Here's a new chapter. Enjoy
Rated: M
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them
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Chapter Ten
The tithe would be offered at twilight. The summoning would begin when the moon reached zenith. Deep in the center of a graveyard and all of it's snow covered consecrated earth there was silence. The air within the crypt was frigid, the tempertures barely reaching past the twenties most of the afternoon and was rapidly dropping.
A menace had crept amongst the unknowing citizens of Port Charles while they slept and was preparing evil to rise.
Ten figures, in black cowls and robes encircled the altar. In the air, the scents of mandrake and wax combined with something dark and twisted. Black candles surrounded the sacrifice, their flames fluttering in the crisp icy wind. When the center figure raised the gong, sounded it's lament, the wimpering cries from the young pregnant woman were swallowed.
A pit was built behind them, the fire already smoldering. It's flames flickering over the pale nearly blue skin of the body tied to the slab of granite. The remains beneath her already prepared for possession.
Three figures dressed in red robes stood at ready. Each raised their hands and began to chant, it's language a bastardized combination of Latin and Old Norse and the fire in the pit rustled wildly, the candles blazed bright sending sparks shooting high.
Shadows began to dance on the walls.
The three raised an anthama, the handle of each ceremonial dagger carved with the entities who would bring forth She who bore seven names and whose presence meant only death.
The first point thrust down deep in the offerings solar plexus amist a spurt of blood as a feminine voice said, "Her hand is a net. We suffer the Prophets to darkness for our purpose."
The scream of agony, the body shaking off it's final throws of life was ignored as a second blade followed into the third eye, a gravely voice answered, "Her embrace is death. We summon the Allu to slay our advasaries."
The third freshly whetted blade glimmered under the firelight just seconds before ripping into heart and blood ran like rivers from the alter into the ground. "Bring night upon day and blood upon the Earth and lay waste to her Champions."
Each withdrew their anthama, crimson dots splattering on stone, raising them over the lifeless body. "We offer this tithe to thee Daughter of An and bring you forth unto this world at the command of Ulfr, Rammr and Andor."
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Kady watched the sunset on the back of her father's motorcycle.
It was never the same yet always like a small miracle. The mix blues were never in the same places, the streaks of orange and indigo in the sky were always vivid and awe inspiring. The sun always seemed to take it's time, reluctantly surrendering it's dominance to the moon that continued it's ascent into the heavens.
Finally when that last sliver of burnished dusk winked out of sight her heart gave it's usual melancholy sigh.
There was nothing like watching the end of the day with her father's arms wrapped around her. They were parked in front of the house after taking a long ride out this afternoon. The wind whipping in her face as he easily guided the bike through curves and turns. The feeling of freedom that made her want to scream out loud and hard. This time alone together was better than anything.
Sure there were things to be done for tonight. She knew her Dad worried about the door, and what could be coming through it. He worried about protecting her. But he had taken this afternoon for just the two of them, a ride on their bike, lunch at Kelly's and now watching the sunset together.
And people said her father was emotionless.
"Today was good, Dad," she whispered, snuggling closer, letting his warmth surround her with it's protectiveness. He smelled like leather and home and love.
"Yeah, it was good." He agreed and she leaned into the large gloved hand that rubbed the top of her head.
And even as she felt the burning in her eyes, signaling what she had seen was coming, she struggled to stay in the moment a bit longer. "Maybe we can do it again next weekend. You know maybe take a ride up to that cabin we went to last year." After Sam was killed. It would be better this time, her father wouldn't be mourning Sam and that terrible pain she could feel hurting inside his chest wouldn't be there anymore.
"The lake is probably frozen over this time of year," he answered, "But it would be a nice break. No school, no work. Just you and me."
"Yeah," she sighed. "Just you and me. I love you Daddy," she couldn't stop the small tear that slid down her jaw.
"I love you too monkey."
"You have to take me inside now." She said calmly, the resolution seeping through the fear that had pulled taut in her stomach. "It's time."
And from the way his body gradually stiffened, the tension that had crept through his muscles she knew he understood. "I know."
When he looked down at her, his face contorted with horror, his voice, broken and terrified for the first time she'd ever heard as he saw what she knew was there. "Kady?"
"And the eyes of the Seer shall be blinded," she whispered slowly, holding close to the memory of the sunset and it's dazzling array of colors.
ooXXXXoo
"Dean!"
The loud noise that followed his brother's shout jerked him from the thick book he was trying to concentrate on. Miranda had guilted him into reading with the others and he had been two minutes from tossing the tomb of jibberish across the room. How the hell did the others do this shit? He'd much rather be out fighting, instead of sitting back doing nothing.
Sam had gone up to the attic to Jason's office for a book that Fred said she left up there last night and it sounded like he had just taken a header down the stairs. "Jeez, Sammy, you need me to hold your hand for you?"
"Dean, shit! Dean?"
But that didn't sound right. That didn't sound right at all. He glanced over at Miranda and she was looking toward the stairs, already halfway out of her seat. He watched Sam's legs appear through the slats of the staircase, he stumbled, his hands reaching out to grip the banister and catch his balance as he began an awkward descent. "Where the hell are you Dean?"
"In the same place you left me, dummy?" He was striding toward his brother, then choking back shock at the fear on Sam's face. His eyes. Shit, what the hell had happened to his eyes in the two minutes it had taken him to climb a few stairs.
It was like Sam had been stricken with cataracts, an opaque green film covered his eyes, and Dean was shaken straight to the core. Reaching the bottom step, Sam carefully released the rail. His hands flailed out in front of him, fear, stark and wild on his face. Dean walked into his fingers and they grabbed on to the front of his shirt tight in panic.
"Dean is that you?"
"Sammy?" Before he could choke out the rest of what he was going to say the front door was kicked open and Jason rushed in with Kady held securely against his chest. For some reason the vivid terror on Morgan's face just shot his own up several notches. "What the hell?"
Glass crashed loudly just as the door leading to the kitchen banged against the opposite wall and they watched Cordelia stumble inside the living room. Spike immediately jumped up to grab her hands, to which she shrieked and instinctively struggled. "Calm down Cheerleader, it's just me."
"SPIKE!" The relief in her voice actually made her sound less the bitch he had pegged her for. "Oh, Spike, it's you. What's going on? I can't see, where is everyone? What the hell happened?"
Dean looked from Cordelia, to his brother, then the little girl and felt a tremor of alarm shoot through his blood. "Oh, shit."
"Tell me you know what the hell is going on," Jason asked the room at large and Dean watched all their faces, except for one, and they were clueless. "Spinelli, damn it, you'd better have some answers for me."
"Just a second Stone Cold," and he kept tapping into his laptop but judging from the look on his face, Dean knew that he wasn't going to like what the kid came up with. "Oh, Damn," he muttered and Dean really didn't appreciate being right. "I think I figured out what's coming through the door."
The kid really didn't like being the center of attention, but he sucked it up well. Obviously worried about Kady, and not wanting to disappoint Jason, he took a deep swallow before beginning to speak. "Well, I decided to concentrate on An, and that succubus Nahemah. I mean, that's a pretty good jumping off point. We have a door that supposed to open, and a door keeper."
He blinked several times, fidgeting, his eyes going to Kady who was curled into her father's lap and Jason who held her as if he would kill anything that touched her. "Anyway, that led me to Sumerian demons. Now you have to understand Sumerian's didn't make much difference between Demons and Gods. I mean, there were some big differences, and for them to be classified as demons well, let's just say they were pretty hideous."
"Here, Spinelli," Fred smiled carefully at him, then pushed a glass of water into his hands, "You're doing fine."
He looked as if she had just given him the holy grail, and his smile was of utter adoration. Then he took several swallows trying to calm down. "So, Dean said that the succubus was afraid of whatever pulled it inside and I have to say, after everything I've learned about Succubi, for it to be afraid of anything. Well, not good."
"What I don't understand," Sam spoke up, "What's wrong with our eyes? This didn't happen in my vision."
"Mine either," Cordelia agreed and they both instinctively turned toward Kady. Dean had to wonder if they even realized they did it, or was he just imagining it.
"I did," she murmured, "I wasn't told until just moments before it happened. And now, it's all gone. I don't see anything. I don't hear anything, it's like they blinded me physically and spiritually," she trailed off.
"Anything else, we should know about baby," Jason asked, then shook his head, "Do you know if the demon did this?"
"No. It wasn't the demon. We've been thinking that the demon chose to come through the door, and we were wrong. Someone else did this to us, that's all the Powers had the chance to tell me. Now I don't know what's going to happen. I'm sorry Daddy," she closed her eyes, her mouth trembling with emotion.
That more than anything kept him from lashing out, because God knows he wnated to. Then he would be hit by the fact that Kady was eleven and dealing with the fact that she had been stricken blind my some unknown force.
Hell, she was handling it better than any of them, and they were adults.
"So, back to the Demon," Spike suggested, and Spinelli seemed to flinch at the words. "Let's skip the history lesson and get down to business. Who's the big bad and how do we kill it?"
"Lamashtu," the boy spat out. "That's her name, Lamashtu."
"The demigoddess who was slain by Pazuzu," Fred asked and Spinelli nodded, then shook his head in denial, then just looked confused.
"I mean, you can't just kill Lamashtu, she can only be driven away. And well, Pazuzu wasn't exactly a good guy himself, so envoking him came with a double edged sword."
"Gibberish here," Dean spoke up, "Let's stick with the bitch goddess for the moment. What the hell is a Lamashtu?"
"She's the daughter of the Sky God An. In her true form, she's like this twisted mix of animals, a lioness head, bird feet, talons, a hairy body. The pictures are really disgusting," at his pointed glare Spinelli stopped rambling, "Anyway, most Sumerian demons act at the command of another god, but Lamashtu is just plain evil and acts on her own."
"Which is probably why Delilah was afraid of it," Miranda suggested. "If they're all on some kind of leash, except for Lamashtu, then there is no one to reign her in."
"Except for the idiots who are trying to summon her to this world." Jason had a hard, cold eyed gleam of revenge in his eyes that Dean was certainly feeling at the moment.
"So what's this one's MO," Faith asked, she was curled on the arm of the sofa next to Sam, where she had planted herself from the moment she helped him walk there. Dean ignored the little twinge in his stomach, as he realized that protecting Sam had become someone else's priority as well. From what he had seen of Faith, she was more than capable of the task, but he would keep his eye on his brother just the same.
"Pretty bad actually, and another reason why Nahemah was terrified of it. Lamashtu kills children, born and in the womb. She kills expectant mothers. She eats men, drinking their blood, she brings nightmares to the sleeping, rapes the land, infests rivers and lakes, and is basically a harbringer of disease, sickness and death."
"Which explains the Master's coming, turn day to night, kill you all and blood will run the earth, comment that vamp made," Faith recalled with a look of disgust.
Miranda glanced up at him with terror in her eyes, and he pulled her close, trying to offer comfort. He leaned down and brushed his mouth to her temple and whispered, "Kady said he was okay. You have to remember that." She nodded once, that strength he admired fortifying her resolve and his as well. Demon or not, they would get Gabriel back. He wouldn't stop until he had Miranda's boy safely back in her arms.
"So this Lamashtu is coming through the door tonight," Jason began, "I see no reason why we shouldn't try to kill it."
"We're not supposed to," Cordelia pointed out. "The vision told us to rescue the two boys that are coming through, not fight Lamashtu."
"And is there a reason we can't do both?" Jason asked echoing his feelings perfectly.
"There will probably be some obstacle to prevent us from killing it," Sam pointed out. "When the door opened back in Flat River, we didn't see anything. All we saw was Delilah's reaction to it, and her being dragged through some invisible barrier that we couldn't see. Maybe whatever Lamashtu is right now, maybe it can't be fought until it reaches our plane of existence."
"And that won't happen until it comes through the door," Jason reasoned with a sneer of frustration. "So we have to allow this thing through the door, before we even stand a chance of killing it. Anyone else here think that's a shitty idea. Is there anyway of getting Gabriel through before Lamashtu makes it?"
"We sure as hell can try," Faith answered. "Judging from Lamashtu's reputation, we can bet that she isn't exactly bringing Gabriel and the other one along for the ride out of the goodness of her sick twisted heart."
"They're probably planning to come through after her," Spike pointed out, "You said this Nahemah thinks of Gabriel as her Cambion, right? That she was even protective of him? Maybe she's going to help him escape because she knows that Lamashtu isn't exactly a demigoddess you allow near kids."
"Why not just keep him there in the hell dimension with her then, and keep him safe?" Fred asked, "It makes more sense that way."
"Maybe she can't," Miranda said.
"None of that matters," Jason interrupted, "What matters is that the door is opening, and we have to be there when it does. With a viable plan. It's a safe bet that if demons were offering tithes to Lamashtu, then they'll probably be out tonight for her arrival. If they see Gabriel, what better way to appease their bitch demon than giving her little boy as a welcome from hell present."
"Well, fuck, I hadn't considered that," Dean groaned, "Stands to reason if we know she's coming, the dregs of the earth know it as well."
"So monkey," Jason adjusted Kady in his arms, "Ready to spill the rest of the information the Powers gave you."
Her light brown brows lifted in shock, "How did you?"
"I'm your father, I know when you're holding back."
"There's more," Cordelia asked, with a frown that looked really weird with her eyes that soft opaque tinted green. "Why didn't Sam or I get more. All I saw was all of us at the house and Gabriel and the form of the other one with him."
"You didn't see his face?" Sam asked and she shook her head, "I saw his face but I didn't know who he was."
"So why hold out on us and tell a little girl everything?"
"Because, I have a direct link to the Powers," Kady explained. "Sam is just a psychic, not a true Seer, and you closed yourself off from them."
"I did not," Cordelia insisted hotly.
"In your heart you did." Kady went on, "If you close your heart, then your mind is blocked as well. Until you open your heart completely, all you'll ever receive from the Powers are distorted images."
"Kady," Jason nudged her gently. "It's time to tell it all."
"You're not going to like it Daddy," she shook her head sadly, "None of you are going to like it."
oXXo
It was a crappy plan and he sure as fuck didn't like it.
If he had a direct link to the Powers he would have told them to go fuck themselves and spit in their face before he walked away and damned the consequences. How did he walk his daughter into the unknown? Damn it they were asking too fucking much from him.
Hadn't he promised himself to the mission?
Hadn't he chosen to live, when it truly hadn't mattered to him one way or the other?
Hadn't he volunteered to come back to this life, stripped of everything that had made him Jason Quartermaine and allowed himself to be fashioned into Jason Morgan, a Champion for the Powers.
What more would they ask of him? They took Sam, he would be damned if they took Kady.
"Stop growling Daddy," she murmured from her seat next to him. "It isn't going to change what's going to happen."
He grit his teeth so that his foot wouldn't slam down on the brake and he wouldn't turn the truck back around and go back to the house like every fiber in his being screamed at him to do. Miranda had looked at him with her pleading eyes, that he allow Kady to help rescue her son. He understood her desperation, just as she had understood his.
It would have haunted him for the rest of his life if he walked away tonight, because deep inside he knew that getting Gabriel back depended on Kady. It would be a ghost he could live with, if it meant keeping his child safe.
Only Kady, and her determination that she swore came from him, refused to consider staying home. Or even better, leaving the fucking country.
"You taught me to do the right thing no matter how difficult, or what I might lose," she had whispered into his ear and he wanted to shout and rage that his words would be used against him that way.
Spinelli and Lulu were back at the house, making sure that everything stayed safe for their return. Lulu, a true Spencer, after finally accepting that she hadnt' walked into some weird nightmare, had taken up the banner easily, as if this were just some caper like her father used to get into. Just one more burden of guilt to weigh heavily on his shoulders.
The others had loaded up in their own vehicles and where trailing him to the house, giving him some much needed time alone with his daughter. "Sure I can't talk you out of this?" He sounded desperate, not at all like the confident father she probably needed right now. "This is your choice, Kady. The Powers can't force you to do this."
"I know," she nodded once, and given the sadness there in her blinded eyes, she had already made that choice long before he thought to mention it now.
"All right then," he dragged a hard breath into his lungs, determined to be the Hunter she needed and not the father who wanted to shield her though he knew how impossible that was to be. "You remember your training. You aren't strong as all of us, but you're smart. Wiry."
"Like a monkey," she smiled softly, reminding him of her nickname.
"That's right. You do what you need to do to get Gabriel and the other and then you get out, you hear Kady. Don't look back, don't try to help. You run and let us deal with anything else."
Before he could think of more, some words of wisdom, some bit of advice to give her that he had perhaps forgetten the trail of the house appeared. Resolved to get this done, he stopped the truck and cut the ignition. They sat in silence for a moment, and he fought back the re-emerging yearning to take his daughter and run.
"There's something I didn't tell the others Daddy, but I need to tell you, so that maybe you won't worry so much about what's going to happen."
Nothing would make him stop worrying but she didn't need to know that. "What is it Kady?"
"For the longest time I could see the other man with Gabriel. The Powers let me see his face and I could hear his voice, but they would never let me know his name." She frowned and he knew that bothered her. That would have driven him crazy, to be left without that one final piece of information. Carly was right, Kady was every inch his daughter. "I never understood why, but I think I do now. He has something to do with Cordelia."
"Cordelia?" Did that mean she was wrong, that Angel was coming back through the door.
"And he's a Champion Daddy."
oXXo
"This is the first time I'm actually scared."
Cordelia didn't need her sight to know that everyone had turned to glance at her after her words. She could actually feel her heart racing in her chest. Now that was a new one. After everything she had experienced, she chose now to feel true terror.
"It's funny really." She tried to smile, offer a laugh but it came out sounding funny and uncomfortable. "Back in Sunnyhell, I was used as bait on the nights Buffy went out patrolling. A maniac tried to use me for body parts to make his brother a girlfriend. We faced Angelus threatening to suck us all into some hell dimension. We even defeated the crazy mayor who was going to eat us all at our high school graduation."
Then she remembered, "Sorry Faith."
"Not one of my finer years, but I get your point." Cordelia released a breath as Faith placed a supportive hand on her arm.
"So yeah, I was afraid of that. I was afraid of that vamp who was going to kill me but Angel rescued me just in time. I was afraid when Doyle sacrificed himself and then passed the visions to me. I was big time afraid when Angel went all beige on us with his Wolfram and Heart rampage."
"Okay, we get it," Spike muttered from behind her, "You've lived a hellish experience. Enough with the memory lane already, pet. I'm sure you have a point in all of this."
"My point," she rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Is that even though I was afraid, I was okay, you know. Part of me actually believed that everything would work out. Good triumphs over evil and we'd all live to fight another day. Now," she lowered her sightless gaze trying to remember what her fingers would look like as they fidgeted in her lap. "Now, I don't know what's going to happen."
It was strange the things she took for granted. Sight. Fred had to help her put on her coat before they left the house. Faith walked her to the truck and helped her inside. She carried her sword, mostly because she made a big fuss about leaving it behind. The way she was right now, it was about as useless as a toothpick. Something would have to be half dead and right on top of her for her to be of any use in a fight.
She didn't even have her connection to the Powers to make her feel of some use. Right now her team was flying blind and there was nothing she could do about it.
"I think it's because of what happened to your eyes," Fred suggested softly.
"I figured that one out already," she smiled wryly. "I know it's the loss of control that has me doing the major wiggins. It doesn't help that Kady was right."
"I hear a small miracle coming," Spike snorted making her turn back and sneer toward the direction of his voice.
"She was right. I've been working at Angel Investigations, but my heart hasn't really been in it. I closed myself off from the visions because I was so angry about what happened to Angel and Connor. Now when I really need that connection, it's gone. It's gone and I feel like I've put everyone's life at risk because of my stubborness."
"From what I understand," Faith spoke up, "The Powers aren't the ones who did the whodo on all of your eyes. I'd bet my favorite axe those asshole lawyers are the ones behind this."
"Wolfram and Heart? They have enough power behind them to accomplish something like this. The opening of doors, blinding Seers, just another day at the evil office." Fred agreed suprising them all by saying, "Thought of that before we left, so I put Spinelli on it to see if they've been making any major plays recently. We thought with Angel gone that they would have moved on to torturing someone else. I guess we should have been keeping a better eye on them than we have."
"It would be just like them to come at us when we weren't expecting it. We couldn't be doing too much damage during the last five years without the Powers."
"Maybe, this isn't about us," Spike shrugged, "I mean, we are here in Port Charles, New York with a bad ass who makes Angel seem like the outdated version of the Champion model series and a little girl who sees circles around the Cheerleader here, no offense pet."
"None taken, dead boy," she snarked back, using an insult from a distant past.
"Perhaps they've attracted some attention. Wolfram and Heart attention."
"And why can't we just kill them all again," Faith asked.
"Angel tried that," Cordelia reminded her, "Remember when he locked all the heads in the room with Darla and Druscilla? Didn't work. Besides, Wolfram and Heart are more than just some lawyers in really expensive suits that provide services to the evil demons of the world. They're eternal. Like," she paused, not sure of a comparison.
"Like herpes," Faith snorted, "They can be treated, but can never be cured."
"Disgusting but strangely accurate."
oXXo
"I don't like this."
Dean reached over and took Miranda's hand into his, surprising them both by lifting it to his lips and pressing a kiss there. Not only did her thoughts echo his own, but the simple fact that nothing was going to change what they did tonight regardless of how they felt about it. He wanted to rage at what was supposed to transpire. It just wasn't fair, he was the one who screwed up, he should be the one taking the risks.
Not his blind brother sitting in the back seat.
If his father knew about that failure, he'd kick his ass three times before chewing him out about not protecting Sammy. It was his job and not only had he failed Miranda by not ensuring Gabriel's safety, now he was going to let his brother stick his neck out on the chopping block.
"It's not right," Miranda continued on, "He's my son, I should be there, not hiding back behind Dean while Sam puts himself in danger."
"This is what we do," Sam offered from the backseat. Always the voice of reason. The extender of comfort. Sam could fight and kill demons with the best of them, but not blind. Damn it, not blind. "I know you're worried about Gabriel, but I truly believe Kady when she says that he's going to be okay."
"I'm not just worried about Gabriel you idiot," she shouted through the tears that threatened to spill over onto her cheeks. "I'm worried about you too! I'm worried about both of you."
"Hell, Sammy here is the one who gets to have all the fun," Dean tried to make light of what seemed to be an impossible situation. "I'm just providing back up."
"God, how did all of this happen," she closed her eyes in despair, biting down on her bottom lip. "How did all of this happen?" It was the closest to falling apart that he'd seen her get through all of this. Yes she cried, but always she pulled it together, determined to be strong for her son. He understood she was finally reaching her breaking point.
Ignoring the fact that they weren't alone, he pulled her across the seat into his lap, releasing a deep breath at the perfect feel of her in his arms. "Just hold on a while longer," he murmured, running a hand through her hair. "We'll have Gabriel home soon and this will all be over."
"But at what cost Dean?" She looked into his eyes, a woman facing the harsh realities of the nightmare she had been drawn into. "At what cost? All of you are putting your lives on the line. Jason's daughter," she broke off, swallowing the sob that rose in her throat.
"Kady's so brave and Jason looks like he just wants to take her and run. I know because it's what I would feel. I don't know if I'd have the strength to let my child walk in there tonight but they both know that we won't get Gabriel back if she doesn't go. How do I accept that Dean? What if something happens to her, how do I live with that?"
oXXo
If the house had given her the creeps before, it chilled her down to the bone tonight.
Strangely, it looked larger, more imposing than before. Faith wondered if anyone else felt it. Not just how wrong this place seemed but now just the sense of malevolence in the air. It was ripe, nauseating, despite the cold. And for the first time in her life, every instinct in her body raised up in a roar of protest.
She did not want to go in that house.
The leather on her fingers creaked as she gripped the handles of the tomahawks in her hands, just a bit tighter. She didn't understand why she had picked these weapons tonight instead of her axe but there was something that whispered in her mind that it was right. Jason hadn't minded her taking them, in fact had given her a small nod of approval for her choice.
Besides, they were blessed by an Amazon Shamaness. This little group preparing to walk into the unknown could probably use all the blessings they could get.
The plan was simple.
Fucked up but simple.
The triumverate of blind Seers, along with one Chosen One and one Champion entered the house. The others waited outside and warded off any demons that came sniffing around, which they all figured would be more than a handful for the Hunter and the Vampire with a soul. Fred would be of some help, used to fighting, Faith just hoped that Miranda wouldn't choke when it came to flash point. The point was to keep everything out of the house and a path to their vehicles open when it was time to escape.
See, fucked up plan.
How the hell were three blind mice going to do anything? But she had seen stranger things in her life as a Slayer, so maybe there was someway to pull this whole mission out of the crapper before something came along and gave them a sound flush.
"Are we ready?"
The solid question came from Jason, who had taken control of the group. No one could blame him. His daughter was out here in the this madness. Opting to give Dean those wicked guns of his, Jason had armed himself with the same spear they sparred with this morning, as well as an assortment of knives and blades tucked in neat hidden pockets throughout his clothing. What secrets Jason Morgan had up his sleeve they could only ponder because for the moment, he wasn't telling.
"Are we speaking rhetorically or are you actually expecting an answer?" Dean snorted from his place where he held Miranda securely at his side. "Cause, I can speak for myself and say, a big hell no. That sound about right Sammy?"
"That's about right."
A small smile lifted the side of Sam's lip and she felt the hand on her shoulder squeeze briefly. Though she knew Sam couldn't see her, she imagined that he was looking down at her with some trace of emotion. Maybe affection. If he could see, she was certain that's what he would find there in her eyes.
When asked if he wanted to at least carry a weapon, Sam had refused. "I have a weapon all my own," he told them. "I may be blind but I'm not helpless." Then he processed to lift the book in her hand free and throw it against a wall. Fred squealed and started rambling on about telekinesis while he murmured about long stories and wanting to tell her about them sometime.
The fact that he wanted there to be a sometime made her heart beat just a little faster.
"So aside from Sam and Dean, can we get a move on." And it sounded like Queen C had put aside her fears and was ready to climb back on the horse. "Apocolypse isn't going to meet us half way, you know."
"This isn't an apocolypse," Kady snorted, "More like the boogie man hiding in the closet waiting for you to turn the lights off and get in the bed."
That made Cordelia laugh out loud. The joyous sound made the air seem to retract, as if Cordy's hopefulness were a weapon itself. The look Jason turned in her direction would have singed the skin off the bone had Cordy be able to see it. Whether she noted it or not, she lifted a hand to her throat, her face still for just a moment as if their eyes had locked on to each other in what could only be termed eye sex.
"In that case what are we waiting for," Cordelia's mouth spread in a wide smile. "I'm not worried about things that go bump in the night."
Kady smiled as well, the hand holding on to her father's arm clenched briefly before she said, "My Daddy kills the things that go bump in the night."