Vengeance (Burning Beliefs #2)

Chapter Thirty-Three *edited*

GRACIE'S POV

It's strange how easily normalcy is tossed aside in the rapidity of our lives. One second, we're debating politics at dinner, the next, we're helping escaped innocents understand why their lives were toyed with.

Dean Winchester. He's a man of character, of strength, one who doesn't give up easily. In every battle, he was willing to fight to the death just to prove what he believed in. He's a traditionalist, in a sense, an impulsive person, whose quick-witted decisions either left him victorious or battle-scarred. With every path he's taken, he's taken it with dignity. And now, with his heart in his hands, that dignity might be all he has left.

The door clicks shut quietly behind me. Dean is standing on the opposite wall. He scoffs softly at the sight of me.

"Look at us now, Gracie Belle," he says, smiling bittersweetly. "Isn't it supposed to be me lecturing you?"

"Now you know how it feels," I say gently.

He doesn't bother to laugh. He runs his hands down his face and sighs deeply.

"How did Cas do it?" he mutters. "All of those years, living in secret, alone with Maddi. How did they not get caught?"

"My parents were very different than you and Amy," I say. "Mom and Dad are quiet, reserved, a little careless, but very cautious. You two, on the other hand, are needlessly selfless. You'd jump in front of a train for each other if you had to. In fact, you'd do that for any one of us."

"What are you getting at, Gracie?"

"I'm saying that you and Amy don't know how to stop being the heroes."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Sometimes."

He doesn't respond. He leans his head against the wall.

"This is ridiculous," he rolls his eyes. "I'm having a chick-flick moment with a twenty-five-year-old."

"Trust me, it's weird on my end, too," I say.

"I hate to say it, but I wish it was seven years ago," Dean admits. "All the time. The only shit we had to deal with was you and Serena being teenagers."

"Everyone of us wishes that. If I hadn't run away to Vegas, none of this would've happened."

"Why did we let seven years go by? Why did we let a damned day go by without each other?"

"Because then, Sam wouldn't have married Zephira," I say. "I wouldn't have gotten to have a baby. Dad wouldn't have gotten an extra seven years to live, since this one is supposedly his last. If we didn't go through the bad stuff, you would've never met Tinkerbell."

"I shouldn't have let her go with them," Dean sinks to the floor. "I should've made like Katniss and volunteered instead."

I somehow find a way to sit myself down on the ground.

"And I should've stopped talking to Lucas the second he first kissed me. It doesn't matter what we did. All we can do is fix it now."

"You sound like Goddamn Doctor Phil."

"Good, at least you're getting some kind of help. It's long overdue."

"Same goes to you, princess."

"Dean, quit pushing me away, it isn't helping the problem."

"Nothing is 'helping the problem'," he lowers his eyebrows and stares at a scratch in the cement. "Cas is killing himself, Serena's long gone, Sammy's heart is broken due to his witch wife giving herself up to another man, Zach is a lost cause, you can't keep yourself away from obvious red flags, and the Angels are doing God knows what to Amy."