Chapter 3!


They had reached the main floor and entered the library area. Dean had escaped to the kitchen but Castiel and Kevin sat at the table. Sam and Maria sat opposite them.

"Wait, what books were Dean talking about?" Maria asked suddenly.

Sam let his head fall to the table with a 'thunk' and groaned into the dark wood.

"These damn books keep haunting us."

"Charlie has copies in her room." Kevin said unhelpfully. "Even the ones Becky published online set from after Dean was pulled from hell. It ends after the leviathans rise."

"There are more?!"

"Dean was pulled from hell?"

"Oh dammit." Dean walked back into the room with a candy bar in his hand.

Sam raised an accusatory finger at him. "This is your fault. You had to bring it up."

"In fairness, Sam," Castiel interjected. "It would be the quickest way to tell your story. Chuck did in fact write accurate information. I was unaware of the new books but am I correct to assume that I am mentioned?"

Kevin nodded. "Oh yeah. And boy there are a lot of fanfictions about…" Sam slapped a gargantuan hand over his mouth.

"I know where this conversation is going and it will do nothing but confuse Cas and disgust me. So drop it."

"Who's Charlie?" Maria asked. She was extremely curious about these books and she couldn't wait to ask this Charlie if she could borrow his books.

"Charlie is the last member of our little family." Sam said. "And hopefully will be back soon."

"Do you think I'd be able to borrow the books?" Maria asked.

Kevin shrugged. "Charlie told me that I could read them and I'm sure it wouldn't be an issue if I let you. Just as long as they're kept in the same shape. I don't want to die."

Maria smiled at him warmly. "Oh you won't have to worry about that. Reading is practically a religion to me. The only damage my books have is to their spine because I read them over and over again. Thanks, Kevin. And I'll be sure to thank Charlie too."

Kevin left the table and returned with a book. "Here's the first one. There are a lot of them but they aren't too long. It took me a few days to read them, and I was working on my own project as well."

Maria looked at the cover and attempted to stifle her laughter. Sam groaned in embarrassment at the shirtless men on the cover.

"Okay so can someone explain to me how there are books written about your lives?"

"There was this prophet, Chuck, who wrote all of them. He claimed that the stories were coming to him from voices in his head before Sam and Dean met him." Kevin told her, realizing that the brothers were going to be extremely useless with this topic.

"A prophet?"

"Yeah, a prophet. You know, a person who can hear the word of God?"

"I know was a prophet is. I was brought up Catholic." Maria told him. "But I've never even heard of a prophet in this century." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Well, you're looking at one." Kevin said. He'd come a long way from the AP student almost two years ago.

"So you're telling me that you're a prophet of the Lord?" Maria asked. "Next you're going to tell me that there are Angels living on earth."

The men all looked uncomfortably at each other. "What?" Maria asked. "Are there?"

"I am an Angel of the Lord." Castiel told her. "Well, I used to be. All of the angels have fallen from Heaven."

"And I'm interpreting God's word to see if we have a way to put the bastards back." Kevin said.

Maria was more confused than ever. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is a lot of information for me to process. Like for example, did you just call angels bastards?"

"Most of them are." Castiel said, his voice deeper than usual. "And they are still hunting me."

"Cas here is on the Most Wanted List upstairs." Dean explained. "He rebelled from his family to help us humans here on earth stop the apocalypse."

"The apocalypse?" She whispered.

Sam took pity on her. "I know that this isn't what you were expecting when you wanted us to train you to be a hunter but there are a lot more monsters out there than you have ever read about. Angels included. They aren't the cherub, sweet innocent things they are made out to be. My reluctant suggestion would be to read the books. It'll explain everything probably better than we could. You'll be able to grasp some of the creatures and when we discuss angels, it won't be much of a shock."

"And the angels and the apocalypse are explained in the books too." Kevin said. "We're all here to help."

"It's important to keep an open mind around here." Dean told her.

"An open mind is not the problem." Maria snapped. "I just need a few minutes to process the information. Up until a week ago, I had no idea these things existed! I've read about them, wrote about them, drew them, but never in my dreams would I have imagined that they were alive."

"Where do you think the legends come from?" Dean leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "The lore, the fantasy, it all has an origin. There was something that had to start it, something that people talked about. The legends didn't just come from the imagination of people."

Maria nodded. It sounded logical. "You're right. I've never thought about it in that way."

"D'ya hear that, Sammy? She said I was right." Dean smiled and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Okay. So tell me more about the angels." Maria said. The group decided to tell her everything after the fall of the leviathans. It was past lunch time when they finished the story with Metatron and the fall of all the angels.

"Holy shit." Maria said when they were done.

"There is nothing holy about shit." Castiel furrowed his brow.

"No, Cas," Dean said laughing. "It's a figure of speech. Although I guess it could work. We can consider the holy bastards some holy shit."

"So you're human?" Maria asked Cas.

"I am human."

"But the other angels, they still have their powers?"

"Yes."

"So why don't you?"

"When Metatron stole my grace, my powers went along with it." Cas explained. "Other angels still retained their grace, which is why we can still kill them with the angel blade."

"I can't believe I'm talking to an angel." Maria ran her fingers through her long hair.

"A fallen angel. I am human now."

"I'm sorry, Castiel. I'm being really insensitive right now." Maria said. She took his hand and squeezed. "I'm sorry you've had to learn how to be a human from that twat." He nodded to Dean, who looked outraged.

"Your face is serious but I sense this is a joke." Castiel said. Maria laughed and patted his hand.

"Yes, Cas. I'm only joking. Dean is very easy to tease."

"Come on." Sam stood. "Let's all go get some lunch. I'll buy."

"If it's all the same to you guys, I think I'm going to stay here." Maria told them. "I need some time to myself I think."

"But you need to eat." Cas said.

"I'll be okay. I'm not hungry right now." She smiled warmly at him.

"If you're sure," Sam kissed her gently. "Would you like us to bring you something back?"

"No, but thank you." She watched the guys leave the bunker and she retreated back to her room.

There was so much information rolling around in her head and she knew that it wasn't going to stop. There was so much more that she needed to learn and she needed to be able to focus her undivided attention to it.

She took the box from her desk and placed it on her bed. "It's time to say goodbye, Amber." She climbed up onto the bed and sat behind the box, her hands shaking as she opened the flaps. A sob caught in her throat. On top of the pile, sat a framed picture of her, Amber, and Joey, the first year they met at college. They looked so young, and so care free. She missed those days. She suddenly felt an overwhelming pang of guilt for leaving Joey behind. They were best friends through college, and then began to drift away when Maria got married. She vowed to keep up the line of communication with him.

She placed the frame to the side and continued to pull out different things that meant so much to their relationship. Amber had given her a book of tickets from all the concert and movies they've been to together, the caricature they got of them when they went to Orlando, and even her most prized possession, her Aubrey Hepburn signed copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's, which Maria had spent months trying to track down. She laughed breathlessly at the memory.

By the time she reached the bottom of the box, her grief was crushing her. Sobs escaped her throat and the tears flowed in steady streams down her face. She left everything where it was and swiped at her eyes. She ran out of the room and down to the weapons range. If anything would calm her down, it'd be embedding every arrow she owned into the target.

She set the target at 150 feet before walking over to where she had left her bow. As she held the bow in her hands, she felt the tension roll off of her shoulders. She slowed down her breathing, took control of her emotions, and shot the arrows, each one taking a piece of her heartbreak with it.

When the guys got back, Sam noticed that Maria wasn't in any of the living areas. He placed her food (that he decided to buy for her despite her protests) on the table.

He started at her room. The door was open and he didn't see her in it. He did, however, see the bed covered in a miscellaneous array of things. He took a tentative step forward and picked up a framed picture of Maria, Amber and some other man. He looked around and realized that all of the things must have belonged to Amber.

"Shit," He said. He knew she was probably having a difficult time dealing with her emotions and would need to let off some steam. He cautiously made his way to the weapons room and heard the unmistakable whistle of an arrow the muffled sound of it making contact with the target.

He didn't want to startle her, knowing that she was probably off in her own mind but he did take a look at her face. It was strangely terrifying and Sam couldn't help but to get a bit turned on by it. He knew this woman was more than capable of protecting herself and that she didn't actually need anyone to take care of her.

"Maria," He said. She didn't acknowledge him and shot another arrow. He noticed that her quiver was empty and it would be safe to approach her. She was looking at the target when he placed his hand on her shoulder.

She spun around and swung her bow until it made contact with his stomach. He doubled over with a grunt of pain.

"Oh my god! Sam, I am so sorry!" She knelt down beside him with a worried look on her face.

"No," He whispered, the air effectively knocked out of his lungs. "I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that."

"I could've shot you!" She exclaimed.

"That's why I waited until you were done." He managed to straighten himself out. "You have a great swing."

She placed her hand on his cheek. "You stupid idiot." She said lovingly. "Don't you know never to sneak up on anyone with a dangerous weapon?" She kissed him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He said sheepishly. "I saw your room…"

She nodded. "Amber told me before she died that she was making a box for me. I had to come down here to clear my head. It helps me relax. All I have to think about is the arrow and the target."

He helped her remove all of the arrows and put them back into the quiver.

The two made their way back upstairs and Sam led her to the table. "I'm sure you've worked up an appetite by now." She smiled at him gratefully before popping a french fry in her mouth.

"Where did everyone go?" She inquired.

"Kevin went back to his room and I'm not sure where Cas and Dean disappeared to." Sam said as he sat across from her. He opened up his laptop.

Once she was done eating, she took the first Supernatural book and curled up on the couch in the next room. The two sat in amicable silence for a while; Maria read while Sam researched cases.

It was a few hours later, when Sam heard a choked sob and looked up to see Maria walking towards him, unshed tears in her eyes. She slipped onto his lap and hugged him.

"I'm sorry about Jessica." She said quietly.

He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "That was so long ago."

"I don't care if it was fifty years ago." She gently scolded. "Something like that doesn't go away."

He kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

"It's been entirely too quiet for too long." Maria observed, still sitting on Sam's lap.

"I agree. But they're not bothering me and I will revel in the silence while it lasts." He shrugged his shoulders. "Although, I do think I found a case." She stood to give him better access to his laptop and leaned over his shoulder.

"It looks like there is a nest of vampires a couple hundred miles away from here."

"Vampires?" Maria asked excitedly.

"Maria," He began carefully.

She stood back and fixed him with a glare. "Don't you dare, Sam. Don't be that guy."

"Look, I am more than sure that you can take care of yourself. I just don't think you're prepared enough to just go on cases yet."

"Well, how am I ever going to learn if I'm not being taken on cases?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Finish reading the books. And when we get back, we'll train you in some weapons and how to kill certain creatures. I have to take Dean out on cases or he's more of an ass than usual and trust me, we do not need that. We should only be gone for about a week." Sam said.

"Did I hear something about a case?" Dean asked, bounding into the room.

"Where have you been?"

"I went for a drive." Dean said vaguely. "I needed to clear my head."

"And Cas?"

"He needed a ride to the church." Dean shrugged nonchalantly. "What about the case?"

"There's a nest a few hundred miles from here. Been attacking the town for a few weeks now, most likely gaining numbers." Sam told him.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's stock up on some dead man's blood and head out."

Maria's head swam. "Dead man's blood?"

"It incapacitates them long enough for us to cut their heads off." Sam explained.

"How does one go about obtaining dead man's blood?" Maria asked cautiously.

"Funeral homes mostly." Dean said, pouring himself a glass of whiskey.

"Of course."

"I told you, there's a lot of stuff that you don't know yet. I know you've studied the subject but there are texts out there, thousands of years old, with only one or two copies left of them, that are in this library. Some the Men of Letters have collected and others we've taken from our surrogate father. There are myths in there; ways to kill creatures that you've never even imagined existed."

Maria barely kept from shaking in excitement. She loved learning and the fact that the bunker held books that not many people have had the privilege of looking at, let alone reading, gave her a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Sam raised his eyebrows at her when he saw her blinding grin. Her palms were itching to grab a tome and read it. But she promised to finish the Supernatural books first.

"Okay, I'll stay here without any fuss." She told him. "I'll have plenty of reading material to hold me over until you return. And I'll have Kevin for company."

Sam was surprised that there wasn't a bigger fight. "Okay. We'll leave in the morning." He directed at Dean.

Dean agreed from his perch on the counter, nursing his glass, his mind otherwise occupied.

Maria shared a look with Sam, and he shook his head, as if to tell her to leave it be. Maria however, wasn't exactly good at following orders.

She walked over and pulled herself up on the counter next to him. She nudged his shoulder. "Penny for your thoughts, Winchester?"

He scoffed. "Why, do I look like I need a chick-flick moment?"

Maria heard the defensive tone to his words and stifled her laugh. Dean was trying hard to thwart her attempts at making him open up. She had a feeling she knew what was bothering him (having dealt with a similar situation with her friend Joey) but knew that pushing would be more harm than good, especially with his brother in the room.

She patted his knee. "Well, I'm a good listener if you need it. And I promise I give great advice."

"How modest of you," Dean threw.

"I only speak the truth, Dean." She kissed his cheek and hopped down. "I'm going to get the next book. I'll be back." She told the brothers before heading off to find Kevin.

Dean had a small smile on his face as he finished his drink. "She's pretty great."

"Yeah, she is." Sam agreed.

Dean shook his head. "Okay tell me more about the case."

Maria knocked on Kevin's door and heard a muffled voice granting her entry. She opened the door to Kevin lying face down, spread eagle on the floor.

"Kevin? Are you okay?"

He lifted his head slightly to look at her. "I'm fine. Just frustrated."

She had no idea what lying on the floor would do to combat frustration but she didn't press the issue. "Do you think Charlie would mind if I got the next book?"

Kevin sat up and snorted. "No way. Charlie would be ecstatic that someone else was reading them, if only to torture Sam and Dean."

"Do they really hate the books that much?"

"They don't like that people know so much about their lives, even if they think it's fake." Kevin explained. "I can't wait to tell Charlie you're reading them."

"Does Charlie know about me staying here?" Maria asked cautiously. She didn't know Charlie's relationship with Sam and Dean and didn't want to step on any toes.

"Not yet, but there is a renaissance fair soon so I'm sure you'll be able to meet…"

"Hey Kevin, we're headed out on a case tomorrow. We want to fill you in." Sam stuck his head in the room, interrupting their conversation. Kevin stood before Maria could ask him what he meant about the renaissance fair and the connection to Charlie.

Kevin turned back to Maria before they followed Sam from the room. "Come on, I'll get the books."

He showed her which room was Charlie's and led her in. The room was fairly plain, as if the occupant didn't have much time to decorate it. There was a rather extensive bookshelf besides the made bed that housed a great number of books. Maria saw the Harry Potter series and her respect for Charlie rose just a bit more. She really couldn't wait to meet him.

Kevin pulled the next few books of the series from the shelf. "They're pretty quick reads, so here's the next three. When you're done, you can just come back in here and grab the next ones."

"Thank you, Kevin." Maria smiled warmly at him. "I'll be in my room if anyone asks for me."

They pulled Charlie's door shut and headed off to their respective destinations.

Later that night, Sam knocked tentatively at Maria's door. When he got no answer, he entered the room cautiously, only to find her sleeping peacefully, a book lying open next to her.

He looked down on her with a small smile before placing a small kiss to her temple. He was about to turn off the light and let her sleep before he heard her whisper his name.

Her eyes were barely open but a sad smile played at her lips. "Sam, lay down with me."

He stripped down to a t-shirt and boxers before sliding behind her into bed. She snuggled into him as he wrapped his arms around her waist, placing a kiss on the back of her neck.

She placed her hand over his and sighed in contentment before falling back into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, Maria woke up with something hard under her head. She opened her eyes and realized that she was laying on Sam's chest, her head falling and rising in time to his breathing. She felt well rested; which was something that had been not-so-mysteriously missing since she found out that Amber was a werewolf.

She snuggled deeper into his side and felt his fingers trail lines down her back. "Good Morning," he said.

"Good morning. How long have you been awake?" She asked him, sending him a sweet smile.

"Not long. But you looked so peaceful and I didn't want to disturb you." He played with strands of her hair.

"Thank you for sleeping in here with me." Maria said. "I didn't want to be alone."

"You don't have to be. I promise I'll call you every night while we're on the case." Sam assured her.

"I'm more worried about your safety than my sanity." Maria scolded gently, sitting up.

"You don't have to worry about me. Dean and I have been hunting for our entire lives. We're professionals. A nest is easy. We just have to find it and attack it in the daylight."

"Doesn't make me worry less." She said stubbornly, as she snuggled back down.

Sam chuckled lightly. "No, I guess it won't."

There was a knock on the door and Dean called out from the other side. "Sammy, we're headed out in 30. Shake a leg."

"How did he know I was in here?" Sam asked, mostly to himself.

Maria rolled her eyes but didn't comment on the obvious situation. She placed a kiss on his lips and stood from the bed. "Go get dressed. I'll go make pancakes." She pulled a sweater on over her camisole and padded out of the room.

When she got into the kitchen, Dean was already seated at the bar, drinking coffee and consulting an open map in front of him.

"Good Morning, Dean."

He looked up, startled to see her. "Can you do me a favor and make some noise when you enter a room?"

"Noted." She said sarcastically before getting the ingredients for pancakes and placing them on the counter. It didn't take her too long to mix and cook them, and the next time Dean looked up from the map, it was to see a large steaming plate of them placed in front of him.

He smiled at her sheepishly. "Thanks, Maria."

She nodded slightly with a smile and prepared three more plates for the other inhabitants.

By the time Sam walked in, Dean had finished eating and Kevin and Cas were scarfing their own pancakes down.

"What took you so long, princess? Was it your hair?" Dean asked mockingly.

Sam threw a punch to his arm and muttered, "Jerk".

"Bitch."

Sam ate quickly and soon they were all in the garage saying goodbye.

It had been decided the night before that Castiel was to accompany them. Maria said goodbye to him first. She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. "Take care of these two idiots for me please."

A hint of a smile graced his face. "I will do my best."

She hugged Dean next, and exchanged a glance of an unspoken promise: keep Sam safe.

Lastly, she wrapped her arms around Sam's neck and hugged him close. "Please be safe," she whispered in his ear before pulling away. "And don't forget to call me." She said with a raised finger. He smiled at her before bringing her close for a heated kiss.

Dean cleared his throat and the pair was forced to tear away. She placed another chaste kiss to his lips before moving to stand next to Kevin.

"Don't worry, Sam. I'll keep her safe." Kevin told him.

Dean let out a park of laughter. "Don't let him anywhere near your bow!"

Maria placed an arm around Kevin's shoulder protectively. "I'm sure he's a better shot than you!"

They could hear Dean's laughter even as the car rolled out of the garage.

Maria nudged Kevin before heading back into the living area. "Come on, Kev. It's just me and you for a week."


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