Return of Winchester

Chapter 1 Wound Care and Windigos

Pine needles crunched under Daniella Taylor's boots. She gripped the makeshift flame thrower in her right hand and a lighter in the other. Slowing her breath she listened intensely becoming hyper-aware of every sound around her. Her arm ached. She allowed herself a moment to glance down at the gash on her arm blood was still seeping slowly out of it. Her head shot up at the voice bellowed through the trees.

"DANI! DANI!" Came Sam's voice.

Dani kept her feet firmly planted. The voice came again and again. Then stopped. She still didn't move. The forest was left in compleat silence except for the slight breeze clashing the treetops together. Not even birds could be heard. A shiver shot up her spine. On pure instinct, she whirled around and shot out a pillar of flame at the huge creature that was diving for her. She ducked rolling out of the way as its lanky body hit the earth. Flames licked at the pale skin. It writhed in pain until its body rapidly turned to ash. Dani groaned she pressed her hand to the wound on her arm. She sat on the damp forest floor for a second before hauling herself to her feet. She started to run the branches whipping at her face. She came to the mouth of a cave slowing her pace as her feet made contact with the slippery rock. Her torch lit up the area as she picked her way through the cave until the tunnel opened up.

"SAM?" Her voice echoed off the wet rock. "SAM?"

She came round the next bend and came face to face with Sam. His arms were tied up above his head. His feet were hovering just ground. Sam's head lulled. Dani brushed the hair from his face and lifted his head.

"Sam?! Sam?! Hey Uncle Sam." Dani patted the side of his face. His eyelids fluttered a little. "Sam come on you gotta wake up for me okay. I need you to be able to walk."

Sam's eyes opened but they were bleary. It took a good couple of minutes for him to focus.

"Dani?" He finally said.

"Yeah, it's me."

"The Windigo-?"

"Dead, I got it back in the forest. Do you think you can stand if I cut these ropes?"

Sam nodded weakly. Dani pulled a knife from her knee-high boots. She jumped up gripping the rope so she was hanging from it. She was too short to reach it from the ground. She sawed at the binding until she could see the fibres fraying on their own. She dropped down and waited for the rest to snap. Sam lurched forward as his feet hit the cave floor. Dani caught him just in time to right himself. The two hobbled out of the cave after a semi-successful hunt.

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Daniella sprawled out on the sofa in the musty motel room. She let her head tip back to rest on the arm of the sofa letting out a relieved sigh. Sam smiled at the dramatic action as he chucked his jacket onto the bed.

"Do you think windigos will ever get slower?"

"It would make our lives a lot easier wouldn't it?"

"Yup." She said popping the P.

It had been five months since Sam had walked into the Lazy Dayz Diner. He and Dani had been going on hunts and meeting up on a semi-regular basis since then. The two had grown closer pretty quickly. There were still things that neither of them was ready to tell the other yet. As much as Sam knew about Dani's life now, he still didn't know much about her life before her mom Jewel's death or before she was adopted. Sam understood her hesitance, her life hadn't been easy, hell she was a hunter. When is a hunter's life ever easy? He could see the longing looks that flitted across Dani's face whenever Dean was brought up. He hadn't told her much about her father which he felt guilty about but Dani never pushed. It had amazed him just how intuitive Dani was to other people's emotions. She could take one look at someone even someone she had never even met before and know exactly what they were feeling. She could tell that things were still too painful to talk about.

Sam's phone started to ring making the pair jump. The adrenaline from the hunt still had them both on alert.

"It's Jody," Sam said answering the call.

Dani pulled her phone from her pocket. There were three unread messages in her mailbox all from Jason.

Jason: Hey! how's the hunt?

Jason: Text me when you're safe 😊

Jason: Will you be back for Movie Milkshake Monday?

Dani smiled a little.

Dani: Back at the motel. Windigo is ash. Will definitely be back for Movie Milkshake Monday. Dude, it's me I wouldn't miss it. 😉

She looked up to see Sam smiling at something Jody was saying.

"Yeah, she's here." He said looking back at her.

"HEY JODY," Dani called.

Jody's voice rung out louder from the phone as Sam switched it to speaker.

"Hi, Dani! How you doin' hun?"

"I'm doing good."

"That's good. When am I going to get to meet you in person?"

"I'm not sure I've got some shifts at the diner coming up so I have to get back, But we do need to plan something."

Jody and Dani had talked over the phone for the past few months. Jody had been desperate to meet her from the moment she found out about Dean's child. Sam flicked off the speaker and brought the phone back to his ear.

"Yeah, thanks, Jody. We're gonna go and get patched up...Yeah you too. Bye." When Sam put the phone down he spotted Dani smiling down at her phone. "When are you gonna grow a pair and ask him out already?" He asked knowingly.

"Well first of all I don't need to grow a pair cos we women are brave enough all on our own without "A pair" She made air quotes. "And two I'll ask Jason out when you talk to Elieen. How about that?"

"That's not the same thing."

"Isn't it. It kinda sounds like the same thing to me."

Sam shrugged and pulled the first aid kit from his duffle bag.

"Okay stop calling me out. Take off your jacket let me see your arm." He nudged her feet making her swivel to allow him to sit down next to her. He helped her pull the jacket from her shoulders. Sam cringed when he saw the cut. "It really got you didn't it. Damn it. I should have been there." Sam hissed more forcefully than he meant to.

"Sam it's not your fault these things happen. Do I need to call Jody back to talk you out of another spiral?"

Sam had instantly been protective of Dani on hunts so much so that he had almost gotten himself injured multiple times. It wasn't that he thought she couldn't handle herself, she could. She was viper fast and had some of the best instincts that he had ever seen but still, It took Dani lecturing him and a few calls to Jody to get him to relax a bit. But it was something he still struggled with.

"No, no I get it. I'll chill out. You went on plenty of hunts on your own before I showed up."

"Exactly."

Daniella squirmed a little as Sam gently pried apart the edges of the gash.

"It's not too bad but you'll need stitches though and cleaning it out is gonna suck there's a lot of dirt in here."

"Yeah, I had to roll out of the way when the Windigo came at me. Must have rolled over it."

Sam poured diluted peroxide over the wound. Dani bit the fabric of her sleeve."Son of a Bitch!" She muttered. 

"Yeah, I know. I'll be as quick as I can." Sadness washed over Sam's face. Dani didn't use the curse often but when she did it just reminded Sam of Dean and everything he was missing out on with Dani. Sam didn't know if Dean would have accepted Dani into his life. He hoped he would have. She had become a bright spot in Sam's life and in a way given him something worth living for. He would have hoped that Dani could have been that for Dean too. 

AN: So the first part of book 2 is done. Wooo! Might not get another one for a while I've got some assignments due, but after that, I'm on break for a while so should be writing a bit more. Hope you like this part.

Meg💙💋❤️