Sweet Child of Mine

“Miss Price,” began Agent Young, a.k.a. Sam, “Do you know anything about these murders?”

The young woman shifted in her seat, avoiding eye contact. Her hands wrung nervously, and her hunch deepened with each question. Cadence and Dean circled the room, watching her reaction to the questions while scanning the room for anything suspicious. Castiel sat in the arm chair next to Sam, watching Susan Price with a careful eye. Cadence caught up with Dean and asked, “Are you sure he can do this?”

“Who Cas?” Dean looked behind him to the man in the trench coat who looked up at them, “No idea.”

“Awesome.”

“We’ll have to search more of the house than this.”

Turning to Susan, Cadence asked, “Excuse me, I’m so sorry, but could you tell me where the bathroom is?” Looking at Castiel she added, “I’m ah… having a little morning sickness.”

Susan’s eyes widened, “It’s down the hall and to the right.”

“Thank you,” standing up, Cadence shot a look at Castiel who gave her a confused look.

“Hey,” said Dean, slapping his hand on Castiel’s shoulder, “Why don’t you go with her? It’s your kid.”

Before Castiel could say anything in protest, Cadence took his hand and pulled him down the hall. He looked at her and said, “I don’t think I understand what’s going on.”

Cadence shushed him and started going through the house. It was a modest one story house, a single bedroom was the first room they saw, followed by a linen closet, the bathroom, and the master bedroom. Cadence continued down the hall to the large bedroom and stood in it, looking around the room for anything odd. Castiel stood next to her watching her eyes dart around, his face was blank. Her eyes landed on the floor by the bed. Bending down, her fingers landed on a scratch in the floor that extended under the bed frame. Standing up, Cadence looked outside, down the hall, then turned to Castiel, “Help me move the bed.”

Castiel moved Cadence aside, then moved to the bed frame. Effortlessly, he moved the bed, uncovering an intricate pentagram etched into the wooded floor. Cadence knelt down to get a better look and nodded, “It’s a protective symbol… very basic… any witch stronger than she is can break through easily.”

“Can you sketch it on something?”

She shook her head, “I don’t need to.” Standing up she added, “Push it back, please.”

Castiel did, and Cadence made sure everything was how they found it before walking out of the room, into the bathroom to flush the toilet, counted to ten, then walked with Castiel back into the living room. Sam and Dean were wrapping up things with Susan Price, and the group exited the house, Cadence acting like she needed Castiel’s arm for support. When they were driving away, Cadence said, “She’s our witch.”

“You’re sure,” Sam asked.

“Yeah.”

“How do you now,” asked Dean.

“She had a simple protection spell etched under her bed.”

“Protection from what?” asked Sam.

“Everything?”

“So what do we do now?”

“We take her down.”

“You make it sound so easy,” said Dean.

Cadence scoffed, “Do you want an apology?”

“No, but I want you to take this seriously.”

She cocked an eyebrow, “Okay? I’m just saying… she’s only a novice. It’s not going to be all that hard.”

Dean looked over his shoulder and asked, “So how did you know to pick her?”

“She worked for all of the victims. She was a teacher’s aid.”

Dean and Sam were silent. Castiel stared ahead while Cadence looked out the window. The group was silent for most of the way back, then Cadence asked, “How do you know Charlie?”

Dean and Sam looked at each other then Dean said, “We worked on a case in Ohio, and she was a friend of the victim’s daughter…. After one of her friends died she became the target.”

“Was it a demon?”

“A ghost.”

“It was a twisted version of Bloody Mary,” said Sam, “You say it three times in the mirror and if you’ve killed someone, she came and took your eyes.”

Cadence made a face, “That’s disgusting.”

“How did you two meet?”

“We met at freshman orientation. We clicked and exchanged emails… then we moved into the same building, and now she’s across campus with her sorority…. We still usually schedule classes together.”

“That’s disgustingly cute,” said Dean.

Cadence frowned, “Thanks jerk.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Dean pulled into the parking lot of the motel and the four of them got out, walking to the door of the room they were in. When they reached the sidewalk, Cadence doubled over, falling to her knees.

“Cadence,” Castiel bent down, “Are you okay?”

She tried to talk, but coughed up a mouthful of blood which she spat out onto the side walk. Gasping she grabbed onto Castiel’s arm, clinging to him. Her other hand was on her stomach, but she pulled it away to show the group. Her hand was covered in blood.

“What the hell,” Dean exclaimed.

Castiel picked Cadence up in his arms and headed back to the Impala, “Dean, we need to get her to the hospital.”

“Cas, zap us!” Sam and Dean ran by Castiel’s side.

Cadence screamed as she jerked in Castiel’s arms, blood pooled in her mouth as she hissed in pain. And she turned her head to spit it out. Tears filled her eyes as the pain overwhelmed her, but before she could say anything another jerk over came her. Castiel set her down on the trunk of Dean’s car, Sam lifted her shirt and the three guys were shocked to find what appeared to be stab wounds.

Ellen, Jo, and Bobby came running out of the motel, “What’s going on,” exclaimed Ellen. Taking one look at Cadence’s stomach, Ellen gasped, "Get her in the car! Get her in the car now!”

“Cas! Zap her to the hospital!” Dean was yelling.

Castiel looked into Cadence’s eyes and soon the two of them were outside the hospital doors. Walking through the doors Castiel stood there for a moment then finally a nurse approached.

“May I help you sir?” The nurse came closer then she was Cadence, “Oh my God! What happened?”

Castiel shook his hand, “I don’t know.”

A group of nurses came and tried to take Cadence out of Castiel’s arms, but she would not let go. The nurses tried to pry her hands free, and were successful. As the team wheeled her away, the hunters burst through the door to stop behind Castiel and his now bloody shit.

~

Ellen, Bobby, and Jo paced back and forth outside the emergency room, all on different paths. Dean, Sam, and Castiel sat in hard plastic chairs along the walls. Dean cupped his forehead in his hand as he bounced his knee continuously. Sam had his head against the wall, a confused look on his face. Castiel sat with perfect posture staring blankly at the wall. Everyone stopped what they were doing whenever someone exited the ER, but went right back to pacing or sitting whenever the doctors didn’t talk to them.

“Jesus Christ how much longer are they going to be in there,” asked Ellen, finally breaking the group’s silence.

“We don’t even know what’s going on,” said Bobby, “Damn, we don’t even know if she’s stopped bleeding!”

The door to the ER opened and a doctor came out, “Is there anyone here for a Cadence Husch?”

“We are,” said Ellen, “How is she?”

“I’m sorry, but is there a member of her family here?”

“Me,” Bobby said, “I’m… her father.”

“Follow me,” the doctor walked into the ER and Bobby quickly followed him. The doctor walked into giant room filled with countless doctors and patients. The doctor continued further into the room, then came to a stop next to a fully curtained bed. Turning to Bobby, he said, “Now I must warn you, Mr. Husch… you’re about to see something extremely disturbing.”

Pulling the corner of the curtain aside, the doctor waited for Bobby to walk through. Bobby’s eyes filled with tears at the sight of Cadence lying in a hospital bed. Her skin was pale with a glisten of sweat. On her arms and connected to other parts of her body were countless amounts of chords, all pumping various liquids into her body. Over her stomach was a thick layer of bandages.

Swallowing Bobby asked, “What happened?”

“Well at first there was too much blood for us to make any real sense of it, but after we cleaned off the blood we found that…. We found that your daughter has been stabbed sixteen times.”

A tear fell down Bobby’s cheek as he moved to take Cadence’s hand in his, “W-will she be okay?”

“Yes… we’ve stopped the bleeding, patched up any injured organs, and transfer blood. She's lucky the knife didn't tear up the organs more than they did. All she needs now is to rest.”

“Will she be able to walk?”

The doctor nodded, “Yes.”

“When will she be fully recovered?”

“We’re estimating about a month.”

Bobby’s eyes snapped up to the doctor, “A month.”

The doctor nodded.

“Will the rest of my group be able to see her?”

The doctor nodded, “I just wanted you to see her first.”

Bobby nodded.

“I’ll bring in the other members of your party.”

Bobby didn’t say anything as the doctor left. Standing next to the bed, Bobby looked down at the girl he has known for twenty years of her life. He considered her as a daughter and treated her as one.

“I’ll leave you all alone,” said the doctor as everyone filed in. Bobby swiped at his eyes as Dean came to a stop next to him.

Ellen and Jo stood on the other side of the bed, both looking at Cadence with blank faces. Same was standing on the other side of the bed, and Castiel stood next to Jo. The group was quiet, then Bobby said, “I’m going to burn that witch….” Looking up at everyone he added, “Burn her.”

Castiel leaned forward, then said, “She’s healing.”

Bobby looked at the man, “What?”

“Look… her pallor is going back to normal. She’ll be able to leave in an hour.”

Bobby shook his head, “They gave her a month-”

“Yes but there is something that is making her body heal faster….” Castiel had a look as if he suddenly had a great idea, then started to roll up his sleeve, “I might be able to….”

Placing his hand on the bandage covering Cadence’s stomach, the tips of his fingers began to glow, then he pulled back. Cadence’s eyes fluttered and she looked around. Ellen handed her the small cup of water, which Cadence finished quickly.

Taking a deep breath she said, “I’m gonna hunt me down a witch.”