"We've got a job," was the first thing Valerie processed when she woke up. There was a grumbled sound in response that she herself couldn't even place, as she tried to just go back to sleep. They'd been at the one motel for about 4 days, and if she was being honest, she was starting to get used to it.
Still, 5 hours later she found herself in the back of the car, arms crossed as she leaned back against the chair. When they'd left, it had still been dark, something that Valerie wasn't happy about. She was still wondering what got Dean to crawl out of bed.
Even Sam had fallen asleep in front of her, which wasn't at all surprising. If she could, she would've fallen asleep as well. For some reason though, sleep decided to remain just beyond her grasp.
The demigod was actually quite happy about that as she watched Dean taking a photo of his brother sleeping beside him.
She didn't feel strongly enough to intervene, instead just shaking her head. The blonde couldn't help the ways that her lips curled up slightly though, Dean turning and giving her a cheeky grin before he focussed his attention back onto the road.
It didn't last long.
As he pulled out a plastic spoon, Valerie didn't want to know where he got it from, why it was there, or how long it had been there for, her head tilted to the side. By the time that he'd put it in his brothers mouth, who knew how that hadn't woken Sam up, Valerie was giggling uncontrollably. He managed to sleep through that as well somehow. As he pulled out his phone again, he waggled his eyebrows as he briefly locked eyes with the girl in the back.
Dean turned up the music, causing her giggles to turn into laughter as Sam shot up, looking around in confusion. He turned back looking at her, where she tried her best to look innocent but couldn't help herself from laughing. His accusing look was then thrown at his older brother.
"Very funny," he commented sarcastically. That alone was enough to temporarily sober the demigod up, Dean still wearing the amused grin though.
"Not a lot of scenery here, you gotta make your own," Dean excused himself. It was at that point that both Sam and Valerie had rolled their eyes at the older Winchester's excuse. It was terrible at best.
"We're not gonna start that crap up again! The prank stuff is stupid!" Sam commented, Valerie leaning further back in her seat as she tilted her head to the side.
"Switzerland," she commented, drawing the attention of both of the brothers.
"Scared of what could happen?" Dean mocked, a grin on his face.
"Yes actually," the blonde shrugged, not bothered at all by what she was admitting. She noticed the boys glance at one another, Sam turning to look at her questioningly. A grin crossed her face as she recalled the events that seemed so long ago. "Last time I ended up caught in a prank war my clothes were two sizes too small for a week, I could only speak in rhymes and shaving cream ended up literally everywhere, along with other booby traps."
That was exactly why you didn't want to get caught in a prank war between Aphrodite's cabin, Hermes' cabin and Apollo's cabin. In her own mind, she did get them back by turning their weapons into toys during capture the flag. That and a few more traditional pranks that her other siblings also got involved in.
It was something that no one had succeeded in escaping.
Similarly to how many other things went, there ultimately ended up being a divide that formed in the camp. Cabins split themselves into sides, and based on that anyone was fair game. It had been a lot of fun, until it had escalated into harmful 'pranks'. That was when Chiron put his hooves down.
"Your clothing ended up two sizes too small and you could only speak in rhyme?" Sam repeated, disbelief evident in his voice.
"That's what I said, isn't it?" the demigod answered with a smile, leaning back into her chair. "It's what happens when you get into a prank war with demigods. Some of them have abilities."
"What can you do?"
"That's what you'll find out if you're not careful," her blue eyes narrowed at both of the brothers. Truthfully, she didn't know how useful her abilities would be in a prank war, assuming that she was going to help them stay alive. Being in a life or death situation and having your gun turn to rubber wouldn't be the funniest thing.
Of course there was the option of doing something to the Impala, that'd certainly rile up Dean. It seemed to be the only thing other than his father and brother that he had a commitment to. In Valerie's opinion, she wasn't sure if it was that healthy considering he called it 'baby'. Sam there were options to do with his computer.
Or on a less extreme note she could just go with classic pranks on both of them. Though she supposed that that might just encourage them to involve her in the prank war. At least if she gave them 'real' consequences they might ignore her.
Valerie resigned herself to waiting for the first prank to be directed at her and then figuring it out based on that. If things escalated too far, then she would still be able to escalate as well, which was always a good back up.
"So what are we even going to be looking for?" she asked, leaning forwards and holding onto the back of Sam's seat to give her leverage to pull herself forward to see him.
"A pretty misogynistic spirit-"
"What?" she interrupted, tilting her head to the side and smiling innocently as she waited for a definition for the unknown word.
"Someone that hates or doesn't trust women," Sam clarified, pausing as he watched her nod in understanding. "Apparently it takes girls and hangs them up in the rafters."
"I'm starting think I'm not going to like this job," the demigod commented, looking between the two brothers.
"We don't know if it's real yet," Dean responded to the girl. It was unspoken that they would do whatever it took to protect her, like his father ordered. Though through sparring with her he had learnt that she could do more than just shoot arrows. He didn't doubt that she could care for herself. Given that from all accounts she both hunted and in turn was hunted by monsters, he supposed that she never had a choice. "So what happened?"
"About a month or two ago this group of kids go poking around this local haunted house and they see a dead girl hanging in the cellar," Sam explained the situation as the two other people in the car listened to him. He was always the one that found the cases, and he realised that while Valerie was interested she was a bit like Dean. Instead of looking herself, she let him tell her about weird going ons.
"Anybody ID the corpse?"
"By the time the cops got there, the body was gone," Sam answered with a shrug. It was clear that he believed that there was indeed something there. But neither Dean nor Valerie were all that convinced. Dean followed that up, asking where his brother got the information from. There was a silence, that was quite awkward. Sam felt unsure with passing that information on, when he finally did the hesitance was still obvious. " "
Valerie didn't hold back a short laugh.
"I thought that your research came from reputable sources," the blonde teased, amusement sparkling in his eyes as Sam shot her a dirty look. It only made the demigod dissolve into giggles, rather than having the intended affect.
"We've got to find ourselves something to hunt, there's nothing wrong with checking this out," Sam defended himself from both his brother and the girl that had joined their little party. Dean was the one who ultimately sighed, giving in to his brother's argument. Valerie was starting to hope that maybe, just maybe, this would be nothing more than a simple rumour.
"We should've started with this," Valerie commented as they walked towards the abandoned house. They arrived in the town at night, interviewing the kids before they went to the motel. So far today they'd had breakfast, interviewed the guy who took them there and were finally at the house that was supposedly haunted.
"Well we're looking at it now," Dean responded dryly, all of them were looking at the state of the house. It was definitely run down. "So much for curb appeal."
"Obviously ghosts don't think about that too much," Valerie answered with a shrug. She was creeped out, mentally throwing prayers to her father. She didn't want to show that she was in fact scared, unsure what was going to happen. Personally she was just hoping that she wouldn't be hung up on the rafters. Sam threw her a comforting smile, and Valerie tried to return it, it resembled more of a grimace. Mentally she winced at the thought, knowing that her fear was showing.
She was a Daughter of Ares, a ghost shouldn't scare her. If it tried to kill her, she had to kill it first. That was her overall aim.
"You got something?" Sam called out, his attention turning to his brother.
"The EMFs no good," Dean answered, concentrating on the device he was holding in his hands before he looked up at his younger brother again. Whilst he explained why it was probably screwed, he finally made the decision to go in and check it out. Valerie followed without question, not allowing her body to hesitate. Pulling her dagger out, she clenched it tightly in her hand. Her blue eyes were scanning the room for any sign of the ghost that was meant to be there, trying to stay close to Sam. Having one of the guys with her might just stop it from trying to get her she reasoned mentally.
It was creepy at best, blackened walls that were covered with odd red drawings all around them. Nothing was that familiar to Valerie, but that was because there was nothing Greek that was there. Based on the conversation going on between the brothers, they did however recognise some of the symbols.
"This is exactly why you never get laid," Dean mocked his brother.
"Intelligence has it's own appeal," she commented with a shrug. Dean threw her a look, raising his eyebrows. Valerie just shrugged again. "Like… if I were to pick a guy to marry, I'd hope he'd be intelligent."
"There might be a hope for you after all, Sammy," Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder. Both Sam and the demigod rolled their eyes at the older Winchester's antics. Thankfully both of the brothers turned their attention back to the markings that were on the walls rather than going on about it. "Have you seen this one before?"
"No," Sam responded, both brothers focussed entirely on one symbol. It looked like a plus, with a hook hanging on the bottom. Again, it wasn't familiar to the blonde. She fidgeted instead, her eyes still darting around the room. At one point she was certain she saw movement, that she saw something, her body shifting towards the brothers as she looked at that spot. Her grip on her weapon tightened. Swallowing she tried to stay still, eyes continuing to scan. Breathe. Slow your heart. Focus. She flinched as a hand landed on her arm, turning to see Sam.
"I'm alright," she told him, unsure whether he'd verbally asked her or not. She was happy that they were leaving though, all her senses telling her she was in danger. Somehow, the blonde wouldn't have been surprised if it was all in her head though.
She flinched as a foreign sound entered her ears, eyes starting to the cause and the brothers. They were having the same reaction, something that relieved her because it meant she wasn't just going insane. The trio rushed to the door, the demigod in the corner behind Dean. She would've preferred standing right in front of it and just shooting if anything went wrong, but that would also endanger the brothers.
They stormed in, immediately blinded by bright lights. Valerie was behind the boys, but she could practically sense where they were as she instinctively through the knife. A crashing sound echoed, one of the lights going off. At that point she realised it was probably just torches.
And she'd successfully attacked a mortal.
Wincing at the thought she mentally slapped herself for being so worked up.
"What the hell?" an unfamiliar male voice broke the silence.
"Just a couple of humans," another murmured, the lights being shifted away. As Valerie's eyes readjusted she raised an eyebrow at the two people she saw standing there. Nerds, that would be the best way to describe them. One with curls and glasses, and another who seemed to be trying too hard to look cool.
"What are you doing here?" Dean asked, a question that was also bothering both his brother and the demigod.
"We belong here," the curly haired man responded as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're professionals."
"Professional what?"
"Paranormal investigators," he answered in a tone that made it obvious he thought the trio standing across from him were idiots. Valerie almost started laughing at the thought, the brothers looking at one another in a way that clearly stated they couldn't believe the turn of events. Though there was also some sense of amusement there as well.
"You have got to be kidding me," Dean commented, his eyes darting between the card and the two men.
"I honestly don't think they are," Valerie said with a false cheeriness, unable to get rid of the amused smirk that was on her face. These guys didn't have a clue what they were in for, if they actually found anything.
"We're huge fans," Dean commented sarcastically. It wasn't something that could be missed easily.
"We know who you guys are too," the guy responded. The trio of hunters stopped, turning to face him uneasily. "Amateurs. Looking for ghosts and cheap thrills."
At that the trio relaxed once again. It would've been a lot worse if the two 'paranormal investigators' knew the truth about hunters and everything in the real world. They didn't seem cut out for it at all. What was amusing though was the discussion in which Sam and Dean pretended to know nothing about EMF. Whilst it was amusing for all three of them, the demigod was slightly distracted. Valerie, while Sam and Dean kept the two men busy asking questions and getting arrogant and condescending answers, quickly retrieved the knife that she had thrown. The mist probably made it seem as if she had shot at them and missed or something.
Sometimes it was really useful.
Leaving the house to the two men, that were sure that they knew what they were dealing with, they ended up returning to town.
"Do you want to help me in the library or go with Dean to check on the records of this girl?" Sam asked her as they had settled back in. So far she had gotten away without doing much research, though the brothers hadn't required an explanation yet. She didn't want to start on the whole, 'give me Ancient Greek, English doesn't work for me,' spiel yet so she just smiled.
"I'd like to check the records with Dean if that's alright," the blonde offered diplomatically, a small smile on her face.
"Alright."
"So much for nothing," Valerie murmured to the brothers, her eyebrows knitted together as she watched a body being wheeled out of the house that only yesterday they decided was clean of paranormal activity. Something inside her was just grateful that she wasn't the body though.
"What happened?" Dean asked another man who happened to be on the scene.
"A couple of cops say that the poor girl hung herself," the tiro exchanged unsure glances. As he continued his description, Valerie couldn't help but feel more and more uneasy.
They made the slow walk back to the Impala, quietly talking about how they planned to deal with what was going on.
"Valerie should stay out of this one, if it's attacking girls particularly," Sam said, looking between his brother and the demigod in question.
"If it's attacking girls, maybe it'll show itself if we have her with us," Dean countered.
"You want to use her as bait?" Sam questioned, looking at his brother as if he had grown another head. Or killed a human. In this case it was probably more the latter, and referring to her inevitable death. At least that's how Valerie was analysing the situation.
"Do you have a better idea, Sammy?"
"Yeah, having a look around and working it out without putting her at risk," Sam was starting to raise his voice at his brother, though Dean didn't seem to waver at all when it came to his own thought process.
"Dean's right," Valerie finally spoke up for herself. She at least knew how to defend herself. If the monster was anything like what she was used to, she wouldn't be completely helpless. She couldn't allow another mortal to die just because she was too scared to take on whatever this was. Sam looked at her disapprovingly, while Dean seemed a mixture of smug and proud of her. "It'll be three against one if it shows up Sam… those are pretty good odds compared to what I'm used to."
The tallest of the group sighed, running a hand through his hair as they finally all managed to get into the Impala.
"We'll stick together though, no splitting up. Definitely not for you Val," Sam gave in, though the demigod could see that he was still concerned about it. It made her smile, not many people had ever cared whether or not she would survive. It was comforting to know that at least here, wherever this America was, someone would mourn her.
A/N:
Sorry guys, I've got exams over the next couple of weeks so I haven't got as much time as I normally would in order to update. I've gone with an episode, which you'll all recognise, and it'll be finished off in the next chapter.
After that there's going to be an original case, centred around Valerie's world.
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