Chapter Six: Truth Always Comes Out
Present day…
My car was parked out the front of an old weatherboard house, as was a large truck, and a second, much more beat up one. Climbing out of the Impala as soon as we got close to the drive, I hit the ground running, not even waiting for the car to come to a complete stop. Lex was on the porch with John and my stepdad and there was a lot of yelling. Initially we were going to meet at the motel, but John had said he was on the move and followed him while we were on the phone. We headed straight to the address Jim had sent us and found the situation already volatile. My stepdad sidestepped John to swing a punch towards Alex, hitting him square in the jaw and I screamed, running faster as my footsteps slapped the ground. Lex hit the deck and my stepdad was wailing on him, punch after punch lobbing him in the jaw.
''Hey!'' I cried, jumping up the three steps to the rickety wooden porch.
''Katie!'' Dean cried out as he jogged after me. He wanted to keep me safe, but I could tell by the way he was running, he didn't really want to stop me.
''Get your hands off him!'' I barked, sliding in between the two and shoving my stepdad back into the wall of his house. He bounced off the weatherboard a little, grunting out with the pain.
''Katie,'' my step dad said, recoiling in shock a little bit. He shook his head as he stood there. He blinked as he stared down at me, almost as if I was a sight too unreal to believe. ''You've grown so much. Look at you, you're a woman now, not my little girl. Of course, you'll always be my little girl, sweetie.''
''No, I won't be,'' I said bitterly. His face changed, giving me an empathetic look, almost as if he was pitying me. He reached out, rubbing a hand up and down my shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. If I was a teenager still, it might have worked.
''I know you're confused right now, I know why you ran. You got spooked, but it's alright now, I can take care of this. I can take care of you,'' He said and I shook my head, anger boiling in my blood. How could he talk to me like this, the way he had when I was a little girl. ''I'm your dad, I'll always take care of you.''
''No, no you can't. You can't take care of either of us. You stay away from him,'' I said and he shook his head at me, shooting me a look of utter disappointment. I'd said the wrong thing, it was like he believed I didn't know what I was saying, but I did.
''Katie, it's not a 'him' it's an 'it'. That's not a little boy, not your baby. It's not like when your mother had you. He's part demon, and that only spells bad things,'' he told me, using the same argument he had years ago. Lex was not a demon, he was my son, and only my son. ''You need to let him go, let me send him on his way.''
''What the hell are you talking about?'' Lex demanded, stepping around me and I put my body further in between the two, using myself as a human shield. ''I'm not a monster, you crazy asshole. No wonder Katie ran from you. Some dad you turned out to be!''
''He's part me, that's what you should care about. He's my blood, and you're not going to harm a hair on his head,'' I said firmly, feeling my hand ball up into a fist. ''You're so intent on killing a monster, you haven't realised you've become one. He just wanted to know you, he came because he was curious about you, wanted you to love him.''
''One day you'll understand all this Katie, there's a plan for him, kids like him, and we can't let any of that happen. You might think love is what he wants, but him, his father, they just want the world we know to burn. And it'll be hell on earth. We can't let that happen, no matter what you feel towards him, now step aside,'' he said, and in a flash of silver, I felt him push me out of the way in the same motion as he lunged for Alex. My boots slid across the wooden porch, only getting traction on the loose boards.
''KATIE!'' Dean cried out as I screamed. I fought against the arm pushing me away, digging my feet into the ground as much as I could.
''No!'' I screamed, stepping in between Alex and my step dad again. Turning us, I threw him off the porch, sending him hurtling towards the ground. He slammed into the concrete path and I leapt on top of him, swinging wild punches. ''Don't you dare, don't you dare try and hurt him.''
''Katie,'' he whispered, looking at me in shock as I swung another hit to his jaw. I'd protect my own, no matter the cost. He might see me as his little girl, but I was anything but. I was the thing that hunted the things that went bump in the night. Monsters had nightmares that I was under their bed. ''My little girl.''
''Not any more I'm not you rat bastard,'' I huffed, climbing off him and swinging a kick to his gut as I did. Pulling the silver baretta out of the back of my pants I stood firm and trained it on him.
''I hurt my little girl,'' he muttered to himself and I clicked the safety off. Damn right you did.
''Get up,'' I hissed, and when he didn't immediately move I kicked in the thigh. ''Did I fucking stutter, I said get up.'' He pushed up off the ground, watching me warily as he put his hands up. Stepping closer, I watched him step back. He was scared. Good. ''Walk back towards your truck.''
''Katie, sweetie, I'm so sorry,'' he said and I shook my head. It was a bit late for that.
''Not yet you're not,'' I said, pushing him back towards the truck. ''You're going to get in, and start driving. Go away, anywhere will do. We're leaving town, and you're not going to follow. Do you understand? We're getting out of here, and you'll never see us again. You won't try to find us again.''
''Katie, you're not thinking clearly, you're hurt,'' he said and I shook my head. The audacity of this man.
''I'm not thinking clearly?'' I scoffed.
''One day, you're gonna understand,'' he said as he walked towards his truck. He turned his back to me and opened the driver's side door. I thought he was doing as I asked, making this easy for everyone involved. That would be too easy. In a flurry of motion, he turned again, clicking the safety off a glock. I acted quicker, firing three perfect shots directly to his chest. Point blank range too.
''Not my son,'' I said as I watched him drop to the ground, blood spurting out his mouth. I should have felt shock, he was my dad after all, the only one I ever knew. But then again, my dad wouldn't try to murder my son. Not the one who'd raised me, this was something else. He had become someone else.
''Katie!'' Lex cried out, running over to me. Putting the safety back on my gun, I allowed myself to look in his direction. ''Oh my god, Katie!''
''Lex, baby are you hurt?'' I asked, turning around fully once I was sure dad was dead, and grabbing Lex's face. I checked his cheek that was starting to swell, he'd have a large bruise on his jaw for sure. How could I let this happen?
''I'm fine. Katie, Katie, I'm fine. What about you, he stabbed you,'' he said and I blinked back at him. I didn't feel like I'd been stabbed. Glancing down I spotted the carved antler handle of a knife sticking out of my shoulder. Oh. I guess he had. I wondered where that knife went.
''Right,'' I said, nodding slowly. Okay, I could deal with this. It didn't feel too deep, and it didn't hurt much, but then again, that could be the shock. ''Dean, I need a screwdriver.''
He nodded, pulling one out from the inside of his jacket pocket and handing it to me. I immediately started taking the screw holding the knife and the handle together before I pulled it off. Once I was done I slipped the handle in my pocket and walked to my car which Lex had un-ideally left unlocked. Popping the trunk I got out some duct tape, wrapping it around me above and below what was left of the knife, keeping it from moving around too much. I still had work to do.
''Katie, why don't you go to the hospital, let me deal with this,'' he said and I shook my head. He looked upset I wasn't letting him help, almost like he thought we were past that. Plus, I wasn't having him clean up my messes for me. I did this. ''Katie…''
''I have to make sure he's dead, plus, I need you to look after Lex, you're the only one I trust,'' I told him, pulling a tarp out of my trunk. Grabbing a can of salt and lighter flute too, for good measure. Hunters don't borrow supplies because they know hunters don't give them back. ''Your dad can take me to the hospital when I'm done with this. I'll go, I swear, but I have to do this first. I'm going to salt and burn the body, and crash the car into a tree. Leave no traces. It's about to rain so I have to go now. I need it to wash away the tire tracks and any blood on the sidewalk.''
''Right,'' He said without another word. Like father, like son. To be fair, it was a good plan. If he wanted to argue I wasn't myself, he couldn't, people out of their right mind couldn't plan like that.
''What, you're just going to let her go? You're her boyfriend or whatever, tell her,'' Lex argued, shoving Dean in the chest. Which he seemed slightly amused at, probably because despite Lex being closer to his height than he had been a year ago, he wasn't as sturdy, not by a long shot.
''He's not, and he can do as he's told from time to time, maybe you should take note, trouble maker,'' I said, glaring at Lex. While I was glad he was safe, I almost wanted to kill him myself for having put me through this. ''We'll talk about this later. In the meantime, take my car away from the scene, quickly before the cops show up because of the gunshots. First motel in the phone book, one town over, I'll find you.''
''Okay,'' he said with a sigh, following after Dean, Alex climbed into my car, starting up without another argument. Thank god. Perhaps I should shoot people more often.
Taking the tarp, I rolled my former stepfather onto it before I closed it up with the duct tape I'd used on my wound. John helped me lift the body into the back of my dad's truck and I climbed in, taking the keys from the sun visor. Old people. Pulling away from the house, I drove the lurching old pickup I'd never seen before in my life towards an old forest. It seemed I'd been spending a lot of time in the woods lately. But I needed the cover to burn an actual human body. I'd called this man dad my whole life, I couldn't decide if I felt bad for shooting him or not. It came down to a choice between him or Lex, and my son won out. Of course he would.
It was weird, referring to him as that. We'd been calling him my little brother for so long I didn't know what to call him now. My mother said she'd say he was hers, not so much for the shame aspect, but when she found out that that thing had called me special, she knew we had to protect him. So I'd had him at home, well, home-ish. I'd given birth in the rusty bathtub of a dingy motel, too young to even think about kids of my own. I'd lost my mother, and now my father, and for what? Of course I loved Lex, I loved him more than life itself, but it seemed like that night hadn't just ruined my life. It had torn my family apart. It had stolen every happiness we'd tried to create.
John and I took the truck to the car wash before I crashed it. We had to clean off all the blood beforehand or else people would get suspicious. Crouching in the flatbed, I scrubbed hard at the blood, trying not to leave a single trace. It was almost dark now, and I could feel the fatigue of the last few days getting to me. That nap I'd had before Dean and I went to get supplies was the last time I really slept, and probably the last time I'd want to.
''You two hunters?'' I heard someone ask and I stayed low, covering the knife in my chest. I kept scrubbing, might as well be useful as I was hiding from townsfolk.
''Yeah, just got a beauty of a deer,'' John replied smoothly. He walked in front of me, shielding me from the townie's view. ''You hunt?''
''Yeah, didn't find much this season. I'm glad you managed, might go back out again this weekend,'' he said before wandering off, leaving us to it. Well, that was easier than expected, though I suspected it was because he had his own things to do. Thank the lord for that.
When we finished hosing out the truck, I drove it towards a tree, pressing down hard on the accelerator before I opened the door and jumped, tucking my limbs in and rolling. Hitting the ground with a skid and a thud I coughed, feeling the wind knocked out of me. There was a loud crash and I looked up, still rather sore from hitting the ground. The truck was well and truly wrapped around the tree and John pulled up beside me, helping me up off the ground when I failed to move.
When I'd said the tiredness was getting to me, I hadn't really realised just how much. My body was quitting, and I felt like giving up. John helped me into the passenger seat of his truck before he walked back to my stepdad's, stopping to get all the hunting supplies I'd not thought to clear out. I was out before he came back, coming to in a hospital bed during the daylight hours. There was a rhythmic beeping beside me and I glanced over towards the sunlight to see a heart rate monitor.
''Hey,'' I heard Dean croak and turned to see him sitting in the visitor's chair with a cup of stale coffee. There was no steam coming out of it, it must have been cold by now. Perhaps he'd only walked to the machine to stretch his legs.
''Where's…''
''Lex is in the first motel in the phone book next town over, just as you asked. So's your car. and my dad. I'm staying here until you're well enough to check out. Then we'll take you both to the Pastor's where you can recover. I'd take you to Bobby's but the last time my dad was there Bobby pulled a shotgun,'' he explained and I found myself laughing. ''The hell are you thinking, stepping in front of a guy with a knife? Are you stupid?''
''I was thinking that the guy with the knife was about to stab my son, you don't mess with my family,'' I said and he scoffed.
''Yeah, yeah I think I saw that with my own two eyes,'' He said, referencing the murder. Murder. I was a murderer. ''There's been no reports over the last few days regarding the thing with your dad, I think you got away clean. Your story's covered at the hospital, police aren't investigating your stabbing either. I cleared it. Got the blade back, in case you wanted it. I saw you kept the handle.''
''Thank you,'' I said, swallowing hard. God my mouth was dry. I felt like I'd been walking through the desert for days. ''Water.'' He pushed the tray table my way, pouring water from the pitcher into the awaiting plastic cup. He put the bendy straw in it and I grabbed it with a shaky hand.
''Easy,'' he warned, eying the less than perfect movements. ''That's gonna be stiff for a while.''
''Yeah,'' I scoffed, shaking my head. ''I imagine it will.''
''Listen, Katie, I'm going to stay with you a couple days when we get to the Pastor's place, help you talk this one out with Alex,'' he said and I shook my head at him. I didn't want that. ''It's alright, I cleared it with my dad. He's gonna do a solo hunt once Alex is with us.''
''No, Dean, I appreciate it, but I think this is something we have to do ourselves,'' I told him and he looked a little sad, but seemed accepting. He understood that this was a family thing, at least not being too upset about me pushing him away again.
''Okay, but keep in contact. I wanna hunt together more often, you're good at what you do,'' he said and I raised an eyebrow.
''You saw me shoot my dad in the chest and you still want to hang around me?'' I asked and he shrugged.
''Dude had it coming, I'd have done the same if it was Sammy,'' he said and I nodded. ''For the record, secret's safe with me. I'm not going to breathe a word.''
''I know. Listen, Dean, it might be a while before I see you again, we have a lot to figure out with Alex,'' I told him and he nodded.
''It's alright, I waited ten years last time, I can wait a little longer,'' he told me and I thought back to Lex calling him my boyfriend earlier. The thought disturbed me greatly. We were hunters, hunters didn't do relationships. Not with people they barely knew.
''I hope I didn't upset you when I told Alex that you weren't..'' I started and he put a hand up to stop me. Thank god. ''You're uh, you're not tied to me, you know that right?''
''Yeah, I know. We're friends, Katie, nothing more,'' he said and I relaxed, sinking further into the pillows. What a long job. Maybe I should go visit a college town or something, get Lex interested in the idea while I took a well deserved break. Why was it every time I did a job with Dean I ended up in hospital? Dude was a bad luck charm.
A few days passed before the hospital agreed to let me go, and I paid for everything with my fraudulent insurance card. Dean helped me into the Impala, despite there not being anything really wrong with me. Sure my shoulder hurt like hell, and was going to need some serious recovery, but I could manage opening a car door by myself. He kept a hand on my thigh the whole drive to the next town, helping me out again when we pulled up to the shitty motel.
''Katie,'' Lex cried out, running out of the motel as soon as he heard the sound of the Impala's engine rumbling. He slammed into me, jolting my shoulder a little and I made a small noise. ''I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'll never run away again.''
''Good,'' I said, rubbing his back soothingly. ''Because there's a limit to the number of times I can get stabbed, and I'd like to not find out what it is.''
''How can you be so calm about this?'' he asked, pulling back and shaking his head at me. I shrugged, despite my body's protests.
''I don't have any regrets, now, get your ass inside. We need to have a talk,'' I told him, heading for the motel room he'd come out of. Dean walked behind me, my duffle in his hands which he'd brought with him to the hospital so I'd have something to change into.
''Katie, I don't think you should be driving to the Pastor's house with that shoulder, won't you let me take you?'' Dean asked and I offered him a small smile, shaking my head.
''Nah, Lex can drive, I think if anything, he's proved that,'' I said, walking over to the motel door John was standing in front of. ''Listen, I'm appreciative of everything you've done,'' I turned my head to glance at John. ''The both of you, but this is something we have to do on our own. Plus, we're not going to the Pastor's. I'm going to show Lex where he was born.''
''Are you sure that's wise?'' John asked and I shrugged.
''I can't keep it from him forever, if I don't tell him, he'll only go looking on his own. And if he doesn't, one day, that thing might pop up out of the ether like something from a horror movie, and I need him to be ready,'' I said and John seemed accepting, nodding once. I offered him a hand to shake. ''Thank you again, I mean it. You ever need my help, you call. Anything.''
''I'll be sure to keep your details, and the same goes for you. You call us if you need us, Abigail was always a friend of mine,'' John said and I winced at hearing my mother's name. Oh how I missed her. I wondered if she could have talked my step dad down. ''And for the record,'' he said, his hand still in mine as he leaned in towards my ear. ''If someone tried to hurt either of my boys, I'd have done the same thing. It's what we do for our sons.''
''You've known the whole time, huh?'' I asked and he winked at me, letting go of my hand and heading into the motel without another word.
''Feels kinda stupid splitting up now,'' Dean said and I smiled, standing up on my tiptoes, kissing him gently.
''We'll see each other again, Dean, I promise,'' I told him and left him standing in the motel's open air corridor. Pushing the door closed behind me, I leaned against the thin wood. Lex stood by his bed, arms folded over his chest, glaring at me.
''You call that a kiss?'' he mocked and I rolled my eyes, going over to my own bed. ''I thought he was your boyfriend.''
''I keep telling you, we're not dating,'' I said, pulling back the sheets so I could slip under the covers and get some more sleep. I was tired, despite all I'd been doing the last few days was sleeping and sitting. Guess getting stabbed really takes it out of you.
''Have you told him? If you could see the way he looks at you,'' Lex said, coming over to climb in beside me. It didn't seem to matter he had his own bed, he wanted to haunt me the whole time we were here. I couldn't blame him, almost losing the only constant in your whole life would scare the piss out of you. And he probably thought it was his fault too. ''Did you really kill him for me?''
''Well, I think if I'd let him live, he never would have let you go. He's changed from the man he was when I was a little kid, I think losing mom really messed with his head,'' I said, eyes closed as I rested on the pillow. ''I'm sorry you had to see that.''
''I really am sorry I ran away, I just thought, he's my dad, he can't be that bad, right? But he wasn't, was he? He was never my dad,'' Lex said and I pushed up gently, opening my arms to offer him a gentle hug. He held onto me tightly, snuggling into my shoulder and sniffing. ''Who is?''
''I don't know,'' I answered honestly. ''I don't even know the vessel.''
''What did you mean you wanted to show me where I was born?'' he asked and I shrugged again.
''You wanted the whole story, didn't you? I'm going to take you to the motel this all started in, the one you were born in, and then to visit where we buried mom,'' I explained, patting his back softly. He still hadn't let me go. I wondered how long his clingy phase would last, if I would get a chance at my sweet little boy back or if he was permanently a sullen teenager. ''I think after everything we've been through this past week, I need to see her. I need my mom, even if she's not really there anymore.''
''How long was Dean's dad following me?'' he asked, pulling back and I bit my lip.
''Uh, from the day I got stabbed I think. He pulled up to the motel while you were sleeping that morning, and followed you from there to my step dad's house,'' I told him and he looked a little worried. ''What?''
''I thought someone was following me as soon as I got to Montana,'' he explained and my whole body went cold. Shooting up out of the bed I walked straight out the door and started banging on the room next door. ''Katie, what does this mean? Where are you going?''
''Katie?'' Dean asked, looking down at me as I pulled my hand away from the door I was assaulting. ''Change your mind already?''
''We need to leave,'' I said with urgency. He looked serious, much less smirky than he had before. ''Lex said someone was following him before your dad was, we have to go, now.''
''Dad,'' Dean called and John came to the door with a duffle bag in his hand.
''I heard, let's go,'' he said, walking past us and towards his truck. ''We should split up.''
''Uh, no, I'm not leaving Katie on her own like this,'' Dean argued and John smiled.
''I know, you go, son, keep me posted. I'll do some digging, let you know when it's safe for us to hunt together again, until then, you keep her safe, she's important,'' he told him and left without another word. Dean and I exchanged a confused look and after a moment or two, he shrugged, going inside for his own duffle.
''Lex is good to drive?'' he asked when he returned. I nodded. He went into the other room, clearing out our stuff and returning with my sulky teenager. ''Let's go, we're burning daylight.''
Sighing I followed after Dean, walking down the open air corridor towards our cars. Lex reluctantly got in the driver's side of my car, and I climbed in the passenger side. I could tell he felt guilty, this week had not gone the way he planned at all. In all fairness, it hadn't gone the way any of us expected, this wasn't his fault. All teenagers ran away at some point, what should have happened was he got a lecture, maybe grounded, and no more would be said about it. He wasn't expecting our whole lives to get turned upside down. The Chevelle's engine roared to life, and I felt Lex shift gears as he pulled out of the space. He was a little shaky at first, but slipped into driving easily. We'd make a driver of him yet. Knowing when to shift was difficult, he was doing rather well all things considered. He'd eventually learn to do it on instinct, feel by the revs when he needed to go up or down a gear.
With Montana in the rear view, we headed someplace we hadn't been before, as if we could somehow outrun this thing. A new state almost every day was the plan, overnight in a motel when we could, taking shifts sleeping in the car where we couldn't. I could drive for short spells, enough for someone to get some shut eye, and so I was rotating between cars. When we got towards Bobby's, Lex and I ditched the Chevelle, it didn't make sense to keep doing this with two cars, plus it meant rotating drivers easier. By the end of this, I wasn't sure there would be a part of the continental US we would have missed.
Dean came out of the minimart, a bag and a six pack under his arm as he walked towards the Impala where Lex and I were holed up. He climbed in and we drove to the next motel in silence, heading into the two queens room. Dean and Lex pulled one of the beds forwards, the one furthest into the room, and poured a ring of salt around it, creating a barrier between it and the occupant. Maybe it was overkill, but if somehow Dean and I managed to sleep through a demon busting through the door to kidnap Lex, he'd be safe in his bed until we could deal with it.
''So let me get this straight, I was born in a vets?'' Lex asked and I heard Dean choke on his burrito. ''Like, you had all these options, and your choice was a vet?''
''No,'' I replied, shaking my head and stopping to take a sip of my Del Sol. ''You were born in a rusty motel bathtub. But I was too young, too small to give birth properly, safely. So mom cut you out of me. Dad carried me down the block, he was going to take me to the hospital, but not only do they ask too many questions, they were further away. He saw a vet, and made them stitch me up.''
''I'm.. I'm sorry…'' he said and I shook my head.
''It's not like you had a choice Lex, these things, sometimes they just happen, it's life,'' I said with a shrug.
''No, I gave you so much shit, for so long. You literally could have died just bringing me into this world, you've been on the run my whole life, just trying to protect me, and I've been an asshole the whole time. You didn't deserve any of this,'' he said and I shook my head.
''Neither did you,'' I replied. ''You deserved to be into Lego, have your own gameboy or something, you deserved to have a permanent address, and instead you don't have a single friend your own age, you've never been in a real school. I'm sorry.''
''Don't be, you kept me alive, and you still found the time to love me, thank you, Katie,'' he said and I shrugged once again. I wasn't really sure what he wanted me to say to that. ''Have you guys noticed anyone following us?''
''Nope,'' Dean said, popping the 'p'. ''I don't wanna jump the gun here, but I think we're in the clear.''
''Good, that means we can get back to our lives,'' I said, and I watched Lex's face fall. He looked between Dean and I while he fiddled with the foil his burrito came in.
''So does that mean we're going back to Bobby's?'' he asked and I nodded. ''And he's going back to hunting with his dad?''
''That's right,'' Dean agreed.
''So we part ways…'' Lex said sadly. Boy, he sure changed his tune. Perhaps the few weeks on the road together had given him a new perspective. It had certainly given me one. For one thing, maybe it was time to take a break from hunting. While it was the job, maybe Lex needed to spend his last few years of high school in the one place. It would be hard, but we could make it work.
''It won't be forever, Lex, we'll see him again. This was never going to be permanent, it was just supposed to be one hunt,'' I told him and he nodded. Maybe he'd grown attached because he finally had someone to look up to, a male role model. Dean would get a kick out of that, I'm sure. I'd never live it down, if I told him.