Chapter Thirty
"No, she's asleep," Dean answered, his voice quiet. He had stepped outside so he could talk to Sam without waking Amie up. "Well, it's probably because she got drunk." He paused, listening. "Yes, really," he laughed. "If she hadn't, she would have gone off after the pureblood, even though we're not exactly sure where it is. We're gonna start in Idaho. Idaho Falls to be exact. I'm going to let her sleep for a couple hours, then we'll leave, stop and get you and head out. I'll call when we're close. Later."
Dean leaned against the wall of the motel, enjoying the feel of the crisp, fall air. He needed to go in and sleep for a while. They had a fifteen hour trip to Idaho ahead of them. He just needed a minute to process everything that had happened this evening. He was thankful Amie had finally fallen asleep. Well, maybe passed out was a better way of putting it.
Once they had figured out that this actually was the werewolf she was after, she had paced around the small motel room, wringing her hands and muttering. Dean had let her move around, knowing that the nervous energy she was feeling was normal. He'd poured her a drink, waiting to catch her eye. Once she slowed down long enough to actually focus on him, he put the whiskey in her hand.
"You need to calm down, baby," he'd requested. "Take a couple of deep breaths and drink that. I know you're anxious to go, and we will, soon. I promise. But we still have some work to do. We can't just take off with no idea where to go."
Amie had nodded at him, grimacing as she chugged the drink. She held the empty glass out to Dean and he poured her another one from the bottle in his hand.
One hour and five drinks later they had figured out they needed to go to Idaho Falls, Idaho. The werewolf, Gibbons, had several bank accounts near or in that area. It was as good a place to start as any.
Amie had wanted to leave right away. It took him a while, but Dean had finally convinced her that they both needed sleep and that they should also stop and get Sam. The more hunters the better. Scratch that. The more hunters Dean could trust the better. Once she had quit arguing with him and agreed to wait, she had stretched out on the bed, sleep taking her within minutes.
Dean shook his head. He still couldn't believe he was going along with this. He was one hundred percent convinced that this pureblood wanted to kill Amie. He didn't know how he knew, he just felt it in his bones. But, now that Dean understood how important killing it was to Amie he wasn't about to let anything stand in her way. He would do whatever it took to help her kill the monster she had chased for so long.
Dean ran a hand through his hair, his thoughts wandering off in a new direction. Amie didn't know that Cas was only about thirty minutes outside of Idaho Falls in Rexburg. He was going to have to tell her because he should probably stop and check on him while they were there. Introducing Amie to Cas was going to be interesting. His extremely unconventional best friend, a former angel, and the woman he loved. Just the thought made Dean smile.
Time to get some sleep. He slipped back in the room, locking the door behind him. He stripped down to his underwear as he crossed the room. He crawled into the bed, snuggling up to Amie. She turned in her sleep, wrapping her arm around his waist and resting her forehead on his chest. He pressed his cheek to her head and let himself drift off to sleep.
"Here," Dean said as he handed a large Styrofoam cup filled with coffee to Amie through the Impala's window. She took her hand off of her head long enough to take it from him.
"Thanks," she mumbled, wincing.
Dean tried not to laugh as he circled around Baby. Amie had one hell of a hangover. He felt partially responsible, seeing as how he had been the one feeding her drink after drink to get her to calm down. He probably should have stopped her after one or two instead of letting her drink five.
He climbed in the driver's seat, anxious to get on the road. They'd already gotten a later start than he had wanted and this stop for coffee wasn't helping speed things along. He pulled the Impala's heavy door closed as quietly as possible, though he still saw Amie wince at the clunk it made.
"There's some aspirin in the glove box," he reminded her.
She nodded as she opened the glove box. She had to sift around for a couple of minutes, moving old cell phones, maps and bullets aside until she found the bottle all the way in the back. She downed a couple of the aspirin with the water bottle she had resting between her legs, then leaned her head back against the seat with a sigh.
"Come here," Dean coaxed, patting the seat next to him.
Amie slid over and he wrapped his right arm around her, driving with his left. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"Can I ask you a question?" Dean said, trying to keep his voice low.
Amie nodded. "Sure, what is it?"
"Do you have any idea why the werewolf would have put 'Caspian's daughter' in his book?" He watched Amie out of the corner of his eye. "Most of the other entries didn't have names and if they did, it was the family's name. Why would yours say 'Caspian's daughter' instead of 'Williams' family?' And why point out that you were still alive?"
Amie was quiet for so long that Dean was about to repeat the question when she finally answered.
"I'm sure it has to do with my father," she said, her voice catching at the end.
Dean looked at Amie in disbelief, before looking back at the road. "What could it possibly have to do with your father? I thought he was a farmer."
"He was a farmer, sort of. The ranch was actually really successful, so we always had a lot of farmhands and such around. They pretty much took care of the day to day operations. Along with my mom." Amie paused.
"But…?" Dean felt like he was pulling teeth. Nobody really knew a lot about Amie's past. He and Sam had met her two years ago, just days before he ended up in Purgatory, but she'd been hunting for about three years. The only thing Dean knew about her life prior to hunting was that she'd been married with a son and her family had been killed by a werewolf. Anytime her past had come up, she had glossed over it, giving as little detail as possible.
"Daddy was a hunter," she eventually said. "A really good one. He taught me everything he knew, pretty much from the time I could walk. I was making his salt rounds when I was 7, could read and speak perfect Latin by the time I was 10, exorcised my first demon at 12 and killed a vampire when I was just 16. Daddy and Mom were positive I'd follow right in Daddy's footsteps, the good little hunter."
Dean snorted. "The family business."
Amie nodded. "Yeah, the family business. Except I wasn't sure it was what I wanted to do. I remember coming home one night from a hunt just beat to shit and covered in some monster's blood and guts and all I could think was that there had to be more. There had to be a life outside of hunting. I wanted a life, a family. I didn't want to raise my kids to be hunters."
Dean was taken aback at Amie's words. Those were his mom's words. She hadn't wanted her boys to be hunters either.
"I tried for two years to get my father to see my side, to let me try going to college or living on my own for a while. He wouldn't do it. Said the only way I'd be safe was if I stayed with him. I felt trapped, stuck with nowhere to go, my options taken away from me. When I was 19, I packed my stuff and took off. I snuck out in the middle of the night so my father wouldn't stop me. I never saw him or my mother again. I talked to them a few times over the years; sent them pictures of my family, things like that. But I never told them where I was. I guess my mom started drinking heavily after I left—though she'd always had a problem with alcohol—and Daddy just threw himself into hunting, almost constantly on the road. They eventually sold the ranch and as time went on, we quit talking. And now, they're both dead."
Amie stopped. She took a deep breath before continuing, though Dean could tell she was close to breaking down. "Daddy must have crossed this werewolf at some point. Pissed it off, bad enough that killing me and my family is part of its revenge. I can't even remember if I ever hunted a werewolf with him. I'd have to find his journal. I'm pretty sure it's in storage. I haven't looked at it in years, but maybe…."
Dean hugged Amie to his side, dropping a kiss on her temple. "We'll figure it out, don't worry."
Amie shrugged and snuggled into Dean's side, her arm around his waist. After a couple of minutes, he felt her breathing slow down and he knew she was asleep.
It sounded like Amie's father had been a lot like him. Very protective. Dean didn't think Amie realized it, but when she'd been telling him about her father, she said he'd told her that the only way she'd be safe was if she stayed with him. Dean had used those exact words with her. He thought maybe he understood now why they had made her so angry. He knew he was going to have to be careful, to really work at not being so overprotective that he made Amie feel trapped. But of all the things he needed to work on in this relationship that was the hardest. It went against his very nature. His job was to protect the people he cared about. Period.
When Dean pulled Baby into the garage, Sam was just walking back down the stairs. He turned around and came back up, waiting as Dean parked.
"Hey," Sam said, leaning in the driver's side window. He nodded toward Amie, who was stretched out on the front seat, her head on Dean's leg. "What's up with Sleeping Beauty?"
Dean smiled at his brother. "Well, her and Jack got a little friendly last night," he chuckled. "Hangover."
Amie sat up, grimacing. "A bitch of one. It's your brother's fault, too." She crawled out of the car, groaning as she stood up, a hand to her head.
"Me? Yeah, I don't think so." Dean said, feigning innocence. He pushed open the car door, stretching as he got out. He noticed Sam's bags by the stairs. "I see you're ready," he said.
"Yep." Sam crossed around the front of the car and pulled Amie into a hug. "Hey, you. It's good to see you. Do me a favor and don't run off again. We were worried about you."
Amie hugged him back. "I'll try not to, as long as Dean doesn't act like an ass," she smiled.
"Okay, okay. Hands off my woman," Dean joked, pulling Sam and Amie apart. Except he was surprised that he had felt a slight twinge of jealousy when Sam wrapped his arms around Amie.
Amie laughed. "I'm gonna go change and get some clean clothes. And try to find my bottle of Excedrin." She took her backpack out of the car, hanging it by one strap from her shoulder. She turned to Dean, lacing her hands together around his neck. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, urging him with her tongue to kiss her back. He complied.
"Mm, I love you, baby," he told her, not caring that Sam could hear.
Amie kissed him again. "Love you, too," she exhaled.
Sam punched him on the arm as Amie walked away. "I'll be damned, there is a heart in there somewhere. I can't believe you actually did it."
"Yeah, well…," Dean mumbled, not really wanting it to discuss it with Sam. "Someone told me to stop being a little bitch. So, that's what I did."
"Unbelievable. But cool." Sam shook his head, a huge grin on his face. "So, how did…," he started to ask, but Dean stopped him.
"And that's as far as this conversation goes. I love her, I told her, we're good, end of story, roll the credits. Chick flick moment is over, Sammy. Now put your shit in the car so we can leave."
Dean sauntered away, though he could feel Sam's eyes following him. He shook his head. Damn nosy little brother anyway.