((Follows on from At The End Of The Day.))
____________________
June, 2012
"What do you mean, you don't know what they are?"
Nim flashed a glare at Apollo via the rearview mirror, daring only a second or two of taking her eyes off the road ahead. It was a bad decision, as it had been every time she'd done so in the last half hour. Somehow, each time she took her eyes off the road ahead, those things took advantage of her lapse, appearing in front of them, trying to block their escape. They'd already forced her off the approach to the main road with this tactic, and now ....She swerved hard to avoid hitting the three red-eyed humanoids who had spun into being in front of the Impala, cursing loudly as the car's right wheels spun off the road for a moment before finding grip once again.
In the back seat, Apollo was holding on for dear life. It appeared as though he hadn't fully experienced the wildness of a car ride like this one before. "They are not something I have encountered before," he explained, twisting to look behind them, watching as the creatures faded from view well before they were out of sight. "And they were not what I left you to investigate."
"Oh, of course," Nim snorted, scowling into the darkness illuminated only by the Impala's headlights. "You'd better be able to tell me where Dean is, or you're walking."
"The weapon used was a rib of Chronus," the god said, after a long moment of staring at the back of her head in what might have been incredulity. "I was able to determine that Dean Winchester has been sent forward in time, though I have no ability myself to reach ahead and bring him back, nor to send you to him. He is resourceful. He will return."
"And what happens if he returns to that damned motel?" Nim snapped angrily. "You know, the one I just cleared out of weapons and clothes, and left a dead body inside" How the hell am I going to know where he is?"
"I believe he will return to you, Nimue, not merely to this timeline," Apollo said calmly. "If he is brave enough to dare contact with the end of all things, he may even return to you this night."
Nim clenched her teeth, listening to them squeak as she ground them together. "Well, just so long as he's not cut down by Hades' little friends when he does get here, that'll be just dandy, won't it?"
There was a pregnant pause. "What makes you believe it is Hades behind all this?"
She rolled her eyes, offended. "Look, I get that you're a god and all, but I'm not stupid," was her caustic reply as she took the next turning north, still trying to find a way across the river, hoping to reach Blair or even Fremont sometime soon. The red-eyed things were ahead and behind them now, somehow keeping level with the car through these back roads, and she had a nasty suspicion that she was being herded somewhere. "I know my mythology, I know how the power over humanity was split between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, and combining that with the fact that these things are possessing dead bodies just confirms that the betrayal you've been talking about is all Hades, or Pluto, or whatever he's calling himself."
"I confess, I am impressed," Apollo commented mildly. "I had not expected you to make the connection so soon."
"Oh yeah, because that's not insulting at all, is it?"
A mass of darkness at the furthest reach of her gaze ahead suddenly had her slamming on the brakes. There, blocking the road, were dozens of Hades' minions, walking together with slow, inexorable steps toward the hunter's vehicle. Nim's fingers flexed on the wheel, her gaze flickering around at the evenly planted fields on either side of her. There, off to her far left, she could see a building ....probably long abandoned, but still standing. It would have to do.
Slamming the Impala into drive once again, she heaved on the wheel, turning off the road to plunge headlong through the fields themselves, toward the vague promise of some kind of sanctuary. They wanted a stand up fight' Then she was going to give them one, and hope like hell daylight would send them packing.
June, 2012
"What do you mean, you don't know what they are?"
Nim flashed a glare at Apollo via the rearview mirror, daring only a second or two of taking her eyes off the road ahead. It was a bad decision, as it had been every time she'd done so in the last half hour. Somehow, each time she took her eyes off the road ahead, those things took advantage of her lapse, appearing in front of them, trying to block their escape. They'd already forced her off the approach to the main road with this tactic, and now ....She swerved hard to avoid hitting the three red-eyed humanoids who had spun into being in front of the Impala, cursing loudly as the car's right wheels spun off the road for a moment before finding grip once again.
In the back seat, Apollo was holding on for dear life. It appeared as though he hadn't fully experienced the wildness of a car ride like this one before. "They are not something I have encountered before," he explained, twisting to look behind them, watching as the creatures faded from view well before they were out of sight. "And they were not what I left you to investigate."
"Oh, of course," Nim snorted, scowling into the darkness illuminated only by the Impala's headlights. "You'd better be able to tell me where Dean is, or you're walking."
"The weapon used was a rib of Chronus," the god said, after a long moment of staring at the back of her head in what might have been incredulity. "I was able to determine that Dean Winchester has been sent forward in time, though I have no ability myself to reach ahead and bring him back, nor to send you to him. He is resourceful. He will return."
"And what happens if he returns to that damned motel?" Nim snapped angrily. "You know, the one I just cleared out of weapons and clothes, and left a dead body inside" How the hell am I going to know where he is?"
"I believe he will return to you, Nimue, not merely to this timeline," Apollo said calmly. "If he is brave enough to dare contact with the end of all things, he may even return to you this night."
Nim clenched her teeth, listening to them squeak as she ground them together. "Well, just so long as he's not cut down by Hades' little friends when he does get here, that'll be just dandy, won't it?"
There was a pregnant pause. "What makes you believe it is Hades behind all this?"
She rolled her eyes, offended. "Look, I get that you're a god and all, but I'm not stupid," was her caustic reply as she took the next turning north, still trying to find a way across the river, hoping to reach Blair or even Fremont sometime soon. The red-eyed things were ahead and behind them now, somehow keeping level with the car through these back roads, and she had a nasty suspicion that she was being herded somewhere. "I know my mythology, I know how the power over humanity was split between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, and combining that with the fact that these things are possessing dead bodies just confirms that the betrayal you've been talking about is all Hades, or Pluto, or whatever he's calling himself."
"I confess, I am impressed," Apollo commented mildly. "I had not expected you to make the connection so soon."
"Oh yeah, because that's not insulting at all, is it?"
A mass of darkness at the furthest reach of her gaze ahead suddenly had her slamming on the brakes. There, blocking the road, were dozens of Hades' minions, walking together with slow, inexorable steps toward the hunter's vehicle. Nim's fingers flexed on the wheel, her gaze flickering around at the evenly planted fields on either side of her. There, off to her far left, she could see a building ....probably long abandoned, but still standing. It would have to do.
Slamming the Impala into drive once again, she heaved on the wheel, turning off the road to plunge headlong through the fields themselves, toward the vague promise of some kind of sanctuary. They wanted a stand up fight' Then she was going to give them one, and hope like hell daylight would send them packing.