Heka's Story

"Dad’s on a hunting
trip, and he hasn’t been
home in a few days."

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Zad's cyan eyes were crawling the room in search of his missing waitress to order his second round long before the first was even finished when they fell on a bubbly blonde postioned at the bar, challenging the tender to a children's card game. It seemed awfully early for anyone to be seated there he mused, or for cards for that matter, but he could hardly blame her. He himself had contemplated occupying a stool for a celebratory shot of rotgut when he first came in, but forgoed it in favor of a waited table to ensure he got served some food promptly. Her laughter was infectious and she was decently attractive for a probable bar fly he noted as she leaned over the bar top with a sly grin. Attractive...and vaguely familiar.

Claire. Claire Novak. That's who she was, he recalled, the grey matter of his brain finally snapping awake at last. He was worried at first the recognition might have stemmed from a one night fling and a forgotten name in the morning which lead to a mad dash out of town later that afternoon, but thankfully the familiarity laid solely with the fact he had seen he around at other hunter friendly roadhouse's before, chatting up whoever would lend an ear. Rumor was that she had been possessed by an angel once as a child....Weird, Zad thought. Bunch of winged freaks, those Holy Air Patrollers. Imagine cramming yourself in a body with another soul...It reminded him too much of a more polite version of demons. He had almost gotten up to join her before he was interrupted.

“Someone is hungry. So tell me sir, how goes it?"

Zad jolted with a start as a voice alerted him to the fact someone was hovering percariously close behind his chair, a voice that had snuck up almost too quietly for any mere human. It wasn't easy to catch a hunter by surprize, let alone one that was also(unknowingly) of the angelic variety.

His head swiveled around violently, nearly giving him whiplash; his chipmunk packed cheeks and startled expression hilariously unintimidating. "Tony!" He exclaimed affectionately upon recognition, his irish accent thick and absurd sounding with his mouth still full of eggs as he relaxed back into his chair. "You arse, you scared the piss outta me!" he laughed bawdily. "I didn't even see ya come in, when did you get here?" Zad slapped the empty seat next to him on the bench, beckoning his fellow hunter to sit.

Heka--or as Zad knew him--Anthony, was a peculiar bird. He supposedly was immortal, which was curious to Zad because if becoming so were really as simple as Anthony claimed it had been, a spell having virtually no negative side effects, why wasn't everyone searching for that sort of hoodoo? A blessing disguised as a curse...perpetually youthful and strong...but lonely Zad imagined. Damned witches. Burn em' all.

"So," The hunter started, shoveling another forkful of food down his gullet, heedless of manners. Hunters weren't the mannerly type, anyhow. "What brings you to this side of this one horse town? You on a hunt? How'd you find me, because I assume that was intentional or just a really bizarre fortuitous coincidence?"

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Laughing hysterically from Zad’s reaction, Heka couldn’t believe the male had been so easily startled, and with food in his mouth, his cheeks stuffed like a hamster’s. Heka had to take a moment to catch his breath as he held the back of Zad’s chair for support, but when he finally got straightened out, he sat in the chair Zad offered to him and simply smiled in the male’s face when he looked at him. This place seemed familiar. He was sure he had been to this place once or twice before. He looked around the room observing every single entity. There were a couple of mortals here, their scent filtering into his nose gently. He continued looking around, noticing that the roadhouse was pretty much empty aside from the Heka, Zad, Claire, and a few others. His eyes stopped on Claire as they were scanning the roadhouse.

“What is she doing here?” he thought as he turned and looked at the menu, a waitress striding over to see if he wanted anything. This was a Hunter’s pit stop, or so he thought as many times as he had been to this particular roadhouse, the name outside on the sign having faded away due to time. Life sure had a way of bringing one back to places that warranted flashbacks and emotional memories. Still, Heka wondered exactly what the future held for mortals as well as deities. Would there always be conflict of interest between the races of supernatural creatures? He took this moment to simply eye Claire from a distance as she attempted to punish a machine for not allowing her victory. He nearly laughed, but stifled it and watched some more. Humans were interesting creatures, that much was certain.

Heka’s attention turn back to Zad who had asked him a question, and had he not been so idly occupied with Claire, he would’ve answered as soon as the question was asked, but he looked at Zad with a questionable gaze and simply shrugged. “Just a few moments ago actually,” he said with a wink, “just passing through, making sure you’re doing your job right is all.” He chuckled lightly and looked off in Claire’s direction as she gulped down waffles with some sort of brown sauce on them humans called chocolate. While it was true that chocolate was an amazing product from a cacao tree, Heka always wondered what made a human want to grind up something so ugly and ingest it after pulverizing it to the point of liquid. Again, Heka’s attention was diverted from Claire to Zad who asked him how he’d found him.

“Dude, simple really,” Heka began, “you come here a lot after a hunt,” he said, “not to mention Hecate, the witch who cursed me, showed me a few tricks, and let’s be honest, you’re not that hard to track handsome,” Heka added and smirked before turning in Claire’s direction again, “isn’t that Claire?” he asked Zad under his breath so she couldn’t hear, “I’ve heard of her.”

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"This ought to be good." Jesse thought to himself about the man who decided to intrude on the girl's shooting game. He even put down his book to listen to the two's verbal sparring which ended in a literal draw as the pair decided to have a contest with the plastic rifles to see who was a better shot. It was close, but the woman won out in the end and the two decided to have breakfast together. As the new acquaintances walked away, Jesse couldn't help but feel that familiar cold feeling he got when around other people, especially when they were together and he was alone, like he always was. Jesse had carved out his own little solitary existence, but just because he did it willingly didn't mean he had to be certain about it or even like it.

"Here you go." the waitress exclaimed, the loud clang of the heavy plate snapped him out of his thoughts. "Uh, thanks." he flashed a smile to try and hide his last expression. "You alright, son? I don't mean to pry, but you seem a bit out of it."It wasn't exactly prying. It was more like just reading the 'I'm a damaged loner freak' sign all over Jesse's face. At least, that's what he thought anyway. "No, I'm fine. I just got reminded of some things I don't like to think about too often." Jesse stated, a little embarrassed he let his emotions get to him. "Well alright. You need me, just holler." and with that, the woman strutted over to another table. The Half-Demon then eyed his small stack of pancakes laid out in front of him and began to dig in, remembering his previously forgotten hunger. The sweetness from the fluffy discs and the chocolate inside definitely lifted his spirits a bit as well as the awkward sight of a large man shoveling food into his mouth like he was the Cookie Monster at an Oreo factory while a fiery haired woman sat with him and watched on.

After a few minutes, a half a cup of coffee, and a fantastic pair of chocolate chip pancakes, Jesse decided it was time to head out to a more out of the way place to do a little thinking. A place he knew was out of the way of most and not as close to town, a roadhouse he passed on the way into Carlton. With that in mind, he placed a fifty dollar bill on the table to cover his food and the kind waitress' tip and with his belongings walked to the back alley of the diner and teleported off to the roadhouse in the blink of an eye. After he made sure no one saw him, he walked into the building and sat down at an empty table. He noted instantly that there wasn't that many people there and the people who were were preoccupied with each other. Exactly what he wanted. He pulled out his chair and grabbed a leather bound book from his bag, rifling through the loose pages until he found the page he was looking for. The last demon he encountered was on his way to God knows where when he ran into Jesse. Unlucky for him, this demon wasn't aware of Jesse's ability to exorcise demons and was dealt with pretty quickly. He did however find a note on the demon's meat suit that only had two words written on it; "Pagan" and "Hecate". Jesse didn't know what it meant, but a Pagan would definitely be powerful enough to do the types of things he was hearing about, he just didn't know why. And even if he found out who they were, he knew he didn't stand a chance against a god. Not alone, at least.

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He hadn’t realized what he had said until he had said it. He had named her. All this time, he hadn’t given the witch a name, leaving it a mystery, leaving it to be undiscovered, but now he named her, now he gave the amorphous presence a name, and it was Hecate. While it was true that Hecate and Heka had a steamy background, it was centuries ago, and their relationship ended in a very interesting way, depending on who you ask of course. He sat there realizing only too late that he had nearly divulged too much information and had to figure out a way to do damage control. He took notice of Zad’s whispering as he replied to his question on the identity of the one known as Claire Novak. She wasn’t famous as in celebrity, it was only the fact that most hunters knew one another and last he had heard she was indeed a hunter. He would find more of them here, as this was a hunter friendly “pit stop” so to speak. A place where hunters could come after a good hunt, eat, and hopefully relax until duty called once again. While it was true that Zad was an interesting character, Heka had never really had any “close” friends in the hunters. He tried here and there, but everyone he became “close” to end up dying, or worse turning into what they hunted.

Still, Heka couldn’t make it seem as if he were worried. In an attempt to cover himself, he simply smiled and listened to Zad as he began to discuss Heka’s reason for bothering him. Well, it wasn’t bothering, more like a friendly unauthorized visit from a fellow hunter. At least that’s how Heka looked at it. With a sigh, he shook his head as if he were contemplating on what to say next.

“It’s true, you aren’t much company, BUT,” he said near a yell as he held up a pointer finger, “I have just the thing to liven you up a bit pretty boy. It’s called fashion and swag.” Heka jumped to his feet like a happy school girl getting ready to perform a cheer and put one arm across his midsection and the other arm was held in place as his pointer finger tapped his chin.

“Let’s see, a definite change of wardrobe would do wonders for you Zad,” Heka stated with a smile, “aaaaand a good ol’ fashioned personality lift will make it an all-around complete look. By the way I could definitely do your hair and give you more appeal. What do you say?”

Heka tried hard not to laugh. He was holding his lips closed as he waited for Zad to answer. All the while he was wondering if Claire had noticed his little show. He was aware of others in the roadhouse, others would watch them. He was always privy to information, thanks to his status in the hierarchy or rather the pantheon of deities, but if they found out he was a deity, if they ever found out, what would they do to him? Or at least try to do to him because he’d be damned if he let anyone just walk up and kill him. Maybe times were changing and they’d welcome him among their ranks. After all, he had been a part of the hunters for some time now and had fully settled himself in, but there were always those who would remain trapped in the ages, unaware of how blissfully ignorant they were. One of the many reasons Heka turned his back on his so called brethren. A story for another time perhaps. His eyes drifted over to Jesse, but only for a quick second before settling back on Zad.

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As soon as he heard the word 'Wendigo', Jesse took it as his cue to leave. While he could take on a hunter or two every so often, he definitely couldn't take on three, especially on what seemed like their own turf on how casually the man brought it up. He nervously grabbed his book and placed back in his bag, unknowingly leaving the papers he was examining behind as he tried to walk casually out the door, teleporting back to the outside of the diner. After a single step however, he heard a loud ringing coming from his carry on. He picked through the items to find a dusty looking cellphone much to his own surprise as he never remembered buying a cell phone. "Hello?" he answered not knowing who was on the other end.

"Yeah, Olly. It's Sam. Sam Winchester. We hunted the Djinn together a few years back. I need a favor..."

'Just my god damn luck.' Jesse thought to himself, now remembering where he'd gotten the phone. It was from the only hunter who ever showed him any kindness and the only hunter who had died protecting him; Oliver Gent. He remembered Oliver mentioning hunting with the Winchester's once. The two brothers were practically the Mannings of monster hunting at this point and meeting them was either an honor or a swift pain in the ass. Sometimes both.

"What's the hunt?" Jesse replied, trying to mimic his deceased friend's voice as to not raise suspicion. While he respected Oliver's memory, he was more interested in helping Sam as a long time ago, Sam saved Jesse's life and he wanted to return the favor.

"Funny you should say that. It's my daughter, Ash." the youngest Winchester said with a huff. Jesse was a little surprised Sam had settled down. He always figured from what he'd been told about him that he'd die on the job. He then decided to head back into the diner as he talked with Sam, but before he could, he heard a bit of a raucous coming from inside. He peaked into one of the windows.

'WINCHESTER!? AS IN THE WINCHESTERS, SAM AND DEAN!?' It was the unmistakable yell and movement coming from the sleazy guy from earlier who was still talking to the dark haired girl next to him.

"Jesus, really? You really gotta do this crap to me?" he said to himself in a hushed town as he watched a red head walk over and join them in conversation. "Hey, Sam. Does Ash have dark hair, brown eyes, and a cute face?"

"That's inappropriate, but I guess."

"She's literally ten feet away from me. I'll -" and with that, Oliver's phone powered down, finally out of juice after such a long time without a charge. Jesse smacked it a few times with his hand until he realized there was nothing he could do not without a charger at least. Now what was he supposed to do? He could try and grab the girl and teleport her back home, but the last time he blinked somewhere without knowing where it was, he ended up in the middle of Loch Ness. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun time. He didn't have too long to think however as Ash barreled through the front doors, seemingly intent on getting out of the area. It was then Jesse realized he had a golden opportunity right in front of him and he wasn't going to watch it walk away. Luckily for him, the man she was eating with stepped in front of her and began to ramble a bit about how the Winchesters had saved him when he was a kid. Jesse assumed this wasn't an uncommon tale as from what he'd learned, the Winchester's had been all over the country and maybe even beyond doing their work. Jesse could relate to his story, but probably not in the same way as he thought himself the monster in his situation. He however let the man finish his story before putting in his own two cents, which took some time, but he was eventually able to get his words in.

"Not to sound like an unsympathetic dick, because, trust me, I can relate, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to talk about the brothers right now." Jesse called out to the pair as the man wrapped up what he was saying. "Speaking of which, I think we can help each other out, Ash. Mind if we talk for a minute in private?"

(OOC: May need to edit some more as Mistress and I were so close with our post times. Apologies all around.)

Anthony, or Heka depending on how you knew him, stood there for a moment with his arms crossed as he watched Zad cover his unruly hair with his free arm, as if his arms would protect his hair from Anthony. Still, Anthony could only laugh at Zad’s reaction. It was as if he had asked him out on a date, and while Anthony was bisexual in the views of many, he still had his reservations about dating mortals. The last mortal he dated died, resulting in him becoming a hunter, and the thought of not being able to see him ever again plagued his mind for quite a while before he was finally able to get on with life. He had since stayed away from any sort of relationship that would lead to more heartache. He realized that he was just standing there peering out in the distance when Claire Novak spoke breaking his trance as he looked at her.

“Oh, well hey there;” he said with a smile, “actually Zad really does need a shower, and a haircut. He won’t listen to me, so perhaps you can convince him.”

Anthony simply sighed as he sat back down in his chair admitting his defeat when it came to jazzing up Zad’s appearance. It was one battle he was sure he wouldn’t win anytime soon. Claire seemed like a very trustworthy person, but he didn’t know a lot about her, other than the fact about her parents and how she was a hunter. Most humans were like an open book to him. He was able to read them with little effort, and so far he had yet to meet someone he couldn’t read. As Zad spoke to Claire, inviting her to sit with them, he could only sit there with his hands crossed childishly, as if he were upset at being denied the right to help Zad with his look. Zad introduced him as Tony which is the name nearly everyone aside from other deities addressed him as.

“My name is Anthony, but everyone does call me Tony for reasons I’m not aware of,” Anthony stated with a smile as he took Claire’s extended hand and kissed it softly, “and Zad isn’t man enough for me, I prefer them a little more roughly around the edges,” Anthony added with a wink. While it was true that he was open about his sexuality and inspired many to come out of their shells, he did enjoy toying with those who didn’t know his sexuality to the point that it confused them. “Besides, Zad reminds me of my ex, and I think the last I saw him he was cleaning sewage so yea we’re more like teammates rather than playmates if you understand that. What about you? What’s your story?”

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He could’ve dealt with any type of comeback Zad could muster, at least he thought he could; however, the reaction he gave to Zad’s comment was utterly stifled by his quick reflexes to look away and cover his mouth with two of his fingers as if he were coughing or something more fitting. He didn’t want to let Zad know that he had gotten the better of him this day, still Anthony had his own way of retorting back at Zad, but he’d wait a moment to gather himself. It was odd for him to sit there with no food in front of him, but at last a waitress showed up with some coffee to which he gladly took a shot of milk and sugar with his cup. He listened to Zad as the male rephrased what he had asked Claire. He did want to know what she was doing way out here, but it wasn’t really any of his business. Still, hunters had to stick together and he was sure she wasn’t as helpless and weak as she looked to be.

The girl began to speak and Anthony simply sat there with his legs somewhat crossed and a cup of coffee in his hand held ever so pristinely in one hand while the other hand cupped the bottom of the cup. He sipped softly and gently as the aroma of the ground coffee. It smelled like the good stuff, at least he hoped it was the good stuff. The aroma opened his senses even more as he took another sip while Claire continued to divulge to them both what she was doing in these parts. She was a hunter after all so it wasn’t unlikely to see her here. Apparently from her own mouth she informed them that she had been on a vampire hunt. Such nasty little creature vampires are. Always sucking blood to fill their gullets. Always trying to force themselves on others like a tick on a dog. He had many run-ins with vampires, and they were so easy to defeat. A bit of holy water, a stake through the heart or some good old fashion beheading and sunlight always did the trick. Demons were his specialty. The chant needed to expel them from their hosts was his favorite part of hunting them. Of course they tried to stay away from him whenever they saw him coming. Pagan deities were not to be trifled with. Their abilities and power could shake the very foundation mortals stood upon.

Nonetheless, he found himself staring at her still, sipping his coffee ever so regally as if he were studying her for some sort of college project. When she had finished talking, Anthony simply continued to stare at her. Human automobiles always had a tendency to break down when needed most, especially if they were old. He supposed humans had designed them after their own bodies which as it go older it too broke down in more ways than one. That was one thing Anthony could admit. Though he loved his ex who had died greatly, he couldn’t help but love his own immortality. Perhaps there was indeed a way to give immortality to others, something he’d have to research at a later time. Being the god of magic had its perks. Much was in his control; there wasn’t much he couldn’t do.

“So your car broke down, you killed a blood sucker and now you’re here looking for a hunter to tag along with ya,” Anthony began with a smirk, “sounds like an awesome day to me. You got my attention little lady, so what’s your next move?”

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If he could’ve guessed, he wouldn’t have guessed Claire to be the damsel in distress type. She struck him as more of a tom boy with beautiful eyes and flowing hair. She seemed to be someone he could hang with, get to know on a more personal level, and become friends with. Then again she would die of old age and the thought did sadden him. Hell the only way she wouldn’t die of old age is if she became a vampire. That ceremony in itself was very odd and gruesome so he’d heard. Interesting how movies portrayed such beings as bloodsucking maniacs driven by their thirst for human blood as if they themselves weren’t human before. The Supernatural was an odd thing, an odd thing indeed, and depending on whom you asked, things were always different. The best way to know what someone’s intentions were was to use what gifts one had, and if you were gifted then you were shit out of luck. Thankfully Heka was gifted with telepathy among other things, and his longevity had allowed him to master such gifts. What this meant was that Zad and Claire as well as everyone in the diner were like open books just begging to be read.

“The minds of mortals are simple, yet complex, and if I slip in unnoticed I cannot terry long,” he thought as he looked at Claire and then at Zad. ”What are you two thinking?”

Anthony took note of the light that seemed to find Zad and pinpoint him to bask in its warmth. For a moment Anthony thought he saw a halo, but could Zad be an angel? He was absolutely hitting on the handsome scale, and would make a rather charming angel, but Anthony dismissed the thought with a slight laugh after sipping more coffee and listening to the conversation at hand. Zad was talking, but how long had he been talking? Anthony really needed to stop zoning out when people were talking; it was a very bad habit and had gotten him into trouble several times. Still, he was pretty sure he knew what Zad was talking about. The last bit he heard was something about a club and that they could go there.

“Demons you say? Together you say? Well now’s the chance to prove your manliness Zad,” Anthony joked as he finished off his coffee rather elegantly and placed the cup on the table, “I am definitely in, it sounds like fun.”

He hadn’t been hunting in a while, instead watching the others hunt on his orb, now it was his chance to flex his muscles, but there was something off putting about this mission. Who ran this club and why was it an obvious demon hangout? These were questions Anthony would get answered one way or the other. “Oh and Claire it’s no problem, I got contacts everywhere, I can shoot one of them a call and have them drop off a car to get your gear if you want.”

Before she could object, his fingers were already dialing a number. It wasn’t a long conversation at all, a brief exchange of “hello” followed by the predictable follow up greeting of “how are you” or “how’ve you been,” and then the questions started coming and all Zad and Claire would hear would be a simple “Uh huh” or “uh uh” from Anthony, but after he finished his conversation, he ended the call and looked at Zad and Claire, “10 minutes sound cool to you?”

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