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"BE CAREFUL, Ms. Cassidy. Your brother isn't the only one with abilities that can be dangerous if they go unchecked." Uriel's words played on repeat in Eleanor's head. She knew there was no way he meant Dean. He warned her specifically, not her and Sam.
She couldn't stop thinking back to the ghost in the mausoleum. She would have thought nothing of it if Uriel hadn't made that comment. It was possible ghost's disappearance really had been Dean, but she wouldn't know for sure unless she could try to make it happen again.
Uriel had brought back memories of John Winchester's words. The witch mistake. The abomination. Halfbreed bitch. She hadn't thought she was a witch, but then again, she hadn't known there were ghosts and demons in the world either.
She stood in the back of Bobby's scrap yard, not wanting to be seen by her brother's. Eleanor thrust out her hand, trying to see if she could make anything happen. She wanted to see if she really did have some sort of strange abilities.
When nothing happens, she lets out a frustrated sigh and leans against the car. "Okay, so that doesn't work." As it turned out, snapping, gesturing and pointing didn't work either.
"Focus!" the tiny voice in her head commands. Eleanor closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She tried to focus on something small, like creating a spark of light. Opening her eyes after another breath, she wills light into existence.
A small purple flash of light appears and disappears in the matter of a second. She breaks into a bright, triumphant smile.
Her smile dropped as it hit her. That was her that made the ghost disappear. She needed to call her mom. She needed an explanation.
It took two days for Eleanor to gather up the courage to call her mother.
Seraphina told her everything. From the beginning, with her grandfather, a nephilim, or half angel, who married her grandmother, one of the most powerful witches in France, all the way to the end, with her mother's spell to keep the family hidden.
Eleanor didn't know what to do. Everything she thought she knew was wrong. How was she supposed to tell Sam and Dean that she was one of the very things they hunted? She would be lucky if they didn't kill her on the spot.
She had told them she needed a few days to catch up on school and stayed at Bobby's while they went looking for a case. She just couldn't face them.
Eleanor's phone rings, snapping her out of her whirlwind of thoughts. She picks it up, only to find Dean was calling. After a few moments of mental debate, she answered. "Hello?"
"Hey, Elle, I know you're working on school stuff and I'm sorry to take you away from that but we really need your help on this case."
She bit her lip, thinking it over. "I don't know, Dean..."
"Please. A girl is missing and Sam wants us to work with Ruby, the demon, and it would be nice to have backup in case something goes wrong."
"Alright," she sighs. "Yeah, okay. I'll be there. Where are you?" She tried to ignore the way her pulse sped up.
"Dayton, Ohio."
"Okay, send me the details and I'll head down there today."
･ ❪ ☆ ❫ ･
TWELVE HOURS LATER, Eleanor was pulling up to the Milton house. She takes a deep breath, steadying herself before getting out to face her brothers. "Hey," she calls, closing the car door behind her.
Her brothers turn and wave in greeting. They make their way to the front door and Dean steps forward to knock.
"Maybe they're not home," Eleanor says after a minute of silence.
"Both cars are in the driveway," Sam points out.
Dean tries the door. It's unlocked, so they make their way into the house. "Mr. And Mrs. Milton?" he calls.
"We're from the sheriff's department. We just wanted to ask you a couple of quest-" Sam stops dead in his tracks. Two bodies lie on the floor, their throats cut.
"Shit," Eleanor curses.
Sam walks over and checks some powder on the floor near the bodies. "Sulfur. The demons beat us here. Whatever the deal is with this Anna girl --"
"Yeah, they want her. They're not screwing around." Dean begins to look around the room. "All right, so, I'm 'Girl, Interrupted,'" he picks up a stack of envelopes, "and I know the score of the apocalypse, just busted out of the nut-box... Possibly using superpowers, by the way. Where do I go?"
Sam looks at family photographs and picks one up. "Hey, you got those sketches from Anna's notebook?"
Dean nods and brings the papers over. Sam holds up a drawing of a stained-glass window.
"She was drawing the window of her church," Dean says.
"Over and over. If you were religious, scared, and had demons on your ass, where would you go to feel safe?" Sam asks.
"A church," Eleanor breaths.
They split up and reconvene at the church. After searching the main floor only to find nothing, they make their way up to the attic, guns drawn.
Sam was the first to spot her. He gestures to the girl and the siblings put their guns away. "Anna? We're not gonna hurt you. We're here to help. My name is Sam. This is my brother, Dean and my sister, Eleanor."
"Sam? Not Sam Winchester?" Recognition sparks in the girl's tired eyes.
"Uh, yeah," Sam confirms, confused.
"And you're Dean. The Dean?"
"Well, yeah. The Dean, I guess." Dean looks at Eleanor with a raised eyebrow. She simply shrugs in response.
"And Eleanor Cassidy?" Anna asks.
Eleanor nods. "Um, yeah, that's me."
"It's really you! Oh, my god. The angels talk about you!" The girl exclaims.
She turns to look at Dean. "You were in Hell, but Castiel pulled you out, and some of them think you can help save us." Her gaze moves to Sam. "And some of them don't like you at all." Then she turns to Eleanor. "And some of them fear you, or who you could become. They talk about you all the time lately. I feel like I know you."
Some of them fear you. Eleanor tried to keep her breathing steady. She glances at her brothers but they didn't seem to have registered what Anna said. "So, you talk to angels?" she asks.
"Oh, no. No, no way. Um, they probably don't even know I exist. I just kind of...overhear them," Anna explains.
"You overhear them?" Sam presses.
"Yeah, they talk, and sometimes I just... hear them in my head."
Dean's eyebrows furrow. "Like... right now?"
"Not right this second, but a lot. And I can't shut them out, there are so many of them."
"So, they lock you up with a case of the crazies when really you were just... tuning in to angel radio?"
Anna looked relieved. Finally, someone believed her. "Yes. Thank you."
"Anna, when did the voices start? Do you remember?" Sam asks gently.
Anna nods. "I can tell you exactly -- September 18th."
"The day I got out of Hell..." Dean says solemnly.
"First words I heard, clear as a bell, Dean Winchester is saved," she tells them.
Dean turns to Eleanor. "What do you think?"
"Dude, that's above my pay grade."
"Well, at least now we know why the demons want you so bad. They get a hold of you, they can hear everything the other side's cooking. You're 1-900-angel."
"Hey, um, do you know -- are my parents okay? I...I didn't go home. I was afraid," Anna frowns.
Eleanor's heart broke for the girl. She was about to break the bad news when Ruby runs into the attic.
"You got the girl. Good, let's go," the demon orders.
Anna gasps. "Her face!"
"It's okay. She's here to help," Sam reassures.
Dean scoffs. "Yeah, don't be so sure."
"We have to hurry," Ruby tells them frantically.
"Why?"
"Because a demon's coming -- big-timer. We can fight later, Dean."
"Dammit," Eleanor murmurs.
"He followed you from the girl's house. We've got to go now," Ruby repeats.
"Hey guys..." Sam points to a statue that's bleeding from the eyes.
"It's too late. He's here." Eleanor was shocked by the genuine fear in Ruby's voice.
She grabs Anna's arm and drags her over to a closet. "Stay in here."
Anna nods and hides herself away, closing the door behind her.
Sam takes a flask of holy water out of his pocket.
"No, Sam, you need to pull him right away," Ruby tells him.
"Whoa, hold on a sec," Dean objects, holding out a hand as if he could stop his brother.
"Now's not the time to bellyache about Sam going darkside. He does his thing, he exorcises that demon, or we die."
Sam puts the flask away. The demon enters the room. Sam tries to exorcize him, but nothing happens.
"That tickles. You don't have the juice to take me on, Sam," the demon says with a smirk. With an outstretched arm, he sends Sam flying down the stairs. The demon waves his hand and Eleanor stumbles backward, hitting the bleeding statue.
Dean goes to attack him with Ruby's knife, but the demon easily deflects and gets the upper hand. "Hello again, Dean."
Ruby pulls Anna out of the closet and she screams, but it seems to go unnoticed by the demon.
"Come on, Dean. Don't you recognize me? Oh, I forgot, I'm wearing a pediatrician. But we were so close... in Hell," he taunts.
"Alastair," Dean growls.
Eleanor stabs Alastair with the demon knife. It barely misses his heart, instead hitting his shoulder.
"You're gonna have to try a whole lot harder than that, girl."
Sam makes his way back up the stairs and grabs Dean. He looks at a large stained-glass window and Dean nods. As the demon pulls out the knife, Sam and Dean jump through the window.
Eleanor watched them jump, momentarily left alone with the demon. He throws the piece of the shattered glass and it buries itself in her thigh before she can follow them. Her leg stung as she runs and jumps out the window, crying out in pain as she falls.
Dean catches her and sets his sister gently on her feet.
"Let's get the hell out of here."
･ ❪ ☆ ❫ ･
"GOD DAMMIT," ELEANOR hisses, pouring whiskey on the wound in her thigh. She passes the bottle to Sam and he does the same with the cut on his arm.
Dean walks over to them, grabs the bottle and takes a long sip from it. "So, we lost the magic knife, huh?"
Eleanor nods. "Unfortunately. Who the hell was that demon?"
Dean looked pained, dark memories clearly resurfacing. "No one good," he says finally. "We've got to find Anna."
Eleanor doesn't press him about the demon.
"Ruby's got her. I'm sure she's okay," Sam reassures. He walks over to Dean and gets ready to reset his shoulder. "All right. Come on. On three. One..." he begins to count. He forces Dean's shoulder back into place before he reaches two.
"You sure about Ruby? 'Cause I think it's just as likely she used us to find radio girl and then brought that demon in to kill us," Dean argues, wincing at the sudden pain in his shoulder.
"Oh my God, do you guys ever stop arguing?" Eleanor complains. "I can't deal with this, I'll be outside."
She grabs her jacket and makes her way to the door, limping slightly. Though she had patched the wound, she wasn't quite talented enough to stitch it herself just yet. Sam was supposed to do it for her, but she was pretty sure she would explode if she didn't leave her brother's argument.
She made her way to her car and perched on hood, opening the pack of cigarettes she kept stashed in the pocket of her jacket. She lit one and leaned back against the hood of the car.
The green '76 Ford Mustang had quickly become one of her most prized possessions. A part of her wondered if it had more to do with the person that gave it to her than the car itself. But she didn't have time to unpack all of that.
Bobby led her out to the scrap yard. "Any car you want. I'll help you fix it up nice. It's about time you got yourself a true hunter's car."
Eleanor's old car had worked just fine, but she accepted the offer anyway. What she didn't see was the way the older hunter watched her carefully look over the cars, watched the way her eyes lit up when they landed on the green mustang. Bobby wanted a chance to bond with the girl, she was his boys' sister and he had quickly grown fond of her. He would never admit that, of course.
She knew the minute her eyes landed on the mustang that it was the car for her. "That's the one."
Just like he said, Bobby helped her fix up the car. He even helped her make a hidden compartment to store her gear, most of which had once been his.
Eleanor Cassidy never had a father figure in her life. Bobby took on the role without her knowing it. No matter how much they argued, Eleanor would never trade her newfound family for anything.
･ ❪ ☆ ❫ ･
ONE CIGARETTE LATER, Eleanor returned to the motel room feeling much calmer. As she walked in, she realized Sam and Dean weren't alone. "I was gone for ten minutes, who's this chick?"
"Ruby," Dean tells her with a heavy sigh.
"Guys, we have to go. Now," Ruby orders.
They followed Ruby to a cabin, finding Anna safely inside.
"Hey Anna. You okay?" Eleanor asks as soon as she spots the girl.
"Yeah. I think so. Ruby's not like other demons. She saved my life."
"Yeah, I hear she does that. I guess I... You know..." Dean trails off.
"What?" Ruby presses.
"I guess I owe you for... Sam. And I just wanted... you know..."
The demon scoffs. "Don't strain yourself."
"Okay, then. Is the moment over?" Ruby nods. "Good, 'cause that was awkward."
"Hey, Sam, you think it'd be safe to make a quick call, just to tell my parents I'm okay?" Anna asks, turning to Sam. "They must be completely freaked."
Sam didn't answer but the look on his face told Anna all she needed to know. "No, they're not...They can't be...."
"Anna, I'm so sorry," Eleanor says gently.
Anna's eyes fill with tears. "Why is this happening to me?" She stiffens and looks toward the door, suddenly on alert. "They're coming."
"Back room," Dean orders. Eleanor leads Anna to the room and returns as the door bursts open. It was Castiel and Uriel.
"Fuck." Eleanor was thankfully out of range of Sam's long arms.
"Please tell me you're here to help. We've been having demon issues all day," Dean says tiredly.
"Well, I can see that. You want to explain why you have that stain in the room?" Uriel demands.
"We're here for Anna." Castiel says, ignoring his companion.
Dean plays dumb. "Here for her like... here for her?"
"Stop talking. Give her to us," Uriel orders.
"Are you gonna help her?" Eleanor asks.
"No, she has to die," Castiel tells them firmly,
"You want Anna? Why?"
"Out of the way." Uriel begins to move towards the back room.
Dean puts a hand out to stop him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, I know she's wiretapping your angel chats or whatever, but it's no reason to gank her."
The angel gives him a false smile. "Don't worry. I'll kill her gentle."
"You're some heartless sons of bitches, you know that?" Eleanor comments.
"As a matter of fact, we are," Castiel says pointedly. "And?"
Sam scoffs. "And? Anna's an innocent girl."
"She is far from innocent."
Eleanor glares at them. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means she's worse than this abomination your brother has been screwing. Now give us the girl," Uriel commands.
"Sorry. Get yourself another one. Try JDate." Dean mimics the angel's false smile.
"Who's gonna stop us? You three? Or this demon whore?" Uriel stretches out a hand throws Ruby against a wall. Dean goes and attacks him.
"Cas, stop...please," Sam pleads,
"I'm sorry Sam." He touches Sam on the forehead causing him to fall to the ground.
Uriel punches Dean. "I've been waiting for this."
Angered, Eleanor goes to attack him as well but a bright light engulfs him and Castiel and they disappear.
"What the hell?"
Dean helps Ruby to her feet. Then they go to check on Sam.
Assuming Sam is in capable hands, Eleanor goes to the back room to find Anna. She walks in and sees the girl's hands and arms covered in her own blood. "Anna!"
Anna looked up at her. A mirror with a sigil drawn in blood lay beside her. "Are they...are they gone?"
Eleanor nods. "Did you kill them?"
"No. I sent them away... far away."
Eleanor walks over to the girl and sits beside her. She gently takes Anna's hands in her own and checks her wounds. "How?" she asks softly.
"That just popped in my head. I don't know how I did it. I just did it."
Eleanor grabbed her first aid kit from the car and tended to Anna's cuts before returning to talk to her brothers.
"So, what do you think?" Dean asks.
"I think Anna's getting more interesting by the second," Sam says with a dry laugh.
Eleanor nods. "Yeah, I agree. And what did they mean by 'she's not innocent'?"
"It seems like they want her bad, and not just 'cause of the angel radio thing. I mean, that blood spell— That's some serious crap."
"Something's going on with her. See what you can find out," Dean tells them.
"And what are you gonna do?" Eleanor crosses her arms.
"Anna may have sent the angels to the outfield, but, sooner or later, they're gonna be back. We've got to get ourselves safe now."
･ ❪ ☆ ❫ ･
THEY DECIDED BOBBY'S panic room was the best place to temporarily hide Anna. Eleanor and Sam walked up to the house on their way back from the Milton home.
"Where's Bobby?" Eleanor asks as soon as she spots Dean.
"Uh, The Dominican. He said we break anything, we buy it."
Eleanor's eyebrows furrow. "He's working a job?"
"God, I hope so. Otherwise, he's at hedonism in a banana hammock and a trucker cap."
Eleanor wrinkles her nose. "Great, now that's seared in my brain."
"All right, what did you find on Anna?" Dean asks, changing the subject.
"Uh, not much. Her parents were, uh, Rich and Amy Milton, a church deacon and a housewife," Sam explains.
"Riveting," Dean says dryly.
"Yeah. But there is something here in the report." He holds up a file folder they had taken from Mr. Milton's desk draw. "Turns out this latest psych episode wasn't her first."
"When she was 2 1/2, she'd get hysterical any time her dad got close. She was convinced that he wasn't her real dad," Eleanor explains.
"Who was? The plumber, hmm? A little snaking the pipes?" Dean wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
Sam rolls his eyes. "Dude, you're confusing reality with porn again. Look, Anna didn't say. She just kept repeating that this real father of hers was mad. Very mad, like wanted-to-kill-her mad."
"Kind of heavy for a 2-year-old."
"No shit. She ended up seeing a kid's shrink, got better, and grew up normal," Eleanor continues.
"Until now," Sam finishes.
"You know it's really weird when you two talk like that."
"Like what?" they ask in sync.
"Like you're popcorn reading from the same encyclopedia."
Eleanor and Sam look at each other and shrug.
"So, what's she hiding?" Dean changes the subject.
"Why don't you just ask me to my face?" asks a voice from behind them.
Dean glares at Ruby. "Nice job watching her."
"I'm watching her," the demon argues.
Sam sighs. "No, you're right, Anna. Is there anything you want to tell us?"
"About what?"
"The angels said you were guilty of something. Why would they say that?" Eleanor asks, trying to keep her voice light in hopes of encourage Anna to open up to her.
"You tell me. Tell me why my life has been leveled, why my parents are dead. I don't know. I swear. I would give anything to know." Her voice breaks.
"Okay. Then let's find out."
"How?"
Eleanor smiles, already pulling out her phone. "I have this friend..."
･ ❪ ☆ ❫ ･
DEAN LED THE woman down the stairs to the panic room. "We're here!" he yells down.
"Pamela!" Eleanor exclaims, running over and hugging the older woman.
The psychic gives her a tight hug. "Hey, hun. How you holding up?"
"Pamela, hey!" Sam calls, walking over to greet her.
"Sam?"
Sam's eyebrows furrow. "It's me. it's Sam."
"Sam? Sam, is that you?" she asks.
Sam didn't seem to catch on to Pamela's teasing. "I'm right here."
"Oh. Know how I can tell?" She grabs Sam's ass, causing him to jump, startled. "That perky little ass of yours. You could bounce a nickel off that thing," she laughs, "Of course I know it's you, grumpy. Same way I know that's a demon, and that poor girl's Anna, and that there is the lovely Elle and that you've been eyeing my rack."
Sam turned into a stammering mess at that. Pamela smiled at him. "Don't sweat it, kiddo. I still got more senses than most."
Sam flashed a tight lipped smile. "Got it."
Pamela turns to face Anna. "Hey, Anna. How are you? I'm Pamela. Elle told me what's been going on. I'm excited to help," Pam tells her.
"Oh. That's nice of you," Anna says politely.
Pam shrugs. "Well, not really. Any chance I can dick over an angel, I'm taking it."
Anna tilts her head in confusion. "Why?"
"They stole something from me." She takes off her sunglasses, revealing pearly white eyes. "Demon-y, I know. But they're just plastic. Good for business. Makes me look extra-psychic, don't you think?" she laughs. "Now, how about you tell me what your deal is? Hmm? Don't you worry."
The psychic got everything ready and directed Anna to lie on the couch. "Nice and relaxed. Now, I'm going to count down from five to zero. When we're at zero, you'll be in a deep state of hypnosis. As I count down, just go deeper and deeper, okay?"
"That's what she said," Eleanor murmurs. Dean covers a laugh with a cough. Sam glares at them both.
"Sorry," they chorus.
Pamela ignored them. "5... 4... 3... 2... 1. Deep sleep. Every muscle calm and relaxed. Can you hear me?"
Anna nodded, though Pam couldn't see her. "I can hear you," she confirmed.
"Now, Anna, tell me... How can you hear the angels? How did you work that spell?"
"I don't know. I just did."
"Your father... What's his name?" Eleanor watched on as Pamela asked Anna questions, almost studying her.
"Rich Milton."
"All right. But I want you to look further back... When you were very young... Just a couple of years old," the psychic presses. Anna began to protest. "It'll be okay. Anna, just one look. That's all we need."
"No," Anna says firmly.
"What's your dad's name? Your real dad. Why is he angry at you?" Pamela urges.
"No. No! No." Anna began to scream. "No!"
"Calm down," Pam tells her in a soothing tone.
"He's gonna kill me!" she cries.
"Anna, you're safe."
Anna screams again. "No!" The lights explode above their heads explode and glass rains down around them.
"It's all right, Anna," the older woman soothes.
"Anna?" Dean begins to walk towards her.
"Dean, don't," Pamela warns. Anna throws Dean across the room.
"Wake in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Anna... Anna? You all right?"
Anna sat up, suddenly much calmer than before. "Thank you, Pamela. That helps a lot. I remember now." Her voice was very even for someone who was just thinking they were going to be killed.
Eleanor took a cautious step forward. "Remember what?"
"Who I am."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: i didn't really want to write the anna chapters but i needed to for plot reasons so this chapter wasn't one of my best. that being said, i hope you like it and eleanor's journey of self discovery
this chapter was almost 4000 words, i didn't mean for it to be that long, i'm sorry
please be sure to comment and vote if you liked the chapter and follow my tiktok, greekstatues.wp for edits and the occasional update
also i was very proud of the car i found for eleanor and it will have many reappearances so here is what it looks like, if you were curious