A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews; I'm glad you're enjoying it. And, just because you asked Sulky – there will be a cameo next chapter.
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Advent - December 2nd
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The round catches the guy in the chest and sends him spinning over the back of the sofa. There's a loud thump as he hits the floor and stays down.
Whoops.
Dean didn't mean to do that. But really, who appears behind a hunter and startles them anyway?
Okay, that isn't really an excuse for going salt-happy on the guy and wow, he doesn't seem to be moving at all. Dean can't even hear him shuffling or groaning which he should be because Dean has taken a round of rock salt in the chest before and it hurts like a bitch.
Sam, who had been concentrating on the door at that time, runs over to Dean then follows his gaze to look at the sofa. He's probably wondering why Dean is staring at the sofa. Bobby sprints through at the sound of the shotgun blast. He's coming from the opposite direction so the first thing he can see is the guy who Dean just shot.
By accident.
Bobby's startled for a moment and brings his own shotgun to bear on the guy. Then he frowns and drops the business end down until it's pointing at the floor and turns to look at Dean.
There's a groan from behind the sofa and Sam twitches a little. Yup, Dean was right. Sam thought he'd shot the sofa.
Bobby takes two steps back until he's in the kitchen doorway. His gun is up again but his finger is on the trigger guard instead of the trigger.
In a moment, Dean understands why.
The guy, when he appears, is huge. But he's a kid. Dean thinks he barely looks into his twenties. Then he feels like a dick for shooting a kid in the chest.
But Dean knows appearances can be deceiving. Take those changelings for example. Creepy leachy sons of bitches. Dean shivers every time he remembers them.
The guy groans and curls over. He's got long black hair that's falling around his face and is wearing what looks to be a whole cow hide. Dean owns a leather jacket, so he doesn't think he can judge, but man is that really necessary?
He probably rides a motorcycle. If he doesn't, Dean's going to think he's even more of a douchebag then he already does.
Well, whatever he is he's not a ghost.
The guy straightens and picks at the holes in his shirt.
"Weird. I did not expect that."
Dean's just about to say that he should have expected it when you startle a guy with a gun, but before he can open his mouth something peels off the guys forearm and shoots towards Dean.
Dean lets out a yell and tries to bring his shotgun up in time, but the thing is travelling to fast. He braces for impact and is shocked when it transforms into a chick.
A chick floating in mid-air and holy shit are those wings?
"Whath the futh ith thath?"
Yeah, and what the fuck is wrong with his mouth? Ten minutes ago he didn't have a lisp.
Sam's looking at him weirdly from the corner of his eye. "Dean?"
Dean raises his hand to his mouth and then promptly panics. "Fangth! I've got fangth!"
Dean's so shocked by what's going on that he doesn't even think to protest when the floating girl get into his face.
"You hurt my akri!"
"Wha-?"
She grabs him by his shirt and lifts him off the ground. From here he can see that she has horns growing out of her skull. Actual, honest to god, horns.
Dean can see that Sam and Bobby both have their guns up and ready. Bobby's is trained on the guy and Sam is aiming at the demon thing that's giving him and impromptu flying lesson.
"Put your guns down."
It's the guy speaking, and he's got some sort of voice-whammy because Dean really, really wants to put his gun down. It's a testament to their training that none of them do.
The guy seems to realise this as he barks out, "Simi! Return to me!"
The girl, Simi, bares her teeth in Dean's face. "You's is lucky that my Akri is calling for me, otherwise I'd eat you with the yummy barbeque sauce."
With that she drops Dean, who sprawls on the floor, and turns into a dragon before flying back to the guy.
Dean scrambles up. "Whath the futh?" he asks.
"Dean?" Sam asks, seemingly only just realising that Dean now has fangs. He raises his gun a little, but doesn't point it at Dean. He looks lost at what's happening. Dean feels his pain; he does, because this shit is messed up. But right now he's trying to deal with his own problems.
Fangs means vampires. Vampires mean drinking blood. It doesn't have to be human, that covern they helped seemed to be able to live pretty well off animal blood. But still – blood!
"She'th turned me into a vampire!" Dean's panicking and he thinks he has good right to be "I'll never eath pie again!"
Sam snorts and rolls his eyes, dropping his gun to point at the floor. Even Bobby rolls his eyes. Dean scowls at the both of them. This is a serious problem.
The man sighs. "I'm sorry about that. I think I should introduce myself. I'm Ash. I'm your new boss."
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The introduction doesn't go over too well. Sam's too tense at seeing Dean get attacked again just after yesterday, even if he does find Dean's new lisp hilarious. Dean gave him a dead arm for the constant giggling. Bobby, on the other hand, is pissed off at how Ash got through all his wards.
Dean's just freaked out about his new fangs.
They're all sitting around the kitchen table. Ash is looking serene on one side and the rest of them are squished on the other. Bobby's put his gun down and has gone for the whiskey. Sam is glaring and has his gun on the table in front of him. He's not got it aimed at Ash but his hand is definitely resting on the butt.
Dean keeps touching his teeth.
"So how's a boy like you get to be leader of this group?" Bobby asks after he's drained his first glass.
Ash raises an eyebrow. Dean can't see his eyes because Ash is wearing sunglasses, even though he's inside and it's freaking night time. "I'm older than you think."
Bobby raises his own eyebrow. Dean's more scared of that one than he is of Ash's. "And how old is old?"
Ash's lips thin, "I was walking the earth with the ancient Egyptians."
Sam makes a noise in the back of his throat and all eyes turn to him. Dean is only slightly creeped out by the expression Sam is wearing. He looks like Christmas and his birthday and the best orgasm of his life have all come around at the same time.
And he's staring at Ash.
"You were alive at the time of ancient Egypt?"
Ash looks like he regrets admitting that. Especially when Sam edges closer to him with a fawning expression.
Dean thinks maybe he should be a little insulted at how quickly Sam's attitude changed, but Ash's face is hilarious so he's okay with this development.
Dean wants to laugh at the way Ash scoots his chair away. But he doesn't think laughing at his new boss' problems is a good thing. And how weird was it that he's starting to think of this kid as his new boss.
Or, if Ash is telling the truth, not such a kid.
Dean decides to throw Ash a helping hand.
"Er…Tham?"
Sam doesn't even turn to look at him. He's leaning so far over that Dean wonders how he's even staying in his chair.
"Dean," Sam's voice came out strangled, "don't you know what this means?"
Dean wants to make some quip about pyramids and aliens and compensation, but when Sam gets like this he gets pissy when Dean doesn't take things seriously.
Dean does not want to deal with the bitch-face.
Instead he shrugs, even though Sam can't see it, "No?"
"Dean, he was alive with the ancient Egyptians! He knows how they spoke! No one knows how they spoke! All we have are hieroglyphs and the translations!"
Dean clears his throat, not wanting to rain on Sam's happy parade but, "Was he even around the Egyptians?" he asks, "What if he was stuck in Australia or something?"
Sam blinks and frowns, straightening up. "Were you?" he asks Ash.
Ash looks like he really, really wants to lie. "I was around them."
Sam's eyes light up. "And you know how they spoke? You heard them?"
"Yes." It comes out as a sigh and Dean feels for the guy. He really, really does. But he's also glad that Sam isn't looking at him like that so…
At the admission Sam drags his chair until he's so close to Ash he's practically sitting in his lap. The shotgun is abandoned next to Dean.
"Do you think you can teach me? Say something!"
Ash keeps him mouth shut.
Sam pouts, "Please?"
And oh crap it's the puppy eyes. Dean's never been able to resist them.
Ash can't either it seems as he says something that sounds more consonants than vowels.
Sam looks like he wants to hug Ash.
"What does that mean?"
Ash twitches slightly and leans away, "It'll cost two and two thirds."
Dean thinks that it probably means something more along the lines of 'please god get out of my face'.
###
It takes ten minutes for Dean to manhandle Sam back to their side of the table and keep him there. Mostly because Sam is acting like a kid who's eaten too much sugar and is constantly getting up to got books with ancient languages in to see if Ash will translate. That or he's edging his seat around the table like he thinks being closer to Ash will help him absorb the knowledge through osmosis or something.
Ash, for all his creeped out expression, seems to have too many manners to simply punch Sam in the face and run away. He's patiently sitting and answering all of Bobby's questions even though he twitches for every inch Sam closes the gap.
Dean reaches over and grabs Sam's chair, scraping it closer to him.
Sam shoots him a wounded look. Dean ignores him.
"Tho," he says, breaking into this conversation then scowls when he remembers new speech impediment. Sam snickers quietly.
"Can you do thomthing about thith?" He asks Ash, motioning to his mouth.
Ash sighs a little and clicks his fingers. Dean blinks in surprise. He smacks his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
"Strawberry?" He says, and then, "oh, hey!"
He still has the fangs though.
"So," he says again, "what am I?"
###
Ash has been explaining for the better part of two hours about the history of dark hunters and what they fight and their individual powers.
Dean's still not getting it. "So…if we don't drink blood, what's with the fangs?"
Ash sighs and starts again.
Bobby had given up halfway through the third run-through and, pretty sure that Dean and Sam could handle Ash if he did anything, went back to his books to search for stronger wards. Something that he hasn't already used that will keep pseudo vampires out.
Sam is still with Dean, leaning towards Ash. He's already heard the information and seemingly knows it off by heart because he's asking all sorts of questions. Dean thinks that Sam must really be getting something out of this if he's able to listen to the same stuff over and over again as if it's the first time he's hearing it.
Eventually Ash gives up as well and flicks Dean on the forehead.
"There," he says sounding stressed – though if that's because of Dean's inability to understand a complete rewrite of history or Sam's behaviour – Dean doesn't know, "that's everything you need to know about your powers. You're going to have to practise but-"
He shoots a wary glance at Sam who has been relegated to the other side of the kitchen table. Sam has stars in his eyes at the thought of so much knowledge being implanted into your brain. Or maybe he's still man-crushing on Ash for the whole ancient Egyptian thing.
Sam opens his mouth to say something – Dean thinks it's probably for Ash to touch his forehead too – but Ash hurriedly carries on by dropping a book on the table in front on Dean.
"This is the Dark Hunter companion. It's got a bit about everything and anything in there, including contact details and the history of how everything came about. Maybe you'll understand if you read it."
Dean doesn't think so but Sam is suitably distracted.
Dean mentally congratulates Ash for having figured out his brother so quickly. It took Dean three years to figure out that kid-Sam would leave him alone if Dean gave him a new book.
Dean shoves the book across the table towards Sam. Sam immediately picks it up and starts reading. This is probably a good thing, because no way is Dean ever going to get through it.
He watches in amusement as Ash relaxes.
"Right," Ash says, "now we've just got to figure out your placement."
This causes both Dean and Sam to look at Ash in bewilderment.
"Whoa," Dean holds his hands up, "placement? What placement?"
Ash raises an eyebrow, "Where you'll be working, of course."
Dean shares a look with Sam. "Can't we just do what we normally do?" he asks.
Ash looks at them. "You have to realise how impossible that is." He says eventually, "There are dark hunters all over the world. If you drive around then you'll be entering their territory and, if you get too close to them, you'll both be weakened.
"It's easier if you stay where you're posted and guard the humans there. Not to mention the whole staying out of daylight part."
Dean's flabbergasted. He never signed up for this! Half the fun of being a hunter was the ability to jump in the Impala and drive whichever direction he wanted to. Dean is not a white picket fence and apple pie kind of man.
Well, the pie bit he is, but he's never wanted to settle down. He's tried that and he just feels trapped.
His thoughts must be playing on his face because Ash is looking at him with sympathy. "I know that this isn't something that you want." He says, "But it's something that comes with the job."
Dean scowls. "Fine. Where am I- where are we being sent?"
Ash taps his finger on the table-top for a few moments. "New Orleans."
Dean raises an eyebrow because that's not half as bad as he'd thought.
"Why there?" Sam asks.
"There was…a little trouble a few weeks ago…" Ash says eventually. And by the way he hesitates Dean translates 'a little trouble' into 'holy crap it's the apocalypse'. "We lost a few people and the daimons are pressing in again, thinking to strike when we're down."
Dean scoffs and leans back in his chair. "If that's the case then why are you sending us? I've never even practised using my powers. There's gotta be people with more experience that you can use."
Because, yeah, Dean knows he's good. But he knows his limits and this seems like being thrown into the deep end.
"You've been a hunter for how long?" Ash asks, "You've gone up against things that my other Dark Hunters never have, and that was when you were human.
"The same skill set transfers over." He shrugs, "You may not have gone up against daimons but you've gone up against things that are on the same power level, or worse."
Okay. When it's said like that Dean can see how maybe he can do this after all. He shares another look with Sam, who's looking grim but determined, and clears his throat.
"So," he says, "I've always wanted to go to Mardi Gras."
Ash nods, like he expected that answer the whole time. Dean doesn't know whether to be irritated or not.
Instead he turns to Sam who's wearing patented bitch-face number seven – the one where he doesn't know whether to be pleased or irritated. "So, New Orleans" Dean says.
"Well…we've never been…" Sam concedes.
There's a silence. The sort of silence that comes before someone says 'ah, well, you see…'
"Ah, well, you see…"
Damn it, Dean just jinxed himself. He turns to face Ash who's looking awkward.
"What?"
"That's another thing. Dark Hunters can have no family."
Dean stares at him and then turns to look at Sam. In the background he can hear that even Bobby has stopped turning pages and is coming over to stand in the doorway.
"What do ya mean?" Dean asks, "My family is right here."
Ash clears his throat. "Yes, but, they can't actually stay with you. You can never see them again."
Dean's face blanks. So does Bobby's. Sam actually looks like his favourite toy came to life, tried to kill him and then blew itself up and all he's left with is a flaming pile of goo.
"No." Dean says.
"It's the rules. You don't have a-" Ash starts.
"No." Dean interrupts him, ignoring all the ways that was a bad idea. "I don't think you understand. I sold my soul for my brother. I'd do anything for him. My family watched and stood with me as I walked to my death. There is no way I am going to let you take these people away from me, without a fight, because it's one of your rules.
"No."
Ash seems taken aback. He leans back in his chair and looks over the three of them. Bobby has come over some time during Dean's speech and is standing behind his chair, one hand on Dean's shoulder. Sam has, for the first time in this conversation, edged closer to Dean and is clutching at his shirt – like he thinks Ash is going to rip Dean away from him right now.
"I'm sorry." Ash says, "But-"
"Please," Sam interrupts, because he's a Winchester and apparently that's what they do. "I've lived the last year thinking that I'd never see him again. I watched him die knowing that the only reason he was doing so was because of me.
"Then he wasn't dead and he's here and he's my brother. Please don't take him away now that I just got him back."
Ash rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"Fine," he says eventually, "there is the possibility of giving you a squire."
Dean's confused but Ash must have explained it sometime because Sam's eyes light up.
"What?" Dean asks.
Dean can't see it thanks to the sunglasses, but he's absolutely positive Ash just rolled his eyes at him.
"A squire," Ash says slowly, "Is a human who does whatever is needed for a dark hunter during the daytime. They can live together or separately, but a squire and a dark hunter are, basically, a team. But it's the squire's job to obey the dark hunter and carry out their requests. They're there to keep the dark hunter alive."
Dean thinks about this. "So…it's a bit like having a slave?"
Ash face-palms. Dean chalks that up to a win.
He grins and twists around to look at Bobby. "So, Bobby, fancy being my squire?"
Bobby glares at him. "Boy, if you think I'm gonna clean up more of your crap than I already do, then you've got your head on backwards." He adds to this with a slap to the backside of Dean's head. Maybe hoping to smack some sense into Dean or something, but he's got a gruffly fond look on his face so it's not all bad.
Dean turns around to find Sam wearing hurt-puppy-look number three. Fuck.
"Aw, come on Sam, you know I was kidding."
The look dissolves into hurt-puppy-look number four, with added bitch-face.
Dean sighs and punches him in the arm. "You're the only one I'd pick."
Sam punches him back.
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
And all is right with the world.