Little Lies and Secrets

Confessions

          "So let me get this straight." Dean started tiredly, running his hand through his hair before continuing on. "You sent Castiel and Gabriel on a mission to go locate Vela while you and your boytoy over there," He gestured to Lupin wildly. "prepare us to take on said witch so Emmy can kill her and remove this curse?" He questioned. Sirius nodded her head as she fixed her glasses while Lupin glared in disapproval at Dean's choice of words.

        "Lupin and I aren't the only ones to be prepping you for battle though." The lavender haired woman stated as she glanced over to where Pippin was leaning against the wall of the garage tiredly, exhaustion clear in every movement and expression. "Pippin was closer to the sisters than I was. She was also the one to kill Rigel and the succubus Nora." She explained, Pippin wincing slightly at the mention of Nora's name. All eyes concentrated on Pippin and she shrugged before Sirius turned back to the rest of the group gathered in front of her.

        "Right, let's get started shall we?" She asked as she clapped her hands together and rubbed them excitedly. Pippin pushed off against the wall and scanned the group over, the wheels in her head turning.

        "Dean. Em." Pip started as she looked the two over carefully. "I want you both to pair together and do some sparring." She ordered and both hunters nodded to communicate that they understood. Pippin smiled inwardly to herself before looking over at Sam.

        "Sirius I want you to take Sam and go over some anti-witch stuff. Anything you think will help ward off or weaken Vela." She said as Sirius walked over to Sam and smiled sweetly at the younger Winchester before guiding him to a table set up on the other side of the garage, away from the mats. Pippin turned to Lupin, who just bowed his head to convey his understanding and the two friends took up fighting stances on the mats a good distance from Emmy and Dean.

        "I'll try to go easy on you sweet cheeks." Dean teased as Emmy frowned, trying hard not to smile. She took up a defensive stance, feet spread shoulder width apart and hands up, in fists, in front of her face. Dean took up a familiar position before they started circling each other. Over on the other side Pippin stuck out first as she threw a punch aimed at Lupin's exposed side. He quickly side stepped out of the way before throwing a hay maker in her direction. Pippin barely caught the attack before Lupin twisted his arm out of her grip and grabbed the back of her neck, kneeing her in the stomach. Pippin wheezed slightly as she tried to gain her breath back while stumbling away from her opponent. Lupin looked slightly apologetic but Pippin merely brushed it off as she threw an unexpected left hook that caught his jawline. It was Lupin's turn to stumble back for a second before looking at Pip in surprise. He opened his mouth to praise her on that solid punch when they heard the sound of someone getting slammed down onto the mats hard. The two looked over at Emmy and Dean, the two also sparring to get in some practice before they went off to kill Vela. Emmy was practically panting on her back as she stared up at Dean, who towered over her. He extended his hand to Em, who took it, and hoisted her up onto her feet.

        "Emmy I think it's time to take a break. You're not in any condition to continue sparring." Lupin stated the fact firmly as the younger hunter bent over, gripping her upper thighs as she breathed heavily.

        "No! Again!" She demanded behind her teeth as she stood up straight and took her stance again. Dean shook his head, the expression on his face indescribable, as he took up his own stance. She only got in a few punches and kicks before there was a repeat of what had happened previously. She blocked Dean's punch by pushing his hand, by the wrist, away from it's original target before she lifted her leg in a circular motion to kick Dean in the head. He caught her leg, hands firmly around her ankle, with practiced ease before twisting her leg so Emmy was forced to turn her back to him. His free hand landed on her shoulder but suddenly Emmy snatched up his wrist in a tight grip bordering on painful and twisted his arm around, following the movement to bring his arm up as she circled around to his back. Before she could complete the move Dean somehow managed to break free of the hold. Emmy rushed him in a moment of frustration and anger and Dean easily flipped her over onto her back. She hit the mats with another painful smack that knocked the breathe out of her for a few moments as she gasped for air. Dean looked guilty as he leaned over and offered his hand to Emmy again. She swatted the hand away and glared up at Dean, who stepped back with his hands held up and palms facing the woman.

        "Again!" She growled darkly and they repeated the process again. It wasn't until Emmy looked ready to explode did Sam decide to interfere. He rushed in between Emmy and his brother, arms out towards each of them with the palms of his hands facing them.

        "Alright that's enough. Emmy you need to rest before you collapse of exhaustion." He told her and if looks cold kill Sam would be a puddle of human on the ground with the look Em was shooting him. This clearly wasn't Emmy at the moment or well...it was but the curse was influencing her heavily. Pippin limped over to Emmy and grabbed her hand with the arm that wasn't currently dislocated and dragged her to the side lines to watch the two brothers spar while they rested. Em crossed her arms over her chest and pouted as she watched the brothers before Pip tapped her shoulder lightly. 

        "What!?" She snapped in frustration and Pippin grimaced before gesturing to her shoulder.

        "Mind relocating this piece of shit shoulder for me?" She asked with a calm tone of voice that would have normally worried the younger hunter. Emmy just nodded once before placing her hands on her closest friend's shoulder and upper arm.

        "On three." She started. "One..." Emmy said before popping the limb back into place as Pippin gritted her teeth and slammed her head back against the garage wall in pain. It never got any easier to pop a dislocated limb back into place and it was never less painful either. For a while they just watched the brothers trade blows before Pippin's voice startled Emmy.

        "Listen Em..." Pippin started darkly, her head dipping slightly downwards and allowing her bangs to fall over her left eye slightly as she tried to word what she was going to say as carefully as possible. Emmy watched her as a sudden spike of paranoia and anxiety hit her hard, causing her hands to clench into fists.

        "I've been thinking,"

        "A dangerous past time." Emmy cut in suddenly and Pippin lifted her head to glare at Em, getting her meaning across with her expression rather than words.

        "Emberlyn I'm being serious." Pippin pointed out before continuing after a brief moment of silence.

        "Em I'm dying." She stated bluntly and it took Emmy a moment to process that information. Once it registered what Pippin had said Emmy turned to her friend with a horrified expression.

        "No Pippin you can't die!" She protested loudly. "There's got to be something we can do. Maybe Cas and Gabe can-"

        "I already talked to Gabriel Emmy." Pip cut in abruptly as she picked up a small bottle of whisky, nursing it in her hands as she tried to hide her shaking. "He said there's nothing he can do to help me. The curse doesn't just affect me physically but it also affects my Grace heavily." She explained with a depressed sigh. She took a sip of her whiskey before handing it to Emmy, who took a huge gulp of the substance and choked slightly as the burning liquid traveled down her throat. The two sat in silence as Dean, Sam, Sirius, and Lupin talked about the equipment they would need for the hunt. Emmy tried not to think about the information the light haired hunter just gave her before she stood up.

        "I'm going to bed." She announced abruptly and Pippin just nodded solemnly in response, knowing that she had a lot to process and think over. Emmy slowly climbed the stairs before turning into the room she shared with Pippin when they stayed at Bobby's while slowly getting dressed into her pj's. Even when she slipped into bed her mind was racing over a million miles a minute and she tossed and turned all night. Pippin never came upstairs.


        Dean sighed as he and Sam approached where Pippin was sitting on the ground, head tilted back against the wall and towards the ceiling, her eyes closed. She didn't even react as Lupin and Sirius opened and shut the garage door, heading to bed themselves.

        "Hey kid." Dean said, voice uncharacteristically soft and quieter than normal. They sat down on either side of her and Dean took the whiskey from her hand. Pippin hummed in greeting as she sagged slightly, posture be damned once more.

        "Dean..."

        "Hmm?"

        "How did you handle it? Knowing you were going to die soon?" Pippin asked and Dean choked slightly on the drink as Sam turned to look at her in surprise.

        "N-Not as well as you think." He coughed as he pounded on his chest with his fist. Once his coughing fit was over it was uncomfortably silent for a while. Each hunter lost in their own thoughts.

        "Would you be willing to tell us the story behind all this? Why Vela wants you dead so badly?" Sam asked carefully, trying to understand how this happened in the first place. Dean glanced over at Pippin as her lips parted with a sigh, interested in what she had to say. In the past few days the two had gotten much better and had also gotten closer. Pippin opened her eyes and lowered her head so she was staring forward, eyes glazed over as she got lost in thought.

        "Back before I had met Emberlyn, in high school, I used to live with these four girls in something like a sorority." She began, any and all emotion just disappearing from her voice as she reminisced.

        "Nora King, Sirius Everlyn, Vela Blackwell, and Rigel Blackwell." She counted tiredly. "Nora was the youngest out of all of us. Next was Rigel and Sirius and then it was me and Vela. I never actually knew about Vela, Rigel, and Sirius being witches. They kept it well under wraps and it was a long time before I ever found out." She explained before shifting to sit in a more comfortable position.

        "When I did find out I realized that they were using their magic for good and generally hated demons so I agreed to keep it a secret and I decided on my own not to kill them. They had no idea I was a hunter anyways since I kept it under wraps as well." She chuckled coldly as her hands twitched. "Then weird things started happening around Nora. One day one of the jocks that had been harassing her was found behind the football bleachers dead. The police and forensic examiners couldn't even really place what had caused his death. After that every boy and lesbian was drawn towards Nora like a moth to flame, literally drooling over her. It scared her to death and it took three more months before she confided in me what was going on." Pippin sighed before taking another deep breath and continuing her story.

        "She told me that she had killed the boy. She had been sobbing and hugging me tightly and all I could do was hug her back because I almost couldn't register the fact that this bubbly kid could have killed someone. She said she was so sorry and that she had been starving and couldn't hold it back anymore." Pippin looked over at Dean before saying her next words. "She was a succubus. First and only one I have encountered since then. At first I thought she was crazy but the longer she talked the more it made sense." She broke off for a long moment, lost in thought again.

        "So what did you do?" Sam prompted and Pippin shook her head to come out of her daze before responding.

        "What I had to do Sam." She said and Dean tensed up beside her.

        "You killed her." He said, the phrase a statement and not a question. Pippin swallowed and nodded her head slowly.

        "Nora was the sweetest person besides Emmy and Sirius I have ever known." Pippin choked out as her throat seemed to tighten from the thick emotions. She had been avoiding this for as long as she could because she knew she couldn't fight the tears welling up in her eyes.

        "Jesus Christ..." She mumbled in choked laughter as she ran a trembling hand through her strawberry-blonde hair.

        "She never wanted to hurt anybody. She was so kind and gentle even to the people that hit her." Pippin gasped out as she hid her face behind her hands and bent forward in emotional agony, trying to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks. Dean surprised Sam and himself by putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Pippin choked back a sob as she continued on.

        "Nora begged me to kill her. She didn't want to kill anyone else and she knew the others would have refused to do it and at first so did I." She said as she lowered her hands and stared up at the ceiling in despair. "God I tried so hard to convince Nora out of it. I told her we could help her. That Vela would be able to come up with some spell to save her." Another choked sob. "She was smarter than I was because she knew, somehow, that if I didn't stop her she would kill us as well as others. So I bent down next to her." She recounted as Sam and Dean listened to the story. Pippin shook as she buried her face into her hands again, completely breaking down into tears, the emotional pain too much to hold back anymore. "And," She choked out. "And I put my my hand to her forehead." She cried before she pulled her head out of her hands again, looking at the two men.

        "And then I killed her just as Rigel walked into the room." She said before she broke out into sobbing laughter. "As Nora's body hit the floor with her burnt out eyes Rigel screamed in horror and rage. She didn't even let me explain as she jumped forward to strike me down. Sirius risked her own life to stop Rigel, setting the house on fire, in that very room." She said as she calmed down a bit, tears slowing gradually as she looked down at her hands, fingers intertwined. "I knew I had to finish it. I had to kill the others but I just....I couldn't!" She breathed, her voice cracking. "So I ran. I ran from all of it and eventually, years later, I met Emmy." She remembered with a slight, bittersweet smile.

        "And while I was working forensics with Emmy...Rigel caught up to me. She had figured out I was some weird ass hybrid thing of Angel and Human and had used Jerusalem oil and holy fire to keep me pinned in one place before she started hunting around the apartment I owned for anyone else. It happened so fast I hardly remember it." Pippin admitted shamefully. "Emmy knocked on the door looking for something and Rigel smirked at me and I just knew that she was going to kill her so I risked killing myself to save Em. I catapulted out of the ring of holy fire with a terrified screech, thinking I was going to die. The flames didn't even hurt me. Just the heat bothered me." Pippin breathed in a breath of relief as her tale neared completion. "My Angelblade went straight through her chest as I growled at her to never even think about touching anyone I cared about ever again...and now Vela wants me dead for killing her baby sister." She finished in a whisper. The silence carried on for a long time as the brothers soaked in the information Pippin had given them and they suddenly found themselves understanding what Pippin was going through to some degree. The three stayed like that, sitting together in the garage, for the rest of the night...