Burn It to the Ground

Maura’s POV.

It was over.

Everyone was safe.

Bleeding and possibly suffering concussions, yes, but safe.

Unfortunately, a lethal fight and screams, not to mention the gunshot, didn’t go unnoticed in a motel.
I was quickly dragging the Shapeshifter’s lifeless body to the bathroom, the two most injured people in the room close behind me as a cop car pulled up in the parking lot, in direct view of the open door. Shit.
I slammed the door shut the same time a voice called out asking if anyone was there. So there we were, two severely battered lovebirds, a dead body, and a mildly injured and very concerned me. I absent-mindedly flipped the lock on the door, turning around to face the two. Dean was probably the more injured of the two, one side of his face looking like hell and wincing with every little movement. Nevertheless, he wasn’t bleeding and, frankly, wasn’t my number one problem at the moment.

“Kassia, sit. Dean…Do something constructive.” I whispered, peering into a cheap medicine cabinet and sighing in relief that there was a small black bottle of first-aid alcohol. It was a miracle that it was even there, especially since I really didn’t like the idea of using beer on my sister’s eye.

“What about the police?” She asked, wincing as I dabbed at her eye with an alcohol-soaked washcloth, noting that we would have to get her stitches for this one and roughly judging what size scar it would leave. “Sam’ll handle it.” Dean replied simply, examining his swollen face in the mirror with a grimace. I looked back at my sister who was pointedly avoiding my eyes and staring at the Shapeshifter’s corpse as it took up most of the floor-space in the tiny bathroom. Anyone could understand that it had been a bit of a shitty day, what with suffering a hangover, crawling through the sewers, and nearly being killed for what was probably the hundredth time in her life. But she hadn’t spoken a word to me.

“All clear.” I heard Sam say on the other side of the thin door, making his brother roll his eyes and smile slightly. “He gives them these puppy eyes and they’ll buy into anything.” He left then, not before casting a worried glance at Kassia who was still just sitting there in silence. It was becoming obvious that this was something that needed to be addressed so the Winchesters only appeared mildly surprised when I slammed the door shut behind them, leaning against it as I regarded my still absent looking sister.

“What did it say?” I could only imagine. However, something had Kass freaked out.

Crap, it told her about me calling dad. I worried, thinking that my sister probably wouldn’t take too kindly to me calling our father for advice, especially behind her back.

She looked up, smirking in feigned humor. “Can we not have a touching family moment while there’s a dead body bleeding out on the floor?” I‘ll admit, that was a good point. I shot her one last look before swinging the bathroom door open, only to find Sam and Dean still standing there looking nosy. “Anyone here have a game plan?” Kassia asked, cutting past me and the boys to go sit on the cheap, fake-leather armchair as she pressed the now bloody washcloth to her eye with one hand and pinched the bridge of her nose with the other.

The room looked like hell. There were bloodstains on the matted carpet, darkening the already dirt-brown color, including the trail of smeared ick left from dragging the Shapeshifter into the bathroom. There were tiny shard of glass on the ground by one of the beds from a light bulb mysteriously busting and a large knife and shotgun were lying carelessly on the floor in the corner, partially concealed by discarded clothes.

I really wanted to know how the hell Sam had explained all of that to the police.

Sam glanced at his brother and then back at me and Kassia. “We’ll get rid of the body”-Something I love to hear from a man-“Your sister looks like she really needs stitches. That’s all first on the agenda.” Kassia opened her mouth to protest, earning three sets of eyes giving her stern looks. “Alright fine, I’ll be in the car.” She stated before nearly running out of the room, similarly to when she ran out after dad was mentioned. It had happened last night, but it felt like weeks ago.

“Ok, what did it say?” I asked as soon as she was officially out of earshot, regarding Dean with my best threatening stare. He rubbed his head tiredly, shrugging. “I was mostly unconscious for that part, you-err, it kicked me in the head. Hard.“ He glared as if I had personally asked it to. Which I probably would have, if I had thought about it at the time. “Something about your dad and doing guys in the middle of the night.” There was no way that could have been a good conversation, however you fill in the blanks. I nodded and shot one last glance at the evil bastard that had started everything. from the beginning, everything was its fault. Hell, I was mad enough at the time that I could have probably traced that skinned-knee when I was twelve back to that damn Shapeshifter.

“Alright, well good luck with the body disposal.”

I had to stop when I got outside, safely out of sight of everyone. My sister and I had been on many hunts in our lifetime, some more dangerous than this one, but none this…this…emotionally trying. I sank to the ground, back against the closed motel room door, and peered up at the stars as if they would do something exciting; it had gotten much darker since when I ran across a parking lot and street, terrified that Sam and I were going to be too late. I felt the sudden urge to just fall over and sleep so long that the entire case felt like it had all been just a dream.

But of course somewhere deep down I knew that it wasn’t the case that had me this messed up.

_______________________________________________________
Sam’s POV.

There was no light besides the moon, partially covered by grey clouds and at it‘s fullest. "So you really didn't know it wasn't me?" I asked, digging the shovel I was holding into the ground and hauling another mound of dirt back into the hole, slowly starting to cover the Shapeshifters face, the eyes still open but starting to glaze over.

Creepy is digging a grave in the middle of nowhere, at night.

Disturbing is digging a grave in the middle of nowhere, at night, for what appears to be the woman that accompanies your thoughts 24-7 and not flinching even once.

“Well I was suspicious.” Dean defended, scowling as he planted the shovel in the ground and rested his chin on the handle, eyeing me seriously. “What do you expect us to now?” I knew what he meant immediately, pausing with the digging. There wasn’t really any reason for us to stay in Cheyenne, considering the Shapeshifter was now dead and technically in the ground. The case had gone much faster than either of us had expected it to and, of course, with more injuries. A sudden gust of cool wind howled past us, adding to the already eerie atmosphere.

“Dean, do you have feelings for Kassia? Like human, upstairs brain feelings?” My brother paused, his face momentarily thoughtful and slightly grave, before batting his eyes at me with a stupid smile on his face.

“Sammy, you know you’re the only one for me.”

When I didn’t laugh, there was a long silence. “Yeah, I do.” He finally answered slowly, setting his jaw. “Then there’s no reason for us to just prance off as if none of this happened.”

“Hey, I don’t prance. And I hope you don‘t either.” I just sighed and continued shoveling dirt into the grave, eager to get back to the motel.