Disclaimer: The usual, they own my soul more than I could ever own anything concerning the show... oh, and, most importantly... no animals--ducks especially--were harmed in the writing of this chapter... Enjoy.
The rest of the trip was quiet and uneventful, which made Emily very happy. She hated the drama that always came in bulk when a vision was afoot; sighing as quietly as she could, she pulled into a very familiar neighborhood and stole a brief glance at the clock… 3:52. Nadia, love you, really I do, but you need to learn how to slow the fuck down! She thought lovingly, letting her sights wander to the sleeping woman next to her as she stalled at a stop sign. "Nadia… hey, we're here." She coaxed; her sister sluggishly opened her eyes, lifted her arms up and stretched… nearly hitting the driver in the face, but luckily, Emily saw the arm approaching her head and moved out of the way quickly. "Son of a bitch, you almost hit me… ass!"
Nadia chuckled teasingly, still half asleep, "Maybe you need to watch where your face is, probably wouldn't get into half as much trouble if you did..." She said sardonically, "Duck fucker."
The driver paled as her jaw dropped in mock hurt. How is it that now matter how hard I try, she always ends up with the better comeback!
"Because I'm just creative like that… besides, over the past few years I've seen some pretty interesting and creatively inspiring things while on the road. I've got more material to work with, simple as that." The 26 year old explained absently, not even really realizing that she'd read her sister's thoughts.
"Are you reading my mind again?" Emily huffed, turning another corner.
"Huh?" the passenger stated, then realized she hadn't had the opportunity to do that in nearly a decade, she'd almost forgotten how funny it was when her sister got angry at her for reading her. "Oops, sorry… it's been a while, ya know, slips are bound to happen."
"Eh, whatever." Came the deadpanned reply. They were two blocks from Missouri's, so they might as well drop the subject before the both became victims of the old wooden spoon. As if her sister had read her mind again, the elder huntress shuddered noticeably.
Pulling up into the familiar driveway, Nadia snatched the journal from the floor, holding it close to her as she bolted from the car. Missouri stood at the door waiting patiently, expectantly, for the girls.
"My darling girls, it's so good to see the two of you together again. Come here Emily; let me get a good look at the two of you together." She called sweetly to the slower of the sisters. "What have you got there, Nadia?... the Pastor's journal, that old fool, let me guess; he still writes in that thing… but if he did, why do you have it now?"
Nadia's elated smile faded almost immediately, "You haven't heard, Missouri?"
"No… what happened to the old poop?"
"He, uh, he died… about three months ago." She murmured quietly, staring somberly at her own feet. When she looked up she watched as the older psychic searched her eyes, reading the thoughts that dwell within her mind concerning the cleric.
"Oh my… well, you girls were right to come here. It's much safer here than the places you tend to find yourself in, young lady. I've been meaning to contact your sister and find out how she's been doing, anyway… so yes, it's very good you came." She said, clasping Nadia's hands, she felt the power surging in the girl's veins; she hadn't thought it possible, but Nadia had become even more powerful than she was the last time she saw her a few months ago. "Emily Elizabeth, don't worry about your bags, we can get to them later. Come inside and talk to this old fart!"
Laughing, Nadia hugged her surrogate mother, and walked with her inside the house as her sister sprinted to catch up. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?" she giggled at the Missouri's eccentric shake of her head, "I've got a few questions for you… concerning some rather odd visions I've had recently."
"I know, we'll talk about that later… ok?" she cooed while brushing a stray hair from Nadia's face, "So lovely, you girls, ever since you were tiny little things… so much of your mother's fire in the both of you. You get your charming Spanish qualities from your father, though."
"Dad was a Spaniard?" Emily asked as she approached the two.
"His mother was, your granddaddy used to gloat about how he'd stolen the heart of the most beautiful girl in the whole of Spain; and your father's thoughts often wandered back to his daddy's stories when he looked at you girls." She smiled, remembering the visits where their parents would bring them to visit her. She had picked up on Nadia's powers, dormant at the time, the day she was brought to Missouri's home while Julianna went into labor with Emily. "Yes, he always said you two were the spittin' image of his mother."
Emily stood glaring at the floor for a moment before speaking up, it was time for business, "Yea, I'd hate to interrupt story time. But, you've dragged me away from my well earned normal life for something 'big' and now I'd like to know what."
Her accusatory tone agitated both women, yet neither showed any signs; Missouri began picking at her sweater while Nadia casually looked about the parlor room.
"Well, you know about the record human possession so far, won't need to repeat that… um, shit-storm's a-brewin', sweetheart." She said before becoming frighteningly serious, "The Demon… has declared war on any and all demon hunters in the country. As far as my sources know… it hasn't spread beyond the borders of the US just yet, but it's only a matter of time."
"Why now? Why not when he couldn't get you 18 years ago?" Emily asked.
"Oh, it's not about the children he's failed to acquire for his sick collection… the weapon has surfaced." She added hesitantly.
"The… OH, that weapon. Who had it?"
"It had the perfect keeper under the radar… a vampire hunter in Colorado; Daniel Elkins, remember him?" she asked, her left hand rubbing the back of her neck stiffly, observing her sisters reaction with weary eyes.
"Yea, he had come to Jim a few times for supplies and such. Really quiet guy… humorously paranoid… I remember he was petrified of you." Emily affirmed with a mischievous grin, "One time, while we were playing hide and seek, I was hiding in the church—near where they were talking—and I over heard him say why he was scared of you."
Nadia let out a mock-peeved scoff, and rolled her eyes sarcastically, chortled and shrugged; she couldn't help it if she came off as creepy to some people. "What was his reason?"
"He said that you were either a witch or some kind of demon child," she paused when Nadia let out a surprised cackle, even Missouri's demeanor lightened some, "he kept trying to convince Jim that he needed to be careful with you… you might one day just surprise the hell out of us and turn evil… bringing the world to it's knees in your malevolent wake."
"Wow," she said amid a stream of silent laughter, "Daniel Elkins… what a character!" She cried heartily, reminding Missouri and her little sister just how cynically humored and animated she was.
"Anyway, what happened to him?" Emily wanted to get back to business and she knew that not everything that needed to be said had been.
"Oh, well, one night… four months ago, I think, maybe five… anyway, some vampires he'd hunted a long ass time ago picked up his trail and killed him. They found and took the weapon, some friends of Elkins' hunted said vamps down, killed them and took the weapon. After they started to use it, It found out, sent his children to take care of the hunters and from what I've heard; they failed, the hunters still have it and can only use it one more time before it's rendered completely useless. Unless… that is, we help'em out." She smiled knowingly at Emily, who looked a bit confused, as did their hostess.
"How?" Missouri asked, Emily's expression said the same; Nadia rolled her eyes.
"The story…the one mom and dad used to tell us when they taught us how to make bullets?" the huntress hoped that knocked her siblings memory into working order.
"The one about Samuel Colt?" she offered disbelievingly.
While the elder of the sisters nodded her head, Missouri became more and more curious as well as flustered for not knowing what the hell they were talking about.
"How does this story go?" Nadia couldn't help but be alarmed at how their surrogate mother was on the verge of exploding with curiosity.
"Very long story, but I'll give ya the cliff notes version: Sam Colt made a special gun, year before the battle of the Alamo, a gun that could kill anything supernatural, he made it with 13 bullets. He used about half of the bullets before he died, the gun disappeared around the time of his death… that's the part of the story that almost every hunter knows, but it's not all…" Emily explained as simply as she could, then Nadia intervened.
"Before he died, Colt told his son, Caldwell Hart Colt, about the gun and how his family would forever be tied to it. He told him that only his descendents could make more bullets for the special six-shooter; ordinary bullets pretty much, but I don't know… there's something special about his descendents method of making bullets—or something like that, I always get mixed up at this part. Anyway, so, Caldwell had three sons, three heirs, and all hunters like us. Out of the three only one produced an heir and this pattern continued, all heirs died young and if they had more than one kid only one of them would produce the next Colt heir."
"Now, evil things would—because they're pretty stupid—go after anyone by the name of 'Colt' and kill them in hopes of ending the line. But Caldwell was smarter than that; after their birth, he legally changed his son's last names to 'Coltier'." Emily said pointedly, a smug look on her face as Nadia took over.
"Over time, the Coltier heirs were men, and their wives didn't know they were hunters or anything like that… until about, oh, 1977? When our parents met, mom was the first huntress to become involved with our family, gifted, like me." She stated proudly, "and out of all that, Emily and I are the first and only girls to come of the line; we'll be the first to actually aid the present owner of the gun, or possibly even wield it ourselves. No Coltier has seen the gun since Samuel's death in 1862." Both girls seemed quite satisfied with themselves for being able to recite the story; they knew their parents would be proud. But secretly, Emily smiled for a different reason.
"Who knows, we might actually have the chance to break the tradition in more ways that just helping supply bullets for the Colt."
"Well, Hell's bells! That's quite a story, I didn't know anything about this gun… but then again, I'm no huntress like the two of you. It all makes sense now… your last name, whenever you girls say it… it sounds as if you were always saying 'Colt heir'. Oh, good… dinner's ready." She spouted as she got up and hurried into the kitchen. The girls watched curiously as she left, they hadn't heard any indication that something was done cooking… then there was the beep.
Dinner was uncharacteristically quite, everyone was quietly lost in thought, reflecting over each of their deepest secrets. Afterwards, the girls retrieved their things from the Camaro and settled themselves in their old rooms; which, much to the girls shock, looked exactly the same as they had when they had last left. While, downstairs, Missouri drank her herbal tea and quietly read through parts of Jim's journal on the girls. Some entries made her smile in remembrance of happier times; others made her frown in concern and the rest made her want to cry and kick a puppy.
The old psychic was still up late that night when Nadia stumbled her way into the kitchen. She wasn't too tired, but she was hungry, and still needed to have that chat with Missouri. Stalling in the doorway to the kitchen, she knocked on the doorframe to make her presence known.
"Child, you don't have to knock; I sensed your presence when you snuck out of your room." She declared without looking up from the journal; Nadia bobbed her head for a moment before wandering over to the cupboard to acquire a cup, thankful that her mentor had a fresh pot of coffee going. "So tell me about these visions you've been having…"
"They're… I don't know; odd? Before we left Jefferson early this morning, I had a vision about sitting here with Emily when some young men came to the house. Friends of yours I think, and you said I was going to help one of the men work on his abilities and his control over them. But the vision hurt, and the dialogue was choppy… that hasn't happened since I started having the damn things." She recanted awkwardly, struggling to describe them appropriately.
"And the other… same thing… same message?" the stout woman finally looked up after Nadia settled down in a chair across the dining table from her; she focused her eyes on the cup, cradled in her hands. "Child, have some coffee with your cream and sugar! You haven't changed a bit!"
Nadia laughed distantly, remembering the images she saw on the road just hours before. "According to the other vision… I will, greatly… and not in a good way, nor in an evil way. But…I'll be different."
"You're scared of becoming what you foresaw." The girl nodded, staring off into nothing. "According to this journal… you've already begun this change that you fear. Initially it began when your parents died, but this change strengthened when you received your first vision. He wrote in here that you refused to talk about what you saw, that you would withdraw into the depths of your mind and shut everybody—including Emily—out; and became cold, sometimes unfeeling altogether."
Nadia thought back on her years and was startled to see that it was true, terror worked its way into her, and she stared at the older woman with fear lashing out from her dark eyes. "Does that mean I will become that… shell of a person? She was just so pitifully and depressingly empty and the man…" she continued, still afraid, but signs of a hopeful smile began to appear on her lips, "Oh, he loved her, and she tortured him with it… saying how they were both doomed because they were both a curse to anyone who might love them. But if he was right, and they were both cursed, that would negate it… wouldn't it?"
Missouri grabbed her hand as a gesture of comfort, smiling sadly; she let the girl retell the vision to her, knowing full well that she had been revisited by her very first vision. "Of course, baby."
"Then the way it ended was all wrong." She surmised.
"What happened… to this couple?" she felt the need to press the matter, Nadia had kept the information locked away in her head for far too long; sometimes secrets were best unkept.
"He died, causing her to go mad… convinced he had been wrong about their curses, she said she was alone in the world now; but she was kind of glad to be, she didn't want for there to be another child in the world to suffer the way she had… then… she killed herself." Returning her gaze to nothingness as she retrieved the information from her mind, when the description ended, her attention snapped back to the present, the here and now. "And then it was over. Emily said in the midst of it all I screamed something completely foreign to her."
"Hmm, I'll have to ask her about it in the morning." She said, getting up to make more tea for herself, but she stopped three steps from her seat, pivoting she snatched Nadia's mug to get her more coffee as well. The generous gesture didn't go unnoticed by the huntress, and she knew Missouri was well aware of her gratitude… she didn't need words. While Missouri bustled about fixing their drinks, Nadia found herself tracing the wood pattern of the table with her fingertips.
"What do you think it means?" she asked suddenly, shattering the soothing silence that had wrapped its lulling warmth around both women. Missouri paused from pouring the coffee, stiffening at the naked vulnerability in her voice; she could feel the young psychic's abilities reaching out and begging her to give the girl hope, comfort, to instill the idea of success in her heart.
"It means," she began while tip toeing back to the table, mugs in tow, "very soon, anywhere from… tomorrow to, I don't know… you are going to need to be as strong as you've ever been, and not just for you… not just for your sister… but for those who you stare possible death in the face for; for those who need your help. A lot is going to be asked of you in the near future, and you need to be ready to tackle any and all obstacles. Never give in, never give up."
For a few minutes Nadia sat and thought about Missouri's interpretation. Biting her lip, she finally began to believe it, "Yea… you're right, I mean, this war… its war, ha, we've been trained for it our entire lives… and here it is. If I were to let myself turn into that… woman I saw in the visions; I'd be forfeiting everything so many people died for. I'd be letting evil win… that can't happen. Thanks, Missouri… for everything."
She stood up, went over to the woman and hugged her. It irked the old psychic, the embrace, the thank you, it all seemed so final… and it annoyed her.
"Is that coffee I smell?" Emily said from the doorway, catching Nadia and Missouri off guard, they'd been so wrapped up in their discussion that they hadn't even noticed the girl come into the kitchen. "You're damn lucky you had that little recorder in your glove box, Dia. Otherwise there'd be no way of finding out what the hell you were screaming."
She held up the small device, pressed down on one of the buttons and came to life. Almost immediately they were assaulted by the sounds of Emily panicking, and Nadia's pained foreign screams and labored breathing. Nadia sat back down, mentally analyzing what she was hearing; when it was turned off her head shot up, determination in the huntresses chocolate orbs.
"Oh my god," she murmured, both psychic and sister turned their attention to her as she jumped from her seat. "I know that language… not fluently, but I know it… shit, I've got work to do!"
Missouri sat quietly, watching the girl rush around and begin to leave the room. Emily on the other hand, didn't like being left in the cold, not one bit; so she fought it.
"What is it, Nadia? What in the hell does it mean?" She demanded her voice forceful. "Damnit, talk to me!"
Her arm snapped out, grabbing her sisters, wrenching her around to stare her in the face. Nadia could see that in order to keep Emily from running back to her old life she'd need to be open, about everything; upfront at every moment. Yanking her arm from Emily's grasp, she huffed threateningly before giving any indication that she was about to give her an answer.
"Aztec… the language is Aztec." Her sister seemed befuddled by Nadia's words, so she elaborated. "I know… we're not Aztec, it's not in our blood. But who conquered the Aztec's? Spanish conquistadors… and as Missouri informed us earlier… we're Spanish. Which means that, yes, our family did have something to do with the Aztecs… I don't know how I know… but something tells me that they pre-programmed some kind of forewarning into our family; about this war that is now happening, they're trying to warn us." She fumed, and in giving the women looking at her one more exasperated glance, she ran up to her room, locked the door and started up her laptop.
Oooh, the plot thickens! Got questions?... I got answers, send'em to me as a review. More is revealed, more confusion will be dealt, and more interesting little facts will be presented in... the next chapter!