The Water Bearer

Ellie sat in a corner of the bunker library, surrounded by silence, her computer in her lap. The only sound to be heard was the tapping of her fingers on the keyboard and her quiet, shallow breaths. The bunker seemed colder than usual due to the lack of bodies; even the drywall against her back felt like ice. Nonetheless, she hugged her laptop closer and continued her research. Ellie liked this particular corner of the library because it was encased in bookshelves on nearly every side. It made the bunker feel less enormous, and thus made her feel a little less lonesome.

Sam and Dean were on the other side of the world in Norway, busy retrieving Castiel and his grace along with him. Ellie longed to go with them - reduced herself to begging, even - but they all knew she was still in too bad of shape to be hunting again. Her bandages still had to be changed, and she was still getting winded from the slightest movement. She was weak, but none had the heart to say it.

Ellie didn't hardly mind her ailments when she had their company. Sam would sit beside her in the library and they'd pour over old books together. Dean would make them breakfast every morning. She missed them, missed waking up to their voices in the halls. But more than anything, she missed the distraction they provided.

Truthfully, without the Winchesters she was more bored than lonesome. Her body ached to leave this place. Her skin was desperate for sunlight, her feet eager to run, her fingers anxious to pull a trigger once more. The hunter in her was practically screaming for release. She often thought of stealing one of the cars in the garage, making her getaway to take down some vamp nest, but Dean had thought of that already. He had taken all of the many keys with him to Norway, leaving Ellie stranded with her stubbornness.

Suddenly, the sound of a phone ringing broke the silence.

Ellie lept up from the library floor, getting her headphones tangled around her as she did. She ripped them off in a flurry and ran to the kitchen where the sound originated. Her socks caused her to slide across the floor.

"It's about damn time you called," Ellie answered the phone, assuming it was Dean, reporting from Norway.

"Who is this?" A woman's voice answered on the other line.

"Um, who is THIS?" Ellie asked the woman, perplexed.

"This is Sheriff Jody Mills, I'm calling for Dean."

"Jody Mills, where have I heard that name..." Ellie mumbled to herself, combing her mind for some of the stories the Winchesters told her on their way to Argentina. "Well Dean is in Norway right now, but this is Ellie Harper speaking, I can probably take a message. Which I'll give to him whenever he decides to pick up the damn phone."

"Just tell him I got a lead on one of the astrologicals he told me to look out for." Jody's voice seemed to echo on the other line and caused Ellie to freeze where she was, somewhat taken aback by hearing the word "astrological" after what seemed like forever. She smiled to herself.

"He didn't...." Ellie said to herself, beaming ear-to-ear because she already knew there was a case in her hands. "You're a hunter, aren't you? And Dean told you to keep an eye out for signs of the astrologicals, didn't he?"

"Ah, and you must be the friend who he put that out for," Jody concluded.

"That would be me. What've you got for me, Sheriff?" Ellie asked gleefully as she leaned over the kitchen counter.

"Popular hot springs location recently shut down due to several bodies turning up, pretty gruesomely mutilated. People go missing there every year but these are the first bodies we've found."

"Aquarius, getting sloppy," Ellie laughed a bit as she opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a stack of sticky notes and a pencil. "This would not be my first run-in with him. It's nearing the end of his time though, I'm surprised he turned up this late. And which hot springs did you say this was?"