Zombie (Raven and Winchesters)

Charlotte had informed Raven of the two 'Hunters' she had encountered before.

Due to the nature of her powers she thought that it would only be a matter of time before they sought her out to help them in some predicament that they were having. After all in their line of work many of the people that they were close with would die - it is only natural that afterwards they would wish they would be brought back to life.

It was strange that they had left her alone if she was honest with herself, Raven would have thought that someone like her would have been top of their list as a demon wannabe or something like that.

Deciding not to look the gift horse in the mouth, Raven was busy going about one of her rituals, it was merely to focus her energy into the already living people that she had living with her in the Asylum. If you could call them living that is. The proper term would have more likely been 'Zombies' bringing back souls was so tricky and too much fuss.

Why bother when she had her very own henchmen to do whatever she wanted and be her cannon fodder when she decided to fight?

Sitting on the floor, in the center of the large circle she had drawn, Raven closed her eyes, and focused on the scent of the burning sage around her. There were lots of spirits who had a bone to pick with her after all.

Sam had been hiding out for a lack of a better term. But to be honest he had been hiding himself from his own massive addiction to the power and sensation of being high on demon's blood. And then Castiel had shown up just as Sam was getting himself all ready to once again become a Hunter and help out Dean.

Castiel had popped into his motel room to tell him about something... just too weird.

"Zombies?" he asked the angel as he checked around the corner, seeing one of the shuffling corpses just wandering around aimlessly, "You have got to be kidding me... you didn't tell me that there would be zombies!"

Of course Sam neglected to mention he had never heard anything factual about zombies in any of the books he'd read. He had a reputation as 'the smart one' to uphold here after all! Sighing a little bit, he snuck forwards and managed to get to the next door along, across the corridor. Before the zombie could turn and spot them, Sam let both himself and Castiel into the room before closing the door.

He almost immediately smelt sage in the room and got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned, shotgun still in his hands, and spotted a woman in black sat in the center of a large circle of runes,

"My luck really isn't lasting today..."

Castiel had come to Sam to help him with a problem he had encountered.

He had gone to Dean first but the older Winchester brother had adamantly refused to believe that "dead vessels without souls" was anything other than code for "zombies" and either Castiel had developed a sense of humour (he had checked and found it unlikely) or the zombies were real. In either event, Dean had refused to accompany him so he had been forced to seek out the reclusive Sam Winchester instead.

Although he was mildly annoyed that they were sneaking around,

"Why do we not simply ask the summoner their intentions by alerting their guards?" he asked quietly as they stood at the corner, "But please... they are vessels without souls. Not zombies."

Moving behind Sam, Castiel got through the door as well but unlike Sam he immediately spotted the woman dressed in black sat in the runic circle. He tilted his head from side to side before realising that this woman was who had had thought she was,

"Raven Drake..." he spoke with a confused expression, "I did not know that you had relocated to America. It was believed your living arrangements were in either Great Britain or Germany."

Raven was alerted to new presences in her asylum.

The vessels were stirring and they would not do that for anything other than their systems sensing new presences. A presence that was not her own or that of another vessel.

So she had in fact stopped her ritual so that she could move freely when they did appear to her, because no doubt they were here to speak to her. Either that or they were young teenagers here to try and fuck in a dark room and get off on the fact that this place was a creepy one, and that it was most likely 'haunted'.

As the door to the room opened, Raven opened her eyes and they swam with blackness like it was oil dropped into a pitcher of water. Not bothering to turn just yet to see who it was, Raven merely continued to sit in the middle of her circle, her fingers very slowly clenching and unclenching around her razor.

"I'm on a road trip." she elaborated, cracking a wicked smile before gracefully rising to her feet and turning, in one fluid motion to face the two intruders "I have no great sensation of joy being in the country of the Big Mac and Mobility scooter I must say." Raven admitted with a dry chuckle.

Crossing her arms around her chest, she let one hand loose and it showed quite clearly her blade within her hand;

"Hello there Sammy." she smirked, taking in the appearance of the young Winchester "My friend has told me a lot about you. She doesn't like you much."

Sam was honestly more than a little bit angry when Castiel seemed to know this woman. So basically he had been dragged along to be some kind of meat-shield! He never really would have pegged Castiel as the kind to do that but it seems that it took all sorts to make up assholes. Then again maybe he only recognised the woman by standing so close to her.

After all, how many people had black eyes?

Oh yeah that's right... people possessed by demons!

But Castiel didn't seem to be hostile towards he so he was going to guess that the woman wasn't being possessed by a demon but was something else. And he really hoped that Castiel or the woman explained it rather quickly. When she turned her attention onto him he chuckled nervously,

"Um... hello there Raven." he greeted her back rather uncertainly, "I'm er.... I'm sorry I didn't make the right impression on your friend."

He paused as he thought about something,

"Does that mean you don't like me either?"

Castiel had not expected to find one of Raven's kind within the walls of this building but to be honest it made quite a bit of sense. Raven was unique even amongst the "Spellcasters" because she was a necromancer and was quite adept at bringing people, and other things, back to life with her own unique brand of magic.

She had been an enemy of both Heaven and Hell at times but right now she was deemed officially neutral by Heaven. That meant that Castiel would be allowed to approach her even if he had not gone rogue from Heaven,

"You have a sense of humour... this complicates things." he declared without blinking, "A road trip? Why would you seek to travel across the united states when such a large demonic invasion is occurring? I assume you can feel their presence..."

Seeing Sam looking rather blank he decided to helpfully supply,

"Raven is one of the Spellcasters, as you and Dean call them." he explained before humming, "She is friends with your acquaintance Charlotte Matthews... you left a negative impression on your young lady?"

Raven looked at Sam Winchester and she could sense a darkness within him, she enjoyed knowing that one of these whiter than snow hunters was actually more demon than human when it came down to it. Perhaps he could be tempted to carve a path like the one that she was taking at this moment in time.

Although, he quite obviously did not have the aptitude for magic and therefore, it was quite a vein hope indeed.

"I quite enjoy making my own mind up about character." she stated with a smirk playing on her lips "You seem to be more than what you appear to be, Sam. Perhaps I shall have to see what all the fuss is about."

Stalking closer to the two men, Raven tilted her head to one side and slipped the blade out of her razor, pressing it languidly against her cheek; "You seem to enjoy blood just as much as I do, if the voices are correct as they often are, in fact."

Delicately she raised an eyebrow when the other man, seemed to think that having a sense of humour was a problem. He seemed even stranger than Sam. He had a pure aura about him and an aura of power. It made her a little bit wary of him, she wasn't about to let her guard down.

"Don't you think that might be a reason why I'm here in the first place?" she asked with a smirk "Besides, I have my own problems back home. What is it I can do for you, need someone bringing back onto this plane of existence?"

Sam had to say that receiving all of the attention of someone he knew to be able to summon zombies was bad. Being on the receiving end of all the attention given by a Spellcaster who's friend disliked him? Well that was just not fair!

How did this kind of shit keep happening to him? Surely Dean could pick up some of the slack too? After all, he couldn't keep using the "been to hell" excuse as a way of guilting Karma into being nice to him forever could he? Knowing his brother, he'd try,

"Well that's a relief." he admitted with a little chuckle before raising an eyebrow, "More than I appear to be? Well I'm not sure what else I would be... I'm just Sam after all. Hunter and brother and not a whole lot else."

When she slipped the blade of her razor out his eyes widened and he held his shotgun tightly before swallowing thickly when she pressed it against herself. When she commented on his enjoyment of blood he winced before gritting his teeth,

"That part of my life... that addiction is something I'm dealing with." he explained to her quietly, "I... I won't give in and have any more blood."

Castiel didn't like the way that this spellcaster felt to him... she felt kind of dark. But it was the kind of dark that came with involuntary darkness. Like she had been driven mad and the madness was what had spawned the darkness within her very soul. Or something like that at least, he wasn't able to closely examine her soul.

He stepped closer to her when she stepped closer to them. Mainly because Sam looked rather nervous and it was his duty as an angel to protect the scared and the helpless. And against this woman he believed Sam to be rather helpless,

"You are interested in Sam because of his demonic interactions, addiction and potential heritage... correct?" he asked her a little bit bluntly before humming, "I admit... it is interesting."

When she said the demons might be why she was here he hummed,

"Then you are in for a surprise... you are not needed to fight them and aiding them would give you Heaven as an enemy." he told her honestly before humming and glancing at Sam. "He appears to have not heard you... but I believe he wishes to have his father back."

Raven laughed softly when she heard Sam say that he was just 'Sam' he was just a hunter and a brother to Dean. Of course they both knew that wasn't true and that he was more than that in fact. Maybe he was in denial? That was probably it, she had been in denial a lot when she had been formed and created but she had accepted it now. Raven was going to hell for sure and had decided she was going to just enjoy the ride.

Maybe Sam should just enjoy the ride too? He had liked being on the demon blood the power he had gotten from it surely?

"Of course 'Just Sam'." Raven purred "If that's what you want to admit that you are, limiting your potential to something so domestic and human, you are quite uninteresting to me, if that is the case."

Waving her hand at the other man to dismiss what he was saying, Raven was inside rather surprised that she didn't already have Heaven as an enemy actually. It was not like she had been as good as gold and better these last few years, or rather, the last few decades she had been alive. 20 years of carnage wasn't bad.

"Could it ever just be that I fancied a change of scene and I have my own problems, why must the world always revolve around you and what your agenda is?" she asked with a scowl, her lip raising in a snarl.

Unable to stop a rather loud manic laugh, Raven clutched at her knees while she rode it out and wiped at her eyes;

"Oh that's classic. Why on earth would I do that? If I'm remaining neutral I'm sure as fuck not raising a guy out of Hell that would piss off every powerful demon down there." closing up her razor Raven gestured at the door "If that was all."

Sam didn't like this... this feeling was telling him that Raven would be a lot more interested in him if he was high on Demon's blood. But he knew he wouldn't be able to control it and so he refused to let himself take any. How could he take any after all? If he took some then he would lose control of himself and become someone else entirely. And he didn't like that thought one bit, not when he wasn't sure what Raven would do with him all hyped up on demon's blood.

He shook his head a little bit,

"I'm... I'm just Sam." he told her again with gritted teeth, "I might have been a bit messed up by the Yellow eyed demon but that doesn't mean I'm any less human. Right Cas?"

Demonic heritage.

Castiel had basically just said that there was a very real chance that he was actually a demon, or at least demonic, by birth. He swallowed thickly at the implication and tried to move along with the conversation.

It proved easier when he realised she had offered to bring back his dad,

"Wait... Raven wait!" he told her before taking a deep breath, "If I take demon's blood and help you out if you need me to... would you reconsider saving my dad?"

Castiel paused and made a small expression that was a mix between a grimace and a frown. He hadn't meant to mention that to Sam but it seemed that he had done so and now the cat was out of the bag big time. He sighed a little bit. He didn't know how he was going to explain to the Winchester brothers what this meant.

He was in for a lot of evil eyes from Dean too for this.

Turning to Raven, he shrugged a little bit at her hostility,

"It is perfectly possible but you cannot expect an angel to only ask once when it might prove to be either an advantage or disadvantage for his side." he explained to her before blinking a little bit and turning to Sam, "I was not supposed to tell her that I am an angel of the Lord am I? This lying is harder than anticipated..."

He shook his head a little bit when Sam offered to take demon's blood for his father's soul,

"It is useless Sam. She's too afraid of the demons to take such a deal."

Raven merely raised her eyebrow when she heard that Sam wanted to take demon blood so that she would actually bring his dad back. No amount of demon blood poured down Sam's throat would make her want to mess with the demons holding the Winchester hostage down in Hell. Not when she had nobody to back her up here.

She might have been crazy but she was not suicidal.

"My apologies Sam, but I cannot resurrect your father." she stated with a softer smile on her lips "You will have your father that is true, but he will not be the same, you will be distraught and I will have a horde of angry demons on my tail. It is simply not worth it."

When the angel as she now knew, Castiel, said that she was too scared it made her twitch a little inside. It was sad though that many people had tried to use that baiting technique in order to get her to do what they wanted her to. It had worked the first few times but now, now it just irritated her and made her less inclined to help.

"You are correct." Raven hummed, stroking her long pale fingers along a nearby dusty cabinet "You would be foolish not to fear the demons that would be seeking revenge, if you would take such a deal angel then you are then a fool."

Quirking her eyebrow upwards she stopped and leant against the cabinet that she had stroked just beforehand;

"So once again I must decline your rather pathetic offer of drinking demon blood and caving your resolve. If you had bothered to research me angel, or develop a caring bone in your vessel, you would realise that I have been more than scared enough in my lifetime. I do not desire to be persued again."

Sam was, for lack of a better term, devastated.

Here was someone who could bring back his father but was refusing to do so. And the worst part was... he couldn't fault her for doing so. She had good reasons as to why she wouldn't be able to do it and him taking demons blood to be more interesting wasn't going to be enough for her he knew now. Not when there was demons of true power holding his dad hostage down in hell.

He swallowed thickly before smiling at her softly,

"Thank you though." he told her with a soft whisper, "Thank you for even thinking about it, I realise now that what I was asking of you was too much to ask."

And, of course, Castiel was baiting her!

But if the look in Castiel's eye was anything to go by then he was taunting her not on purpose but more because he had no idea what the hell anything he was saying could actually mean. Sam sighed a little bit,

"You should ignore him a lot." he advised her, "He seems to have been dropped on his head a lot as a child angel..."

He sighed a little bit before turning away from them both for a few moments. After that he turned back to Raven with a small smile,

"So what sights you planning to see on this road trip?"

Castiel hummed a little bit before turning to Sam with a small frown. The boy seemed to be mad at him for some reason. Or was he mad? He had to make sure he knew whether or not Sam Winchester was mad at him or not,

"Sam... are you mad? You're mad aren't you...?" he paused for a moment before asking, "Is this because I told Raven that you might be part demon before telling you? It is isn't it?"

Shaking his head a little bit, he hummed simply when Raven told him that she was actually afraid of all the demons that would come after her for rescuing John Winchester from Hell. Well he could respect her for not lying to make herself seem cooler, that was one thing.

He smiled slightly,

"But at least it would be the right thing to do." he told her with a small smile before humming slightly, "But I too am curious as to what stops you will be making upon this road trip of yours... are you to visit Charlotte Matthews at all? Because if you are then Dean would like me to ask you to invite her to dinner on Dean's behalf."

Raven could tell that Sam was devastated, she too was devastated when people she loved had passed away and yes she had tried to resurrect them and things had not gone as she had hoped. She had learnt from experience that it was never good to resurrect people that you loved because they were never the same after a while they grew cold and they grew angry.

Some souls however did not seem to do that and Raven was always keen to rescue them if she could do so.

"You are welcome Sam. It is a tall order to ask a stranger to put themselves in certain danger for you, and give them no good reason why they should." she stated with a small smirk on her lips, slipping her hands into the pockets of her overcoat to warm them slightly, the air around her was cold - a spirit was nearby.

Letting out a chuckle of laughter, Raven shook her head; "That does seem to be the case, I thought that he was somewhat autistic for a minute, not being able to detect humour and well...being as he is. However do you deal with him on a day to day basis?"

Raven raised her eyebrow and found that she was beginning to get irritated immensely by the angel.

"This 'Dean' can ask Charlotte out on his own time." she growled "I'm aiming down to New Orleans, the witching capital." Raven smirked, ruffling a hand through her hair "Maybe stop off at Disney world, do some terrorising."

Castiel spun around and looked around the room with an uncharacteristic look on his face; a serious look that showed his keen intelligence. He looked around the room a few more times before turning to Raven.

He paused for a moment before speaking,

"There appears to be a spirit trying to manifest in the room... but you already knew that didn't you Raven?" he asked her before humming a little bit, "It makes sense that more would follow you as well."

He hummed as he picked up the sage and began to chant as he knocked it against several places along the wall.

Satisfied with his work, he opened his mouth in surprise,

"You wish to see the world of Disney? It isn't that fun... it's full of lies! Some of those rides have nothing to do with historic accuracy!"

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Sam nodded in agreement when she recognised that it was a very tall order for someone who had no connection to the deceased and only a very limited knowledge of the person making the request. He could not expect her to do it and it would be wrong to think so too. Sighing a little bit, he banished the thoughts of having his father back in his life.

Besides, would his dad really approve of what had become of his little Sammy while he was gone? Considering everything he knew about his dad the answer was a resounding "no",

"Well don't worry, I won't be asking you anything as insensitive as that, don't you worry a single bit." he explained to her before humming a little bit, "Is it me or is it... colder now?"

When the conversation swung back round he smirked a little bit,

"Yes well you get used to it after awhile." he was honest before smirking a little bit, "Of course that might just be the demons blood and the alcohol that helped."

He smirked a little bit and shook his head.

It was just like Dean to use Castiel to try and get him a date,

"Sounds like a whistle-stop tour... but New Orleans might be kind of hard to find anything good in it... it's kind of been picked clean by both sides."

Raven could sense the spirit in the room and she reached out to grab Castiel's hand as he went to spread the sage around the room, she wanted to be able to sense what the spirit was and what it wanted because to be honest she found that some spirits just wanted to talk. Besides the sage had already banished the bad spirits so this one should only be pure.

"Don't do that." she murmured softly, her ring glimmered a little bit and she exterted a small amount of energy to reveal the spirit of a small girl, who was looking at Raven like she was something amazing "She's not going to be a problem, are you?"

"No miss." the girl squeaked out, hiding behind some of the cupboards in the room, before looking at Castiel and pulling her tongue out at him, as some sort of childish revenge for him being unable to banish her from the room.

"Come and stand with me." Raven hummed, patting her leg and the girl nervously crossed the room and hid behind her leg instead of behind a cupboard.

To be honest Raven was getting irritated, Charlotte had said that it was one of the best places to find supernatural beings however if what Sam had said was true then it was going to be a short trip. Back to Germany and her world of problems. Sighing a little she rolled her eyes;

"Do you have to do such a thorough job, now what am I going to do?" she sighed "I guess it's just Disneyland huh? You want to come little one?" Raven asked the little girl, clinging to her leg, and she didn't mind the cold sensation that came with that touch.

Castiel was not sure why she had taken the sage from him at first but when she made the spirit of the young girl visible he blinked a few times. He was rather glad that he had not scared her away now it had to be said. She was a rather cute little girl after all and no one ever forgave you if you did something wrong to a cute child,

"I'm sorry for trying to rid the room of you." he explained to the girl before wincing slightly, "Normally when spirits follow me and my companions they are the bad kind and I acted without thinking."

He hummed a little bit when Raven offered the young spirit a trip to Disneyworld,

"Is that an open invitation for others too?" he teased her ever so slightly before shaking his head in amusement, "I would like to go to Disney World too."

He pouted a little bit and glanced at Sam,

"The Winchesters never take me anywhere cool..."