Into Darkness (Supernatural)

XIX - Supernatural Crime Scene

XIX – Supernatural Crime Scene

A loud rumbling scares me, jolting me from sleep.

Wait. Sleep? Oh, that's right, I'm human now. Humans need to rest their eyes and their bodies so they don't overexert themselves. I'm human now. I sleep. I guess I was so fatigued that I didn't remember falling asleep.

I hear the rain pounding on the roof. I sigh, smoothing down my short locks of hair. How am I even going to begin to find them? I have no way to contact them. Maybe I'll just live out the rest of my human days alone. I could maybe start over, build a life...

No, I can't. Not while Lilith is still a threat. Not while half of the seals have already been broken. I need to get myself back into this, somehow. I need to adapt. I can't let this stop me from doing my part. Yeah, okay, Vera. You don't have the resources you once did. You're on your own.

Something rumbles again, but it's not as loud. There's a weird feeling in my stomach. What does that mean? I poke at it, wondering if it'll make the same noise. It doesn't. So far, this is weird. My nose wrinkles at an odor. I smell myself. Hmm, I need to freshen up.

I investigate the motel room. I find the bathroom and look and the bathtub. I turn the knobs and the water spills into the tub from the spout. I watch it, running my hand under it. I get it at a warm temperature before I let it fully fill up.

I pull out of the clothes I'm in, as bloody and tattered as they are. I can't wear those again. People will look at me funny. They could assume the worst. I let out a soft sigh when my one foot touches the water. Carefully, I slide myself in. I scrub myself for a good while before I let myself relax.

This is perhaps the first time I've felt relaxed in a long time, even with imminent threats ahead.

I move my fingers through the water and watch the ripples I make. I see the individual beads of water stay on my skin that's not immersed in the liquid. I carefully lean my head back and let my muscles relax further. At some point, I close my eyes.

The silence is deafening, but it beats hearing noises of war ringing in your eardrums.

I don't know how long I've sat in the water, but a loud knock startles me. Water splashes out onto the floor. I grip the edges of the tub, tensing. I don't speak a word. Maybe they'll go away. Or...maybe it's Sam and Dean. Or Ruby. Maybe they've found me. I know it's too soon to get hopeful, but it's possible.

Another knock, this one more persistent. Cautiously, I get out of the tub and put a towel around me. The water was getting a little chilly, anyway. I wetly pad out of the bathroom to the door. I look around for something to use. I grab the lamp and make sure to disconnect it from the wall.

The beads of water down my back make me shiver through the towel. This is inconvenient, being prepared to fight in nothing but a towel. I exhale deeply. I grab the doorknob gently and ever so slightly turn it. I open the door a crack, allowing whoever it is to only see one half of my face.

I catch glimpses of two men, and they aren't Sam and Dean.

I almost slam the door, but one of them catches it with their hand.

"Easy, Vera," says the one man. He's got bright orange hair. "Just let us in..."

"I don't know either of you!"

"We're here to take you back home."

"I said I don't know you!"

"Don't make this difficult. Put down the lamp."