Chapter 1
Brooke breathed deeply through her nose, her head was pounding. The impala was quiet as she and the boys flew down the road. Brooke always took the back seat because she often took naps or worked on things while they drove. Dean always drove because it was his 'baby' and her boyfriend coveted the things he loved. She would let Sam have the back, but his long legs were better suited for the passenger seat.
"Your head bothering you?" Dean asked, green eyes narrowing at her in the rearview mirror.
"I'm fine."
"That's not what I asked. You haven't slept in three days and the amount of spell work you've been doing, you need a break."
Brooke sighed rubbing behind her ears to help relieve some of the building pain. "I need to find this girl."
Dean looked at his brother who had fallen asleep about an hour into their drive. The trio had been working overdrive to locate the missing child and were four days into the case with no leads.
"You're exhausted, Sweetheart." He softened his tone, hoping to appeal to her.
"I'll sleep when I need to. It's already been four days Dean, she's only six."
Dean swallowed hard. They all knew what the chances of finding the child alive were. It dropped with each day and it was eating away at all of them.
"I know. But we both know that headache is not going to go away until you rest and you're looking a little pale. Which means you're in enough pain that it's making you nauseous. Catch some sleep now and you can get back to work once we hit the next town, should give you a solid five hours."
Brooke looks down, she knows what she is about to say is going to upset him, "I can't. I'm channelling her. If I stop, I don't know if I can get her back and she's so cold."
Green eyes flared and Dean turned fully in his seat to frown at her, "How long have you been channelling her?"
Reaching into her pocket Brooke pulled out a hair elastic, "Since I took this from her bedroom."
"Three days ago." Dean spoke behind clenched teeth, "You've been channelling for three days..."
"I wanted her to know someone was looking for her. She won't know why she's feeling less alone, but she does. It has to count for something."
"Babe-"
"I know, ok?" She must have looked pathetic because Dean's face softened, "Can we just please pull off at the next gas station for some more coffee?"
He conceded, "Yes, we can."
"Thank you." She muttered resting her head back against her seat.
To keep herself awake she focuses on the little girl, Amiee. She was cold and dirty, and Brooke felt like she needed a shower. There was not much noise or anything to point them in her direction. The more tired Brooke got, the weaker their connection. Dean was right, she was not going to be able to keep this up for much longer.
"Pull over!"
Dean swore and swerved onto the side of the road, his girlfriends demand startling him and Sam, who had woken up an hour ago.
"What's wrong?" Sam turned to look at her but Brooke was already out of the car and on her hands and knees in the roadside gravel and grass.
"Brooke!" Dean followed her out of the car, he crouched down beside her.
"No, no!" She cried, her head dropping to her hands. "Please, no."
Dean's hand landed on her back and he looked up at Sam who had climbed out of the car and was watching them from beside the trunk.
"Brooke! What's happening? Did you fall asleep, lose the connection?"
Her body shuttered under his hand, "Don't touch, don't touch her."
Sam stepped closer, "I don't think she can hear you, man."
All they could do was watch as Brooke spoke quickly and quietly, magic hummed and the air felt alive around her. Dean took his hand from her back but he did not move physically away from her. He watched as his girl sounded more destroyed and more despite. All he could do was watch her and look to his brother helplessly.
When Brooke went quiet it was like someone flipped a switch and all the warm electrically was zapped from the air. She stayed bent over for a moment before she sat back on her legs, her hands shaking and pressed into her knees.
"Amiee's dead."
"What?" Dean could not help but blurt out.
"I tried to send magic though to help but I didn't- I wasn't strong enough."
Dean knew his girlfriend was a powerful witch, from an abundant line of witches. She was more than powerful enough. But going straight for three days while running her magic in the background, weakened her, and when she needed to push, she was not able to.
Brooke had explained channelling to him once. How she could almost take on the senses of the other person. Feel and hear what they feel and hear, see and taste things if you pushed for it. He could only imagine what she experienced when Amiee was killed.
Looking at his despondent, detached girlfriend Dean took her hand, "Come on sweetheart, let's get up off the ground."
There was nothing more they could do and as much as it sucked, moving on to the next hunt was all that was left to do. Brooke had joined them on the road almost a year and a half ago. Had known them for three. This was the gig.
"Dean." Her voice a begging prayer.
"I know." He said softly pulling her up and into his arms.
He pulled her back to his car and helped her inside. He grabbed her blanket from the back seat duffle bag and laid it over her body. She had laid down and whether it was a choice or not, her magic was drained, which meant so was she. Brooke was fast asleep seconds after lying down.
After tucking her in, the brothers got into the front seats, closing their doors softly.
"We should go to Bobby's." Sam whispered, "Spend a day there, regroup."
"We're closer to Jodi's." Dean rubbed his hands down his face, eyes looking through the rearview mirror at his girlfriend. "Text her, see if she'll let us stop by for a day or two."
Sam nodded, letting his brother steer them back onto the road. Jodi and the girls were out of town looking at colleges, but Jodi had a key hidden in the woods behind her house. She said if they could find it, they could stay as long as they wanted.
.
Brooke slept for nearly 30 hours. Dean wanted her to get as much sleep as possible but was planning on waking her if she hit 48 hours.
"Where's Jodi?" She asked, climbing onto the couch next to Dean.
Sam was working away in the kitchen, looking for news reports to see if they found Amiee's body. Not that they were going to tell Brooke that.
He placed his hand on her thigh. She had changed into a pair of jeans and an oversized sweatshirt.
"Touring schools with the girls." Dean watched her carefully, "You have a good sleep?"
Her head fell to his shoulder, "It felt like I blinked. I'm still feeling groggy."
"We'll go to bed in a couple of hours, get an early night. Look, I know why you did what you did, but you've told me what happened the one time you depleted and extended your energy. It's dangerous Brooke, I don't want you doing it again."
She nodded, she had told him about the worst day of her life. How she nearly died and how Rufus saved her. They both know she knew what she did was not smart and they both also knew why she took the risk anyway.
"Did the police find her?" Brooke was almost too afraid to ask.
"Hmm... Sam?"
Sam walked into the room Laptop in hand, "Do you want to read it or would you like me to tell you what the police report says?"
Brooke reached for the laptop. The crime scene photos were horrific and the officer's notes were not much better. Brooke had been connected while Amiee's death was happening and still, to see this now made her stomach turn.
"They didn't catch him?" Dean asked his brother.
"No, they think he's already moved on to a new town. Apparently, they caught wind of a case a few states over, the MO fits. I don't think it's a monster- I mean, I think he was a human."
Handing the laptop back to Sam, Brooke stood waving Dean off as she went. "I'm going to sit outside for a while."
Dean gave Brooke her space, checking in with her by looking out the window every fifteen minutes. But after she had been out there for an hour, Dean made a peppermint tea and headed outside.
"I don't have to stay. I wanted to bring you this."
She accepted the mug holding it gently between her hands. Her rings clinched on the ceramic.
"You can sit."
He moved so he sat across from her. Jodi's lawn was luscious with green grass and Brooke had picked a spot near the well that was on the property. Dean had learned being out and near the elements was healing for any witch. It helped ground Brooke and always energized her.
"You still have that headache?" He frowned.
Brooke pulled a sock from her pocket. "It's Tanya's, I just wanted to check in, maybe help her feel- I don't know why I thought I could make this better."
"Tanya? Amiee's mom Tanya?"
"It was just for a minute." She handed the cloth item to him.
Dean grits his teeth. "You've been making a couple of questionable choices these last couple of hunts."
"No more than you or Sam. Unless you are trying to mention my family without mentioning them?"
"I'm just trying to understand where this is coming from."
Brooke placed her tea to the side, "He called out to me again, Daniel. Wanted to check in since it's almost March."
"How does he have your new number?"
"He used magic." Brooke kept speaking feeling Dean's anger, "He didn't say any of the usual stuff, he was only checking in. He said he would be at the house if I wanted to stop by."
"You haven't been there in four years."
"I went last year."
"What?"
"You were a demon and wanted nothing to do with me, and Sam didn't want me hunting you down with him. So, I went home."
"To New Orleans... You never told me that."
Brooke shrugged, "There were a lot more important things to talk about when you came back."
"How long were you there?"
"Only a week, but their spirits were still there and they were so angry and they kept messing with my magic, so Daniel let me stay with his coven."
"I bet he did-"
"Don't." Brooke shook her head, "He is one of my oldest friends, and his grandma is like an aunt to me. I was hallucinating when they found me, back to the night they all died. They helped ground me, regulate my magic."
"Why would he think you'd want to go back after an experience like that?"
"We talked about setting them free from the Barn. What I did to my family, I didn't realize a part of the spell was to contain them, I thought they chose to stay. Last year we missed the anniversary date, but Daniel said if I wanted to dismantle the spell he would help me this year."
"And were you planning on it?"
"It'll take a lot of magic, which is why they are offering to help. And After I release them I need to force them out, break their connection to me. Libby said because they were still connected to me, that might be why they were able to affect me so much when I was in that house."
"Why are they connected to you?"
"We were a coven and I killed them. When I became the sole survivor, everything about the coven became linked to me. Our power our possessions, the good and the bad. I'm the last link keeping them tethered and since I'm not dead too, I need to break it another way."
"So, when do we leave?"
Frowning Brooke looked up at her boyfriend's set face, "We aren't. I went back last year because I was feeling lost and I wanted some answers, Everything that happened was a mistake and I haven't done a lot of studying of the spells, I haven't practiced anything. I am worried that if I do release their connection to me, they could do something bad before I have the chance to banish them. It's all complicated and intracit. I'm nowhere near ready this year."
"And did you tell him that?"
"We've been busy. And we don't text, he'll get the hint when I don't reach out by the eighth."
Leaning her head to the side Brooke rubbed behind her ear, her headache getting worse.
"Let's get you back inside, this sun can't be helping your headache. We'll stay here another day, give us some time to figure out our next move."
"Yeah. Acturally, I might just go back to bed if you don't need anything from me."
Dean pulled her gently into his chest, He pressed his lips softly against hers. "Just that."
.
(EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO)
Brooke was 9, and her coven, her blood family were out of control. They were killing innocent people, children and animals for no good reason that she could see. What reason was there to kill innocents?
They were witches, they worked off the land. She herself had only used her powers to mend things, to connect with people and make them feel better. She would sit outside in the woods for hours, sometimes going to the stream and dipping her feet in. Her magic was powerful and when she started presenting as a baby it was never out of control. Even when she was not continuously making decisions, her magic was a constant.
Her family had been quiet with her. They had been spending a lot more time in their barn than in the house. So one night Brooke forwent bedtime and headed outside. She saw them kill a baby, rip thew it's soft belly with no hesitation.
Brooke watched as Poppy, the same woman who drove a knife into that baby, cried and held the mother of the missing child. Her whole family was out there helping look for the baby until it was 'found' drowned in the river and the searching stopped.
Brooke could not believe it, thought it must have been a dream. So every night she followed the coven out to the barn and every night she watched them kill a human or animal. Why were they being so bad?
The library was where Brooke started spending all her time, her magic became erratic and she searched for a spell to make them stop. Finally, she came to one...
So One night when the moon was at its highest did she storm outside, the spell already humming through her body, her lips already saying the words. She was nine and her coven had been practicing magic for decades. But Libby, her betrothed Daniel's grandmother told her she was powerful, more powerful than her coven wanted her to know.
Holding on to that thought, Brooke threw open the side door to the barn. She felt blood drop from her nose as they tried to defend themselves, attacking her in hops of taking her down, but Brooke had thought of everything in the library.
She knew killing them, would make her no better than them. She planned on turning herself into the police after this, she was murdering her family, she deserved to rot for it.
She watched as they one by one hit the ground. When it was all over Brooke collapsed, the dirt danced and moved as she panted.
Climbing to her feet, Brooke walked over to each member of her family. Her mother, aunts and older sister, here grandmother and one by one she dragged them to line them up in a row.
"Stop right there!"
Brooke froze as the male voice demanded her to. She held her hands up assuming it was the police and slowly turned around.
She came face to face with a black man, gun drawn, but from his clothes, he was not a cop. But his aura, it was not magical, so he was not a warlock. But he held authority, he could have been a detective
"I killed them." She confessed, her eyes started to burn, "They were doing horrible things, they broke the oath they made. They- I killed them."
Brooke stepped forward and helped her hands, the man slowly lowered his gun.
"This is your coven?"
He knew they were witches... So he could not be a detective, the humans did not know about them.
"Yes Sir."
"And you killed them." She nodded, "You can put your hands down, I'm not the police."
"Who are you?"
"I'm a hunter, my name is Rufus. You took down a whole coven on your own?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever killed anybody?" Brooke sniffled she turned and pointed to her family's head on the ground. "Right, right."
"What's a hunter?"
"I hunt the supernatural, Ghosts, Windigos, Witches who step out of line. That is why I am here. I saw the deaths in the newspapers and figured it was either werewolves or witches. Looks like you did my job for me."
Brooke started to shake, the amount of magic she had used and the shock of her family now dead and gone by her hand. Rufus laid a jacket over her shoulders and steered her out of the barn and toward her house.
"Do you have someplace you can go?"
She thought about Daniel and Libby but knew they would hate her for this. No way they would want her to join their coven.
"Ok, I have someone, his name is Bobby. He's a crank but he is harmless. I'll take you there for now. Go inside and grab everything you want to take with you, a couple bags. You won't be coming back here for a while. I'll call in their bodies to the police, and get them taken care of."
"Ok." Brooke disappeared inside, moving like she was separate from her body.
She packed 2 bags, one full of her clothes and the second with her crystals and books she felt most important for their library. As she climbed into the tall truck Rufus was on the phone.
"Okay, we will be there in two days. Change in plans kid, my friend Missouri Mosley called, she saw you in her mind, and she wants to take you in, and help you with your powers. She isn't a witch, but she understands your world. She'll take care of you."
"Why aren't you turning me into the police?"
Rufus turned to look at her, "Because you, my dear are not a killer. You stopped the killers from hurting anyone else because they were not going to stop. That's what I do, when something supernatural is killing people, I come and stop them. Same as a cop does to a serial killer. If you can't put them in person, sometimes you need to kill them. You do not deserve to go to jail for saving their next victims. You are a good person-"
"Brooke."
"Brooke."
.
She had been away studying with another coven when Sam and Dean came through Massuori's place looking for their dad. Brooke thought maybe the woman had sent her away on purpose. But she had learned so much and made a couple of friends that she did not really care for the reason behind the trip.
The boys stopped in a couple of times and Brooke was always shipped off to learn from other covens. It was not until she finally met them that Brooke knew why. As soon as she saw Dean, images flooded her mind of them together, many R-rated and soft moments too.
When they left, Massuori had explained to her about John Winchester and the way the boys grew up. Dean had not been ready for her before, he would have killed her for just being a Witch without taking a second to hear her story. But after his father died, Dean learned more. His best friend was an angel, he learned that every supernatural creature was not soulless and evil.
Let people live who he would have killed on sight years prior. He had grown, distanced himself from his father's rederic. And he sure was sweet on her. In the three times she had met him, he was charming and his eyes followed her around the room.
Brooke thought he was handsome and kind, clearly, he hid behind a wall of 'i don't give a fuck', but she saw behind it. The only problem was those visions she saw. Them together, clearly intimate in all senses of the word. She was always kind to him but kept an apparent emotional distance between them.
Then she died, Missouri. Bobby, Rufus, Sam, Dean and a couple of other hunters came around. Dean kept close to her as the other hunters milled around the space, non of them knew she was a witch, she was just an 'adopted child' in their eyes. The four of them stayed for three days, helping her out and when the other left, performing a ceremony on Missouri's body before they had her cremated.
Losing the only family Brooke had left she ran back to New Orleans. Daniel and Libby were there to meet her in town. Apparently, they had been trying to find her for years and as soon as she crossed into the city they were able to locate her.
They told her how they had no idea What her coven had been up to, if they had Libby never would have let Brooke be the one to handle them. How they wished she had come to them after that night, how they would have sworn her into their coven, she was supposed to be there eventually anyway. She was there for only three weeks before Dean and Sam found her.
"B, I know you were planning on heading into town but you'll have to wait."
Daniel was pulling on her arm, stopping her from heading out, "What, why?"
"Hunters are outside, we cloaked the house, but if you cross the boundary line, they'll see you."
Brooke waved him off, she went to look out the living room window and saw the body looking around outside.
"It's ok, I know them."
The coven spun a darker tale of hunters than what she had come to know of them. She knew this coven had done nothing wrong, but she understood their history and respected that, but knowing these boys, knowing Dean. He was not leaving until she talked to them.
"You boys get this address from Rufus?"
Dean's eyes flared with relief when he saw her. Sam smiled sweetly at her, he was definitely the more emotionally available of the two. It seemed Dean picked and chose who got to see inside his hard exterior. How could she blame him, she had heard their story, and it was not a happy one.
"Missouri had it written down. She's been keeping an eye on them over the years." Dean explained. "You're a little on the nose, huh?"
Brooke smiled down at her outfit. She was in black head to toe, lace-covered her arms and a corset wrapped her ribs and breasts. The skirt she wore was short black and leather. Though her lips and makeup were minimal. A little eyeliner and mascara with some pink glitter around her inner eyes and nose.
"Why are you here?"
Dean's teasing expression faltered, "You took off in the middle of the night."
Brooke heard Daniel come down the stairs to stand behind her. As soon as he was off the last step she saw the boy's eyes flicker to him. Only being exposed once he was on the cobblestone.
"I left a note." It was a weak answer, they all knew that.
Dean's brows hit his hairline, "Thank you for all your help, stay as long as you'd like..."
Daniel stepped closer to her, his hand hovering over her lower back. "What can we help you guys with?"
Green eyes narrowed in on their closeness and Dean's face looked like he tasted something sour.
"Daniel." Brooke stepped in before whatever rude comment was about to come out of Dean's mouth could escalate this situation. "I've got this, okay?"
"You want me to leave you alone out here?"
She heard Dean's mouth move and could feel the indignance coming off him. Twisting out of the almost hold he had on her, Brooke turned her back to the brothers. She pressed her hand into Daniels's chest walking him backwards until she knew they both disappeared out of the Winchesters' sight. Which meant they could not hear them either.
"They are not a threat to us or me. They are my friends, ok? Go back inside and I'll take them into town with me, get them off the property." Daniel shot them a worried look over her head, "It's hunters who kept me safe when my coven threatened my security, remember."
"I could have protected you, here."
Brooke sighed. There had been a weird back and forth between them since she arrived. It felt nice to come home, but she had Daniel's feelings to contend with and while she spent the first nine years of her life expecting to marry him someday, things were different now, and she did not spend the last fourteen years hoping he would come back to her.
"I'll be back in a couple hours."
She stepped off the step and headed toward an annoyed-looking Dean. "I was headed into town and you being here is putting them on edge. Follow me, we can talk at the coffee shop."
Dean gently grabbed her arm and swung her in the direction of his car, "You can ride with us."
Brooke rolled her eyes at him but climbed into the back seat when he opened the door for her. Them driving her into town meant they would need to drive her back. The house was at least twenty-five minutes from the town center, though clearly that did not bother Dean.
"No hunts? Figured you'd come to hunt me down instead?"
Dean made a fake laughing face at her as he backed into the driveway.
"You took off in the middle of the night, you thought we wouldn't come looking for you?"
"I figured you had better things to do."
"Guess again."