Louder Than Words

"Welcome back, Dear. Have a seat." Perenna sat down on the other side of a huge oak desk. "I trust you had a decent reception?" She nodded. "Good. Do you know why I called you to me?"

"Do you want me to go looking for her now?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Child. Bring her back to us. She has had her fun and I'm worried. You were almost taken from us in the manner she was."

"I will. But... what are you going to do to her?"

There was a heavy sigh and then, "I'm afraid we'll have to keep a careful eye on her for some time. She does not understand as you do that we are only trying to help. A person of your... specialty out in a word full of blood-sucking fiends doesn't stand a chance. What you give to us is only just payment for the protection we offer."

"I know," she said eagerly. "But then how did she survive so long?"

"The company she took up. I have to admit, the girl is smart not telling them the truth. She would not have lasted long. You, my Dear, are far more trusting than her." Perenna looked at her hands. "That is nothing to be ashamed of. It only makes us want to protect you more. And for that you should be grateful." Her eyes rose once more. "You will set out tomorrow. Remember the skills we have bestowed upon you for just this occasion."

"Of course."

"Mason!"

The door opened and closed behind Perenna. "Yes sir?"

"You will be going with Perenna tomorrow. Help her find her sister."

<><><><><>

Bayleigh let the searing water rush over her face, scalding her lips and the tip of her nose. She inhaled the steam and sighed. The door to the tiny Southern Maryland motel opened at the same time she came out of the bathroom. Evagoras walked in with several plastic shopping bags, filled to the point of breakage. He was grinning.

"I think I like life on the run," he said. Bayleigh just shook her head and inspected the contents of the bags. They were filled with all sorts of candy. "If my memory serves, and it usually does, you love candy." She grinned up at him.

"You are great," she giggled, tearing into a Big Hunk. "Oh, God," she moaned. "This is why I love you."

Evagoras grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist from behind, planting a kiss on her still moist cheek. "This was bribery, s'Agapo." He led her and some of her candy to a chair and sat her in it, watching her suck on the white nougat. He picked a peanut out and popped it in his mouth, frowning at the all-too-familiar lack of taste.

"Bribery for what?" she asked, swallowing a dangerously large bite of the Big Hunk.

"Tell me your story. Starting when we were separated."

She chewed thoughtfully for a moment before starting. "The hunters who rescued me were named Bobby Singer and John Winchester. John left me with Bobby and then Bobby handed me off to another hunter. Rufus. He's dead now."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Her eyes fell to her lap and she fiddled with the candy bar in her hand. "I hid my past as good as I could from him. I must be terrible at it, because he noticed something. And he questioned me about it." She paused, remembering the moment for the second time recently. Rufus's blunt, harsh, and yet uncruel accusations. "He was the only person outside of all of this that knew what I am. A Valens." Bayleigh's lip curled as the word rolled off her tongue. "And yet he didn't reject me for it. I told him everything. Everything I could remember since I was injected with the Serum. And all it did was make him let me come on more hunts with him. And then, when he felt I was okay to go, he let me. He gave me a truck and a dog and some money and-" she chuckled "-a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and set me out. That's when you found me." Evagoras nodded. It was several years after she was rescued. He had finally been able find her after years of secret searching. In that meeting, they decided it was too dangerous to stay in contact continuously, or ever, so they swapped phone numbers and parted ways.

"I was content for a couple more years. And I was a damn good hunter, working from my end to bring down the ring." Evagoras smiled. It had almost come as an unspoken pact that they take it down in their own ways, Evagoras from the inside and Bayleigh in her hunter ways. "And then I met Sam." She pressed a hand against her head. "And I fell in love." Evvie placed a granite hand on her knee. "God, Evvie, it was the best and worst time of my life. I was so happy, but-"

"You were trapped."

"Yes. And I couldn't take it. I mean, I thought I could after they killed my dog who was actually a skin walker that was in love with me. But then I realized... I was in too deep. And then I got pregnant and miscarried and then I left. I don't know why it felt so terrible at first. It felt like someone ripped a giant hole in me. So I went a bit suicidal, but I couldn't seem to kill myself quick enough to combat the Serum and I survived. A guy named Syd rescued me and he let me rest while my body caught back up with my injuries." She smiled humorlessly. "You should have seen his face when my ribs were perfectly fine in record time. But the best part was I felt that something I had felt with Sam. I wasn't in love with Sud. If anything I could see him as a brother, but I just felt... peaceful. For a time. So, of course, I left that. I was reveling in my free life on the road when you called."

"I'm sorry to have ruined your vacation," he smiled. She shrugged, mouth full of nougat again. "You said you found out about the hunter's attacks on us while you were.. underground?"

Bayleigh dipped her head in a slight nod. She swallowed and spoke: "An Angel visited me." She paused and started giggling; the sugar was getting to her already. Evagoras grinned.

"Really?"

"His name is Castiel. He's a close friend of the Winchesters."

"Hunters with an Angel on their side? Why aren't we wiped out already?"

She shrugged again. "I guess he doesn't hunt with them that often. At least, he didn't hang around too much when I was there. But he found me and told me what was happening." The smiled hanging around her lips faded and she looked back at her hands. "I think Sam may know that I was involved more than he things."

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing, I thought, to hint at further involvement. Just that I was taken and that his dad rescued me. The only thing I lied about was my age taken. Everything else I just didn't mention"

Evagoras shared her somber expression. He grabbed a Snickers bar and bit into it, rolling it around in his mouth just to feel the texture on his tongue. "Are you going to tell him the truth?" She shrugged. He put the Snickers bar back on the table, suddenly disgusted with it. "Maybe you'll never see him again," he suggested, trying to be optimistic, but his face revealed his true feelings. Around anybody else, he may have tried to match his face with his words.

Bayleigh gave a short, harsh laugh. "Shit, with my luck? No, I'll probably meet him soon enough, whether I like it or not." But she didn't know just how true her words would be.

<><><><><>

Even though he hadn't slept at all, Sam didn't roll out of bed until late the next day. after he had left Syd's house, it hadn't been hard for him to get out of town. Now he was heading east, with very little energy behind his progress. He only drove for a few hours a day before he would stop for the night, drink himself into a blurry, sore haze and then sleep til far into the day. It was so unlike him, he was even surprising himself at this point. and when he wasn't laying awake and drunk in bed, driving, or having three-word conversations with Dean, he was calling Cas. He yelled himself hoarse, trying to get a hold of him but nothing came of it.

Damn Cas. Sam swore that when he found the Angel- if he found the Angel- he was going to shoot him. Literally. He didn't care that it wouldn't do anything. He just wanted to put a bullet in the bastard. Sam had asked for a favor, tell Bayleigh what was up and maybe come back with an update as to her welfare. But all he got was nothing. And even though Syd swore she left his house in one piece, he had also said the reason she ended up there was because she was half dead.
Sam finally built up the willpower to get out of bed, still fully clothed, and he stumbled to the Impala. He pulled out of the parking lot and down the highway. He drove for five hours in a straight line, slowing and peering into every Dodge he passed, even if it was the wrong model year or color. But his watching didn't turn anything up.

Sam eventually pulled over at a bar. He walked inside and his knees went weak. Because there she was. Sitting at a bar stool with her back to him. He approached her and she turned to face him and, suddenly, it wasn't her. It was that girl they had let out of the cages. She turned to look at him and frowned. He approached her, trying not to seem intimidating but knowing he was failing and not caring as much as he should have.

"It's you," she said. "You were there when... when we were rescued." She moved to stand, but he took the seat next to her, a fierce look on his face.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a low voice.

"Excuse me?" Her eyebrows raised and she paled.

"Who are you? What is your name?"

The girl opened her mouth to say something, then she closed it and furrowed her dark eyebrows. "You know my sister. Has she left you, too?"

Sam lost control of the muscles in his jaw and it hung slack for a moment before he regained composure. "Bayleigh is your sister?" And as he said it, he knew it was true; there was no way for two people to look that similar without at least being related.

"That's what she told you her name was? Her real name is Amare." The girl held out her hand. "And my name is Perenna."