I love lying in bed in the morning. When everything is quiet, no birds chirping, no people talking, just calm silence that relaxes me to my bones. Of course almost every time I stay at Blake's house though he manages to set off a minefield when he wakes up. Hitting his foot on his nightstand, running into the bathroom door, almost tripping because the bathroom light blinds him so much he can't see. It's always the same, and within seconds, my peaceful morning is gone.
"You know, for a hunter you're not very graceful." I laughed once Blake crawled back into bed.
"Yeah and for a girl you aren't very sympathetic." He mumbled, still half asleep. I couldn't help but smile watching as he got comfortable. His dirty blonde hair was sticking up in every direction; looking like he had been electrocuted. He opened one of his eyes and raised his eyebrow at me, "Why are you staring at me? It's rude you know."
"Do you have to complain about everything?" I asked with a giggle.
"It's written in my DNA." He said, closing his eye once more. I bent down and placed a kiss on head before letting out a little yawn and getting up. It was already 7 in the morning and I knew my dad would be expecting me home soon, especially since he thought I was at the neighbor's house.
After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, I walked out to the kitchen to find Blake making omelets and toast. After he got coffee in him, he was like a completely different person. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, looking over his shoulder at the delicious food.
"Now that you're actually awake, good morning." I said with a smile.
He bent down and gave me a quick kiss, a smile forming on his face, "morning."
I took a seat at his dining table and started to pull my shoes on, lacing them up as fast as I could. Just as I finished my second shoe, Blake laid a plate of food in front me with a disapproving look on his face. "Putting shoes on for breakfast?" He asked accusingly.
"Yeah, I have to get going. My dad thinks I'm at Bethany's house." I said, standing up.
"But I just cooked breakfast."
"And I'm sure it's delicious, but you'll have to save it for me okay?" I said, kissing his cheek and walking around him to the table in my living room, collecting my keys.
"Save it for you when? You barely come over anymore"
"Well you know how my dad can be. If he starts to suspect I'm staying over here, I think we both know that won't end well. Plus Dean is back now, and that whole angel thing I told you about. There is just a lot going on." I said, walking back over to him wrapping my arms around his waist. I could tell by his expression my kissing up wasn't helping my case.
"How about you come over for dinner tonight. I'll have it ready at 6 okay." I said, after pulling away from a kiss. I grabbed one of the pieces of toast off the plate behind him and took a bite, smiling at him. "Yummy, yummy. I'll call you later." I said again as I made my way out the door.
I ran as fast as could down the stairs out of his apartment, but it seemed my feet couldn't move fast enough. Relieved when I finally reached my car, I didn't waste any time flooring it out of his apartment complex and speeding down the highway. It wouldn't be so bad if Blake only lived closer, but he was a good 30 minutes away without traffic. Halfway home dad called like I expected he would, wondering where I was. Luckily, he bought the whole 'I just woke' fiasco and it bought me some time.
When I pulled up to the house, it was quiet, a lot more quiet than I would have expected. I opened the front door slowly, and there wasn't a sound in the house. I was about to call out for dad when I noticed the iron poker sitting on the floor, and started to feel my stomach churn. I picked it up and held it tight, ready to fight off whatever may have found its way into my house.
I walked slowly, looking around the living room but there was no sign of anyone. As I started up the stairs I heard a loud crash and immediately picked up my pace, running up the stairs as fast as my feet could move. As I ran down the hallway I found a woman no taller than me, standing over Dean who was flat on his back. She turned to look at me, her short blonde hair and clothes were covered in dirt, as if she had just crawled from a grave. I didn't hesitate to swing the iron poker directly at her head, and instantly she disappeared. So that meant ghosts were in the house. Awesome.
"Jenna? Holy shit." Dean said as he took my hand to get up.
"What the hell is going on? Where is dad?"
"I don't know. Me and Sam just got here. We split up to look for him and that bitch showed up." He replied.
"Did you know her?"
"Of course he knows me, he killed me." I heard a female voice say from behind me. I didn't even bother to look behind me before I swung the poker around as I turned, only once I looked around there was no one in sight. "You're gonna need to do better than that sweetheart." I heard the voice say before she was behind Dean and slamming him into a wall.
I gripped the poker tight as she turned her attention to me, her eyes dead. In a flash, she was in front of me, throwing me into the opposite wall. I had dealt with ghost before, but never this strong. She started to walk down the hallway to where I landed but before she got far a shot rang through the house and the light that hung in the hallway fell down on her head, causing her to disappear.
"Iron." I heard Dean say as he got himself up. "Come on, she'll be back any second."
I grabbed his hand to get up, and picked up the poker as we made our way down stairs. As we hit the living room, Sam and dad were just running in from the back, looking just as shook up as we were.
"Bobby, Sam, thank god. You two alright?" Dean asked, crossing the room in a few strides.
"Yeah yeah, we're good." Dad said before turning his attention to me, "Where the hell have you been?"
"I said I woke up late." I said giving him a shrug. If looks could kill, I would have been dead 30 times over from the state he was giving me.
Sam and Dean headed over to the desk and dad gave me that 'we will talk about it later look' as we followed behind them. We crowded around the desk and everyone started talking about all the ghosts that had shown up today. Two twin girls dad didn't manage to save on a hunt too many years ago, two men Sam and Dean had gotten killed, and that woman that Dean and I fought off up stairs who apparently used to be possessed by a demon.
"But it's not like you murdered them so what's up their ass?" I asked looking over at Dean.
"It doesn't make sense. I did see something on Meg, though. A tattoo, it looked pretty weird. I don't remember her having one before." Dean said looking over to Sam.
Sam looked like just had an epiphany as he grabbed a pen and paper of the desk and began sketching like a madman. He held it up to Dean and he gave him a small nod, indicating it was the same tattoo. It almost looked like some weird compass.
"So they all have it. What could that mean?" Dean asked looking down at the horrible sketch Sam drew.
"That's a great question but how about we figure it out somewhere safer." Dad said picking up some books from behind his desk.
Dean looked at him funny, but I couldn't help but have a little smile knowing exactly what dad was talking about. He got bored one week while Dean was gone and dead, and Sam was off on his self-loathing trail, so dad decided to start a little project.
I followed dad down stairs to the basement, rounding the wall and walking up a big iron door. I turned around and watched as Sam and Dean gawked walking into the panic room dad had built. I couldn't blame them, when I first saw it I gawked too. A completely solid iron room, coated in salt, complete with a desk, a bed and anything anyone might need to hide out for a while.
"Bobby. This is awesome." Dean smiled, looking around. Dad couldn't help but smile as well as he closed the door locking us in.
"Yeah only sucky thing is it blocks out the wifi." I said taking a seat on the bed.
"You don't need that damn thing anyway." Dad said taking a seat at the desk and pulling over the books, he brought down.
"Then how would I research anything? Or watch YouTube."
"Books. That Internet ain't got a lick of what books got." Dad said, picking a book up and tossing it at me, "Since you love researching so much get to it."
I gave him a look and opened the book as Sam took a seat next to me, giving me a little smile. Dad threw a book at him too and we both let out a sigh as we cracked them open, looking for whatever that symbol could have been. We searched for hours; coming up empty handed in almost every book we pulled out. I was starting to die of boredom sitting in the small room. Dean had passed out in his chair 30 minutes ago and I was all but asleep, resting my head on Sam's lap as I read, while he was passed out, head against the wall.
Dad was the only one still reading without so much as a break. I never understood how he could do it, after so much of reading about how some creature came to be, it got really boring. I loved reading, but the literature I enjoyed was more along the romance and adventure side of things. Not so much history.
I just started to drift off to sleep when the sudden voice of my father shouting scared all of us half to death. Sam jumped when he heard dad's voice, accidentally kneeing me in the back of my head. "Shit Sam, why are your knees made out of titanium?" I asked sitting up, rubbing the bump that I was sure would form on my head.
"Sorry." He shrugged, giving me the puppy dog eyes he is so good at.
"You girls done whining? I think I found our mystery tattoo." Dad said looking over at us. We all got up and crowded around dad, looking over his shoulder at the book.
"Mark of the witnesses. What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked.
"Means they witnessed the supernatural. None of em' died from natural causes, but they didn't just wake up one day and decide to get revenge. Someone rose them." Dad answered as he read from the book more.
What was going on lately? First, some angel brings Dean out of hell, and then hunters across the world start to go missing, and now rapid ghosts attacking people. There was no way it was all random. "Do you think these ghosts have anything to do with what happen to Olivia or the other hunters?" I asked.
"Most likely. These ghosts rise all over the world and start trying to take out the ones they blame their death on." Dad said, turning his attention on the book. "There is a spell in here to put them at rest again. I think we got everything here at the house."
"Good lets put these bitches to rest." Dean replied.
"Only problem is we gotta do it over an open fire. Only open fire we got is-"
"The living room." Sam and Dean said almost in unison. Dad nodded and closed the book, getting up. He pulled out three shotguns from under the desk and handed one to each of us.
"Keep me covered, and try not to run out of bullets until I'm done." Dad said firmly. He gave me a look that told me he didn't like me getting into all of this but he didn't have much of a choice. I welcomed the challenge, maybe I could finally prove that he can't keep me from being a hunter for whatever stupid reason he has, I could prove I could handle it.
After we got everything in order, Dean led the way out of the panic room followed by Dad and I, with Sam at the rear. We didn't have to get far to see our first ghost; he was a chubby man, dark curly hair, and a bullet hole resting perfectly between his eyes.
Dean didn't wait to hear him talk before he filled him with salt and yelled at us all to keep moving. We made our way up the stairs and to the living room, shooting any ghost we saw, no questions. Dad started to set up at the desk as Dean started the fire and I made a ring of salt.
After we got that dad commanded Sam to run upstairs and get him a box from the linen closet while I ran to the kitchen and got all the herbs he needed. When I turned around the doors to the kitchen randomly slammed shut. "Dad, Dean!" I screamed as I ran to the door.
"We're okay Jen." I heard Dean shout through the door, and I let out a small sigh of relief. I turned and bolted through the other door to the hallway, and back to the living room. I set all the ingredients on front of dad as Dean shot two little girls that showed up. Sam came running back into the living room carrying a big red box and setting it on the desk.
Dad started mixing the ingredients and reciting the spell as Sam, Dean and I fired away into the ghosts. It seemed like a never-ending cycle, until they got smart. Without warning the window shattered, sending glass raining all through the room. The wind started to blow through the room, sending the salt ring away.
We all shot off round after round into the ghosts, trying our best to stay reloaded, but once we ran out of ammo, we didn't do too well at offence. The girl I had fought off before grabbed both Dean and I, throwing us back against the wall. Sam grabbed one of the fireplace pokers and swung, sending her away. Until another guy showed up, only to pin Sam against the wall. I grabbed the poker he drooped and swung it at his head. Sam gave me a thankful nod as he caught breath.
I looked over at dad and he was almost done, thankfully, but not in time for Sam and I to get thrown around the room. I hit my head on the desk as I fell to the floor, feeling blood running down the side of my face. I looked over at Dean who had some how managed to stay on his feet the whole time. Just as two little girls appeared in front of me, Dad finished the spell and threw the ingredients in the fire, sending all the ghosts up in flames.
I closed my eyes and rested my head back against the wall, relieved that this was finally over, until I heard the sound of footsteps. My eyes flung open and Sam and Dean both took out their real guns and pointed at the kitchen door waiting for whatever was coming next. Dad helped me to my feet as a man walked around the corner into view.
I felt my heart skip as beat as I noticed it was Blake, dressed up all nice, hair done and hands raised to the two guns pointing at him. "I guess we aren't doing dinner anymore, are we?" He asked. Dinner. I completely forgot I even told him to come over. Sam and Dean lowered their guns and shook their heads, looking over at me. I didn't even have to look over at my dad to know he was fuming.
"Well, this is awkward." I laughed, avoiding all their stares. "Uh, we will just be right back." I said walking slowly over the glass and past Sam and Dean. I grabbed Blake's arm and yanked him outside stopping at his car, just far enough from the house to where no one could hear us from the door.
"What the hell Jen. You could have called, and what happened in there? And your face." He said, trailing off at the end. He went in his car and grabbed out a water bottle while I quickly took out my phone. He came back with a wet rag and started to wipe the blood and dirt from my face, asking me a million questions that I wasn't listening to.
Finally, he got sick of me ignoring him and grabbed my chin, forcing him to look up at him. "What happened?" He asked. I could tell by his voice he was a bit irritated but he was doing a good job a suppressing it.
"More like what's happening." I mumbled. He gave me a puzzled look and I let out a sigh continuing.
"Remember how I told you about hunters dying, across the world. Well today, we figured out what it was. Rising of the witnesses or something like that. I just googled it, and you won't believe what it's part of."
I held my phone up for him to look and slowly as he read the screen, I could see his face change ever so slightly. "The Apocalypse?"
"This all can't be a coincidence. An angel saving Dean, the hunters dying, the ghosts today and-"
"Hey, hey, okay. Just calm down for a minute," He said grabbing my face, a smile coming across his. "I think for right now we should go back inside, take a look at this gash on your head, and maybe see if I can possibly make your family hate me anymore than they already do." He said.
"I don't think that's possible. I am pretty sure my dad has already thought of 100 different places to hide your body."
"I don't doubt that," he laughed. I grabbed his hand and gave him a smile before leading the way back into the house.
It had been almost a month since Sam and Dean took off. They called every few days to check in, say hi, and tell us about the crazy things that had been going on in their life. The night after the witnesses rose, Cas visited Dean to confirm what we already thought, the apocalypse was upon us. He told Dean some 66 seals had to be broken and then Lucifer would walk the earth, as if life wasn't complicated enough. Although cas said he was doing everything in his angel power to keep them sealed.
I tried to talk to dad about it as much as possible, always working hunting into the conversation somehow. Of course, if 18 years of begging and persuading couldn't get him to budge, why would the apocalypse? I had hoped fighting off the witnesses would have helped my case but naturally, the first ghosts I get to hunt with him have to have super strength. I always wondered what would happen if I just told him every time I go over a "friends" house, I was usually out hunting with Blake. I never liked to think of it long though because I know it would end with someone dying.
"Morning dad" I mumbled, dragging my feet across the floor as I walked to the kitchen to get a drink.
"What the hell happened in here? A tornado?" He asked. I walked back into the living room and looked around, I hadn't realized I made such a mess.
"There was a cops marathon on last night" I shrugged, taking a sip of my coffee.
"And you needed two things of popcorn and half the ice cream?"
"I got hungry."
Dad gave me a disapproving look, "well clean this up," he said, walking past me to the kitchen and grabbing his keys. I turned around and followed him, confused why he was actually dressed before 7 a.m.
"Where you going"
"Sam called, something is wrong with Dean, I'm just gonna go help out and I'll be back in a day or two"
"Well wait, I can come and help," I suggested, following my dad out the back door. His look told me that was never going to happen but it didn't hurt to try. He pulled me into a hug and planted a kiss on my head before saying his goodbyes and driving off. One day. Those words kept ringing through my head. One day he would let me be a hunter, and that day couldn't come soon enough.
After cleaning up the mess I had left in the living room, I sat down on the couch clicking away on my laptop. I had 48 hours in which I had to keep myself busy, and sadly I wasn't very good at it. Everything seemed boring to me. No good shows on TV, no new videos to watch, Blake was busy, the list of things that there weren't to do was only growing, until an ad flashed across my computer screen.
"Ms. Duncan's museum of historical artifacts" the title read, with a creepy young lady smiling next it. However, what really caught my attention was what the lady was holding. A book whose title read clear as day, "Armageddon". I did research, hours of research, scouring the internet for anything on the book. There were millions of books out there with the title Armageddon, but not one looked like the antique leather one in the ad.
Another hour went by of me trying to find the book somewhere else online before I finally decided it was time to just go check the book out in person. I wrote down the address, changed into some real clothes, and headed out for the museum.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I pulled up, but the museum being in an old white wooden house wouldn't have been on the list. For a Saturday, the place was completely deserted; I almost wondered if they were open. As I pulled open the front door, the sound of a bell rang through the air, but the noise died quickly leaving me in the quiet room.
For a museum, they didn't clean much around the place. The couch that sat against the window was old and torn, the blue color almost faded to grey. The pictures that hung on the wall were old, probably centuries old by the looks of them, but they didn't seem very well taken care of. I walked up to the front desk and looked around but no one was in sight. Judging from the stale silence I would have thought no one was even here.
"Hello, welcome to Ms. Duncan's museum. How can I help you today?" A lady asked, emerging from a curtain behind the desk.
"I uh... I'm with the Argus Leader, I was just hoping to take a look around for new article I'm writing."
The lady squinted her eyes, still holding the smile she had since she came out from the curtain. "Sure, we always welcome PR, I'll just need to see your badge."
"My badge? You realize it's a newspaper, not the police, right?" I replied, but she only continued to stare, "The newspaper only has badges on TV, sorry to burst your little bubble."
"Well if you don't have any identification then you will need to pay the fifty-five dollars to visit."
I almost didn't believe her at first, fifty-five dollars for a rinky dink museum like this wasn't worth it, but I had to see that book. Sure it could be just a stupid book, but then again, it might not be. I took out my wallet and gave the lady her money, hoping to just see the book and get out.
I followed the lady around the counter and through the curtain, walking down a short hallway that opened up to a very large room. I had to do a double take when I first stepped in, the house didn't seem this large on the outside. I walked around looking at all the things scattered on podiums. Old scriptures, old paintings, even some weapons that looked centuries, and centuries old.
I could have gotten lost staring at all these things, but I had to remind myself what I was here for. I looked around until I laid my eyes on the book, sitting the far corner on it's own podium. I walked over and gaped at it, the leather binding was so old and faded it seemed like it would fall apart. I looked behind me to check if I was alone and once I noticed I was, I didn't hesitate to open the book right up.
Pulling out my phone, I took as many pictures of the pages as I could, trying to work fast without tearing one, but I stopped when something caught my eye. A name, Castiel. "Excuse me, you are not allowed to touch the artifacts," the lady yelled, closing the book in my face.
"I'm sorry, I was just-"
"I don't care what you were doing. I would like you to leave now... reporter."
"But-"
"Now." She cut me off, the smile she had when I first arrived completely gone. I let out a sigh and walked back to my car, slamming the door once I got behind the wheel. Whatever that book is, its the real deal, and we needed it. I contemplated a million ways to get back into the house and grab that book, but the only one I thought I could remotely get away with was breaking in after they closed. So that's what I did.
I sat in my car for three hours waiting for the lady to leave, bored out of my mind the entire time. I played on my phone and listened to music, but every time I checked the clock it seemed to only have moved a minute. When six o'clock finally rolled around, I watched as the cranky old lady locked up the house, got in her car and drove off. I knew what I was about to do was stupid, but not having that book would be even stupider.
I waited another hour before getting out of my car, giving time in case the lady decided to come back. I walked around the side of the dirty house, pushing my way past tall grass until I found myself around back where the room was. I wiggled my fingers underneath one of the windows and surprisingly it was open, so much for security. I pushed all the way open and climbed in, dropping down in the room with all the artifacts. I walked over to where the book sat and I couldn't help but imagine I was in one of those heist movies where the badass chick breaks into a place, and walks away with millions of dollars in diamonds or cash. Of course, all I would be walking away with would be a book, but it was practically a million dollars to me.
Just as I picked up the book I heard a noise from the hall behind me, and I ducked down behind the podium in time to avoid two people that had walked into the room. A light scoured the room, and I only prayed not to be noticed. "This room is clear, let's move upstairs." I heard one of the men say. Cops, just what I needed. I looked down at the book in my hands, letting out a sigh before setting it back up on the podium. I would have to come back for it.
When I heard the footsteps disappear completely, I made my way back over to the window and heaved myself out. Before I could get up, I noticed a pair of feet standing in front of me. "Going somewhere Jenna?" A very familiar voice asked. I looked up and saw our local sheriff, Jody Mills, standing above me.
"I uh, I can explain all of this." I said quickly, getting to my feet.
"I'm sure you can. Should've guessed it was either you or Bobby. What is it with you two."
"We're just crazy" I laughed awkwardly, "you know us Singer's. Well uh, it was great seeing you sheriff, say hi to Owen for me." I smiled, turning to walk away quickly. Before I could get far she grabbed my arm, spinning me back around.
"Jenna, I don't want to have to arrest you but you can't go breaking into houses. You're 18, you should be worrying about colleges and boys, not setting off alarm systems."
"Well lucky for me I already got a boyfriend and I don't want to go to college, so," I shrugged, "and besides the window was open, I was just to teach this lovely business owner that they are an idiot." I shrugged.
"Jenna," she sighed staring at me. "Come on, let's you get down to the police station. I don't think I need to handcuff you for that do I."
"No ma'am," I replied, letting out a sigh. She followed behind me as we walked to her police cruiser, opening the door for me so I could get behind back. When we got to the police station, Sheriff handed me off the her second in charge, Greg, who hated me with a passion. I always tried to be nice to him but it never worked, I guess after arresting me 20 times he was sick of it.
After he put everything in the computer and took my fingerprints and pictures, he led me down to where they kept the jail cells. He opened one up for me and I froze behind him. I hated these cells. Greg got impatient and placed his hand on my back pushing me into the cell, and locking it. "Wait, why can't I just go home, this was only a misdemeanor."
"Well Bobby hasn't picked up the phone so we are sending someone over to the house, and once he comes and checks you out, you're free until your hearing."
"My hearing? And my dad is out of town. I don't know when he will be back."
"That sucks for you then doesn't it." He said, a hint of content in his voice.
"Wow Greg, I thought we were becoming friends." I said. He gave me an annoyed look before turning his back to me and walking down the hallway. "Hey wait, seriously, I need to get out of here, don't I get a phone call?" I yelled after him. He stopped and turned back around to look at me, letting out a sigh as he walked back.
He pulled out his phone and handed it to me through the bars, and I didn't hesitate to start dialing. "Blake? Hey, I need you to come down to the station and get me. Oh and bring money." I said quickly.
"The station? It's 3 a.m. what the hell are you doing at the station?" Blake asked. I could hear him moan as he sat up, his voice still starchy from just walking up.
"I'm having tea and crumpets, I thought you might want some."
"I'm going to kill you."
"And I'll embrace it, after you come get me out."
He let out a sigh, "give me 10 minutes," he answered, hanging up the phone.
I handed Greg back his phone and the bit of happiness he seemed to have vanished from his face, replaced with sheer anger. I waited fifteen minutes until Blake finally showed up and bailed me out. Blake came back with one of the officers, waiting as he unlocked me from the cell. I gave Blake a smile as we followed the officer back to the main room, but I could tell he was pissed. As we started to walk out the doors, I noticed Greg staring daggers at me, probably not to happy to see me walking out a free girl, at least for now. I winked at him before walking outside after Blake, and climbing into his truck.
"200 dollars Jenna, you know I'm not made of money." he said finally breaking the silence.
"You would have let me rot in there?"
"Maybe it would keep you from doing stupid shit like this. And all for what exactly?"
"A book, that we have to go get" I replied, pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket and pulling up the maps.
"Go get? Go get from where, you realize it's 3 in the damn morning"
"It's back at that house," I answered, not looking up from my cell. I could see him shake his head out of the corner of my eye, his hands growing tight around the steering wheel.
"The house you broke into?" He asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes, I had to ditch the book when I saw the cops."
He let out a small laugh before turning in his seat to look at me. "Let me get this straight, you want to break back into the house you just got arrested for breaking into"
"Yes can you keep up please"
He shook his head and started his truck, "I don't think so, I'm taking you home Jen."
"So Mr. Blake Matthews can hunt down ghosts and vampires, but he's too afraid to break into a house. It's okay, I understand." I said, giving him a smile.
"You are unbelievable."
"I prefer the word… adventurous."