Sweet Child of Mine

Cadence’s face was close enough to the wall she could see the brush strokes of the white paint. Her eyes focused on the surface of the wall, looking for something wrong, but couldn’t find anything. Her blue eyes moved up, looking for anything, and then she saw it. At the very tip of his finger, carved into the plaster was a small symbol for a very simple holding spell. Pulling away from the wall she eyed the rest of the points and found the same symbols etched into the wall.

“Well, that explains the lack of nails,” she said pointing at the mark, “It’s a holding spell… we’re working with witches.”

Dean and Sam looked pleasantly surprised at Cadence’s confidence, but it was Castiel who leaned in to have a look for himself. He frowned, “It is not a symbol that I am familiar with. You must be right.”

Cadence gave him an annoyed look as he pulled away before saying, “Thanks Cupid, I know my witch info.”

Castiel’s eyes narrowed, “I do not appreciate the comparison.”

Cadence rolled her eyes and turned to the Winchester boys, “You’re looking for a witch coven and by the look of it an inexperienced one.”

“What makes you think that,” asked Sam.

“The symbol is small and simple. The body will come off if you scratch off the marks. More advanced witches would require an anti-spell.”

“Alright,” said Dean with a clap, “Lets go hunt some witches.”

“Right, but I’m late for my class,” said Cadence, “And I would like to get away from this body.”

“You can’t go to class, you have to help us,” Sam came over to her, “You’re the one who knows the most about witches.”

“Wait….” Dean froze for a moment, then started looking around, “Is there a hex bag?”

Dean and Sam searched the room, looking through the drawers and around the dirty clothes. Cadence sighed and crawled under the bed and came out with a small pouch clutched in her hand. Tossing it at Dean he caught it and again looked surprised. Cadence stood up and straightened herself out, then sighed, “So, can I go back to class?”

Dean and Sam looked at each other then at Cadence. Shaking his head Dean said, “I’m sorry Cadence, but we can’t let you. We need your help on this one.”

Cadence glared at the brothers, anger almost steaming out of her ears, “I’m paying for these classes-”

“Stop bitching,” yelled Dean, “You’re a hunter… a damn good one according to Bobby, so stop your whining and man up… or girl up.”

Cadence frowned, crossing her arms. She looked at the brothers, at Castiel, then at the body of Dr. Strong. Her eyes teared up again, then she nodded, “Fine.”

“What?”

“I said fine, okay?”

“Okay,” said Sam, “Cas send Charlie back to school… Cadence you’re coming with us.”

Castiel walked out of the room then back in, “She’s back.”

Dean nodded, “Okay… lets get him down.”

Pulling out a knife, Cadence walked over to the wall and scratched away the symbol by Strong’s left hand, the arm falling to his side. Cadence continued to scrape as Dean and Sam braced the body, gently setting it down on the bed before taking a solid three steps away. Cadence stayed by the bed for a moment, fresh tears slipping down her face as she looked at her teacher’s body one last time. Wiping her eyes, she turned and left the room, not looking at anyone. Dean and Sam met her in the hallway, Castiel followed, but nothing happened.

“Lets go,” she said, her voice was thick with tears. Her eyes closed to blink away the tears, but when she opened them, she found that they were no longer in her teacher’s hallway but in the horribly seventies room of a cheep motel.

“Cadence? You came,” Ellen came over and saw the tears, “What happened?”

“Her teacher was killed,” said Sam.”

Cadence’s body started to shake as a new wave of sobs came over her. Wrapping her arms around the girl, Ellen comforted and rocked Cadence in her arms as the girl sobbed into her shoulder. Ellen’s hands stroked Cadence’s hair as she mourned the loss of her teacher, then allowed the girl to pull away and go into the bathroom.

While in the small room, Cadence leaned against the door, sliding down. She hit the tiled floor hard, but she didn’t care. Dr. Strong was a good mentor and friend, but not any more. Cadence struggled with her hiccuping sobs as she remembered all of the times she walked into her class and gave him a bright smile. She remembered the excitement when the theology department assigned her to be his student aid. She helped him grade papers while he told her random snig-bits of his life. They were a great team.

Finally getting a grip on her emotions, Cadence was able to join the rest of the group in the small motel room. Sam and Dean sat at computers, both staring angrily at the screens, Ellen sat talking quietly with Bobby on the beds, Jo was asleep on the bed Ellen sat on, her head in her mother’s lap, and Castiel was sitting on the couch that was pushed off to the side. Sighing, Cadence walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, not being at all surprised by the lack of anything but beer. Grabbing a bottle, she sat down on the chair across from Castiel and opened the cap. Castiel watched as she brought the top of the bottle to her mouth and as she tipped her head back, gulping down half the bottle before stopping.

“Should you be drinking like that,” he asked, his blue eyes on the bottle.

“No.”

“Are you old enough to be drinking like that?”

“Nope.”

Castiel looked up at her face, “Then why are you?”

“Because rules can be broken, and ice cream couldn’t cover up the pain of my mother dying.”

“You loved her?”

“Yes.”

“And you stopped hunting.”

“Yeah… after she was gone. I didn’t want to loose anyone again, and I was too young to go it alone, so I stopped altogether and went to school.”

“Did you stop not caring?”

“Yes… I found out how to have friends, how to show emotions… how to not care when something unusual happened.”

“You’re rusty.”

Her eyes snapped up, “Yeah… thanks Captain Obvious.”

“You and Dean have a… similar sense of humor.”

“Thanks for laughing.”

Castiel frowned, “I didn’t.”

Cadence laughed forcefully, “Sarcasm didn’t sit well with you angels does it?”

“Urg, I can’t find anything,” exclaimed Dean, “There are no more deaths like that.”

“Try biblical,” Cadence said taking another sip from her beer.

Bobby noticed her choice of drink, “Cay-”

“Don’t worry, Bobby… I got it.”

There was a tension in the room as everyone put together the awkwardness of discovering the fact that Cadence had a problem with alcohol. Feeling everyone’s eyes on her, Cadence finished off the beer and set the bottle on the table between her and Castiel. Staring at the bottle, she sighed and went over to Dean, “Move.”

Obeying, Dean stood and let Cadence take over the computer. She entered the newspaper database and started typing. She paused for a moment then said, “Here: Local Woman Found Dead of Snake Bite. Second Husband only Suspect.”

“How does that help us,” asked Sam.

“The snake is common of Egypt.”

“What?” Sam got up to look at the screen. Reading he shook his head, “That’s impossible.”

“Well apparently so.”

“Wait… an asp,” Castiel came over, “That’s-”

“Cleopatra.” Cadence said nodding. Her fingers pounded on the key board, typing in ‘March 15,’ in the search bar. The first article to come up was of a man who was brutally stabbed. Cadence nodded again, “Jesus, Cleopatra, and Cesar. All memorable deaths in history.”

“What?”

Cadence sighed, “The woman was bitten by an asp like Cleopatra. The man… Mr. Collins, was stabbed and killed on March fifteenth. Dr. Strong was fucking crucified on the wall. We’re looking for a sadistic witch cult that enjoys killing people according to famous murders deaths in history.”

Dean jerked surprised, “Really? That’s it?”

Cadence nodded, “Yeah… what more did you want?”

“That’s all? Not very creative.”

Cadence’s eyes scanned the screens, “Well you can take that up with them when we talk to them,” standing up she headed to the door, “Lets go.”

“Where are we going?” Asked Sam.

“To get some messy ass witches… duh.”

Dean and Sam looked at each other then quickly grabbed their coats and ran out of the door after her. The boys managed to catch up with her before she reached the ’67 Chevy black Impala. Dean felt a twinge of anger as he watched Cadence yank on the handle. “Hey,” he called, “It’s locked.”

“Obviously.”

“Listen Princess, I’m not feeling the 'tude. You’re helping us whether you like it or not. You’re a hunter, now start acting like one.”

Cadence stared coolly from the other side of the car, unleashing the look that has been known to make bodyguards go running in the other direction. With the same face she said, “Dean… who found that it was a witch? Who made the connection with the deaths? Who got you guys this far? I’m helping Dean… helping against my will, so I will moan, and groan, and bitch all the hell I want. Now get in the car and head down town… we need to talk to Susan Price.”

Opening the door, Cadence sat in the back seat, not bothering to jump when Castiel appeared beside her. Sam was the first to sit in the car, followed eventually by Dean. Starting the car the sound of AC/DC could be heard coming through the speakers. Cadence rolled her eyes at the music and started giving directions, “Alright just stay on this road.”

“Why would a witch cult kill all of these people?” Sam asked.

“Revenge?” Dean shrugged.

“The people pissed them off so they killed them.” Cadence leaned back in her seat, “Witchery is a powerful thing and incredibly easy to do.”

“You talk as if you’ve partaken in these actions.” Castiel turned to look at Cadence.

“I have never been tempted by witchcraft.”

“There are many different sects of witchcraft,” Sam said as he looked over his shoulder, “Saying you aren’t tempted by it is pretty vague.”

Cadence glanced at all three guys in the car and sighed, “Fine… necromancy.”

Dean’s head snapped to look at her, “What?”

“Necromancy… controlling of the dead?”

“What the hell where you doing to do with that?”

Cadence suddenly became ashamed. Looking down at her hands she said, “Bring my mother back.”

No one said anything for a moment, then Sam asked, “What were you going to do to keep your mother alive? Those kind of zombies need fresh flesh to keep from decomposing.”

“Yeah I know…. That’s why I haven’t done it yet.”

“Well, it’s good to see that your morals are intact.” Dean re-gripped the wheel.

“Shut the fuck up, Dean… you don’t know anything about me of my morals.”

“Yeah you’re right, I don’t, and you’re sure as hell not making a good impression.”

“You passed the house.”

Stepping on the breaks Dean exclaimed, “Son of a-”

“It’s the yellow one.” Cadence pointed with her thumb.

“Putting the car in reverse, Dean parked in front of the house and the group got out. “Alright, lets do this.”