John Winchester wasn't sure what he expected when he agreed to take her to Long Island. The closer they got there, the more nervous the older man got. For all he knew, he was walking straight into a trap.
The blonde girl, Valerie he learned her name was, had thrown herself out of the car before it had fully come to a stop. Her desperation seemed real enough. But then again, being a good actor wasn't something entirely out of the question. Grabbing another gun, he slowly followed her to where she had stopped at the top of a hill near a pine tree. Her face had contorted in horror as she looked at the rubble that was in the valley.
"What in Zeus' name?" she whispered to herself, though John clearly heard her. The pain and sorrow in her eyes were something that he recognised.
Before he could react, the girl had launched herself down to investigate.
"Chiron! Clarisse! Anybody?" she yelled out, and John tried to catch up to get her to be quiet. He wasn't sure whether there were still monsters, or anything else around and he wasn't going to risk his own hide because she was grieving.
"Be quiet," he ordered, similarly to how he bossed his sons around. The look in his eyes told her that he was serious, and she knew that he had his reasons. Hell, she was starting to feel a bit on edge being here.
They were in the middle of where cabins had once stood, and her eyes teared up as she looked at what remained. Apollo's cabin was still shining like gold in the sunlight, almost blinding. It was probably made out of gold considering it had survived, something that was finally confirmed for her. It wasn't surprising given how flashy the god tended to be. The door was wide open though, showing the mess of things inside.
A whimper escaped her throat as she looked away. Her eyes met the cabin that she used to live in, it was always rundown, in desperate need of a paint job. Now it was worse, half collapsed and burnt. Valerie didn't want to know what had happened.
There was one thing though, one thing that still gave her hope.
The campfire was in one piece.
There was a fire.
Without thinking to explain her actions to John, the demigod had moved towards it, knowing that there was a certain goddess keeping the flame alive. John would probably freak out if she knew what her plan was, that was Valerie's justification. Fumbling with her pockets, she pulled out a chocolate bar John had bought for her at the gas station.
'Hestia, please accept my offering and I plead for your help,' Valerie begged in her mind as she tore open the chocolate wrapper, throwing it into the fire.
"What are you doing?" John asked her. She supposed he had all rights to ask, considering she'd dragged him here.
"Trying to get answers," she replied, turning to him with the look of grief still on her face. "I need to know what happened, and I can only think of one person who could be able to and willing to tell me what I want to know."
"Thank you, child," a soft voice came from behind the hunter and the demigod. Both of them turned, and while John pulled out his gun, Valerie kneeled respectfully in front of the girl that stood in front of her. She looked perhaps eight years old, dark hair under a shawl with soft brown eyes that seemed to evaluate the people in front of her. "You are the first person to present me with an offering in a long time, please stand. And both of you relax, I do not wish to harm either of you."
"Yes milady," Valerie murmured, something that surprised the hunter that stood beside her.
"A hunter is someone that usually I would avoid, despite their lack of ability to harm me I do not enjoy being hunted," the goddess continued, her eyes locking with John's. It was enough to make him slowly put his gun away.
"Who are you?" he asked, feeling quite unsure of himself now.
"Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth, Home and Family," the goddess responded calmly as she moved over to the duo. "You had questions for me, daughter of Ares?"
"Uh… yeah… well… I need to know what happened here," Valerie was stumbling over her words as she spoke to the goddess.
"I had a feeling that you might ask me that, if you will allow me to I can show you," the goddess offered, and Valerie couldn't help but nod in response.
Valerie was still standing next to John, but all of a sudden the camp around them was in the full splendour of how she had always known it to be. John was even looking around, seemingly surprised by what it was.
"This was 1952," Hestia explained as Valerie looked curiously at the clothing choice of some of the demigods. She vaguely nodded as the goddess that appeared as a child continued. "During the second world war hunters all over the world became aware of the existence of demigods. As you know it was the children of the big three that caused the war."
"The big three?" John interrupted, asking his own question to try and clear things up a bit more. Valerie had to admit the hunter was taking this better than most. But then again, she supposed he was used to it in a slightly different form.
"Zeus, Poseidon and Hades," Valerie clarified quietly, waiting for the goddess to continue her explanation.
"They began associating the demigods with the monsters that hunted them, and over time the demigods in turn began attacking those they believed to be hunters in an attempt to defend themselves… unfortunately there was a young demigod born to a hunter, who was used in order to topple the demigods here," as she spoke, the images of invaders and fighting took over. Cabins on fire. The three watched as demigods ran through them, moving into battle. Archers retreating with empty quivers. "Those that survived the attacks left, attempting to survive outside of the camp. Chiron was among them, and satyrs… they continue in their attempts to protect and teach young halfbloods how to survive… unfortunately the children are often killed young."
A moment later, they were back in the ruins that were empty aside from the three of them.
"I have seen in your mind the realm that you come from, and it gives me hope for what could be possible, though unfortunately the pantheon's have already crossed and that cannot be undone," the Goddess told her, her brown eyes so much wiser than the small form she had inhabited.
"Is there any chance-"
"No," the goddess interrupted before Valerie finished her question. "You have been brought her for a reason, that much is clear. You need to help them prevent the plans going on… perhaps later there will be an opportunity for us to return you… but you will need to prove yourself, demigod."
Prove yourself.
Valerie could've started laughing at that, the words that had haunted her throughout her entire life. Words that she never seemed to live up to. She managed to hold that back though.
"Of course," she answered politely. Hestia was one of the goddess' that was easy to like, and that meant that despite her desperation she didn't want to ruin her relationship with that goddess. Pissing off a god was never a good idea.
"You should leave," the goddess suddenly said as she looked at the two people in front of her. "I have no doubt that the monsters are already on their way, not all have left, lying in wait for people that seek out this old place of safety."
With those words of advice, the goddess disappeared. Valerie's lips twisted into a frown, turning to look at the hunter beside her.
"We should go," he told her, and the girl nodded in response.
"Definitely."
They had been driving for a week, almost non-stop. There were short breaks for food, stopping at motels to sleep at nights. John's phone rang fairly regularly, but he never answered. Whilst the phone made Valerie nervous, she had gotten used to it. The sound of it ringing no longer bothered her either.
John had told the demigod that they were hunting the thing that had brought her to this 'realm' as the goddess had called it. Valerie could tell that it went beyond that, but she didn't push it.
The two, a rather unlikely pair by any standards, had an understanding. They tended to stick with small talk, not going deep into one another's lives. Occasionally he woke her up when she had a nightmare, and occasionally she did the same thing for the older man. Neither of them were good at comforting one another, it felt too awkward. After waking they would go off on their own, doing whatever they could to calm themselves until they could fall asleep once again.
At the end of the week, she found herself breaking into a house in Sterling, Virginia. Virginia was a place where she had never been, but if she were entirely honest she wasn't too interested in sight seeing anyway. The blonde was too busy looking over her shoulder for any monsters that had caught up.
Currently they had been all clear.
That only caused her to worry even more.
"Sulphur," John announced as he ran his fingers over the windowsill. The blonde moved closer to the hunter, her eyes looking at the yellow substance. She ran it over her fingers, sniffing as it slightly.
"This is what I saw before the thing brought me here," Valerie murmured, looking to John, seeing whether he had some kind of understanding.
"It means that there was a demon here," was all that he said. Valerie nodded, looking around the room. She was thankful that there was no one in this room, somehow she always felt uncomfortable in a room with dead bodies. There was an illogical part in the back of her mind that half-expected them to shoot up and try to kill her.
"Great," she murmured, taking a few steps back. "So we're tracking the right thing?"
"I think so," the hunter responded as he looked around the room as well, trying to find evidence as to what it was trying to do here. It was an empty house.
"So what now?"
"We keep looking and trying to follow it," the man answered her, it was the same answer he always gave her. Valerie didn't bother trying to hide her displeasure at the comment. Her ADHD had been playing up over the last days and she felt she was going insane, and now, to top all of that off, she would be back in a car doing nothing for days while they tried to follow it again. She really wanted a fight right now. "Let's go."
The blonde followed him calmly, sitting herself in the car once again and leaning against the window. Her imagination was running wild, not noticing as John reached for his phone and lifted it up to check his voicemail.
What did catch her attention was when she was jerked by the car practically speeding away. Her blue eyes wandered over to the hunter, raising her brow. He didn't even look in her direction as he responded.
"It's in Chicago."
10 hours.
She had been stuck in the damn car for ten whole hours and she was going mental. John even seemed to be picking up on how bad her fidgeting was getting, but he was also used to it. What was good was if this was right, if the damn thing was in Chicago, then she'd at least get the fight that she was itching for. Though she wasn't too sure how that was going to go.
Night time had fallen, and the moment that they had reached the warehouse that they were going to for the demon, a woman had fallen out of the window. Valerie instinctively tapped the necklace, allowing the quiver to form around her. Her fingers started playing with the ring on her finger as she moved to approach the blonde woman.
John pulled her backwards, wary of any imminent danger.
"We'll meet them at the motel," John told her, pulling her towards the car. One thing that Valerie had learnt in her time with the man was to listen to what he said. She knew he'd been doing this 'hunting' thing for a long time, and she honestly trusted his instincts just as much as she did her own.
"Who are we meeting?" she asked once they were seated, already driving. John had fallen silent, running a hand through his hair at the question.
"My sons," he admitted, his voice lowering as he spoke those words.
"Hold up, you have sons?" she asked, voice increasing in volume at the surprise. Her eyes tried scanning over him. "They're the ones that have been calling, aren't they?"
"Not only them," John said, admitting that the calls that he had ignored had come from them.
"From personal experience, I suggest you stop ignoring your kids," she told him seriously. "Turns out that it can come back to bite you if you do. Not to mention what they think of the whole thing. Why are you doing this anyway? Do they know?"
John didn't turn to her, or respond to the demigods questions. But the serious look on his face didn't leave and Valerie was hoping that he was at least considering what she had proposed.
They'd broken into the motel room, waiting for his sons to arrive. Valerie was getting a bit nervous, wishing that she could duck away. She wasn't sure how this family reunion would go, and she wasn't sure how they'd take her presence at all. What she was hoping was that they would at least recognise their own father and wouldn't just shoot her as she sat, looking out of the window and trying to calm herself down.
Would they be happy seeing him? Or would they be angry?
Valerie personally would go for the latter, but then again… she supposed that most halfbloods would.
The door opened, causing Valerie to swing around, pushing herself against the wall and further into the shadows of the room.
"Hey," a deep voice called out, though Valerie knew the sound of the door alone had caught John's attention. Slowly, she watched as he turned to face his sons. The men's eyes wandered from her, to the man by her side. The look of shock was evident on both of their faces as they took in the features of their father. "Dad?"
"Hey boys," John greeted. By the sound of his voice she could tell he was happy to see them. A ghost of a smile covered her face as she watched. Her stomach twisted at the sight, wondering what it would be like to experience something similar. Blue eyes watched as the shorter brother approached his father, pulling him into a hug. The taller one stayed where he was, watching on in shock. There was blood on both of their faces.
Valerie figured they were probably the ones that had thrown the woman out of the window, which pushed her slightly more on edge.
The taller one also slowly started moving forwards as his brother pulled out of the embrace with his father. His own eyes were trained on his father, as they paused, looking at one another. Valerie could feel the tension between them, which caused her lips to twist down, head tilted slightly at the exchange. There was a definite strain on their relationship.
"Hi Sam," John had greeted him, though neither moved for a hug, even as Sam returned the comment.
"It was a trap," the shorter son said, looking at his father seriously. Even now Valerie found herself stuck in her position. Her eyes flickered to the window, wondering whether she'd be able to get out of it subtly. She doubted that would be possible, based on the age of the thing. It'd probably creak. Loudly.
"It's alright, I thought it might have been," John said calmly, nodding at his sons. His brown eyes wandered over both of his sons, taking them both in. He was glad to see both of them were alright, and possibly happier to see they were working together.
"Were you there?"
"Yeah, me and Val got there just in time to see the girl take a swan dive… she was the bad guy, right?" he asked them.
"Yes sir," both men responded, but Valerie noticed that the taller one, Sam she thought John had said, glanced back to the her. She wasn't surprised by that. She was travelling with their father, when they hadn't been in contact with him for god knows how long.
"Good… It doesn't surprise me, it's tried to stop me before," John said calmly.
"The demon?" Sam questioned, looking towards his father in confusion.
"It knows I'm close. It knows I'm going to kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to hell. It's trying to get away now, make itself stronger… it's the thing that brought Valerie to me," John explained, motioning for her to move closer. The demigod was tense, but she moved towards John and his sons despite that.
"How? Why?" the shorter son asked, looking at his father in confusion. Both of them were now glancing at the blonde, clearly trying to evaluate her. Valerie didn't flinch, only raising her chin to look him straight in the eyes. She couldn't back down now.
"I'm working on that," John offered, a smile on his face as he looked at his son. "As for Val, the demon was hoping for a new vessel. A stronger vessel."
"She's a kid."
"I'm not just a kid," Valerie's voice was low, blue eyes narrowing as she took into consideration the man that was standing in front of her. John placed a hand on the girls shoulder, her jaw clenched but she stood down, trying to relax.
"She is more than what she appears to be," John said calmly as he intervened.
"Look if she's helping you with this, then you should let us come as well. Dean and I can help you, dad," Sam argued, there was a desperation in him, this was personal. Valerie could tell that by the way he looked at his father.
"No, Sam," was John's curt reply. "Try to understand-"
"You're taking a girl that's barely an adult with you and you want Dean and I to just wait around and let you do this crusade?" Sam demanded, there was anger on his face.
"I don't want you to get hurt," John offered his son softly.
"You don't have to worry about us."
"Of course I do," John answered immediately, his eyes softening. "I'm your father. As for this one, I was hoping that you boys might take care of her."
"What?" Valerie asked, her voice coming out louder than she had thought it would. Unfortunately the shock hadn't helped her control that. At all.
"For your safety," John said as he looked at the demigod, who was shaking her head at him.
"None of the gods could make me," she retorted harshly. Sam tilted his head to the side, wondering about her use of the expression. "You said you wanted your sons to be safe, then they shouldn't be around me. I'm a magnet for monsters."
"They travel just as much as I do, and both of them also know how to fight," John's explanation annoyed her, but she settled for crossing her arms in frustration. "You two better keep her safe, no matter what."
"Yes sir," both of the men once again answered together. It came out so naturally as if it had been drilled into them. Perhaps it had been. John Winchester didn't come across as the most cuddly types in the world. Valerie had moved away, allowing the family to have their own time as they began to talk amongst another again. She noticed Sam hugging John, a soft smile crossing her face. It was nice to see them settle whatever problem they were having.
Her eyes widened when she saw a monster just behind John, she had no clue how it had gotten in, nor did she know exactly what it was. But it's skin was leathery, twisted around it, fingers long and topped off with claws. None of the men seemed to see it.
She tapped the necklace, removing her ring and notching the arrow. Taking aim, she fired. The monster in question howled, stumbling back, it was immediately followed by another arrow though, causing it to be reduced to gold dust.
"What?" she heard one of them ask, but her eyes continued to scan around the room.
"Daughter of Ares," one of them greeted, though it came out raspy and hissed.
"You really need to get your voice checked out," she commented calmly, it sneered, launching itself at her. Valerie quickly stabbed it with the arrow she was holding, before firing an arrow into the head of one that had dragged the shorter brother. "Run!"
The order had left her mouth, and she was glad that the men had listened to her. She covered the back, slowly moving behind them, trying to keep them covered as they moved to where their cars were parked.
"You can see them?" the shorter brother practically demanded, as she stood watch. Her bow and arrow were at the ready.
"I'm not a mortal," Valerie said without thinking.
"She means that she's not exactly human," John corrected the girl, looking at both of his sons. There was a silence for a few moments. "Take care of my sons."
The demigod nodded in response, keeping guard, just allowing them to have a proper goodbye. It was only when John and his sons were both in their respective cars, she jumped into the back of the smaller car with the brothers. The brothers watched their father leave in silence, before Dean backed the car out so they couldn't follow him.
Then the car took off once again.
A/N: So this chapter actually takes us into the series. There will be mentions of certain cases from the series, some will actually be taken in depth and others will be inbetween cases that occur from the series.
: Thank you very much, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.