Raised from Perdition Part 5

 So this is where a really important scene I apparently never wrote where Dani gets bitten by a werewolf should be.  Picking up on the scene after:

Sam pushed the door open and peered inside.  Dani sat on the floor with her back to them, staring at the wall in front of her.  She didn’t react to the sounds of the door, if she heard it.  “Well, we found her,” he muttered.  “Now what do we do?”

            “Uh…” Dean shifted his weight.  “You go talk to her.”

            “Why me?”

            “Because you’re better at the whole, talking thing than me,” Dean said.  “When I do it, it always comes out wrong.  It’ll go better if you do it.”

            Sam shrugged.  He couldn’t argue with that.  “Ok, fine.”  He took a breath and pushed his hair out of his face, then stepped into the room.  “Hey,” he tried, sitting down on the floor next to her.

            “Are you going to shoot me?” she asked, not looking at him. 

            Sam paused, startled by her directness. Did she really think that’s what they’d come here to do. “Why would I do that?”

            “Because I’m a thing now,” she said, no emotion in her voice.  “A monster.  And that’s what we do right?  Kill monsters?  So let’s just get it over with.”

            “I’m not going to kill you,” Sam tried to assure her.  “We can—“

            Dani rounded on him.  “I have less than twenty days before I start tearing people apart.”  She took a shuddering breath and then held something out to him with a trembling hand. Sam’s heart stopped for a beat.  It was her pistol.  “I can’t do it myself.  I need you to finish me before I turn.”  He opened his mouth to say something, but she grabbed his wrist and forced the gun into his hand.  “Please Sam.  Just don’t think about it.  It’ll be just like any other monster.”

            “You’re not a monster Dani.”  They both turned to look at Dean, still standing in the doorway.  “And we’re not about to kill you when you haven’t even hurt anyone.”

            “Yet,” she said.  “But I will on the next full moon.”

            “No,” Dean shook his head once.  “You won’t.”

            “You don’t know that,” she insisted, her voice breaking, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

            “We can help you,” Sam said, putting a hand on her arm.  “We’ll figure something out.  Dean’s right, you’re not a monster.  We’ll find a way to make this work, ok?  Let’s not do anything—permanent just yet.”  He held her gaze for a minute.  “Ok?”

            Dani bit her lip and nodded.  “Ok.  If you say so.”

            “Now.”  Sam stood.  “Are you coming back with us?”  He held out his hand to her.

            “Yeah,” she almost whispered, taking it.  “I guess I am.”

                                                                             . . .

Also scene I apparently never wrote, sometime after previous scene, where Dani "wolfs out" and attacks a monster they're hunting.

            “No no no. Hey!”  Dean dropped his gun and grabbed her arms with both hands.  “Dani, look at me.”

            She grabbed his forearms like a drowning man would grab a rope, focusing her wide, panicked eyes on him.

            “It’s ok,” he said.  “This is perfect.  If you could do that now, on a half moon, that means you’re a pure blood.  Which means you can learn to change whenever you want; you can learn to control the wolf part of you.”  He looked at her hard, letting that sink in. “You hear me? This is good, we can work with this. Ok?”

            He held her gaze for a minute as her breathing slowed.  Then she nodded and her grip relaxed a little.  “Ok.”

            She was still scared, but at least she wasn’t on the verge of hysteria.  “Ok.”  Dean put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side.  He started walking toward where they’d left the impala, pulling her along.  “Let’s go.”

                                                                        . . .

            “Are you going to send her to Wisconsin?” Sam asked, back in the bunker.  “To Garth’s people?”

            “No.”  Dean shook his head.  “We are not sending her to those crackpots.  There’s got to be somewhere else, somewhere less… weird.”

            Sam took a breath, thinking.  “What about that college girl who got turned a few years ago?” he said after a minute.  “What was her name?  Kate?”

            “Who?”

            “You know, the one with the camera, got turned by her boyfriend’s roommate and then turned her sister.”

            “Yeah, yeah.”  Dean nodded, remembering.  “Kate.  You know she’s been doing pretty good, all things considered.”  He began to warm to the idea.  “If we could get in touch with her, maybe she could teach Dani how to control it.”

            “I think I still have her number somewhere.”  Sam started down the hall to Dean’s room and found John’s journal.  He flipped to the back and started scanning.  “Here it is,” he said, pointing to the page. 

            “All right.”  Dean pulled out his phone.  “Let’s see if she’ll do us a favor.”

                                                                        . . .

            Sam, Dean, and Dani sat in the Impala, waiting in the grocery store parking lot.  Dani had barely said a word since they got up that morning, and had ridden the whole time in silence, sitting in the back, never taking her eyes off the scenery going by out the window.  Dean studied her in the rearview mirror.  Of course, she’d been off since she’d been bitten, who wouldn’t be, but she seemed to have be even more upset today.  Maybe it was just the idea of meeting another werewolf. 

He turned his gaze back to the parking lot in time to see a beat up looking green pickup pull into the spot in front of them.  “That’s her,” Dean said, opening his door. 

Kate hopped out of the truck and waved at him, then Sam.  “I’m not going to lie, you kind of scared me when you called,” she said.  “I was worried you thought I’d done something again.”

“No, if that was it we wouldn’t call ahead,” Dean said.  Then he became serious.  “I really appreciate you doing this for us.”

“Not a problem,” Kate said, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.  “I know how hard it is at first and I wish I’d had someone to teach me.  I’m happy to help her, really.” 

By now Dani had gotten out of the car as well, but was hanging back, watching them warily.

“We’re not sure where we’ll be, but if you need us call,” Sam said.  “We’ll get here as soon as we can.”

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble,” Kate said.  “But thanks, I’ll remember that.”  She looked around Dean at Dani, trying to catch her eye, but Dani was looking off toward the grocery store.  “She’s taking it kind of hard?”

“Yeah,” Dean answered, turning.  “Kinda.”

“I’m sure she’ll warm up to you,” Sam offered. 

Dean stepped over to Dani and took her arm, leading her to the back of the car.  “All right,” he said.  For some reason, Dani still wouldn’t look at him.  “Hey.” He moved to stand in front of her.  “You’re going to be fine.  Kate has this thing figured out, she’s going to show you how to deal with it.”

Dani nodded.  “So, this is it?” she asked.  “I go to Werewolves Anonymous and you guys,” she shrugged, “ride off in the impala to keep hunting down the bad monsters.”

“Werewolves Anonymous?”  Dean shook his head.  “No, this is more like Werewolf 101.”

“What happens if I manage to graduate?”  She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the ground.  “If I don’t end up killing anybody, me and this chic hunt squirrels for the rest of our lives, and hope no hunters find us?”

“Wait,” Dean said, finally getting an idea of what she was upset about.  “You think we’re not coming back for you?”

Dani’s bottom lip started to tremble and she bit it to make it stop.  “Now that I’m a monster you don’t need me, right?”

“Dani.”  She finally looked up at him.  “We’re not ditching you.  When you and Kate think you have a handle on this, we’re coming back for you.  I’m not sending you away.  You “graduate” this class, we pick up right where we were.  Ok?”

“You promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

“Ok.” Dani nodded, already looking more relaxed. 

“And who knows,” Dean said, grabbing her backpack out of the backseat and handing it to her.  “Having a werewolf on the team might come in handy.”

Dani smiled.  “I guess there could be benefits.”

 “Hi Dani,” Kate said, as they rejoined her and Sam.  “I’m Kate.”

“Hi,” Dani said, shaking the hand the other girl held out to her.  “Thanks for doing this.”

“Like I told them, I’m happy to help.  Believe me, it’s not as bad you think it is at first.  We’ll have you ready to go back to a normal life before you know it.”

“Ok,” Dani said, taking a breath and hiking the strap of her backpack up higher on her shoulder.  “Let’s get started then.”

She hugged Dean and then Sam and then she and Kate climbed into the pickup.     

                                                                        . . .

            Dean drummed his thumbs against the steering wheel, scanning the road on either side of the parking lot.  Sam chuckled under his breath and shook his head.

            “What?” Dean asked, glaring at him.

            “You,” Sam said.  “It’s like she’s past curfew or something.”

            “What? No it’s not.  It’s just they were supposed to be here like fifteen minutes ago.”

            Sam snorted. 

            “All right,” Dean admitted.  “So maybe I’ve missed the kid, is that a crime?”

            Before Sam could answer, Kate’s truck pulled into the parking lot.

            “Finally,” Dean said, throwing open the car door.

            Dani hopped out of the truck before it was in park.  She looked good; all smiles.  They had pulled up on the passenger side so she got to Sam first.  She grinned ear to ear and threw her arms around Sam’s neck, jumping a little to get there.  

            “Good to see you,” Sam said, hugging her back before setting her down on the ground. 

            “Been having a lot of fun while I’ve been gone?” Dani asked, stepping over to Dean and hugging him too. 

            “Oh yeah, loads of fun.”  Dean pushed her to arm’s length and looked her over.  “How about you?  You good now?”

             Dani grinned.  “Oh yeah.”  She raised her hands to eye level, flexing her fingers quickly and claws sprang up in place of her finger nails.  In spite of himself, Dean started.  Dani laughed and the claws retracted.

            “She’s doing really well,” Kate said.  “She going to be fine.”

            “Good.” Dean nodded.  “Thanks again for teaching her.”

            “We owe you,” Sam said.

            “I’ll remember that.”  Kate nodded, then looked at Dani.  “You can call me any time.”

            “Thanks,” Dani said, her happiness dimming just a little.  “That goes for you too.  If you ever need anything.”

            The two girls exchanged a hug for a minute, then Dani pulled back.  “I really appreciate how much you’ve done for me.”

            “Hey, us wolves got to stick together right,” Kate said, forcing a smile.

            “Right.” Dani nodded.

            Kate took a breath and shoved her hands into her jacket pocket.  “Well, I had better get going.”

            “Thanks again.”  Sam said.

            Kate nodded and got back in her truck.  Before backing out, she looked at Dani one more time, who waved.  She smiled and waved back, then started out of the parking lot.

            “See, that wasn’t so bad was it,” Dean asked, putting an arm around Dani’s shoulder. 

            “No,” she said.  “It was good.  You were right, that’s what I needed.  But I’m still glad to be back.”

            “We’re glad to have you back,” Sam said.

            “Yeah.”  Dean nodded. 

            They all got back in the car and Dean started it up.  “Here,” he said, turning to Dani, who sat in the back seat and handing her the shoe box of cassette tapes.  “Pick us something to listen to.”                                                           . . .

            Later that night, Sam stepped out of the motel bathroom, toweling off his hair.  He looked around the room and saw Dean, flipping through the channels without much interest.  Dani would be in the room next door. 

            “It’s a full moon tonight,” Sam said, glancing out the window.  “Maybe we shouldn’t have stopped at the hotel. Do you think she’s going to be ok?”

            “Kate said she was ready.”

            They both jumped as a howl split the relative silence.  Dean pulled back the curtain from the window, Sam hovering over his shoulder to see out as well. 

            There was Dani, perfectly relaxed and human, lounging on the hood of the impala, staring up at the moon.  Her phone sat beside her, and they could just make out the music coming from it. 

            Don’t go round tonight, Well its bound to mean your life, There’s a bad moon on the rise.