ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ: "Hallowed ground."
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"I LOVE IT WHEN WE FIGHT."

Venus chuckled softly at Casey's words. She was lying in his arms, their naked bodies entangled in his sheets while they let the events of the previous night wash over them.

"We were always good at the fighting, and we were damn good at what came after the fighting," she admitted with a grin.

Casey chucked from his position beneath her, letting his hands continue to trace shapes on the soft skin of her back. "It's all the other stuff, not so much," he softly reminisced, looking down at where Venus' head rested on his chest.

"I tried," she turned to look up at him through her lashes, "Telling you who I was, what I did for a living, that was a big first for me."

Casey furrowed his brows, bringing a hand up to move a stray curl from the woman's face. "Why'd you tell me?"

"I think..." Venus trailed off with a deep sigh, "I think I was just tired of lying to you. You deserved better," she finished, raising her hand to caress his bearded face. She found herself grinning. "I really like this by the way," her fingers trailed up to his mustache.

Casey flashed her a toothy grin, "Yeah? Me too. Thought it would get rid of that babyface people kept telling me I had."

Venus scrunched her nose up, poking his dimples, "As long as these are here, that babyface isn't going anywhere cariño."

She giggled when the man beneath her fist pumped the air. "I'm finally back in cariño territory," he dramatically cheered.

Venus rolled her eyes at him and returned her head to its place on his chest. She let the calm thumps of his heart relax her, her breathing eventually synching with his.

"You know," he spoke after a few more minutes of comfortable silence, "Things tend to work out when people really want them to," he proclaimed, vaguely hinting at something.

Venus closed her eyes in defeat. There was so much hope in his voice. She had to be gentle. "If this were four months ago things would be so different. But I still do what I do and honestly...I don't know when it's gonna end," she explained, knowing that the search for Jessica's murderer could take months or even years. 

"Hey, no more excuses," Casey declared, looking down at the woman with a determined expression, "For these next few days at least, okay?"

Venus sighed. He made her happy and now more than ever she needed some happiness. So, she could live in denial for a few days. "Fine," she relented with a pout.

Casey smiled and leaned in to kiss the brunette. Venus sat up and pressed her body closer to him, deepening the kiss. Right as Casey prepared to unwrap her body from his sheets, Venus' phone rang from the nightstand beside them.

She pulled away from his lips with a groan, using her thumb to brush the swollen flesh. "I'm gonna kill those boys," she reached for her phone and flipped it open to see Sam's name on the display. The hunter pressed the button accepting the call and brought the phone to her ear.

She listened to Sam explain that the mayor had been killed.

"You're kidding," she sat upright.

Sam told her the address of the crime scene before hanging up.

"What's going on?" Casey gently questioned rubbing the woman's bare shoulder.

"Apparently the mayor was murdered," she explained morbidly.

Casey's eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Yeah," Venus agreed, sliding out of the comfortable bed to grab her previously discarded clothes and throw them on.

"You want me to give you a ride over there?" Casey offered, pulling on his clothes as well.

"Sure," Venus took his offer, buckling the belt on her jeans.

-ˋˏ [                           ] ˎˊ-

Dean and Sam stood talking to the town's sheriff when the sound of a motorcycle pulling up nearby reached their ears.

All eyes turned to see Venus swinging a leg off a sleek black Honda motorcycle and pulling a helmet off her head, swinging her curls free.

Casey took the helmet from her palms before pulling her in by the waist for a quick kiss goodbye. "See you later, V," he grinned.

Venus smiled as he took off speeding down the street then turned to face the crime scene. The smile disappeared from her face as quickly as it came once she spotted the Winchester brothers looking at her with very differing looks.

She folded her arms into themselves, seeking more warmth from Missouri's March snow falling atop her head.

"She's with us," she heard Sam tell an officer before walking over to meet her by some trees. Dean followed, his face seemingly impartial as his hands rested in his jacket pockets.

"Good morning," she greeted both brothers with a tight-lipped smile.

"Where were you last night?" Dean questioned her, his jaw set, "You didn't make it back to the motel."

Venus shrugged.

Dean looked away with a humorless laugh. "That's all I get? A shrug? Some monster truck's out here killing people connected to Casey and you didn't think to let us know you were somewhere safe and not run off the road in a ditch like him?" he pointed to where the mayor's dead body was being wheeled away.

Venus' eyes widened for a moment, stunned by his tone. "I'm sorry, Dean, I was...busy," she replied.

"Busy," Dean repeated, his tone mocking.

Venus was starting to get pissed. "Yeah, busy. You got something you wanna say to me?"

The pair stood in silence for a few seconds, exchanging heated looks, before Dean scoffed and walked away.

Sam came to stand by her side. "I'm guessing you and Casey worked things out?" He spotted a few deep red marks on the woman's neck but decided not to mention it.

"Something like that," Venus answered. The brunette turned in the direction of the crime scene, listening as Sam's footsteps followed her.

"So they found the mayor's body with every bone crushed, internal organs turned to pudding," the taller Winchester updated her, "The cops are all stumped, it's almost like something ran him over."

"Like the truck?" Venus raised a brow.

"Yep."

"Any tracks?"

"Nope."

Venus looked around for a moment, a thought appearing. "What the hell was the mayor doing out here?"

"He owned the property, bought it a few weeks ago."

"Now this is starting to feel personal," Venus spoke in a hushed tone as an officer walked past them, "He wasn't black like the other victims and the killing didn't happen up on the road."

"Go talk to Casey, see if you can dig up some records and find a connection and Dean and I'll go to the courthouse and see what we can find," Sam suggested.

Venus nodded, following Sam over to where Dean sat in the parked Impala.

-ˋˏ [                  ] ˎˊ-

Venus had been seated in Casey's office for over an hour, scouring through records going back decades.

Noticing that the brunette's brown eyes were struggling to remain open, Casey went out into the bullpen to brew them both cups of coffee.

Venus lit up once the scent of the steaming liquid hit her nose. "Thank you, cariño," she happily took the cup from him, smiling when he pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

"Got anything yet?" he questioned, pulling up a chair to sit behind her.

Venus took a sip of the coffee, letting the warm beverage jolt her awake, "No, I was trying to link the killings from the 60s to what's going on now but there's barely any info in the papers about what happened back in the day," she explained.

"That's not surprising," Casey rolled his eyes, "Back then, equal justice under the law wasn't as equal as the name suggested."

Venus chucked softly. Her phone began buzzing in her pocket. She answered the call to hear Sam's voice on the other side. "You find something, hermano?"

"Yeah, the courthouse records show that Mr and Mrs Mayor bought an abandoned property. The previous owner was the Dorian family for like 150 years,"

Venus' eyes lit up in recognition. "The Dorian family?" she spun in her chair to face Casey, "You said they used to own this paper, right?"

The journalist nodded, placing down his cup of coffee and moving closer to the woman. "Yeah along with almost everything else around here. Real pillars in the community."

Venus turned to the computer and opened a previous article she had skimmed. "Interesting," she lowly hummed.

Dean's voice came through the phone this time, "What is it?"

"This guy, Cyrus Dorian, vanished in April of '63," she read aloud to the Winchesters, "The case was investigated but never solved. It was around the time the string of murders was happening."

"Sam pulled a bunch of info up on the Dorian property. It must've been in bad shape when the mayor bought it."

"Why's that?" Venus asked while silently reading the rest of the article.

"The first thing he did was bulldoze the place."

"No way," Venus scoffed, turning to look at Casey, "The mayor really bulldozed the Dorian place?"

"Yeah, it was a big deal too. Made the front page. It was one of the oldest local houses left," Casey recalled.

"You find a date in the records?" Venus spoke into the phone again.

There were a few seconds of silence before Sam answered, "The third of last month."

Venus whispered the date to Casey who leaned in and entered it into the computer and brought up the associated article.

"The first killing was the very next day," Venus concluded.

-ˋˏ [         ] ˎˊ-

Casey sat next to Venus on the couch in his study that night, clutching onto the woman as he tried not to dwell on what had occurred mere minutes earlier.

He was doing work at his desk when the lights throughout the house began flickering and a loud truck engine rumbled from outside his home. Upon peeking outside the windows he spotted the very same big black truck that may have been responsible for his father and boss' deaths.

But by the time he called Venus and heard her frantically knocking on the door with the Winchesters by her side, the truck had disappeared.

His mother entered the room holding a cup of tea for herself and her son.

"Thanks, Mom," Casey sent his mom a short smile and momentarily released Venus to take the cup.

Dean and Sam sat in armchairs across from them, next to Mrs Robinson who seemed to be shaking.

Venus examined the man by her side carefully trying to gauge his current feelings. "You didn't see who was driving the truck?" she gently questioned him.

"No, it seemed like it was no one," he looked over at her, baffled, "Everything happened so fast and then it was just gone. Why didn't it kill us?"

"Whatever's controlling the truck wants you two afraid first," Dean expressed, glancing at both surviving Robinsons.

Venus tore her eyes away from Casey and landed on his mother. "Mrs. Robinson. Casey said that your husband saw the truck before he died."

The older woman remained silent.

"Mom?" Casey called out to her.

She slowly turned to look at him, her body language betraying the shock and panic coursing through her. "Martin was under a lot of stress. You can't be too sure about what he was seeing."

Venus looked at her strangely. "Ma'am after tonight I think it's safe to say he saw a truck. Now, in case it wasn't clear, that thing came here and marked you and your son...for death. So if you know something, I'm begging you to please tell us," she pleaded with the woman.

That seemed to be enough to convince the woman.

The hunters and Casey sat in silence waiting for her to speak up.

"Yes, he said he saw a truck."

"Did he know who it belonged to?" Sam asked from the woman's right.

"He thought he did," she fiddled with the edge of her cup nervously.

Venus leaned forward. "Who?"

"Cyrus. A man named Cyrus."

All three hunters locked eyes, unable to hold back their surprise. Venus fumbled through the pockets of her coat before digging out a copy of the newspaper article she found earlier. "Is this him?"

Mrs. Robinson couldn't bring herself to look at the piece of paper, "Cyrus Dorian died more than forty years ago."

Venus was beginning to fold away the newspaper article when she realized something. It seemed Casey realized as well.

"Mom, how do you know he died?" the young man set his cup down and looked at his mother, "The papers said he went missing. How do you know he died?"

"We were all very young," the older woman said, taking a deep breath.

Venus sighed and rubbed two fingers against her temples, already having an idea where the story was going.

"I dated Cyrus a while. I was also seeing Martin— in secret of course. Interracial couples didn't go over too well then. When I broke it off with Cyrus, and when he found out about Martin, I don't know," she trailed off with a faraway look, "He changed. His hatred was frightening."

"The string of murders," Sam mentioned to his older brother who nodded.

"There were rumors," Casey's mother continued, "People of color disappearing into some kind of truck. Nothing was ever done," her voice broke, a few tears falling from her aged green eyes, "Martin and I, we were gonna be married in that little church near here. But, uh, last minute we decided to elope 'cause we didn't want the attention."

"And Cyrus?" Dean interjected.

Mrs. Robinson attempted to choke back a sob but failed. She inhaled a shaky breath and looked up at the hunters again. "The day we set for the wedding, was the day someone set fire to the church. There was a children's choir practicing in there. They all died," she cried.

At the thought of the pain and horror those children must've suffered in their last moments, Venus sniffled back a few tears. She then felt Casey's familiar hand slip into hers and squeeze it as a sign of comfort. She looked up and hurriedly wiped away a tear, "Did the attacks stop after that?"

"No, there was one more," Mrs Robinson continued to weep, "One night that truck came for Martin. Cyrus beat him something terrible. But, you see, Martin got loose and he started hitting Cyrus and he just kept hitting him and hitting him."

"Did you call the cops?" Venus lowly questioned, already knowing the answer. No cop forty years ago would ever take Martin's side in a situation like that, no matter how clear it was that he acted in self-defense.

The older woman confirmed her suspicions. "Martin called on his friends— Clayton Solmes and Jimmy Anderson — and they put Cyrus' body into the truck and rolled it into the swamp at the edge of his land and all three of them kept that secret all these years."

"And now all three are gone," Sam finished.

"So is Mayor Todd," Dean added, "Now he said that you of all people would know that he is not a racist. Why would he say that?"

Mrs. Robinson leaned back in her chair, cradling her head with her hands. "He was a good man. He was a young deputy back then, investigating Cyrus' disappearance. Once he figured out what Martin and the others had done, he did...nothing. Because he also knew what Cyrus had done."

Casey looked at his mother, shock written on his face and his eyes glassy with tears. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her, his voice breaking at the end.

"I thought I was protecting them," she defended, "And now there's no one left to protect."

"Yes there is," Dean chimed in, looking over at Casey to Venus' surprise.

She looked over and mouthed a hushed 'thank you' to him, receiving a short nod in response.

-ˋˏ [       ] ˎˊ-

Venus sat on the hood of the Impala with Dean and Sam leaning against the doors beside her. She listened to Sam muse about how their life was so much simpler mere months ago when all they had to worry about were exams and papers.

"So I guess I saved you two from a boring existence," Dean joked, lightly shoving the quiet brunette where she sat.

Venus rocked from the impact with a smile and looked back to see him already looking at her. "Occasionally, I miss boring," she piped up, turning away to look at Casey's house, expecting him to walk out any second now.

Dean's jaw clenched. He turned back to address Sam, "So this killer truck—"

"I miss conversations that didn't start with 'This killer truck' " Sam interrupted with a wry laugh.

"All right, well this Cyrus guy," Dean rephrased, "Evil on a level that even infected his truck. When he died, the swamp became his tomb and his spirit was dormant for forty years."

Sam looked away in thought. "So what woke it up?"

"The bulldozer that the mayor took to his property. Demolition or remodeling can awaken spirits, make them restless," Venus softly recalled, looking up at the house as she spoke and watching one of the lights turn off in an upstairs window.

"And the guy who tears down the family homestead— Harold Todd—is the same guy that kept Cyrus' murder quiet and unsolved," Dean voiced.

"So now his spirit is awakened and out for blood," Sam concluded.

"I guess. Who knows what ghosts are thinking anyways," Dean quipped.

Venus smiled from where she sat. "I love it when—"

"—we use our brains," Both Winchesters finished her sentence with high-pitched voices.

The brunette turned to look at them. "I do not sound like that," she objected.

"Yeah you do, princess," Dean chuckled.

Venus rolled her eyes and reclaimed her previous position.

"You know we're gonna have to dredge that dead body up from the swamp, right?" Sam told them.

Venus groaned loudly, already dreading the inevitable.

Her attention was suddenly drawn back to the house by approaching footsteps. She sat up and beamed at Casey. "Hey, Case," she stood to her feet.

The taller man gave her a small smile in greeting, pulling her body into his side and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "She's asleep," he informed her, referring to his mother. He looked over at the other two hunters for a moment sending them nods, "Now what?"

Venus pulled out of his hold and pointed her index finger in his face, "You need to stay put and watch her. Do not leave the house."

Casey grinned even wider bringing both his hands to rest on her waist. "Yes ma'am. Love it when you get all bossy on me," he chirped teasingly.

Venus bit back a smile, trying to keep a straight face. She used a hand to pat his jacket-clad chest. "¡Ay yi yi! I mean it, cariño. Stay here. We'll be back soon."

Casey nodded affirmatively. He then used his hold on the woman's waist to pull her body flush against his.

She welcomed the movement with a smirk and leaned up on her tippy toes to pull on his shirt lapel and connect their lips. Casey smiled into the kiss, bringing a hand up to the woman's cheek as they sunk further into each other.

Venus moved her hands to wrap around his neck, still keeping their lips locked, when the sound of obnoxious coughs came from behind her.

She pulled away from the man reluctantly, smiling when his lips seemed to chase after hers before his brown eyes fluttered open.

"Bye," she gave him one last peck and turned to face the Winchester brothers, "Well are we doing this or what?" she tried to play the moment off.

Casey watched the hunters load into the Impala and then speed off into the night, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

-ˋˏ [         ] ˎˊ-

Venus tried not to think about the nasty lengths they just had to go through to pull Cyrus' truck up from the depths of the swamp and onto the edge of it.

She stood next to Sam ready and waiting to direct Dean who sat in a stolen tractor with tow cables attached to the bumper of the rusted truck.

"Keep going," she shouted, her voice barely managing to be louder than the creak of the old vehicle.

Dean obeyed and slowly forced the tractor further, pulling the truck out behind him.

Venus and Sam noticed that the truck's rear was only barely starting to come out of the water.

The brunette scrunched her nose up at the smell, turning to face Dean again. "Punch it, Dean. It's gotta go over that bump back there," she yelled.

Dean nodded in understanding and followed through, carefully bringing the truck out of the water and over the bump Venus mentioned.

The older Winchester turned off the tractor and hopped out of the vehicle to join the other two. 

"Nice job there, 'ma'am'. I see why Casey loves that bossy side of yours, it gets shit done," Sam teased the woman with a shit-eating grin.

She raised a gloved hand and flipped off the younger hunter, following Dean to the trunk of the Impala.

"Come on, V, you can admit it. You're still in love with him," Sam laughed.

Venus' eyes widened. "Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," she denied the claim. The brunette joined Dean's side and reached into the sea of materials, first grabbing the can of gasoline and throwing it at Sam's chest, ignoring his pained grunt. 

"What else?" she turned to Dean.

"Just the flashlights," he mumbled, handing her two for her and Sam while he grabbed the can of salt.

"Here you go, cabrón," Venus grumbled, giving Sam his flashlight.

"Let's get this done," Dean announced with a slam of the trunk lid.

Within minutes the hunters had dragged Cyrus' rotten corpse from his truck, drenched it in gas and salt, and set it on fire.

"Think that'll do it?" questioned Venus, using her forearm to wipe a snowflake from her nose.

Her question remained unanswered, however, when the sound of a truck engine revving met their ears.

All eyes flew toward the noise to spot the phantom truck, headlights ablaze and pointed in their direction.

"I guess not," Dean swallowed harshly. 

"So burning the body had no effect on that thing?" Sam shouted over the roar of the vehicle's engine.

"Well, not exactly. We pissed the damn thing off," Venus commented through gritted teeth. 

"But Cyrus' ghost is gone, right?" Sam asked, his voice panicked.

Venus herself was running out of answers. "Not the part fused with the truck."

She spotted Dean moving in her peripheral and turned to look at him.

"Where you going?" Sam turned and asked his brother.

Dean fished out the Impala's keys from his pockets. "Going for a little ride. Gonna lead that thing away."

"What?" Venus and Sam loudly protested in unison.

"That rusted piece of crap, you gotta burn it," Dean shouts.

Venus shook the gas can in Sam's hand. They didn't have nearly enough gas for that. "How the hell are we supposed to do that?" she argued, watching Dean start Baby's engine.

"I don't know. Figure something out," Dean said before tossing a bag of weapons out the window and in Sam's direction. He was gone within seconds.

Venus quickly pulled the younger Winchester out of sight, watching as Cyrus' truck made its way in the direction Dean had just sped off in.

Once they were sure the truck was out of view, they stood to their feet, grabbing John's journal from the bag Dean gave them.

Sam hurriedly flipped through its pages trying to find anything that could be of use to them. Venus gave up after the first three pages, her patience wearing thin with her worry for Dean. She ran her hand through her hair in distress, trying to calm her thoughts long enough to come up with something plausible. But nothing came.

"Oh God," she began to audibly panic. In her haste, she pulled out the map of the town. Sam moved over to look down at the piece of paper as well, trying to think of something.

The hunters flinched at the sound of Sam's phone ringing. He pulled it open and answered Dean's call. "Hey you gotta give us a minute," he told his brother, holding his flashlight over the map while Venus' shaking hands glided over the streets and intersections.

"Uh, lemme get back to you," Venus heard Sam tell Dean before ending the call.

Venus furiously chewed on her bottom lip, hearing Sam dial another number and bring the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Casey. It's Sam. I need some information and it has to be exactly right."

Venus listened to Sam repeat whatever info Casey gave him with furrowed brows. "What's that?"

"The exact location of the church that burned down," Sam replied, redialing Dean.

Venus sputtered in confusion, trying to figure out how that would be of any help to them at the moment.

"Dean, where are you?"

Venus could hear Dean's furious yells through the small phone from where she stood. "Put the damn phone on speaker," she smacked Sam's arm.

"Dean listen to me, it's important. I have to know exactly where you are," Sam kept his voice even, trying to calm his brother.

"Decatur Road, two miles off the highway," Dean's voice came through the phone for Venus to hear.

"Okay, headed east?"

"Yes!"

Venus' eyes widened once she heard a loud thump followed by a screech of the Impala's tires. "Dean?" she shouted.

Her heart stopped for the few seconds that the call went nearly silent.

But then Dean's curses could be heard again. She released the long breath she was holding.

"Okay, uh, turn right," Sam directed him.

"Sam, what's this? What are you doing?" Venus called out to him, noting how unsure he sounded in his directions.

"I'm trying to get him to the church," his reply tumbled from his lips. He faced the phone again. "You made the turn?" he awaited confirmation from Dean.

Venus calmed herself long enough to remember something important. "Hallowed ground," she mumbled to herself, looking up at Sam with bright eyes. She couldn't stop herself from reaching up to grab Sam's head and pulling it down to plant a big kiss on his cheek. "You're a fucking genius," she cheered.

Sam shook off the shock of her actions and shrugged. "Maybe. Let's hope it works."

"Move this thing along a little faster!" 

Sam looked down at the map again. "You see a road up ahead?"

"No!"

Venus and Sam sent each other worried glances.

"Wait yes, I see it!" Dean corrected after a second look.

"Turn left," Sam urged.

"All right, now what?" came Dean's voice after a few seconds.

"You need to go exactly seven-tenths of a mile then stop," Sam told him.

Venus could almost see Dean's face, wracked with confusion in her mind.

"Stop?" he gawked.

Venus took the phone and yelled into the receiver, "Listen to Sam, exactly seven-tenths. Look at the odometer."

Dean went silent for a moment on the other end and Venus hoped he'd actually stop at the precise point that they needed him to.

The familiar screech of the Impala tires sounded through the cell phone once more and then silence.

"Dean, are you still there?" Sam asked with bated breath.

"Yeah."

"What's happening?"

"It's just staring at me what do I do?"

Venus and Sam looked at each other. This was the hardest part, seeing if it actually worked.

"Just what you are doing, bringing it to you," Sam said.

Venus took a deep breath beside him, trying not to think about how they were possibly risking Dean's life. "If this doesn't work, I'm so sorry," she whispered to herself, unaware that Dean heard her through the phone.

The sound of Cyrus' truck engine grew louder and louder before silence.

"Dean," Venus called out, her voice firm, "Are you okay?"

"Where'd it go?"

Venus grinned, relief spreading through her body. If she weren't so cold she would've started jumping for joy.

Sam released a breath as well, "Dean," he breathed, "You're where the church was."

"What church?"

"The church Cyrus burned down and murdered all those kids," Venus reminded him.

"There's not a whole lot left!" Dean scoffed.

"Church ground is hallowed ground, whether the church is still there or not. Evil spirits cross over hallowed ground, sometimes they're destroyed," Sam explained with a triumphant grin, "So, I figured maybe that would get rid of it."

"Maybe?"

Venus laughed at the shock in Dean's voice. 

"This shit isn't funny Venus! What if Sam was wrong?"

Sam shrugged. "Honestly that thought hadn't occurred to me."

Dean promptly ended the call.

-ˋˏ [      ] ˎˊ-

"My mom says to tell you thanks, again."

Venus and Casey stood beside the Impala the next morning. The taller man looked down at the woman before him with somber eyes, knowing that this may be the last time he saw her.

Venus sent him a sad smile. "All in a day's work," she tried to joke. She was dreading this part.

"This was a better goodbye than last time," Casey said.

Venus swallowed harshly then pulled him in for a hug. She wrapped her arms tightly around his body, resting the side of her head on his chest and listening to the thud of his heartbeat for the last time.

Casey's arms encircled her shoulders and arms, relishing the feeling of her in his hold.

"Maybe it won't be as permanent this time," Venus pulled away slightly to look up into his eyes. Despite her words, she knew better. There was no future for them.

Casey knew it too. He brought a hand up to the hunter's face, using a thumb to catch a tear that fell. "You know what? I'm a realist, V. I don't see much hope for us."

Venus sighed, sliding her eyes closed for a moment. "I wonder why," she mumbled sarcastically.

"Venus María Castillo," he softly uttered her name, mirroring the smile that it brought to her face, "I think you are a bonafide badass. And I think that you are in good hands," he nodded over to where Dean and Sam sat in the Impala trying to pretend like they weren't eavesdropping.

Venus turned to glance back at the Winchester boys. "Yeah I think so too," she faced Casey again "You're gonna be okay, Case," her tone grew more serious, "Some gorgeous woman's gonna blow into town one day, and then you'll forget all about me."

Casey shook his head. "Never. Not in a million years."

Venus faltered under the intensity of his stare for a moment before reaching up and connecting their lips. Casey held her jaw with a palm, moving his lips in tandem with hers, their final act of goodbye.

Venus pulled away first, releasing her hold on the taller man's body and taking a step back.

"See you around, Casey."

"Bye, Venus."

Venus sent him one last smile then turned and opened the backdoor of the Impala. She slipped into the car with a heavy sigh, not even bothering to look back at the man she was leaving behind. 

Dean drove off soon after.

The drive was silent for a few minutes, with Venus throwing her legs across the backseat and leaning back to look outside the window at the passing landscape. She thought about the past few days and also about the future. She would be lying if she didn't say that for a moment she allowed herself to indulge in the idea of what life with Casey would be like. But she also thought about Sam and Jessica, how they were planning a very similar life until it was ruined by a demon.

She needed to find her killer and kill it. For them.

But then Dean drifted back into her thoughts. He always seemed to do that as of late.

She couldn't leave him behind if she tried. Not after the things they've been through together.

"I like him," Sam turned to face her from the passenger seat.

"Yeah, it's hard not to," she chuckled to herself.

"You meet someone like him, it ever makes you wonder if it's worth it— putting everything else on hold, doing what we do?"

Venus' brows furrowed in thought. She truly didn't have an answer for him. Not yet.

So she shrugged, reached down into her duffle bag, and pulled out her sunglasses. Venus threw the dark frames onto her face and sunk even further into her seat. "Wake me up at the next rest stop."

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A/N: It's a day late but enjoy!

Don't forget to vote and comment. I love hearing from you guys :)

Translations:
Cariño - Dear, honey, sweetheart (take your pick tbh)
Cabrón - Dumbass

EDIT 01/28/24: Lovely GIF banner up above made by the crazy talented prodigybitxhhh 

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