Daughter of the Legend: Soul on Fire (#Wattys2018)

Chapter One: Only in Dreams

If there is one thing I hate, it is the taste of blood in my mouth. Spitting the foul red fluid onto the dusty ground I glare at my opponent.

"That the best you got?" I sneer, fists raised in their defensive positions. My head is pounding and I was starting to lose sight out of my left eye thanks to the strong right hook it received a few minutes ago. He shook his head solemnly as he to prepared for the fight to continue. Focus Rae.  I encouraged myself. I didn't want to mess up, not today. I blinked and he was gone.

Shit...

I felt the impact of the blow in my spine. The force knocked me to my hands and knees.  I took the opportunity, however, to take out his legs from underneath him. A grin of satisfaction crossed my face as I heard him hit the ground, knocking the air from his lungs. Hoping to have a moment to refocus my energy, I was quickly brought back into reality.  I was dragged backwards by an invisible force and was on the receiving end of yet again, another punch. It connected with my jaw. That's gonna hurt for a while!

He grabbed me by the front of my flannel shirt, "Do it now!" He ordered.

"I can't!" I snapped back, my hands latching onto his wrists for support.

"Rachel-" He was cut off by a new voice.

"For God's sake, will you stop beating the shit out of my kid, Cas?" Dean stood, holding the screen door ajar from the back steps of Bobby's. Castiel set me back on the ground. Dean waited, "Are you going to heal her or not?" Cas looked at me. His cheekbone was starting to bruise and a dusty boot print stood out on his white shirt. At least I had landed a few solid hits this time.

"Do you want to try it yourself?" I smiled, painfully, and nodded slightly.
"Do you remember?"

I nodded again, closing my eyes, I tried to bring out the energy. Scowling, I kept searching. Nothing. A familiar pressure was placed on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, Castiel smiled slightly.

"Next time." He states. Placing two fingers on my forehead, I can feel the healing corse  through my body. That was definitely something that sucked. I could feel the healing take place now. It wasn't just a "Snap of the fingers" kind of deal. In fact, it was the opposite of what it used to be. It was painful.

"Thanks," I said, as his fingers left my forehead. He nodded.

"We will work on the rest of this lesson tomorrow."

"Whatever you say Cas." I sighed, rubbing my jaw. Yeah, that was still going to be sore... The two of us walked towards Dean. Cas entered the house first and Dean and I brought up the rear.

"So, how's it going?" He asked genuinely.

"Besides getting my ass handed to me every day? Just peachy." I emphasized the last word. Dean frowned.

"Not what you expected?"

"I didn't know what to expect Dean." I shake my head, " However, I am developing a great right hook, if I do say so myself." I smirked, "If I could just get that last part down, then we could call it good and move on but...I don't know...It's harder than you'd think." Dean chuckled.

"I'm just surprised that you were wanting to even do this stuff..."

"Well when you are cursed, I guess it only makes sense to make the best of it." Dean frowned. I sigh again. Truth be told, I wasn't taking my own advice. This was not the "best of it", in fact I'm pretty sure I was still in the pits of the ordeal. I wasn't sleeping very often anymore, and I felt like I was in constant "fight or flight" mode. Maybe it was only anxiety that was behind my unease.