26. The Neighborhood Exorcist

"I lived in a tightknit community," I began reminiscing. "It might as well have been a small town. Everyone knew everyone. There were a lot of block parties, they spiked especially during the summer. Everyone got along. It was the perfect neighborhood to live in. The houses were great too.

"Everything was in harmony for a long time, until the first murder happened." My hands began to shake. I evened my breathing and got it under control. "It rocked the neighborhood, it was the first time anything bad ever happened. We weren't a gated community, but we were the safest. No burglaries, no hit-and-runs. Nothing. We thought it was just a bad accident, but it had been ruled a murder-suicide. Nothing made sense to us.

"We thought that was a fluke, a one-time thing. Then came murder-suicide number two. These didn't happen in houses next to us, but it was still within the neighborhood. Cops had never come to our area until then.

"When the third murder-suicide happened, it peaked my interest. I mean, three of the same crime? It was very strange. I was the only one genuinely interested in the pattern. I had done some investigating of my own, after the police had done theirs in the houses. Yes, my breaking and entering started from there, but it was for a good cause at the time.

"When the fourth happened, I knew something was definitely up. And for some weird reason, your words came to me of all things." I shook my head. "What you told me about what your family did for a living, your 'family business.' I tried to find connections in each crime scene. It didn't dawn on me for a long time until I found one common factor: sulfur."

"That really kick-started the research for you?" Sam interrupted.

I nodded. "It was a long shot hunch, but it turned out you were right. All the hits related sulfur with demons. It took a while for me to admit that was who was behind these murders. Once I came to terms with it, I realized the problem wasn't going to stop at four. I couldn't understand why they were invading the neighborhood. I didn't know if there were accomplices in it. I was investigating with so many variables.

"I couldn't tell anyone this. You know how that goes: you start talking insane, they'll lock you up and throw away the key. So I had to keep it hush-hush, which wasn't that hard to do. Paranoia started to settle in the neighborhood, so my family was more worried about heightening security than browsing my search history."

"Look at you, taking action," Sam mused thoughtfully. "I would have never thought you'd have some knowledge prior to this."

"You and me both," I said. "So, I dug up anything I could find. I got an insane idea: I would try and save lives, run the Hell monsters back to where they came from. By the sixth incident, I got some decent traction on stopping the body count. I could pick up on some patterns. They'd try their hardest to play pretend, but little things they did tipped me off."

"How'd you get rid of them?"

"At the time, I didn't know about the Devil's trap, so I settled for salting the windows and the doors and such. I exorcised them and sent them away. I tell you, I had to teach myself to annunciate Latin for a while before I attempted this. I got lucky on my first exorcism."

It was strange, to nonchalantly discuss exorcising a demon from someone's body. But this was Sam Winchester I was talking to, someone who wasn't a stranger to demons. I guess that didn't make it so strange.

"So I had a streak going, being able to put a stop to their plans. I never wanted to go beyond that, go out into the world and do it for a living. I was content with saving my neighbors. I was an unsung hero, and nobody knew. I got more leads than the police ever did when they did their investigating. But who would suspect a supernatural being to be behind the murders, anyway?"

"I feel like this is about to get bad," Sam whispered.

I sighed. "I didn't think about the consequences. I didn't think it'd get personal. I should have known better."

I swallowed. This was going to be the hardest part, but I had to get it out. Sam had to understand why I was suffering.

"There were four of us: my parents, and my little sister, Monica. I don't think you ever met her. She was a considerable amount of years younger than me, fresh out of high school. She was practically a baby still. It was one of those nights that I got a bad, knotted feeling in my stomach. I had gotten those a lot when things settled down, because some part of me had always been afraid that the worst would happen.

"I hadn't thought anything of it when she walked past my bedroom. I thought she was going to the bathroom. You know how bladders like to screw with you and make you get up in the middle of the night. Anyway, I almost fell back asleep when I heard it. It was the scream that told me something was very wrong.

"It took me a lot longer than I liked to get to our parents' bedroom. Dad was already gone when I got to the doorway, soaked in his own blood. She was finishing off Mom as I stared."

I inhaled deeply. You can get through this. Sam will listen. He'll understand.

"I knew right away that it wasn't my sister," I said thickly. "Going after me wasn't enough, they had to destroy my family too. It taunted me with the bloody knife. It tried to take me out, but I fought back. I only hurt my sister, didn't want to kill her. I knew she was still inside. So when we were at a stalemate, I tried one last effort.

"But, of course, things weren't that simple. The demon pulled a fast one on me. Before it got away, it shoved the knife into my sister. I faltered slightly but got it out of her. I had never seen what a fleeing demon looked like until that night. I didn't bother with protection at the doors and the windows, I went right to my sister."

"So that's why they freak you out?"

I nodded. "In their smoke form, they're practically invincible. Monica—she'd told me she saw what had happened, how her body did those things. She was so afraid, and—and I couldn't leave her alone. I wanted to call someone, but I couldn't leave her. God forbid I did and—and she left me." I exhaled. "That's why Ellen and Jo have really gotten to me...they got to be with each other in their last moments. You know what my parents saw? They saw their little girl with a knife, ready to go in for the kill." I wiped my eyes. "I didn't want Monica to be alone, so I stayed by her side. When she was gone, then I decided to call."

My whole body shook now. My mind threatened to pull me from reality back into my past. Somehow, I managed to keep the nightmares at bay.

"It was that night that I became an orphan. I had no one, and I had no one to blame but myself. I—I could have saved them, Sam, all of them. If only I had been more paranoid. It's the one time where that would have been a good thing."

"That still doesn't explain why you were on the streets."

"Oh, I'm not done yet," I said gruffly. "After the police were done with it, I lived there for a while. Looking back, I don't know how I did it. Everything reminded me of them. I never went upstairs, I knew that would be too much for me. When I ran low on food, I stepped out for a while. I made a run at night so no one would see me.

"When I came back...my home was ashes." I stared straight ahead, my mind painting the vivid picture. It was like I was back in Maryland, standing before where my house once existed. I could smell the ash in my nose, see the charred remains. It was like someone had decided to drop a bomb just on my house.

"Demons?"

"Oh yeah, and they didn't hesitate to make it known. They decided to tell me in person. It was then that I realized there was more than one hiding around." I shook my head. "It was strange, what happened after. They monologued and practically scared me into submission with their presence."

"So how'd you make it out?"

"I don't know, to be honest. Luck?" I half shrugged. "Or they wanted to run me out of town with the fear of Satan in me by banding together. I found it odd that they didn't take me so that one of their buddies could possess me. Maybe there was a shortage around that time. I was even more surprised when they didn't kill me. I'm no expert, but demons don't seem like the merciful, sparing-lives type."

"It's just common sense, really."

"What's one girl against a neighborhood of demons, anyway?" I took a pause. "That's why I took to the streets. I couldn't go back there once I left, because I knew they'd be waiting for me. Demons run that town. I'm not suggesting a full-scale invasion to take it back, because one town can't compare to the world."

"If you ever want to try it in the future, though—"

"Sam." I gave him a stern look but then softened quickly. "They're why I won't stay anywhere. They're why I don't trust anyone, because I figured my neighborhood was just the start of the infestation. Anybody I meet could be one of them."

"But you trust us."

"For some reason, I didn't think you'd be possessed. I definitely didn't think you were when demons were attacking the motel room." I ruffled my hair.

"I'm sorry about all that, Kota." Sam put an arm around me. "Bad things happen to good people all the time, unfortunately. But, you've got a home now, with us. We'll never do anything to hurt you."

"Even Dean?"

Sam snorted. "He doesn't hate you, Kota."

"You sure about that?"

"He's come to like you, I swear."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, okay. Mr. Stone Cold? Don't think so. You can keep dreaming though." I sighed. "You should have brought out beer."

"Drinking won't solve anything, Kota."

"It can take away the pain. That's something."

"How're you feeling?"

"Well, the bandages are holding, so that counts for something, I guess." I yawned. "Might have to do a hospital run."

"We can avoid that. We can patch you up."

"I'm going to need stitches, Sam."

"Do you honestly think that we haven't stitched ourselves up before?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I think I'd rather have a professional do it."

"We're not sloppy. It'd save money, and time."

I pursed my lips.

"You trust me, right?" He looked at me expectantly.

"Yeah."

"Then you know it won't go south. Now, come on." He slid off the hood of the car. "I'm not letting you sleep out here."

"I don't want to move," I whimpered. "You can go in if you're that tired."

"Kota..."

I sighed through my nose. "I'm staying out here."

"Fine." Sam clambered back onto the hood, it groaned under his weight.

"I never said you had to stay." My eyes were on the night sky. There weren't any stars out tonight.

I shifted closer to Sam and rested my head gently on his shoulder. He didn't seem to mind. His shoulder was oddly comfortable. We laid in silence. My mind drifted. How were Dean and Bobby handling their grief inside the house?

"What did you talk to Cas about?" Sam broke the silence.

"Hmm? Oh. I decided to be branded by him too." I squirmed. "It was strange."

"Tell me about it."

I sighed dramatically. "What kind of world do we live in, Sam?" I closed my eyes.

This time, I was the one to find his hand and intertwine our fingers.

**I hope this clears up any speculation anyone had since I hinted about her past from time to time in some chapters. I keep it vague, of course, so nothing was spoiled. This chapter may have been a lot to take in, but now it all makes sense, doesn't it? Her prior knowledge of demons (though small it is).

And that ending, though. Little sprinkle of Sakota to make the end of the chapter a little sweeter than it started out. 

P.S. I hope you listened to the song as you read this chapter. I figured that it captured the rise and fall of Kota's past quite nicely.

P.P.S. There are only a few chapters left in Part 1. Thought you ought to know.

P.P.P.S. (I swear, last one.) Fanart is encouraged.**