Chapter 3

Lily woke with her arms locked in front of her with heavy chains. She was lying on a smooth cement floor in the middle of a windowless room; dark save for a sliver of light coming in under the door a ways ahead of her. She had a splitting headache and was chilled to the bone. She tried to stand, taking the heavy chains with her and was overcome with a wave of dizziness. She fell back to the floor with a loud clank. That, apparently, was the cue her captors were waiting for and she was startled suddenly by a slamming door and a blinding light. Dean stomped in, followed by Sam and the lights went on. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw her prison clearly. She was in a storage room of sorts, and the floor around her was covered in symbols she had never seen before.

Dean was rummaging around behind the shelves and came back with a small cart laden with knives and other odd things. Sam leaned against the far wall with a concerned frown on his face. Dean dragged her up by her chained wrists and hung them from a hook in the ceiling so her toes barely scraped the ground. This was not good.

"All right listen up." Dean was circling her like a shark, playing with a wicked looking knife carved in runes, "This is how our little game is gonna go. We ask questions. You answer questions. You don't cooperate, I don't like your answers, your ass gets a little taste of this." He gestured to the cart.

Lily's eyes widened in fear in spite of herself and she stared hard at the floor. Dean tilted her chin up with his knife so she was forced to meet his eyes.

"Do you understand me." None of Dean's questions sounded like questions; they were more like threats. Lily's voice felt broken, like her spirit. She nodded as best she could with the knife under her chin. Dean wasn't satisfied.

"Use your words, princess." Lily gulped and tried again.

"Ye- Yes…sir," she managed to whisper, adding the reverent title as a hasty attempt to get on the rough one's good side.

"Good. Let's get started." Sam stepped forward at this.

"Let's start at the beginning, something easy. What's your name?" Sam's voice was calm and steady.

"Um."

"You're not playing by the rules, sweetheart." Dean's voice came from somewhere outside of her periphery.

"It's in your best interest to be completely honest with us." Sam added. Lily let out a heavy, shaky sigh.

"I guess….I should start at the beginning." The brothers shared a look. Lily tried to start, choked back tears and attempted to steady her voice before beginning again; "Mother-I mean Rowena- calls me Maedh, but my name is Lily."

"Hold on. Mother?!" Dean's tone was incredulous. Lily stuttered, thrown off by the interruption and unsure of what to say.

"Let her finish" Lily looked between the brothers, then continued, unable to stop the torrent of words that came pouring out of her haltingly.

"Umm…anyways, That's what my mum named me…Lily. I guess Mum fancied herself a bit of a witch, at least that's what I'm told; she died when I was little. Ran afoul of Rowena, who took everything from her as punishment…uh…including me. Among other things like who was more powerful and all that, they fought over my dad, some insignificant rich guy, and it became a beauty competition. My dad picked Mum. As revenge and in anger because she lost, Rowena tricked my dad with magic. He killed Mum and then Rowena killed him for fun, but decided I should live because…well as she tells me 'I like someone to do the washing up'" Lily affected Rowena's lilting voice, and Sam fought to cover up a smirk. "I guess that would be me. I was four. Ever since then I've been Rowena's…well…stepdaughter or slave or whatever. She makes me call her Mother and hates me because I look like my mum, who won their little contest. I guess I'm a constant reminder of her age and her failure or something….she holds grudges for a really long time, learned that the hard way. Um so I clean and cook and recently she sends me out on terrible errands because she's afraid of getting caught or captured by somebody;" realization dawned on her suddenly and she looked up from the floor;

"Afraid of you I guess. Anyways she disappeared for a little while and left me chained up so I couldn't escape. I almost died. Turns out she was with her son. Never even told me she had one. She was different when she came back; cautious and secretive and treated me even worse than before. I get beaten for things I don't even do wrong now. At least before there was a reason. And she experiments on me, trying new spells. It's like torture;" She paused for a minute, trembling, unable to stop the flow of tears that wet her cheeks. She'd never gotten it all out in one go. "I- I hate her."

The last bit she whispered, choking back the sob of release that threatened to follow.

"Why did you stay." Sam's voice was steady.

"I-I don't know really. She said she would kill me if I ever ran away or talked. I've seen her kill people. She can make it last days…and, well I didn't have anyone else."

She trailed off, still staring at the floor. Sam looked at Dean meaningfully. Dean pushed himself off the wall where he had been listening in the shadows.

"How old are you." Dean's tone was hard and suspicious.

"Um…17? I think. I don't celebrate my birthday but-"

"No how old are you really." Lily balked at the question for a moment, unsure of what he was fishing for.

"I-I- I'm not like Rowena!" Lily fought to keep her voice calm. "My mum was old like her but I don't do magic. My birth was accidental and unwanted…so Rowena tells me. I mean witches don't like to be bothered with kids I guess so…"

"Bullshit." Lily felt something dangerous rising in her at Dean's comment.

"Do you really think Rowena would let me alter my appearance? God forbid anyone is more beautiful or powerful than her." She scoffed, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "I wasn't even allowed to hide my cuts and bruises."

"I want to know about the magic." Dean's gravelly voice punctuated the silence.

"I…I don't understand"

"Wrong answer, princess." Dean spit the last word like it was poison and started circling her again slowly, his boots making echoes in the room. Sam coughed purposefully from the side.

"What Dean is asking is-"

"What magic?!" Lily leaned forward, grey eyes flashing, and chest heaving from all the sobs she had shoved back down. She was worked up now, this is what always got her in trouble with Rowena. This was the thing that got her beat, but she couldn't stop. "I-I- I don't practice magic! I refused! R-R- Rowena practiced ON me. She scarred me in ways that c-c-cannot be healed a-a-and did it with a smile! I didn't to go to s-s-school, or make f-f-friends. And after all that, sh-sh-she's the only family I ever had and she j-j-just left me! Left me to rot and die twice! I-I-I don't want to be like her! I would rather die than be like her! I hate magic and her and everything!"

The wind suddenly left her sails and she sagged against the chains, quietly crying. All her futile attempts at morality. Letting animals out of their cages and getting beaten for it. Refusing to kill even a cockroach. She was still tainted by Rowena and by her past. And she would die for it, she felt it with certainty and a deadened peace washed over her.

"We found amulets and various other things on you when we- when you were knocked out." Sam's voice was even and neutral, trying to coax answers out of her. Lily's voice came out of her flattened and defeated. She listed everything with detachment.

"Trackers, so she knew where I was. Finder spells for ingredients. Quick transport within the local area, for running errands. Herbs she sent me to buy." Dean and Sam muttered together for a moment. Lily heard "Iron" and "truth" but made no effort to listen any closer.

"Convenient, to say you don't do magic while you're chained with iron so you can't prove it." It was an accusation from Dean, but his tone was quieter than before. Lily didn't answer right away and didn't look up.

"I used to be so concerned with survival when Rowena had me. I thought, when the time came, that I would be afraid to die," She glanced at Dean out of the corner of her eye and continued quietly; "But I'm not anymore. I think it will be a long nap that never ends, which sounds ok, actually…"

The silence settled over her like a blanket, warm and soothing rather than awkward. Soon that's all there would be. It might be nice to have quiet finally.

"Lily," Sam's voice flowed over her, gentle, "you aren't going to die. We're just-"

"No I get it. I'm a potential threat. You have no reason to trust me and I've no way to prove my point." She let out a shaky sigh and looked up, at Sam first and then Dean, forcing herself to hold his gaze. "You know, I'd rather die here, with you, than with her. I've never met anyone that wasn't…you care about each other. I can tell. And you've been kinder to me than she ever was-"

Lily looked up at Sam, "and, well I'm a stranger; a prisoner. I-"

Lily dropped her gaze, spent completely, and waited for the end.

"Enough." Dean walked up to her and unhooked her from the ceiling. She dropped to the floor immediately, unable to hold herself up. Dean caught her just as she fell, lowering her so she didn't hit against the cement. He walked around a shelf and returned with keys and rope. "Ok, listen up. Against my better judgement I'm gonna unlock you."

Lily gasped and looked up from the floor, not expecting that particular plot twist.

"Not so fast. You're gonna get nice and comfy in here until I'm convinced of your innocence. You'll still be tied, but the rope shouldn't chafe as much as the cuffs." Dean knelt next to her and unlocked the heavy chains. Then he tied Lily's wrists, not uncomfortably, together with the rope, let out a long tether, and tied that to the hook in the ceiling. It acted like a leash. She could move around comfortably, but not far enough to reach the shelves or the door. When he finished, he stepped back to observe his handiwork. "Sam and I are trusting you at your word. Do you think you can keep out of trouble while we figure out what to do with you?"

Lily nodded vigorously; "Yes, sir." She added in a whisper, remembering his reaction to her wordless replies earlier.

"Good girl." They both turned, clicked the light and left, leaving her in darkness. Once they were gone Lily lay down on the floor, careful of her scratches and bruises, and cried herself into an exhausted sleep.