My first assignment was with witches. It was decided that I was to receive more training first, and learn as much as possible, whereas Mary would help recruit other Hunters after she got used to the operation.
Ketch gave me a few options of ones they knew, but I was to find out what they didn't know. Who was powerful, who was around, who had more mojo than the others.
"Rowena, for example, would be a prime candidate." He offered. I shook my head immediately.
"I've already copied what she had and learned from her." I said. I didn't mention the Book of the Damned. That was one secret they didn't quite have out of me just yet. I was saving that for an emergency.
"Alright." He said. "I assume you have ideas as to who to find?"
"I've got a few spells in mind." I answered. "They can latch on to large and old powers, and direct me to them." I'd upgraded the "Google Maps" spell from tracking Lucifer. It should work much better for finding other witches.
"Very well." He said. "I'll leave you to it then."
And I was left to my own devices. Ketch trusted how I operated. As long as I checked in with him once every week or two with general updates and called if I got a big lead, I was good.
So I got to work. I went back to the cabin, first, and saw it was now mostly abandoned. Nobody had been in there since Karma, as I could see from the leftover chunks of meat in the fridge. The curtains had been replaced again. That was new.
I gave Crowley a short call to let him know I was staying there. He didn't answer. I doubted he would mind, though. He'd told me I could use it already. Ketch had offered getting me, you know, an actual room or apartment somewhere.
I didn't need that. It would give me away, anyways. Besides, there was something I missed more than a little bit.
I hadn't taken my bike with me after we'd first brought it to the cabin. I'd left it here and just showed up places. I kinda missed having a ride.
It was still there, behind the cabin and under a tarp. I smiled when I saw it. Didn't even need gas yet. I'd refilled her before we'd gotten here. Condition was good. I hadn't enchanted it to stay that way, I'd left it as is. Proof that I didn't need magic necessarily, you know?
"Karma, I think we're set." I muttered, smiling. She barked happily beside me. "Alright, I'm gonna start working on a spell, make a few calls maybe," I told the dog. "You need a new toy to play with." I thought for a moment. I could get her a new stick set up, yeah. But that was easy.
I needed to stretch my powers.
I ducked back inside for a moment, picking up the ingredients I would need. As many different scents as possible. Werewolf fur, vampire blood, wendigo toenail, shapeshifter skin, fairy wing, lamia tooth, rugaru bone, siren spit, ectoplasm, anything I could find that would represent a different creature from my stores (that Crowley had generously donated to over time).
I got a wooden bowl, and thought about how exactly I wanted to do this. "I want to set it up to generate randomly," I muttered. "And act like their intended monster, but then when it's defeated I want it to reset." I pulled out my laptop, and went to golem lore. A constantly changing golem was what I would want. However, there wasn't really any that did that.
I called T.J. a minute later. "Hey, I've got a question." I said.
"Little busy!" He muttered. I heard a slash, followed by a scream that wasn't his.
"Weren't you just looking for a grimoire?"
"Yeah!" Something slammed hard near the phone, and I heard T.J. mutter a small set of swears. "Found zombies!"
"Ooh! Zombies!" I went back to my ingredients for a second and rooted around. I knew I had a zombie eye in there somewhere. "Which kind? Bite you and change you kind or just really hungry kind?"
"Regenerating kind!"
"There's a regenerating kind?" I asked. "And you didn't call me?!"
"I DIDN'T KNOW!" He shouted suddenly. "HOLD ON!" There was a slam, followed by more screams and a schlick sound. "KEEP THAT HEAD IN A PILE WITH THE OTHERS!"
"You've got a pile of heads?" I asked.
"It keeps them from reattaching to the bodies!" He muttered.
"What're you doing with the bodies?"
"TRYING TO KILL THEM!"
"Have you tried setting them on fire?" I asked.
"NO MATCHES!" I heard someone else shout something I couldn't hear. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU'VE HAD MATCHES THIS WHOLE TIME?! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL, GARY?!"
"Gary?"
"I'm going to need to call you back." T.J. said.
"You want help?" I offered. "I'm thinking if you kill the brain you should be fine."
"IT'S DECOMPOSING SKIN! IT'LL LIGHT EASY!" T.J. shouted. "TRY THE HEADS!" There was a small pause. "SHIT. RUN!"
"T.J.?!" There was an explosion a second later. "T.J.!"
"WHAT?!"
"What the hell happened?"
"Gary decided to throw a grenade instead of the fucking matches." I could almost feel the flare that went with it.
"Who is Gary again?"
"A complete and utter moron." He answered. "What do you need?"
"I just wanted to bounce an idea off of you."
"You called," T.J. stated. "While I was in the middle of fighting for my life, to bounce around ideas?"
"Yep."
"You're insufferable."
"And you missed me." I challenged. No response. I had him. "Look, it's just a training exercise. I was thinking of modifying a golem so that it worked similarly to Karma's bone, but going with golem lore it wouldn't particularly work easily."
"Does it have to be mobile?"
"Preferably, yeah."
"What about that water copy thing you told me about?" He asked. "Would that work?" I thought it over, running a few calculations through my head.
"Probably." I agreed. "Actually, yeah, that would work no problem. And with it being a water-based creature it would be easy to re-form and disappear for practice. Thanks!"
"No problem. While I've got you here, I have a question."
"For the necromancer to cast a spell like that, they'll need a fair amount of mojo working. At the same time, they'll need to be nearby to cast the spell and keep the zombies regenerating. Ingredients would include a bone from a vampire, hair from a murdered innocent, and…" I thought for a minute. "Blood from the caster, however if they're a novice it'll have knocked them down for a while. If they've got experience they'll still be up and walking, but no spellcasting for a while."
"Check hospitals, recent deaths, and how would you suggest finding a vampire bone?"
"They turn to ash pretty easily." I thought. "But you would need that transition to happen in the middle of the spell."
"That's not helping."
"Are there any recent vampire sightings in the area?" I offered. "Or a possible nest?"
"I'll look in to it." He said.
"And hey, something like this would definitely sap at his life force." I added. "Their hair would definitely have lost its color, maybe even have fallen out. There should be other physical signs too, but that would be the main one."
"Thank you." I could hear his smile. "How is it going in America?"
"Pretty well." I smiled as well. "I'm working on finding older magic and witches that're hiding out here."
"Have you talked with Castiel yet?"
"No." I felt my voice change with it, and I knew T.J. heard it too.
"What happened?"
"I… I watched him kill someone." I said. "Someone important to me." I was about to say more, but I heard it, in the back of my head.
Nuh-nah-ee-luh zee-rum ah-duh-fantuh. Oh-law zeer ah tee-loh-kah. Yar-ree fee-fee-suh, pie neez.
It kept repeating over and over, and I could feel it, feel the meaning. Someone was begging for help, begging for rescue. I crouched down, dropping the phone as I clutched my head. I wasn't supposed to hear this. Why was I hearing this? God, it hurt so much.
"Kylie?!" I could barely hear T.J.'s phone. "Kylie!"
That's right, call your friends. A female voice, one I didn't know. I've waited so long.
Then it stopped. I groaned. That hurt like a bitch. "KYLIE! ANSWER ME!" I picked up the phone slowly, clenching my eyes shut to fight off the migraine.
"Please don't shout." I requested. "It hurts."
"What happened?"
"No idea." I muttered. "I'll call you when I find out."
"Don't you dare hang up on me."
"Sorry." I hit the end call button before he could keep talking. Karma let out a sharp bark, and I could hear her scratching at the wood. "It's OK!" I called out to her, rubbing my forehead. The last time I had a headache like that, Lucifer had a kid conceived.
And it had been blasted out through angel frequencies.
"Fuck." I muttered. Angels. Angels crying out for help. I took a seat, keeping my forehead balanced on my fingertips. "It's not my job." I muttered. "It's not my assignment. It's not what I'm supposed to be looking in to."
Four painkillers, three mistrials in spellwork, and a few hours later I knew where it had originated from. I could go. I could see what had happened.
Or I could stay, and follow up on finding different witches.
"Angels aren't my job." I repeated. "They're not my area. That's…"
Castiel's people. Castiel's job. Not mine. It's not supposed to be mine.
I packed quickly, and went outside. It was a bar that wasn't too far from here, maybe a few hours, tops. It was pretty much closing time anyways. Pop in, pop out, five minutes max, and then I'm back here working on witches.
"It would be wrong for me not to look in to it." I decided. "It would be extremely wrong."
That was what I kept telling myself the whole way there. It would be wrong not to investigate. If angels are getting in trouble someone is hunting them, which is bad. It would be completely irresponsible of me to ignore this.
I couldn't help feeling, though, that no matter how many different ways I tried to rationalize this, it was all just a bunch of lies.
