AN: Hey readers! We spent months working on this first book and yes it is a completed piece. Each season is going to have at least one book, (we obviously started at the beginning) We did our best to keep Dean, Sam, Bobby, and John as close as possible to their actual characters, but beware there is some slight issues that will happen were they might seem slightly OOC, but fear not! There are reasons for this. Which will be explained throughout the originally a one-shot but alas it got a bit out of hand so every book will officially be posted in chapters.
On that note: Neither Dark nor I own Supernatural or any of the characters mentioned that belong to the series. We do however claim Lilly and Mae as our own original characters. If you have any questions please message us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Yes this is a collaboration piece so there are 2 main OC's not sure if anything is going to occur romantically yet; we are letting our characters take the wheel on that end. But it's us and we enjoy persuading our characters to try new things.
Trigger warnings; Abuse, Slight OOC, and oodles of Expletives (We all know that our boys would swear if they weren't on network television)
Update: Twisted and I went back through and corrected a few errors, and we're now presenting you with our final edit of Witch Pie? Like it? Let us know. We're still turning out chapters in our latest books. Happy reading!
Bakers, Hunters, and Pies, Oh My…
Book 1 Witch Pie
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
September 13, 2005
7 AM
1
The morning brought a crispness to the air, the cool breeze whispering promises of an early fall. Unanticipated storm clouds gathered above the town, a slight inconvenience to its citizens. Cold rain mixed with the heat shimmering from the ground created a light, rolling fog. The streets teemed with early risers. Parents waved as their children boarded the school bus. Men and women rushed down the sidewalks, quickly trying to avoid the brunt of the storm; many grabbing a hot coffee before carpooling to work.
In a little apartment just down the road, a man is his mid-40s is stepping out of the shower when the lights in the bathroom begin flickering.
"Shit." He curses as he reaches for a towel. Before he can react, a cloud of smoke twists and jerks down his throat. His eyes roll to the back of his head and he falls unconscious to the ground.
It's not long before he regains his feet and braces himself on the bathroom sink. He smiles slightly, his eyes open. Glaring obsidian stares back in his reflection.
"Fucking Hunters." he sneers, shaking his head. Stark naked, he walks over to a seemingly unkempt bookshelf and runs a finger across several of the volumes. He picks up some and tosses others behind him, scanning through pages as a wicked smirk plays on his features. He finds one that may be of interest, laying it out just as a phone starts to vibrate somewhere in the mess. Grunting, the man pulls it out from under loose ammo, looking at the 'J. Winch' flashing at him on the screen. "Perfect." He murmurs as he flips the phone open.
"Craft? I was hunting a demon last night. I think it was searching for you. Are you safe? You have the devil's trap up right?" A man asks on the phone, tone tinged with worry.
"Well if it isn't John Winchester." The man answers smoothly. "Seems you're a bit late, as usual." Craft sits in the desk chair, leaning back as he continues "Your friend's body isn't one of the best I've resided in but it does nicely enough. Thanks by the way for getting rid of my last meat-suit. I really liked it…" he taunts.
"You evil son-of-a-" John roars over the line before the demon cuts him off.
"Hey now, none of that John, you dumb hunters know the risks. Like possession for one. I do have to say I'm impressed you figured it out so quickly; so, how about this… You and I should play a game." The demon says playfully over the phone but the threat of the challenge was almost repugnantly clear. "We wouldn't want another Harvelle case on our hands would we?" The demon says with a smirk. Wait for it….
Soft breathing can be heard from the other end of the line. "You evil bastard…"
Hook... Line...
The line is quiet for several moments more, before a deep sigh is heard. "What are the terms?"
Sucker…
2
'She's my cherry pie, Cool drink of water such a sweet surprise, Tastes so good makes a grown man cry. Sweet Cherry Pie'
It was a warm day, the sun glinting off the hood of the black Impala as it slowly cruised down Main Street, with the music blaring through the open windows. It pulls into a parking spot in front of a small bakery. Music blares as two doors swing open, the music cutting out as two men in black suits emerge from the car. They don't even take note of the shops around them as they turn down the sidewalk towards their destination. If anyone had been close enough they would have heard them arguing quietly under their breath as they hurried towards the entrance of the library.
Inside the nearby bakery, two young women are in the process of opening their shop. The seating area of their cafe is comfortable. Mismatched tables and chairs of different colors, sizes, and comfort are set up seemingly at random. Very overstuffed loveseats and chairs hug the walls nearest to the windows. The soft lighting illuminating the cafe seems to inexplicably cast away all shadows. The walls are covered in an eclectic style one wouldn't typically find in a bakery. With strong undertones of urban hippy, accents of pagan, apothecary bottles, dried herbs, and even a few posters of the girls' favorite music bands and movies. The bottom half of the walls are lined with shelves filled with all kinds of books for people to read at their leisure. Each table has a bookmark holder attached to the napkin dispenser. Even the knick-knacks in the store ranged from fairies to flowers, to Egyptian pieces here and Celtic paraphernalia there; that was what made the cafe come off as homey and comfortable. Nothing looked expensive; but everything gives the customers a quick glimpse into the unlikely friends-turned-business-partners' lives.
"So Mae, do you even think anyone will show up before three today?" The shorter of the two girls asks, breaking the comfortable silence with a tilted head as she arranges the freshly baked pies. Strands of her raven hair fall into her honey eyes as she leans down to arrange the bottom of the display shelf.
Mae rolls her eyes before smiling at her friend. "We have plenty of loyal regulars Lilly. Don't get your corset in a knot." She turns to scoop up a tray of cupcakes meant for the display near the register.
"You're the one that laced it, should I be concerned about your ability to do so?" Lilly asks wryly as she moves over to their electric kettle to brew hot water. "Besides you know we are always slow in the morning. People prefer going to the new Dunkin's. We need a freaking drive thru." She says blowing a strand of hair out of her eye impatiently as she prepares cups for her and Mae.
"But drive thrus are so impersonal. Besides, where the heck would we have it? What this town really needs is a place for people to relax, and enjoy themselves. Lately it just seems to be all 'live fast and move on.'" Mae gestures before turning to stare out the front windows, noticing an old looking black car parked in front.
"What this town really needs is even less people. Besides I like impersonal. Unlike someone else who runs this shop, I'd rather not be everyone's therapist, thank you very much. I don't care about what Suzy did with Tommy last Thursday night by the quarry. I don't care that Ms. Carter might be keeping some little shit after class because she 'really believes in them'; I cannot express in enough words how little I care about that community drama crap."
Mae sticks her tongue out at Lilly as she drops the till into the register. "I'm not a therapist, but I like helping people out when I can. I like feeling like I'm part of a community. Like I make a difference, if only in a small way."
"Well I for one could use some new faces. Like some eye candy. Eye candy is almost as good as the edible kind. It's boring growing up with every Dick, Tom, and Rob in this stupid town. They all want the whole nine yards. Big house. White fence. two-point-five kids and Fido. Blegh." Lilly says as she discards her jewelry from her scarred wrists and fingers, and washes her hands methodically. After several moments of scrubbing she dries them thoroughly and puts her jewelry back on, recovering the ugly scars. When the kettle finally whistles she sighs with contentment. She lifts the kettle from the base, filling both cups and a tea pot. She takes all three over to their regular table.
"There is nothing wrong with wanting a family and a dog… But please, punch me in the shoulder if I ever succumb to the name Fido." Mae giggles, her eyes darting back to the car sitting out front; why does it look so familiar?
"Dude. No, there is so much wrong with that, and trust me I will. Wait…" Lilly pauses, making her way over to the bookshelf. She scoops up their latest reads and returns to the table. Sweeping her skirt underneath her, she falls into her favorite chair, and continues with a smile. "Does this mean you and I are close to living the dream? I mean we already have a sweet ass house. It's huge as fuck. So, that makes us Lilly and Lizzy the lezzy lovers right?"
"Feel better?" Mae inquires, watching her friend's shocked face as she takes a sip of tea. She giggles as Lilly instantly begins scooping sugar into the cups, and then the pot. Tapping her fingers on the still open till Mae's attention returns to the distraction of the car outside.
Lilly grunts what Mae can only interpret as confirmation. She opens up her book, ignoring her friend in favor of what might be one of her new favorites.
"Hey Lil… have you ever seen that car before?" Mae shakes her head as if clearing it, and closes the register. She absentmindedly begins to play with the end of her braid in frustration, a few chestnut colored wisps escaping the weave.
Lilly takes another deep sip of tea as she mumbles a noncommittal "Sure?" her honey brown eyes, never actually lifting from the pages, as she pulls her pin straight raven hair on top of her head in frustration, clipping it, her elbow keeping the book open, as she continues to read. When her hair is up and out of her face again she begins tapping Mae's spot at the table expectantly, where the other book and her friend's cup resides.
"You're not here, and you should be…" Lilly whines, still reading. "Plant it."
Mae just shakes her head, smiling, as she takes her seat. She sips the tea, adds honey and tries again. She knew that Wednesdays never picked up until around two, she opens her own book and also begins reading. The strange car out front is completely forgotten.
Mae alerts to the jingle of the door opening. "Welcome to Cakes, Cookies and Pies… Oh, oh good morning Todd." She smiles, getting up "The usual?"
Todd smiles pleasantly in return. "Good morning Miss Liz, Miss Mara."
Lilly snarls, looking up from her book... "God Todd, just drop the Miss. I'm about done telling you that.. We've known each other for over a decade, come on now, drop the formality." She takes a sip of tea, glaring at their old friend, before she turns back to her book.
"Sorry Mis-... umm… Mara." Todd's cheeks darken slightly. He awkwardly pulls his bag forward and fishes through it while walking towards the register. "Here you go Miss Liz, you guys got a lot of mail today."
"If you want ta call her Liz, Lizzy, Beth, or Mae, go for it. But drop the Miss! Todd, no one is that formal anymore, Huah, keep up with the times, you're so… Just- We're adults now, our families don't dictate how we talk now."
Mae rolls her eyes and smiles as she finishes pouring a mug of coffee and fishes a Muffin out from the display. "Thank you Todd, and here you go; Cherry-blueberry muffin, baked fresh this morning, coffee and milk."
The young man smiles wide in appreciation. He takes a seat at the counter, attempting to engage Lilly in small talk.
Mae smiles at his attempt; wishing, not for the first time, that Lilly would notice how much he cared. Had always cared, and how he never flinched under her rebuffs. She takes her time going through the mail, sorting bills from junk, when she finds an envelope that makes her stomach tighten.
Finally giving up on talking to Lilly, Todd finishes up his breakfast, tries to pay Mae, giving up on it when Lilly snaps at him to 'knock it off'. A blush lights up his face as he mumbles a quick thank you before he takes his leave with the promise to see them the same time tomorrow.
After several moments Lilly looks up from her book "Gods that kid is so weird! Who talks ta people while they are reading? Rude. He's so, him.."
Mae rolls her eyes and resumes her seat next to Lilly, deciding that now wasn't the time to point out that talking to her while she was reading was exactly how they'd become friends. "Well, anyway… Ummm…" Mae pulls a white envelope from her pocket. "We are going to have to keep the shop in top shape. I have a letter from the USDA about our quarterly health inspection."
"Oh?" Lilly asks nonchalantly as she turns a page in her book. "We'll be fine Mae, Jim loves us and our goods, we have nothing to worry about. Our shop is always in A-plus shape anyways."
Mae just rolls her eyes "Lilly, I told you that Jim was retiring last month, do you like, ever listen?"
"Uh-huh… See. I told you we'll be…. Aait, what?" She says pausing mid-sentence as she facepalms. "Oh yeah, well shit. I wonder who they picked up for that position."
"I'm not sure… But I want to make sure we make a good first impression on them. Okay Lilly? You can't ever undo a first impression, that's why it's vital we stay on top of things."
"Alright mom, I get it. I will be on top of it. Trust me." Lilly says with a amused look.
Mae's lips turn into a pout. "I am not like your mother, you take that back right now."
"Unwad your panties first." Lilly quips back, with a smirk.
Mae just glares at her, before shaking her head and closing her eyes; and taking a deep breath.
"There, calm yourself and drink your tea. We just did a deep cleaning last weekend and the only products out are currently in the oven, waiting to go in the oven, or in the display case. So breathe and read. We've got this."
They sit in a comfortable silence for about two hours, broken only by the sound of the oven timer, before Lilly starts chuckling. "This book is so great, where did you pick it up from again? The used book store?"
"Which one?" Mae reluctantly stops reading her book to look up at Lilly. "Oh, that one. You remember Andy? He works for some publishing company now, editor or mail room or something. Anyway, he saw it and thought I'd like to read it. So he sent me a copy"
"Andy...Andy… Andy… oh that pussy you dated back in junior year? The one that was always spouting that romance shit at you and all 'my feelings this, my feelings that'? That kid seriously needed to grow a pair. I said one little thing to him about it and he flipped his shit. What a pansy." Lilly said shaking her head. Reflexively she covered her small smile with one hand as she continued reading. She enjoyed running that one off, and remembered it quite well. Mae deserved someone with testosterone, not some sniveling little shit obsessed with romance, and some notion of them getting married after senior year. He was pathetic.
Mae nearly spit her tea out "He was sweet. I really liked him. He used to call me just to read me poetry from books he found at the library. It was a nice change. When he was offered a scholarship in another state, we knew it wouldn't work out. But it was nice to hear from him."
Lilly just rolls her eyes. "Oh yeah, you're just making it so much worse right now. But I'm shocked... Andy! Reading something like this? Isn't it a bit dark for him? I mean ghosts, demons, murders most foul, and all that junk? I mean it's about two men and what-not, and that's probably his thing but no way…" Pausing mid-rant as her face colors with disgust "Hey you don't think Andy was so twisted he would ship brothers right? Cause like, ew….Then again that wouldn't surprise me if that's what that poof was into, the quiet ones are always the freakiest…" her once disgusted tone shifting to one of dry amusement.
"Oh, come on Lilly. I can see how it might sound like too much love to you, but I like that the brothers look out for each other and care so deeply for one another. It's not romance, just emotion. And Andy has a girlfriend, so shush."
Lilly looks horrified for a moment. "I am not shipping the brothers. Ew. Gross. That would be like shipping us. Sick dude, just sick. Men shouldn't have… what does Dean call it? Oh yeah, 'chick-flick moments'. And let me tell you Mae, Andy's life was one long chick-flick, besides his girl probably pegs him." Lilly says with a wink.
"Dean's your favorite isn't he…" Mae asks, pointedly ignoring her friend's vulgar words.
"Well duh. I mean, a bit of a pig though, isn't he? But then again, I also think Sam might be um, batting for the other team. So let me guess, you prefer him?" Lilly says looking to Mae grinning mischievously as she sticks out her tongue. "Besides, I admire a man who cares for his family but doesn't pout and go all mopey about it. Shows he has his shit together. Plus, I bet he's rocking in bed." Lilly says with another wink this one more serious than the last.
Mae saves her place with a bookmark, placing it on the table, and takes a slow sip of her tea. "You are afraid of your own feelings, and that's why you can't appreciate Sam. Sam does care about his family, but he feels at odds with them as well. I think it's just because he's a lot like his father. I was always fighting with my mother. And everyone tells me I act just like her. So that's something. And I like the depth of devotion Sam has for his brother. Sometimes, Dean treats Sam like a son though, and that's never comfortable..." She trails off suddenly.
"Tch! As if. I'm like a hundred percent in touch with that shit." Lilly says rolling her eyes and making a disgusted face.
"With what now?" Mae asks, seeing through the ruse.
"That shit, you know..."
"You mean the touchy?"
"Like stuff, that...'
"Feely?"
"That. You uh, well… What ever, you know what I mean..."
"Warm tingle in your soul?"
"Stop being such a cunt, Mae…."
"Things called emotions?"
"Shut your face, don't you have some inventory to count or some shit?"
"Oh yeah, you are so in touch with "that shit"." Mae remarks sarcastically. She stands, taking their cups to the sink to rinse, listening to Lilly rant about 'evil' feelings.
"Bleh, normal people don't talk about that shit, dude. They just don't. Maybe you should see a therapist… Seriously. You need some good old shock therapy. That will fix you right up." Lilly says with a smile. "I, on the other hand, am so well adjusted. Obviously."
"Obviously. By the way Lilly, it's actually your turn to count bags." Mae pulls out a binder box and resumes her seat at their table. With a calculator in hand, she starts the boring task of balancing the books.
"Shit." Lilly mutters as she sluggishly gets up to start the count when the doorbell finally chimes. "Fuck yeah. Saved by the bell, literally." she mumbles to herself before turning to the customers with a smile, dog earing the book in her hand as she places it on the counter.
"Welcome to Cakes, Cookies, and Pies..." Lilly falters at the men entering the doorway and whispers "Oh my…" with a cough to clear her throat.
Mae looks up, startled by the quiet whisper, an admiring 'oh' escaping her lips before she gulps in a calming breath.
All parties pause momentarily, the energy in the room shifting just slightly. The two good looking men entering the cafe were definitely new in town, and certainly didn't look as though they belonged in the quaint little shop.