Supernatural
"Family Ties"
Chapter 5
The next two days were the longest two days of Hannah's life. She'd likened it to someone taking a pregnancy test and sweating over two lines or one. The inner battle of whether to be happy or angry plagued her. The thirty five years she'd spent on this earth was a lie…maybe. Never having anyone to go to or a shoulder to cry on was something that always ate at her. Now, all of a sudden, a younger brother shows up with an angel wanting her to save her twin brother who was a demon. Her life was something straight out of a Stephen King book. She figured any minute, she would wake up and it would have all been a nightmare.
Miraculously she'd managed to save her job after taking off with Castiel and Sam after the accident. She coughed a story about having to go to the police station and give a statement about what happened. She counted her lucky stars that her boss was decent human being and sympathetic to two idiots deciding to run each other over. Every time the coffee shop doorbell jingled, she expected the angel or Sam to walk in, but not before another demon. She knew she was playing games with her life by staying there, but she'd grown attached to this town while trying to make a life. The results of the test would decide her fate.
Even if the test came out positive, she wasn't entirely sure she'd go with Sam and his angel. For all she knew, they would just use her and spit her out…or maybe worse. She wasn't some kind of tool or weapon to be discarded when it served someone else's purpose. Then again, they could possibly be her flesh and blood. The only surviving family she had. Family. That word alone was a foreign concept. Her parents were honor roll parents either. Dad was abusive cop and mom was a pill-pushing drunk. She overdosed one night and left Hannah to fend for herself with her aggressive father. It had been a bumpy ride, but she made it out alive at seventeen. She ditched her father the first chance she got.
She would never forget the day she discovered her gift. Living on her, she had to find odd jobs to support herself and working in a horse stable for four months taught her more about life than the past twenty years. She'd befriended a horse named Kaylynn. The horse's mane was a beautiful blonde ocean of hair across a stout, muscular frame encased in spots. Every time it came around for feeding, the horse would prick her ears up and whinny for Hannah. She could've sworn the horse smiled at her at one point. Kaylynn was a show horse so she didn't get much out of the stable to run around and graze, and when she did, Hannah had to keep a close eye on her. Little noises would spook her, and Kaylynn would rear up and run.
The stable sat on the edge of a forest that stretched for miles across the Colorado countryside. Hannah had picked up the job as she hitchhiked across the US from Chicago. She didn't know a thing about horses but she faked it and learned as fast as she could. One day when Kaylynn was out grazing in her guarded area, a bear had approached the fence and startled her. In typical fashion, she reared up in fright, but reared so high and so hard, she fell over backwards, slamming into the earth below her. She tried desperately to get up but broke her leg in the process. Hannah would never forget the scream that emanated from the horse's mouth. If her heart had been made of glass, it would've shattered.
Hannah immediately ran to her side in deep fright. Not only would this horse have to be put down, Hannah would also be fired. Tears streamed down Hannah's face as she tried to comfort the animal. A song she'd heard as a child came to mind, and she began to hum it while she rubbed the horse's neck.
"I'm so sorry, Kaylynn. This is all of my fault," she cried.
As she continued to hum and the stroked the downed animal, the horse's broken leg began to twitch and with a lunge, the horse shot to its feet and began to trot around excitedly. Hannah stared in amazement. She'd seen the bone protruding thru the skin, and a small pool of blood caked up the dirt at her feet. But the leg was in perfect order, and so was Kaylynn's spirit. The bear was a forgotten memory, as it had taken off when the horse reared up in terror.
Hannah bent over at the horse's knee and ran her hands up and down the mended leg and felt all the strong tendons and solid bone beneath the skin.
"Kaylynn, what did you do?" she patted her on the side. "You gotta show me that trick again someday. I thought you and I were finished."
The horse nuzzled Hannah's face and trotted toward the gate leading to the stable. All Hannah could do was stare in awe. Had she done that? She'd ask herself that again three weeks later when she witnessed a stray dog get hit by a passing car. The poor thing had been mangled by the front grill of the vehicle, and Hannah would never forget the wheezing breaths it took before it died. She rubbed and petted it while singing that old song by some band her mother used to play until the sun rose. It was the only fond memory Hannah had of her mother.
The broken skin, shattered bones, and marrow began to piece itself back together right in front of her. After moments of witnessing a miracle, the dog jumped up, licked her shaking hand and ran off into the woods. She sat in the road for a very long time and absorbed the scene that had just unfolded in front of her. It was her. She healed the dog just like she'd healed the horse. Not only healed, but resurrected. She was certain that dog died. Not a shadow of a doubt, she'd seen the life leave that dog's eyes. Yet, he was off gallivanting in the woods probably chasing squirrels at that point. She went on to healing much more than animals.
The day on which she exorcised her first demon still woke her up in cold sweats. Hannah was not a religious person at all. She didn't claim any faith or any god for that matter. What kind of god would give her these powers and no instructions or warning about what to do with them? They were both a curse and a blessing. The guy she had been dating took her out hiking one day so they could catch a sunset over the mountains. She'd actually been expecting him to propose to her since he was acting funny and secretive. The laugh that came from his mouth never ceased to give her chills. He'd grabbed her from behind and slung her to the ground. When she managed to get her vision back from her head being slammed into the ground, she was staring back into blackness. Only two black eye-sockets stared back at her. His smile stretched across his face like a snake about to strike its prey.
A cold hand wrapped around her throat and began to choke her. The stench from his breath wafted through her nostrils in between gasping heaves of breath. It smelled like death, like four day old fish and moldy bread.
"We've been searching for you for a very long time. Azazel will be very happy, that is, if I don't take you all for myself," he bent over and licked the side of her face.
In his moment of infatuation, his hand had loosened up enough for her to speak. With every bit of oxygen left in her brain, she did the only thing that came to mind.
"I rebuke you, demon," she screamed and plunged her fingers into his eyes. The demon, also known as Tom, hissed with pain and writhed under hand. He yelled in agony and a black cloud of air burst from his mouth into the trees above them. His body fell limp on top of her and rolled off. She coughed and gagged for air as her lungs were starving. She didn't know where that sentence had come from. No religious texts, no exorcist movies, no attending mass. It had come to her in a moment of pure desperation and she'd sent a demon straight to hell. Tom hadn't been the last either.
"Hannah? Hannah? Table six needs a refill and you have a new customer at the bar."
Hannah awoke from her daydream and wondered how long she'd been standing there thinking about where her life had brought her.
"Uh, yeah. Ok," Hannah placed a hand to her forehead to wipe the sweat from her brow.
"You ok, Hannah? You look like hell," Nikki, her fellow barista coworker, said.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," Hannah sighed as she refilled her coffee pot. She walked over to table 6 and refilled the woman's empty coffee cup. As she placed the pot behind the counter, she walked up to the man sitting at the end of the bar to take his order.
"Hi there. What can I get you?"
His smile charmed her before he even spoke a word. He was a shorter, portly man with brown hair and a toothpick jumping at the corner of his mouth.
"Do you happen to have a pint of Glencraig?" he asked with a very strong East London accent.
"Afraid not, Sir," she smiled. "The strongest thing we have here is the endless amount of espresso, if that's your cup of tea."
He smiled again, and Hannah was fascinated how the toothpick never fell from his mouth.
"I'll have a cup of tea then," he said again and leaned over to get a close look at her nametag. "Earl Grey, if you have any…Hannah."
"One cup of Earl Grey coming up," she smiled back. "Say, you're not from around here. Where are you from?"
"Lawrence, Kansas," he grinned.
She knew he was putting her on, but his charm didn't allow her to be irritated long. She poured a steaming cup of hot water into a Styrofoam container and dropped a tea bag in it.
"Cream and sugar?" she asked him.
"Be still my heart," he cooed.
Hannah almost wanted to roll her eyes. Laying it on a bit thick, pal? She poured a small amount of milk into a saucer and placed a few sugar packets on the counter next to his cup.
"Ah, the American charm of serving tea. I sure do miss the homeland," he mumbled under his breath, but Hannah had heard every word perfectly.
"Can I get you anything else….?" Hannah paused at the end, hinting she wanted to know his name.
"Alastair. Alastair from Lawrence, Kansas," he stuck out his hand to shake hers.
She couldn't help but laugh, and she laughed harder than she wanted to. It felt good to laugh. She hadn't laughed in a very long time.
"Hannah. Hannah from Billings, Montana," she reached to oblige his handshake, but before she could connect, the sound of shattering glass made her jump. She'd knocked her coffee pot into the floor, and hot coffee sprayed all over her black shoes.
"Son of a -," she cut herself off. Her boss was in ear's shot, and she didn't want to get in trouble for cursing in front of the customers again. She quickly grabbed a nearby towel and mopped up the brown liquid oozing across the floor. When she stood up to acknowledge Alastair again, his seat was empty. He'd disappeared.
"That jerk. He stiffed me," Hannah chunked the emptied cup into the trash can behind the counter. This day wasn't shaping up to be promising, and the DNA test results were due today as well. She pulled her cell phone out to see if she'd missed a phone call, but no missed-call icon displayed on the screen.
As if the phone had read her mind, it chirped to life with a local area code and number.
"Hello?" she asked, rattled.
"Is this Hannah?" a male voice on the other end asked.
"It is," she replied.
"This is Dr. Langford from Nelson Laboratories. We have your test results. The sample you provided for yourself and the sample you provided from the donor are a 99% match. You are indeed related to this person. It would be safe to assume they are a sibling or parent."
Hannah couldn't speak. She'd been so positive they were lying, and yet, here were the facts.
"Miss Yeager? Are you there?" Dr. Langford asked.
She'd gone by so many different names in the past few years, she almost never recognized the fake ones when she was addressed.
"Uh, yes, sorry. Thank you, Dr. Langford. I will let them know," she hung up the phone before the doctor could respond.
Nikki tapped her on the shoulder, "What are you still doing here? Your shift ended five minutes ago?"
Hannah jumped which made Nikki jump. She laughed off her unease, "I'm sorry. Just on edge. That last customer stiffed me so you'll have to take it out of my paycheck."
She didn't really care as this was her last day of work at the coffee shop. She was about to start a new path in life, and unfortunately it couldn't be here. She untied her apron and threw it over her shoulder. Nikki counted out Hannah's tips for the day, and Hannah thanked her and waved goodbye. She'd miss Nikki as Hannah had grown very fond of her in the past few months.
Hannah figured Sam and Castiel weren't coming as they'd not shown up yet. As she walked out the coffee shop door, she fumbled the money in her hand and it flew all over the sidewalk. She quickly bent down and scooped up the dancing dollars as they jumped up and down along the sidewalk. She huffed loudly with anger as she snatched each one up. As she reached for the last one, she caught a glimpse of the guy who stiffed her, Alastair.
"Hey! You! You owe me for a cup of tea, you jerk!"
He paid her no attention as he kept walking further down the street. She wasn't going to be ignored and walked over, so she took off running towards him. The black blur drove past in the opposite direction, and Hannah caught a glimpse of Sam's dumbfounded face staring out the window at her as she raced by.
As she approached Alastair, she dropped her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
"Excuse me! I was talking to -," Hannah was about to curse him when a lightning bolt of pain ran straight up her arm. She snatched it back as he turned around, all smiles.
The screech of car tires wailed behind her as Sam flipped the car in reverse. It came to a rolling stop next to her, and Castiel jumped out of the back seat.
Hannah could feel her eyes starting to dry out from being open so wide for so long. Her arm was seizing as the stinging heat burned her skin. There was only type of instance where she'd felt this…when she'd come in contact with a demon.
She felt Castiel's arm wrap around her, and the next thing she knew, she was sitting in the back of the Impala.
"Sam, go! It's Crowley." Castiel spat.