the reaper's at my door now
he's come to take me home

sacrifice, london after midnight

chapter twenty four

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NEW MEXICO

AS THEY enter the house, the group splits. Catherine follows Dean up the stairs, gun drawn. Quickly and quietly, they search the rooms, finding nothing once again.

"This is starting to piss me off," Catherine mumbles as they head back down.

"I was pissed off two weeks ago. Welcome to the club." As they enter the kitchen, they find the rest of the group, along with a body on the kitchen island. "Aw, come on," Dean says.

"How does this keep happening?" Sam questions. "I thought we had him this time."

"No restraints, like last time," Dean observes.

"He was killed recently. I suspect he was very much alive when the cutting started," says Castiel, referring to the splayed open ribs on the body.

"I don't understand," says Jack. "Why don't any of them fight back?"

"Maybe he drugs them," Catherine suggests.

"I'll say it again, my money's on witchcraft," Dean says.

"Always blaming witches," says Rowena as she enters the room.

"'Cause a lot of the time it's witches."

Catherine nudges Dean gently, gesturing to the sliced up organs cooking on the stove. "Cannibal witch? I mean...it doesn't really add up to me."

"Well, I was right about the werewolves."

Catherine rolls her eyes as she puts away her gun. She brushes past Dean to get a closer look at the body.

"Okay, our dinner guest here, name's Dennis Baron, he's forty-three, and this is his house," Dean reads from the man's wallet. "No signs of forced entry, and no restraints."

"It's all the same," Sam says.

"Well, not everything," Jack says, lifting a large piece of snakeskin.

"Maybe it's his pet," says Dean.

"No pictures in his phone, and this place doesn't exactly scream 'snake guy'," says Sam.

"Not enough Pantera posters, for one," Rowena comments.

"Did we ever try to find out what the deal is with these black lips?" Catherine asks.

"I think we've been a little more focused on the missing eyeballs and the cannibalism," Dean replies.

She glares lightly at him as Rowena comes over. "It's gonna annoy you so much when the one thing we've overlooked has answers."

Rowena examines closely, grabbing a cloth. "Did all the bodies have this?"

Catherine nods. "Or just black patches around their face and neck."

She takes the cloth and wipes at the lips, collecting some of the residue.

Jack leans in slightly. "Does it mean something?"

She grins at him. "Darling boy, everything means something. Be a dear and bring the snakeskin."

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LATER THAT night, in the middle of some local Mexican place, Catherine sits alone at a table while Dean's ordering food. She clasps her hands together, leaning her forehead against her knuckles. Her head's been pounding incessantly for days now, and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't starting to wear her down.

She doesn't notice when Dean sits across from her, or when he calls her name.

Only when he gently grabs her hands and pulls them down does she look up. She blinks a few times, squinting at him.

"You alright?" He keeps their hands clasped on the table, running his thumb along her knuckles.

With a sigh, she nods. "Headache."

"Still?"

She stares down at their hands. "The lights are bright."

He goes quiet, knowing there's nothing much he can do for her except be there. She's grateful for him, truly. In small ways, it helps. She just doesn't know how much longer she's willing to wait. The more Michael wears her down, the stronger he gets. She's days away from asking Rowena to find a way to trap him inside her.

"Cath." She lifts her gaze to his, and he tilts his head at her. "What are you thinkin' about?" He mumbles the question, slurring his words just slightly. She finds the habit so endearing, the way his accent sometimes seems southern.

"I think you can guess."

She spots his retort before he even opens his mouth and says, "Dean, I'm– I'm scared."

Concern flares in his eyes. "Of what?"

She lowers her voice. "That I'm not strong enough."

He sighs, glancing down for a moment. "Come on. You're the strongest person I know."

She scoffs. "Don't sell yourself short, Winchester."

"I'm serious. We're gonna be fine. We'll find something."

She bites her tongue and nods, deciding to let the subject drop. "So...how's Mary?"

Dean wisely doesn't protest. "I think she's alright. The bunker's filling up again after I called her. Apparently she's set a bunch of people on our case."

"Well, at this point we need all the help we can get."

"Yeah." Dean's phone vibrates on the table and Catherine sees Sam's name across the screen. He answers with a, "Yeah?"

He listens for a moment, one hand still holding Catherine's. Then he says, "Alright. We'll see you soon." He hangs up and pockets his phone. "Sam and Rowena think they have something."

Half an hour later, they're back at the motel. Dean, Jack, and Castiel sit side-by-side on the loveseat, and Catherine sits on the arm next to Dean. Sam and Rowena have books and papers strewn about, and they're preparing to show them everything they've learned.

"This is like an AV Club presentation," Dean jokes.

"What's AV Club?" Jack asks.

"It's for nerds," Catherine answers.

"Oh. Like Sam."

Catherine laughs at that. "Yeah, I totally see you in AV Club, no offense."

Sam gives her the Bitch Face she's grown so fond of.

"Excuse me lads, but I believe this is a bit more pressing than your hilarious banter," Rowena says, holding up a book bigger than her head. "I believe we are hunting a gorgon. An ancient, cursed being with an affinity for snakes and a taste for human flesh."

"Snakes for hair, huh? Like Medusa," Dean says.

Rowena tilts her head at him. "You know about Medusa?"

"Yeah, Clash of the Titans? Turns guys to stone?"

Catherine looks down at him, holding back a grin. "When you think about Medusa, your brain automatically goes to Clash of the Titans?"

"Yeah, what else?"

She chuckles to herself and faces Rowena again. "And, between the two of you, you call Sam the nerd."

Dean pinches her side. "Shut up."

"Anyway," Rowena goes on. "It's not stone, it's venom-induced paralysis. Hence, the blackened lips."

"And the fact that the victims didn't fight back," says Castiel.

"And the snakeskin, which, frankly, was a bit on the nose."

"So, we expanded our search based on this, and found seventeen unexplained deaths that could fit our guy," Sam says, placing his tablet with a chart on the screen for them to see. "Last three months, moving west across the southern U.S."

"Seventeen?" Catherine repeats.

"Yeah."

"According to legend, every few months, the gorgon goes on a spree and gorges itself," says Rowena.

"Like a snake," Dean says. "That makes sense."

"Is there anything in there that explains how this gorgon keeps eluding us?" Castiel questions.

"Some lore says that a gorgon can tell people's fates," Rowena replies, "and, by consuming human eyes, they may 'glimpse the future.'"

"And that's how he sees us coming," says Catherine. "So if we use the tracking spell again, he'll know." Her stomach sinks at the thought of more people dying because they can't get ahead of the monster.

"So how do we catch him?" Jack asks.

Sam sighs heavily, dropping his gaze. "I don't know."

Catherine takes that as her cue to stand. "Great. Unless you have something else, I'm going to bed."

Sam shakes his head. "That's all we got."

She glances down at Dean, eyebrows slightly raised.

"I'm comin'," He grabs her hand to pull himself up, and they bid the others goodnight.

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EARLY THE next morning, while they're both still lounging in bed, Catherine sits up with the sheet halfway draped over her body, a book in her lap. It's one she'd grabbed from Sam, trying to find an answer on how to kill the gorgon. Dean still lays back, watching her.

Eventually he sits up and scoots closer, wrapping himself around her. He rests his chin on her bare shoulder, peeking at the book. "Find anything?"

"Nothing useful." She mindlessly turns the page, skimming the contents.

He retracts his head, then she feels his fingertips grazing along the now-healed brand on her shoulder blade. She bites her lip to suppress a grin. "Is it weird that I kinda like that we match?"

He chuckles. "Our matching monster-brands do it for you?"

She gives a side shrug. "Maybe a little."

"So you're, like, the matching tattoo type."

That makes her grin. "I had one with Cristina."

"Of course you did. What was it?"

"A sun and moon. Basic, I know, but that girl was literally sunshine personified. You should've seen her."

He doesn't respond to that, and his fingers move away from her skin. She looks back, and he has a pad of paper and pen in hand, drawing something.

"What are you doing?"

"Hang on." He keeps sketching, occasionally glancing at her shoulder. After a few seconds he leans forward, bringing the sketch into her sight. He's drawn the symbol of their brand on the paper. "We couldn't figure out what it was, right?"

She nods in response. He flips the sketchpad over so the symbol is upside down.

"I still don't get it."

"It's the Pelican's Breast."

"Which means what?"

"It's a Christian symbol. The mother pelican would strike her own breast in order to feed her children during famine. It basically means–"

She cuts him off, the pieces connecting in her head. "Sacrifice."

He sighs. "Yeah."

"Why would a group of monster assassins use a symbol of sacrifice as their logo? I doubt they're sacrificing much."

"I don't know."

✦   ✦

DEAN, CATHERINE, and Castiel approach the crime scene together, after getting a call that another body was found at a truck stop with missing eyes. They flash their badges, and the officer starts questioning them.

"We had a few more of these across state lines," Dean says. "Anything unusual?"

"I mean...all of this is unusual. We don't get things like this here. We're all kind of...freaked out."

"Of course. You don't see things like this everyday, but we do. Anything else unusual?"

"Right. Um, there was a note on the body." He runs to grab it as the three of them exchange glances. "Made out to some guy named...Dean."

"Can I see that?" Dean asks. The officer hands it off and then excuses himself.

"What does it say?" Castiel asks.

"'Dean. I see you and your pretty girlfriend standing by the truck reading this note. I see you and the tall man and the red-headed witch chasing me. I will always see you. Stop, or I will make you stop. Regards, Noah.' I'm on a first-name basis with some psycho pen-pal. That's aces."

"Can I see?" Catherine asks. He hands it to her and she skims it over once more. "He doesn't mention Jack or Castiel. He saw us here, right now, but not him. And he mentioned Sam and Rowena, but not Jack. Weird?" She hands the note back to Dean.

Dean gets Sam on the phone and relays everything about the note.

"So he can see us, you and Rowena, but not Cas and Jack."

For the record, I don't love being included on his little hit list. Rowena says.

"It's an odd and glaring omission," Castiel says.

No, guys– it's our shot, Sam says. I mean, this guy, for some reason, he can't see angels.

They hear Jack over the line, I'm not an angel.

"Apparently, you're close enough," Dean says.

"Maybe it's not just angels," says Catherine. "Maybe it's simply not human."

"Well, either way."

"So, if Jack and I approach Noah on our own, we may surprise him."

Catherine immediately says, "I don't know how I feel about that."

It's risky, but it may be our best play.

Dean touches her shoulder in quiet reassurance. "Rowena, get your tracking spell ready."

✦  ✦

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE ready?" Dean asks, back at the motel.

"Maggie says the only way to kill him is decapitation with a silver blade," Sam says, pocketing his phone.

"He's less than an hour west of us and not moving," Rowena announces. Then she hands Castiel a small bottle. "A few drops of this should counteract any poison. Theoretically."

He takes it and tucks it into his coat. "Theoretically. That's comforting."

"Yeah, well, assuming you're not all paralyzed or eaten. Good luck."

✦  ✦

THE THREE of them wait outside as Castiel and Jack go in. Catherine stands with her arms crossed, tapping her thumb against her arm anxiously.

Dean grabs her shoulder. "Cas is with him. They'll both be fine."

She just nods.

Her brain is a little more focused on the brand on her shoulder. She can't stop thinking about it.

Sacrifice.

It has to mean something more. It can't just be a coincidence.

She looks up when they hear crashing from inside the house, and they take that as their cue to go in.

Inside, they find Castiel on the ground, a black mark on his cheek, and Jack across the room, getting to his feet.

"Hello, Dean. Wish I could say it's nice to meet you in person," says, presumably, Noah.

"Yeah, it's a real pleasure."

Sam lunges at him first, and he's quickly thrown to the ground.

Catherine goes next. He's quick and dirty, using his small frame to his advantage. He manages to twirl her all around, making her dizzy. He grabs her by the shoulders and throws her into the wall, then shoves her aside.

As she hurtles towards the ground, her head hits the edge of the table, and everything goes dark.

✦  ✦

"YOU CAN'T do this," She says, pacing across the room.

"You can't stop me."

"If you think I'm going to let you walk out of here and basically throw yourself into the pit, then you've lost your goddamn mind."

Cristina stands from the bed and approaches Catherine slowly. "Cat, please just try to understand."

Catherine laughs at her, backing away. "I understand. I think I understand a whole lot more than you do. He's manipulating you, Cris!"

"He's not! He's not, Cat, he showed me what the world could be like. He showed me everything."

Catherine shakes her head. "He's lying. He'll say anything to get you to say yes. You should know that."

Cristina shakes her own head in response. "I believe him."

"Why?" She drags her hands through her hair in frustration. "God, you're smarter than this, Cris!"

Cristina takes her hands, holding them tight. "We can be safe, Cat. The world can be safe."

Catherine shakes her head again. "I'm not letting you do this."

Cristina sighs in defeat, looking down at their hands. "Good thing I'm faster than you."

"Wha–!"

Before she can blink, Cristina shoves her to the ground and she hears the telltale clink of handcuffs. Then Cristina moves away, and Catherine is left cuffed to the radiator.

"No! Cris– goddamn it–" She pulls at the cuffs, but they don't budge.

Cristina kneels in front of her, and Catherine levels a glare at her. "Let me go."

Cristina shakes her head. She touches Catherine's face with a melancholic smile. "I'm doing this for us."

Then she presses a kiss to Catherine's head and gets to her feet.

"Cristina, please! Don't do this!" She struggles against the cuffs, desperately trying to chase after her sister.

Cristina doesn't look back as she walks out the door and locks it behind her. 

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author's note !!

we are sooo back (okay lowkey i still have covid but i'm fine)(i'm more bored out of my mind than anything cause i can't leave my fucking house lmao) 

anyways erm i'm very sorry for not updating for over a month my writing slump was horrendously bad but we're back (actually it was more of a depressive episode but yknow)

in other news, i hit 14k the other night and holy shit ??!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!?! like what the fuck actually. thanks u guys so fucking much considering i update literally once in a blue moon 

i sincerely promise it won't take me another whole month to update, i won't leave u guys on this cliffhanger for too long lol (this is the calm before the storm. :D) 

also happy pride month !!!!! <3 

as always, leave votes and comments if you're enjoying, they always make my day <3

thanks for reading!!

-skye