Dearest Lovely Readers,
I love you all very, very much. Thank you for being you.
XOXO Ally Layne.
Holy Water
Chapter 30: The Real Housewives of Witchy-Bitch Avenue
"I hate to say I told you so, but I definitely told you so."
Persie was smirking from where she sat in the back seat of the Impala, and without looking, her and Annabeth gave each other a high-five.
"Okay, Nancy Drew, can you tell me where we need to go, now?" Dean asked, rolling his eyes as he saw just how pleased she was with herself through the rearview mirror.
"Sam already looked up where this Amanda chick lives, didn't you Sammy?" Persie asked, looking at the younger Winchester with big, doe eyes.
Annabeth snorted at her friend, but didn't dare say anything because they both knew she was right.
"Well, it was on yellow pages," Sam said, scratching the back of his head. "It was actually easy to find."
"I didn't need to be Nancy Drew when we got the Hardy Boys," Persie commented, leaning back in her seat. "At least, I shouldn't need to be Nancy Drew but sometimes I gotta catch what y'all miss."
Dean shrugged. "Whatever you say, Seph."
She grinned. "I like the sound of that."
Annabeth sighed. "Can you stop?"
She gave the other woman a sly grin. "No."
Sam let out a groan. "Kill me now."
"I thought someone already tried that," Persie deadpanned, quickly shutting him up.
He turned and looked at her with wide eyes. "Rude."
"What are you gonna do, sue me?" She let out a quick strain of laughter. "Oh wait, you never went to law school did you?"
"Although your LSAT score was pretty impressive," Annabeth admitted, crossing her arms. "I don't know if I would get a score that high if I took it right now."
Persie raised her brows. "Really?"
The Daughter of Athena shrugged. "Well, I would probably score higher if I studied, but woe is life."
"But you're planning on UC Berkeley for Architecture, right?"
"Environmental Design, Seaweed Brain. Not Architecture."
"Same thing."
"No, it's really not."
Sam was looking between the two in confusion and awe as Dean pulled the Impala to a stop down the street from their target house. "Am I supposed to ignore the fact that you're going to Berkeley for Environmental Design?"
Dean turned Baby off before looking over his shoulder at the blonde. "Good, looks like you won't be living off credit card scams for the rest of your life."
Persie smiled sweetly. "But being the Official Architect of Olympus does pay well, doesn't it?"
Annabeth's cheeks reddened. "It doesn't pay horribly, no." Her eyes narrowed toward her friend. "But it's not like you haven't gotten compensated for the wars, either."
She held up her hands in surrender. "I'm not saying I haven't, just making a comment." … and trying to show Sam just how smart-acular you are, Persie added in her mind, winking over at Sam.
He blinked, and Persie saw his cheeks start to color with giddiness.
"You guys comin' or what?"
Dean, of course, was already out of the car and getting himself ready by strapping guns and fun to his belt and tucking some other things into the pocket of his leather jacket.
She felt a loony grin slowly tug on her lips, eying his toned abs that showed as he lifted his shirt to tuck the gun into his belt. He's so hot.
Annabeth smacked her on the back of the head. "Wake up. You can make googly eyes at your man later."
Dean winked at Persie. "Later is fine with me, sweetheart."
She raised a brow at the man as she got out of the backseat and reached up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Sounds good, babe." She walked around him toward Amanda's house, smacking his ass as she passed him.
She couldn't help but let out a quiet round of laughter at his little squeak of surprise.
"Seph," He warned after catching up with her. His voice had gone down to a whisper as he looked down at her with darkening eyes. "Don't start something you can't finish."
"Will the two of you stop flirting so we can gank this witch?" Sam asked, from where he stood with Annabeth watching them with crossed arms.
Persie quickly straightened herself, ignoring the fluttering feeling in her belly. "Uh… sure?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes as she walked around Persie and silently made her way to the front door of Amanda's house. "You sure this is the place?"
Sam looked over at the numbers on the side of the house. "Should be."
Dean pulled out his little lock-picking kit, and quickly made do with the lock, and slowly opened the door. Sam stood ready behind him with his gun pointed toward the door.
Persie uncapped Riptide while Annabeth took her obsidian dagger out from its sheath, stalking slowly behind the Winchesters.
They slowly entered the room.
Only to find Amanda, face down on a table, lying in a pool of her own blood.
Persie blinked.
"That's a curveball," Dean commented.
"Yeah," Sam agreed, as they slowly approached the body.
Annabeth leaned over Amanda and lifted her arms with her knife, examining it with a grimace. "Three per wrist, vertical. This was definitely not some sort of weird ritual. She planned to die."
Persie looked at the marks over her shoulder. "No, this wasn't done by her."
Sam and Dean shared a look. "Why do you think that?" Sam asked.
She gestured to the knife just out of Amanda's hand. "The blood on the blade isn't from the action of cutting herself, it doesn't match that pattern. It looks like it was just the spatter from someone else cutting her."
Annabeth nodded, looking closer at the blade. "You're right, Seaweed Brain."
Dean looked at her curiously. "How do you know what that looks like?"
Persie shrugged. "Occupational hazard?"
He raised his brows. "Anything I need to know about, Seph?"
"I think that qualifies as a later topic, Winchester," Annabeth told him from where she was checking over Amanda's body expertly. "As in, let's not talk about that right now."
Sam nodded before putting his gun back in his jeans and bent over to study what was left of Amanda's altar. "Whatever she was doing, it looks like she was working some heavyweight evil here."
"Yup," Dean agreed, before turning around to look at the rest of the house. However, he was stopped short by coming face to face with a dead rabbit hanging from the ceiling. "Oh, God!" he shouted, jumping and putting a hand to his chest. "Freakin' witches! Seriously man, come on!"
Persie snickered, patting his shoulder solemnly.
"Guess we know where she got the rabbit's teeth from," Annabeth said, smirking at his shocked reaction.
"Well, Paul sure knows how to pick 'em, huh? It's like Fatal Attraction all over again."
"Yeah," Sam agreed with a small chuckle.
"And why does the rabbit always get screwed in the deal?" Dean exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the rabbit. "Poor little guy."
Sam twisted his lips. "You know what I don't get? If she was so bent on revenge, why do this?"
"Well, she got Janet Dutton, thought she finished off Paul, decided to cap herself and make it a spurned lover's hat-trick," Dean supplied.
Persie rolled her eyes. "She didn't do this to herself, Hot Shot."
His eyes narrowed at the woman. "You still haven't told me how you happen to know that, Seph."
She scoffed. "Annie said to save it for later."
They looked intensely at each other as Annabeth and Sam moved on to look around the table. For Amanda to have been killed… it would make sense if there was something left over. Annabeth just hoped it wasn't what she thought it was.
"I mean, this doesn't exactly look like the TV room of a bright and stable person, you know?" Dean asked, looking over at Sam, who was now on his knees as he looked under the table.
"No…" he muttered, not really paying attention.
"But then," Annabeth added, pulling out a hex back from under the table, before standing up. "There's this."
"Another hex bag?" Dean looked up at the ceiling, completely annoyed now. "Come on!"
Persie carefully opened the hex bag, only to find items that were extremely similar to the ones that were found in the previous bags.
"Looks like we got a hit, huh? A little witch-on-witch violence?"
"Looks like it," Persie told him, before crossing her arms and turning to stare him down. "And you didn't believe me."
Sam snickered as his brother looked at her with wide eyes.
"I mean-"
"Nope."
Dean sighed. "Later?"
She nodded. "Later."
Even Annabeth had to hide her laugh at their brief exchange.
Dean pulled out his phone, quickly dialed three numbers, then held it to his ear. "I'd like to report a dead body, 309 Mayfair Circle. My name? Yeah, sure, my name is-" he pulled the phone down and snapped it shut, then turned back to the others. "Why are witches ganking each other?"
"I don't know," Sam said.
"It's not some coincidence though," Persie said. "And we need to figure out the link between them."
"We might just have a coven on our hands," Annabeth commented.
Dean huffed out a breath. "Well, shit."
.
.
.
Persie was seated on the bed of their hotel room, watching Dean walk out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. She blinked.
He looked hella good with all that water dripping down his muscular chest. And dear gods, that v that stopped right when it was just about to get good… she had to close her eyes and count backwards from 10 to keep herself from spontaneously combusting.
"Uh… Seph, you okay?"
She blinked, looking back at his impressive physique. "Uh huh."
A smirk slowly pulled at the corner of his mouth as he quickly realized what was going on. "You sure, sweetheart?"
Persie let out a gulp as he stalked toward her, standing right up against where her legs dangled off the side of the bed, and slowly moved downward to place his hands on the bed on either side of her.
She felt her mouth drop as he slowly leaned in, kissing the top of her head slowly and eagerly. "Because right now you don't seem too sure," he spoke, words forming on her skin as he worked his way down to her jaw. "I can't have you lyin' to me, now."
When his lips finally met her own, she leaned into his form as much as she could with her trapped position.
Just as it was getting good, and she started to work his own mouth open to move in unison with hers- he pulled away.
"You never answered me, you know," he spoke lowly, looking in her eyes with an intense ferocity that made her shiver down to the core. "You never answered me when we were at that witch's house. That makes me very, very upset."
She lowered her head automatically before peering up into his eyes under her lashes. "What're you gonna do about it, Hot Shot?"
He raised a brow. "I think I'm gonna make you tell me what I want to know, sweetheart." His head tilted as a wide, predatory grin surfaced on his lips. "And somethin' tells me you're gonna enjoy it."
Their lips crashed together instantaneously, devouring each other.
Persie tried to put her hand up to wrap around his neck, but he quickly grabbed her hand and put it down at her side, holding her in place. "You're mine," he growled, taking her in for another kiss. "You're mine."
She felt a tug in her gut, and the water that was previously falling off of him in slow drips now worked all in tandem, pushing him off of her and down on his back next to her spot on the bed.
She stood up, and moved slowly as she pulled his towel off and straddled his hips.
"No, Hot Shot. You're mine."
His hands moved, quickly fumbling with the zipper of her jeans, and she laughed as she let him yank them off of her within seconds.
Dean smirked down at the sight of the red lace panties that she was currently sporting. "You wicked lil' thing."
She let out a small giggle. "It's your lucky night, babe," she said, as she quickly discarded her shirt. "It's a matching set."
His eyes widened. "Have I told you that you're beautiful yet today?"
Her eyebrows raised. "Uh, yeah, I think so?"
He chuckled. "Good."
Then, his hands slowly moved to remove her panties, and one slid right to where she needed him the most.
"You're so-"
"Beep!"
She paused. "I'm what?"
"You're absolutely-"
"Beep!"
She blinked, confused.
Where was that-
"Beep!"
She blinked again.
This time, she was not above Dean and about to start something she really did not want to stop- but she was in his arms, both of them completely clothed.
"Turn off your alarm," he grumbled into her shoulder. "It keeps goin' off."
Persie sighed, reaching out from the cocoon of blankets and turning off the alarm on the nightstand with an exasperated huff.
She really needed a cold shower.
Letting out a sigh, she sat up in bed while chuckling at Dean's grumbles at the loss of heat. "Time to wake up, babe."
He grumbled something again, shoving his face into the pillow. "It's too early."
"We said we'd meet Annabeth and Sam in the restaurant at 8, and it's 7:45. We need to get up and go," she told him, patting his cheek softly before getting out of the bed. "I'm gonna take a quick shower and let you get dressed or whatever you need to do."
"Okay, Seph," he mumbled, throwing the rest of the blankets over his head.
She shook her head fondly at his actions before she hurried into the shower, turning it on and moving the dial to the coldest setting.
Yeah, she really needed a cold shower.
Persie quickly relaxed and made sure she wasn't in such a wound-up state before she got out of the shower and quickly changed into the clothes she brought into the bathroom with her.
As much as she and Dean flirted with the idea, they still hadn't had sex yet… nor had they seen each other fully nude, at least, on purpose.
She may have snuck a peak here and there, but it was fully warranted. The man was practically sex on legs, a Greek Adonis if she hadn't known better herself.
But, alas, just because you have feelings for someone does not mean you have to jump in bed with them… even though you spend every night wrapped in their arms. And usually have hot make-out sessions that lead to heavy petting, but there is always a line neither of them have crossed.
They were moving at their own pace. Feeling things out before jumping right in the deep end.
But Persie really, really loved to swim.
She was ready to dive right in, if her dream had anything to say about it.
When she walked out of the bathroom, Dean smirked at her as he walked by and took his own turn. But at this point she knew enough about him and his morning routine to know he wouldn't be taking a shower, but instead would just be doing the bare minimum. He'd brush his teeth and throw some water on his face, and maybe he'd be proactive enough to throw on some deodorant, too.
At least, she hoped he thought that far ahead.
Sighing at the ignorance of men, she quickly dried her hair with her powers before tying it back in a low bun just off her neck. She was wearing a pantsuit again, but today it was navy instead of black.
Today they were going to interview some of Amanda's friends, who Annabeth and Sam had scoped out from interviewing the locals the day before.
This morning, they were going to make a game plan during breakfast, and they were going to go right back to business.
"You ready, sweetheart?"
Dean's voice pulled her away from her thoughts. She smiled at his suited figure, grinning at the striped tie that he wore. "I was born ready, Hot Shot."
He let out a chuckle. "Well, then, let's not keep Sammy or the blonde Princess waiting."
The hand he placed on her lower back when they walked out definitely did not help things. Let's just hope she can get through today without jumping him.
The first person that Annabeth and Sam had listed to look into was Elizabeth, one of Amanda's friends from some weird ass book club that was apparently super exclusive. It was like another episode of Desperate Housewives that Persie didn't want to watch.
The group of four walked up the drive, to see a woman, who must've been Elizabeth, tending to her garden. Persie wasn't shocked to note that she happened to live right next door to Amanda.
"You must have a green thumb," Sam spoke as they took a few steps forward.
"Excuse me?" She asked, looking nervous at their appearance.
She was actually really pretty, Persie thought, with her dark hair and athletic figure. Although she wasn't really a fan of the doe-eyed clueless look that Elizabeth was currently sporting, even she had to admit the other woman was striking.
"Getting those herbs to grow out of season like this, quite impressive," Sam continued. He stepped up to her as he pulled out his badge. "I'm sorry, I should've introduced myself first. I'm detective Thornton, this is Detective Bachman," he gestured to Dean. "Detective Running," He pointed to Annabeth. "And Detective Johnson." He then nodded to Persie.
The rest of them took out their own badges, and flashed them in her direction. "Hiya," Dean said, wearing his signature smirk.
"We're following up on Amanda Burns's death, going around the neighborhood and talking to neighbors and stuff like that," Annabeth told her, before placing her badge back in her coat pocket.
Persie scowled at her friend, realizing that somehow Annabeth's suit coat had pockets while hers didn't.
So not fair.
"But didn't she… I mean, she killed herself, right?" Elizabeth asked, wiping her hands clear of dirt as she stood up.
"Maybe," Persie spoke. "But there is evidence of the contrary."
Amanda's eyes widened.
"We heard you were friends with the deceased?" Annabeth asked.
Elizabeth nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Did you have any idea about her practices?"
She blinked. "I'm sorry, what kind of practices?"
Sam sighed. "Well, see, her house was littered with satanic paraphernalia," he explained.
"A regular Black Sabbath," Dean added, brow raised curiously at Amanda's reaction to their words.
It was becoming obvious- this woman didn't know what Amanda was up to.
Then why the garden? Even Persie knew what kinds of things she was growing.
"No, the… she was an Episcopalian," Elizabeth insisted, her eyebrows furrowing.
Dean laughed. "Well, then we're pretty sure she was using the wrong Bible."
At that moment, two other women walked up to the house behind the others. "Elizabeth, you alright?"
Persie could tell she was definitely not going to like these ladies.
The blonde and brunette duo also looked ridiculously like they belonged in their own episode of Desperate Housewives, or the Real Housewives of Witchy-Bitch Avenue. They were wearing designer clothing, from what Persie could tell after befriending some children of Aphrodite, and something about them… was off.
The brunette woman's eyes just looked way too dark to be human.
This immediately put Persie and Annabeth on guard.
"I'm fine, uh, Renee, these are detectives," Elizabeth explained to the blonde, Renee, who had spoken. "They say Amanda was… she was practicing…"
"I'm sorry detectives," Renee cut in, whirling around to look at them with a fake smile. "You can tell that Elizabeth is a little upset."
Dean nodded, his eyes narrowing. "Yes, of course, Miss…"
Renee smirked. "Mrs. Renee Van Allen. Would you like me to spell it for you?"
Dean's signature smirk quickly turned into an annoyed grin. "I'll-"
"Yes, actually," Annabeth said, pulling out a pen and paper. "Can you write your name down for me? It will be needed for our records, Mrs. Van Allen." Her stormy gray eyes flickered amongst the other two. "And the same, for the two of you, if you would."
Renee's smirk turned sour as she snatched the pen and paper. "Fine."
She quickly scrawled her name and handed it to the brunette. "This Amanda business has been hard for Liz," she added, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder before continuing, "for all of us."
Persie raised a brow, pulling out her own pen AKA Riptide and paper, but placed the cap of her pen on the bottom so she could use it to write. "How did you all know each other, if you don't mind me asking?"
Renee looked at Persie's notepad with disdain. "Book club, of course. We all had a book club together."
Annabeth took her own paper from the brunette, who had finished signing her name. "And did either of you know about Amanda's satanic practices?"
Renee's eyes widened as the brunette placed a hand to her lips in shock. "She was doing what?" the brunette asked.
Persie definitely didn't believe it.
Annabeth sighed, before smiling at them knowingly, before locking her eyes on the brunette. "Well, I guess we all have secrets, don't we?"
Sam looked between Persie and Annabeth curiously before coughing. "Well, thanks, um, we'll be in touch."
"Have a nice day," Dean added, and with his brother, started to walk off.
Persie nodded at the ladies, before slowly turning around and following the Winchesters, Annabeth close at her side.
"Bye!" The brunette called after them.
For some reason Persie really just wanted to punch her in the face.
She definitely was going to regret not doing it later.
She just knew it.