Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all
“You do not deserve them. No matter how much you look like your Mother, you will always be your Father’s daughter. Cursed. Evil. Nothing more than a demon with a lust for murder and death that you will never be able to control.”
“Embrace what you are. Embrace that you are a Lilium, a Mother of All, a demon of unimaginable strength, but a demon all the same. No angel nor nephilim would ever have been chosen for the Gift of the Mark. Nor would you be destined to someday be the one with the Power of the Darkness.”
“You are an Heir to a Prince of Hell, your Grandfather’s proclamation, not mine. Until that time? You are my daughter, the daughter of the Knight’s Commander. You have my Mark. You have my bloodlust. You have the capability for Death and God alike to fear you if you simply learn from me and do as I say. And what I say is you keep those things hidden away or I will clip them myself.”
“Your nature can not even decide what you are. If you were meant for the light like my brother? They would have been black like his. If you were meant for to take my place beside Father, they would have been white. But no, they are gray. Which means they are leaving it to you to decide. You are not meant for Heaven. You are destined for Hell. So choose neither and just accept the fate and titles I have given you. Forget you have them. Those wings will cause you nothing but pain, a reminder you will never be good enough no matter what you do.”
Maddie was sitting in the edge of the bed as he walked over to her. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she looked up at Dean, her small and simple smile matching his own “I am not beautiful. You are. You are the beautiful one.”
Dean rolled his eyes at her words and groaned, shaking his head at his wife. “That’s a lie and you know it”
She crawled up on her knees, wrapping her arms over his shoulders and pulling him in to a deep and loving kiss, not taking no for an answer. “I don’t lie. You are my beauty. I am the beast.”
Returning her passionate kiss before pulling away and glaring at her, Dean’s tone changed to a more serious, almost demanding one. “That is the opposite of the truth. Let your wings out.”
Her eyes were closed from the amazing kiss, but when he spoke in a rather kingly tone, like the one he used on his subjects in Hell, her eyes shot open. She rarely let her wings out by choice. She often did her best to restrain her temper so they did not unfurl by accident either. “My …. My wings? Here? In the house? What … what if I … what if break something? Or scare Sunny?” She was stalling, trying to find a reason desperately not to show the things she had been taught to be ashamed of.
Dean's jaw clinched, his glare only intensifying. “Did I stutter? Let them out. Now.”
Maddie blushed hearing his tone and nervously pulled her shirt off as to not tear it. She wrapped her arms around herself timidly and closed her eyes, dropping her head as dark gray wings unfurled from her back, popping in the air loudly. He took far more pride in seeing them than she did. Yes, she had shown them to him before Sunny was born, using them to often calm the growing seed. But even with all his praise of how beautiful and what a gift they were, she could still hear the echos of her Father and Grandparents rattling around in her head.
A wide smile spread across Dean’s face, two fingers moving underneath her chin lifting her head forcing her to make eye contact with him. “You are beautiful.” Dean's smile only widened seeing the lights flicker, Sunny shrieking excitedly from her crib in the other room, feeling the surge in power that her Mother’s wings projected. Pulling away he quickly went to Sunny’s room getting her from her crib, Velma trailing behind as he made his way back into the bedroom. Sunny’s eyes instantly lighting up, the lights flickering again as she shrieked happily clapping her hands. “Mommy is beautiful, isn't she?” Softly he kissed the side of Sunny’s head moving closer to Madeleine. His fingers softly ghosting in her feathers.
Feeling his fingers lift her chin, she opened her eyes and looked at him. She kept staring at his Earthen hues because in his eyes, she always felt beautiful even like this. But hearing Sunny shrieking in the other room made her suddenly a little nervous. When Dean moved a way to go get their daughter, she tried to catch his arm and pull him back but the attempt was futile. She’s knelt there on the bed chewing her thumb nail nervously until he returned with their baby girl. The lights flickering at her happiness and her clapping made Maddie smile a little. Reaching her arms out for their daughter, Maddie calmed as she embraced their daughter and closed her eyes to the feel of Dean’s fingers lightly against her feathers. “I think you are both biased."
Standing there, he watched the look of awe on Sunny’s face her little hand reaching over playing gently with the feathers. Hearing Madeleine’s words, Dean shook his head laughing. "That's what you fail you realize, we aren't biased. We see the truth, you have been beat down so much you can't see it anymore. But we do, and I want you to start letting your wings out every day. For.. half an hour a day to start and then an hour.. two hours.. until you don't even notice they are out anymore."
Madeleine was still coming to terms with her now daily routine of letting her wings feel the warm summer breeze rustling her feathers. Or any breeze for that matter really. For 6,000 years, she had been made to feel like Quasimodo, a deform thing kept to the Dark Tower no meaning to be seen by the world. Her family each a Claude Frollo in her ear, preaching of how the world was not meant for her and would show little pity. But she had to do this. Not only because Dean had asked her to, but for the mission that the two of them were facing at the stake of protecting their children and their family. She would need to be more nephilim than demon now.
She found the rising sun the easiest hour to do this, that point between the darkness and the light, the irony of the analogy not missed by her. She walked slowly, barefoot and still half asleep, into their front yard. The view of the horizon was clearest here, the cornfields unrestricted by the trees or the creek like those in the backyard, one could see for miles. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and steadying her nerves. This was never easy for her, but for him and their daughter, for the two lives growing inside of her now, she had too. She knew after this many days that Dean and Sunny would likely be watching her from the window upstairs, and oddly? That brought her a little sense of peace.
Standing there, wings spread wide, she just allowed the morning sun to paint the horizon with the stunning colors of a new dawn, a new day, a new era. For once what they did what must be done, this would be exactly what the truth of what waits for humanity after life would be facing … a New Eternal Order.
“What do you mean you have your doubts? Has she said something to make you believe what we have been told his incorrect? Are you certain you have the right witch?” Madeleine heels clicked loudly against the sounds of the concrete floor of the warehouse across the Mississippi in Algiers. She had hoped to never look at this city again and yet, here she was. She was determined to get the hell out of here and never look back ever again. Magda was seeing to it that all of the relics that had been saved and stored throughout the city were crated properly and only the most trusted of Hell’s Minions transporting them to The Bunker.
Magda stood with a bold confidence that could never be ignored. She maybe slightly younger than her sister, and did not hold the mark, but she was just as commanding and fierce in presence. And because Magda’s eyes were always lifeless and silver still, to look at her was like looking into the face of death itself. “She was captured too easily. She is weaker than she should be, especially with the amulet, considering the souls trapped in it. We have our doubts. We think she is another decoy, another fake. You know she is worse than Loki at the art of diversion. She can have up to three faces at once for a reason.”
They made their way through the halls an into the main expanse of the now mostly empty building. In the center was Seal of Solomon painted on the floor in the blood of the Hellhounds found protecting the witch that claimed to be the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone. Madeleine and her sister continued to speak, Sway flanking them, handing Madeleine the Sword of Muramasa. “Regardless if she is her or not. We need that amulet. That was given to her by Hecate for the very purpose I did it for now. I just need to evict the current tenant. If what they say is true? I need the creature inside of it just as much as I need it to house what is left of Amara after we take The Darkness.” “He is worthy. And I need those worthy to divide the burden once I have succeeded.”
“You honestly believe there is going to be anything left of Amara once you are done?” Magda was speaking to her sister the closer to the dark haired witch that fought like Hell to be freed of the heavily warded chain and chair she was bound to. Her lips hand been sewn shut so she could not speak, blood streaking her chin the more she tried to speak. But it was not the blood or the fight that caught Magda’s eyes. It was the swirling glow of the purple pendant around the creatures neck.
“Yes, unfortunately, I do. She grew to enjoy humanity and allowed them to live because in her mind? He thought she fell in love.” Maddie licked her teeth and rolled her eyes behind closed lids. She hated even thinking about that rancid bitch still harboring feeling’s for Madeleine’s beloved. Amara did not know the meaning of love. Amara felt the same thing for Dean that she did for Madeleine … possessiveness. But the ‘if I can not have you’ vendetta that The Darkness was harboring for them both had led them all to this very moment “There will be love left, or her version of what she calls love. And whatever light there was that was her love of her brother. Two very powerful things. And too dangerous to allow to walk amongst us.”
Magda and Sway stayed on the outer rim of the seal as Madeleine walked into the circle with ease. Demon traps only held her for seconds as a Mark Bearer and Born Prince, and now Queen, of Hell. Sigils to hold even the most powerful of witches did little more than tingle to her. She looked over the dark haired beauty with her haunting jade eyes, irises rimmed in the violet powers offered to her by the amulet. And the longer Madeleine studying the witch’s mind and soul, the more amused she became. “Oh, my sister clearly was not wrong. You truly are a sad and pathetic creature. You truly do think you are her? Which makes me feel incredibly sorry for you. But, even with all of the history there is between her and I there was always one truth about her that I could respect; Hecate was always the good, the bad, and the ugly all at once. You? Tiny little creature? Are nothing but ugly.”
Madeleine held the Sword of Muramasa in plain view for the witch to see her fate. The souls trapped inside of it swirling and screaming, the haunting site of souls rising and then disappearing back into the steel only to be seen by a different vision in its place. While Maddie was upset that Hecate had clearly jumped ship and transferred her sorry ass back into yet another of her disciples whom were powerful enough to contain her, The Queen had business with the witch herself as well. Reaching out, she grabbed the amulet and yanked, snapping the chain clean off her neck, handing it over to her sister to protect.
Madeleine took a step back and placed the tip of the sword at the apex of the witch’s heart. The sad sight of one that thought so highly of herself thrashing and screaming futilely. Maddie just lifted her chin and lorded over the one that had dared her to this herself above her station. “May your soul rot inside this sword until the end of days knowing that I put you here. And that I am not only going to set him free? I am going to make him one of the most power creatures this world has ever known. Thank you for keeping him safe the past 70 years.” And with one clean thrust, the blade buried into her chest. The soul of the witch being forcibly sucked into the cold damask. And as Madeleine plucked it from her chest, the shell that was left burst into flames.
Sway salted the perimeter around the seal. Another safe measure that the meat suit be allowed to burn completely. “Collect those ashes. I will not have her power be allowed to become a part of the Ancestrals Faunt.” Maddie could see her sister staring at the amulet like it held some sort of wonder to her. She wrapped her sister’s fingers around it and lifted her chin so that their silver eyes met. “Careful with that. We have to get that back to the house. Dean is searching for a proper vessel for him now. The one he went into there with will be nearly a hundred. Once we release Logan, he will age quickly and day within minutes most likely. As soon as we free him? He will need new flesh.”
Sway pulled a flask from her jacket and popped of the top of, draining the contents. She tool the sword as Maddie handed it to her like it now held some sort of infectious diease before sliding it back into the sheath. “What about finding Hecate? Her deal with you is long over due. And you are going to need her power to get whatever is left of Celestial Resting Bitchface into that amulet thing.”
“Oh. I know exactly where to find that old hag. We have killed every vessel on the list that Marie sent you. Which leaves only her. Sneaky bitch had us take out the competition for her. And she is either going to come willingly with us or else her ass goes into the sword too.” Madeleine was not pleased that now she was having to cross the river and head over to the Lower Ninth Ward. She made and annoyed noise, texting Dean and telling him where they were at thus far in the hunt, asking him how he was going with the quest on his end. And reminding him how much she loved him, that this would all be over soon.
Magda had removed the necklace that she wore, an ancient chain she had made out of one of Judas’s infamous silver pieces. Sliding the amulet around it, she just felt it within her soul that if would be safest close to her heart. “Hecate then has nowhere left to be except within Marie based on your deal with her. And she maybe running the show but you know the vessel still has its deal with Baron Samedi and Papa Legba. They will want recompense.”
Leaving Sway to collect what remained once the witch was completely burned, Madeleine and Magda walked far enough away so that none of the cinders could follow them into the night as they made their way to Marie’s latest den of iniquity disguised as a hair salon. “Once this is done? Even Legba and Samedi answer to Dean and I. They would not dare to question my reasoning if they are wise. I am quite sure someone will fill the void left by her with ease. She had 7 daughters to follow in her footsteps after all.”
Customers and coven alike all knew to run the moment the two women appeared out of thin air in the center of the old rickety shotgun home that had been covered into a beauty salon. They did not need introductions and they knew damn good and well that these two were not just some of the ladies sent by the Supreme. No, these two were demons. All the windchims were howling. The room was thick with the scent of sulfur and the lights flickered. The white noise from the cheap sound system now echoed with the screams of the dead. The one ignorant priestess that did start to chant found herself nothing more than a spray of guts and blood spatter as Madeleine snapped her fingers to shut the chatter up, her’s and Magda’s stares never leaving the meat suit that was once the eldest Laveau.
“Hello Marie. Or should I say Hecate? We need to talk.”
A deep animalistic growl escaped him, echoing off the trees and water when she said the name Amara, like he was daring her to show her face. The sounds of growling began to fill the air from all around them. He twirled the blade in his hands. A dark brown and orange wolf appearing from the shadows, Dean's head tilted forward eyes locking onto it as a devious grin spread across his lips. "You really? I should have killed you years ago when you got into my face. Bring it bitch."
The wolf growled and snapped at him before leaping, Dean dropped to one knee shoving his blade upwards letting it slice down the middle of the wolf. It's insides falling down onto Dean coating him in gunk. Standing he shook off the intestines, another deep feral growl escaping him. "Who's next?" He said opening his arms gesturing for them to start attacking. And they did just that, without warning, a group of them jumped onto him. Starting to attack nipping and clawing wherever they could. Growling he swung his blade starting to slice bits and pieces off them, sending chunks of fur and meat flying through the air until there was nothing left but minced meat at his feet "That's all you got?"
He snarled out, that's when he heard it. That growl, it was her. A disgusted look formed on his face, he shook his head as he started to scrape some of the blood off him. "It's about time you show up, I think I've killed about a forth of your pack now."
Maddie just stood back and watched. He needed this. This was his therapy, his time to purge what had to be from his veins. She had to be cold and distant to the sounds of the ones she once protected. And when they would charge at her for doing nothing, the fog that covered the swamps pulled them into the shadows, the dying whimpers of wolves echoing, cracking bone, ripping hide. She knew that The Darkness may have led them all to this point, but it would not risk its vessel being harmed. No, that right was reserved for only it. Any of them that the fog did not consume, Maddie sent flying against trees with a simple look. Broken backs against tree trunks, fur and flesh alike impaling on random tree limbs until finally, the one they waited on appeared.
Covered in the blood and filth of the dead, Madeleine stood their lifeless, like a statue. She had not seen her in years. No time to have old reunions now. Now, was only the time for death. "Do not even think to speak and spill your lies. To convince us that what we have done is wrong when all you did was use us for your own needs and follies. The actions of the last person that did that to us are the reason why we here. You will be meeting a much more merciful end than he simply because of the history we all share. Leave it at that and accept your fate."
Black eyes stared down at the light brown and gray wolf. A broken look spreading across his face as black eyes looked into the wolf's golden ones. She went to shift back into her human form and he snapped his fingers stopping it. He didn't want to see the other her, he didn't want to hear her voice. To listen to the lies she would spout off to him. The wolves head tilted growling as she bared her teeth. It wasn't long before Niklaus was right behind her growling and snarling at him. "You."
Dean pointed the blade at the other wolf, anger and hate coursing through his veins. A look of disgust on his face. Snapping his fingers again he forced the man's change, turning him back into his human form before flinging him against a tree locking him in place. Hayley snarled at him, lunging. Sinking her teeth into Dean's arm. Growling he waved his arm sending her flying, he skidded across the ground moving to her feet starting to charge at him again. Waving his hand he froze her in place, not even thinking. Just doing. "No. You will have your turn, first? You get to watch him die." Turning to the hybrid, he snapped his fingers, all of Klaus's limbs breaking at the joints simultaneously causing him to scream out. The sounds echoing off the trees. Klaus began to laugh. “Is that all you got demon?”
Dean didn't say a word, lifting his hand he began to make a fist concentrating on Klaus's heart. The hybrid began to scream out in pain, Hayley frantically trying to get to Dean to stop him, but she just couldn't seem to move. A devious grin spread across Dean's lips. A cracking sound echoed off the tree as Klaus's chest exploded, his heart flying into Dean's hand. Fingers wrapping around the squishy organ, moving it to his mouth, he bit a chunk out spitting it almost immediately on the ground before tossing the heart at Hayley’s feet. Klaus's body falling to the ground as he began to desiccate.
Now this is the part that view knew, perhaps did not even realize. What kills a hybrid? What sends an Original to its actual grave? Two trees ... red oak and white oak. For centuries, Madeleine had thrown the acorns of both into these swamps as the species slowly died everywhere else. One would think that the now protector and love of the Little Wolf would come back from nearly anything but a proper staking by such items. The wolves and bodies hanging from the tree limbs above, dripping blood down like rain, proved that anything could be made a weapon with simply the proper trajectory.
She had to close her eyes not to look at him once Niklaus was forced to shift. The hybrid called for his once protector, the one that had kept him hidden from Mikael most days even as a small boy. She closed her eyes and refused to hear his pleas ... or his cries of agony. Her body flinched when guts spattered the side of her face as his chest exploded. As Dean dropped the heart and his focus went back to the Alpha, Maddie snapped a tree branch from a red oak she passed in one hand, the limb of a white oak in another. She glanced at the body, thankful her emotions were nil, before kneeling down and stabbing the organ with both pieces of wood. The heart igniting, bursting into flames, she kept her focus on the pyre, collecting the ashes once the embers faded, trying desperately not to think about what Dean had to do next.
Snapping his fingers, he forced her to finally turn back into her human form. Hayley began to spout words of hate mixed with death threats. Dean said nothing, waving his hand, he released her for her holding. She immediately came at him, starting to attack. He dodged every assault, a heavy sigh escaping him. He didn't want to do this, killing Klaus was easy. He hated that man with a passion, he always had. Finally he stopped moving, her fist repeatedly meeting his jaw, did it hurt? Yes. Did it do any real damage, no. He stood there for a moment watching her, head tilting to the side as she sliced and stabbed him doing whatever she could to try and stop him.
Sure it hurt, sure he bled. But he didn't react, not until her focus went to Madeleine. The moment she took a step in her direction, he grabbed Hayley by the throat. His wounds instantly healing all at once as a demonic growl escaped him. One that shook the trees around them. He slide the first blade into the front of his pants before shoving his hand inside the hybrid’s chest, arm pushing deeper as his fingers wrapped around her heart. She didn't say a word, she wasn't the begging type and he knew that. A cold look on her face, a broken look on his. Yanking her heart from her chest he watched the life fade from her golden eyes. Pushing her backwards, Hayley’s body landed on the ground with a thud, a demonic rawr escaping. One that made the very ground shake this time. Pulling the blade put of his pants he cut her head off, kicking it towards the tree line. Towards the remaining wolves that stay hidden. "As of now, it's open game on wolves. My demons come across any of you? I will have your hides as a throw rug."
She wiped the ash off the sides of the bottle and her finger tips off onto the grass and leaves of the underbrush before she stood. The timing could not have been more ominous. She turned in sync with Hayley being forced to shift into human form. Her words were just as cold as steel cutting flesh, of the damage caused by the most accurate of aims and the sharpest of sword swings. Every one delivered more venomous than the last as Dean bobbed and weaved of her swinging fist. But even that soon stopped.
Madeleine trusted her husband, likely the only one she did completely anymore. But after the spatter of blood from wounds hit her face more than once, Maddie let out a low and demonic growl and took one step forward the second Hayley did the same. That was all the warning it took however. Dean's face turned to look at her in tune with his hand clamping around Hayley's throat. The rest was a blur. She had to make it that way. Madeleine refused to take that memory with her. She turned on heel to follow her husband and the heart, that last needed ingredient, out of the swamp. A flick of her wrist, and the body, the head, and any part of the Alpha that could be used to resurrect her, exploded into a million pieces, each one going up in flames as she caught up to him, walking at his side in step with him. Equals, side by side. "Sure hope swamp gases and bullsh*t isn't flammable. Any wolf in these woods tries to exit and come after us? We will be finding out.”
Dean had downed a couple of glasses, trying to put all his emotions at rest. He couldn't afford to feel anything but hate right now. He couldn't let any of the good in the past affect what needed to be done. Deep down underneath their hate, Dean and Maddie both still cared about her. It's why they allowed her to have the city. To let her have her space, but they couldn't afford to do that anymore. It was time to do what they should have done months ago.
He downed another two fingers worth as she sat down beside him. He motioned for the bartender to give Maddie one and him a refill, both request quickly complied. His arm wrapping around her, kissing the side of her head softly. "A king and queen must do things even if they don't want too, just because they have to be done. This is one of those times. Now is the time to focus on the anger, the hate." Picking up the glass, he let out a sigh. “Some things are for the greater good."
"I know." She took the glass of whiskey, but she reached out to the bartender and grabbed his arm. The man went white with fear. He knew who she was, what she was to the city. He left the bottle and Maddie let him go. She poured both their glasses to the fullest, picking up hers and looking at the amber liquid within. Something calming in letting the anger take over once he made it clear she needed to. She licked her lips and took a drink. "When she was saved from The Void by my command and allowed to become what she became in her second chance? She was supposed to be better. And she was supposed to stay loyal to me. She should have seen that mark on your arm and knew. Mine is here upon my temple. All know what it means. Few whom do not know you would not even realize you have it. But she should have known. She could have told me about you. She could have told you about me. Even it if was just to clarify there was a link and what that might mean."
She downed the rest of the glass and poured another, fighting the tears as her blood ran cold. "I can never return here. I know that. But I will do whatever it takes to save us. To removed the link to that monster in that box. As long as he lives? He is linked to Sunny as well. And I will not have our daughter's mind tortured by him another second. We get what we deserve. She? Is innocent of all of this. Time to make those not innocent for whatever reason, pay. Even if that means sacrificing someone we both once cared about.”
Dean's head tilted watching the bartender, he quickly downed the entire glass, relishing in the effect of the liquor. The burning in his throat, warming of his chest. The ease that it caused him. Listening to Madeleine's words, he ran a hand over his face. The moment she refilled his drink, he downed it. "You know exactly why she didn't tell you about me, it was a power play.. that's all I ever was.." Another drink down, an animalistic growl escaping him as he slammed the glass down on the wooden top causing it to shatter into pieces. "Let's go, I want to get this done. I'm tired if wearing pants." Turning around on the barstool, he moved to his feet, letting out a hard sigh. Neither of them wanted to do this, they had too. They had to do it to protect their children, to protect hell. Tilting his head he extended his hand to her, his famous half smile spreading across his face. "No more emotions, just action. There will be time to mourn later."
He was right. There was an evil about her when she returned, once she was brought back from The Void. Everything was a power play, a series of lies and untold, concealed truths. Every emotion ever shown to the one that loved her like family had been a lie. Madeleine had treated her like one of her own, trusted her, confided in her. And all of it nothing more than mission to undermine her, to use the ancient demon for whatever reason she had seen fit. And the entire time, keeping her from him. Keeping Dean from her.
Every one whom saw them together now could see they were destiny. Dean and Madeleine were meant to be one. They were stronger, unstoppable. They were united in all. And the only two things stopping them, the Alpha in the swamps that could rid them of the Lazarus drowning out in the ocean, and Amara, were the only things stopping them from having it all. She slid her hand within his and her eyes shifted silver, a smirk forming over her own features. Not caring whom saw them dissipate, in the next thought, they were at the burned out hull of her bar at the entrance to the swamps. "There will be no mourning. We do not mourn traitors. We celebrate our victories over them.”
They were destiny, every single thing he had chosen willingly had lead him to her. Taking on the mark not just once, but twice. Giving into it all, every single feeling that the mark let course through him, it all lead him to her. And he wouldn't change a God damn thing. The moment her eyes shifted to silver his turned black, a devious smirk spreading across his lips as she transported then to the old bar in the swamps he burned in that week without her.
Eyes scanning the remains, when he had left it, limbs had been scattered everywhere. Now nothing was left but charred remains. He pulled her body into his, lips finding hers in a rough yet passionate kiss expressing all the things he felt inside him. Lips lingering against hers for a moment, he could stay like this forever. Her body against his, but things needed to be done. Pulling away slightly he gave her one last kiss, this one soft before completely pulling away from her.
Head tilting to either side cracking his neck as his right hand reached behind him pulling the first blade out, eyes closing as the mark became inflamed starting to glow as it pumped its toxins through him. Black eyes shot open, a demonic growl escaping him. Jaw clinching as he finally proceeded forward into the swamp. Upper lip curling as he breathed in the swamp. "Smells like wet dog out here.." he growled between clinched teeth. Eyebrow raising as he started towards the clearing filled with tents and hanging clothes. Fingers gripping the leather bound bone tighter.
One less thing tying her to this city. That was how she saw the burned out remains of her once prized bar. Oracles was now nothing more than charred framework and scorched Earth. Even months after he had destroyed it, since she had the place swept for whatever could be salvaged of the relics she kept here, no life grew. The grass still black, dead and stained by the wolves and demons that died here that night. She felt nothing except his body colliding theirs together.
She melted into his embrace. She could feel the power surging through him, the need to have this finished pressed through the kiss as they held one another one last time before entering the murky forest. The Spanish moss hanging from the limbs over head and whipping around like some dark omen. She cupped his face, kissing his forehead before feeling him pull away. As she followed close behind, she could see the fog of the swamp growing thicker, darker. She growled not only at the smell of the wolves that were hiding in the shadows, but haze as well. She knew whom that was and she had no time for it. "Not now you harpy bitch. He, nor I, will have you clouding his purpose here this night with doubt. And once we break this spell? We come for you next ... Amara."
Dean and Maddie had taken Sunny to spend the next few days with Shani in New York. It was not easy and they both were a mess. But if anyone was going to keep their little Princess safe? It would be Shani. And Shani would never tell a soul where Dean and Madeleine were going, she would disappear into the lands of her Mother with Sunny before any human or creature of the other would ever hear from her lips what the pair were doing … what had to be done to finally rid them both of the past that haunted them now. Of the only preverbal ghost that threatened their thrones.
They returned home, saying nothing. King and Queen of Hell simply crawling into bed and holding each other close, somehow finding sleep in the end less night despite knowing what the next day had in store. She was not even aware when sleep began, or ended, or when they even woke. She simply knew that she found herself entangled within her husband’s arms, a distraction they both needed without mentioning it to the other, simply finding each others arms out of sheer instinct and need. Laying there against his shoulder in the tranquil afterglow, her fingers ghosting over his chest.
”I could lay here all day in bed with you like this. You know that right? But we have something to do.” She swallowed hard against the lump that threatened to close off her throat, the pain of even thinking of who must die soon too harsh even after all the betrayals had been shown in the day light. She decided to not speak of whom must die, and focused on the one they had to do this for.
“And? The longer we wait? They longer Sunny is in New York being spoiled rotten without us.” She knew that part would make him leap out of bed. She tried not to smirk too widely but she snort laughed at her own bad joke. Humor found before the horrors that lay ahead. Dean placed soft kisses onto her lips, eyebrow raising at her words. She was right, they needed to get the job done so their daughter could come home. Giving her one last kiss he moved off her and stood up stretching. "Alright well come on then.” Giving her a wink, he started to pull on his boxers. "Eventually I'm going to need food though."
She rolled off of him as he stood to dress and sighed, knowing that today was going to be a long one. She walked to the closet and grabbed a dress, one a little more ominous and vicious than her normal wears. She placed her red tresses into a slicked back ponytail, all business, like the intimidating bitch she presented to the world the night they first met face to face. Her chin lifted high, even her tone a little more stoic, colder, than normal. She walked over to him and handed him the infamous red shirt. “There is an amazing place to eat outside of The Faction offices near my compound in the Quarter. We can go there first, if you like.”
Dean pulled on his favorite pair of jeans, favored brown boots and a black undershirt. When she walked over handing him his red shirt he just grinned, taking it he slid it on rolling the sleeves up some. "No, wolves first. Then sex, then food. Priorities.” He said in stern voices, turning on his heel he moved back to the bed pulling the first blade from underneath his pillow and shoved it into the back of his pants. A devious grin spreading across his face, green eyes scanning over her slowly. Moving close to her, his arms wrapped around her. Lips finding her pulse point leaving a soft kiss. "I'm ready babe."
"Then we do this. Now." Arms lacing around his frame, she pulled their bodies tightly together. Kissing his temple as he buried his face into her neck, warm lips grazing her pulse, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Within a blink, they went from the silence of their home, to the sounds of jazz and tourist in the heart of the French Quarter. Standing outside her home at the corner of Chartres and Conti, she knew he hated it here, but this had to be done.
The Ominous black Escalade against the curb, she knew her hound, the Moon God himself, was already there. And she had to warn Dean of a disarming fact that she had yet to share with her beloved, things that seemed small before, now huge when looking back. So much she still needed to explain to him about the way their world truly worked, even as a Winchester, he had only scratched the surface really. "You have never seen Mani, have you? Never met the Old God that I keep here as my emissary here in my city?"
His arms tightened around her, feeling everything moving around them, stomach turning. He hated this part, it had been years yet he still couldn't seem to stomach it. A soft groan escaped him abdomen as everything stopped moving, the sounds of jazz seemingly attacking him from all sides. His head as still spinning from the teleporting, still catching his bearings. Pulling back, he ran his hand over his face, shaking his head no. "I've never seen them, you've mentioned them a few times though.. why? What's the big deal?"
"Mani is the Norse Wolf God of the Moon. His wife is the Sumerian Goddess of Faces, the reason he has so many that bare his likeness, her way of protecting him. He is a doppelgänger ... not of yours though. Actually, wolves that … Xavier? And his lookalikes? Are doppelgängers of his. But, he has the things we need to get this done. If .... " She swallowed hard against the closing of her throat. She did not even know how she would react to seeing Mani. She could only imagine what it would do to Dean. She laced her hand in his and opened the carriage door to the compound and pulled him closer, waiting for the moment he realized what she meant. "I just wanted to warn you before. You ... you can explore the house if you like rather than seeing his face."
The moment she slid the door open and Dean's eyes fell on the Norse God they turned black, hand reaching behind his back grabbing the first blade. A deep growl escaping him, upper lip curling as nothing but hate coursed through him. Chest rising and falling rapidly taking a step forward. He eyed the man, hand gripping tighter around the leather bound bone. The only thing keeping him in place was her hand in his other, the feel of her skin against his kept him from completely losing it.
"Hey? Baby? Look at me. Look only at me. Okay?" Madeleine was shaking as she pulled him closer, her own eyes shifting to their natural silver in response to his obsidian glare. She reached her hand up and placed her fingers around his gripping the blade of her Father, her Mark setting to embers at the touch "It is not him. Look at him. Yellow eyes. White hair. It is not Xavier. I promise."
"Listen to her Winchester. I am the only way you are getting into that swamp this night. She needs my protection to mask her scent. They knew you would be coming. I do not know how, but they are all on high alert. But they will ran rather than face her. They lose their place in the city if they go against her will, even if they no longer follow her laws. They pretend to, but we both know whom they follow now. Whom they have followed since she return from The Void.” Mani reached out his hand, offering a complete sack of the items needed for the spell, his eyes averted as to not have his own shift in response to the power play taking place. Too much at risk with it being a full moon. He could not risk a shift to the direwolf tonight. "You have the hair and blood of the one to place the new bound upon and the rest of the fruit of knowledge with you Madeleana?"
Black eyes remained locked on the man until he felt her touch on his hand gripping the blade. He blinked a few times eyes returning green as he let out a heavy sigh, broken look washing over his face. Shaking his head he shoved the blade back into his pants and turned walking the opposite direction of the old Viking God. The further, he got the more calm he became, eyes scanning over the faces of the people that were now passing by him. This entire city made his skin crawl, he wanted nothing more than to burn it all to the ground. But he knew it meant something to her, taking in a deep breath, he leaned against the wall just observing the people.
“Do not call be by the old name Mani. After this night? That name dies with last heartbeat.” Maddie took the bag from Mani, mindful of Dean moving to the carriage door, leaning against the frame as he watched the people moving through the Quarter. Maddie felt the burning sting as she looked into the bag. Reaching in and pulling out the little bracelet that she hand kept since the day Marcel brought the child to her. The silver chain, the charm that read, ‘Andrea’. Shoving it into the satchel, she was shaking her head, this was going to require she cut that emotion off.
"It has to be someone that is linked to the three of you; You, Dean, and Xavier. You cared for her like one of your own after her parent's death. Found her a family. A home. He was married to her. He loved her, at least, for a time. And she was his Alpha. I know he was one of the doppelgängers created by Livinia. Vinni has a foul sense of humor at times. You know I would sacrifice myself to save your daughter and your husband if I could, but I am not linked to Dean in anyway. So it has to be her." Mani was trying to help, trying to soften the hard blow of the way this night had to play out. It still was not an easy one to hear.
Dean’s focus was distracted from what the two of them were speaking of in the courtyard. He could not hear it, too many truths about a time in his life that was built on lies. Everywhere he looked all he saw was ghosts from a past life that he didn't even feel like he lived it anymore. It felt like a nightmare, one he really just wanted to forget. Running his hand over his face he let out a deep sigh, he hadn't seen her since he forced her to sign the papers. He stayed out of this hell out of New Orleans, not for her. But for him, and now he had to do whatever it took to keep his family safe. Even if that meant ripping her heart out while looking her in the eyes, pushing off the wall, he began to wander a bit, finding a bar and ordering himself a a whiskey.
Maddie rummaged through the rest of the bag, the ingredients to reverse the spell that Xavier had placed on Dean to bind them all through the mark all there. She tried as she may to figure out every single possible loophole but the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became. She had to stop thinking about anything at all. She tossed the remainder of the fruit of the tree from Eden into the sack. She closed it back up, wrapping the opening in a thin twine made of Sunny's hair, a little vial of her blood hanging from the binding. Handing it back to Mani, he tossed the bag into the unlit firepit in the center of the compound courtyard. Now all that was left was the soon to be sacrificed heart, and for Dean and Maddie to light it up in unison. She stood there, shaking, her eyes closing as she felt Dean leave to go find a bar. Looking at Mani, she nodded. “Call the others. Make sure that pit and those ingredients are protected at all cost until we return.”
Mani removed his amulet and placed it around her neck “This will hide your scent. His? You will need it to draw her out. This way they will not run knowing judgement awaits. Good Tiddings and Skal old friend.” Maddie nodded and then moved through the streets of the Quarter until she found the bar he was in, moving in beside her husband and resting her head against his shoulder, taking a deep breath and just feeling numb.