I was a bit stuck on this chapter for a bit and I'm not really sure if I liked the way it turned out. But oh well! There's Winchester family stuff in here so squeee :)
Also, I created a side blog for this story and my Harry Potter story. The link is erinpaigeandhercharacters . tumblr . com –obviously without the spaces. But pictures of Lucy will be on there, as well as her outfits and other stuff like that. The link will also be on my profile :)
Disclaimer: I only own Lucy!
~o~
Chapter 7
All Together Now
Nearly four months had passed since my brothers and I last encountered our father. We, of course, had not heard a word from him. All contact was temporarily severed in order to avoid the conflict that lay ahead. In early June, we found this job up in Richardson, Texas where kids would enter a haunted house and one victim would never escape alive. It was one of the weirdest cases we'd dealt with in a while.
We met these two guys around Sam's age—Harry Spangler and Ed Zeddemore—who self-titled themselves as 'professional' ghost hunters. Hah! That was a joke. They were in charge of a website called (get this) 'Hell Hound's Lair dot com' and supposedly hunted down ghosts and brought them to so-called justice. Yeah, not so much. They were only a pair of bragging, self-righteous nerds who didn't know the slightest thing about the paranormal. Plus, Ed, the redheaded one with glasses, constantly kept hitting on me…yeah, sorry buddy! Not my type!
"Never call me an amateur again," I huffed at them both after beat the tulpa (who turned out to be the spirit in the house) down temporarily. The two guys stared at me in shock, mouths open wide. I had started to strut away to help my brothers when I heard Ed say in admiration:
"I think I'm in love, man. She's just like Buffy…" Whatever the hell that meant.
But anyways, we scorched that son a bitch tulpa and moved on to our next hunt with ease. That was all we could do for now. I wouldn't deny that each day felt anxiety-ridden. Anxiety with waking up and not knowing if that was the day we were going to reconnected with Dad, or if something even stranger was going to ensue to Sam or me. Lately, there had been no occurrences between the two of us…but I was just anticipating something to come about that would flip everything around.
We dealt with a shtriga in mid-September up in Wisconsin. The way this creature lived was disgusting! It enjoyed sucking the life out of little children to extend its own. There were at least six nearly dead children just when we arrived! My brothers and I were able to save them all and kill the monster. Both Dad and Dean were the most determined to waste it. Apparently, they had encountered it years back.
Oh and then Sammy got a girlfriend! Okay, well…not really. But he did really like her. Her name was Sarah Blake and we met when we worked a case concerning a creepy ass haunted painting. She, to put it lightly, was a complete badass. If it wasn't for our life, it'd be cool having her around. But I digress…that wasn't possible for us Winchesters.
~o~
August 24-25, 1990
Dean was in charge of his two little siblings for the time being. Their father had been away on a hunt for about 3 days, and Dean was growing tired of being cooped up in a small motel with his kid brother and toddler sister. He'd do anything to watch over them and protect them—but for a 10 year old, it was tedious.
"'Ghetties!" 3 year old Lucy piped up, bouncing in her seat. She held up her bowl eagerly.
"No, put it down Lucy, you're going to spill it on yourself," Dean ordered her.
"Am not!" the little girl whined, but set it down anyway. Her oldest brother poured her favorite dish into it. When Dean was forced to give up his favorite Lucky Charms to 6 year old Sam, she offered him some of her dinner. He couldn't help but smile at his little sister.
Sunday night, Dean snuck out of the motel, double checking that his little brother and sister were sound asleep in their bed. Nearly two hours later, a small tap sounded from the window. Little Lucy woke with a start. The 3 year old glanced around the room and her eyes caught on the window. Her big green eyes widened as she saw a cloaked figure climbing in.
Whimpering, she yanked the sheets up close to her eyes and snuggled closer to her big brother. She figured if she squeezed her eyes shut it would disappear. Hearing the front door of the motel open, she decided to poke one eye open, figuring it was her Dad or her brother coming to rescue her. But instead, she saw the figure again. Giant, dark, ugly and hovering right over her and Sam.
Lucy shrieked when it darted for her. But it seemed to miss. A bright, glowing light was surrounding the small girl in a layer of protection against the malevolent creature. Instead, it decided on her brother. Lucy screamed again when it grabbed Sammy and put its disgusting mouth over him. Suddenly, it hissed. Looking up, she saw Dean pointing a shotgun at the monster, but he appeared as if he was frozen.
The siblings' Dad finally showed up and shot the monster several times. The creature wailed and leaped through the bedroom window, shattering the glass. John rushed to his youngest children. He set his daughter on his lap and held her to his shoulder, and cradled Sam.
"Daddy!" Lucy squeaked and clung to her father.
"Dad, what's going on?" Sammy mumbled sleepily. John didn't answer his youngest son and rather turned accusingly to his oldest.
"What happened?" he demanded.
Dean paused and answered guiltily, "I just went out…"
"What!"
"Just for a second, I'm sorry"
"I told you not to leave this room. I told you not to let them out of your sight!"
"Don't fight," Lucy whimpered against her father's shoulder. He apologized to her, and soon after the family bolted from the motel. Lucy clung to her oldest brother the whole way and—partially out of fear and guilt—Dean never let go of her.
~o~
October 26, 2006
We picked up a trail in Dad's journal after the unsolved and unordinary death of a guy named Daniel Elkins in Manning, Colorado. His number with, respectively, a Colorado area code was jotted down within the pages and we assumed that it had to be the same guy. When we checked out his ransacked house, we uncovered and empty gun case, a journal that was extremely similar to Dad's and message carved into the floor.
The message turned out to be a combination to a post office box. More specifically, a mail drop box. Inside was a letter addressed to "J.W." Could it be? It seemed likely that our Dad and this man knew each other considering the related journals.
And that's when Dad decided to finally pop up again—literally out of nowhere, knocking on the window of the Impala. He sure scared the shit outta me! Dad told us that Elkins had a legendary gun in his possession. I think it was called the Colt. Yeah, that's what it was! This wasn't just your typical old gun—no, this gun could kill almost anything. Human, supernatural, just plain freaky—you name it! And apparently whatever murdered Elkins had stolen it, along with an innocent couple. Dad thought it was vampires...and he ended up being right!
At the moment, my family and I were speeding off down the highway in search of some sort of lead on the location of the vamps. They couldn't be far; the kidnapping incident with the couple was only about 20 minutes behind us or so. I sat criss-crossed in the passenger seat of Dad's truck, staring off into the dark. Ever since the beginning of this job, I could just feel the tension between my family (and by family I mean Sam and Dad) rising by the moment.
"Dad?" I piped in the silence. My father took a quick second to glance over at me.
"Yeah, honey?" he asked.
"Don't start anything with Sam, okay?" I pleaded. "I know he's a stubborn little shithead sometimes …most of the time…Point is, I don't want to see you two fight. I mean, it's been four years—I just want us to get along."
Dad considered my words, and sighed resignedly. "You know I don't want to fight with him. I want nothing more than the past to stay in the past. Sam…I can't control him, Bean. As you said, he's a stubborn little shithead. He's gonna say what he wants to say, do what he wants to do, just like he's always done. I hope it doesn't turn to that—to a fight."
At my unconvinced expression and my beseeching eyes, he sighed again, taking my hand in his. "I'll try my best." I was slightly more satisfied with this answer and redirected my eyes to the road.
Around 15 minutes later, Dad picked up on some sort of lead I failed to notice. He made a speedy phone call to Dean, ordering him to pull off onto the next exit. I have no idea what Dad saw, but I trusted his judgment. Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same thing for everyone in the family. The Impala roared to life, darting directly in front of Dad and me, stopping us all in our tracks.
"You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled grumpily, hopping out of the car along with Dad. Sam trudged irritably out of the Impala, with Dean following reluctantly and cautiously behind. "What the hell, Sam?" I cried impetuously. Dad voiced practically the same question; however his tone was much angrier. Oh, here we go again. This is what I was dreading.
"We need to talk," Sam growled. He and Dad were standing extremely close, practically right in each others' faces. I situated myself alongside Dean nervously. "Where are we going Dad? What's the big deal about this job?"
"Sammy, come on," Dean interjected anxiously. "We can Q and A after we kill all the vampires."
"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this," Dad agreed hastily. But Sam wasn't finished quite yet. I repeat: stubborn little shithead.
"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now out of the blue you need our help," Sam argued. His voice grew in volume with each word, and concurrently I felt my anxiety building up. "Obviously something big is going down and we wanna know what!"
"Get back in the car," Dad commanded.
"No."
"I said get back into the damn car."
"Yeah and I said no."
"Sam," I hissed through gritted teeth. Dean took that cue to push him pointedly away from Dad and attempted to reason with him. I grabbed Dad's arm, trying to lead him away. "Dad, please," I begged. Both Sam and Dad allowed themselves to be partially led away…that is until Sam had to open his big mouth again.
"This is why I left in the first place," I heard Sam mumble to Dean. I flinched and watched as my Dad turned around once more.
"What did you say?" Dad challenged. I tried to grab onto his sleeve in persistence and frustration, but he shrugged me off easily.
Sam whirled back around to face Dad. "You heard me," he glowered.
"Yeah. You left," Dad retorted accusingly with a glare. "Your brother and your sister and me—we needed you. You walked away." I tried to ignore the fact that this was practically what I had lashed out against Sam about a few months ago. The lingering anger and betrayal I still suffered towards my brother. "You walked away!"
I whimpered as the argument accelerated into a full blown screaming match. Dean and I made a failing effort to be the peacekeepers…as usual. "You're the one who said don't come back, Dad," Sam shouted, "You closed that door, not me. You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore!"
"Stop, please," I whimpered which was barely heard over their yelling. Dean, however, forced his way in-between Sam and Dad, forcing them to back away from each other. "That's enough!" he had exclaimed vigorously over them.
Sam and Dad breathed one last huff at each other and returned to their respective cars, both fuming. Dean and I were left standing in the middle of the cars, alone. Overwhelmed with frustration and fear and anxiety, I turned to glimpse at my oldest brother. He seemed to be in shock of what just happened. He met my eyes, shaking his head furiously.
"Terrific," he stated sardonically. "So…which one do you want to be with less?"
"Is there a third option?" I grumbled bitterly. The corner of my brother's lip twitched.
"Yeah, suicide," Dean commented, sauntering over to the passenger seat of the Impala. I snorted, and strolled and hopped into Dad's truck.
~o~
Strolling right into the vampire's nest turned out to not be so good of an idea. My family and I speculated that if we were silent and vigilant, we could sneak in, grab the Colt and leave without notice. But being the Winchesters, something went terribly wrong. We got discovered and had to ditch the nest, escaping without the Colt.
Plan B. We soaked some arrows in dead man's blood to use on Kate, one of the ring leaders. Dead man's blood wouldn't kill a vampire, but it was kinda like poison to them. Being that Kate was their leader's mate, we were hoping the leader and the rest of the clan were going in search for her. And hopefully while the blood poisoning was still in effect on Kate. Dean, Sam and I were going to free the people the vampires held hostage while Dad dealt with the vamps himself.
And we were running out of time. "A half hour ought to do it," Sam commented.
Dad nodded. "And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can," he said. My brothers and I looked up quickly and in disbelief. He was crazy if he thought we were going to let him confront an entire nest of vampires on his own!
"What? No, Dad," I reasoned, "There's a whole bunch of them. You can't take them on by yourself!"
"I'll have her," Dad replied, gesturing to the still poisoned Kate, who we had tied to a tree. "And the Colt." I shook my head slightly.
"But what about after?" Sam inquired uncertainly. "We're gonna meet up right? Use the gun together. Right?" I quirked an eyebrow at my father, as if to ask the same question.
Dad was silent for an extended amount of time and I realized what his answer was prior to him voicing it. He remained intent on hunting the demon himself. You got to be joking.
Sam picked up on this as well and accused, "You're leaving again aren't you? You still wanna go after the demon alone." Sam scoffed, shaking his head irritably. "You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this. Like children."
"You are my children," Dad retorted firmly. "I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Dad," Dean interrupted, "all due respect but, that's a bunch of crap." My eyebrows shot up in surprise and the three of us turned to stare at Dean, shocked. He never spoke out against Dad. Never.
"Excuse me?" Dad challenged.
"You know what Sammy, Luce and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself!" Dean replied, throwing his hands up. "You can't be that worried about keeping us safe."
"It's not the same thing Dean," Dad rejected. I shifted my weight onto one foot, uneasily, and rubbed my arm.
"Sammy and Dean are right, Dad," I spoke up. This time they turned to me in surprise—it wasn't likely for me to go against Dad either. Dad waited for me to continue, expectantly. "I get it, alright. This demon is powerful and terrifying but Dad. So are we. The Winchesters. Together! We want to be a part of this because we can take this thing down together."
Dad immediately shook his head, and I felt frustration bubble up inside me. "No, Lucy, you don't get it. This demon is worse than you think. It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you three alive."
"You mean you can't be as reckless," Dean shot back. Dad paused.
"Look...I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death, it almost killed me," Dad explained softly. My eyes watered slightly. "I can't watch my children die too, I won't."
"What happens if you die?" Dean persisted. "Dad, what happens if you die and we could've done something about it? You know I been thinking. Maybe Sammy's right about this one. Lucy too. We should do this together. We're stronger as a family and you know it." Both Sam and I nodded, staring at our Dad convincingly.
I bit down on my lip and urged, "Just let us help, Dad. Please."
I could tell from Dad's expression that he was thinking, and considering. But he still looked unconvinced and even slightly irritated. Finally, he replied strongly, "We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That's an order."
A lump formed in my throat as my brothers and I watched him march to his truck without another word. My gaze dropped to my white shoes dejectedly. How could he possibly be so stubborn? How hard is it to just accept help every once in a while? Yeah, I got it loud and clear. He didn't want us hurt. Well, you know what? I didn't fancy seeing him harmed either! Why couldn't he understand that?
I felt Sam pull me along to the Impala. We still had a job to do. But hell if my Dad thought we were just going to leave him behind to be live bait for a bunch of bloodsuckers. Hell no! That option was not on the table.
~o~
It was astonishingly fast and simple to free all the captured humans from the vampire's nest and once Sam, Dean and I were finished with our job, we didn't even hesitate to go back to Dad. Technically that means we all disobeyed his orders. But it was worth it if it meant my Dad would be in good health for at least another day. It was an intellectual move on our part because our Dad was not as well off as we were.
Dad was obviously outnumbered by the vampires and was overpowered by them when we arrived. We launched our arrows upon the group of unsuspecting vamps. The element of surprise was an effective method for at least a minute…and then it wasn't. Luther, the leader, almost killed Sam when he got a hold on him! If it wasn't for Dad, he could have killed my brother.
But this is the most riveting part. Dad actually used the gun—the almighty Colt—against Luther. He fired a single shot to the head, right in between the eyes. It was…almost magical what happened. After releasing my brother, a sort of—sigil appeared on the lead vampire's head. Then all these flashes of light erupted in him…it was actually kinda gross, I mean we could see his skeleton. And just like that, he was dead. Just one shot.
I couldn't help but imagining a bullet from the Colt piercing the skull of the demon that murdered my mother. I couldn't wait.
Back in the hotel, my brothers and I packed our belongings in silence. A heavy feeling rested in my heart because I knew Dad was going to take off again. I was sick of it. Not knowing where he was…worrying if he was even still alive. I despised that feeling.
"So kids," my father said from behind us. Sam, Dean and I whirled around to face him and took a few steps towards him. "You ignored a direct order back there." I bit my lip harshly and didn't reply.
"Yeah but we saved your ass," Dean objected instantly, speaking the words on my mind. Sam glanced over in incredulity. Dad paused for a moment, before nodding in agreement.
"You're right," Dad agreed. This statement sparked surprise in all three of us now, and we looked up in unison. "It scares the hell out of me. You three are all I've got. But I guess we are stronger as a family. So...let's go after this damn thing. Together." I could only stare. He was…agreeing with us? Finally?
"Yes, sir," Sam and Dean chorused, sounding just as astonished as I felt.
A wide smile grew on my face. "About time," I blurted.
~o~
October 29, 2006
Less than a week later, Dad shared with us his research he'd collected over the past 20 years along with the first lead of the demon he'd picked up on a year ago. Damn…it's been a whole year already. Two days from now will have made it a year since Sam left with us. Since we've been together as a family again. The day after that—my 20th birthday. And lastly, November 2nd. The 20th anniversary of Mom's death…and now the 1st anniversary of Jess's.
Dad explained to us that this asshole demon had been going after families with little children; that was its thing. He noticed a weird trend though that Sam happened to fit in with. In the families it attacked, it had been the 6 month marker of a kid's birthday. Well, 6 months within the first 3 years. Take Sam for example—he had been exactly 3 years and 6 months old. Some of these other kids had been precisely 6 months and others at 1 year and 6 months, as well as 2 years and 6 months. But it never got older than that. Weird, huh?
Anyway, Sam was of course convinced this was somehow his fault or his problem—which it wasn't, you big dork! Dad told us there had been signs in the cities or towns where the families resided just before the demon would attack them, as there had been in Lawrence 20 years ago. These signs were currently occurring in a town in Iowa—fires, cattle deaths…stuff like that. And so that's where we headed. To Iowa.
This fucking son of a bitch demon wasn't going to be hurting anyone else. Not on my watch.
~o~
Eh? Is it okay? Not sure if I like this one yet haha.
