The Moon Invites Madness

Waking up was rather uneventful. The room Diana found herself in was still somewhat dark, heavy curtains filtering most of the bright morning sunlight. Glancing around, she saw it was a fairly nice room. Sure, the decorating was incredibly tacky and design-challenged – zebra striped walls with matching lampshades were the biggest offenders – but it was still a step up from what she and her father stayed in when Diana was younger. Yawning, Diana stretched her arms above her head. Despite last night’s events, she didn’t feel terrible. Honestly, she felt great. She had slept soundly for the first time in the three years she spent more or less hunting alone.

She couldn’t even feel the injury on her neck that would probably require stiches. Lifting a hand to her throat, Diana froze. There was nothing there, not a single scratch or bump. That wasn’t possible.

Yanking the covers off her body, Diana got to her feet and nearly ran to the bathroom. After closing the door, she stood on her tip-toes to look at her neck in the mirror. Nothing. Her neck was absolutely fine; no damage what-so-ever. Diana wasn’t sure how that could happen; cutting someone’s throat – no matter how shallow the cut – should leave a mark at the least. Examining herself in the mirror, Diana thought she looked a lot better than she had in years. The dark circles normally beneath her eyes were gone, and if she didn’t know better, Diana would claim that she was glowing. Smiling weakly at her reflection, Diana turned off the light and opened the bathroom door.

Standing behind the door with a hand raised to knock was Dean.

“Shit!” Diana gasped in surprise. “The hell, Dean?”

“Sorry.” His sheepish smile turned into a grin quickly. “Good to see you’re up and moving around.”

She nodded. “Yeah…is there a reason you were about to knock?”

“Oh, uh, yeah!” Dean replied awkwardly while thrusting a plastic bag at her. “Sam and I went out for breakfast and ended up stopping by Wal-Mart to get you some clothes. Since yours are, you know, soaked with blood.”

Diana glanced down at her shirt. The collar was, indeed, soaked with blood. Disgust filled her features as she realized the collar was a dark red-brown color and probably dried onto her skin. Nodding, Diana began to back into the bathroom.

“I’m just gonna, ah, take a shower. Thanks, Dean.”

Diana took her time with the shower, delaying seeing Sam for as long as she could. She didn’t want to have to talk to him; she would be perfectly fine if she never saw him again. It wasn’t because she hated Sam; it was probably near to the complete opposite. Honestly, Diana had never truly gotten over him after he left her in the dust years ago. How could anyone just forget their first love, anyway? Sam would always hold a place in her heart, but Diana didn’t want to go through the heartbreak again. He wasn’t worth it.

After she had been standing in the shower for a good five minutes for absolutely no reason, as she was completely clean, Diana sighed. She would have to face him sooner or later. Turning off the water, Diana climbed out of the shower and began to dry herself off. She wrapped her hair in a towel and began to get dressed in whatever clothes the boys had bought for her. To her horror, everything fit close to perfectly – even the undergarments, which Diana had been surprised enough to see in the first place. A blush rose to her cheeks as she pulled the black underwear and bra on. They had bought her pretty plain clothes, thankfully – blue denim shorts and a grey Mario t-shirt. She’d also gotten some black sneakers, even though hers were fine.

Staring at her pile of old, bloody clothes, Diana sighed. She shoved them all into the bag, with the exception of her favorite jacket, and into the garbage they went. Diana wiped off the foggy mirror and began to comb through her hair with her fingers, not seeing a brush in sight. In the end, Diana was able to get any knots out, though her hair was far from pretty.

There wasn’t reason to stall anymore. Biting her lip, Diana walked out of the bathroom. She turned to the left, heading towards the beds, but stopped in her tracks. Right in front of her, Dean was in his underwear, pulling up his pants. With widened eyes, Diana turned around.

“Damn it, Dean, put some pants on! You’re sharing a room with a woman!”

Once she heard the zip of his pants, she turned around. Dean was facing her now, pulling on a light grey shirt. She caught a glimpse of slightly bloodied gauze taped to his lower abdomen and frowned.

“I’m sorry about that, Dean.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry about it, we almost killed you. I’d say it’s even.”

“What were you doing there, anyway?” Diana asked him. The case wasn’t a particularly interesting one; just a demon causing trouble. It wasn’t anything that would catch most hunters’ eyes, but she had been in the area.

“Trying to lure a demon out of a bar.”

Diana laughed. “I guess we were tracking each other for a while, then, huh?”

They chatted for a little bit; just casual “how’s the weather” talk. Diana missed being able to talk to the older brother; she always found him easy to get along with, if you were willing to ignore or put up with his confident and cocky attitude. When she was a teenager, she found the way he acted rather funny – he seemed to be someone pretending to be a badass, trying to prove himself. She’d blame it on daddy problems, but honestly? That probably was the problem. She wondered how badly John’s death affected him. Diana may not have regularly hunted with John and Dean after Sam left, but she heard enough of hunter gossip. She’d had to listen to hunters rant about how irresponsible and hated the boys were for opening a gate to Hell, too.

After a while, the door to the motel room opened. Sam walked in and nodded at the both of them. His gaze locked with Diana’s, seconds longer than what could be considered normal.

Dean must have sensed the tension, because suddenly he decided he wanted to get out. “I’m just going to go out for…a beer. There’s breakfast on the table for you, Diana.”

It wasn’t even noon.



Diana sat at the small kitchen table, eating a re-heated egg biscuit from some diner the boys had gone to while she had still been asleep. They’d also gotten her a small carton of milk, presumably from Wal-Mart as well. She ate in complete silence, with Sam staring at her from the other side of the table. Yeah, it was pretty unsettling. Once she was finished, she threw the garbage away and sat back down.

“Would you stop staring already? It’s creepy.” Diana spoke first, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Uh, alright.”

“How have you been, Sam?” She leaned forward, genuinely curious and wondering if she’d actually get anything out of him without actually having to ask the question.

“I’ve been, uh, alright. It’s been a difficult couple of years. You?”

Diana sighed irritably. “I’m fine, Sam.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Really? You can’t guess why I would be irritated, at all?”

Sam cast his eyes down, away from Diana’s harsh gaze. “Well…”

“What are you doing here, Sam?”

“We’re hunting a demon in the area.”

Rolling her eyes, Diana shook her head. “No, you know what I’m talking about. What happened?”

Sam nodded, almost in a nervous way, and cleared his throat. “Well, like I said it’s been a difficult couple of years.”

“Why are you still in this, Sam? I thought you went to Stanford.”

“I did! I was trying to get into Law School, I had a girlfriend and great friends, and everything was perfect. Then family and hunting caught up with me.”

So he’d gotten himself a girlfriend shortly after leaving Diana behind. She wouldn’t deny that it made her angry and jealous, but Diana was glad he was happy – at least for a short while. She couldn’t be completely selfish.

“And?”

Sam eyes turned dark. “You really want to know what happened, Diana? Dean begged me for help in finding my dad. Then, next thing I know, Jess is burning on the ceiling the same way my mom died. I thought I could be normal – but no one ever gets out of this life, Diana.”

A moment of silence passed.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” Sam asked, eyes narrowed in confusion.

“I said I’m sorry.” She replied with a slightly more irritated tone.

“What for?”

Diana shrugged. “Everything you need someone to be sorry about.”