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missmara13
The Harvelle Roadhouse
They only stopped to refill the gas tank on the way to the Roadhouse, and when they arrived, the parking lot was more crowded than Dean had ever seen it, and he made sure he and Ryan stayed side by side as they walked in, both their eyes searching the tense crowd for Ellen. "You boys hear about Newport?" Ellen asked as she came over to them.
"What about Newport?" Ryan asked, a flash of panic running through him as he quickly thought and realized it had been over a week since he'd heard from anyone there.
"I'm sorry, Ryan," Ellen said. "It looks like... Newport's been taken over."
"Taken..."
"Vampires and demons," Ellen explained gently, stepping forward to put her hands on Ryan's shoulders. "We haven't heard about anyone getting out."
Ryan choked down a denial, a refusal to believe it, and instead just whispered the only name in Newport that meant anything to him anymore, the single word coming out more a pained whimper than anything. "Caleb."
"I'm sure he's fine, laying low," Dean said. "Guy seemed to mean too let vamps and demons take him down. Hell, I thought he might be demonic when I first met him."
Ryan didn't even react to the bad attempt at a joke, just sank down onto a stool, feeling numb. Newport was under the control of vampires and demons. Sunny, bright, fresh Newport. The first place that he'd felt hope for his own future. "Fuck."
"I think you need this," Jo said, pressing a beer into his hand. "Drink up before my mom cuts you off."
Ryan stared at the beer, then shook his head and pushed it away. "I can't kill those things if I'm drunk."
"You can't go charging in there," Ellen said firmly.
"It wasn't enough when that yellow eyed thing took away my family and my future, now those things have to take over my hometown? Caleb was all I had left, and now he's probably..." Ryan stopped as his cell rang and something made him pull it out. He stared for a moment at the display before turning it towards Dean.
"You gonna answer it?" Dean asked.
Ryan's response was to raise the phone to his ear. "Caleb?"
"Not exactly," came the whispered response.
"Who is this?" Ryan asked, frowning.
"Kaitlin," came the response.
That time, Ryan recognized the voice of his ex-girlfriend's little sister, and remembered the girl who had been an almost copy of her mother. "Where are you? Are you okay?"
"I'm in your poolhouse," Kaitlin replied. "Something bad is happening here, Ryan. Mommy and Marissa are acting weird, meaner than ever... and they're hurting Mr. Nichols... I saw... I saw them kill some girl... mommy bit her and she died..."
"How'd you get away?" Ryan asked.
"I ran away when those strange people broke into the mansion, and I hid when Mommy and Marissa came looking for me because they were acting funny..." she paused, and he could hear her sniffling. "I'm scared, and I don't know what to do, and you always saved Marissa..."
"You can't stay there, Kaitlin, someone's gonna think to look for you there," Ryan said.
"It's not like I can drive and leave Newport!" Kaitlin protested.
"I know you can't get out of newport, Kaitlin!" Ryan replied, not noticing that everyone went silent at the mention of the town.
"You talking to someone in there?" a dark haired woman asked as she pushed through the crowd.
Ryan turned his back to the room. "Kaitlin, listen to me, I... do you know where the old Model Home is?"
"The one you and Luke burned down?"
"Yeah, that's the one. Kirsten was rebuilding it before.... before they died. You'll be safe there, sheltered from the weather, and if you stay upstairs, you should be able to see anyone who comes in long before they see you. Just try to make sure it doesn't look like anyone's been there."
"Are you coming?"
"I wouldn't leave you there alone," Ryan replied. "Just wait for me, okay? I'll come get you."
"Thank you," Kaitlin whispered.
"Hey, Kait, you're family, okay? I'm not gonna abandon you when you need me."
"Please hurry," Kaitlin asked.
"I'll leave now," Ryan said. "Just hold on, and keep safe."
"Okay."
Ryan waited until she hung up before he ended the call and turned to Dean. "We have to go. She's only 13, and she's alone, and we have to go. She's family."
"We're going," Dean said.
"Let me pack you some food," Ellen said. "If that kid's hiding, she's probably gonna need some good food."
"You're going to Newport?" the dark haired woman asked. "You've got news?"
"It's taken over," Ryan said.
"Fuck," the woman swore. "I've got a missing Slayer in Newport, she hasn't checked in or answered her cell in a week, and this girl always answers her cell."
"Slayer?" Dean questioned. "Like Vampire Slayer? One girl in all the world and all that jazz?"
"Old news, a powerful Wiccan did a little spell, activated all potential slayers in the world. The missing girl is one of thousands. She's one of the couple hundred who attend the academy in Cleveland..."
"Cleveland?" Ryan asked, something tickling at the back of his mind. He grabbed Dean's arm. "After that town went into the sinkhole last year, Caleb mentioned to me that Summer had been there, but she got out in time and she was at a school in Cleveland."
"Summer Roberts?" the woman said. "You know my Slayer."
"She dated my brother Seth, until he was murdered by a demon."
"You're 'Chino'?" she said, grinning. "I've heard a lot about you." She held out her hand. "I'm Faith Lehane."
"Ryan Atwood," Ryan repleid, shaking her hand. "He's Dean Winchester."
"I was heading to Newport myself, get my girl out. More people means more damage to be done," Faith suggested.
"We've got some room in the Impala," Dean replied with a grin.
"What he means is you can ahve shotgun while I get stuck in the backseat, squeezed between duffel bags and feeling like I'm 5 years old," Ryan said, rolling his eyes. But he appreciated the bit of normal at the moment, let Dean's obvious flirting with Faith ground him to that fact that things couldn't be that bad, because if Dean thought they were, he'd be all business. So Dean had to be sure that everything would be okay, and Ryan could handle things if Dean thought it would be okay. "But if it means getting Kaitlin, Summer, and Caleb out safe, I'm all for you joining the our insane roadtrip," he added.
"No need to get squeezed in, kid, I've got my motorcycle," Faith said. "But if you've got room for my bag it would make things easier on me."
"We can fit it in," Dean assured her.
"Here," Ellen said, returning with a small cooler and a package wrapped in brown paper. "Sandwiches in the cooler, on top's the gift I got for you, Ryan. Go ahead and take it now, might come in handy."
Ryan took the coller and package from her, offering a tight smile. "Thanks, Ellen. We'll check in once this is dealt with."
"Be careful, all three of you," Ellen ordered, watchging them head out the door and getting the feeling that something big just happened in her roadhouse.
On The Highway
Brooke sighed as she slumped down in the farthest back seat of the bus, a hooded sweatshirt zipped up tight to hide her scar and the hood pulled up to hide her face. She had gotten out of Chicago as soon as she could, but now... now she wasn't so sure about going to Cleveland. Something was pulling her, a little voice in her heard whispering for her to go to the south west, that 'they' were all together now and just waiting for her. But Brooke was wary of listening to any voices in her head, not wanting to be as crazy as her parents thought she was, so she was fighting the urge and continuing towards Cleveland.
"You do that, pretty girl."
Brooke's head snapped around and she let out a whimper when she saw Lucas sitting beside her, arm slung along the back of the seat as he smiled. "Lucas?"
"Cleveland is where you need to be," Lucas urged. "They can protect you there. The south west? California? It's a death trap. You go there, you'll die and a lot of people will die with you. But Cleveland... you'll be safe there, far away from the action."
"Is it really you?" Brooke asked.
"Of course it is," Lucas said. "The bad stuff can get through, but so can the good sometimes. I just found the way so I could see you."
"I'm so sorry, Lucas," Brooke whispered. "I never should have gone to see you..."
"It's okay, Brooke, I could never be mad at you for coming to me," Lucas said. "I wish I could stay, but..."
"Will you come back?"
"As often as I can," Lucas promised, and then he was gone.
Brooke sighed and turned back to the window, tears sliding down her cheeks. If she'd looked out the back window, she would have seen Lucas standing in the road, flanked by dozens of shadowy figures, watching the bus roll on, taking The Light away from the others.
Franklin Motel
They stopped a couple hours from Newport, finding a cheap motel to crash in for the night and try to get some much needed rest before going in at first light. It wasn't until morning that Ryan remembered the gift from Ellen and carefully opened it while waiting for Dean to get back with coffee. Underneath the plain brown paper was a journal, not that different from the one Dean carried, but this one... this one was specific on Vampires. The book was written in different handwriting throughout, and while the msot recent date was almost 5 decades ago, the oldest was centuries ago.
"Ellen got you some book?" Dean said, making a face as he came in, Faith close behind.
"It's a journal, about Vampires," Ryan replied.
Faith moved to look over his shoulder, surprise registering on her face. "It's a Watcher's Diary," she said. "I thought the school had managed to grab all the surviving ones."
"There's entries that are hundreds of years old," Ryan explained. "And there's bits tucked in that have older dates and are marked 'translated from original'," he continued, turning the pages slowly, reverantly. "This is..."
"Keep it safe," Faith advised. "The Watchers are a bunch of stuffy old british guys, but they do mostly know their shit."
Ryan nodded, still turning the pages as Faith moved away to grab one of the cups of coffee. He accepted the cup that Dean pressed into his hand, but kept reading until they were ready to go. Right as Dean told him it was time, he came across the entry, dated in the 16th century. It began with a drawing of four figures, mostly shrouded in shadows, but with just enough visible to show it was two women and two men. Immediately below it, written in a curly, elaborate script, were two words:
The Four
To Be Continued...
FINALLY got this out! Most of it was already written, but everything after Ryan introducing himself and Dean to Faith was written this morning. I just suddenly got inspiration to write Black Friday.
