CHAPTER EIGHT

"No, Bonnie said that a protection spell is possible, but she didn't cast one." Nyx tells Elena.

"Well, I talked to Ric, and he said that Jo doesn't have her magic anymore. She gave it to Kai because he was sick, and—" She stops, and Nyx turns to look at her. "Kai — it had to have been him."

"What? Why would Kai cast a protection spell on the twins?" She asks, confused.

"Remember the last time you talked to him?" Elena asks, and she nods. "He seemed to genuinely want to be good. Maybe this was his way of trying to make amends."

Nyx calls Kai as the door to her motel room opens, and the boys walk in. "We have something we need to talk about." Dean says, and Nyx looks at him as he walks over to her.

"Hang on." She says as he leans down and kisses her cheek.

"Hello?"

"Kai? It's Nyx."

"Honey, what a pleasant surprise." He smiles, and she smirks as she shakes her head. "What can I do for you?"

"I have a question." She takes a deep breath. "The twins were attacked a couple of nights ago and—"

"Oh, that explains it." He says, and her eyebrows furrow as she looks at Dean.

"What explains what?" She asks, and Dean turns away from the bed to look at her.

"I felt it." Kai says.

"You... Um—" Nyx clears her throat. "You want to explain that one to me, please?" She asks as she puts her phone on speaker.

"I linked the twins to me. They draw power from me when they need protection, so I felt when they were attacked. But don't worry, the link is one-sided. If anything happens to me, nothing happens to them. Except that the spell will be broken." He explains.

"So, let me just..." She sighs. "The other night, a demon broke into our room and tried to grab Alex. When she did, she flew backward, and it spooked them so badly that they bolted. You're telling me that that was Alex drawing power from you?" Nyx asks.

"Yeah." Kai nods. "If anything with a malicious intent goes after them, they'll be protected as long as I'm alive. For...about a year, the spell will last. Then I'd have to recast it." He says, and she nods, still looking at Dean.

"Um..." Dean clears his throat.

"Oh, Dad's there too. Hi, Dad."

"Look, not that I'm not grateful you're looking after my kids, but... Why?" He asks.

"Well, I remember the fear on Nyx's face when I threatened to hurt them. And then the anger on yours when you first met me. I don't quite understand it — the protectiveness you have over them. I've never experienced that myself, my parents hated me." Kai tells him, speaking matter-of-fact. "And Nyx said that good people can be forgiven for the bad things they do because they do plenty of good as well. I'm trying to be good, so that I can feel some of those better emotions that she was telling me about. I thought, what better way to prove that I want to be good than to protect the kids you all love so much."

"Thank you." He says, and Kai smiles.

"How— How did you cast the spell? I know a little from Bonnie. Don't you need personal belongings of theirs?" Nyx asks.

"Yeah, I stole some of their toys before you left Mystic Falls... I guess I still need a little work on the...good stuff." Kai says.

"No, it's fine. Toys can always be replaced." She tells him, and then something suddenly occurs to her. "Uh, did you— One of the toys, is it a teddy bear?"

"Yeah. Alex's." He nods. "Did you want it back? Is it sentimental or something? I can meet you and get something he likes less."

"Yeah, actually, could you? It's just that bear... Dean left it for Alex after he died, and I was on the Other Side. Alex uses it to sleep at night, and he's been having a hard time without it." She says.

"Yeah, no problem." Kai says, genuinely not minding going to meet them. "I'll do a locator spell to find you guys and then I'll be there. You're not gonna be leaving where you're at anytime soon, are you?"

"Uh..." She looks up at Dean.

"We'll stay put until you get here." Dean tells him, and Nyx nods.

"Okay. Perfect." Kai then hangs up.

"Yeah, he could probably use a lesson in manners." Nyx chuckles as she sticks her phone back into her pocket.

"You know, I didn't know what to expect as our answer to what happened, but it definitely wasn't that." Dean says, and she shakes her head.

"No." She takes a deep breath, and he brushes her hair back as she looks up at him.

"It's gonna be alright. We have the empathetic sociopath on our side now." He says, and she laughs.

"We'll add him to the list of friends that makes no sense — he'll fit in well with the former ripper and the reformed serial killer." She says, and he smirks as he leans down and kisses her forehead. "What did you want to talk about when you got here?"

"Uh, right." He sighs as he walks back over to the bed. "These." He pulls out a book and hands it to her.

"Supernatural by Carver Edlund." She reads the cover and then looks at the picture. "A crappy book about Fabio, G.I. Joe, and some chick in way too much leather?" She looks at him, confused.

"Read the back." He tells her, and she flips it over to look at the synopsis.

"Along a lonely California highway, a mysterious Women in White lures men to their deaths...a terrifying phenomenon that may be Sam and Dean's..." She stops and looks up at him.

"Keep going."

"...that may be Sam and Dean's first clue to their father's whereabouts." She clears her throat as she looks at him again. "Well, I don't see my name. Tell me that means this is just some​ creepy coincidence and Fabio, G.I. Joe, and Leather Girl have nothing to do with us."

"'Fraid not, baby." He hands her another book, and she looks at it.

"Wendigo."

"Book two."

She walks over and starts going through the bag with the books. "Scarecrow. Route 666. The Benders." She shakes her head.

"Well, if you like that, you're gonna love this." Sam hands her another bag. "A spin-off series — the adventures of Nycole in the small town she calls home." He says.

"Unpleasantville." She looks at the back for the description. "This is about the night at the '50s dance. When that vampire tried to kill us because we looked like Katherine."

"What?" Elena walks over, and they look at more of the books.

"Children of the Damned. Fool Me Once. Oh my God." Nyx looks at Elena. "This has the tomb opening, and Sheila's death."

"Let the Right One In." She reads. "When the tomb vampires kidnapped you and Stefan."

"You're not reading that." She snatches it from her sister. "Nobody is."

"Nyx?" Caroline looks at her, confused.

"Nobody needs to read about me getting beaten to death." She says as she stuffs it into her duffle bag. "Especially you." She points at Dean, and he shakes his head.

"Miss Mystic Falls." The blonde says as she pulls it out of the bag.

"Ooh, that one might actually be fun to read. You know, until Stefan goes off the deep end." Nyx makes a face. "Yikes. These have the Salvatores and their... Ouch."

"I'll say." She's toward the end of the book, skimming through the part on Stefan and that Amber girl. "How did so much go on that I completely missed before I turned? Oh my God, is that in here?"

"I'd say that's probably between Founder's Day and The Return." Elena says, looking over the other books and their descriptions.

"Uh, Foun— No." Nyx takes the book from her sister and starts flipping through it.

"What's gotten into you now?" Dean asks, and she glances at him.

She stops when she finds what she's looking for. "Oh, dear God." She keeps the book open and shows it to him.

He starts skimming over it. "Whoa! Hey!" He grabs it and slams it shut before tucking it into his jacket pocket. "Nobody's touching this book ever again."

"What the hell just happened?" Elena asks, confused.

"Um..." Her sister looks back over at her. "Remember after Dean got me and Damon out of Dad's old practice. You know, after John killed all the tomb vampires?"

"Yeah?"

"W— Um..." She clears her throat. "Well, that's sort of the night that Dean and I..." She motions to the twins, who are playing together on the floor.

"Oh. Oh!" Her eyes widen. "And that's in the book?" She asks incredulously.

"In disturbingly vivid detail." She nods.

"Keep it." Caroline says, disgusted. "I wanna find the one where Katherine turned me."

"Wasn't that after Mayor Lockwood's wake?" Nyx asks. "While you were in the hospital?"

"So, we're thinking the book after you two are in bed?"

"Remind me why we're friends." She says, and Caroline smiles as she looks at her.

—

"This is freakin' insane." Dean says from where he's laying on the bed; he's currently reading Route 666. "How's this guy know all this stuff?"

"You got me." Sam says from where he's at his laptop.

"Everything is in here — I mean, everything."

"Yeah, I definitely could've done without looking over your shoulder to read about you and Cassie." Nyx mutters, and he looks at her as he throws the book. "No comments, please. Old fight, no need to rehash it." She says, and he nods.

"How have none of us ever come across any of these before?" Elena asks.

"They're pretty obscure." Sam says, and Nyx looks at Caroline.

She's still reading The Return, whereas the others have been going from book to book, not actually reading the entire thing. Dean gets up and walks over to Sam.

"I mean, almost zero circulation." Sam continues. "Uh, started in '05. The publisher put out a few dozen before going bankrupt. And, uh, the last one — No Rest For The Wicked — ends with you going to hell."

"I reiterate — freakin' insane." Dean says.

"And the last one in the Nycole spin-off series is, uh... The World has Turned and Left Me Here." He says as he looks at her. "It ends with you, Jess, and Damon showing up in the Salvatore Crypt with Stefan."

"Oh, that's fabulous." Nyx says sarcastically and then she looks at Dean. "You're not reading a word about the prison world."

"Why not? I already know about you and Damon getting hot and heavy in the kitchen at the Boarding House." Dean says.

"What?" Elena questions as Caroline looks up from her book.

"We made out, Jess walked in, that was the end of that." Nyx says quickly and then clears her throat as she looks back at her boyfriend. "Thank you for that, jackass. That's not why I said you couldn't read it."

"Then why?" He asks, and she looks down, causing his eyebrows to furrow.

"Oh my God." Caroline says suddenly, and they all look at her.

"What?" Elena asks.

"Huh? Nothing." She shakes her head and then Sam walks over to her. "No, that's not fair. Get away from me, Gigantor." She tries to run, but he grabs her and keeps an arm around her as he reads the page she was on.

"Oh..." He looks at Nyx, and her eyebrows furrow as she looks between the two of them.

"What? I didn't do anything that night." She says, confused. "After the mayor's wake, I was packing to leave town with you guys. I told John that he was dick, not to talk to Jeremy about our dad, and then—" Her eyes widen. "Give me that." She runs over and snatches the book out of Sam's hand.

It's the part where Damon showed up drunk and tried forcing himself on Nyx. Until her brother walked in to make sure that she was okay, and then Damon killed him.

"What's going on over here?" Dean asks as he walks up behind Nyx.

"Nothing." She turns to face him, hiding the book behind her back. She smiles as she looks up at him. "Has anyone ever told you that with your height and broad shoulders — kind of intimidating from down here?"

"What's in the book?"

"Nothing. Just crap from three years ago that doesn't matter anymore." She shakes her head. "Caroline, tell me about the beginning of the book. Why fixate on the ending? Endings always suck anyway."

"Uh, the beginning of that book isn't so great either." The blonde says. "You don't really come off well there."

"Why? What did I do?" She asks, and they both look at Caroline.

"Well, uh... Remember why we're not allowed to read the book before that one?"

"Yeah."

"The beginning of that book..." She motions to the one in Nyx's hand. "Is Elena calling you freaking out, and...you just leaving the motel room while Dean's asleep."

"Right." She nods. "Not my proudest moment. I bet people who've read this have a lot to say about me ducking out on you after we slept together." She says as she looks up at Dean.

"Whatever's at the end of the book can't be any worse than that." Dean says, and she hesitates.

"Well..."

"Did you do something that you don't want me to know about?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"No, it's not like that. Believe me, the worst stuff I've done...you experienced it right along with me." She sighs. "It's the night that...Damon showed up at my house and snapped Jeremy's neck. I just... I don't really think that you need all the details."

"Why?" He questions.

"'Cause I know you. And I know how pissed you'll be." She tells him. "And none of the crap in this book matters anymore."

"Alright, then." He pulls her to him and gets his hand on the book, taking it from her. "If it doesn't matter, then who cares if I read it?" He's still holding her against him and he has the book behind her, so she can't try to take it back from him.

Nyx sighs as she leans her forehead against his chest, not bothering to fight him. Dean reads through the whole thing with Damon until the part where he and Sam burst through​ the front door. Then he holds the book out to his brother, who's still standing with his own girlfriend.

Dean lets go of Nyx's arm, which he was holding behind her back — he knew that the position it was in wasn't hurting her at all or he wouldn't have done it. He leans his head down so his mouth's by her ear.

"Believe it or not, that's not as bad as what I read in Skin." He whispers, and she sighs.

"And that's about the skinwalker that kidnapped me, isn't it?" She asks, and he nods. "You weren't supposed to read that either. I never wanted you to know how bad it was."

"It's no wonder you didn't want me touching you after that." He says, and she shakes her head as she looks at him.

"He wasn't you. What he did — it's not the reason I distanced myself." She tells him, and he lets go of her. "It was what he said, because he was right. What I did was a real bitch move, and I knew it. I hurt you, and it was killing me. So, I took a step back."

"None of that matters now." He shakes his head. "Just like what Damon did doesn't matter anymore. You're friends now, you're in a good place​ with him. So, he screwed up, these books are chalk full of our mistakes."

"No kidding." Elena mutters looking at the book in her hand — Pictures of You.

"What's that one?" Nyx asks as she walks over to her sister. She takes the book from her and Elena watches her as she reads it.

Nyx walks over to Dean and kneels down in front of him. "How does it feel? Knowing that the girl you love gave up her humanity so that you could live? After choosing to become a vampire so her children could know her? I bet that stings a little." She smirks. "Well, I guess I'll see you around, handsome." She pats his chest before standing up and leaving the house.

Dean watches her go with tears in his eyes, seeing the love of his life walk out the door, no longer the woman that he loves. His love, his life, his home, his future, his whole world — just gone in the blink of an eye. She's no longer the woman he fell for, no longer the woman he adores. She's no different, no better than Katherine now.

"How can either of you ever forgive me for that?" Elena asks, and Nyx looks at her.

"It's not your fault, Elena." Her sister tells her. "Look at what I said. Doesn't exactly sound like me, does it?"

"No, but you said it because of me." She argues as she looks between the two of them. "After this... Dean sold his soul, and Kol killed you."

"I think you're giving yourself too much credit here. Dean sold his soul to save Sam, who had been kidnapped by demons and then murdered because of them. And Kol wanted revenge because Jeremy killed him. None of that would've played out any differently, regardless of my humanity switch. Besides, Dean and I are both alive. Sam and Care are starting a family now." Nycole shakes her head. "Yeah, you were a bitch, and yes, I was angry for a long time, but I have forgiven you. I can't speak for Dean, but from where I'm standing, none of this plays a role anymore. It's time for you to forgive yourself." She tells her sister as Dean walks over and looks at the book.

"Honestly, Elena..." Dean looks at her. "We have enough going on now without holding onto grudges from a year ago. I have her back now, that's all I care about." He tells her, and she simply nods.

"I'm gonna find a different book." She says as she walks away from them. "Are there any where I don't have to worry about running into where you guys are in bed?"

"Well, before we got together is definitely safe." Nyx says. "Though I can't make any promises about Dean not being in bed."

"Hey!" He says defensively, and she looks up at him.

"And you two got together when?" Elena asks.

"Before Sam and I got kidnapped by the Bender's." Her sister tells her. "I think it might've been the case before that."

"That was in Nightmare. I already read that one." Dean says.

"So, Dean's hiding one in his jacket." Elena points at it. "Route 666 is a definite no go."

"Ooh, Scarecrow might be good." Nyx says with a smile, and Dean looks at her. "Isn't that when I vervained Damon and we ditched him in the motel room?" She asks, and he starts laughing.

"That was funny." He nods.

"Scarecrow it is." Elena says and then flops down on the twins' bed.

"Wait..." Dean looks between the girls before his gaze settles on his girlfriend. "Are you sure that one's okay to read? Isn't that the job we were working when Isobel kidnapped you?"

"Yeah, but that fun little adventure is in a different book." Nyx says. "Yeah, I found Isobel's death over her grave in the book Know Thy Enemy... I forgot how sickening the smell of burning flesh is, but that'll tell you in great detail."

"Sorry I brought it up." He says as Elena walks away from them, mumbling a mental note to avoid that book at all costs.

"Hey." Nyx gets Dean's attention again, and he looks down at her. "Kiss." She says, and he leans down. "I love you."

"I love you too." He kisses her again and then goes to help Sam look for a way to get in contact with Carver Edlund.

Nyx picks up the copy of Miss Mystic Falls that she was reading and walks over to hers and Dean's bed. Caroline starts reading Brave New World, the book about them at the carnival saving her from Damon. That's the same night that Nyx won the teddy bear that Alex loves so much.

"Mommy." Everly walks over to the bed where her mom's laying and asks to be picked up. "Read."

"You want me to read to you?" Nyx asks, and she nods. "Yeah, I can probably find something in here that's baby appropriate."

"Whas dat?" Alex asks a while later. He walked over soon after she started reading.

"What, beautiful?" She asks, and he nods as he rolls onto his side. That's the last word she just read, she wasn't sure he was even listening. Everly's already asleep, and he's been staring at the ceiling. "It's like pretty." She tells him.

"Pwetty." He says, and she smiles. "You pwetty, Mommy."

"Aw, thank you, my love." She kisses his head, and he smiles. "According to this book, your daddy thinks so too." She smirks, knowing that Dean's watching them.

Dean chuckles as he stands up from the table. Nyx has been whispering as she reads to the twins, but he's been listening. It was the part when she's walking down the stairs after Mayor Lockwood announced her entrance for the dance in the backyard.

"It's bedtime, bud." He says as he looks at his son. "Evy's already asleep. Why don't we kick Aunt Elena out of your bed so that you can sleep too?" He asks, and Elena gets up, still reading her book.

Dean gets the twins settled into their bed as the other three head back to their own room. He then walks over and lays down next to Nyx. She smiles as she looks at him.

"I like this part." She shows the page to him, and he reads about what he was thinking as she walked down the steps.

"I liked that part too. But I don't like that it's in a book for complete strangers to read." He says, and she nods.

"Yeah, I'm choosing to ignore that part for now." She says, and he chuckles. "I forgot all the drama that was going on back then. I just remembered dancing with you." She smiles.

"Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be." He says, and she rolls onto her side to look at him. "And you did look beautiful. You do most days though, so..." He says, and she laughs.

"You looked damn good in a suit." She tells him, and he smiles. "I like when you pretend to be FBI. You're cute in a tie."

"Well, don't get used to it. It's not gonna happen much after we stop Lilith." He says.

"No?"

"Won't be any reason once we quit hunting." He tells her. "I've been thinking about it, and you're right. You, me, Sam, Caroline, and Stefan... We can't go driving around the country with four kids. It's not right. She and Elena are gonna want to go back to school, we'll have the kids to take care of."

"Domesticated Winchesters — who would'a thought?" She says, and he smirks.

"Takes some pretty amazing women, but we got that." He says, and she smiles. "I want it, and I know you do too."

"Yeah, I do." She nods.

"All we have to do is survive this, and it's all ours."

"One last hurrah." She says, and then leans forward and kisses him.