Chapter One

I pack my case

I check my face,

I look a little bit older

I look a little bit colder.

I know if destinies kind I’ve got the rest on my mind

The Killers – For Reasons Unknown

The bar I’d picked was a quiet one on the edge of town. At that current moment, there were a total of five patrons: a nice place to meet an old friend and take a break from hunting. I slid onto a bar stool next to the only other female in the bar, who admittedly was better dressed that I was, and ordered my first beer of the night. The barman across from me gave me a toothy grin as his hand brushed mine. I returned it with a strained smile of my own. The jukebox was playing full blast as the other men in the bar either played pool or sat at the bar tapping along.

“Gotta say you have the prettiest damn eyes I’ve ever seen. Let me buy you another drink?”

The voice was deep and husky, and I turned my head to give the guy a sidelong glance as he spoke to the girl in the short skirt and plunging neck line, next to me. Clearly she was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. I couldn’t hold back the snort that escaped me. I was also positive he heard it. I brushed my shoulder length black hair behind my ear, before taking another swig of my beer.

“You know you’re pretty cute for someone who’s supposed to be a witch.”

I choked, finding myself spluttering all over the bar, drawing the attention of the bar man. I ignored the gazes I was getting and turned my head slowly towards the guy coming onto the girl, my mouth almost hanging open. He was leaning in close to her now, his boyish smile splashed across his face.

“You know I was expecting some warts or something…” he said indicating to his face. I rose off my stool and took a step forward banging right into someone. Looking up I could see it was the man I’d been waiting for all along. He smiled before asking.

“How you doing Shona?” Sam asked with a toothy smile, I couldn’t help but grin, but there were other more pressing matters at hand. I took Sam’s sleeve and pointed at the guy at the bar.

“And crooked teeth…” I heard him say. I rolled my eyes.

“Is that your older brother at the bar there?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest. Sam followed the direction I was pointing in and focused on the girl and the guy.

“He’s usually good at picking up girls.” Sam remarked frowning at the expression on the girls face.

“He just asked her if she’s a witch.” I tattled.

Sam looked at me startled for a second. “And you didn’t step in?”

“I was about to, but I think it’s more your ground.” I replied as Sam sighed, before rushing over to his wayward brother. The barman was hovering close to the girl, who was now grinning. I frowned, something was wrong with that.

“Hey Sammy, I see you found yourself a girl too, a hot one, if you don’t mind me saying.” Sam’s brother winked at me as he spoke, leaving Sam to pull at his brother and talk to the lone girl.

“Excuse my idiot brother, he hasn’t been out the mental ward long and has forgotten to take his pills today.” The girl licked her lips as Sam turned away, and crossed glances with the bar man. Something was definitely wrong. Everything was quiet except for the jukebox that was still playing, I glanced around the bar.

“Come on Sam, I know she’s your friend and everything but I think she’s old enough to make her own decisions.” I heard Sam’s brother saying. Everybody in the bar had stopped what they were doing, their eyes were on us.

“You’re kidding me right… She’s not the witch girl?”

“I said she was at the bar; trust you to go up to the girl with the shortest skirt…” I turned my head from the two brothers, studying the patrons of the bar who were starting to prowl. I saw a flash of extra teeth and suddenly knew I’d just happened to walk into the bar of the exact things I was meant to be hunting.

“You’re shitting me.” I muttered, backing up towards the two still squabbling brothers.

“You guys might wanna quit arguing for a minute.” I remarked loudly. Sam’s brother turned his head to me, his gaze caught sight of something behind me.

“Jesus.” He yelled as a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and yanked him over the bar.

I turned my head quickly to see the girl hissing right in my face. She lunged at me, I tried to move but her extra body weight caused me to overbalance, with her still on top of me. My head hit the floor, causing a burst of stars to impede my vision. Somewhere in the fray I heard a crashing noise and the jukebox die. My arm was jammed under her throat, problem was the only thing it was doing was keeping her from tearing out my throat: I was stuck in a defensive position. To add to this she was still showering me with salvia.

There was a lot of clattering around me. I knew I was on my own, at least for the minute. My arm was in severe pain, as she struggled and snapped inches away from my face. As far as I could tell this one was the baby of the bunch. Her hand grabbed my hair yanking my head away form my throat, letting me know I was in a hell of a lot more trouble.

Could I risk it? Shit, I was going to get myself burnt if I tried this. On the other hand what were a few burns compared to getting your throat torn out? I didn’t have time to sit and weigh the possibilities as she gotten her hand on my arm and was now proceeding to yank it away from under her throat. My body was struggling underneath hers, trying to get enough room between us. I wasn’t wearing nearly enough clothes to survive this unscathed; I knew I should have worn something without a v-neck and with sleeves. Maybe I could hold out?

She yanked my arm from under her throat pinning my wrists with both her hands. I saw her sickening smile as she plunged her face towards my neck. Fuck it! I raised my knee digging it into her stomach to momentarily surprise her. It stunned her for a moment but a minute was all I needed. I hooked my leg over hers and rolled us both, resulting with me on top of her. I moved my legs so they were straddling her hips so she couldn’t kick me.

She was squirming underneath me as I plunged my hand towards her chest so it connected with the skin there. I drew on the energy buried deep in some core of me as her hand went to my throat. My pulse was racing, the power charging through me as she began to squeeze. My senses were flooded with heat until I finally let go, forcing all the power into her body. All the rage burning inside of me fled into her body, I could hear her screams as the flames began to take hold.

The stench of burning flesh is something you’d never get used to, and here it was again, in my face, shaking my stomach into fit of nausea. Her hand was off my throat now, and she was clutching at my arm whilst the ash began to spread across her chest as the flames continued to consume her body. She could break my arm. I yanked my hand away and managed to spring to my feet, feeling the sickness get into to my stomach as she did the same. By now she was on fire and screaming but her eyes still caught mine and she made another lap at me.

“Hey, witch lady!” Sam’s brother was throwing a machete in my direction. I caught it with ease, before drawing it back and swinging it at her oncoming flaming body.

Her head hit the wooden floor with a dull thud. Her eyes still peering up to look at me as the body collapsed. Overwhelming tiredness and dizziness was now wracking me as the machete dropped from my hand, making a pristine noise on the floor as I managed to lean against a bar stool, despite the fact my knees were going weak. The bodies of the other vampires were strewn across the room like toys. Well headless toys.

“Nice trick with the fire there. I take it you’re a freak like Sam.” His brother was talking; I could just about hear him over the roaring of my ears. Used far too much juice that time.

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother’s remark.

“Not a freak.” I mumbled. I felt things slipping.

“Whoa.” Sam’s brother was by my side in a matter of seconds, which was fortunate for I felt the barstool go from underneath me. The darkness was creeping in.

“It’ll pass.” I muttered feeling myself hoisted up and being carried somewhere as the night claimed me.

--

“This usually happen with your weirdo friends?” Dean asked his brother as they strode towards the car, keys jangling from Sam’s hand.

“That’s not fair she’s not a weirdo, she’s just gifted.”

Dean looked at Sam pointedly. “Gifted? She just almost got us killed by walking us into a vampire bar.” Dean snapped. He was tired, his head was aching and he was carrying around someone who had just nearly got them killed. And all he’d wanted was a quiet drink.

“She’s one of us Dean, a hunter, and my friend. We’re not leaving her here.” Sam returned unlocking the car.

“She’s a hunter? Could have fooled me, walking us into a vampire bar.” Dean mumbled.

Sam shot him a death glare over the top of the door he had just opened. “As I recall she wasn’t the one chatting up a vampire.”

“Well maybe I’m allowed to make mistakes.” Dean countered.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Can you just put her in the car please?”

Dean obliged, managing to put the girl, who was closer to Sam’s age than his, as comfortably as possible into the vehicle. His hand brushed the olive skin of her cheek. He recoiled quickly, turning his head to Sam as he pulled himself further out of the car. “Is she supposed to be that cold?” Dean asked shaking off his jacket.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked, peering past Dean and into the car at his old friend.

“Touch her.” Sam did as he was told, touching the back of his hand to Shona’s clammy face.

“Pass me your jacket.” Sam demanded. Dean did as he was told watching Sam do the same and tuck them carefully around the sleeping female.

“You think that voodoo shit she pulled earlier has anything to do with it?” Dean asked as Sam closed the back door and climbed into the passenger seat along side Dean

“No idea…I’ve never seen her like this after using her powers.” Sam said as Dean started to reverse.

“You pick up some whacked chicks Sam.” Dean commented shifting the gear stick.

“Hey I didn’t pick her up; she’s an old friend of mine. We went to school with her.” Sam said watching the road as Dean drove.

“We did?” Dean asked, his head twisted towards his younger brother.

“She was one of my closest friends before we moved to Minnesota.” Sam said pointedly, trying to jog Dean’s memory.

“Was that the school, with the hot cheer leading chick with knucklehead boyfriend, who tried to pay me to give him tips?” He paused for a minute or two before laughing out loud.

Sam rolled his eyes.

“You remember a cheerleader and her knuckle head boyfriend, but not my closest friend.” Sam shook his head in disgust. Dean frowned.

”We moved a lot Sammy boy; I can’t remember everyone we come by in my own life, let alone yours. So…you bone this chick?”

“Dean! What the hell man?! She’s one of my closest friends; I don’t just ‘bone’ every girl I see. I’m not like you.”

Dean rolled his eyes.

“Maybe you’d be a little less uptight.” There was silence between them for a few minutes as the street lamps darted past.

“Remember last year when I went off by myself and met Meg?” Dean gave no show of emotion.

“Well I was travelling to see Shona. She was there when me and Dad had that fight and encouraged me back to school.” He confessed.

“So this think about her being a witch?” Dean asked, glancing into the back of the car with the mirror. Shona was sweating a furious amount now.

“When she was a baby she was attacked by something, she doesn’t remember what, maybe some kind of witch. Anyway the witch died because her father was able to kill it but she was in the circle at the same time. She started accidentally setting fire to things not long after that.” Sam explained, fiddling with the strap on his watch. Dean raised an eyebrow, eyeing Shona’s sleeping form suspiciously.

“Are you sure she’s not possessed?” he murmured. Sam shook his head at Dean’s stupidity.

“Her Dad pretty much tried everything to get rid of the power, but it’s like it was stuck in her. So no it’s not a demon.”

“We should check the journal, when we get inside: see if there’s anything written there.” Dean muttered as he parked the car in front of the hotel and helped Sam make Shona comfortable.

--

When I was sixteen years old, two new kids moved to our school. They were brothers. I was far from popular and I hung around in a different crowd from the popular kids. Yet, for some reason, Sam became adopted into our group. He was smart and serious - the direct opposite of his older brother whose first act of starting at a new school had been to hit on the hottest girl in the school, who so happened to be someone else’s girlfriend. Within the first four hours of his integration into our small tow, Dean had managed to start one of the biggest fights in our school’s history. From then on he was adored by girls and respected by guys. Even the guys whose girls he stole.

In the few months that Sam had been at our school, Sam and I managed to forge somewhat of a deep friendship, by the things we had in common. We were both without one parent, and had fathers that pushed us continuously. The only difference being that Sam had always had Dean and despite their differences, he could always rely on Dean. However, from the moment we connected, I had Sam.

A couple of months down the line, the way it always was for the two brothers, Sam discovered he was departing again. After a fierce row with his father, he moved on continuing to call and write to me to retain some sort of normalcy. You see, Sam had a secret, and so did I, and at some point in our sixteen year old lives we’d connected enough to possibly confide in each other. I believe that’s what kept our friendship alive all of these years despite the distances between us.

Not long after Sam and Dean had moved, so did me and my father. I was dragged around the country, continuously on the move, and let me tell you. I saw some freaky shit.

Waking up with the sun blazing in my eyes was a new thing for me; I managed to turn my back on the sun before hearing movement next to me. I leapt up bolt right in bed on the defensive, almost punching the cup of coffee out of Sam’s hands as he set it down on the bedside table next to me. Sam jumped spilling the coffee over the edge of the cellophane mug. I stared at him wide eyed and breathing deeply to try and bring myself back to some level of well being.

“Whoa. Hey, it’s only me. Good thing it wasn’t Dean or I think you would have sucker punched him.” He sat down on the bed next to me as I scooted over. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly his eyes moved down to my arms and chest.

I followed his gaze shifting uncomfortable. There were burn marks around the centre of my chest and along my arms. It hadn’t started to hurt…yet. “Looks like I’m gonna be wearing long sleeves for a while.” I sighed, picking up my coffee and sipping it, black with two sugars, just how I liked it.

“I gotta say that’s some pretty impressive power you have by the way. Its developed a lot since I last saw you.” He told me pointedly.

I blushed feeling slightly happy about this. “Vigorous training and personal growth.”

“It’s pretty cool except for the burns and the passing out part when I exert myself too much.” I told him with a brief smile, sipping my coffee, and inhaling it deeply. I raised my eyes to meet Sam’s as he looked away.

“Where are we, by the way? Things after last night got a little…” I groped for the word. “Fuzzy.”

Sam grinned before replying. “I bet they are. After you wiped out the vampire with some pretty hefty moves, you pretty much collapsed. We brought you back to our hotel and here we are.” I glanced around the room taking in the two double beds.

“Did you and Dean?” I nodded in the direction of the opposite bed.

“Dean slept in the car. Hence his ‘bear with a sore head’ attitude, the sun glasses, and the crossed arms.” He told me as I glanced out of the window to see Dean seated in his car still.

“Look I’m sorry about all this, I didn’t mean…well I didn’t expect.” Sam raised a hand to silence me.

“It’s no problem.” I bowed my head for a second. “Thank for come to my rescue Sammy.” I grinned.

Sam smiled as he stood up and leaned in the doorway. “I’ll leave you to get changed.” And then he vanished through the door and out into the blazing sun.