Marked (Supernatural) [Rogue Trilogy] {2}

40. The Blame Game

40. The Blame Game

I know I'm not welcome to the pyre, but I feel it's my place to be. I knew Charlie in the short time that I'd seen her. She meant something to my brothers.

I hide in the tree line of the secluded area my brothers made the pyre in. My brothers are walking to it, Dean holding Charlie's white-sheet-wrapped body in his arms. She looks so small, even with the sheet. With Sam's help, Charlie's body is put onto the pyre.

The fire is started, and everything of Charlie begins to burn. When will the air stop smelling like burnt flesh? In our case, never. The death toll will never stop for us Winchesters.

Sighing through my nose, I step in behind my brothers.

"Charlie," I hear Sam say. "We're gonna miss you. You were the best. And I'm so sorry—"

"Shut up," Dean cuts him off gruffly. "You got her killed, you don't get to apologize."

"We were trying to help you."

"I didn't need help. I told you to leave it alone."

"What was I supposed to do, just—watch you die?"

"The Mark isn't gonna kill me."

"Maybe not, but—when it's done with you, you won't be you anymore. Dean, you're all I've got. So of course I was gonna fight for you, because that's what we do."

"What about Jo? Sounds like you forget she exists."

"I...I'm not sure about Jo anymore." Sam rubs the back of his head. "She's not the sister we grew up with. And listen, we had a shot—"

"Yeah you had a shot. Charlie's dead. Nice shot."

"You think I'm—You think I'm ever—gonna forgive myself for that?"

"You wanna know what I think? I think it should be you up there, or Jo, not her. This thing, with Cas, and the book, it ends now. Shut it down before somebody else gets hurt. You understand me?"

There's a long pause before Sam says, "And what about you?"

"Oh, I'm gonna find whoever did this. And I'm gonna rip apart everything and everyone that they ever loved. And then I'm gonna tear out their heart."

"Is that you talking or the Mark?"

"Does it matter?"

"Styne," I say, scaring both my brothers. Dean looks so unhappy to see me, and Sam looks warily at me. "That's who you want to rip to shreds, Dean."

"You were listening."

"Couldn't resist," I say coldly. "Look, if you want to bite someone's head off for Charlie's death, bite off mine."

"Oh, I was getting around to you next, Jo. Are you sure I need to go after a Styne?"

"I know you blame me for her death, but you don't believe I caused that, did you?"

"I don't know what to believe about you anymore." Dean knocks into me roughly as he leaves the burning pyre. I look at Sam, who avoids my eyes.

I lick my lips. "Trust me, Sammy, you shouldn't have guilt eating you up. Dean's on a warpath right now." A warpath in which I should be taking up now too. I need something to kill. The anger in me is festering like a disease, it wants blood.