Fic: Fellowship of the Nine 15/23
Chapter 15
We ate breakfast just because it was there. The coffee tasted bitter and the toast was a soggy mass in my mouth growing bigger by the minute. The way the others pushed their meals on their plates from one side to the other, or in Eric's case torturing a piece of toast with his fork, they felt the same.
"Should we bring them some?" Andrea asked gesturing around the table of half eaten things. "At least some toast?"
She had a point there. It was Saturday morning, early morning, and the plow wouldn't arrive before Monday around noon. Maybe later. So we couldn't just let the Winchester brothers starve up in their room. Sitting with them, or at least with Dean, at the same table was out of question, though.
Before somebody had time to answer I heard footsteps behind me.
"Where are you going?" Cole asked and eyed Dean closely who just passed the kitchen. For the first time I took in how heavily build he was, the way he moved, sure and confident. He had this bad guy image before with the way he dressed and the way he talked and the way he walked with this swagger of his but now it all translated to dangerous. I've to admit I was glad that I didn't have to face Dean alone.
"Just need some things from the car." Dean hold his hands away from his body in the universal "I'm not armed" gesture and with that he got his boots and a second later he was out of the door.
Andrea used the moment to prepare a tray with a few things and then hurried upstairs to bring Sam breakfast. I on the other hand had a close eye on Dean. From my angle at the window I couldn't really see what he was doing, the car was parked facing the cabin and he was at the trunk, but after a minute or so and a quick glance around as if he expected to be watched, Dean got a bag out of the trunk and then hurried to get back inside. Snowflakes swirled in the air and he had to work his way through the deep snow.
We need that plow, I thought.
Back inside Dean stomped to get rid of most of the snow and then bent down to unlace his boots. The bag sat beside him on the floor and I wasn't the only one eying it.
"What's in there?" Cole asked. It was his cabin so it was his right to know what somebody like Dean brought into his house. Especially if it looked as clunky as the things in that bag. It had even made a metallic sound when he'd set it on the floor. Tools? Weapons? I'd no idea what he had in there but I couldn't come up with an explanation that didn't make me feel uncomfortable, though.
"Just need to check something." Getting rid of the second boot Dean stood up and wiggled his sock-clad toes. For a second he looked like an over-grown boy. The moment outside had been enough to redden his cheeks and partly melted snow stuck in his hair.
That was when Andrea got out of the brother's room and made her way down the stairs. Instantly Dean's attention was on her. Figures. I made a mental note to not give Dean a chance to catch her alone. I didn't even want to think about how that could end.
"You really should be careful on those stairs." Dean said when Andrea reached the bottom. Looking with wide eyes at him Andrea hurried for shelter in our little group. Something like hurt flashed over Dean's face but it was covered up with a cold mask not a second later. Maybe I'd just imagined it.
"I know it sounds weird." Dean scratched the back of his head. "But does anybody happen to have noticed some strange things going on lately?"
"You mean besides you and your pushing people down the stairs?" Eric asked and Dean pinned him down with his glare. I've never been comfortable with guns and stuff but back than I'd have sold my soul for a gun.
"I mean things like cold spots, weird noises, that kind of stuff." Dean clarified ignoring Eric's comment. "Maybe you think you saw something ..." He prompted and looked from one to the other.
It was drafty in the cabin, we all had noticed that at some point even if Cole told us otherwise. And the wood was working when the temperature changed but that was what wood did. The figure in the snow came to mind but that was nothing, right? Just a trick of the light, the snowflakes and some bushes.
"It's the middle of the winter and we're snowed in." Cole spat at Dean as if he was five. "Of course it's cold. What do you want?" Stepping forward he was now right in Dean's face and I half expect Dean to punch him.
"Nothing." Dean said instead and got his bag. "Just do me a favor and stay off those stairs." He said and betrayed his own words the next second by going up said stairs.
"This is my cabin." Cole raised his voice but I heard the little shaking in it and I guess so did Dean. "I'm going wherever I want to go."
"Whatever." Dean shot him a look over his shoulder, readjusted his grip around the handle of the bag and was half-way up to the upper floor when something happened.
I'm not sure what I saw or if I actually saw something at all. Just for a second there was a familiar figure waiting for Dean at the top. He didn't see it because his gaze was locked on Cole and I doubt anybody of the others saw it because we all were kinda focused on Dean. But there it was and it stretched out one arm and the next second Dean fell backwards as if somebody had pushed him.
A surprised scream on his lips he went down. Flailing arms and legs, the bag in the middle of it and with a loud thud he landed at the bottom.
"Dean!" Sam came running for his brother and I only had a second to wonder if there really had been something up there or not.
"No, no, no." Sam was at his brother's side who hadn't gotten up yet. "Dean!"
continue to chapter 16
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