CHAPTER NINE

"So, you published the Supernatural books?" Sam asks.

"Yep." The woman in the small office nods. "Yeah. Gosh. These books... You know they never really got the attention they deserved." She says as she walks past the three hunters to where there's a bunch of the books on a shelf. "All anybody wants to read anymore is that romance crap. You know — Doctor Sexy, M.D.?" She scoffs.

"I think these books have a perfectly good romance in them." Nyx smirks.

"Dean and Nycole?" The publisher looks at her. "Don't you think they're just meant to be together?"

"Oh, they definitely are." Dean nods, and Nyx smiles as she looks up at him.

"I just loved the way he stood by her even after she turned into a vampire."

"Yeah, that's one of my favorite parts too." Nyx says. "It's too bad she didn't see his effort a little sooner, huh?"

"Well, we're hoping that our article can shine a light on an underappreciated series." Sam says, and the publisher nods.

"Yeah, yeah, because, you know, if we got a little bit of good press, then m-maybe we could start publishing again." The woman says.

"No, no, no, no. God, no." Dean shakes his head. "I mean, why— Why would you want to do that? You know, it's, um, such a complete series, what with Dean going to hell and all."

"Oh my God! That was one of my favorite ones, because Dean was so...strong...and sad and brave." She says. "Of course he strayed for a while after Nycole died, but who could blame him, you know? She was the love of his life." She continues, and Nyx clears her throat. "And Sam... I mean, the best parts are when they'd cry. You know, like in—" Her voice cracks. "—in Heart, when Sam had to kill Madison, the first woman since Jessica he really loved. And in Home when Dean had to call John and ask him for help. The hardest to read definitely had to be the entire time Nycole was on the Other Side, and she was watching over Dean."

"I hope she didn't see too much." Dean whispers as the publisher turns away from them.

"Oh, she saw plenty." Nyx mutters, and he sighs as he looks down.

"If only real men were so open and in-in touch with their feelings." The publisher continues, not having heard them.

"Real men?" Dean questions.

"I mean, no offense." She says as she turns to face them. "How often do you cry like that, hm?"

"Well, right now, I'm crying on the inside."

"Is that supposed to be funny?" She questions.

"Lady, this whole thing is funny." He tells her, and she looks at them skeptically.

"How do I know you three are legit, hm?"

"Oh, trust me. We, uh... We're legit." Dean says as she sits down at her desk.

"Well, I don't want any smartass article making fun of Nycole and my boys." She says, and they all stammer, trying to convince her that that's not the case at all.

"We— We are actually, um... Big fans." Sam says, and she scoffs.

"Hm. You've read the books?"

"You kidding? We were just rereading them last night." Nyx says. "Cover to cover."

"What's the year and model of the car?" She asks.

"1967 Chevy Impala." Dean says.

"What's May 2nd?"

"That's my— uh..." Sam pauses. "That's Sam's birthday."

"January 24th is Dean's." He adds. "June 22nd is Nycole's."

"Sam's score on the LSAT?" The publisher asks, and they look at him.

"One...seventy-four." Sam answers, uncertainly.

"What's Dean's favorite song?"

"That's a tie. Between Zep's Ramble On and Traveling Riverside Blues." Nyx says, and Dean smiles as he looks down at her.

"What's the one thing about Damon that Nycole never told Dean?" She asks, and the boys look at Nyx.

"W— uh..." She chuckles. "She, uh... Nycole met... She met Damon first. The night of her parents' accident. Damon compelled her to forget, she didn't know about that until she turned. By then, who cares, right?"

"She must if she kept it a secret." Dean says, and she looks up at him.

"Maybe she just didn't want him to overreact."

Sam clears his throat as he nudges Dean's shoulder. The publisher seems convinced, and she doesn't notice the sudden hostility between the couple.

"What do you want to know?" The publisher asks, smiling now.

"What's Carver Edlund's real name?" Sam asks.

"Oh, no. No. Sorry. I can't."

"We just want to talk to him. You know, get the Supernatural story in his own words."

"He's very private." She tells them. "Like Salinger."

"Please." Sam says. "Like I said — we are, um... Big...big fans." He pulls down the top of his shirt to show her his anti-possession tattoo.

Dean sighs as he shows her his and then he nudges Nycole. She resists the urge to groan and then shows her the tattoo on the front of her hip.

"Awesome." The publisher chuckles as she stands up and undoes the button on her jeans. "You know what, I got one too." Dean turns away as the publisher shows them the tattoo on her butt.

"Hey there, gorgeous." Dean smiles at his girlfriend, and Nyx chuckles as she looks up at him.

"Okay. His name's Chuck Shurley. And he's a genius, so don't piss him off." The publisher tells them as she writes down his address.

"Thanks." Nyx smiles at her.

"Hey, uh... I'm sorry, I just don't get to talk to fans often." She says as she gets Nycole's attention again. "Who's your favorite in the series? Besides the twins, 'cause who can not love them?"

"Uh, easy. Dean." She says.

"And your least favorite? Besides the obvious ones — the bad guys."

"Um... Probably Nycole." She says, and the boys both look at her, not expecting that answer.

"Really?" She seems surprised. "Why?"

"Well, she's, um... She's very self-sabotaging and she recognizes that in herself, but she can't seem to change it." Nyx says. "She's constantly making decisions that she hates, and she's almost ruined her relationship more times than she cares to count. Honestly... Sometimes I don't really get what Dean sees in her. She's probably hurt him more than she's hurt anyone else."

"Maybe he's a glutton for punishment." Dean says from behind her, and she glances back at him for a second.

"I think that's a little harsh." The publisher says. "She seems to get the brunt of the pain. Literally everyone she's ever loved has died at one time or another. Well, besides the twins, but she did still have to mourn the loss of them as well. And she's plenty hard on herself for the mistakes that she's made. I mean, all the time that she spent with Damon in the prison world is proof of that — proof of the way she hates herself. All she talked about when they were alone was everything that she ever did wrong, all the ways that she thinks she failed Dean.

"If anything, I think her friends failed her. I mean, she's died more times than any of them, and every time she comes​ back, it's business as usual. Like they all just expect her to move on and pretend that she wasn't just dead. And she never truly deals with the incident herself, she just pushes it down and takes care of everyone else. That breakdown scene between her and Sam at the end of Route 666 is pretty telling of that, don't you think?" She asks, and Nyx just looks at her for a second. "What?"

"Nothing. I just— I wasn't expecting anyone to...defend her like that." Nyx says, shaking her head, trying not to let the tears well up in her eyes.

"She's my favorite of the girls." She says with an embarrassed smile.

"And, uh... So, what do you think about her not telling Dean about meeting Damon first?" Dean asks her.

"I think she was probably right. He wouldn't have seen it for what it was." She says. "It would've just added to his jealousy toward him after she turned, made things worse."

"Huh." He nods, and Nyx clears her throat as she holds up the paper with the address for Chuck.

"Thanks again." Nycole smiles and then turns and walks past the boys.

"Baby!" Dean goes after her, and she shakes her head as they make it to the parking lot.

"No, just drop it. We have more important things to deal with at the moment." She tells him and then gets into the backseat of the Impala.

—

"You know, I'm not so sure I even want to know what this guy has to say." Nyx says as they walk up to the old, rundown house.

"Yeah, well..." Dean sighs as he looks between the two of them and then rings the doorbell anyway. "You Chuck Shurley?" He asks when a man in a robe answers the door.

"The Chuck Shurley who wrote the Supernatural books?" Sam adds.

"Maybe. Why?" Chuck says as he looks between the three of them.

"I'm Dean. This is Sam and Nycole. The Dean, Sam, and Nycole you've been writing about." He tells him.

"Yeah." He starts to close the door, but Nyx puts her foot in the doorframe and stops it.

"Sorry, Chuckles. We need to talk." She says as he opens the door and looks at her.

"Look, uh... I appreciate your enthusiasm. Really, I do. It's, uh, it's always nice to hear from the fans." He nods. "But, uh, for your own good, I strongly suggest you get a life."

"Do I look like a fan to you?" She questions, and he just looks at her. "See, here's the thing... We have a life. You've been using it to write your books." She says as she pushes past him into the house.

"Now, wait a minute." He says as he looks at the two men following her in. "Now, this isn't funny."

"Damn straight, it's not funny." Dean says as Nyx looks around the house.

"Look, we just want to know how you're doing it." Sam tells him.

"I'm not doing anything." Chuck says.

"Are you a hunter?" Dean questions.

"What?" He scoffs. "No. I'm a writer."

"Then how do you know so much about demons and tulpas and vampires?" He asks, and Chuck backs away, falling onto his couch.

"Is this some kind of Misery thing?" He asks as he looks up at the boys. "Ah, it is, isn't it? It's a Misery thing."

"It's not a Misery thing. Believe me, we are not fans."

"Well, then what do you want?"

"I want to know how you know so much about me and my family." Nyx says as she walks over to him with a copy of what he was just writing. "I want to know why it's in your books that I almost lost my babies more times than I care to count. And I want to know how the hell you knew that we were gonna show up here." She drops the papers onto him, and he looks at what he was working on before Dean rang the doorbell.

"What?" Dean looks at her.

"He wrote this — us showing up on his doorstep." She tells him. "So, I can waste plenty of time convincing you that we are who we say we are, or you can cut the crap before I beat the truth out of you."

"No." Chuck shakes his head. "Sam, Dean, and Nyx are fictional characters. I made them up! They're not real!"

She grabs his robe and makes him sit up on the couch. "Does that feel real to you?" She questions, and he tries to sink into the couch. She stands up straight when Dean rests his hand on her back, telling her to pull back on the throttle. "How much do you know? Do you know about the angels? Or Lilith breaking the seals? Do you know about me and Elena being...whatever?"

"Wait a minute. How do you know about that?" He asks as he looks between the three of them.

"The question is, how do you?" Dean asks.

"'Cause I wrote it." Chuck tells them.

"You kept writing?" Sam questions.

"Yeah, even after the publisher went bankrupt, but those books never came out." He chuckles as he stands up, tossing the papers back onto his desk. "Okay, wait a minute. This is some kind of joke, right? Did that— Did Phil put you up to this?"

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Dean Winchester and this is my brother, Sam. And my beautiful girlfriend, Nycole Gilbert." He says, and she smiles sarcastically at Chuck.

He blinks as he looks between the three hunters. "The last names were never in the books. I never told anybody about that. I never even wrote that down." He tells them.

"Well, now that we finally have your attention, feel free to get yourself something to drink." Nyx says, and he nods as he walks into the kitchen.

He drinks some sort of alcohol and then jumps when he turns back around. "Oh! Oh, you're still there." He rubs his temples.

"Yup." Dean says as he leans against the wall. He hooks his index finger in Nyx's back pocket and pulls her to him.

"You're not a hallucination."

"Nope."

"Well, there's only one explanation." Chuck says, and Nyx raises her eyebrows as she leans her back against Dean's chest. He slings his arm over her shoulder, and she reaches up to grab his hand, intertwining their fingers. "Obviously I'm a God."

"You're not a God." Sam tells him.

"How else do you explain it?" He questions as he looks at them. "I write things, and then they come to life. Yeah, no, I'm definitely a God. A cruel, cruel, capricious God. The things I put you through — the physical beatings alone."

"Yeah, we're still in one piece." Dean says as his girlfriend shakes her head.

"And human." She smirks. "Again."

"I killed your father. I burned your mother alive. Oh my God, Nycole — I gave you five parents only to kill them all." Chuck looks at her, and Dean tightens his arm around her.

"If you wrote me, you should already know that you're gonna want to shut up now."

"Right." He clears his throat and his eyes land on Sam again. "Oh, and then you had to go through the whole horrific deal again with Jessica."

"Chuck—" Sam starts.

"All for what?" He continues. "All for the sake of literally symmetry. I toyed with your lives, your emotions, for...entertainment."

"You didn't toy with us, Chuck, okay?" Dean says. "You didn't create us."

"Did you really have to live through the Bugs?" He asks as he looks at him.

"Yeah."

"I don't know that one." Nyx says, looking up at Dean.

"You were in Mystic Falls trying to kill Katherine at the masquerade ball." Chuck tells her, and she nods as she returns her attention to him.

"Dude, you're creepy."

"What about the ghost ship?" He looks between the boys.

"Yes, that too." Dean tells him, annoyed.

"I am so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing..." He sighs. "If I would have known it was real, I would have done another pass."

"Chuck—" He's cut off by the doorbell ringing and they all look at Chuck.

"Uh, that's for you." He tells Nyx, and her eyebrows furrow.

"Wha— Oh, God — Kai. I swear, he's got the patience and the attention span of a walnut." Nyx stands up straight, and Dean lets go of her so she can walk over to the door.

Nyx opens the door, and Vicki smiles when she sees her. "Please don't kill me." She says, and her friend gives her a puzzled look. "I didn't have a choice."

"Oh, hell." She sighs when she sees the people outside surrounding the Impala. "Whoever's human can come in." She says as she steps to the side​.

Vicki walks into the house with Elena, followed by Kai and two other women. They all walk back into the kitchen, and Dean and Sam both stand up straight.

"What's going on?" Dean asks, confused.

"Vicki screwed up." Nyx tells him.

"Technically, I did exactly what was asked of me." Vicki argues. "I simply picked up a few tagalongs as well."

"Vic, I sent you to get Marcel. Not the whole of the New Orleans vampire community."

"We need muscle to take on Lilith, right?" She asks, and Nyx clenches her teeth. "They are the strongest of the vampires on the planet."

"Do I really need to remind you that three of the four Mikaelsons standing out there have killed me?" She questions.

"We need them, Nyx, and you know it." Vicki says, and she sighs.

"And who are these two?" She motions to the two women that she doesn't know.

"Davina — she's Marcel's friend and Kol's girlfriend. And Freya — she's the oldest of the Mikaelson siblings. They're witches, and powerful ones at that."

"Which leads me to my idea." Kai says, and they all look at him. "I came to get a new toy to replace the one I stole. A toy that I used to cast a protection spell."

"Yeah, I'm aware. And I'm also increasingly angered the longer this drags out." Nyx says.

"Just listen." Her sister tells her.

"I can cast a similar spell on you and Elena, protecting you two during your fight with this demon." Kai says. "While these two work together to increase the strength of the vampires that'll be helping you maintain the upper hand in your fight."

"You two can do that?" Nyx looks between the two women.

Davina nods. "I've done a similar spell on Marcel once, and with Freya... We can make it stronger." She tells her.

"And why do you two even want to help us?" Dean questions as he walks up beside his girlfriend. "Any of you."

"Turns out," Vicki starts. "Fatherhood has softened the big bad wolf. They don't want Lucifer to rise for the same reason you two don't — to protect your kids."

Nyx walks past them and goes out to the front yard. "Look, Nic, she's being brave."

"Shut up, Kol." Nyx says as she looks at him.

"I was glad to hear that you're alive and fighting again." Marcel smiles as he walks over and hugs her, spinning her around.

"My favorite vampire." She chuckles as he sets her on her feet again. Her eyes settle on a brunette woman with the others. "I remember you. You're that werewolf chick that screwed over Tyler the night his mom was murdered. Hayley, right?" She asks.

"Uh, yeah." She nods. "Not my proudest moment."

"Mm. We've all got plenty of those."

"What can we do to help?" Elijah asks, and she looks at him.

"Sounds to me like you've already got a plan." Nyx says, and he nods.

"Your friend talks a lot, he came up with that." He tells her. "I assumed you and your boyfriend would have final say over any plan that takes place."

"Oh, you got that right." Dean says from behind her.

"Who's the man in the robe?" Rebekah asks, looking at Chuck. He's standing on the porch.

Rather than simply answering her question, Nyx walks over to the Impala and Dean tosses her the keys. She opens the trunk and starts going through a bag, looking for specific books that she wants to pull out.

"The Sun Also Rises." Klaus reads the title of the book that she tossed to him. "Written by a man named Carver Edlund."

"All My Children." Elijah reads.

"The Departed." Rebekah flips the book so she can see the back.

"Hunted." Hayley looks at her.

"The Walking Dead." Kol shrugs. "Why do I care about a book?"

"The dork in the robe is Chuck, also known as Carver Edlund. He's somehow writing about mine and the boys' lives." Nyx tells them. "Hey, Chucklehead!" She looks over at Chuck, and he turns to her. "How well do you remember your books?" She asks him.

"I remember them all well." He says.

"Well, meet the Mikaelsons." She says, and he nods, looking rather nervous as he takes in the sight of the original family. "Klaus, here, has The Sun Also Rises — wanna tell him about it?"

"It's the night of the sacrifice by Steven's Quarry. Bonnie's trying to find a way to save her friend, and she does. Nycole's biological father, Johnathan Gilbert, had Bonnie cast a spell that allowed him to trade his life for Nyx's." Chuck tells them. "Klaus tells Nyx that he can hear the heartbeats of her two unborn babies — it's the first that she learns about the pregnancy, and then he kills the werewolf, Jules, then her aunt Jenna...and then Nycole."

"I gave Elijah the book All My Children."

"Nycole's at the hospital with the twins as they're barely holding on. Then Elijah takes her from the NICU and leaves her in the tunnels under Mystic Falls with Elena and Rebekah. He tells his sister that if Stefan and Damon don't sever the link between the Bennett witches and Esther, then she has to kill the girls. Bonnie's mom was turned into a vampire that night."

"Rebekah — The Departed." Nyx says.

"They're all trying to survive Ric's evil alter ego, but he kills Klaus — or so they all thought. As a result, Rebekah compels a man to murder Nyx, and then she runs Matt and Elena off of Wickery Bridge. Nycole bled to death in Dean's arms."

"Hayley has Hunted."

"At the end of the book, a distraught Tyler calls Nycole and tells her that his mom drowned in the fountain in the middle of the town square. Klaus killed her because Hayley lied to Tyler and manipulated him so that twelve of his friends would die. It was the second point of the expression triangle that Silas needed in order to drop the veil to the Other Side." Chuck says.

"And last, but certainly not least. I gave Kol my least favorite book — The Walking Dead."

"While the veil's down inside the expression triangle, Vicki manages to get Nyx to turn her emotions back on. Immediately after that, Kol shows up and attempts to kill Carter as a distraction. While Vicki's saving him, Kol rips Nyx's heart from her chest. And she then has to say goodbye to her friends and family — to Dean and to their kids."

"I have no reason to trust any of you." Nyx says as she looks at the family of original vampires. "Much less your older sister and Kol's girlfriend. Why the hell would Dean and I accept your help in this? You've done nothing but ruin our lives."

"I'm not here for you." Klaus says, and she looks at him. "I'm here for my daughter."

"And I'm supposed to believe that she was born and it undid a thousand years of the monster that you turned into?" She questions. "The most trustworthy person in your family is Elijah, and he's screwed me over more times than I care to admit that I was stupid enough to believe him."

"And for that—"

"You are deeply ashamed." Nyx looks at the oldest of the living Mikaelson men. "I've heard that before. And then I was turned into a vampire because of your siblings. We had a deal that Rebekah decided was void after something happened that I had no control over.

"I couldn't go near my children." She says as she looks at the blonde. "My boyfriend. My friends. My brother. So, tell me, why should I risk anything by trusting your family again?"

"For your children. All three of them." She says, and Nyx's hand immediately moves to her stomach. She has a small baby bump, and she can feel baby S move slightly as she presses on the side of her belly. "Aren't they worth the risk?"

"They're worth everything. But what good is it if I misplace my trust again and leave them with only their fathers?"

"Fathers?" Klaus asks.

"Yes, fathers. This little one here — she's mine and Stefan's." Nyx tells him.

"And the plot thickens." Kol chuckles, but he soon seems uncomfortable as he shifts where he's standing. "What are you doing?"

"That's not me." She looks at her sister and smirks. "Elena's becoming a lot more like me — a lot more defensive and overprotective."

"Give us a chance." Elijah says, and they look back at him. "Please."

"Come meet Hope." Marcel says. "It'll be easier to understand if you see her with her parents. Trust me."

Nyx looks at him and then takes a step back before turning and walking over to Dean. He shakes his head. "I'm not trusting any of them." He tells her, and she smiles.

"Well, no, of course not. But trust me." She says, and he sighs. "I'll be with Elena and Kai, we'll be fine. Stay with Chuckles, find more answers. Figure out how he's so in tune to our lives. Let me worry about Lilith."

He shakes his head. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I, but it'll all be worth it when the bitch is dead." She tells him. "And then we can slow down, stop hunting, find a place to live — raise our kids right."

"New Orleans is a beautiful city." Klaus says from behind her, and Dean looks over her shoulder for a second.

"That's never gonna happen." Dean says as he looks back down at her.

"No." Nyx chuckles. "But you're still taking me to Mardi Gras." She says, and he laughs.

"I did promise that, didn't I?" He asks, and she nods. "We'll get there. We do this, and we'll have plenty of time."

"That's the spirit." She smiles as she stretches up to kiss him. "I love you." She whispers against his lips.

"I love you too, you pain in my ass." He says as she pulls back, and she chuckles.

"Gotta keep life interesting." She smiles at him and then walks over to her sister.