Home

Chapter 16: Catching Up

"Blade," Niki corrected. "And because it can kill any being when accompanied by the Mark of Cain."

"I still don't-"

"Do you know of Abaddon?" she questioned, getting a little impatient with my ignorance.

"Knight of Hell, yes."

"She's free and walking around causing havoc and the only thing that will kill her is the First Blade. She has demons everywhere and they want to get their hands on it before one of those Winchester boys takes on the Mark to kill her."

Your eyes widened at the mention of the Winchester's. They were the last people you wanted brought into this conversation. "You know Dean and Sam?"

"I've heard enough."

In the short span of time that Niki had been hunting, she was already in deeper than you ever were, and you were raised in the life. It broke your heart that she gave up what could have been a normal life, and that she was mixed up with Abaddon. Abaddon, who was not able to be killed.

"I'll tell you this much, Sam is a gem and Dean is jerk."

"You met them?" Her brown eyes went wide with excitement. "What were they like? Everyone says they're difficult people, but amazing hunters."

"I actually bunked with them for a few days, and, like I said, Sam is great. He's one of nicest people I've met. Dean, on the other hand, is very difficult. And that's being generous."

She sat up on the bed, pulling her legs in and sitting like a pretzel. She sure was enamored at the thought of the Winchester's, who were apparently famous in the hunting community. "Did you hunt with them?"

"Once. I ended up having to save them, actually." You chuckled at the memory. It wasn't that it was funny, but it almost seemed ironic. Dean acted as if he couldn't trust you to hunt when you knew that he was fully aware that you were capable.

"Oh." She sounded a little disappointed.

"Enough about the infamous boys," you said changing the subject. "Back to this blade. Where and how do we get it?"

She smirked. "Did you ever have slumber parties when you were little?"

"Girl, are you crazy? You know I've been hunting since I could walk."

"Right, well, you're getting one tonight. There's this auction in Sioux Falls and the blade is going up. We just need to get it before the demons or the auctioneer does."

You groaned. "Does this mean you're going to paint my nails and stuff?"

"Oh honey," she drawled. "That's only the half of it."

+++

Niki helped you bring your bags inside and insisted that you let her trim the split ends off your hair. You protested at first because getting a haircut has never been your favorite pass time. But she sure was convincing and soon had you feeling guilty for turning her down and she was taking scissors to your precious hair.

After that, you hopped in the shower to remove the slivers of hair that were stuck to your skin and making you itch. When you were finished, you walked into the main room in a towel and dug through your bags to find your sleep clothes. It was then that you noticed a red and black flannel that didn't belong to you. You forgot about it after staying in the motel and never pulled it out of the bag to give it back to Dean. Something tugged at your heart and you slipped the flannel over your head, dropping the towel into a moist pile below you.

The door opened and Niki slipped in with a few plastic bags in her hands. "Are you finally finished?"

You made a face and stuck your tongue out as a response, amazed at how easily it was to be around Niki. It was like the two of you had been hanging out together since you were born. Despite not talking for years, the two of you got along like there was never a missing gap.

"I got all of the essentials for a sleep over." She raised her hand in the air to draw your attention to the rattling blue bags.

"And what do the essentials include?" I asked while braiding my wet hair out of the way and sitting on the bed.

"Snacks, duh. And a few movies." You resisted the urge to groan, assuming that she bought some sort of romance movies. Not that you didn't enjoy romantic movies, but you weren't really in the mood at the moment.

"What kind of movies?"

She had a sheepish look on her face. "It's probably stupid, since we hunt the nightmare inducing monsters, but I got horror movies."

Being relieved that you didn't have to watch something sappy, you grinned. "I love you. That's perfect."

She hopped onto your bed and bounced a couple of times before settling and dumping the goodies onto the surface. You cracked open the box of (your favorite boxed candies) and dumped a handful into your mouth.

"Before the movies, I'm doing your nails."

"Fine," you groaned, winking at your old friend.

She painted them a beautiful shade of red and added very intricate details in black. "I forgot you said you were good at art," you mused as you watched her wield the nail brush like a true artist.

She only grinned as she finished the last nail. "Now if you screw these up, I will sacrifice you to Abaddon myself."

"Ouch," you laughed. To a normal person, that insult would be really harsh, but hunting had a way of making even the sweetest people calloused. "Well since I'm not allowed to touch anything, do want to pop the movie in?"

She put the movie into the provided DVD player, flicked the lights off, and sat scrunched beside you on the bed. You smiled, feeling truly happy for the first time in ages.

***********************************************************************************

A/N: I know this chapter is a lot of friend fluff. I hope you guys don't mind too much, but I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was fun to give the reader a friend (thank you j2_and_CasBee for the inspiration) I hope you enjoyed it even though there wasn't a lot going on. I love you guys so much for voting and commenting and giving me the motivation to keep writing. If it weren't for those of you who are consistently showing me love, I probably would have dropped this story many chapters earlier. So thank you so much. I appreciate you guys more than you know. Okay, I'll quit babbling now.