Darkened Warriors - Lost Spirits

Chapter 1 Part 2

He winced and what I call the “understanding wrinkles” appeared on his forehead. “We, sort of, accidentally opened a gate to Hell, but it's closed now.” He rushed the last part out, hoping that somehow it would make what he had said all better.

I slowly set my bottle of beer on the table, “I technically don't believe in Hell but I would imagine that's not good. I'm also wondering how you “accidentally” do that?”

Dean took over, “That would be the long story part.” His face held no expression which I had learned over the years meant he wasn't about to go into detail.

Trying to get Dean to talk about something he didn't want to was a battle I wasn't up to fighting at the moment, “Ok, so? You opened a gate to Hell. What does that mean exactly?”

“Things from Hell came out,” Dean answered, “Demons.”

 Faster than you'd pound a shot of whiskey on a bad day pain and shame came and went from his eyes,

“Are they what's controlling my friends?”

“At any time did their eyes turn completely black?” Sam asked.

“Yes, once we got them in the Devil's Trap. They went black, then back to normal and then they started ranting about how we were weak, pathetic things and to just wait until they got out.”

Dean slammed down the rest of his beer, “You've got demons.”

“And you two let them out?” My sense of calm was quickly fading.

Sam looked at Dean, his face tight with sorrow. “Yes,” he admitted in a quiet voice.

“Can we get these demons out of them?” They both looked away from me, “I'm not going to like this answer am I?”

“We can exorcise them but the people they are in don't always survive that,” Dean said, still refusing to look at me, “You trapped them early so there's a better chance since the demons haven't had time to ride the humans too hard.”

“That's not all,” Sam continued, “The people, your friends, they know what they did. The demons usually take over but let the people stay aware enough to see what they are doing.”

I could feel the blood draining from my face, “So...” I couldn't even speak the words.

“Yeah,” Dean answered.

I chanted a prayer to the Great Spirit under my breath as I tried to wrap my mind around what they had told me. As I did, I felt something and looked closer at the brothers. I usually don't go about viewing people's energies for fun. I've learned to control what I see and when I see it, so unless it's something truly powerful, like what was currently in my town, I don't perceive much until I want to. However, when I chant I tend to automatically begin to go into an altered state, my shock at what they told me made me slip up. There was something wrong with Dean and Sam's energies. If I didn't know better I would say Sam had died even though he was breathing and talking right in front of me. His lines of energy, his path, it had been severed then patched up with something that oozed darkness and lies, and Dean; I didn't even know what it was that I saw tying him to a path that seemed to lead to nowhere good. Behind and to the left of where he sat there was a slouching thing. It was vaguely dog like. It seemed to be stalking him, waiting for something. A writhing, sickly, purple thread of power stretched from the dog-thing's neck and looped around Dean's throat. I caught myself just before I bolted off the bed I was sitting on. The brothers didn't know all that much about what I could perceive.

“Hey. You all right?” Sam asked.

I stood up and started to close my alternate perceptions down. “I probably just need some food.” They both gave me an odd look, then I remembered what they had told me, “We can't leave them possessed by those demons. If they survive the tribe will help them deal with what happened. What's involved in this exorcism?”

“Not much supplies wise,” Dean answered, “We have everything we need in Baby's trunk. We can leave when you're ready. Demons have a way of convincing people to do things. If you have people watching them they're vulnerable to being influenced. The sooner we get there the better.”

What I had perceived from Sam and Dean made things much more complicated. My teacher, Rising Dove, would be able to see how tainted they were and would not want to let them approach the demons without going through some sort of cleansing. I had no idea how to inform the brothers of that without telling them about what I could see. In most hunters eyes what I could see made me something other than human, which to most of them, meant something not worth keeping alive. I knew Sam and Dean were more reasonable than your average hunter but still. Dean had a point though, we had to get back as soon as we could. Which gave me two days to explain that I could see auras, talk to spirits and perceive supernatural energies to two of the best and most stubborn hunters in the country. On the bright side, at least the drive wouldn't be boring.

I decided to rely on sound military tactics, divide and conquer. “Good point Dean. Sam? I have an 8gig Ipod in the car and it's permanently on shuffle. Would you care to ride with me for a few miles?”

Dean rolled his eyes and Sam's face lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Hell yeah I would.”

I winked at Dean, “Try to keep up darling. I hate not being able to get out of fourth gear because I have to wait for slow ass drivers in antique cars.”

Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Now I have two of them to deal with,” he muttered, then turned and went into the bathroom.

Sam and I smiled at each other, he bust out laughing and grabbed his gear. “We getting something to eat on the way out of town?” He asked.

“Probably should, I'm starving and you know how Dean is. That reminds me.” I grabbed my backpack and pulled out two pieces of homemade pecan pie I picked up on the way. I had stopped at a small bakery that was next to a gas station about four hours away from where the brothers were. When I got out of the car all that delicious aroma of fresh baked pie filled the air, even blocking out the usual gas station smells and I decided to bring a little surprise for them. Sam's eyes lit up and he opened his mouth to say something but I put my hand over his mouth before he could get a word out. “Shh.”

He nodded, I pulled my hand away and winked at him, “How do you stay sane hearing the same five albums over and over any way? I mean, isn't that type of repetitive listening a sign of senility?” I asked.

Sam choked back a laugh as I handed him one of the pieces. “Either that or insanity,” he chimed in.

Dean's muffled and slightly offended voice came from the other side of the door. “I can still hear you, you know.” 

I crossed the room in three strides and stood right in front of the bathroom door, “Well, if you still have your hearing not all is lost my dear,” I replied. The door flew open and I was treated to a full force angry Dean glare, green eyes hard and cranky looking, eyebrows lowered and lips tight. I raised the piece of pie to eye level and watched as his mouth dropped wide open.

“Is that?”

“Freshly made four hours ago. I even brought a fork.”

He took the pie from my hand, “See Sam, at least she brings pie.”

“And?” I asked.

He paused in between bites, “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

Silence filled the room for several minutes until Dean started moaning in appreciation, “God, I needed that.”

“Glad I could help out. Shall we?” They both nodded, grabbed their bags and we headed to the cars.

“Do you think we could stop at the place you got the pie on the way back?” Dean asked as he loaded his bags into his car.

“Yes dear, but if you ask me are we there yet we'll turn right back around and come back here,” I replied.

 “A simple yes would have been fine.” He got into the driver's seat and Baby roared to life. Sam and I got into my car, I pushed the button to start it and revved my engine the obligatory amount of times to prove my point. I looked over at Dean who shook his head as he backed out of the parking lot. Sam laughed, I turned on some music and pulled in behind Dean on the road. How the hell was I going to start this conversation?