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chapter eight:

⤵︎ ⤹
⤷ THE ANGER , THE GRIEF , AND THE HEARTBREAK ⤶

̔ ̔ IT JUST HURTS SO MUCH YOU KNOW THAT I COULDN'T PROTECT HER. ̓ ̓

̔ ̔ I KNOW SAM, I KNOW. ̓

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"HOW RECKLESS do you wanna be, Blackwell!?"

His loud words were angry. Very angry. They'd been on a hunt, and on a bad decision, Sam had gotten hurt. The man was alright, but nevertheless, Dean was still understandably livid.

Eirene scoffed. "Me, reckless? Don't kid yourself, Winchester."

This time, it was Dean who scoffed. It was a bitter sound and resonated through the quiet room and through an unconscious Winchester's ears.

"You almost got killed. Hell, you almost got Sam killed! What the hell were you thinking!?"

Eirene chuckled darkly before meeting his deep forest colour eyes of which once brought her a strange sense of comfort but now brought only dread. Pure dread. "What the hell was I thinking? I was thinking of a way to get us out of there. Alive!"

Before the brunette could have a chance to speak anymore, the hunter spoke up once more. "Yeah, well, you didn't do a very good job, did you?"

"What are you talking about? I saved us! If it weren't for me, we'd all be dead laying in a pool of our own blood, waiting for the next hunter to come along and find us!"

At that, the man slammed his hands on the rickety wooden table that stood nearest to them, and she winced. It groaned at the impact, and pieces of wood shavings flew off in turn. Eirene was sure she'd never seen Dean Winchester so mad. Well, not at her at least. Sure, she had screwed up. And yes, her plan was risky and had gotten Sam hurt, but at least they were all out alive. Surely, that's what mattered, right?

Wrong.

"Damnit, Eirene! That's not what I care about. What I care about is that my little brother is lying half dead in some crappy motel room."

Oh, that sure knocked the breath out of the woman. Had he always been this cold?

"Dean, I - I didn't know that was going to happen. I didn't mean for that to happen!" The female hunter defended. By now, there were soft silent tears streaming down her tanned face.

"Oh sure, you didn't. Just like what happened to your family. You couldn't save them in time either!"

Eirene's eyes widened in audible shock. However, it seemed like the man didn't care at all as he kept on going, even more hateful and spiteful words spewing out his mouth.

"What you couldn't protect your own family so you have to go and kill what's left of mine is that it!?"

"What!?" She managed to get out in a chocked sob. "You know that's not it at all! It was a mistake, alright. A dumb and stupid mistake, and I'll regret it for the rest of my life!"

Before another word could be spoken, a quiet groan came from behind the pair. Immediately, they both turned around simultaneously. Dean turned back to her and pointed a harsh finger in her face. "Don't think this changes anything, Blackwell." He warned with a cold, hard stare in his usually warm and teasing eyes. Nothing else was spoken from either of the hunters as Dean shoved past her and made his way to tend to his injured brother.

Maybe Dean was right. Death sure did seem to follow Eirene Blackwell.

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"WE ARE gathered here today to not mourn the death, but rather celebrate the life of Brian and Clarise Blackwell." The voice of the priest spoke, gathering everyone's attention. The family wasn't particularly religious, but a family friend had helped the brunette arrange it all. Eirene didn't know who it was, but his name was supposedly John. The man seemed nice enough and even had some children of his own. Apparently, this 'John' had known her father for a very long time, and they had even often gone hunting together. That's where they had met Eirene's mother on a hunting trip. However, after his wife's death, the pair had fallen out and not spoken since. That was until he'd heard news of their horrific deaths, that is. Now, along with the yellow eyed figure that had killed his wife, he was also after the werewolf that had killed his best friends.

"Among us are many close friends, fellow workers, and most importantly of all, family."

Immediately, all eyes fell upon the brunette woman. Eirene inwardly shrunk at everyone's leering and curious gaze. From what they'd heard, a rogue werewolf ( perhaps from another case long back? ) had broken into the Blackwell family home and had mutilated them all. Leaving two dead parents, one missing daughter, and the other mourning for what once was.

"Their deaths weren't in vain. And nor shall they be forgotten." The priest spoke with a loud solemn voice as all eyes were on him once more. Eirene drowned out the rest of what he said, not wanting to hear it. It wasn't every day a twenty - two year old woman had to listen to a death speech about her late beloved parents. It was all too much. Nobody spoke a word to the grieving hunter. Nobody being brave enough, too. That was until she felt a soft nudge on her shoulder. The woman in black turned around sharply, her hunter instincts coming into play. Though who or what on earth would want to talk to Eirene Blackwell at a time like this?

John Winchester, that's who.

"How're you holding up?" he questioned with an air of grief and carefulness. The man knew what she could be like and definitely didn't want to set the woman off at her own parents' funeral. What would they all think? Who would even dare to start a fight at the funeral of their family. Little did Eirene know she'd soon find out the answer to that just years later.

The brunette snifled slightly and glanced upwards shortly to the gloomy sky above. It had begun raining slightly, and most people were beginning to take cover. But not John and Eirene. No. They stood still by the fallen hunters' graves.

"As well as someone could after finding their parents dead and mutilated bodies." Was her reply. The words came out short and harsh even if it wasn't the brunette's intention.

John didn't say a word, but Eirene could see the sadness swimming in his deep blue eyes. Not only had she lost her parents, her role models, and the people who had literally taught her everything she knew, but he lost his best friends. And that was something neither of them could ignore.

The black haired man chuckled slightly, but it didn't sound too sincere. "I thought as much."

Eirene turned to him for the first time. She'd only ever really spoken to him over the phone, and even that was slightly awkward. She watched as he sighed out slightly in what she assumed to be pure grief and reached his left hand into his long black coat, pulling a small piece of paper out from an inside pocket. John then turned towards Eirene and handed it towards her. The brunette raised her eyebrows in confusion and chuckled lightly.

"What is this, your business
card?"

John laughed a deep laugh and met her eyes once more. "No, it's my number. It also has one of my boys' numbers on it, too." He pointed to the number below his scribbled hastily in black ink. "Just in case you're ever in trouble or need
help with a case. If you ever need
one of us just give one of 'em a call and we'll come running."

The brunette smiled at the blue-eyed man with a tight-lipped smile. "Thanks."

John returned the gesture and began walking away to a car parked off to the side. All of the seats were empty aside from a tall figure in the front seat. She couldn't see much except from the fact that he had the most magnificent green eyes she'd ever seen. The woman suddenly remembered where she was and internally cursed herself. She was literally at her parents' funeral, and here she was finding herself unusually attracted to man in the drivers seat of John Winchester's car. It was pathetic.

Time and place Eirene, she told herself. Time and place.

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VERITY BLACKWELL was an ordinarily calm woman. But after
she'd heard of what had happened to her aunt and uncle she'd immediately rushed to her cousin's side. After all, losing your family members was incredibly tough. She'd know.

Verity and Eirene were never very close as they grew up two very different lives. While Eirene practically grew up as a hunter, the brown haired woman had been distanced from it all until she was 15. It'd been seven years since that day.

Now, she was a very skilled hunter, and her name was pretty well known throughout the hunting world. If the werewolves caught word that a certain Blackwell was in town, they'd return to their homes. If some vampires came out for a midnight snack, they'd immediately go back to looming in the shadows and cowering in the dark. And if some demons were up to no good, well, it was safe to say that they wouldn't be a problem for much longer.

So, all in all, Verity always looked up to Eirene despite her only being a few years older than herself. The pair had reconnected hugely after the incident and found themselves having lots in common. For example, they were both incredibly into fashion and enjoyed being in the loop for the newest trends ( though it was rather difficult to do so as a full-time hunter ), they were both rather skilled in hand to hand combat ( which Eirene found especially came in handy on a tough hunt or when a guy got a little too handy for her liking ). Finally, Verity and Eirene enjoyed drinking. From wine to vodka, the pair simply couldn't get enough and often found themselves drunk out of their minds in Verity's small apartment ( which was conveniently to close a bar that was only down the road from the building which Eirene found herself going in far too often after the death of her parents ).

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JESSICA MOORE'S funeral was the second funeral the brunette hunter had attended. It was way worse than her parents. This time, it was filled to the brim with people and not because of the so-called family business. It had family, friends, fellow college students, and more. By now, Eirene had gotten used to the speech the priest would say and had drowned it all out as soft sniffles and cries echoed throughout the graveyard once more. Jessica's grave was not far away from her own parents' grave. Hers, of course, was filled to the brim with all sorts of flowers and cards from everyone thay knew the blonde. However, as sweet as it all was, only two people at the entire funeral knew what really happened to Jessica that fateful night. And it was utterly heart-wrenching. It broke Sam and Eirene's heart as they watched the last rose fall. It broke their hearts as the first lump of soil was dumped on top of the lid of her coffin. And it broke their hearts as it was lowered to the ground with a thud!

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AFTER THE main part of the funeral was over, Sam and Eirene headed back to the church. Neither of them were ever interested in the concept of religion but found that now seemed the perfect time to start. Though it seemed like God wasn't on their side to begin with.

Sam let out a deep sigh as he rubbed his tired eyes from the tears that constantly seemed to fall from his eyes. Eirene peered over to him and grabbed his hand to offer him some sort of support. Of course, she hadn't known Jessica as long as Sam had, but they'd become incredibly close in the time that they'd known each other, so the loss was extremely difficult for her.

"It just hurts so much you know that I couldn't protect her." Sam spoke. The black tie of his suit was now loosened, and his jacket crumpled.

"I know, Sam. I know." The hunter reassured as she looked into his eyes. As much as she was hurting, she knew she had to be strong for him, for Sam. And so, Eirene held Sam in her arms as more tears were spilt and memories shared of the beautiful blonde woman whom they had both lost.

After all, death really did seem to follow Eirene Blackwell . . .

Ty for the lovely thewhitehart for the following gifs of my favourite sweethearts !! <33