So, here's chapter two! Thank you to the people who gave me a favorite or a follow, and especially to those who reviewed!
I can't promise all my updates will be this fast, I just happened to have this one hand written already, it was a case of just typing it up, but hopefully I can keep on top of things! Also, I forgot to mention in chapter 1, that I am English! I have tried to use American terms and spellings, but a few English ones might slip through here and there...
Any way, enjoy!
Hope shifted from foot to foot, the cold from the pavement seeping through her socks. The left shoulder of both her over sized t-shirt and hoodie had slipped down on one side, exposing her pale skin to the cold February air, while her hands were completely engulfed by her sleeves. She was stood between Sam and Dean while John lent out the window of the impala. He pressed a wad of cash into Dean's hand and gave all three of them a stern look.
"Okay, I'm just going to do a quick check of the area, make sure I got all of those vamps cleaned up properly yesterday. I will be gone a couple of hours max and as soon as I get back we're outta here. It's 8 in the morning, how much trouble can you possibly get into? We need to find somewhere safe to drop Hope." He didn't miss the way Hope seemed to shrink in on herself slightly, or how Dean slung an arm casually around her shoulders and pulled her to his side.
"You might as well be useful while I'm gone, so I need to you to do a supply run. We're pretty low on just about everything, so buy salt, lots of it. Oh, and we can't send Hope out into the world looking like that. Use some of that money to get her kitted out. Be safe, look out for each other. Sammy, don't let Dean buy any more skin mags, his collection is getting out of hand." He grinned and started to drive off, before remembering something and reversing back.
"Oh, and if anyone asks why she isn't wearing shoes... improvise?"
The car sped away, kicking up a cloud of gutter dirt. Dean coughed and wafted a hand in front of his face.
"Thanks dad..." He muttered, shoving the wad of money into his jacket pocket.
"Right, let's get to work." He turned and stalked into the store, Sam and Hope following close behind him like ducklings.
Hesitantly, Hope ran her fingers through the soft white cotton of an embroidered summer dress and sighed. It was so pretty and girly... She looked down at the varying shades of beige she was currently drowning in and tightened her grip on the dress.
"That's pretty." She turned to see Sam standing behind her with his hands jammed into his pockets. He gave her a lopsided smile and came to stand beside her, looking up at the dress.
"Though not very practical... Plus, you know it's February, right? You'd freeze..." Hope looked away from him in embarrassment, letting go of the dress to shove her hands in her trouser pockets.
"I know... I just, don't remember the last time I got to wear a dress. We were always running, so dad didn't let me have pretty things."
She gave it one last look of longing and grabbed a pair of jeans instead. She threw them into the basket at her feet and added a practical plaid shirt, a plain long sleeve top to go underneath for warmth, some socks and underwear and a pair of little brown lace up boots. She was just about to reach for a jacket, when the musty old smell of Sam's hoodie wrapped around her made her change her mind. She looked nervously over at Sam who was flicking through a comic, bored. "Can I- Can I keep this? To remember you guys?" She asked shyly, wringing her hands inside the sleeves. Sam smiled and put the comic back on the shelf so that he could walk over and wrap his arms around her. Initially she panicked and flinched, trying to pull away, but Sam held tight until she settled into his grip, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Of course you can." He whispered, tilting his head back a little so he could reach to rest his chin on the top of her head. They were both small for their age, but the two years he had on her gave him a little extra height.
"I wish I could keep you... I always wanted a sister." Hope blinked furiously to hold back tears and nodded agreement. She wanted to tell him she'd always wanted a brother too, but to say it out loud would make it even harder when she didn't get what she wanted.
"Ew, get a room." Dean joked, appearing behind them pushing a shopping cart heaped with supplies, including four big bags of salt. Hope jumped away from Sam and scowled over at the older Winchester, stalking away.
"What?! I was kidding!" He called after her, heaving the cart into motion to try and keep her in sight. Sam grabbed the basket she'd left behind and rushed after Dean, a little unbalanced by it's weight.
"Hope! Don't run off!" Dean shouted, but as soon as he rounded the corner he spotted her big brown curls standing over by the checkouts her arms crossed in front of her in defiance.
"Why it's not like the checkout girl is going to eat me." She said sarcastically as Dean pulled the cart up next to her. He looked the young woman up and down and cocked his eyebrow."She might..." Hope frowned and tilted her head to the side in confusion, but Sam came to stand next to her and shook his head. Hope didn't take the hint and tugged at Dean's sleeve.
"Why would she eat me? She looks nice... and her name is Sandy, people called Sandy don't eat other people." She said loudly, making the girl in question look down at her and chuckle, her blonde ponytail bobbing sweetly.
"Because you're so cute, that's why!" She joked, starting to scan through the items Dean was unloading on to the counter. She lent over to heave one of the bags of salt towards her and did a double take when she noticed Hope's feet.
"Umm, sweetie, why aren't you wearing any shoes...?" She asked, suspicious. She looked at Dean disapprovingly and caught the eye of her manager. Dean hastily slung his arm around Hope's shoulder and pulled her close, smiling as charmingly as any fourteen year old boy could.
"Oh umm, our dad lost her suitcase. We're on holiday..." She raised one eyebrow at him.
"In Gorham...?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Oh, our dad travels for work, so he takes us with him sometimes, and her suitcase must have fallen out at a gas stop somewhere... You know how it is, Sandy." He grabbed the basket of clothes out of Sam's hands and placed it on the counter in front of her.
"That's why we came, to get her something other than hand-me-downs!" His laugh was nervous, but he seemed to exude a certain arrogant confidence. The manager appeared at the girl's elbow looking bored, but after a moment of careful consideration Sandy looked up at her manager and smiled.
"Sorry Janet, and Item wouldn't scan but I fixed it." She lied, picking up the pair of jeans and scanning them through.
All three of them gave an inward sigh of relief as the manager grumpily strolled off, glaring at them as if they were about to shoplift.
Once everything was packed back into the cart and Dean had handed over the money, getting a few coins back in return, he thrust the bag containing her new clothes and shoes into Hope's hands.
"Right, go get changed before someone calls child services..." Dean parked the cart up by a bench outside the customer toilets and sat down. Sam dropped down beside him with a huff, bored.
"How long until dad gets back? I'm bored..." He whined, scuffing his feet across the floor. Dean didn't bother replying, just cuffed him lightly round the back of the head and looked back at Hope.
"We'll be waiting here, but be quick, It's not safe to split up. "
Hope nodded and scampered away, clutching the bag to her chest. As fast as she could, Hope shut herself in a stall and swapped outfits, shoving Sam's old clothes into the bag and jamming her feet into the little boots. Nervously, she poked her head out of the stall door to check she was alone in the bathroom and ran over to the mirror. She gathered her thick curls at the back of her head and secured them there with an elastic, produced from the bottom of the bag. It wasn't very neat, but she'd never had a mum to teach her how to do the girly things, and her dad certainly hadn't either, so it would have to do. She retrieved Sam's hoodie from the top of the bag and slung it back around her shoulders, turning on her heel back out of the bathroom.
When she emerged Sam and Dean were having an argument about Batman. It was the first time she'd seen them act their age, it was nice.
"No, because the Joker would have set a trap for him. Batman is smart, he would know that. So why didn't he use that to his advantage and sneak up on the Joker and stab him?" Dean demanded, gesticulating wildly. With all the wisdom of his ten years, Sam shook his head.
"Because then he'd be dead Dean... and they wouldn't be able to use that villain any more..." Dean raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms sullenly.
"Well I would have stabbed him..." He muttered belligerently, making his little brother smile. Hope didn't really want to disturb their moment, guessing they must be rare, and quietly tucked her bag of clothes into the back of the shopping cart, strolling off to look around.
She was ambling aimlessly down the canned goods aisle when a manicured hand gripped her shoulder tight enough to make her yelp and spun her round. She stumbled and dropped heavily onto her behind, looking up at Sandy the checkout girl from earlier. There was something different about her though, something awful in the way she smiled down at her.
"And I thought this place was going to be boring, I complained when they told me to stick around here in this dreary little town." She bent down to grab one of Hope's ankles and pulled, making her slip off of her elbows and smack her head on the cold hard floor. She cried out and raised a hand to the back of her head, but the check out girl just laughed and looked down her nose at Hope, her pretty blue eyes flicking to black. Hope screamed and reached up to claw at the hand gripping her ankle but Sandy just gave her a shake, like a terrier with a rat. She inhaled deeply and groaned.
"Oh my, girly, you smell..." She inhaled again, her eyes fluttering as her head tipped back in pleasure.
"Heavenly..." She tightened her grip on Hope's ankle as she kicked and struggled, dragging her across the slippery floor of the deserted aisle.
"DEAN! SAM! HELP ME!" She screamed, trying again to loosen Sandy's grip on her leg, but the girl dug her perfectly manicured nails deep into Hope's tender skin, making her wail again.
"Oh boy! Am I going to enjoy tearing you apart princess." She laughed as Hope tried to turn in her grip onto her front, her fingers scrabbling hopelessly along the shiny floor for grip.
"Please! Let me go!" She begged, still struggling. A couple of people had gathered at the end of the aisle but nobody moved to help. She was looking up at them imploringly when Dean came hurtling around the corner, reaching into his coat pocket.
"Dean!" Hope screamed, relieved. Dean drew close and produced a silver hip flask with a crucifix on it, grabbing Sandy by her hair and dumping it's contents on her face. She screamed and let go of Hope, who instantly shot up and held her fists in front of her, shaking.
Dean was impressed but grabbed her hand and ran, dragging her behind him.
"Lovely sentiment but she would destroy you..." He told her, gripping her hand tighter and pulling her up as she stumbled, but continued to run. There was a look of determination on her face as they threw themselves out of the shop's doors and into the parking lot, where John was helping Sam load the supplies into the trunk of the car. John saw them running and shoved Sam behind him, fishing his knife out of his coat pocket as the checkout girl burst screaming out of the doors behind them.
"Dad! Demon!" Dean shouted, running past him to thrust Hope into Sam's arms and grab a book out of the trunk. He opened it to a well thumbed page and ran over to his dad who had her pinned on the floor.
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adjuramus te ... cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eisque æternæ perditionìs venenum propinare... Vade, satana, inventor et magister omnis fallaciæ, hostis humanæ salutis-"
He started reading but in between screams, the demon laughed and looked up at him.
"Don't bother, I was leaving anyway." She said coolly and threw back her head, screaming as a cloud of black smoke burst out of her mouth and up into the sky. John rushed to get off of the girl before she woke and helped her to sit up.
"Are you okay miss?" He asked,brushing the gravel off of her uniform.
"You slipped and hit your head on the floor, you were out cold!" He lied, letting her put her weight on him to stand up, confused. She put her hand to her head and frowned.
"But I- I remember... Oh no! Your poor daughter! I didn't know what I was doing! Is she okay?!" She started to hyperventilate, panicking. John helped her over to the bench outside the shop and shook his head, pointing at the little mop of curls peering nervously round the trunk of the impala.
"You really must have hit your head, she's fine. Nothing happened, you were just helping the kids bring out the shopping and you tripped. Perhaps I should call you an ambulance..." The girl shook her head slowly, dazed.
"No... No thank you, I'm fine, I think... I should get back to work... Thank you." John nodded and stood up.
"Well, if you're sure. Take care miss." As he was walking away she looked down in confusion at the blood under nails from Hope's leg.
"Quick. Get in the car." He murmured to Hope and the boys, slamming the trunk shut on his was round to the drivers side. Dean bustled Sam and Hope into the back seat as fast as he could without looking suspicious and joined his dad in the front, barely getting the door closed before the sped away. He turned in his seat to check on the kids behind him and frowned.
"Hope? You okay?" He asked sternly. There were unshed tears in her ears and she clutched the back of her head with one hand. He glanced down at her ankle and saw a spot of blood on her jeans. She nodded silently, her lip wobbling slightly, but she clamped her teeth into it, refusing to cry.
"You hit you head?" He asked. She nodded again.
"Okay, is it bleeding? Do you feel nauseous or sleepy?"
"I'm fine Dean!" She replied, frustrated. She didn't want sympathy, she'd had worse on the run with her dad. Dean faced forward in surrender, putting his feet up on the dash and immediately getting them slapped down by his dad.
"Woah, I was just checking your not concussed..."
Hope felt a little hand on hers and looked over at Sam, who was holding out a tube of antiseptic cream and a box of band aids.
"I'm really fine-"
"You don't want to get blood on your new clothes, we just got you looking respectable." He smiled kindly at her and signalled for her to put her foot in his lap. Grudgingly, she obeyed, turning herself so her back was to the window. With gentle, practised hands he rolled up her pants leg and uncapped the antiseptic. It wasn't much of a wound, just four little crescent shaped gouges around her ankle, but the girl's nails had been long, so the cuts were deep. Hope flinched only slightly as he rubbed the cream in, clenching her fists inside the sleeves of her hoodie. Band aids applied, Sam pulled the leg of her pants back down and patted her shin.
"There, all done." He said as she lifted her leg off of him, but stayed twisted towards him slightly.
"You're really good at that..." She said quietly, watching him pack the first aid kit away again and tuck it back under Dean's chair. Sam chuckled and pulled one leg under him so he could sit looking at her.
"Yeah, you have to, the life we lead."
A silence fell over the car for a while, before john's hands tightened on the steering wheel, the leather creaking quietly.
"What the hell happened back there?" He demanded, the cool calm of his voice making Hope retreat into her corner.
"I'm sorry Sir, it was my-" She started, but Dean spoke over her.
"It must have been the salt. Sorry dad, she must have seen how much salt we were buying and guessed we were hunters. She jumped us as Hope came out of the bathroom." He lied. He caught her eyes in the rear view mirror and this time she took the hint and nodded agreement. She was so embarrassed she'd wandered off... Plus, the demon had said it was her smell that attracted her, that she smelt... heavenly. Without realising it, her hand had twined together with Sam's, squeezing it for comfort. He returned the gesture, continuing to look out of the window.
John smacked his hand on the steering wheel and swore loudly, making all of them flinch. He glanced at her in the mirror, his eyes hard.
"Well we can't drop you in the next town over any more, not if demon's have your scent. We need to get some distance down, so I'm afraid you'll have to stay with us a for a little longer I'm afraid." She nodded, terrified, earning her a gruff sigh in response.
"I'm not gonna bite, Kid. Calm down."
"Yes sir." She replied quietly, and he once again glanced at her in the mirror.
"And that's another thing, Hope. To save on confusion and make it less likely someone will think our situation is suspicious, while you're with us you're going to have to call me dad. I'm sorry, I know it's not ideal but it won't be for long." He kept his eyes on the road, missing Hope's nod and she blushed and looked out of the window, embarrassed.
Thanks again for reading! Tell me what you think :)