Trust

Tanja woke when somebody pulled her handbag out beneath her. Blinking confusedly she looked at Dean's face mere centimeters from her own as he was bent over herself and Conny. "I need your keys", he said quietly.

"Huh what?", she looked around in bewilderment, noticing they were on the parking spot of her home. "Why?", she asked.

Dean smiled down at her, nodding his head at Conny who was still fast asleep on Tanja's shoulder. "I didn't want to wake you two."

Tanja pulled the handbag out beneath her and Conny woke at the movement. She groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Thanks", Tanja said, looking at her friend, "but we're fine, I think."

Dean nodded and retreated back to his seat. Now that his head was no longer obscuring her view Tanja could make out Sam's sleeping form and John in the front looking back at them questionably. She gave him a weak smile, nudging Conny gently with her elbow. "Conny", she said quietly. "We're at my place, come on we gotta get out."

Conny nodded without saying a word, crawling out of the door behind Tanja. Tanja however held the door open for another moment, looking inside the car at its passengers. "Thank you", she said quietly, looking at Dean and John. "I hope Sam's gonna be alright."

"Don't worry about him." Dean smiled sadly. "Believe me he had worse."

John chuckled quietly. "That's Dean's job."

Dean rolled his eyes but then he smiled again. "Damn straight it is", he said, looking at his father challenging, "you wanna take it from me, try."

John laughed. "Anyway, you're welcome, girl", he said, expression sober again. "Look after your friend."

"I will."

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"Conny…"

Tanja put a mug of hot chocolate on the nightstand, right in front of her friend who was staring straight ahead against the wall. "Conny", she repeated when the girl still didn't look up.

Conny shook her head as if to get rid of a thought and finally met Tanja's gaze. "You took long", she muttered.

Tanja smiled, sitting down next to her on her bed. "My brother got home. I told him what happened."

"What did he say?"

Tanja chuckled quietly but sobered again quickly. "He forbade me to ever go there again." She looked down on the floor. "He didn't have to. Wild horses couldn't drag me in there." She paused a moment. When Conny didn't say anything she continued: "I called your mum… told her that you're staying here for the night. Better than going home at this time."

Conny gave her a weak smile. "Thanks."

"Come on, drink", Tanja motioned to the steaming mug. "It'll make you feel better."

"I doubt that anything can make me feel better right now", Conny muttered but she took a small sip nonetheless and returned it to its position on the bedside table.

Tanja sighed. "Conny I understand that you feel scared, I do, too, but we're safe now."

"Christina is dead", Conny whispered.

"I… I know but we…"

"Sam and Dean."

"Huh?"

Conny looked up again. "Are they gonna be alright?"

"I sure hope so", Tanja muttered. "But Dean said not to worry."

"That's good…"

There was a short pause and Tanja picked the still full cup up again. "I'll take that downstairs. I think you need some sleep."

Conny nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"You know where the bedding is right? All you gotta do is pull out the couch."

Tanja smiled one last time at Conny and carried the mug down into the kitchen, pouring the still warm cacao down the drain. When she returned to her room, Conny was already sleeping.

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"How about going out for a while eh Conny? We could grab something to eat or… I don't know got to the cinema or something."

"Tanja…"

"I just think some distraction would be good for you that's all. I mean sitting here in this room all day is…" Tanja groaned when the doorbell rang. "Great timing", she muttered. "Michi! Can you get it?"

Her brother stuck his head out of his room next to Tanja's, showing her his cell. "I'm talking with a friend, sorry."

Tanja sighed. "Conny, wait for a moment, okay? I'm gonna get rid of whoever it is."

Running a hand though her hair to make it look at least acceptable she exited the room, hurrying down the stairs. "Coming", she called while fetching her keys, unlocking the door. She almost dropped them when she saw who was standing in front of her. "Sam… Dean?"

They looked better. A lot better, Dean's hair dark again and without the plaster, the blood on both their faces cleaned away, band-aids covering the cuts and scratches. Sam however was still pale as a sheet standing very close to his brother, Dean a hand between his shoulder blades.

"Hey, Tanja", he greeted, a little smile on his full lips, "how are you?"

"Well…", she began, taking a breath, "I'm not injured and Conny is fine, too. She's in my room…" She hesitated a moment before holding the door open for them. "I guess I should invite you in", she said then, managing a small smile on her own.

Dean grinned at her. "Would be kinda nice, yeah."

"Then come on in." She closed the door behind them. "Up the stairs", she said quietly, "right, second door to the left."

Conny barely looked up, not even able to toss six-pack a smile, which showed how bad she actually was. And even though Tanja knew that Dean and Sam had nothing to do with everything that happened she felt anger surge within her for what had happened to her once so cheerful friend. "What happened yesterday?" Tanja hadn't meant to sound that mad and she regretted her tone of voice as soon as the words had left her mouth.

Dean however looked almost sympathetically when he sat down onto the bed next to Conny, pulling Sam with him. Putting an arm around his brother's shoulder who looked like he needed this reassurance, Dean took a deep breath. "You remember that story you told us about the Perchta?"

Tanja couldn't help but let out a high pitched almost hysterical laugh. "You don't wanna tell me that it was actually a ghost… a vengeful spirit?"

"I'm afraid that this is exactly what I want to tell you", he looked almost apologetically.

That statement made Conny look up, she still said nothing though.

Not wanting to believe anything of it, Tanja began pacing the room, shaking her head constantly. "You have to be kidding me", she whispered, glaring at the floor.

"I'm sorry… you aren't meant to know that, but it's how it is", he took a deep breath, "we just wanted to make sure that you two are okay."

"I can't believe it", Tanja took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, "but whatever it is, you saved our live and we're thankful for it." She let go of a sigh and sat down at last.

Conny nodded, a single tear trailing down her cheek. "Yeah…", she agreed in a shaking voice, "though I guess that Christina is… dead." The last word was nothing more than a whisper.

Tanja clenched her fists at her own helplessness.

There was a light scratching at the door and a ginger haired paw appeared in the gap, a cat pushing it open and slipping through. "Napoleon", Tanja told Dean when it jumped on the bed curling into a ball between him and Conny.

Smiling the young man moved down a hand to gently stroke its fur. The cat purred happily, moving onto Dean's lap, Sam laying his head on his brother's shoulder to be able to see better. For the first time something that resembled a smile appeared on his pale face.

"I'm sorry you had to find out…", Dean said quietly, without looking up. And he was sorry, Tanja could tell as much. It didn't change anything though.

"How often does a normal person see a ghost in their life?", Conny whispered.

"Once… I guess", Dean stated, looking up again. Most people don't survive this meeting, was the unspoken continuation.

Tanja took a deep breath. "Well… we have seen our one and after you've wasted it we don't have to worry anymore… right?" She offered them a small smile.

Dean returned it tentatively and nodded.

"Anyway, we should go", he said then, gently shoving the cat of his lap and getting up; his brother followed suit. "If you have any problems…", he shrugged, taking out a hotel business card.

Tanja took it out of his hand, looking at the address. "I know where that is", she muttered.

"Good", Dean said. "If you need anything, we'll be there."

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"Michi, listen up, Conny is gonna stay with us for a few, because her parents are…"
Her brother's agonized look made Tanja shut up immediately. "You alright?"

"There's a memorial. In the school." He grimaced. "Mum called. She's going there."

"Didn't you…"

"What was I going to tell her?", her brother snarled at her, "that some monster bitch is haunting the building? That… that the bedtime story our grandpa told us is real and kills people?!"

"But you tried", Tanja said quietly. It was a statement.

"Damn right I tried. Know what she did? She hung up on me and told me I'm grounded for the rest of the month for getting drunk at my age." He punched the wall in frustration. "Damn it!"

"You know", Tanja said quietly, "even if she doesn't go there, there'll still be a lot of other people that thing… the Perchta can kill."

Michi closed his eyes. "I don't care about these other people", he whispered. Tanja saw, he was trembling - out of frustration, out of helplessness and out of the sheer terror he felt when he thought about their mother walking around in this cursed building. "I don't know what to do, Tanja."

Tanja let her head drop. "Me neither", she said quietly, "but I do know that we need help." She took the small hotel business card Dean had given her yesterday out of her jeans pocket a waved it in front of her brother's face. "Get your jacket, I'll go get Conny. We're going to Salzburg City."

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A little more than an hour later they were sitting cuddled together into the Winchesters' car, Dean behind the wheel, going too fast on icy roads. He hadn't minced matters and had voiced his opinion on how stupid all these people were to go into a building where murders were going on straight away. After that he had fallen dangerously silent, eyes glinting with frustration and rage, venting his anger on the gas pedal of the car, on the phone when his and Sam's father wouldn't pick up and on his brother who stuttered apologizes for every little thing that caught his brother's glare.

Tanja chose to remain silent; she didn't want to be Dean's next target. She exchanged nervous looks with her brother when she saw all the cars that were parked in close proximity to the school.

The car skittered to a halt, Dean forcing it into a parking space that seemed way too small. "Shit!", he cursed, stepping outside. He slammed the door shut, making his brother wince.

"There's our mum", Michael cried suddenly, exiting the car in a hurry, running towards the stairway leading into a building.

"Dammit wait!", Tanja called after him, but he didn't hear her anymore. She waived Conny after her, ignoring the brothers' protests. They would find a way to deal with the situation, of that Tanja was sure. She trusted them.

Scanning the entrance hall for any sign of her brother or her mother she felt the panic rise within her chest. She felt Conny's hand on her shoulder giving much needed reassurance and she smiled slightly at her friend.

They both jumped when Tanja's brother suddenly appeared next to them again. "I lost her", he stated quietly. "There're too many people."

"If she ever was there", Conny muttered. "Might have been an illusion", she sighed. "How can we know what's real anymore?"

Tanja nodded in direction of Dean and Sam climbing up the stairs. "We know they are real for one. Come on", she urged, going after them.

Tanja saw Dean break the security glass of the fire alarm right before the alarm sounded throughout the entranceway and the hysteric crowd hurried to get outside.

Dean waited for the last person to clear the building before he turned to Tanja and Conny. "You three go get outside. Sam and I are gonna look, if anybody is still here."

They obeyed, all wanting to leave the building as soon as possible, but the door slammed right into their faces, Michael's efforts to get it to open again, in vain. "Crap!", Tanja cursed; Conny buried her head in her face, letting out a quiet sob.

"What's up?", it sounded from up above, Dean and Sam looking down at them, alarm in their faces.

"The door won't open", Tanja told them, voice flat.

Dean kicked the wall in obvious frustration. "Damn it", he cried, "you ugly bitch!"

Sam waved them to their side, he and his brother whispering quietly about what to do next, when suddenly the lights turned off and the alarm fell silent in the blink of an eye.

Dean cursed under his breath shouting at them to leave the big hall. They ran up the stairs following the brothers along the dim corridor. A painfully well-known voice made them stop in an instant. "Running away from me, guys?" A woman stood right in the middle of the corridor, smiling smugly, blocking their way. She was beautiful, long dark curls framing her delicate features, the wine-red dress she wore emphasizing the red of her lips against her pale skin. But the woman was radiating danger. Tanja couldn't help but tremble when Dean spread his arms on front of them, forcing them to step backwards. "You better leave us alone", he hissed, Tanja feeling the muscles of his arm tense.

The woman smiled at that. "Aww", she cooed. "Threating me, are we?" She took a small step forward.

That was enough. "Run!" Dean cried, shoving them towards the staircase again. They ran as fast as they could, the Perchta right behind them. Tanja followed Dean when he went upstairs only to cry out in shock when she realized that the Perchta had managed to separate them. While she, Conny and Dean had chosen the way upstairs, Sam and Michael had gone downstairs. It was too late now to go after them as their pursuer had already reached the staircase…

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Yey… my sister is writing again…

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