Hi everyone! Hope you liked how the last chapter left off and how that sets us up as we move into the season finale. This chapter is a little shorter, but I think you'll like where things go from here and how the climax ends up playing out. I'm going to try powering through the final three episodes, so hopefully I can have them posted for you real soon! As always, I hope you enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
Manning, Colorado – July 10, 2006
Ariella had been in a pissy mood since the night she had agreed to leave with John. Sam and Dean had tried calling relentlessly, leaving all sorts of colorful messages every time she would send them to voicemail, only causing her guilt to build with each one. After the last message she had gotten from Dean, almost two weeks ago now, which had been full of particularly hurtful words, she doubted they would be dishing out forgiveness anytime soon. He had accused her of caring about vengeance more than them; the same sin she had held over John their entire lives. Despite what he and John believed, however, it wasn't vengeance spurring her decisions any longer…it was the thought of losing anyone else to the bastard. If there really was a way to bring that yellow-eyed demon down for good, he would be throwing everything he had into this fight. It would be a war for survival. A war which would no doubt have casualties…..and she refused to let Sam and Dean be one of them. She couldn't. So, she had aligned herself with John, hating herself for it more than they ever could.
As it turned out, John really did need help, too. He believed he had tracked the gun down. The problem, however, was that the person in possession of it refused to have anything to do with the older Winchester. He needed Ariella to be the one to approach and broker an olive branch. So, they had tracked down the reclusive hunter's whereabouts before Ariella made her way there to try persuading him into cooperating.
She pulled up to the small bar situated at the base of one of the mountains, the neon sign displaying Zanadew Lounge lighting up the darkness and reflecting off her hood as she pulled up under it. Daniel Elkin's was a regular here according to John. She kicked her door open after shutting the engine down, hoping that he was right. There were four other vehicles in the small lot, looking nearly as old and decrepit as the building was. She let her gaze roll over them as she trudged up to the bar before she slipped inside, the air so saturated with smoke she found herself squinting against it as she searched the space.
If possible, the cabin-style building was even smaller on the inside. There were only a hand full of booths lining one of the walls, a single pool table, and a bar top which sat, at most, five people. Her eyes flicked around the room, studying the few patrons spread out around the place, getting curious looks in return. Her gaze landed on the hunched over form of an older man nestled into the far corner of the bar, away from the others, recognition flaring in her as her eyes swept over the side of his stubble-covered face. He was more haggard than what she remembered from the image John had shown her, frown lines set so deep in his features it left his face permanently drooped downward, but she was sure it was the same man.
She moved for the counter then, dropping herself down onto the empty stool next to him. The man didn't bother acknowledging her presence as she sat, focus set solely on the worn journal laid out before him. Ariella's eyebrows dipped together slightly as her eyes swept over nearly illegible writing. Any doubts about having the right man vanished as she took in the various symbols and markings etched onto the pages.
"Well, you ain't from around here, are you?" the woman behind the bar commented as Ariella situated herself onto the seat, coming over to place a square napkin in front of her.
"Just visiting." Ariella answered, quickly pulling her eyes away from the man to her left. The woman was older than Ariella, in her fifties at least, but she was still rather pretty with hair styled in long curly waves.
"What can I get you, Sweetheart?" the woman asked, the warm smile stretching across her face seeming purely genuine.
"Whatever you've got on tap." Ariella answered, not really feeling in the mood to drink. She had a tall glass of amber beer sitting in front of her a few moments later, which Ariella busied herself with drinking as her eyes swept back over to the hunter muttering to himself.
"That's Anishinaabe, isn't it?" she remarked in an effort to instigate a conversation, having caught sight of some markings that seemed particularly familiar. The hunter's eyes darted over to her, brow dipping low as his gaze swept over her. He slammed the book shut as he studied her, calculating eyes hardened by years of distrust. "I know someone with a book like that." She said, tipping her chin towards the book before bringing the glass back up to her lips.
"Doubt it." The man grumbled in response, scooting the journal closer to him protectively. "I spent years collecting the information in here. It's one of a kind."
Ariella lifted one of her shoulders. "Judging by the size of it, I'd say you spent a lot of years on it." She hummed in thought. "John's right. You must be one hell of a hunter if you're still kicking it after all that."
The man's entire demeanor morphed with that remark. "Who are you?" he demanded lowly, the distrust rolling off him in heavy waves as his eyes pierced into her sharply.
"A hunter." She answered truthfully, keeping her voice low enough not to travel to the other end of the bar. "Like you."
Ariella didn't expect the reaction that came next. He stood abruptly, gathering the papers scattered along the counter in a rush. "I want no part of whatever the hell this is." He bit out unkindly as he turned, storming away from her in the next moment as he moved to for the door.
Ariella watched him storm away in surprise before quickly snatching a few bills from her pocket, slamming them on the counter before rushing after him. She had come a long way to have a chat with the man, and she refused to let him leave without first having it. "Wait!" she called out as she hit the parking lot behind him, quickly catching back up to him as he moved towards a truck so rusted, she could practically see straight through it. "I just want to talk! Please."
The man whipped around to face her, shooting a finger in her direction. "Stay away from me!" he warned.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Ariella said with a shake of her head, slowing to a stop as she brought her arms up on either side of her. "I need to talk to you, Daniel."
"John send you?" he questioned with a lift of his chin, voice low and demanding.
"I sent me." Ariella answered instead, slowly lowering her hands.
Daniel's eyes swept over her for a moment then, his face dropping slightly as he studied her features. "You're that girl, ain't ya…..the one he swept up into this mess as a kid."
It was Ariella's turn to be thrown off-guard by that statement. "You know me?" she asked in confusion, John not having given her any reason to believe Daniel would know anything about her.
The man let out a tsk. "I know you shouldn't be anywhere near John Winchester or the mess he's getting himself caught up in." he told her evasively. "Should've known he'd try something like this." He then scoffed with a shake of his head.
"Look, I don't know you and John's history, but I assure you I've got plenty reasons of my own to be here." She defended. "John's convinced you've got something that can help us, and if that's true then I'm not leaving until we have a nice long chat about it. Please, Mr. Elkins." She pleaded softly. "I've come too far to turn away now. Please just hear me out."
Daniel stared at her for another drawn out moment before he let out a heavy sigh. "Not here." he said with another shake of his head, eyes now flicking around nervously. "My cabin's just up the mountain. We can talk there."
He moved for his truck then and Ariella didn't wait for him to reconsider the offer before taking off towards her own car, trailing after his taillights as she followed him up the road winding along the mountain. It didn't take longer than a few minutes before Ariella was pulling up next to a small cabin behind him, lights cutting off as she stepped out into the silent night. Daniel didn't bother giving her any verbal cues as he strode for the door, leaving her to follow after.
Once inside, he locked the door behind them, sliding nearly a dozen deadbolts into place as she moved into the main living space eyes roaming around curiously. The place was clearly that of a hunter's. The newspaper cutouts, weapons, and excessive amounts of liquor bottles scattered around the place were clue enough. The angry muttering rolling out of him, centered around 'that bastard of a Winchester' only solidified the fact. John, it seemed, had a real talent for pissing people off.
"How did you know how to find me anyways?" he questioned as he moved away from the door, instead moving for the fire he had left burning, embers barely flickering with life. He tossed a few logs into the hearth, trying to restart the fire in an effort to brighten up the room.
"A lot of searching." Ariella told him with a shrug as she watched him coax the flames back into life. "John mostly."
"I can't believe he's still got you sucked into this mess." He grumbled as the flames began eating away at the wood, growing bright enough to douse them in a faint light.
"I'm sorry, but how do you know me exactly?" she asked then, unable to understand how he had known who she was.
"We've met before." He said as he turned away from the fire, leveling her with another calculating look. "Back when you got that." He reached out then, pointing to the side of her neck.
Ariella unconsciously reached up to trail her fingers along the thick patch of scar tissue there. "You were the other hunter." She huffed in sudden understanding. "You were the one John met up with to take down that nest in New Mexico."
"Vampires are real nasty bastards." He said, confirming her speculations. "Told John it was dangerous business dragging kids into something like that….not that he ever listened to me. It's why me and him such a huge falling out—what happened to you."
"What do you mean?" she asked with furrowed brows.
"I used to have a family, you know." He explained, letting out a sigh as he moved back through the room, dropping himself down on one of the wooden chairs next to the messy dining table. "A wife and little girl….until they were killed by some vamps. I spent the rest of my life learning everything I could about them…hunting them down one by one. John found me some years later and convinced me to teach him everything I knew. It wasn't until New Mexico that I found out about you and those boys." He said, giving a shake of his head. "I couldn't believe it….that he would risk you three like that…especially after knowing what I lost…" he let out another sigh as a pained expression washed across his features. "Anyways…I tried to talk sense into him, but he refused to listen. Then that alpha slipped through our fingers and got ahold of you." he said, tipping his head towards her. "Was a damn miracle you managed to fight the thing off and survive. Told him how much of a fool he was for being so reckless, and if he had any sort of heart in him, he'd get you and those boys as far away from this life as possible. Unfortunately, John Winchester only seems to care about one thing."
Ariella's jaw clenched tightly as she listened, memories of that night rushing through her. John had dumped her on Bobby's doorstep after what had happened, and she had always assumed it was because he had considered her a burden. Now, however, she suddenly found herself completely reconsidering that assumption. "John didn't bring me into this life." she said hollowly, doing her best to brush the conflicting emotions away. "The demon who killed my mother was." She let out a heavy sigh of her own then as she dropped herself into the chair opposite him, studying the fatigue permanently set into his features…the kind of fatigue that comes with years of seeing nothing but the worst of the world. "And if I don't something to stop him, he's going to take away what family I've got left." she said, leaning in closer to him as she felt her own fatigue weighing down on her heavily. "If you could go back in time and knew those vampires were coming after your wife…your daughter…wouldn't you have given anything to stop it from happening?"
Daniel's gaze dropped to the wooden floorboards under his feet as another wave of pain flashed across his eyes. He didn't need to respond to the query for Ariella to guess his answer. "If I am the only thing that ends up standing between my family and that demon, then so be it." she said with a shake of her head. "I'd stand against an entire army of them empty-handed if I had to." She admitted. "But according to John you've got something that can help…and if that's true, Mr. Elkins, I am begging for your help."
A thick silence wrapped around the two of them as he stared at her, silent thoughts flicking back and forth behind his tired eyes. After a minute of heavy consideration, he scrubbed a hand down his face before drawing in a sharp breath as he stood. "For the record—" he said, moving for one of the rooms off to the side of the main area. "I'm doing this for you…not John."
A flare of hope roared to life inside Ariella's chest as she watched him walk into the other room, quickly shooting onto her own feet to follow. She stepped into the room behind him, quickly realizing it was an office. He was moving for a safe built into one of the walls, face cast down in seriousness. After turning the dial around to undo the mechanisms, the metal door unlocked with a clunk before he pried it open. Ariella watched him dig around the box with bated breath, unable to see the contents inside from behind the door. He drew back after grabbing hold of something, stepping back over to the desk behind him with a small box as he let the safe fall shut again.
Ariella took a hesitant step forward as he set the wooden box down on top of the pile of news articles and other papers, unable to bring herself to draw in her next breath until after he flipped it open. She sucked in a sharp breath when the glint of a metal barrel caught her eye. It's real?" she breathed in astonishment, studying the markings decorating it as Daniel lifted the gun into his grasp.
"The Colt." He grunted, giving her a nod. "Only thing out there capable of killing a demon."
Ariella felt the back of her throat go dry as she stared at it. There, not even a foot out of reach, was a weapon capable of killing yellow-eyes….of bringing it all to an end. She was unconsciously reaching for it before she even registered the action, but just before her fingertips came into contact with the revolver, a loud bang startled the both of them.
Ariella's heart was instantly in her throat, wide eyes moving from the main room of the cabin to an equally alarmed Daniel. "You expecting anybody?" she asked, the sound having have come from someone banging on the front door.
"No. You bring anyone with you?" he countered, pulling the colt away as his previous skepticism about her reared back up full force.
"I came alone." she assured him with a shake of her head. Another series of loud bangs echoed through the cabin then, sounding so demanding that it was obvious that whoever was on the other side of the door was not there for a friendly late-night visit.
Daniel snatched up the bullets still sitting in the wooden box between them, fumbling with them in a panic as he loaded the weapon. Ariella drew her own gun out as well, keeping it aimed at the front door as she crept back into the main room. Daniel was stepping out of the office soon after, both of them facing the doorway in anticipation. The door suddenly slammed open, locks giving way as the entire thing crashed down onto the ground, frame splintering into pieces as it broke away.
Ariella's muscles went rigid as the deafening bang hit her ears, arms locking as a woman stepped over the door and into the broken entryway. Ariella didn't recognize the dark-haired woman, but seeing as she was able to kick in the door without so much as breaking a sweat, there was no way she was human.
"Long time no see, Daniel." She greeted, casting a smile his way. "Got to say…you look old." The way her eyes flashed had Ariella's stomach plummeting with panic. She was a vampire….a vampire that Ariella currently had no way of fighting off.
"What do you want?" Daniel demanded, obviously having gone up against her before.
"You know what I want." She tossed back at him, gaze dropping to the gun gripped between his shaky hands.
"Well, you better get in line, lady." Ariella interjected with a scoff, pulling the woman's unnatural eyes onto her.
"Hmm." She hummed, smile growing as her eyes flicked up and down the length of her. "Don't you smell good." She remarked, drawing in a long breath through her nose. "I might have to bring you home to Luther."
"I ain't going anywhere with you." Ariella snapped in response. "And you sure as shit ain't going anywhere with that gun."
The woman's grin stretched wider. "We'll see about that."
A loud crashing sound filled the room then, and, in the next moment, glass was raining down on top of Ariella and Daniel. Ariella's arms reflexively shot over her head as the sharp shards pelted her, before something incredibly heavy slammed into her, sending her crashing to the floor as someone dropped right on top of her. She let out a scream, gun being jarred out of her grip as she was forced to the ground painfully. After regaining focus, she realized a group of men had dropped in through the skylight in the ceiling, effectively trapping her and Daniel under their large bodies.
The boots of the female vampire stepped into Ariella's line of sight as she struggled to free herself, easily kicking Ariella's gun out of reach before swiping up the revolver that had also been knocked loose. "Nice gun." He commented in satisfaction, obviously well-aware of the damage it could cause.
"NO!" Ariella screeched as she watched her fingers run along the length of it. "That gun is mine!" she spit with a groan, her lungs nearly being crushed by the man pressing his weight into her back. He was far stronger than any human, however, and she could do no more than glare at the woman as she kicked helplessly. "Get your nasty hands off of it and go find your own!"
The woman let out a laugh in response, dropping down to her haunches in front of Ariella. "Well, aren't you a little spitfire." she said, tipping her head to the side as she regarded her irate features. "Take her." She then ordered, eyes flicking up to the man above her as she stood. "And kill the other."
"No!" Ariella yelled again, thrashing against the floor desperately. Her wide eyes landed on Daniel then, but before she could even make her next threat, the man above him lunged at his neck with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Ariella screamed as his blood splattered across her face, unable to do anything as she watched those teeth sink into his flesh. She continued screaming as she was hauled back onto her feet, fighting with everything she had as she was drug across the cabin. No matter how much she thrashed in the vampire's hold however, knocking over the table and other furniture as she did, his grip never loosened.
The last thing she saw before she was pulled into the darkness of night was the life draining from Daniel's eyes. And the last thing she remembered thinking was how close she had gotten to getting her hands on the Colt…and how she had failed regardless.