9Author's Note: I'm said these keep taking forever. The story keeps going in my head, but it doesn't always want to be written right away. Anyway, many, many thanks to all of you who commented. I'm glad you're enjoying this. Your input is always helpful.
There was silence for a moment. Then Dean spoke up. "No way, kid. You have no idea what you're up against."
She glared at him. "This thing killed my mother. I'm not going to just ignore it."
"Well don't look at us to help you get yourself killed."
"Dean," Sam began, but his brother cut him off.
"No, no way. She's been hunting for barely a year. We've fought this thing Sam. We both know how bad it is."
"And I know what it's like to want to kill it more than breathe." He waited, watching his brother struggle with his temper.
Addy looked between the two. "You can help me or not. Either way, I'm learning everything I can about it, then hunting it."
"Good luck killing it," Dean muttered.
Sam shot a look at him. Addy seemed confused. "What he means is that there are no easy ways of killing demons. The only one we had was… lost." He had to pause for a moment. Thinking about his father and the way things had been left still hurt him. "So even if you found it, you wouldn't be able to kill it."
Her nails dug into her palms. "Maybe you've given up, but I won't. I'd walk through hell to find a way to kill it." She turned on her heal and walked out.
"Happy now?" Sam asked his brother before getting up and following her.
Dean rolled his eyes. "It's always my fault."
Outside, Addy was loading her bags into a Jeep. She tensed when she heard Sam's footsteps, but continued what she was doing. Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to think of what to say. "We haven't given up. But killing the Demon isn't all that I'm worried about."
Finally she stopped and turned around. "What could be more important than that?"
"The Demon, he chooses these kids for a reason. Kids like me. Kids like your sister." He let that sink in before her went on. "So far, all we know is that the ones around my age have developed different psychic abilities." He laughed at himself. "God I sound crazy."
She allowed herself a half smile. "Not so much. It's not really a stretch after believing in demons and other supernatural things." She leaned back against her Jeep. "So what's yours? You know, your psychic thing," she explained when he looked confused.
"Oh, um, I have visions." He looked away as he said it. It wasn't exactly something he enjoyed talking about.
"So you can, what, see what the weather's gonna be like tomorrow?"
He smiled weakly. "No, it doesn't come on command or anything. I see things that have to do with the Demon, or other kids it's affected." He tried not to think about all those who he'd seen die because of the bastard.
For a moment there was silence. Then Addy broke it. "If you haven't given up, then what are you doing about it?"
"We're looking for a way to kill it. And we're trying to help the other kids who've gone through hell because of this thing." Then, remembering what Dean had said to him once, he added "But mostly, we're killing every evil son of a bitch we come across."
That made her smile fully. "I like to think of it as practice. I want to make sure I'm in top shape when I go after the bastard."
"Well, one thing you need to learn is that you should practice alone. Especially when you're just starting out."
"There isn't exactly a hunters training program I could join. Most hunters have already been doing this for years. They don't want some girl following them around, nagging about how to kill this and that." Thinking about it stung, because that was just how she'd been greeted when she first discovered the Roadhouse.
Sam couldn't really imagine what it like to going so long without knowing, and then suddenly learning the truth. His dad had never talked about it. And Dean had been too young to fully be effected by it. "Look, maybe you could come with us for awhile. We've been doing this since we were kids."
Addy looked at him skeptically. "You'd really do that?"
He shrugged. "Yeah. I'll talk to Dean."
"And I'd say you need more sleep Sammy. Because you're obviously dreaming if you think I'm gonna take the kid with us." They both turned to see Dean coming down the steps.
"I figured as much," Addy said, and went back to packing her Jeep.
Sam looked between her and Dean. "C'mon Dean. You're just gonna let her hunt by herself. She's still a kid."
"Hey!" Addy protested, but both men ignored her.
"Exactly, she's a kid. She'll just get in the way. She should just go home and try to forget about the things that go bump in the night."
That's when Addy stalked over and punched him. She had a mean right hook and it nearly knocked him off his feet. Dazed, he rubbed his aching jaw before glaring at her. "How dare you?! That fucking demon killed my mother. It's not some nightmare that'll go away. You can just go to hell if you think I'm going to give up because you don't think I can handle it."
Dean rubbed his jaw some more and studied her. After a moment he said "It's not that I don't think you can handle. I don't want you to have to. This life is hell. No one should want it." His eyes shifted to Sam even as both Addy and his brother reeled from his statement. "But since you don't seem like you're going to give in, and since you can fight, I guess you can hang around for a bit. At least long enough to learn how to kill a werewolf the right way."
Addy blinked a few times as she tried to process what Dean had just said. "So I can come?"
Sam was grinning at this point. "Looks like."
Addy couldn't help but grin too. "Let's go kill us some evil sons'a bitches!"
I couldn't resist throwing that in. Let me know what you think.