Dean's Daughter (Supernatural) // Completed

Chapter 13: The Death Symbol

Alice

Weeks passed, cases were solved, monsters were killed.  Nothing unusual happened.  Well, unusual for us anyway.  Dean, Sam and Bobby gradually began to trust Alex, encouraged by my reassurances that he was who he said he was and what he said he was.

Alex was a great Hunter.  His father, Jonathan Reynolds, had been a Hunter that Bobby had once worked with, which also helped with their trust issues.  Alex had been a great help with the cases and I'm pretty sure he's planning on sticking around.

Castiel kept dropping in every now and then, and I found myself having conversations with him more frequently.  I kept finding myself opening up to him, even when I didn't want too.  Our conversations always seemed serious and then Cass would attempt – and fail – to make a joke which always made me laugh.

I grew closer to Alex and we were relaxing in my room at Bobby's watching Criminal Minds reruns when Sam burst through the door.  "You're both here," he said, breathing hard as if he'd just run a marathon.  "We need you downstairs, now."  The urgency in his tone warned me not to argue.  I threw a quick glance in Alex's direction to find he was already off the bed and leaving the room.

We rushed into the dusty lounge.  The news was playing quietly in the background.  Dean and Bobby were leaning over the map that held the location of the burned down houses.  The dreaded lump was back and I began to feel nauseous at the thought of my mother dying at the hands of some monster – a monster with a grudge against demons, it seemed – begging for help.  When the tears began to well in my eyes, I slammed the door shut on those thoughts.  Thinking like that could distract me and get me killed.

"The Devil's Trap is complete," Bobby said.  His eyes held different emotions; fear, confusion, curiosity and lastly, a little spark of hope lingering in the background.  Did he dare to hope that something that caused death and destruction could aid us in the long run?  "The last house has burned."

I studied the map.  The houses clearly formed a Devil's Trap, except for my old house.  It was completely out of line by being slap bang in the middle.  Did somebody kill my mother for no reason?  If so, why?  My mother never harmed anyone.  If not, why was it relevant to the formation of the Devil's Trap?  These were the questions that constantly raced through my mind, the questions that kept me awake at night.  But the one that was most prominent was the one that scared me the most.  Did I need to die for the ritual to be complete?  Was I endangering the people I cared about most, simply by being alive?

"Oh shit."  The curse came from Alex.  His sapphire gaze was locked on the TV that was still playing the news.  I snatched the remote from the arm of the couch and turned up the volume.  It was a story on the latest burned down house.  At least five people had been killed and they were still searching for bodies in the rubble.

"What is it Alex?" I asked, hating being in suspense.

He took a while to reply, so long that I thought he hadn't heard me but he finally answered.  "That last house, was a Hunter safe-house."

***

Alex was staring blankly at the kitchen wall, his eyes glazed over and I knew that he was thinking about the Hunter safe-house.  He hadn't spoken in the last hour and he hadn't eaten anything in the last six, which was when we found out that the safe-house had been burned down.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I placed a plate of freshly fried bacon in front of him, with a good dollop of tomato ketchup on the side.  I knew he loved bacon as he had once said to me, "You can't buy happiness, Alice.  But-" He had dramatically paused and opened the fridge "-you can buy bacon." He had then whipped out a pack of bacon and attempted to cook it.  Key word there being "attempted" as he had then severely burnt the bacon leaving us bacon-less.  It was a devastating time for all involved.

"Thanks," he mumbled, so quietly that I almost missed it.

"He speaks!" I announced.  I slid into the seat across from him.  "Hey, I know this is tough for you.  Just know I'm here for you."

I stood to leave but he grabbed my wrist.  "Stay.  Please.  For me."  He had a vulnerable look in his eyes, one that I'd never seen on him before.  Alex was usually so strong and steady, nothing could get him down.  But all this death had well and truly broken him.

I could hear the others talking in the living room, and at some point Castiel had joined them.  "I know a place we can go if you want to get out of here.  I know it can feel like you're suffocating if there are too many people around."

He nodded.  And I took his hand and led him out to my secret spot.

***

My secret spot was a musty old tow truck in Bobby's scrap yard.  Nobody knew about it, not even Cass.  I had decked it out with blankets and cleaned it up a bit.  It was quite a bit away from Bobby's house, so they wouldn't see me if they glanced out the window.  I had come here a lot after what happened with Greyson.  It was a good place to be alone.  I enjoyed the solitude and isolation of it.  Depressing, I know.

For reasons I can't explain, I had decided to share it with Alex.  Now my secret spot wasn't so secret.  But I figured he needed someplace private to talk if he wanted without being crowded.

We opened the door to the tow truck and climbed in.  Alex was gripping my hand so tight that I fear he might cut of my circulation, but I didn't have the heart to tell him though.  We'd been sitting in silence for five minutes when he abruptly said, "There were children in that house.  Harmless, innocent children.  Hunter's children that didn't quite know what their parents did.  They hadn't even begun their training yet."

The final death toll had been eleven.  Six of these were children.  It was an overwhelming loss to the Hunter community.  But I knew it had hit Alex hard.  He had been friends with most of these people and, as he had said, over half had been children.

I looked at him and his eyes were so full of water, he probably couldn't even see.  In a spur of the moment decision, I pulled him over to me into a hug.  He laid his head on my shoulder and I could feel his tears dampening my shirt but I didn't care.  "Oh, Alex," I murmured in his ear.  "It's okay, it'll be okay."  His reply was squeezing me tighter.

It was then I realised that I felt something for Alex.  That the little butterflies I'd always get when I'm with him meant something more than just attraction.  I mean he's an attractive guy.   Oh hell no, I thought.  I wasn't admitting anything major here but his vulnerability today had made me realise that I cared for him in a slightly more than friendly way.  I didn't love him or anything but I may have just acknowledged that teensy, tiny, barely there, crush I had on him.  Why couldn't my life be simple?

Castiel

The plan was in motion.  The Winchesters were still clueless about The Devil's Trap.  Or what they thought was a Devil's Trap, how wrong they were.  That was what Castiel had reported to his superiors.  His superiors then relayed the information to God.  In fact the whole plan had come from God, that's what his superiors told him.

His job was to ensure that Alice Everdeen did what God had set her to do.  Not that she knew about that yet but she would soon.  And once the plan was complete God would be free to do whatever he wants with the world.  Castiel briefly wondered if he would start from scratch with the human race or if he would be content with having only Angels in Heaven.  Alice's job was to keep the Winchesters at bay.  Permanently.  Or in other words she had to kill them.

There was more than one reason why Alice's mother had been killed by the Angels.  She had to die so that Alice would locate the Winchesters and be in the perfect position to do her job.  She also had to die so that the symbol was complete.  The symbol that the Winchesters believed was a Devil's Trap was called the Symbol of Reckoning or more commonly known as the Death Symbol.

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I just love keeping you guys in suspense! :)

So what do you think is going to happen next?