean and Aline overcooked steaks, corn, and burnt biscuits. The two hunters shared twin almost sick looks.
"Now," Joy stated after sitting down, "everybody eat up. But make sure you leave room for pie."
"Sister Joy's pies are famous throughout the badger state," Reverend Jim told Dean and Aline.
"Mm," Garth said while eating. "Both Dean and Aline love pie."
Aline whirled toward Garth and glared daggers at him for even mentioning that fact before closing her eyes and sending a quick prayer to her mother, picking up her fork & knife and attempting to cut her steak. The act earned a questioning look from Dean, but she shrugged.
"Don't you guys say some sort of a Grace or something?" Dean questioned.
"We're more spiritual than we are religious. We believe, much like the American Indians did, that nature and man are one," Reverend Jim replied.
"Yeah, really worked out well for them," Aline snarked, earning a glare from Garth. She and Dean shared another look before she noticed silver bullets hanging around every person's neck. "So, why are a bunch of werewolves wearing silver bullets around their necks?"
Garth coughed. "Sorry, Aline, but we don't use the 'W' word around here. We prefer the term 'lycanthrope,'" he told her, earning a pointed look from the two hunters.
"'We'?" Dean questioned.
"They're entitled to their opinions, Garth," Reverend Jim stated simply.
"Why do you wear those beads around your neck?" Bess asked Aline, motioning to the Life Beads dangling around her neck.
"Ease of access," Aline responded. "It's a Rosary that draws upon pure life energy to destroy evil. I have another one on as a belt, but that doesn't answer my question, Moony. Nice subject change, though."
"Many of our kind see themselves as indestructible. This is a constant reminder of how precious our lives truly are."
"Yeah, but it's silver. I mean, doesn't it burn?"
It was Garth's turn to answer. "Yeah, it does a bit, but that's kind of the point. It reminds us of our fragility."
"My daughter, Bess, was born a lycanthrope. It was one of the proudest days of my life," Reverend Jim began, inhaling deeply. "Which soon turned tragic... When a hunter killed my wife. Believe me when I tell you, I wanted to make someone pay. Then I looked at Bess, and I realized the road to revenge is a dark and lonely one, which you never get off. And that hole in the pit of your stomach, you never fill it—ever."
"Hey, no, I get it," Dean responded.
"So I chose to look forward, not backwards. And the minute I did that, the powers that be brought this beautiful, compassionate, amazing woman into my life." He smiled at Joy. "And she helped me raise a little baby girl as if Bess were her own."
Joy smiled back. "I can't take all the credit. Daddy had a hand in it, too. He saw your potential," she stated, earning questioning looks from Dean and Aline.
"Daddy?"
"My father—bless his soul—was the previous reverend of our church, the third generation in our family to serve."
For some reason, that made an unpleasant shudder run up and down Aline's spine. "So, you're fourth-generation werewolf?" she asked.
"Yes."
Aline and Dean were in the kitchen, Aline staying as close to Dean as possible while he opened the fridge. There were platters of raw organs, making Aline scrunch her nose at the sight of it. Both hunters turned around when they heard people behind them, who just so happened to be Russ and Joba.
"Still hungry?" Russ inquired.
"Yeah, we were just, uh...seeing if you had any beer or soda," Dean replied.
Russ and Joba moved in threateningly, pinning both hunters in the corner. Dean and Aline keep their gazes steady, Aline slipping her hand into the pocket where Tsumugari was.
"The sooner you both realize that all is good here, the sooner you can go," Russ told them.
"Don't you two have a chew toy or something to go play with?" Aline said evenly, struggling to not snarl or growl. Thankfully, Garth came into the kitchen.
"Hey, guys," he greeted. "You mind if I grab a second with Dean and Aline, here?"
The two antagonistic-acting men left, and Garth, Dean, and Aline moved to a window.
"Why are you two being so hard on everyone?" he asked.
"Because there's no way that all of this is what it looks like," Dean answered. "No way."
"Why not?"
Aline looked at Garth incredulously. "Come on, dude. I know you drank the kool-aid, okay? But come on," she stated.
"Look, amigos... I know this all looks nuts, but I found it. Love and a family? Who cares where that all comes from?"
"We do," Dean replied.
"I get it. When I first got here, I couldn't let go, either. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But when it didn't, I had to accept the truth."
"Well, I got another truth for you—we were all left in the dark when you went AWOL. We didn't know whether you were dead or worse. You should've reached out and sent someone a message."
"And said what, Aline? That I was a werewolf? I was embarrassed. I thought it best for everyone if I just stayed away. But that doesn't mean that I didn't think about and miss you and Dean and Sam... Kevin."
She flinched at Kevin's name before looking away from him. Dean, however, met his eyes, and she knew the expression that was on his face.
"Kevin's gone," Dean said softly.
"What?"
"Gone for good."
"What happened?"
Aline squeezed her eyes shut, the image of Kevin's dead, eyeless body forever plastered in her brain, and she said sorrowfully, "When he needed me, I wasn't there. That's what."
They were gonna leave. Everything was good despite the bad feeling in Aline's gut, but they got a call from the sheriff, letting them know about another attack that left behind a gutted deer.
"Well, you wanted weird, agent," the sheriff said as the trio walked up to him. "You tell me what tore up that deer. Nothing that runs in these parts."
That werewolf scent was back as Aline and the Winchesters walked over to the deer and squatted down to look at it closer.
"Fresh blood," Dean stated.
"Yes, it is," the sheriff agreed, and the werewolf scent grew stronger.
That was when she put the pieces together. "Still warm," Aline said quietly to the boys. "That means it died after we got the call."
Fortunately, they put it together as well, and all three of them swung around, Dean pulling a silver knife out of his jeans but he kept it behind his back. The sheriff already had a gun trained on them.
"Couldn't just accept that all was good and move on, could you?" he asked rhetorically. "You have no idea what you've walked into, do you? No matter. You won't be walking out."
The sheriff quickly drew his weapon, but Dean was faster. He threw the silver knife right into the sheriff's chest, and he fell to the ground dead. The three hunters moved to the body, and Dean removed his knife. Sam pulled the chain that was around the dead man's neck and ripped it off.
"Hey. Look at this," he said, holding up the chain. There was a silver bullet on it with a work etched into it.
"I've seen that before," Aline stated, earning a nod from Dean.
"Yeah, that is a favorite accessory of the good reverend and his flock," Dean threw in.
"'Ragnarok'?"
"The end of the world according to Norse mythology, right?" Aline inquired.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, but why is it etched onto a bullet?"
Dean shrugged. "Who cares? We got all the answers we need."
"I don't know. I think we need more."
"Oh, what? Sheriff Andy Taylor here wasn't good enough for you?"
"Enough to kill Garth? Come on, man. Let's do this right."
"All right, fine. Clean this up, grab Garth, lock him up until we figure out what's what. Aline and I are gonna go check out that church."
The sanctuary in the white church looked pretty in it's own way. Still, Tsumugari was in her one hand, flashlight in the other, ready to be used against anything that could jump out at Aline and Dean from the shadows. The only sound she could hear were the crickets outside, hers and Dean's footsteps in the otherwise empty church, and their breathing.
It didn't take them long to reach Reverend Jim's office door, but it was locked. Without saying a word to each other, Dean took out his lock pick and began picking the lock while Aline watched his back. Once she heard the click, she turned around and followed Dean into the 'good' reverend's office.
After minutes of searching, Dean poked her and held up a book about Norse mythology. They both skimmed through the table of contents until finding a chapter about Ragnarok. Aline turned on the desk lamp and shook the computer mouse to wake up the screen. The monitor showed a picture of Garth, Bess, Joy, and Reverend Jim, making Dean roll his eyes.
"Seriously?" he questioned.
Aline chuckled and did a search for Ragnarok. "Check this out," she stated, motioning for him to come closer. That was when her cell phone rang, and she put it on speaker. "Hey. Did you find the lovebirds?"
"No," Sam replied. "Place is a wreck. No Garth, no Bess."
"What, they were taken?" Dean inquired. "Well, that's fan-friggin'-tastic."
"Tell me you guys got something."
"Well, this, uh...Ragnarok, end-of-days crap—is a wolf named Fenris, who kills the God Odin before the world ends."
"Okay. And that helps us how?"
"Hold your horses, bug," Aline interrupted. "There are cults that consider Fenris a wolf deity and worship him. They call themselves the maw of Fenris."
"A cult of werewolves?" Sam chuckled. "What do they want?"
"Well, Ragnarok is not just a Bible story to these nutjobs. It's an action plan—human extinction, total and complete werewolf domination."
"And...what? This is the—the ground-zero for their movement?"
Dean shook his head in amazement. "Freakin' Wisconsin, man. Well, time for Reverend Jim to go down."
"Yeah. You two need any help?"
"No, no, no, we got it. You just, uh, you find Garth." The amount of confidence in his voice, made Aline look over at Dean.
"All right." The call ended, and Dean finally looked at her.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothin'. You just...believe in me that much?" Aline questioned.
He looked at her like what he'd just said to Sam was the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course. I trust you, wolf girl. I'd've thought you'd realized that, especially after all this time."
Aline blushed, but she and Dean startled when they heard a car door shut. Quickly, they shut off the light and split up in the sanctuary. Aline hid behind the pulpit, pulling out Tsumugari and keeping her tail still. Dean hid not too far away from her, in the shadows.
She smelled Reverend Jim before she even heard the church doors open or his footsteps. Her grip tightened on Tsumugari. Her ears twitched toward the sound of the werewolf sniffing the air.
"It's no use, Dean and Aline," he called out, his voice echoing in the empty church. "I can hear your heartbeats. You both must've done this countless times, yet you still get nervous."
Aline glanced over at Dean, who nodded, and they both stepped out of the shadows, guns drawn and Tsumugari held out in front of her.
"Nothing wrong with a little fear," Dean replied. "It's what makes us human."
"Fear is not a purely human instinct. Even monsters know fear. I came to work on my sermon."
"Well," Aline began, not lowering her weapons, "why don't you start by preaching to us about the maw of Fenris? Yeah, that's right. Dean and I know all about you and your pack's little plan."
"I assure you, we are planning nothing."
"No? Well, then, why did we read about it in your good book?" Dean inquired.
The older man sighed. "Because generations ago, that hate and misplaced anger was part of our beliefs. But ever since I took over here, I have eradicated it from our congregation."
"Yeah, well, apparently, some of them didn't get the word—like the good sheriff, who just tried to off me, Aline, and my brother."
There was a confused expression on Reverend Jim's face, and Aline could smell that same confusion coming from him. "Sheriff Pat?"
Both Aline and Dean took a step closer to him in unison. "Let me see your bullet." He pulled Reverend Jim's silver bullet necklace closer, but when he turned it around, there was nothing etched on it. "Where is it?"
"Let me see, Dean," Aline suggested, and he handed it off to her, and she saw it wasn't there. "What the...where is it?"
"Where's what?"
"'Ragnarok.'"
The older man's eyes widened. "What?!"
"It was etched into the sheriff's bullet."
He shook his head. "That's impossible. The maw is dead."
"Yeah, well, tell that to Garth and your daughter, who are missing," Dean stated.
Reverend Jim's eyes widened, his expression changing as something suddenly dawned on him. "No."
It took twenty minutes to reach the barn. For once, Aline was grateful that no one (except for Sam, Dean, Garth, and Bess) knew she could become a wolf. Her scent was different as a wolf, something no werewolf could easily recognize as hers.
So she shifted, Tsumugari moving to rest on her back and Life Beads resting underneath it.
"Hey," Dean called, catching her attention as he loaded his gun with silver bullets and slipped a silver knife into the pocket of his jeans. "Be careful."
Aline grinned wolfishly. "I will. Promise. You better be careful, too," she replied before slipping into the darkness. She saw Russ outside the house moving toward the hedge, where Dean hung his jacket while her back was turned, but she couldn't focus on that, trying to search for a way in the barn.
And...Bingo!
A side door!
She ran through it, catching Joba's attention and (after recovering from the shock of seeing a white wolf) he flew through the hayloft, but Aline effortlessly moved out of the way. Joba moved to slice her with his claws, but she grabbed Tsumugari and stabbed him in the heart. At the same time, a shot rang out, and there was a hole in Joba's head. Aline stood up and ran to stand next to Dean, who was wearing Russ' coat.
Joy turned to them. "Wearing Russ' coat to hide your scent—smart," she stated, but her eyes widened at the sight of Aline in her wolf form.
"Oh, we're full of surprises," Dean replied.
"As am I."
Dean and Joy both dived for their guns while Aline bolted toward the older woman, Tsumugari clenched tightly in her fangs. Joy's gun was aimed directly at Aline. The younger woman growled and stabbed her in the chest. Joy gasped and then fell to the ground, dead.
Garth, Sam, Dean, and Aline watched Bess comfort her father.
"Be good," Sam said to Garth. "Hear me?"
Garth smiled. "I will. Thanks, Sam," he replied. Sam and he hugged, and Sam coldly glanced at both Dean and Aline as he walked by them through the door.
Aline's shoulders slumped and her azure eyes followed Sam out the door, but she covered it quickly when Garth walked up.
Dean motioned at Bess and Reverend Jim. "How's he doing?" he asked.
"He's taking it pretty hard. Feels like he should have seen the signs earlier."
"Yeah, well, maybe you were right," Aline acquiesced.
"Yeah," Dean threw in, "he seems like a good man...considering."
Garth rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. And you were right. Everything around here wasn't copacetic. I screwed up again. First Kevin, now this," he replied.
Aline put her arm on his shoulder to comfort him. "Hey. Kevin? That's on me. I'm the one that pulled him into all this. I'm the one that should've been there to protect him."
"You gotta remember to share the blame, Peverell," Dean said. "It's your fault and mine, remember?"
"Well... I guess there's enough of that blame to go around, then."
Both Dean and Aline nodded and headed for the door, but Garth stopped them with a call of their names, and they both turned around in unison. "Yeah?"
"Um..I know this may sound a little crazy, but... Maybe I could come back and hunt with you. I mean, with my werewolf mojo plus Aline's demigod wolf mojo, we'd have an advantage."
The two hunters shared a look before Dean said, "Yeah, look, Garth—"
Garth shook his head. "No. I want to make this right. I never should've left you guys, especially Kevin. Kevin was my friend. Friends don't do that."
The statement made Aline cringe, but she pushed through it and said, "Well, hey, you said it—you know, who cares where happiness comes from? Look, we're all a little weird, we're all a little wacky—some more than others—" she pointedly looked at Dean, who let out a chuckle, "but...if it works, it works."
"Yeah. You got something here. Okay?" Dean continued for her. "Even though they are werewolves. Or Lycanthropes—whatever. Don't let that go. Okay? You'll never forgive yourself. Besides, somebody's got to live to tell this damn story someday, and who better than you? Now shut up and come here." Dean opened his arms for a hug.
The younger man had a surprised look on his face even as he grinned. "Really?" he asked.
"Hurry up before I change my mind." The two men hugged for a few seconds before Aline and Garth hugged.
"Who knows? We may see each other sometime," Aline said cryptically before both she and Dean left out the front door.
The drive to Sam's car was uncomfortably silent, with Aline sitting on the benchseat and Sam and Dean on either side of her. The silence continued as Sam prepared to get out.
"I'll send you two that postcard," he said, opening the door and getting out.
He almost reached his car before Aline, after sharing a look with Dean, got up the nerve to get out as well.
"Hey," Aline called out, making Sam turn around. "Uh, listen, that night that, uh... You know, we went our—our separate ways—"
"You mean the night you split and Dean went with you?"
She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and nodded after a few seconds. "Fair enough. I was messed up. Kevin was dead, and I...I don't know what I was. And...and I honestly wanted to go on my own, but Dean wanted to come with me."
"Okay."
"Hell, maybe I still don't. We still don't. But, uh...I know we took a piece of you in the process, and for that..." Her mouth opened uselessly as she struggled to find what she wanted to say, but she heard the driver side door open and close before Dean spoke, and she wasn't sure whether their thoughts were linked or what because he started saying exactly what she was thinking.
"Somebody changed the playbook, man, you know? It's like what—what—what's right is wrong and what's wrong is more wrong, and... we just know that when... When the three of us rode together..."
"We split up the crappiness," Sam finished.
"Yeah. So..." She sighed.
There was an unreadable expression on Sam's face before he said, "Okay."
"Okay."
"But something's broken here."
"I'm...we're not saying that it's not. I...I just think maybe the three of us need to put a couple W's on the board and we get past all this."
Sam shook his head. "I don't think so, Aline. No, I-I wish, but... The three of us don't...see things the same way anymore—our roles in this whole thing. Back in that church, talking me out of boarding up hell? Or—or tricking me into letting Gadreel possess me? I can't trust either of you—not the way I thought I could, not the way I should be able to."
The statement made her cringe. "Okay, look. Whatever happened... The three of us're family, okay?"
Sam stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You say that like it's some sort of cure-all, like it can change the fact that everything that has ever gone wrong between us has been because we're family."
"So, what—we're not family now?" Dean asked.
"I'm saying, you two want to work? Let's work. If you want to be brothers, Dean,... If you want to be friends again, Aline..." He paused both times, letting them fill in the blanks. "Those are my terms."
Dean and Aline stared at him in silence and then, in unison, nodded once. Sam got back into the Impala, and the other two slowly followed.