Can't Fight This Feeling

She’d been pacing in front of the door for nearly an hour when she finally heard the loud knock. She froze; did she really want to answer it? Before she could even think about the answer she’d opened it. She gasped slightly at what she saw; Dean was stood before her, but not the same boy she remembered. He’d bulked out a lot since she’d last seen him, but his style was still the same. He still wore the pendant around his neck, the one Sammy had given him, and that leather jacket fit him better now. His nose was more crooked, and his features more masculine, but he still looked like Dean. He’d hardly changed; the same couldn’t be said for Sam though.

She took stock of the boy, no giant, stood before her. He now towered over her, at thirteen she’d been taller than him by a couple of inches, but he’d grown since then, and she hadn’t much. His hair was darker now, and he was more rugged, but his eyes showed he was still the sweet boy she had left. There was still traces of innocence in all of his features that showed this life had yet to completely taint him like it had Dean and herself.

She stared for a moment longer before realising she hadn’t invited them in, “Umm…please, come in?” she stepped aside to let them in.

“Well let’s make this as quick as possible shall we?” Dean suggested, looking anywhere but at her. She’d known he’d be awkward.

“Nyx, I’m sorry, please forgive me?” Dean rolled his eyes; he knew Sam would pander to her. He’d always had a thing for her as a kid, and he knew the second he’d laid eyes on her again it would come back. Despite still being mad at her he couldn’t deny that she had, how to put it, filled out a lot. Her waist was curvy, not fat. Curvy. She’d grown a pair of boobs in the past ten years that was for sure, and her features had become more prominent. Her lips were full, and very kissable; her eyes were still a soft shade of hazel. Once they had been soft, and kind, but now they had hardened, and showed no emotion. He couldn’t deny she’d become a very beautiful woman, but that didn’t change anything.

Nyx’s eyes softened immediately, “Sam there is nothing to forgive! I’m the one who was in the wrong, I over stepped my mark.” she’d been dying to say this for ten years. “I’m sorry, and you really don’t have to forgive me.” Dean tensed. He was sure she was playing them, she always used to do it when they were younger, she’d had both the boys wrapped around her finger from a young age, and now was no different. Dean was sure of it.

Sam went to say something in her defence, but was interrupted by Dean. “What a heart-warming reunion, but I believe we have more pressing matters.” Sam glared at Dean, he knew Dean was still pissed, but there was no need to be so rude.

“So what has Bobby told you?” Nyx asked, her voice stiff, giving away no emotion. She was hurt by Dean, but she knew it was no good to show it. It would just show him he'd won, and she knew Dean well enough to know never to let him think he'd won.

“Not much, a ghost with no body.” she nodded.

"Ghosts tend not to have bodies, darling." Dean smirked, sarcastically.

Nyx ignored his comment, “I’ve been over the house a hundred times, I can’t find anything. No trap doors or anything like that. I’ve searched the wall cavities, against my better judgement. There isn’t anything.”

“There’s clearly something, you’ve just missed it.” she’d forgotten how snarky Dean could be; she’d missed it in all honesty.

“I’d like to see you do a better job.” she snapped back. He glared at her. Sam stood awkwardly between them unsure of what to do, or if he should do anything at all.

“Show me this house then.” With that he made his way to the door, yanking it open.

“You still have the Impala?” she gasped.

“Of course we still have the Impala.” she stared at it, she loved that car. She had many memories of it; it was one of the best parts of her childhood.

“Is the army man still stuck in the ashtray?” Sam blushed slightly. She chuckled at his wordless answer.

“Are you coming or not?” Dean was in a bad mood. Nyx had noticed the bags under his eyes, he wasn’t sleeping again.

She nodded, “Just let me grab my stuff.” she made her way over to the beat up old car that she’d borrowed from Bobby. She’d lost her car nearly six months ago, since then she’d been driving around in the wreck.

“Please tell me that is not your car?” Dean questioned eyes wide, “What happened to your Mustang?” her dad had owned a cherry red mustang that she had loved as a child, and when her dad died it was one of the few belongings he left behind for her. It had been her pride and joy.

“I don’t really know, I think it was stolen.” she admitted. Dean and Sam stared at her in confusion. What had happened to her? Even as a small child she’d loved that car, she’d helped her dad build it up, and Dean knew better than most what that meant to her. She’d never have let anything happen to it, if it had been stolen she’d have hunted down who ever had taken it, and made them wish they had never been born. That’s just how she was.

“Are we going then or not?” she asked as she climbed into the backseat of the Impala. Sam and Dean exchanged worried looks. Dean was still pissed at her, but there was something seriously wrong with her. Even he could tell that. He climbed into the Impala, and as the engine started music began blasting out, much to Sam’s distaste, “AC/DC, I see your music taste hasn’t changed.” she smirked.

“No, what about yours?” Dean smirked, as a kid she’d always been into mainstream pop music, and the boys had taken every chance they could to wind her up about it.

“Yes. God yes. Why did you never stop me?”

Sam chuckled, “We tried, remember? You are just too damned stubborn.” Nyx smiled at the memories she had of playing in Bobby’s scrap yard, Sam and Dean chasing her, and teasing her because of her music taste.

“Clearly you didn’t try hard enough!” she teased. Dean was silent still; she noted his jaw was clenched tightly shut. She wanted desperately to say something to him, but she knew whatever she said would have no effect. He was mad at her, and he had every right to be, and that wasn't just going to go away.

The rest of the short car journey was spent in near silence besides the odd direction she had to give. Eventually they pulled up at the old house. It looked like it hadn’t been lived in for a long time.

“This place looks abandoned, why were you even here?” Sam asked as Dean opened the trunk to get supplies.

“There’s a new family moving in, friends of friends, and about a week ago I got a call asking for my help. Their daughter had been attacked.” she explained, “Listen guys I’m really thankful about this, you didn’t have to do this.” she was trying to reach out to Dean, but Dean wasn’t having any of it.

“Bobby asked us to. We’re doing this for him, not you.” she nodded not saying anything; she knew this was what was going to happen the second Bobby told her who was coming. Lying in bed last night she’d remembered what they had argued about, and she honestly didn’t blame Dean for being mad, she figured Sam would forgive her. Sam had always seen things clearer than Dean, especially when it came to family.
John at least.

Sam looked at her with pity, she didn’t need pity, and she’d seen enough of it recently. As Dean stormed ahead Sam pulled Nyx to the side, “I’m sorry about him, he doesn’t mean it…” she interrupted him before he could finish.

“Yes he does. Sam he’s right, I had NO right to say what I said. I was young, and stupid, and I didn’t know what I was talking about, but it was no excuse. If I were him I’d be doing the Sam, so please don’t defend him.” she didn’t wait for Sam’s reply, she already knew what it would be.

“So I’m taking it you’ve seen the ghost?” Dean queried.

“Oh yeah, seen it, been attacked by it; she’s really violent. I think she’s possibly the most violent ghost I’ve met.” Nyx didn’t want to admit it, but this ghost had her on edge. She’d been attacked multiple times since she’d entered the house, at one point she even believed she was going to die.

“You’re sure she’s not a benevolent spirit?” Sam asked.

Nyx hesitated, “I’ve been asking myself the same question, but Sam I can’t find anything relating back to this house, not even this area.” she had no idea who this ghost could be, or what was keeping it here, but she knew they needed to find out, and quick, before someone got themselves killed.

“I’m going to go, and have a look around, see if there are any old papers or letters that could give us a clue.” Dean grumbled as he stormed off into the house. Nyx wanted to call after him, and warn him to be careful, but she knew he would be fine. He was Dean after all.

“We should probably continue searching the house, please be careful Sam. I wasn’t kidding when I said she was violent.” Sam nodded his head. Nyx and Sam were the same age, but Sam had always been the mature one. It used to confuse Nyx that the adults would treat her as more of a grown up than Sam, the only exception to that was Dean, he treated them the exact same way.

Sam looked conflicted, like he wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure if he should. Nyx gave him a look that told him not to bother, “Let’s go inside then, we won’t find much out here.” Nyx nodded in agreement, she wasn’t happy about being outside while Dean was inside alone.

They started their search in the living room. It was old, and covered in a thick layer of dust, papers were scattered everywhere across the floor. The original furniture from the house remained; most of it was covered in what were once white sheets. The family that were moving in hadn't even had a chance to unload the moving van before their daughter had been attacked. The large crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, creating rainbows on the opposite wall where the light shone through. The walls were a deep shade of red that complimented the mahogany floor and furniture. There was a large fireplace at one end of the room that took up a large portion of the wall, above it hung a portrait of the family that lived here last.

Sam stared around the room, “Where do we even start?” Nyx smirked at him, “Were they the last family to live here?”

“Yeah just under a hundred years ago now. A house like this you wouldn’t expect to see unoccupied this long, but for some reason this place was.”

“What’s the story then? The family didn’t die here did they?” It was what Nyx was hoping for, it would have been so much easier.

“No, not one of them, the children grew up, and moved out, and the parents grew old, and moved into a care home where they could be looked after. Once they died the children kept the place, but no one moved in. It’s been in the family since, but no one has lived here, they only recently sold it because they could no longer afford it.” The pair began sifting through the papers on the floor, looking for anything that could give them a clue. Nyx had already searched through most of it, but she was hoping there was something she had missed. Anything that might tell them who this girl was, and how she got there.

They’d been searching for a while when they noticed the lights flickering, “God no, please not again!” she grabbed her gun that shot rock salt, and had it ready to fire. She looked next to her to see Sam had done the same.

“DEAN!” Sam called out.

There she was in front of them, she was a young girl, not much over the age of sixteen, her hair was jet black, and dishevelled, and in perfect contrast to her skin. You could tell in life she’d been very pretty. She looked between Sam and Nyx before launching herself at Nyx. Nyx fired her gun but the girl had disappeared before she’d even managed to pull the trigger. Nyx felt herself fly against the wall, she heard Sam fire a shot as Dean entered the room, but yet again the girl had gone.

“What the hell just happened?” Sam panted.

“She attacked me, that’s what happened.” Nyx growled as she sat up, rubbing the back of her head where is had hit the wall.

“No, I mean why did she only attack you?” Dean and Sam exchanged glances, but Nyx didn’t understand, “She looked directly at me, but she didn’t attack me. She had the chance, and Dean was alone, and she didn’t attack him, why you?” Nyx hadn’t even considered that. She suddenly felt very bad, that was something she would have spotted before. She was out of practice, and she was a danger to herself and others.

“Who did you say she attacked before?” Dean asked from his place in the door way.

“His daughter, but he was there. I should have thought…”

“Yeah you should have, why the hell didn’t you?” Dean snapped, he knew he was being unreasonable. There was no way she could have spotted that before, but he was still angry at her.

Sam jumped in to defend her, “How was she supposed to have seen that? Stop being such a jerk!”

“Sam stop being such a little bitch, I’m surprised she didn’t attack you.” Nyx couldn’t help but smirk at that, things hadn’t changed that much since they were children. Her memories of Sam and Dean were part of what had gotten her through the past year, not that she’d willingly admit that. There was a lot she wouldn’t admit when it came to the brothers, not even to herself.

“Very funny Dean, you should really be a comedian instead.” Sam glared.

Nyx wasn’t going to let them start an argument over this, “Guys, seriously, not now. Dean did you find anything?” she asked.

He hesitated, contemplating whether or not to say something to Sam, he decided against it; he’d get him later. “I don’t know, maybe. It might be nothing though. What do you know about the family?”

“What do you want to know?” she knew pretty much everything there was to know about the family. She’d done extensive research on them, but nothing had come up.

“Who lived here?” she looked confused, why did that matter? She’d established that none of them had died here.

“The mother, the father, a daughter and a son.”

“What was the daughters name?” she didn’t understand why that was important.

“Elizabeth, why?”

“There’s a diary here, it belonged to some girl named Annabel, she lived here too, but I don’t remember any records of her.” Nyx cursed herself, something else she had over looked. She was stupid to think she could just come back and everything go back to how it was.

“I haven’t heard of her, there was no record of her. None of the family mentioned her either.” What was going on? Who was she, and why had no one mentioned her? She’d looked through the house records, and there was nothing on her.

Dean looked angry, and she knew what was coming next, “Did you even bother to look into this family at all? Did you do any research? Because it seems like I’m the one having to do everything around here.”

“I’m sorry Dean, I did my best!” Nyx snapped back. She knew she hadn’t done a good job, and she didn’t need him on her case as well.

“Well your best clearly isn’t good enough. I can’t believe you Nyx, maybe you just aren’t cut out to be a hunter.” Those words stung, she’d been thinking it herself, but if she wasn’t hunting she didn’t know what she would do. She couldn’t do the nice apple pie life, it wasn’t in her. She’d tried. If she wasn’t a hunter she wasn’t anything. Part of her wanted the apple pie life; a husband, and 2.5 kids, and a dog, and a backyard, but she knew she couldn’t have it. She wouldn’t be able to stand it.

“Stop it Dean, seriously. I don’t care anymore. I know I really fucked this one up, but that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like shit. I apologised for what I said, and I understand, you don’t want to forgive me, but the least you could do is act like a professional!” she snapped.

“Least one of us would be then!” he snapped back. Sam stood between them, unsure of what to do or say.

“Oh shut it Dean. I forgot Mr. Perfect can never make a mistake! Do you really believe you are that much better than the rest of us?!” Both brothers stood in shock, she’d only ever once snapped at Dean like that, and it had ended with them not speaking for 10 years.

“Why did I even bother coming? I knew this was a bad idea, I should have just told Bobby no!” Dean shouted.

“Pack it in the pair of you! Dean we’re going back to the motel so I can find out who this Annabel is.” Sam intervened. He wasn’t sure what was even happening here, all he knew is he needed to talk to Dean, to try and talk some sense into him. Dean didn’t say anything; instead he stormed out the house like a petulant teenager, “I’m sorry about him, he’ll come around. It’s hard for him to admit he’s wrong, or forgive someone.”

“Do not apologise for him. I don’t care how hard it is for him; he can bloody grow up, and stop being a jerk.” she didn’t wait for Sam to say anything, instead she followed Deans lead, and stormed out the house. Sam followed quickly behind them. He knew this couldn’t continue the way it was going, but he had no idea what to do. He couldn’t side with Nyx without upsetting Dean, and he couldn’t side with Dean without losing Nyx again.

When he got outside they were both sat in the car not talking, and taking it in turns to glare at each other in the rear view mirror when the other wasn’t looking. The stereo was blasting out Metallica. Sam rolled his eyes; they always were as stubborn as each other. He didn’t understand how they could be so similar, but so different at the same time.

The ride back to the motel was silent, and when they finally arrived Nyx got out the car without saying a word, and locked herself in her room.

“We need to talk Dean.”