Thanks to those who've been reading, reviewing, etc! I really appreciate feedback on my stories. It makes me write faster, too. I'm planning for this to be a decently long series, with me updating at least once a week. We'll see! Anyway, enjoy! And let me know what you think.
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Sam and Dean grudgingly agree to my demands, doubting I'll be able to make replicate bullets that actually work.
I'm starting to doubt myself, actually.
"Go ahead, then." Dean says cockily with a smirk on his face.
"Shut up."
I close my eyes and think. Hard. I hear someone clear their throat and I automatically lose concentration. I open my eyes again and glare at Dean before refocusing. The first step would be the herbs. Angelica, to start. I think of the plant, with small white flowers extending from its green sprout. I call on the Earth element, concentrating for several minutes before I'm able to make the plant appear in full form, inside my closed palm. I exhale slowly and open my eyes. Dean and Sam are now sitting, staring up at me, bored expressions on their faces.
Next I concentrate on betony, with its strong herbal scent. The remembrance of its smell, sometimes used in tea, makes it appear easier, sprigs of it sitting next to the angelica. Lastly, peony. Such a common flower, I'm able to remember its color, size, scent and smell vividly, and within seconds I have the three main ingredients.
Now comes the hard part. Silver, being of the earth and mined within caves, is an easy enough Earth element to reproduce. But for this, we need pure silver. Enough to be wrapped up into a neat, bullet-like shape. It doesn't have a completely unique quality about it, so I simply picture the color and hardness. It takes me close to ten minutes to make a slab of it show up. I'm so exhausted by this point, I'm not sure if I can continue.
I sit down on the bed and ask for something to eat.
Sam looks worried, instantly standing up to find a chip bag and hand it over. Not the most nutritious meal, but it'll certainly get some of my energy back up. I scarf some down and take a sip of Dean's beer, sitting on the table nearest to me.
"Help yourself." Dean says sarcastically.
Ignoring him, Sam asks "You couldn't do it?"
"I didn't say that. Be quiet." I tell them yet again, shutting my eyes again after replenishing my strength.
I place the herbs into the center of the silver, and concentrate all of my energy into that single palm. I feel parts of my body draining, and I center almost every ounce of my essence into this one task. In my extreme Zen-like trance, I suddenly release the energy, tightening the silver around the herbs in an extremely powerful blast of energy, working to bind everything together.
I open my eyes and see everything dimming out of my vision. I look up at Sam and Dean before passing out.
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When I wake up, it's darker, and I'm lying in a bed, wrapped in a thick comforter. I bolt up, eyes adjusting to the sight of Dean watching TV.
Dean quickly grabs for the remote, but not before I catch what he's watching.
"Oh, gross." I pull the blanket over my head and grunt in disgust.
Dean starts chuckling, and I hear the front door open.
"Sammy!" Dean shouts in a brotherly voice.
I look up to see Sam and an older guy walking into the Inn. The guy has grayish hair and a worn face, but looks just as friendly as Sam.
"Hey. Glad to see you're up." Sam replies with a crooked smile. "Jade, this is our friend Bobby. He's a hunter, too."
"Hi." I say with a wave of my hand. I go to stand up, but realize it's not such a good idea. My body is extremely weak, even though I feel like I've been sleeping for days.
"Woah," Sam says, reaching across the space between us and gently pushing me back to the bed. "You should lie back down. That bullet attempt took a lot out of you."
Sam hands a bag to me, and I weakly grab it, noticing the golden M arch before digging straight in. After my meal, during which we all sat in awkward silence and ate, I feel rejuvenated. I'm sure Coke is the main culprit – it always replenishes my energy.
"So." I say.
"So." Sam copies. He points his hand to the older guy. "I was telling Bobby what you've been doing, and he seems to think—"
"What I think", Bobby says, "is that you're not like Sam. In any way." He starts to stand up, reaching into a mini-fridge that has magically been restocked.
I give him a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"I'm talking about your powers. See, Sam's a human." He pops the cap off of his drink and takes a chug.
"What, and I'm not?" I snort. "No offense, but I think I know a little more about my humane state than you. I would have noticed if I'd suddenly sprouted horns or grown hooves." I smirk at the image.
"Look." Bobby says, throwing a book at me. It's significantly dog-eared about halfway through, and I open it up to the creased page. At the top, in fancy calligraphy is the word "Elementals." I scrunch my eyebrows and begin to read.
Elementals have been in lore since the beginning days of Earth. They control the four main elements -Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water - through the channeling of energy from living entities, including their own humanlike bodies. It is said that there will remain one immortal Elemental for each separate element, totaling four in entirety. They look over the Earth and its living creatures until the beginning of darkness.
I look up from the book to stare into Dean, Sam's, and Bobby's faces. I shake my head. "This doesn't make sense. I control all of the elements."
"Keep reading," Bobby says in a rough voice.
Seers have long said that a day will come, when the Earth has become too damaged with destruction and evil, that the four Elementals will unknowingly transfer all of their energy into one being. This supremely powerful being, from birth, will slowly gain power and be able to control each element in succession.
I gasp aloud before continuing.
It is said that Dark entities will try to harness this Elemental's power, in hopes of bringing the Earth into darkness. This Supreme Elemental will have the power to choose the fate of the Earth – ridding it of all evil, or turning it into a land of chaos.
I stop reading and look at the many illustrations, depicting each element. The one capturing my entire attention depicts a girl being pulled on each arm – the left is being yanked by an ugly being of darkness, while the other is being pulled by a shining angel.
"Wow." I blurt out. I slip the book closed and push it away from me.
"That's what I said." Dean smirks. "But honestly, I think—"
"It's a load of shit." I finish, aloud. "Sam has powers, too. What makes him any different than me? Besides, you know, reproductive organs?" I joke. I mean, seriously? Decide the fate of the world? This is comic book trash.
Dean, Sam, and Bobby look at each other vigilantly. It's clear they've been discussing this a lot while I've been sleeping.
"We have a theory on that." Sam says. He and Bobby exchange another distasteful look.
Dean looks completely disbelieving, rolling his eyes in extreme exaggeration. "These knuckleheads," he begins, jerking his head in Sam and Bobby's direction, "seem to think you're special enough to warrant cavalry."
I look over at them, seeing Sam give Dean yet another glare. He turns back to me with a sympathetic gaze. "We think this demon, who's going after people with abilities? We think he might be trying to turn them into demons. Maybe making some kind of deal with them."
"What for?" I ask cautiously.
"You." Dean says with a smile. "See, these guys think Yellow-Eyes is building some kind of superhero army, blahblahblah." He waves the words away with his hand and props his feet up on my bed.
Bobby picks up the book again, showing me the same picture I'd been looking at earlier – the girl being pulled by both a demon and an angel. "It's what makes the most sense." Bobby starts. "We think he's trying to either turn you or kill you."
I glance at Bobby, with a look of determination on his face, then to Sammy, with one of worry. And finally, to Dean – his face is completely void of emotion.
If all of this is true, my future's not looking so bright. And neither is anyone else's.
"So what are we going to do?"
I get blank stares in response. Obviously, they haven't gotten this far. After a couple of minutes, Dean's the first to speak up.
"Well, Bobby here found a case one town over. Willow Square." Dean says, starting to pack up some of his weapons. "I say we take a look."
"But, Dean—" Sam starts.
"Look." Dean interrupts, "We don't know what's going on with Yellow-Eyes. We're pretty much at the same point as before the girl showed up." He looks over at me before continuing. "All we can do is what we've been doing. If something demonic pops up, we'll try and get more information. Alright?"
Sam gives a resigned sigh, settling for the only available option.
I smile, willing to put all of this Elemental/demonic stuff behind me for a while. "Oh." I say, not forgetting our previous deal with the Colt, "Guess you'll have to get me one of my own salt-rock guns."
"What are you talking about?" Dean questions.
"I'm going on this case with you." I say, picking up the new bullet, still enclosed in my palm.
