The Darkest Road {Supernatural: Book Two}

Prologue: Part Two

DISCLAIMER: This story is not rated for a reason, and this part of the prologue contains strong language and sexual content. If this makes you uncomfortable, please read no further. You have been warned. Thank you.

           Prologue: Part Two

      With all the evil that had been unleashed into the world, I can't say we had any downtime. We were busy pretty much constantly. There were omens everywhere and we spent case after case hunting all the evils of the world down-- all while I was still having an existential crisis about the morality of what we were doing.

     Apart from demons, there were some other interesting cases as well, including The Seven Deadly Sins (live and in the flesh), Changelings, a bitch named Bela who deals in cursed objects, vengeful spirits, a Death Omen, vampires, Gordon Walker, and even Pagan gods.

      We'd been so busy with all of our hunting evil stuff, that Christmas came quicker than I'd realized. Sam and Dean’s lack of interest in Christmas confused me, having done quite a bit of research on holiday customs. Dean was in a bit of a funk from the deal and had dissolved into drinking again, while Sam built a wall of denial so high that it could have only meant he blamed himself.

     Needless to say, it didn’t appear that they were going to acknowledge Christmas.

      I was relatively new to the whole holidays thing, being that I'd never celebrated it, but I'd picked up gifts for Sam and Dean a while back— I figured that after all the hardships of the last few months, they needed a little something to boost their spirit. They’d drag their feet and roll their eyes at first, but something told me that deep down, they’d stash away those memories as a glimmer of real family life.

     A mere four days before Christmas, I realized I needed a tree. I hadn’t really thought about it, being so focused on hiding the things that I'd need for decorating under Sam's bed little by little.

     Christmas Day, the boys left to do something I don't really remember— have Sam's laptop looked at or something along those lines. It gave me just enough time to cook dinner and, while the turkey roasted in the oven, assemble the scraggly little Christmas tree I'd set up in the far corner of the room.

     White lights twinkled sparingly over the tree and shined off of the few ornaments I'd been able to pluck from gas stations here and there the past week. There were bits of popcorn all inside the tree, and I hadn't been able to find candy canes. The tree was topped with a golden star, as I'd found angel-toppers atrocious— I wasn't focused on thinking about those unhelpful dicks. Tonight was about thanking the Winchesters for being my family when I had none, and giving them the sense of family they never had growing up.

     There wasn't a table in the room for eating, so instead I laid out all of the items onto the kitchen counter. This included: Dean’s favorite luxury whiskey, Sam’s favorite white wine, a few side dishes, and the turkey that had conveniently just finished baking.

     When they finally came back I was standing in a Santa's Helper hat by the tree, smiling up at the two sheepishly. My hands knotted together, I was suddenly nervous and wondering if they’d even like it. They stared back, speechless.

     "Merry Christmas!" I cheered, throwing up my hands to present the little pine tree.

     "What's all this?" Sam asked, walking into the kitchen and bending over the counter. He tilted back the wine bottle to read the label and smiled at it.

     "Dean told me that you didn't really enjoy holidays, but I think that must be because you’ve never had a real one." I still didn’t know if they approved. "I decided we should have a Christmas together. We’ve earned it. Don’t you think?"