Chapter 5
Dean's arm slipped off her as she shot up in bed. Blood from her runes had soaked through the bandages and spotted on her shirt. She could feel the material clinging to her.
Pressing a hand to her chest, Brooke forced herself to breathe slowly. The uncomfortable feeling in her chest was just because of the spell and runes. She knew she was breathing; she just needed to calm her nervous system.
Getting up, she went to their bathroom, closing the door in hopes of not waking her sleeping boyfriend up with the light. He had clung to her like an extra limp since she had stumbled from that guest room bed hours earlier.
The pain of carving the runes had been excruciation, the haunted look in Dean's eyes painful, but the flow of her magic as the cuffs came off brought tears to her eyes. All the pain and loneliness she had felt without it dissolved. It only took her about five seconds to realize the in just a short few hours she would be without it again.
She was unable to stop herself from breaking down. She sobbed. Dean held her and tried to ask what was wrong, but Libby quietly explained it to him as he rocked her. Brooke almost expected him to try and convince her not to go through with it. But instead, he told her she was stronger and he wasn't going anywhere, she would get through this and reminded her she was doing this for the friends she 'lots".
She had nodded and dried her tears of her selves. After a couple steadying breaths she stripped her sweater off. It was only going to get in the way, the runes would need to be carved into her back. So she went to join Libby on the bed. Sitting cross legged in her jeans and bra, hands rested palm up on her knees.
The spell work took forty minutes, Brooke kept trying to swallow, gagging on the air she felt like was not inflating her lungs. at some point during the process something small and weighted was placed in her palm and through the panic was a little sliver of calm and Brooke held on to it with everything she had.
Once Libby went quiet, Brooke opened her eyes, looking down at her hand where a crystal was resting. She frowned for a moment before she saw it had carvings on it. Bringing it closer to her eyes, she looked it over, someone approving her from the side.
Danial reached out and took it from her, and immediately Brooke gasped and choked. It was dropped back into her hand.
"I works kind of like a downer, it will mute some of what you are feeling, or at least distract you, make you care a little less."
Brooke nodded, wrapping her fingers around it. the sides cutting into her palm. He climbed onto the bed with her, she notices Dean come off where he was leaning against the bedroom wall.
"It's best if we keep moving."
Brooke laid down on her stomach, the tarp under her rough on her skin. She had put it there to not ruin the bedding with her blood.
Libby crouched down in front of her. "Once this starts, it's unwise to stop. Breaks will only draw this out."
"I know."
The older witch gave her a brave smile. "Let us know when you are ready."
Brooke held her hand out, "Dean."
There was rustling and metal bumping metal behind her as Danial got ready. Dean came into view, getting down to sit on the floor so she would not have to struggle to look at him.
One hand gripped the crystal, the other held between both of his. That was all she remembered of comfort. His green eyes were the last thing she saw before she lowered her head onto the bed, his warm hand firm and solid around hers. The she muttered to "start" and white hot pain originating on her back slid through her veins as the runes took hold and she lost all sense of peace.
Looking at herself in the mirror now, she looked worse for wear. Her skin pale and damn, her hair limp from sweat. Stripping out of her clothes, she walked into the shower, she needed to cool her skin off. The lukewarm water felt good as she washed herself.
Libby had made an iron bracelet to host Daniel's crystal. It made tasks like showering easier, though Brooke had to give it up for three minutes while she made it. Longest three minutes she ever spent, if her gasping breath when it was returned to her was anything to go by.
The cream slid over her skin soaking in and when Brooke was satisfied she was fully moisturized she pulled on a fresh pair of undies and one of Dean's shirts. Her fresh new bandage protecting her throbbing skin.
"You ok?" Dean asked, sitting on their bed and facing her.
"Just getting used to the new normal." She crawled past time to lay back on her side of the bed.
Dean laid back and rolled to face her, taking in her damp hair, and fresh smell from the shower. He reached out and ran his hand over her crystal, then her hip.
"How's the wound?"
"It itches." It burns. "It'll heal in a week, and it'll fade like any scar."
"The bracelet's still helping?"
She smiled; he cared so much. "It helps. Thank you for letting them stay. I know having them here isn't your favourite thing."
Dean took her hand. "I want you to stay here, and I know you need Libby to work on that spell with you."
"And Daniel." Brooke teased, snorting when Dean rolled his eyes.
"Not sure he's essential."
"He cares, and he's the one that started the research on the spell to untether their souls from mine. He knows a lot more than Libby or I at the moment. Plus he'll be able to help her while I adjust to everything."
Dean raised a brow at her, his concern filling the room.
"Do I feel different to you?"
This thumb rubbed over the back of her hand. "How do you mean?"
Brooke looks down at his chest. "I guess I always assumed it drew you to me. I never really asked how the bond felt to you, what it was like being on the other end of it."
"I love you, Brooke."
She snuggled deeper into their bed, seeking the warmth and comfort of its blankets.
"Do I, do we feel different?"
"Nothing's changed for me." He promised.
"It's weird." Brooke frowned, "How disconnected I feel without it, from everything. I never realized how much I relied on it, how much it connected me to everyone. I'm looking at you, and I love you, but I can't feel you, not like I used to. You had such a calming presence over my magic, grounded it, and it would flair when you touched me. When you weren't near me, I would feel a little erratic, like it was throwing a tantrum without you near. I could reach out, and it felt like you were reaching back and I tried this last week and it's not there. It's like losing all my senses at once."
Dean wrapped his arm around her back, avoiding her wounds and pulled her against him, "You didn't tell me that."
She could tell he felt guilty he had put the cuffs on her. "You were already upset I locked myself away from you. I didn't want to, on top of that, make you feel bad about the cuffs. I needed them to keep me in control. I'll get used to living without my magic, it's just going to take time."
"You can survive a year feeling like this?"
Tears welled in her eyes. "It's not about me. I feel like a fool, letting my family play me like they did, my fear of losing you. People died because I was naive. I'd live without my magic for the rest of my life if I had to. Because if I ever hurt you or Sam, there would be no comparison between this suffering and that. You aren't the only one who gets to make sacrifices for the people you love."
Dean grunts and pulls her tighter into him, "We don't need protecting from you."
"From my family, and right now we are one and the same."
Kissing her gently Dean sighed, what left was there for them to say. Neither drifted back off but they remained silent, letting the moment confront them.
.
"Bobby." Brooke smiled and pulled him into a hug, it had been a while since she had seen him.
"How are you doing? The boys caught me up over the phone."
"I'm good. Is Rufus with you?"
"Bobby." Sam smiled, pulling him in for a hug, and Dean did the same.
"No Rufus, just here to pick up Sam," Bobby answered her questions.
Frowning, Brooke looked to the brothers. "What'd I miss?"
She had been up and about for a couple of days now. She had been busier with Libby and Daniel, but she didn't think she missed anything too crazy.
"Nothing," Sam reassured her, "There is lot of noise coming out of Washington, Bobby and I are going to check it out."
Ignoring the way the motion pulled on her scabbed skin, Brooke crossed her arms, shooting an annoyed look at her boyfriend.
"But you're not going."
"Don't. Bobby and Sam can handle whatever is going on out there."
"Right." Brooke turned to smile at the old man, "Have a safe drive, call if you need anything, we won't be doing anything exciting here."
Bobby looked between the couple. "Will do."
Sam kissed Brooke on the cheek, throwing his bag over his shoulder. The hunters did not waste time leaving the suddenly hostile bunker.
"I'm going out to collect some things for Libby."
"Give me a minute to get my coat," Dean said, headed to get it.
"Respectfully, if the witch sees a hunter with me, she's not going to give me what I need."
"Then I'll wait in the car, but you aren't going out alone or defenceless."
The click of a gun sounded, and Dean turned on his heels slowly. "I'm not defenceless, and I have more than just this gun on me."
"I get it, what you're doing. But I'm sorry, you can't go out alone right now. You're still not fully healed."
"I'll get the list from Libby," Brooke said evenly, walking from the room.
The car ride was tense and full of silence. Brooke was driving her car after silently getting into the driver's seat and waiting for Dean to get with the program and climb in beside her.
"What are you picking up?"
"Gross witch things," Brooke muttered, pulling over.
"Such as?"
"Baby tears, a frog liver, spider's eye balls, a dead man's ashes-" She trailed off as Dean's face scrunched. "I told you you wouldn't want to know."
"Baby's tears?"
Brooke nodded, tuning off the car, "I could keep listing things, but it doesn't get any better. I'll be back."
Dean got antsy after twenty minutes and got out of his car to lean against it. He played with the rings on his fingers and tapped his hand on his thighs, eventually he was working himself up to go inside. Brooke was grieving and he knew that, he knew that's where her annoyance was coming from and he wanted to give her space to feel what she needed to but he also needed to protect her, for his own sanity.
"Though you might have slipped out the back and made a run for it," he joked when she finally emerged from the store.
"There were a couple of things we had to look through her back room to find."
"You got everything?"
"Almost, she said to come back in a few days and she'll have the rest." Brooke came around the front of the car, "You drove home, driving is pulling too much at the runes."
Dean took the bag of items from her and placed it on the hood of her car, then turned her slowly to take a look. There were spots of blood over her shirt, but not a concerning amount.
"Bad day to wear your purple shirt." Dean tisked.
"Damn it." Brooke dropped her head back in frustration.
Kissing her forehead Dean directed to the passenger side door. Closing the door for her once she got in.
.
They were laying in bed a couple weeks later, or at least Dean thought they were. He woke and rolled to face Brooke only to find her side of the bed vacant. He rolled toward the bathroom, and the light was off, the door open. From the cool temperature of the sheets, she had gotten out of bed a while ago.
Getting up, he started walking around the bunker, looking into the room he knew she usually hung out in. A small part of him wanted to swing by Daniel's room. but he immediately hated himself for even thinking she would cheat on him, she wouldn't but she had been hanging out talking a lot with Daniel about witchy things, things he had no clue about, which pissed him off because he had no clue about the stuff going on with her. but Danial did.
"There is something missing." He heard his girl whisper.
Then, to his annoyance, Daniel answered, saying something low enough he could not hear.
"What's missing?" Dean stepped into the room, not planning on sneaking around.
Both parties turned to look at him, Brooke with flour on her face and Daniel with chocolate on his. Dean raised his brows, waiting for one of them to answer.
"I'm making cookies." Brooke tilted the bowl she was mixing toward him to see the ingredients.
"Ahhuh."
Daniel grabbed a couple of bowls and stopped when Brooke reached out and wiped the chocolate from his face. She showed it to him before whipping it away on a tea towel.
"Make sure you collect enough, there isn't another full moon for a couple of weeks." She pointed her batter-covered finger at him.
"Don't worry," He softly stepped back into her space, "I'm not going to mess this up."
Brooke nodded, turning back to her cookie tray so she could arrange the cookies to bake them. Dean walked past Daniel ignoring him to get to his girl. He cupped her hips with his palms, looking over her shoulder.
From the mess, it looked like she had been up for a few hours. "Did you get any sleep?"
"A little." She said, not looking at him.
Dean wrapped his arm around her waist, dropping a kiss to her shoulder, "What got you up?"
"I've been having dreams-." She admitted, "About that night, remembering what I did, parts between when I fell asleep and you and Sam showed up. But tonight it was different."
"Different how?" Dean nudged her cheek with his nose, pulling back so she could look at him but she didn't. "Ok, enough with the cookies."
He took the bowl from her, taking her hands so he could turn her to face him. Brooke's eyes were red, she had been crying. The dark circles under her eyes made him aware whatever amount she did sleep tonight had not been enough.
"Whatever happened, whatever you saw, you can tell me."
Brooke shook her head, "It was like before, like a premonition. Clearer, I could feel and smell things, like I was there-."
"Are you still cut off from your magic?" Dean sees she is still wearing the bracelet.
"They're getting through, Dean."
She was spooked; it was plain as day on her face. Whatever she had been dreaming about, reliving the night she killed her friends, it was nothing like what she had seen tonight.
"Sweetheart, it's impossible for them to get to you while you aren't wearing that." He held her jaw in his hands, forcing her eyes to stay on his.
"But they are." She closed her eyes as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I can't do this again."
"Hey," He kissed her forehead, "This was a really bad, really freaky nightmare. That's all."
"You didn't see it, it felt different!"
Pulling Brooke to his chest Dean sighed. She was tired and worked up and his words weren't helping so he opted to hold her. She wasn't in a state to talk about this, with the nightmare so fresh in her mind.
"The oven's on, I need to put the cookies in." Brooke pulled back first, hearing the beep of the oven being heated to the right temperature.
Cleaning his jaw, Dean looked her over as she turned and started halfhazardly through batter onto a cooking sheet.
He told her he was going to go get showered for the day. It was his turn to go and buy groceries for the bunker, Sam had given him a big list the night before. Brooke nodded, leaning into him when he kissed her cheek and nuzzled into her softly.
"We have rats?" He frowned, catching the box of rat poison near her lineup of baking soda, baking powder and flour.
Frowning, Brooke followed his reach as he moved to pull the box from the lineup. "I didn't buy it."
"Why was it out with all this?"
Shrugging Brooke turned away to place the cookies into the oven. "Someone probably left it out when they were putting groceries away."
Frowning at the box, Dean took it with him. With one last caress of her waist, he went and returned the poison to the supply closet where they kept cleaning supplies.
Brooke was asleep leaning against the counter when he came back through, fresh from his shower. He gathered her in his arms and hushed her whimper at the chance in position. After her settled her back in their bed, he waited for the cookies to be done cooking, plating them before he headed to the store. He hoped he might be back early enough to join Brooke back in bed, but he wouldn't hold his breath.
Daniel was a shadow down by the river, half a mile from the bunker. Dean drove by him, seeing him filling the bowl with what he assumed was the running water and doing something witchy to it.
.
Brooke choked, her body spasming around her lack of air. She was freezing cold and could not get a breath. She bolted upright in her bed and spat the water out of her mouth, gasping as air flooded her lungs. Once she caught her breath, Brooke started going to the bathroom to get a towel to clean up the mess. She hadn't thrown up, but where the hell did the water come from?
Running her hands through her hair, Brooke sat back on her bed. What the hell was happening?
"You're up." Sam smiled and opened her bedroom door wider, "I thought I heard you moving around, you feeling up to a run?"
She felt her mouth forming an N, but stopped herself, "Sure, give me a few minutes to change."
"Great, I'll meet you in the war room."
Brooke nodded a small smile on her lips. Sam was sweet; she had known her presence in his brother's life changed their dynamic, and he took her being added to the group with a smile. He took care of her and cared for her like a sister, it was very sweet. Clearly, he had noticed she had been having a hard time, or many Dean had told him something about her nightmares.
The burning in her lungs as they made their way back to the bunker. Gravel crunches under her running shoes, panting loudly in the mid-morning silence. The river was running beside them, babbling loudly in her ears, water rushing like the blood pumping inside her. Despite her skin being warm from the exercise, Brooke's skin broke out into goosebumps as her eyes made contact with the water.
She remembers the water she coughed up that morning and the freezing feeling in her dream as she fought for breath that wouldn't come.
"Good run." Sam stepped in front of her, stepping into her view of the river as they started to walk to 'cool down'.
"Thanks for inviting me. This felt good."
Sam laughed, "I don't mind running alone, but sometimes it's nice to keep pace with someone."
"I hope my short legs didn't slow you down too much."
"No, no. Not at all."
"I made some cookies last night. Oatmeal chocolate chip and banana chocolate chip."
"Those are my favourites."
"I know." She smiled, lungs still burning, "You've put a lot of your time into helping with all this witch stuff and I really appreciate it."
"Of course, you know- you're family; I love you, Brooke. I'd do anything for you."
She knew that already. "Same here. Though I seem to be the only trouble these days."
They both laughed, cleaning the dust from their shoes before heading into the bunker. From the noise in the kitchen, it was obvious that Dean was back from shopping. Not only did he hate shopping, but he also hated putting everything away when he got home.
"Honey, we're home." Brooke teased.
Libby was helping Dean, both turning to look at them at the same time.
"You went running?"
"I run," Brooke exclaimed.
Dean snorted. "When you're being chased."
Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend, Brooke went to hug Libby.
"You're looking a little pale, dear, How are you feeling?"
She could feel Dean watching her. "I'm doing good, Libby. Did you have a good sleep?"
"I did... Brooke."
"Lemons-"
"Boys!" Libby yelled out to the Winchesters, who had started a private conversation. They turned and both lunged for the girls. Libby grabbed hold of Brooke's arms and tried to slow her fall as her eyes rolled back and her legs gave out.
"Brooke!" Dean's hand swooped under her head to protect it, his other hand slapping lightly at her cheek. "Hey, baby."
Sam started yelling for Cas, but like previously, there was no whoosh of wind or ruffle of feathers.
"Dean! Roll her on her side," Sam said, dropping to his knees on the other side of Brooke, across from Dean. The young witch started choking up water.
They rolled to onto her side to let the water drain from her mouth instead of having her choke it back into her lungs.
"It's water?" Sam said, confused. Clear liquid was flowing from her mouth, not a foam.
"What the fuck is happening?" Dean looked to Libby, who was chanting with her eyes closed and hand on Brooke's chest.
"Come on, baby, come on," Dean muttered to her as she choked right in front of him.
Brooke's eyes are open for a second before she is on her hands and knees coughing up water out of her lungs. Dean's slapping her back to help get the water out and Sam is pushing her hair out of her face. She could hear Libby from somewhere behind her moving around in the kitchen.
"Drink this." Libby holds out a cup with some mixture of liquid in it.
"Should she be drinking anything right now?" Dean asked, unsure.
"It will help." Libby nodded, pushing the cup into her hands.
Brooke settled onto her butt between the boys, putting the cup on the ground, "No, I don't need it, it's ok now."
Dean reached for her chin to check out her face, which had been pale is now rosy once again.
"You know that because this isn't the first time this has happened." He was sure of that.
"Only one other time." She told him, sensing his annoyance.
"That's why we have new sheets, 'cause you almost threw up a whole lake on them?"
Brooke levelled him with a tired look, "I told you the nightmare was real. My family are still getting through, despite me being cut off from my magic."
Looking to the older women for answers, Dean asked, "Could they still have access to her?"
"Not unless..." Libby shook her head, "I'm sorry, dear, I never thought they would do something like this. but considering what got them killed, I should have known."
"Known what?" Dean asked.
Libby reached out gently for Brooke's wrists. Pushing her sleeves back, she looked at her healing forearms. Running her fingers over the bumps, Libby lowered her head in sadness. "There is magic here. I believe they carved locking or binding runes into your bones so whoever of them was inside you that night would stay and travel with you."
"Of course they did." Brooke huffed, "Well, guess this is pointless. I'm going to need all the magic and practice I can get before March rolls around."
Brooke handed the bracelet to Libby.
"I'll be downstairs with Daniel, releasing my magic and trying to figure out how to unbreak the carvings on my bones and not let whoever is in me out."
"Woah, woah, slow down. I'm sorry I wasn't listening before." He told her, ignoring her shutter, "What happens in your dream?"
"I'm choking on nothing, gasping for air, but I can't breathe. I thought it could be related to me being cut off from the magic; that's what it felt like when we finished the spell. But now, I think I may have been drowning."
"Okay." Dean rubbed her arms soothingly. "You said last night was the first night you had this dream, right?"
"Yea, but after you put me back to bed this morning, I didn't dream, but I woke up coughing up water. I can't tell who it is, but I can feel her now, a spark of something that isn't me. I think it's just one of them."
At a loss, Dean looked to his brother and then Libby. "Go downstairs, dear. Tell Daniel everything, I need to send the boy out for some more supplies."
Nodding, Brooke got to her feet and headed straight for the basement. Daniel released her magic, the feeling was orgasmic as her magic rushed through every inch of her. After that, she needed a nice warm shower first. As the water ran over her body, she smiled, her magic hummed and just for fun and just because she could, Brooke manipulated the water and changed the lights in the room to glow pink. Having her magic back was like she could start living again. It also meant the rune carved into her back was gone.
Her magic healed the offensive rune, banishing it from her body. She knew she was taking a long time but she couldn't help it, the warm water felt so damn good. When Dean knocked on the door and then opened it, she whipped at the foggy glass so she could see him.
"Hi?"
His eyes narrowed. "Just making sure you were still alive. You've been in here for a while."
Brooke rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be shopping?"
"It's a one-person job, I sent Sam out. I wanted to be here."
"Always looking out for me." She turned back into the spray of the water.
"Damn straight." He walked closer to the glass shower door. "Hey. I am sorry I didn't listen to you."
Brooke looked down at his stiff stance and clenched fists, "The runes were supposed to make us safe from their influence, none of us know what they had done."
"You got your mojo back." He pointed to the pink glowing bathroom light.
Brooke giggled, "I've been playing with the water; it's why I lost track of time."
"It's good to see you laugh like that again. God, I'm glad you don't have to wear that bracelet anymore."
Brooke nodded, and so did she. It was hell on earth. Every moment sucked, and dealing with her trauma from the murder, it had all been compounding on her.
"It feels good." She opened the shower door and leaned forward to kiss him. A violent shudder rocked her body; her nipples hardened, and her belly tightened.
They had had sex a couple of times after her back had healed, and it was amazing. Sex was always amazing between them. Brooke pulled at Dean's shirt. Their sex had changed over the years as they grew together, but it always had gentle tones to it. Even if they got a little rough, they never hurt one another; the world had done that enough.
"Step out," Dean said against her lips.
His heart nearly melted when Brooke shook her head, her bottom lip between her teeth. She wanted him in the shower with her. They didn't do shower sex often, usually only at the beginning of their relationship when they all three shared a room and it was the only privacy they got. Shower sex wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but who was Dean to deny her request?
Shucking the rest of his clothes, he stepped into the warm shower and pressed his body against hers. They made out under the spray of water, and Brooke turned the light, changing colors as Dean's mouth started traveling her body. His fingers played between her legs, hers teasing him by dragging her nails across his lower stomach. His dick bobbed and bumped against her hip.
With a last sensual kiss, Brooke turned to lean against the shower wall, wiggling her butt back against Dean who smacked it softly in retaliation.
He stepped right up against her back, hands on her waist, guiding his dick inside her. Laughing softly when Brooke tensed and rose up onto her tippy toes. This angle was deep, and Dean knew it had him bottoming out inside her, which always seemed to be an intense feeling for her.
Her little hands were in fists on the shower tile, and her hips twitched and rocked slightly to ease the feeling of his tip rubbing against her cervix. Dean caressed and rubbed her side, hips and breasts. Grinding his hips in time with hers as she slowly came back down onto flat feet.
He played with her nipples but left her clit alone as she made such sweet sweet noises for him and relaxed. His lips claimed her shoulder, neck and cheek, and he relished in every move and reaction her body had to him.
Her breath hitched, and she reached out for her as she tightened around him, one of their bathroom light bulbs popping at it exploded.
"Fuck." Brooke whined fucking herself back onto him as she came.
Once she started moving again Dean teased her, "I missed your magic too. Almost forgot how much of a good girl it is for me."
He started actually thrusting into her now, deep and long strokes that would get harsher as they both worked each other up.
"And I'm what?"
"A brat," Dean replied without a second thought.
Scoffing Brooke clenched down around him and Dean smacked her ass, "You just made my point sweetheart.
Dean had learned over the years that sometimes, Brooke argued just to prove a point or because she felt he was being overly protective. And fucking sue him, he had reason to be and it was his role, it's what he did, he protected the people he loved and he was not going to apologize for that. But fate, her magic, and their undeniable feelings, take your pick, always softened them to each other.
Brooke dropped her head back against his shoulder to look into his eyes. Smiling and shaking her head at his comment. Closing her eyes and tipping up her chin, Dean wasted no time in bringing his lips down on hers. One hand came up to hold her neck and keep her lips to him. His free hand slid down between her legs, pulling sweet, sweet noises from her.
Dean groaned, wrapping both his arms around her as they came. His heart was so full of his love for her it fucking hurt.
They washed up and dried off together before going back out to face their current battle.
"I know you want to be here right now, but I do have my magic back. I know you and Sam have been passing off hunts. I can defend myself again. I'm not saying you have to go, I'm just saying what Daniel, Libby and I are doing. It's going to be another eight months before March rolls back around. I don't want you sitting around here when you can be out doing something."
Brooke slipped one of Dean's sweatshirts over her head, black leggings and fuzzy socks. One of her comfort outfits.
"Let's get whoever's inside you out. find a way to block them from getting to you in the meantime. Then maybe we'll see about me going on hunts again, okay?"
"Fair enough." Brooke pressed a short kiss to his lips.
.
"We're not going to have to carve back into my arms to break this link, are we?" Brooke asked, unimpressed, Dean equally annoyed at her side.
"Ideally, we could come up with something else, but not in a day, and you want her out now."
"Yes. So how are we going to trap her?"
Daniel stepped aside to where there were runes drawn on the floor. "You'll stand in here while we cut you just enough to carve a line through the rune. Then you should just be able to walk out, and whoever she is will be left trapped inside.
Brooke studied the rune Daniel had drawn. It looked almost identical to the one she had drawn in her and Dean's doorway three months ago.
"OK. Let's do this." Brooke pushed up her sleeves.
Sam came into the room and everyone paused. He had been trying to get in touch with Cas for an hour in hopes the angel could just heal her bones. But not luck. Dean rubbed a hand down his face. He had been in the room the last time the witches had carved into his girlfriend and it was not pleasant.
Hell was a long way behind him, but he still remembered the souls he had carved into and seeing Brooke be harmed similarly had been agonizing.
"One more thing, dear." Libby walked toward her, a witch's dagger in hand. "To avoid her jumping into someone else, you have to break the rune on your own."
Dean's arms smacked his thighs as he uncrossed them. "You mean carve into herself. Cutting the skin is one thing, but carving herself- what if I do it?" He pulled down his shirt to show them his antiposession tattoo. "Can she jump into me?"
"Possibly, and I don't think any of us want to test this theory."
"It's ok." Brooke took the dagger, stepping into the circle.
Dagger at her side, she tried to step back out of it and hit a magical barrier. At least they know the sigil worked. In case she passed out, Brooke sat down on the floor, unsurprised when Dean sat down in front of her.
"You got it." She nodded; she could do this.
"We've already warded all the entry into the bunker to prevent any of the others from getting to you."
That was all well and good, but there was no way she was going to continue to stay trapped down here. Brooke kept that to herself for now.
She made both cuts along the lines of the healing skin and took slow, deep breaths. Cutting her skin was the easy part; scraping bone was going to be gross.
"You can heal her as soon as she's done, right?" Dean asked Libby without taking his gaze off his girl.
"Yes," Libby assured him.
Taking a deep breath and holding it, Brooke worked quickly and cared into her bone where she felt the divots of the binding rune. She passed out, which she expected; they all did.
Sam kept near his brother, watching him vibrate with the want to reach out and touch her.
She came to only a couple minutes later, but blood was pooling around her, and they didn't want her to lose too much. Dean fought to keep the memories of finding her at the witch massacre nearly dead from blood loss from consuming him.
Brooke sat up and looked down at her arms. Danger on the ground beside her, where it had slipped from her grasp. Ignoring Dean's questions, Brooke reached out, lifting the dagger, the tip dripping her blood. She admired it for a moment before lifting the blade to her neck.
"It's been too long, Libby." Brooke's eyes were fogged over white.
Her eyes slammed closed before anyone could reach for her. The dagger at her throat sliced down and violently cut through her skin, hitting bone. As Brooke went forward her bleeding arm fell outside the warding, and Dean grabbed her hand and pulled her body into his lap.
Libby checked the warding while Daniel dropped in front of him, Hands slapping down on Brookes's torn flesh to heal her wounds and stop the bleeding. There was a small nick on her neck. He also headed without a word.
"She's trapped, and I'd know her magical signature anywhere."
"Who?" Brooke asked, eyes fluttering open.
"Carri." Libby's tone was gentle.
Daniel reached out and grabbed Brooke's hand in comfort. While Dean and Sam were left staring at the group.
"Who's Carri?"
"My sister. Our magical signatures are similar; that's why I didn't notice she was in me."
In shock, Dean asked, "You had a sister? You said you grew up an only child."
"I did, once Rufus dropped me off with Missouri. Carri, she was older, and she tormented me our whole lives, upset that my conception, birth, it was all planned for me to be the most powerful. She resented our parents and me. She tried to slip rat poison into my food to kill me. She succeeded once, and it was a low enough dose that I didn't die, but the coven punished her for it. She was never really a sister."
Dean and Brooke both looked at each other, remembering that just that morning she had been baking and the rat poison that had found its way onto the counter.
"She's trapped in here now. You don't have to worry about her anymore." Libby assured them, "She'll remain here until we head to New Orleans. When we free the rest of the coven, she will be sent away too."
