Hands of Fate 10/? (part 1)

[hellfirehalos]

Right now, I'm not happy with LJ at all. First, it takes me 3 days to post chapter 10. If that wasn't enough, I had to post it the extremely long way. Now, I have to cut it in half to actually get it up. Yeah, I'm gonna kill this damn site. The trio will be proud.

 

Chapter 10

 

 

 

“You shot me!”

It wasn't the usual comment they heard on a hunt. Normally there were more angered roars than coherent, albeit pissy, conversation. But this really wasn't their usual hunt. The blonde holding her shoulder and glaring at Dean was clear proof of that.

“You. Shot. Me.” She spat, clutching her shoulder. “What the hell!”

Dean stared at the slender body kneeling on the ground in front of them, blinking in confusion. This was so against the norm for them. He wasn't even really sure what, if anything, he should say. He glanced briefly toward Sam, his brow knitting in confusion.

Sam wasn't any clearer on this whole situation than his brother was, staring at the blonde as a strange expression clouded his face. Like his brother, he wasn't exactly sure when or even how things had turned this way. And it wasn't as if he hadn't tried to figure it out. He had even retraced their steps to no avail.

It had all started out so simple; see the thing, chase the thing, catch the thing. Cut and dry kind of deal. After Dean had called her name in the store, nothing seemed right. The woman had appeared exhausted but she was with it enough to call them out as hunters almost instantly. She had thrown them, somehow, but had apologized before it happened. Her running had been expected but why she hadn't pulled a vanishing act like she did at the library was beyond Sam. And when the chase ended, they had come face to face with an exhausted looking young woman. It wasn't until Dean shot her that exhausted gave way to angry and belligerent.

 

“You trigger happy little fuck!” The blue eyes shot daggers at Dean as the woman tried to get to her feet. “Do you even know what a safety is?”

“Excuse me?” The look on Dean's face changed from confused to taken back as he and Sam watched the woman before them.

“Safety. On a gun. Anyone teach you how to use one or have you just not figured out what that is yet?” Urd nodded toward Dean's drawn gun, her tone calm. “Or is there no greater thrill for you than shooting first and asking questions later? Seriously.”

Dean glared at the comment, raising his gun on her once more. “Oh, that's it. I'll show you safety, bitch.”

“Dean.” Sam grabbed his brother's hand, keeping his eyes on the now wounded woman. “Don't.”

“Nice to see at least one of you has some bit of control.” Urd's lips pulled into an almost relieved looking smile as she looked toward Sam. “Why couldn't you be the one with the gun instead of him? Then I wouldn't be bleeding in an alley.” She paused, taking a pained breath before she looked back toward Dean. “You little fuck.”

Sam straightened, his eyes moving to Dean as he pursed his lips slightly. “Not exactly the way our chases usually end.”

“Gee, Sam, ya think?” Dean muttered flatly.

“If I pass out from blood loss, I'm making it my personal mission to kick your damn ass when I come to, buddy.” The young woman groaned and examined her shoulder, her bloody hand pulling away slowly. “Damn it.”

The wound burned, the pain shooting along her arm like a thousand knives stabbing her at once. Every tiny move she made, even just moving her fingers, caused a pain that almost took her breath away and threatened to bring her back to her knees. She could feel the bullet in her shoulder, the slug resting just beneath her clavicle and probably against a bone with the way it was hurting her. Between the blood soaking into her shirt and trickling through her fingers to the near blinding pain, she was surprised she hadn't passed out yet.

“Nona?” Sam questioned.

Urd cringed at the name, one of many she carried through the centuries, but looked up just the same.

“Aww. They grow up so fast,” Dean smirked, keeping his gun on the woman. “I gotta tell ya, you don't look as creepy this way.”

Urd rolled her eyes with a huff, instantly regretting that action. “Boy, aren't you just a charmer.”

Dean responded to the sarcasm with one of his usual cocky grins. “Don't you know it, sister.”

Sam watched her face cloud as she clutched her shoulder. Something seemed off with her.

The way she grabbed at the wounded shoulder and held it, her face darkening each time her fingers moved; she was in real pain. Her motions were halted, even her attempt to stand was shaky. Personal experience gave him a good idea about the pain of a wound like that but watching her didn't seem to match that knowledge. It looked like Dean's iron round had some effect on her.

Urd closed her eyes, her teeth raking across her bottom lip. “As much as I'm enjoying the banter, can we just get to the part where we go our separate ways so I can go bleed in peace somewhere more comfortable?”

Dean chuckled as Sam remained silent beside him, both of them on guard. “Oh, you're funny. We've been chasing your ass around this town since we got here. You really think we're just gonna let you walk off into the sunset, sweetheart?”

Urd sighed, her breath catching as she sank to her knees once more. “A girl can dream.”

Sam took an even breath as she settled down on the concrete, the red staining her white blouse beginning a slow path down her left arm. “Nona...”

“God, I hate that name,” she mumbled, her shoulders sinking as her blue eyes closed. “Stupid Romans. They never were good with names at all.”

Dean gave Sam a questioning look, resting his finger against the trigger guard.

“What are you doing in this town?” Sam continued.

The sarcasm was still thick when she spoke even though the edge was gone from her voice. “Bleeding in an alley. I thought that was well established at this point.”

Sam shook his head at the answer.

She was just as sarcastic as Dean was. He could already see how bad questioning her was going to turn out. They would be lucky if they got anything useful out of her. Then there was the possibility of Dean shooting her again if she got on his nerves too much. But it would give Dean a taste of what his smart-ass comments put Sam through on a daily basis. Maybe it wouldn't be all bad but it would be bad enough.

“Where are your friends?” Dean questioned.

She looked up at the question, her eyes standing out against her now paler skin. “Around.”

The two caught the venom in her voice with the word, both straightening slightly as she bowed her head. Sarcasm aside, there was something about her in that instant that made both men pause. The conviction in her words sent a chill through each of them that they couldn't deny.

“You're going to have to be a lot nicer to me if you want to find out about them,” she muttered, watching the blood slowly run down her elbow. “Like bribing me nicer. I'll take money and sexual favors to start and we can go from there.”

Dean was the one to shake his head this time as Sam lowered his voice.

“We gotta get her out of here before someone comes back and sees this.” He motioned to the locked gate and the drive beyond. “We can pick the lock and easily get her into the car without anyone seeing her if you bring it around.”

Dean thought for a moment, slowly nodding. He knew someone in one of the shops had no doubt heard the gunshot; brick walls weren't exactly soundproof. He also wasn't in the mood to drag a bleeding smart-ass woman down a busy sidewalk and have to explain why she was bleeding in the first place.

“Okay. Here.” Dean fished around in his jacket pockets, pulling out a pair of cuffs along with his keys. “I don't want her doing what ever she did in the store again.”

Urd cocked her head as the cuffs were passed off. “Normally I ask for dinner and a movie before the cuffs come out but I can see you're a special kind of kink so I'll let it slide this time.” An innocent smile crossed her lips as the brothers looked her way. “But next time I'm going to have to insist on at least dinner.”

Sam sighed as he walked toward the young woman still on the concrete. He pulled off his tie and knelt down beside her, cuffing her left hand before gently bringing it toward her shoulder. He pressed the tie against her wound and cuffed her other hand, getting a genuine smile from her.

“Hold this tight against it. It will help a little,” he instructed.

“What kind of slug is this?” She groaned as the cloth was pressed against her shoulder. “What's it made of?”

Sam cringed, watching the blood seep from the wound as she pressed the tie against her shoulder. “Consecrated iron.”

“Lovely. So you really are trying to kill me.” Urd's eyes moved to the tie in her hand, giving the dark blue fabric a squeeze. “Good to know.”

The pair looked up at the rattle of the chain link fence Dean was working on, Urd swallowing.

This was not her day. First that damned job had drained her to almost nonexistent energy levels. Her attempt at some research had been drastically cut short by these two and her escape attempt, though a good try, had zapped what little remained of her energy. Now she was sitting on cold concrete with an iron slug in her shoulder and handcuffs on her wrists. It wasn't a good day and it wasn't looking like it would get any better for her.

Sam slowly helped her up, being careful not to put strain on her wounded shoulder. “Easy.”

Urd couldn't help the muffled groan that escaped her, finding herself leaning against the young man at her side. The motion of standing up, even with help, had sent a searing pain shooting through her arm and across her shoulders that she had never felt before. It made every nerve in her body practically scream and her eyes nearly roll back into her head.

“You shoot me then you cuff me.” She watched Dean work on the padlock, her shoulder throbbing beneath her hand and sarcasm heavily lacing the pain in her voice. “What's next? Break my kneecaps and ask me to run?”

The padlock popped open, a triumphant look on Dean's face as he pulled the lock free. He pushed the gate open and stepped through, checking to see they were still alone before motioning them to follow. “Oh believe me, sweetheart, that's not what I'm tempted to do with you right now.”

Sam led her through the gate and over to a yellow concrete barrier beside the fence, going back to Dean once she was seated. “That wound will have to be sewn up when we get her back to the hotel.”

The padlock clicked back into place with a little wrangling from the fence's other side, Dean dusting his hands off as he turned. “Guess my hunch about iron was right.”

“I'd say.” Sam's eyes moved toward the woman as she stared at a bug near her foot. “It definitely did something.”

“Stay here with her while I get the car.” Dean took off down the drive, turning back briefly. “And watch out for the throwing thing.”

Sam watched Dean disappear around a corner before he turned to the woman still staring at her feet.

“I can't.”

His brow knit at the small sounding voice, turning his gaze toward her downcast face. “What?”

“I can't throw you again. Not even if I tried,” she muttered softly. She sighed, watching the beetle at her feet crawl over a chunk of cement. “That little bug has more power than me right now. Sad as it is.”

The comment gave Sam pause as she fidgeted and tried to scratch her nose, still holding the bunched up tie to her wound.

“You ever notice how much you itch when you can't really reach it?” she questioned absently.

He watched her quietly for a moment before he finally asked the question on his mind. “What are you?”

She looked up at her babysitter, the exhaustion and pain clear in her blue eyes. Even though her eyes were clouded with so much her face was oddly serene, her tone matter of fact. “I am all that ever was."


Part 2