Discovering Hell [COMPLETED]

Chapter Two

Someone was shaking me and I wanted it to stop. "Hey, Lauren. Wake up."

I didn't recognize the speaker and immediately began to panic. Where was I? Who was I with? Why was I here? How did I get here? Wherever here was...

I shot up into a sitting position and smacked my head against another hard skull. I groaned and curled into a ball on the car seat. It all rushed back then: Sam, Dean, Cas, all the other random people that somehow got into my house. And so I groaned again, this time louder and more obnoxiously.

"It wasn't a dream," I mumbled into my arm. One always thinks that strange occurrences are dreams.

"Nope," Sam assured me. I now recognized the voice, if only slightly. "We're here."

"Where is here, exactly?" I asked, sitting up slower this time. Sam was rubbing his forehead where I must've hit him.

"The Bunker. It's less than an hour from your college. No worries. If we scare you and you run away, you'll make it back to your place in...oh, I dunno. A week?"

I scowled. "I'm not going to run away. And even if I did, I'm smart enough to steal your car."

"Bad idea," Sam chuckled. I made a move to get out and he stepped back so I could exit the car. "Dean would have to hunt you down and you don't want that." 

I looked at him for a minute, trying to decide whether or not he was kidding: he wasn't. Sam pointed to a metal door surrounded by brick buried in the side of the hill. "That would be the Bunker."

I nodded. "And you promise it's not a torture chamber?"

His hand fell back down to his sides and he shook his head, chuckling. "No, not a torture chamber."

I started for the door and Sam realized he didn't have to do anymore convincing. He hurried in front of me and punched the key code into the pad next to the door. There was a loud click and he pulled the door open, revealing a long set of stairs descending into what looked like a war room.

I followed him down the stairs to find Dean sitting at the large, wooden table. He was staring at the computer screen intently, a beer in his hand.

"And Sleeping Beauty is awake," he called, closing the computer and leaning back in the chair.

I scowled at the nickname but said nothing.

"Dean," Sam said, "come on. She's been through a lot." He pulled a chair out and gestured for me to sit.

"Great. So let's tell her what's going on so we can figure out what to do with her."

I raised an eyebrow; now I was going to speak up. Nobody decided 'what to do with me' except for me. "What to do with me? I have some say in this right? You promised nothing bad would happen."

Sam put a hand on my shoulder and, although most kidnappees would get tense, I'd apparently already developed Stockholm's and actually became more relaxed. "We'll do our best to protect you, Lauren, but we're not superhuman or anything."

I felt the urge to argue, but I knew he was right--he couldn't control everything and everyone.

"Call Cas?" Sam asked Dean.

Dean sighed. He looked up at the ceiling. "Hey, Cas. I don't know where you went or anything but can you come so we can talk to Lauren?"

They were insane. Or I was insane. That was the only explanation. Someone has to be off their rocker for this to be okay. Or someone was playing a prank on me. But this was absolutely ridiculous.

But then Cas really did show up. He poofed into existence out of nothing. There was a sound, like fluttering wings or crumpling paper, and then he was standing next Dean. He looked at me like I was a pair of dirty underwear before looking at Dean. "I'm here."

"What..." I stopped to clear my throat because I was, honestly, getting a little choked up. This was way too much for my already overloaded brain to handle.

Sam sighed. "My name is Sam Winchester. That's my older brother Dean. Castiel is an angel."

"Like a...holy being with a halo and feathery wings?" I clarified. "Those guys don't even exist..." I forced a chuckle, trying to not freak out.

Sam nodded. "I know it's a little hard to believe, but it's true. And those guys you met earlier? They were all demons. Crowley, he's the king of Hell and he also happens to be your father."

"My...my what?" I choked. At this point I didn't even care that I had no clue which of the three guys was Crowley. 

"I know it's weird-"

"Weird doesn't even begin..." My world was imploding, the floor spinning beneath me.

"-but...well, how old are you?" Dean asked.

"Twenty-six, why?"

"Twenty-six years ago, Crowley possessed your mom--your real mom--and did some weird, demonic mojo to get her pregnant. Then he stayed with her for nine months, she gave birth, and then put you up for adoption."

There it was. The phrase that could get me out of this whole mess. "I'm not adopted," I said. "So, can I go now?"

"What?" Dean asked, tilting his head towards me as if he hadn't heard me right.

"My parents have been married for twenty-eight years and I'm not adopted. There was a time in the fifth grade where I thought I was and my parents had to do those blood tests to make me forget about it. They were all positive. I wasn't adopted so...none of that makes sense." Not that it did before.

"But Crowley was after her too," Sam said, no longer speaking to me but talking to Dean and Cas.

"Isn't it obvious? You all got the wrong girl," I pushed, hoping this would go away like a bad dream.

Cas got extremely close to my face and sniffed. "She smells like Crowley."

I frowned. "Uh...thanks?" I shook my head. "He was in my apartment."

"That wouldn't make you smell like him," Castiel said, frowning at me again. I wondered vaguely what his deal was.

Then I remembered something. "Oh."

"What?" Sam asked. "What is 'oh'?"

"My dad went traveling for a year--the year I was born, actually. My parents always assured me that they'd...you know, before he left and the timing was right and she didn't cheat. My mom had had a hard time getting pregnant so they always said I was a miracle but it was also weird that it took my dad leaving for her to finally get pregnant."

"But with Jesse, the demon stayed the whole pregnancy," Dean said.

"Woah, who's Jesse?"I demanded, not sure if I really wanted more information.

"He's a kid like you," Sam told me. I didn't really know what that meant but he didn't say it like it was a good thing.

"Where's he?" I prayed he wasn't dead...

"We don't...actually know." Sam seemed pretty bummed about this fact.

"I don't see Crowley being the type to stick around," Dean said.

"I have a question. I'm twenty-six. Why did it take so long for Crowley and you guys to come looking for me?"

"You're different than Jesse," Cas told me. "Your abilities don't seem to come naturally to you. It's as if you've never had a need for special powers so they've just stayed locked away your whole life."

"Well...yeah. I mean, why would I need special powers, exactly?" They all ignored my question.

"What if we could train her," Dean asked.

"I'm not a dog," I protested, to no avail.

"Damn," Dean said, leaning back in his chair, "she'd be cool."