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chapter seven:
⤹⤵︎
⤷THE SIMPLER TIMES⤶

❝ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴍʏ ᴡᴀʏs ❞

❝ ᴏғ ᴄᴏᴜʀsᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ❞

❏❐❑

"1 . . . 2 . . . 3 AND shoot!"

A gun fired in the once echoing silence of the grassy surroundings. It was a warm and sunny day, with the bright blue cloudless sky and vibrant green grass swaying in the invisible wind.

"Nice shot, Ei!" A man's voice rang out, disrupting the loud bang that had erupted in the air. "If you continue like that, you'll be trained in no time." He spoke with a proud tone, motioning to how every beer bottle had been shattered to pieces. As well as the makeshift target board, all the important areas had been shot, now with dark bullet holes showing all the way through.

"Thanks," the brunette replied with a look towards the older man. "I learned from the best."

He chuckled, hair falling in his eyes slightly before sweeping it away with a ring adorned hand. "You flatter me, Eirene, truly. Let's just get back before your mother has our heads."

Eirene laughed and sent her father a wide smile in response. It only grew as he put an arm around her shoulder and pulled the woman into his side, leaving the empty bullet shells and glass remains as a reminder of their time spent together.

✵

A BRIGHT white light flashing from a camera instantaneously lightens the room. Eirene winced as it met her eyes. When the black glass object was moved down, a recognisable face appeared from behind it.

Immediately, a grin was brought upon the brunette's tanned face. "Sam, what are you doing?" she questioned with a reprimanding gaze. However, nothing in her tone of voice suggested she was even the slightest bit mad.

Sam chuckled lightly before motioning for some unknown signal. Almost instantly, people started jumping out from every corner in the room imaginable. It was safe to say that she was surprised.

"Happy Birthday!" They all cheered simultaneously.

Eirene laughed at the situation, feeling nothing but pride for her best friend. She didn't know how he'd managed to pull all of this off but found that she certainly wasn't complaining. It had been two years since the demise of her parents and the disappearance of her little sister, so having to celebrate for the first time in a while was actually nice, even if she had never told the man her birthday. Knowing that Sam was, in fact, a hunter, only reassured her thoughts. He'd probably weasled it out of somebody somehow.

"How'd you manage to do all of this so fast?" Eirene questioned the shaggy haired man whilst walking over to him.

Sam merely shrugged with his hands in his pocket. "I have my ways."

Eirene nodded. "Of course you do. And these ways don't have anything to do with a certain blonde, do they?" The college student asked whilst gesturing to Jessica, who seemed to reprimanding Luis, who had tried to get a taste of the cake as it went past him in the hands of a fellow party goer.

Sam, knowing he'd been caught out, just shrugged once more, and before Eirene could say a single word, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along to the rest of the group to celebrate.

✵

"OKAY, WHAT is so important you couldn't tell me with everyone else?" The woman inquired with her arms folded across her chest.

Sam rubbed his hand against the back of his head in a shy manner before producing a small cube shaped box from his jean pocket. "I just wanted to give this to you between just us. In private, you know?" And with that, he put his hand forward in motion for his friend to grab it. Eirene frowned slightly in confusion but reached for it anyway. Not looking away from his hesitant gaze, she opened the box and was shocked to see what was inside.

Peering back up to him, Eirene threw her arms around the man in appreciation. Startled, Sam hesitantly reciprocated the forced action. "I take it you like it then."

The hunter pulled herself away with a teasing grin ever present on her face. "Like it? Are you kidding me, Sam? I love it!"

"I'm glad. Jess helped me pick it out." He admitted sheepishly, not knowing the first thing about women's jewellery.

"Oh well, I'll have to thank her then." she teased playfully. Sam, however, just stood there stunned.

Eirene laughed to herself before hitting him on the shoulder to regain his attention. "C'mon, I'm sure everyone's wondering where we've got to." And with that, the best friend duo found themselves hurrying back to the group with large smiles and bright eyes.

✵

THE SOUND of heavy metal rock blaring through the impalas tape decked immediately awakening the two sleeping hunters. Sam instantly jolted up and hit his head on the car roof due to the sudden action whilst Eirene sat up from her spread out position in the back ( of which she'd forced the brothers to let her have ) and nearly rolled off completely.

Not too happy at the motion of being rudely woken up, Eirene sent the older Winchester brother a glare while situating herself upright as Sam rubbed his head in pain. Dean only chuckled and reached forward to turn the music down to a lower volume ( much to the pleasure of the younger two hunters ).

"Nice sleep?" he asked them both with a cocky grin on his face. Sam only sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger in annoyance, not looking forward to dealing with his brother's antics so early in the morning.

"It was great until you decided to wake up the whole world with your loud music, which is just awful, by the way."

Instantly, the smirk melted off his features, and it was replaced with an offended frown. "My music is great, I'll have you know." He said in a low tone while making eye contact with her in the car mirror sitting between him and Sam.

Eirene merely scoffed at his words. By now, Sam had left the vehicle and went into the motel they were parked outside to get a room for them all, desperately wanting to escape the awaiting argument that was bound to ensue between the two hot headed individuals. "And I'll have you know that my music taste is far superior to your heavy metal rock crap."

"First of, it's classic rock," be calmly stated while pointing back to her as he swivelled his body around as much as he could in his seat. "So get it right. And secondly, it's amazing."

The brunette scoffed once more, which made the man roll his eyes. "Oh please, what do you listen to, the pussycat dolls?" Dean mused with a
sly leer.

"As if. Do you really think that low of me, Winchester?"

"I could never think low of you, Blackwell." He spoke in a rather serious tone.

Eirene's eyes snapped to his and had only just begun forming the words of what she could possibly say to that when Sam rapped on the glass window in order to get their attention, obviously not knowing how he'd interrupted the rather awkward yet intimate moment shared between his older brother and best friend.

✵

AFTER THE death of her parents, Eirene often found herself wanting to leave the house as soon as possible. The walls were still tinted a light red from all of the dark crimson blood that had been spilt that fateful night. The woman found herself ever grateful that she'd bumped into Sam winchester the night of the college party. Ever since then, the brunette had something to distract herself with. Whether it was doing something ridiculously stupid with Sam, Jessica, and Luis or searching for a new hunt with Dean. However, after a couple of hunts, nothing strange had been happening, and the trio had found themselves empty - handed. So, they'd been staying at a nearby motel. It wasn't the nicest, but it'd do for now. And that was all Eirene could ask for. Something stable for the time being.

It didn't last for long, however, as she soon found herself being plagued by constant nightmares. They had been a reoccurring thing before she'd met Sam but had stopped for a while. Now it seemed they'd made a reappearance. It was always the same thing. Her actually being in her house the night her parents were murdered and sister taken. They were begging and pleading for her to help them; but Eirene found she couldn't do anything. All the woman could do was watch as her parents were ripped to shreds. That's usually where they ended, and the hunter would wake up immediately after that. Tonight was one of those nights. So, Eirene, careful not to wake the brothers, put her jacket and shoes on whilst grabbing her knife and gun. After all, you could never be too careful. Especially with what she knew was out there.

Making one more quick glance towards the boys, the blue - eyed woman concluded that they were both in fact asleep. And with that, she pulled open the dingy motel door and walked out, bracing herself for the cold weather. Eirene didn't know where she was walking too, just that ut had to be far away, so neither brother nor any unsuspecting bystander heard the noise of a gunshot echoing through the still and chilly air.

The woman set it all up much like her father once did ( except Eirene found herself using rocks on high ledges and an old piece of cardboard she'd found and lent up like a target ). It wasn't ideal, but it'd have to do for now. Readying her gun, the hunter lifted it up and aimed it at the first rock before shooting. Almost immediately, it fell to the ground with a rapid force. Then, the next one and the next, one after the other before they were all laying stilly on the ground. She lowered her gun and stared at her work, proud of herself, yet slighlty pained at the familiar memory she used to share with her late father. The moment didn't last long, however, as a loud rustle and a quiet curse came from afar. Eirene didn't waste a moment before lifting the weapon once more and aimed it at the intrusion who clearly hadn't bothered to be quiet or stealthy.

"Who's there?" The brunette demanded in a sharp tone.

No response.

Moving closer, Eirene narrowed her eyes slightly. "I said, who's there? If you don't come out now, I'll shoot."

Again, there was no response. Well, not a verbal one, at least. The shadowy figure made themselves known as they walked forward and into the pale moonlight.

The woman scoffed and rolled her eyes while lowering her gun. Of course it was him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The man chuckled and stuffed his hands into his leather jacket pocket. His necklace that was lying against his shirt covered chest swinging slightly at the action. "Can't I follow a girl to make sure she's safe?"

She rolled her eyes once more. Dean Winchester sure knew how to get under her skin.

"I think you and I both know Winchester that I am far more capable of protecting myself than you'd like to admit, I'm hardly a damsel in distress." Eirene muttered bitterly as she once more aimed at the makeshift target and shot. The bullet went straight through the top where the head would usually have been. Then, she turned around to face the man. "That's usually you." she spoke with raised eyebrows and a wide teasing grin on her tanned features.

Dean just stood there in shock, only regaining her thoughts as she shoved past him to walk back to the motel. He turned around, chasing after her. "I'm not a damsel in distress!"

"Whatever you say, Winchester."

✵

"AND WILL that be all for you today?" The waitress questioned, leaning her weight on one side of her body with a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other to write down their orders.

"Yes, thank you." Sam replied before Dean could make any comment, knowing he probably was going to.

"You know Winchester, you might want to lay off the pie and burgers if you want to keep up your godly physique."

Sam looked to his friend and immediately tried to stiffle his laugh between his hands ( it didn't work ). Dean's mouth opened, then closed repeatedly much like that of a fish. As Sam's laughter increased Dean shot him a look as if to say 'shut the fuck up'

"I'm sorry but she's not wrong Dean." The younger brother supplied with a hesitant look.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He dismissed with a ring endorned hand.

It was then at that moment that the waitress swung open the doors and made her way over to the trio of hunters with their food, making Eirene peer to Dean once more. He just glared at her. Though even he knew that he could never be mad at the woman that was Eirene Blackwell.