Ghost of You

When it came to saving family it was never damnation. She’d been shocky and out of it when Rohan had swept in to save her from the Alpha but she’d seen the look in his eye as he’d done it. The thing might’ve killed him too given its strength but that didn’t matter to him. Family had been what mattered, love for the people that meant the most to you. It mean falling on your sword occasionally. She’d done it herself, stepping away from them all to not only avoid being killed by her uncle or father, but to save her brothers from trying to do something to protect her. Alix knew Rohan likely would’ve tried, torn between what their family would’ve said was right and the bond that had always been there between the two of them. Alix swallowed at the thought and looked up at Sam to smile sadly. ”It would’ve been their choice to do it though. This way they’ll try anyway and be seriously pissed about you cutting them out in the process.” She could understand both sides but given what she’d done herself Alix really didn’t have much of a leg to stand on when it came to telling Sam he should let his family help. It wasn’t what she’d done after all. Her family were a little less likely to help and a little more likely to put her out of her misery though.

Hearing what had happened to John and Sam’s half-brother, Alix got why Sam was doing it though. She shoved her hand through her hair, sloughing off little bits of half dry rugaru blood into the red strands. Her mouth quirked faintly as she shook her head at Sam .”Seems like the way with male hunters at least,” she teased faintly before her sympathies over Sam’s loss half stuck in her throat. It didn’t matter how long ago it had happened, the fact was that they’d lost family. Alix’s voice was hoarse when it emerged. ”Ten years, a hundred, doesn’t matter, things are never just in the past.” Her family were the poster people for that. She’d had an aunt, one that Ralphy and her dad had killed for daring to marry a werewolf. They hadn’t been able to leave that in the past, no matter how much her aunt had just wanted a peaceful life. Alix didn’t know how her aunt had managed to find enough strength to do it considering how militant the Quinns were. She didn’t know how Sam had the strength to try and go up against Lucifer on his own either. A faint trace of amusement pulled at Alix’s lips, some of the first she’d felt while they’d been dealing with Christian here. ”I’m not going to ask if you’re ever met your brother but … have you ever known Dean not to try and do something stupid? Especially for family. Nothing’s going to stop him.” The only thing that might’ve done was John Winchester but Alix had heard on the grapevine that he was dead. Untempered, Dean would likely be doing everything possible to track Sam down and stop him right now.

Alix supposed she could’ve helped. She was strong enough to knock both Winchesters on their asses at the moment. Although, with Sam powered up by the demon blood in her system Alix wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it more than once. Red brows hitched as Alix debated swatting him again. ”What?” she managed on a laugh. ”Not all of us got the half giant gene. What we don’t have in height we make up in other ways though.” Only she hadn’t made it up in smarts this time though, had she. While she and Sam had been shooting the breeze out here the rugaru’s victim had remained where he’d left her when he’d been surprised. Alix tore towards the garage as fast as she could, getting there ahead of Sam before she dropped dead. Lips pressed together, Alix watched Sam move towards the trunk. ”Fresh, not always live,” she whispered hoarsely. She stepped forward on weak knees, watching Sam tear a whole in the bag. A woman lay folded inside, looking dead even if she wasn’t. ”Is there a pulse?” she asked, stepping forward. She saw Sam start and tried again. ”Sam, is there a pulse? Is she alive?” Then she saw the faint movement and let out a shuddery breath. ”We need to get her out of here. Think you can do that Sasquatch?” The brittle humour was back now that relief had replaced the dread. They hadn’t killed the woman by taking too long outside.

Tagged: SAM WINCHESTER * Word Count: 776

Wasn’t she doing the same with her brothers? Self-preservation was what had set her running from her family in the first place but it was the thought of her brothers having to be the ones to take her down eventually that had stopped her from reaching out to them. It was better that they thought she was out there doing what their family had been done for over a hundred years. If any of them knew what Ralphy was up to they would’ve tried to intervene and God only knew what her uncle would’ve done then. He’d killed his own sister, blood obviously meant nothing to him. Her mouth twisted almost sadly as she nodded. ”Better pissed than dead,” she managed hoarsely. Oh she really got that. She knew that Dean wouldn’t though. That same protective streak that was forcing Sam to go it alone burned in Dean’s veins too. Alix didn’t imagine he’d stopped looking for Sam for a single minute. Alix sighed and ducked her head. ”I get it, I really do. I just don’t think they’re going to. No matter how many times you explain it to them. You all just want to keep each other safe.” That was where you always ended up on boggy ground but when you were already struggling to keep afloat the only way how, how much choice did you honestly have?

Sacrifice was something almost every hunter was familiar with, more prevalent amongst them than anything else. Other things seemed common though, male hunters being dogs included. Most would’ve pegged Dean just that way, maybe Sam too but Alix knew that both of them had depths to them. Being a father wasn’t something that Dean would’ve just brushed off and if it had happened for Sam too he wouldn’t have been joking around it the same way. Alix winged a red brow right back at him, a faint huff of amusement managing to slip out. ”That you know about,” she corrected him. ”There’s no way you lived your entire adult life as a monk.” Dean was even less likely to have done, even without the knowledge that he’d ended up a dad at some point. Some would’ve just looked at the eldest Winchester and seen nothing but a play-boy but Alix knew there was more to Dean than that. Sam knew it too and that knowledge of his brother seemed to be allowing him to stay one step ahead of Dean right now. ”Sometimes people will fool you,” she assured Sam, sucking in a breath. ”Good luck staying ahead of him.” She could’ve reached out but Alix knew she wouldn’t. Sam had trusted her enough to tell her the truth and despite her wanting to protect Sam, she wasn’t about to call Dean in and break his confidence.

Playing dirty didn’t extend to friends that way but it certainly did to hunting when she needed to. Becoming a werecoyote had burned her life to the ground but it had also given her the sort of abilities that meant she didn’t tire, she was stronger, she was faster. Green eyes narrowed up at Sam as she gave in to temptation and elbowed him in the gut. ”Not unless you want a taster. I don’t recommend it.” She’d been smiling about it still when the thought of the victim had struck her and the two of them took off for the garage at full pelt. Bile burned the back of Alix’s throat as Sam slipped his fingers against the woman’s throat, trying to find a pulse. He shook his head … oh God. The final nod had her letting out a shuddery breath. ”Thank God,” she whispered. Alix scrubbed her hands over her face, backing up a step as Sam lifted the woman out of the trunk. Her fingers tangled back in her hair, pulling it away from her face as his question went to go over her head. ”Yeah, yeah, I’ve got the truck.” A snort burst out of her before she could hold it back. ”Sorry, no seat adjustment in the truck, you’re gonna have to ride with your knees up around your ears sasquatch. Keep up.” Alix took off running, knowing that Sam wouldn’t dawdle. She’d parked four houses down from Christian’s home, in the driveway of a house that was up for sale, figuring she could always play home hunter if he came home. Tearing open the passenger door, she waved Sam into it.

Tagged: SAM WINCHESTER * Word Count: 745

Hunters were masochistic. Selfish, masochistic assholes with huge hearts a lot of the time. They’d throw themselves on a grenade for the people they cared about, would take a bite from a werewolf, would go up empty handed against vampires and literally sign themselves over to an eternity in Hell to avoid one of their loved ones heading there instead. It was stupid, it left behind more pain than it prevented but Alix knew that if the chance was there to do the same for her brothers she would’ve taken it. Had taken it by running away and working for Ralphy rather than forcing Rohan to be the one to put her down. The thought of him having to, the way Dean might’ve had to be the one delivering that final blow to Sam, it left her nauseous. She huffed out the thinnest breathe of amusement at Sam’s words before her eyes rose to his. How did you say sorry for running away for three years without a word? Or apologise for heading off with the power of Hell humming in your veins?

You couldn’t. No more than you could make up for any of the other things you did. You just had to keep trying to balance the scales and not drive yourself into the ground doing it. God, kidding about Sam and the chance of him having a dozen kids out there was a way to avoid that inevitably slide back into the grim. Shaking her head, Alix let her lips curl into a grin. ”You’re a Winchester, it was bound to come with the territory.” Sam always had a sensible head on his shoulders though, probably reason enough for him to be trusted in what he was trying to do now. Alix held her hands up, pretending to reel away from the idea. ”I don’t need to hear any more details about that side of things, thanks,” she cautioned. She swallowed hard as Sam pointed a finger at her though, her eyes fixing on it before they rose up to his face. ”A bad choice of words Sam.” Her voice crooned out but the truth to it only added to the weight in her stomach as she thought of how Dean was going to react to the news that she’d seen Sam and had let him go. Alix crossed her arms over her chest, shrugging. ”He might if he finds out I was withholding though.” Dean had never seemed the sort to let that sort of betrayal go easily.

It wouldn’t matter that the two of them had run at the end of this to try and save a girl’s life, if Sam happened to slip away in the chaos at the hospital. It would only matter that she hadn’t dragged him back kicking and screaming. Alix pushed the thought from her mind as she rushed to her truck. She hopped in the front, her eyes on Sam and the woman squished in the back as she jammed the truck into gear. ”Is she bleeding? Did he hurt her before he got her to the house?” she asked, her voice hoarse. Smoothly she cycled up through the gears as she roared away from Christian’s house with that thin pall of smoke still hanging over it, roaring down the road in the direction of the hospital. ”He had to have knocked her out somehow to get her back to the house?” There was a groan from the backseat at least, a sign that had her breathing a little easier. Christian hadn’t killed his prey before taking her home for dinner. It didn’t mean he hadn’t done damage, only that him playing with his dinner like a kid might’ve ended up saving the woman’s life.

Tagged: SAM WINCHESTER * Word Count: 626