The Beauty of Love As It Was Made To Be 7/?
Title: The Beauty of Love As It Was Made To Be 7/?
Rating: PG-13 (just for little language and violence)
Pairing and Characters: Dean/Cas, Faith, Tracy
Spoilers/Warnings: Mentions of past child abuse (nothing graphic)
Word Count: ~6,300 (this chapter)
Summary: This is a sequel to "Like To Stay in Heaven..." you don't have to read that first to start this, but it would help a lot. That masterpost is here. You do need to read the prologue which is here. This starts two months after the end of my version of season 7.
This chapter: The Winchesters head out to face the threat close to home with the help of Tracy and others. Unfortunately, not everything goes according to plan.
A/N: So, I’m an idiot and I forgot that I killed all the leviathans. There are no leviathans in the “mob” they’re skinwalkers now. I changed it in the previous chapter. Sorry. I’m bad at continuity.
Notes: This story will most likely turn into another monster. I've had this story in mind for a while and haven't had a way to write it out. It could go on for a long time to see Dean and Cas' daughter grow to an adult. I don't know a lot about Nephilim and will make up most everything about them in this story with my unique little Winchester.
Previous
Cas carried the bags of cream through the front door. Dean looked up from the couch with a smile. “I thought you got lost. What took you so long?”
He turned away from Dean and put the bags on the table. He debated telling him now, but Faith was playing happily nearby and he didn’t want Dean to throw a fit while she was close. “I had to wait for them to get extra from the back.”
“That took an extra half hour?”
He shrugged. “I lost track of time. I drove around a little.”
Dean nodded, accepting that answer. “We should probably start leaving some of that out now. The faster we get the fairies’ favor, the better.” He stood and walked over to look at the cream. “I think we’ve got enough for a while.”
“Yeah.” Cas nodded and crouched to pick up Faith. “Why don’t you go do that? I’m gonna take Faith to her room, maybe get her to sleep.”
Faith had slept recently so Dean didn’t know why Cas wanted her to sleep again, but he didn’t have time to respond before Cas walked off with their daughter. Dean let it go for now and carried the bag of cream outside. He set up a few bowls around the house, seeing a couple curious fairies watching him from flowers and bushes near the woods surrounding them. He retreated back to the house, placing the cream on the counter.
Cas was pacing near the bookcase by the wall. He was chewing his bottom lip nervously. “You okay, Cas?”
He dropped his hands that he had been wringing, and looked at Dean. “We need to talk.”
“That doesn’t usually lead to something good.” Dean smiled. Cas’ face remained blank. “What is it?” He took a couple steps closer to the other man.
Cas took a shaky breath and looked down at the floor. “I met with Tracy earlier.” He didn’t see a reason to dance around the issue. Dean’s face hardened quickly. “We talked about options.”
“Options?” Cas could hear Dean trying to hold back the anger rising in him. “I thought working with her wasn’t an option.”
“For you.”
Dean had thought they were on the same page about this. He didn’t trust Tracy at all. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve gone with you, watched your back.”
“I’m telling you now. I didn’t need to be watched. She’s not a threat.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dean moved closer until Cas had to look up at him. “She’s a monster, Cas. You of all people know how dangerous that is.”
“She’s not a monster, Dean!”
“Why, because she says so?”
“Then why,” Cas dug the map she gave him out of his pocket, “would she give me this?” He held it out to Dean.
“What is this?” Dean looked over the crude drawing.
“It’s a map of where all the monsters are staying. She told me the best way in and when. She thinks we should go in tonight.”
“Tonight?” Dean looked at Cas. “She’s probably trying to rush us straight into a trap. Even if this map is accurate, we’ll be walking into a wide open space for all the monsters to see.”
“She’ll cover us.”
“Oh my god!” Dean turned away from Cas, not believing his ears. “You seriously are willing to take her word about all this? You trust her?”
“I do.” Dean shook his head. “There’s more to her than we know. I don’t think she is any danger to us.”
“We’re not doing this tonight. I thought we had a plan with the fairies.”
“We can still use them, Dean. But, Tracy says that the group is getting restless. We can’t wait much longer.”
“Cas…”
“When has she done anything to us to make her a monster?”
“How about breaking in in the middle of the night?”
“Where she warned us, not harmed us!”
Dean’s response was cut off by Cas’ phone giving a text alert. He looked at Cas expectantly. “Answer it.”
Cas crossed his arms. “It’s a text. It can wait.”
“Is it from her?” Cas shrugged, he couldn’t know for sure. “Answer it.”
Cas took out his phone and checked the message. It was from Tracy. “She wants to know if we’re doing this tonight.”
Dean crossed his arms. “Are you?”
“I’m not doing this without you, Dean.”
“Okay, tell her that.”
“I’ll tell her tomorrow night.” Cas slid his keypad open to type the message.
“Tomorrow?”
“If we wait longer than that, they’ll come after us and we can’t win that, Dean.” Cas kept his eyes locked on Dean until the other man nodded in defeat.
“Fine, tomorrow. Hopefully, we can have a fairy or two on our side.”
Cas’ thumbs moved slowly over the keypad as he typed. His brows furrowed in concentration. When he had to keep going back to fix mistakes, he punched his thumbs more aggressively. Dean tried not to smile at Cas’ frustration.
“You want me to do it for you?”
“Shut up.” Cas glanced up in an attempt to glare but cracked a small smile at Dean’s look. He sent the text. “There. We’re on for tomorrow night.”
Dean still really didn’t like this, but he knew the monsters wouldn’t wait forever and Sam would be there within the week for Faith’s birthday. “What are we gonna do with Faith? We can’t take her with us. There’s nobody close enough to take her, not that I want to even take her out of the house anymore with the monster mob out there.”
Cas shook his head. “I don’t know. Tracy thinks we should use her.”
“What?”
“She would be able to take them all out.”
“No, there’s no way in Hell Faith is getting anywhere near those things.”
“I know. That’s what I told her. She’s not going anywhere. But, what should we do?”
Dean sighed. “Maybe, that’s what we can use the fairies for. We can have a couple of them keep an eye on her while we’re gone.”
“Seriously?” Cas wasn’t sure he liked that much.
“They won’t abduct her, she’s not a first-born son, they seem to like her, and if they take her away from the house, she’s stronger than them, or at least equal.” Dean could tell Cas didn’t like it, but they didn’t have many options. “If you have a better idea, I’m listening.”
Cas knew he was right. He may not like it, but she would be safest. “You know Sam would be here on the next flight if you called him. Then, I could stay here while you two go, or Sarah could…”
“No, Cas. Sam is staying where he is until this is over, because if this thing goes sideways, then at least Faith will still have someone.”
Cas nodded in understanding. If she could be left with anyone, Sam would be his choice too. “Nothing’s gonna happen to us. We’ll watch out for each other, right?”
Dean stepped close to Cas, wrapping his arms around him loosely. “Yeah. After taking down Michael and Lucifer, this is nothing.” Cas smiled. Dean pulled him close and kissed him. “Faith sleeping?”
“She seemed to be leaning that way, yes.”
“Good.” Dean kissed him again. “Since this could be our last night,” he looked out the window, sunlight pouring in, “or afternoon.”
“Dean,” he was silenced with another deep kiss. “You don’t have to use that line on me anymore.”
“No?” He frowned. “What do I have to do?” He smiled at the twinkle in Cas’ eyes.
Cas pulled Dean down by his collar and kissed him hard. Dean moaned and held Cas tight. Cas walked them backwards to their room, pulling Dean along by his shirt. He pushed the door open with his foot and turned them around, tossing Dean in the direction of the bed.
A few hours later, Faith was up and eating supper with her dads. As the sun set, Cas grew more worried about what could happen that night. Maybe it would be the day the others would attack, or maybe Tracy wasn’t who he thought she was and she would break in, knowing they would all be there.
“Hey,” Dean was sitting on the couch with Faith, “why don’t you go to sleep? I can stay up with her and take a nap tomorrow.”
Cas didn’t know if he was relaxed enough to sleep, but he needed to rest before tomorrow. “Okay.” He leaned over the couch, kissing Dean briefly before running fingers through Faith’s hair. “Goodnight, honey.” He kissed her forehead. He was surprised when he managed to sleep a few hours that night.
The next day, while Dean was napping, Cas got a call from Sam telling him that he and Sarah would be heading over on a flight the following day. It took all he had not to tell Sam what was going on. He told him that everyone was doing well and waiting for his return. Cas spent the rest of Dean’s nap cleaning their weapons and planning out specifics with Tracy via texts.
When Dean woke up, he checked around the house and filled the bowls of cream. All of them had been empty. This time there seemed to be a lot more of them watching him as he walked. A couple even flew out close to him. He tried to talk to them, but they would shy away. It wasn’t until he filled the last bowl that one of the glowing orbs got in real close. Dean recognized her as the one that Faith said was hers.
“Uh,” he cleared his throat, “hi.” The fairy fluttered her wings. “You know who I am?” She nodded her tiny head. “You know what my daughter is?” She smiled and nodded. “Do you mean to hurt her at all?” The orb around the fairy intensified and she shook her head. “Good. I was hoping you could help me and her.” She narrowed her eyes slightly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dean entered the cabin with a smile. He had the fairies’ cooperation and he was feeling more confident about what they were doing in a few hours. “So, everything worked out with Tracy?” He sat at the table across from Cas.
“Yes. She’ll be waiting for us outside after it gets dark. She said they’ve been holding meetings nightly to vote on whether or not to attack. She’s been fighting to keep them away. Everyone should be there then so they can vote on it.”
Dean nodded. “Okay.” He was still worried about the shapeshifter but with the fairies helping, he felt more at ease.
Dean packed his duffle bag and put it in the trunk of the Impala. The sky was darkening above him and his nerves were beginning to rise. This was a big night. Sure, he had taken on things like this before, but this was different. One screw up could cost him his family. He was holding the Colt, weighing his hand down like a lead weight, and he took a breath. He was doing what he had to and Sam might be upset with him when he found out about it, but he was protecting his family.
A light behind him made Dean turn around. Faith’s fairy was hovering about shoulder level. He nodded to her. “So, you know the plan? You and a couple of your friends are gonna keep an eye on Faith. Nobody gets into the house or her room. If anyone other than me or Cas try, do whatever you have to to stop them. Understand?” She nodded. “Good. Go ahead and take your post then.” She clapped a few times and flew off around the house.
Cas had opened the front door and was standing in the doorway when Dean looked up. Cas was smiling and shaking his head. “You look insane when you talk to them, Dean.”
“Only because you’re not special enough to see them, Cas.” He took a couple steps toward the house when he was stopped by another fairy. “God, don’t do that!” The small fairy was flying close to his face, arms crossed. “You one of them helping us at the monster house?” She nodded, lips pursed, apparently not too happy about it. “Okay, just wait for us and when we leave tag along. We’ll need you for distractions and surveillance.” She flew off quickly.
Dean shook his head as he walked passed Cas into the house. “The one we’ve got watching Faith seems happy to help but the others seem kind of annoyed.”
Cas shrugged. “Maybe the one is in charge and they have to follow her.”
“Have you heard anything from Tracy?”
“She said to wait about an hour. It’ll be darker and everyone will be settled inside.” Dean nodded and sat at the kitchen table, laying the Colt down in front of him. Cas sat across from him. “You ready?”
Dean looked up. “I’m ready for this to be over.”
Cas nodded. “Me too. But what are we going to do after this?”
“What do you mean?”
“If it was so easy for this group to find us, you can bet that it won’t take long for more to show up. We can’t keep Faith locked up and secret forever. We can’t keep binding her or thinking that something like this won’t happen again.”
“What are we supposed to do? We’re hunted just because of who we are. How can that change?”
“We can move. Just sitting here is putting us at more risk.”
Dean knew that. It was why his dad had dragged him and Sam all over the country. It was safer but Dean was worried about Faith. They had to keep her safe but he wanted her to have a sense of home and security that he never got. Maybe wishing that for her was just a dream anyway.
“Dean,” Cas could see him getting lost in thought, “we don’t have to decide anything right now. Let’s just focus on what we’re doing tonight. I’m more worried about that to be honest.”
“Don’t.” Dean smiled confidently. “We’ll be fine. Killing monsters is what we do.”
“There are a lot of them this time, Dean.”
He shrugged. “I’ve taken on more before.”
“When?”
“A vamp nest a few years ago. Took ‘em all out myself.”
“You mean when you were a vampire too?”
He shrugged again. “Whatever. Point is: we can do this.”
About an hour later, Cas and Dean had parked down the road from the abandoned house and were making their way through the woods surrounding it. A few fairies were following close behind. When the lights of the windows were visible, Dean sent the fairies on to take a look. A few minutes later, they came back with the report of about twenty monsters in the house with one woman standing guard outside.
“Tracy’s waiting.” Cas lead them through the rest of the way. Tracy came in view a couple minutes later. They stopped beside a tree. “Should we call or…just walking up could startle her.” He pointed to the gun in her hand.
“She’s expecting us, right? Let’s just go.” Dean tried to not sound too eager. He almost wished that she would fire at them, give him an excuse to kill her. “She won’t want to attract the others.”
They walked out of the trees slowly. Tracy heard them before she saw them. She looked in their direction, eyes reflecting the light from the house like a mirror. She glanced around briefly before walking out a few steps to meet them.
“You made it, I see.” She looked them both over quickly. “You two ready?”
“Yeah, where are the windows we need to salt?” Dean took out the bag he had brought. He wanted to get this going.
“I did that already. I wanted to save some time and I figured I could be seen outside without being suspicious.”
“Really? Mind if I check?” This hadn’t been part of the plan and that made Dean nervous.
“We don’t have a lot of time to waste here, hotshot.” Tracy looked over her shoulder. “If someone sees you out here, it’s over.”
“I guess I won’t let anyone see me.” He walked around the side of the house after giving Cas a nod.
Tracy turned to Cas with a sour face. “You need to control your husband if you want to get out of this alive.”
“You really think I could?” Cas moved closer to the only door into the building. He took out the small spray can of paint he brought and started making a devil’s trap in the grass outside the door. By the time he was done, Dean had circled back around.
“We’re good.”
The fairies that had followed them were now inside on Dean’s orders. They had to salt the front door after Tracy went back in and if they were outside too, they would be stuck counting the grains and be useless to them. The paint was drying as they went over the final points again.
“So, I’ll go in and make sure the demons are confined to one room if possible and when I whistle, you two come in. They won’t be able to zap out or smoke out. One of you two take care of them. I’ll get the shifters and skinwalkers. The other one start on the vamps. Obviously, they won’t just stay in their little monster groups but they do tend to stick together and protect their own kind.” She looked between them. “Who’s taking on the demons?”
“I’ve got the Colt, so I’ll handle that.” Dean raised the gun. He and Cas had talked about this already. Cas had Ruby’s knife to back him up. The demons were the biggest threat as far as they were concerned.
“Okay, Cas, you got the vamps?” Cas nodded. “Alright, let’s do this.” Tracy waited for them to back out of view of the door before opening it and walking in.
Dean hurried to lay down the salt once the door was closed. “Okay, so the fairies are set and ready to give the monsters Hell while we kill the demons. They might even be able to kill them, I don’t know. We should be good.”
“What about Tracy? Are they protecting her too?”
“Don’t worry about her. She knows what she’s getting into.”
Cas didn’t have time to retort before Tracy’s whistle sounded through the door. They shared a short look and nod before Dean kicked in the door and they went in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the cabin, Faith was playing happily in her room with her tiger when her fairy appeared beside her. She squealed and smiled. “Fairy!” She laughed as the fairy circled her a few times. Her tiger stood up and walked around her as the fairy led it.
Faith reached out for the fairy but was unable to capture the quick pixie. The tiger then took a turn for the bedroom door. Faith stood and followed her toy and fairy. It was no trouble for the fairy to unlock and open the wooden door. She led Faith to the doorway and the nephilim stopped.
She remembered Daddy telling her to stay in the room unless he or Poppa came to get her. He seemed worried when he said it and Faith felt the need to obey her father, but the fairy was beckoning her into the living room. She figured she was okay as long as she stayed in the house.
Faith followed the fairy into the living room and two more joined her. The three pixies swirled Faith in a golden ball of light. She laughed and chased the fairies around the room. A few minutes later, her fairy stopped close to her ear and whispered to her about seeing her Daddy and Poppa. She shook her head. She had been told to stay here.
The fairy smiled and made her tiger do more tricks and had books floating around the room. As Faith was distracted, the fairy opened the front door. She had the tiger walk outside. Faith followed it to the doorframe. She wasn’t supposed to go outside alone, but the fairy was beckoning her again. This time, she was warning Faith about the trouble her parents could be in. She could help them if she was brave enough.
She took the step outside the angel binding and felt her grace flowing through her body. She knew exactly where Poppa was and she wanted to make sure he was safe. The fairies kept in a circle around the nephilim, truly wanting to protect her and flew with her as she headed to her parents.
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Dean and Cas had barely made it through the door before they were thrown into the nearest wall. One of the demons was standing close to the door and had pinned them to the wall. Fortunately, the fairies were doing their jobs and tossing tables and chairs in all directions. One hit the demon, letting them free.
Dean shot him before he could figure out what had hit him. More shots rang out as Tracy took down the shifters. He turned his attention back to the demons. Cas had stabbed one and Dean fired off two shots for the two in sight. There should be one more.
“Cas, get to the others. I’ve got the last one.”
“You sure?” Dean nodded and pushed him closer to where Tracy was punching and shooting.
“Go!” He entered the demon’s gathering room. It looked empty on first glance, but he was met with a punch to the back of the head. He fell to the floor, dropping the gun. He was flipped by a pair of strong hands.
“Hello, Dean.” The demon smiled before punching him several times. “Never thought you would come straight to us.” He threw a few more punches.
“Glad I could help.” Dean managed to get his hand in his jacket and pull out his holy water. He tossed some up into the demon’s face. He jumped away, skin sizzling. Dean grabbed the Colt and shot him between the eyes. The demon twitched a few times before falling to his death.
Barks from turned skinwalkers outside the room made Dean hurry in his task of standing up. He looked out the door, feeling blood drip down his face. Cas was using his machete on one of the vamps while Tracy was pinned by a couple dogs. He could shoot the dogs from the door, but Dean waited.
She had her gun up and was watching the dogs closely as they growled and inched closer. If she shot one, the other would jump her. She could see Dean standing across the room and cursed him for just standing there, as bloody as his face looked he could help more.
Cas sliced through the third vampire’s neck, wiping off the blood splattered over his face. He saw Tracy with the dogs but when he tried to help, a gun was fired off close to his head. The remaining monsters were gathering their weapons.
Dean rushed to Cas, knocking into the shifter that shot at him. They fell to the ground, fists flying. Cas was pushed to the wall, machete clanking loudly as it hit the floor. Cas tried to push away the vampire as he bared his teeth, but the monster overpowered Cas easily. Fangs sank into his neck.
Cas screamed in pain as blood was drained from him. He heard Dean yelling his name. Shots were ringing out in the room, there were screams, and the crashing of flying furniture but all Cas could hear was the slowing thud of his pulse in his ears. His vision was fading and his body was getting weak.
Suddenly, the vampire was pulled away from him and his head was chopped off and flew through the air. Cas almost landed on the floor when a pair of hands held him upright. Tracy had blood spots on her shirt from killing the vamp.
“Let me see.” She turned his head to the side to inspect the bite. “It’s not too deep. Keep pressure on it.” She brought his hand up to cover the bite.
Cas looked to the corner she had been trapped in. Two dead dogs were lying there. He didn’t have long to think. There were still a few monsters left they had to take care of.
Dean had finally shot the shifter he was wrestling with and stood up. He was on his way to Cas when the front door flew off its hinges. Everyone stopped to look at who was making an entrance. Dean’s heart went cold when he saw Faith standing in the doorway, her eyes wide in fear.
“Daddy!” She looked around the room to find Cas. “Poppa!”
“Faith?” Cas thought maybe he was hallucinating.
“What are you doing here?” Dean was starting to panic. How did she even get out of her room?
“What the hell is that?” One of the shifters was standing by the door. They could see something different about her, aside from being able to blow the door open.
Cas was too busy watching Faith to notice someone sneaking up behind him. Dean and Tracy were facing the child and watching the shifter close to her. Faith’s eyes widened more and she reached out towards Cas. “POPPA!”
Cas turned in time to feel the white hot pain of a knife sinking into his abdomen. His mouth opened in a scream that didn’t escape his throat. The last vampire bared his fangs in a smile as he ripped the knife from Cas.
“NO!” Dean raised the Colt and shot the vampire. He was at Cas’ side before the monster hit the ground. “Cas.” He caught him as he fell and lowered him to the floor. “Cas, it’s okay. You’ll be okay.” He looked at the wound. Blood was gushing out of it. “Oh, God.” He was having flashbacks of when Sam had died in his arms years ago. He covered the wound with his hand, trying to stop the bleeding.
Tracy had to go back to fighting as the gunshot sparked the others back into action. She would try to keep them off of the couple. She saw Faith fly to her parents.
“Poppa?” Faith put a hand on his shoulder.
Cas turned his head to look at his daughter. “Faith.” He could taste blood with every breath. He touched the side of her face. He looked at Dean. “Take her home. Get out of here, now.”
“What? No, not without you.” Dean tried to pick him up. Cas’ pained moans stopped him. “We’re not leaving you, Cas.”
“It doesn’t matter, Dean. Get her out of here.”
“Faith,” Dean looked at her, “Poppa’s hurt. Remember when you made me all better?” She nodded slowly. “You have to do the same for Poppa, please.” She still looked terrified. “Come on, Faith.”
Tracy was cursing and shouting around them as the remaining monsters attacked her. A couple shifters and skinwalkers remained and she was almost out of ammo. Her silver knife would be annoying to use on so many at once. Some of them were tending to trip over their own feet a lot though, which seemed weird but she didn’t have time to question it.
Faith knew what Dean was asking but the loud noises, the fairies circling, the fear of losing Cas, and Dean’s terror filling her was too much. She wanted it to stop. She wanted all of the noise and the fear to stop now. “NO!” She screamed and aimed her frustration at all the monsters that were responsible for hurting her father.
White light erupted from the nephilim and filled the room with holy grace. Dean covered Cas’ eyes and looked away. Tracy covered her eyes and fell to her knees as her skin grew hot. Then, the light was gone and all noise had stopped.
Dean opened his eyes in time to see the blue of his daughter’s eyes glowing bright with grace before fading. Her face was grim and dark for a one year old. The wrath of Heaven had just shot out of her and for the first time Dean was scared of his own daughter. He looked around the rom. The only one left alive was Tracy, who was curled up on the floor with her hands over her ears. His attention was brought back to Cas when he fell limp in his arms.
“Cas!” Dean tapped his face lightly. “CAS!”
Faith’s face softened as she reached forward and touched the side of Cas’ face. He jumped and took a deep breath. Faith smiled, “Poppa!” She hugged his neck tight.
“Faith.” Cas held her loosely with one arm while the other held Dean’s jacket.
Dean leaned down and hugged both of them close. This wasn’t what he wanted to happen. Faith should never have been there or had to kill anyone, Cas should never have been hurt, and he should have protected his family better so none of this happened in the first place.
“Well, that was impressive.” Tracy had stood and was facing them, wiping blood off her face and arms.
“How are you still alive?” Dean may have been wrong about this whole thing being a trap but he still didn’t trust Tracy at all.
“Believe me it hurt there for a second but…” she shrugged.
“Faith, you didn’t stop her? She’s a bad guy?” Tracy rolled her eyes. Faith shook her head.
“No. Good guy.” She smiled up at her. Tracy shifted uncomfortably under the gaze.
“She did save my life, Dean.” Cas sat up and looked at Tracy. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me.” She crossed her arms. “Do me a favor and stop being so stupid. Stop sitting in the same house for months at a time, stop being so oblivious about what’s going on around your home, and stop confining your daughter. That’s how you can thank me. You still owe me and believe me I will come for your help with my problem. Have your family moment.” She waved her arms at them and walked out of the building.
They were quiet a moment after Tracy’s exit. The fairies had gone back as well and they were left with a room full of blood and dead bodies. Dean looked at Faith, finally able to ask, “How did you get here? Why did you leave the house when we told you to stay there?”
Faith could sense his anger and she was overcome with guilt. She looked down and tried not to cry.
Dean could see the tears in her eyes. He softened his voice a little. “How did you get out of the house? It was locked good.”
Faith sniffed and spoke in a quiet voice, “My fairy.”
“The fairies let you out? They brought you here?” She nodded, not looking at him. “Why, honey?”
“To see Poppa and Daddy.” A tear fell down her cheek.
Dean was still angry, but more so at the fairies that were supposed to protect her not bring her straight into the danger. He couldn’t be mad at her for being tricked or influenced by those things. “Okay,” he picked her up, “it’s okay. We’re gonna go home now.” He hugged her. “Poppa will take you home and I’ll be there soon.”
Cas stood and helped Dean do the same with Faith in his arms. He took her from Dean. “You sure you don’t want me to wait?”
“No, go ahead. I’ll clean up here. Get her home.” He leaned forward and kissed both of them before Faith flew them off to the house.
Dean had dragged a few of the bodies outside when Tracy came back. “What are you doing? I thought you were long gone.” Dean dropped the feet of the vamp he had been dragging.
“I figured I could at least help with cleanup.”
“Right, well I don’t need your help.” He picked up the vamp by his jacket and dragged him further.
“Yeah, because twenty monsters that are about the same size as you won’t tire you out at all, or make you pull some muscles. It’s not like you want to do this as quickly as possible or anything.”
Dean sighed. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I know. But that whammy Faith did will attract attention pretty soon.”
“No kidding?” Dean wished she would just leave. “Is that why you wanted her to come initially? Send out a big neon sign for all things to see?”
“Think of all the pain it would have saved for everyone. By the way, your face looks wonderful.”
Dean could feel the bruises and swollen skin. He’s sure he’s looked worse before but he can’t look great. “Thanks.”
She leaned down to help Dean carry the body in his arms. “Guess it doesn’t matter now. She’s back to being a prisoner anyway.”
Dean stopped. “How is she a prisoner?”
“Forget it.” She tried to keep moving but Dean stopped her.
“You know, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.” He set the body down. “How are you a hunter? You said you were raised in it, but how does that happen? How can hunters raise you and not just kill you on sight?”
Tracy dropped the body and sighed. She was deciding whether or not she wanted to answer that. Dean seemed pretty set in his opinion of her. “I want you to know. I haven’t told anyone about this. My parents are the only ones that know.”
“Okay.” Dean wasn’t sure what kind of story he would be getting but he listened and tried to keep his mind open.
“My parents, my real parents, were shifters. They were what you would think of when you imagine shapeshifters. They stole, lied, and killed for what they wanted and they didn’t care.
“When I was about six, they had me start running errands, basically stealing. I didn’t mind doing that, no one got hurt, right? I got real good at sneaking around and breaking in to places.” She took a shaky breath before she could continue. “About a year later, they started taking me on their ‘errands.’ They would make me watch while they killed people, innocent people. When we got home, they would ask me to start helping. I refused. At first they would just lock me in the basement. No food, hardly any sleep, and no contact for a few days. They would ask again and I would refuse.”
Her eyes glazed over as she continued. “After a few months of me refusing, they started trying to beat me into compliance. When that didn’t work, they tied me to a chair in the basement for a week at a time. I was seven.” She closed her eyes and swallowed back the lump in her throat. “They always talked about hunters. They would tell me that they would come for me and kill me if I didn’t do what they said. I used to pray for that to happen. At this point, I had everything going to make me like every other shifter I’ve ever met. I hated myself, my parents hated and abused me, and I felt like if I needed anything, I had to take it.
“Then, one night, it finally happened. I was chained to the chair with silver chains and I heard shouting and gunfire upstairs. It only lasted a few minutes, but I knew what would happen. Once the quiet started, it lasted a long time and I thought maybe they wouldn’t find me. I thought I would stay in the basement and starve to death while my skin burned under the silver chains, but that didn’t happen, obviously. They came down eventually and found me. After an argument about what to do with me, they freed me and took me with them. I told them everything and they kept me and raised me.
“When I was old enough, they let me choose and I was more than happy to join the life. My parents had wanted to make me a killer and I guess they succeeded, just not how they expected. So, you can imagine how I feel about shifters and how I feel about hunters.”
Dean hadn’t expected that. He was silently processing as Tracy picked up the body they had dropped and carried him off over her shoulder. Assuming she was telling the truth, and he believed her, that changed a lot of what he thought of her. Sure, he still doesn’t trust her much but maybe she should get a chance.
“Hey,” he turned to look at her, “you gonna help or do I have to carry all of these things by myself?” She had one of the demons on her back.
“Oh right, sorry.” He helped her and together they emptied the building and burned the bodies. When the fire was out, Dean stopped Tracy as she turned to leave. “Uh, I just wanted to thank you for saving Cas and telling us about all this and…just everything I guess.”
She nodded. “Do something for me, would you? Lighten up on the restraints on Faith. You may not believe me or see it now, but she will grow to hate you if you keep doing what you’re doing. Even if she understands later, she won’t like it.”
“We’re protecting her.”
“I know, but find a better way.” She put her hands up in surrender. “She’s your daughter and it’s your choice, but give her some freedom and it’ll be better for everyone. You don’t want a little rebel who has power like her loose on the world.”
“Yeah, thanks. When you need that favor…”
“I’ll ask.” With a nod and wave, she walked off into the trees, most likely to shift and be on her way.
Dean drove home, feeling better than he had in a while. They were safe, at least for now and tomorrow was Faith’s birthday. Sam would be here with Sarah and maybe they could get one day where everything could be okay.
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