Sanctum Sanctorum(A Supernatural Fanfiction)

Chapter One: A Mad Tea Party

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eight months later...

To say that her 21st birthday party was nowhere near what she had imagined was a colossal understatement. She clearly remembered saying something about the guest list being around the vicinity of fifteen -she was looking at fifty. Probably more. Rachel stood in front of the fountain, feeling torn between uneasiness and amusement. If she hadn't been feeling out of sorts, she might have tried to enjoy the party

'Skylar,' she said, nudging her housemate -who was busy smiling at her handiwork. 'I'm not sure about this.' Rachel gestured at the fifty strangers milling about the apartment building's courtyard. 'I don't know half of these people.' Her eyes darted from face to face, momentarily fixating upon shadow an empty patch of wall. She shook her head, dismissing the creepy image.

Skylar, who barely noticed anything, bobbed her blond head excitedly to the beat of 5 Seconds of Summer although the music was barely audible over the sound of a dozen simultaneous conversations. 'The point, Rache, is meeting new people. Which is why their strangers.' She smiled and waved as someone from behind Rachel hailed her.

'I just got out of the loony bin six months ago,' Rachel shot back at the blond's retreating figure, but the protest fell on deaf ears. 'I doubt anyone wants to be friends with crazy Lucy.' She looked on hopelessly.

The girl was left to fend for herself. Once again, she sought out the peculiar shadow at the far end of the courtyard. She was about to act upon her thoughts of examining it when, much to her relief, she was instantly caught by Michael -the strangely enthusiastic Assistant Manager of the Target she worked in. He was ridiculously attractive with his blond hair and blinding smile, so that all he had to do was smile at customers and they'd double their expenses. Even the men. The man was practically a walking advertisement. He was also her first friend since she'd been discharged from the halfway house. Not to mention he got her her job and found her an apartment and a slightly normal room mate.

'This party is awesome!' He enthussed, raising his red cup of warm beer like it was a glass of red wine. 'Didn't know you were so popular,' he added with a wink.

Rachel rolled her eyes, jabbing a thumb at the blond head visible not five meters away. 'That's the popular one. I'm pretty sure you're the only other person I know here.'

'Still,' he said. 'It's an awesome party. Happy Birthday, Alice.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'Mike, you know I haven't -' Rachel stopped talking when she saw Michael handing her an envelope. An official-looking brown envelope with the state's seal on it. Her mouth gaped, and no sound came out.

'By the way, some courier guy came like five minutes ago,' Mike was saying. 'Looking for an Alice Byrne. He didn't want to come in because the party looked awfully wild to him. So I signed for it and sent him away with a slice of pizza.' His blue eyes were twinkling as he looked at Rachel, waggling his eyebrows like a vaudeville.

She was momentarily distracted at the appearance of a shadowlike figure near the walls. But she decided to not let it ruin the moment.

'Mikey!' Rachel shrieked, throwing her arms around the much larger man. She was finally, officially free to be her own person. Her delight infected her mood for the night, completely turning her attitude to the party around.

It was two hours past midnight that she found herself lying prone in her bed, smiling foolishly. Skylar had drunkenly limped to her own room, probably towing a blue-eyed semi-stranger with her. Rachel carefully opened the envelope in her table, fumbling from vodka fingers. Despite the drunken haze she'd allowed herself to get in, she could read the documents and her new certificate of birth clearly. She was Alice Cassandra Byrne.

*

Alice had just spent the past hour constructing an uncannily lifelike replica of the Empire State Building using mainly boxes of Nestle cereals, and now she was standing back and fighting the unbearable urge to take a selfie and hashtag #targetcerealsale. It was an amazing creation that now stood just behind the counters, ready to beckon at the following day's buyers to grab more just to test its superios durability. She admired it silently, nodding appreciatively at herself.

"You, Alice, are amazing," Michael said, eyeing the obra maestra with an impressed smile. "But you know you could have just just told one of the noobs to do it." He stepped up to her and handed her a new name tag, with 'Alice' printed on it in large block letters.

"You do realize any other employee would have sued if asked to do this," Alice answered, gesturing at the scale model, then lifting her hand to pin on her name tag, and tug at her purple-dyed bob in a manerism of unexplained nervousness. But the sparkle in her hazel eyes belied her manner. 'In addition to the six other hours you have us work.

Michael's face had taken on a slightly affronted expression, and Alice had to bite her lip to try to keep a straight face.

'That is exactly the face you pulled when Skylar took off her shirt at my party,' she said, laughing openly as a look of horror replaced the affronted one on her best friend's face.

Michael winced. 'Please, Alice. Don't remind me.'

'Who took off her clothes?' came a squeaky voice as Niel, one of the newer aisle minders trotted towards them. He was short, even for an Asian, and always seemed to confuse private conversations with public forums. 'Did you two hook up?'

Alice cringed. 'Gah! Niel, where would you get such an idea. I wouldn't want to get anywhere near his slimy body.' It wasn't true, of course. Michael was just the sort of friend you'd be glad to think dirty thoughts about, even if you felt guilty and disgusting after. But she wasn't about to say that in front of him.

'I could think of some things you could do,' Michael shot back, nudging her shoulder insinuatingly.

Alice fanned her face, shooting him a coquettish look. 'Like throw up all over it?'

Michael laughed, slapping her shoulder a little too roughly. Alice winced. The guy had to try to control his strength.

Niel, who had been silent for the whole exchange, spoke uo again. 'Does that mean you didn't sleep with each other?' His voice had lost all sense of the sound towards the end of the sentence, as two long shadows cast themselves on them. With anothers squeaky sound, he excused himself, leaving Michael and Alice to explain the inappropriate conversation to the customers who had overheard.

Michael was the first to turn around, a half-apologetic, half-sheepish smile plastered to his face. It was apparent he did NOT want to have to explain anything. 'Holy shit -I mean, wow.'

His sudden enthusiastic cuss demanded Alice's attention. She turned and looked up at the two men standing in front of her, feeling very much like cussing herself, but her voice seemed to have failed her completely.

'Excuse me,' one of them muttered in a deep voice, a barely-there drawling accent noticeable. 'Is there a Rachel Winchester here?'

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A/N. Just to be clear, I have absolutely no idea about the proper legal proceedings of changing your name or reinstating yourself as a proper citizen. So I just went on and spitballed right there.

Oh, and I hope you like the first chappie. Comments and votes are very much appreciated. Please have mercy on this frustrated author, and take notice!

Lexii ♡