Author's Note: Hey guys! So for those of you who have read my other stories, I'm so sorry but it's going to be another two weeks or so before I get any progress on them, because my laptop has been broken for the past two and a half months, and I'm still waiting for it to be repaired, and all the work I've done on them is saved on the hard drive, sooooo... yeah. The reason I'm able to write this story is because I have my brother's laptop at the moment, but none of my stuff is on it. Trust me, I'm not really happy about it either - a have a new chapter for both my in progress stories saved on my laptop. Anyways, I have recently become outrageously obsessed with Supernatural (more specifically Dean XD) and this story has been in my head for a while. So I wrote it. I'm 100 pages into it already. I'm posting this first chapter to see what sort of response I get to it, and to see if you guys would be interested in seeing the rest of it. If you are, drop me a review or a PM, and let me know, and I'll post the rest of what I have.

And by the way, I'm still not sold on the name of the woman, so let me know if you have any suggestions for that. Love ya! :D

Faith

If there was one thing that Dean Winchester was sure of, it was that if there was a higher power out there, it hated him. Not only hated him, but loathed his very existence, and wanted nothing more than to see him suffer. Dean had sold his soul to the devil, or at least a demon and since either way would send him to hell at the end of a year, Dean didn't figure it made much of a difference. He was going to hell in under a year, and he'd done it, willingly, to save his brother. He little brother Sammy, who was now lying on the wood table in Bobby's basement... dead. Dean had his back to the cold concrete wall, his elbows resting on his knees, feeling the rage and the grief welling up inside him, until he could do nothing but scream himself hoarse. He had nothing left to trade, nothing left to bargain with for his brother's life. There was no demon deal to broker, no faith healer he could call, no voodoo priestess do work up some mumboo jumboo. He had no one; the only family in this world he had left besides Bobby... was dead.

It was supposed to be a routine job. In and out in a day or two. But it had gone wrong, so wrong. They were supposed to be hunting a lone vampire, but it had turned out to be a whole nest. Dean had made a mistake, and Sam had paid the price. It should have been him. He was going to die soon anyway, it should have been him! Dean scrubbed angrily at the dampness of blood, sweat, and tears on his face. Why couldn't he save just this one thing? Why couldn't he save his brother? That was all he ever wanted his whole life - to protect his little brother. And once again he'd failed.

Dean pulled in a shaky breath, trying to get his emotions under control. Suddenly his head snapped up and he looked to the doorway of the panic room he was currently in. Years of hunting things that could pop out of thin air made seeing her less of a shock, but it didn't stop his body from being thrown into hunting mode. He tensed, and his hand automatically gripped the butt of the blade he had tucked into the back waistband of his jeans. And then he hesitated. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock when his eyes finally took her in.

She was stunning. Breathtaking. Surreal. There weren't words in the English language to describe her. She was the perfect height between tall and short, her figure soft and curving. Her skin was pale porcelain, her hair was the color of midnight on a full moon that waved madly to her waist, and her eyes were smoke grey that smoldered under long lashes. Her clothes were plain, jeans, tee shirt, and leather jacket, and were at odds with her inhuman beauty. But it was for that reason precisely Dean's grip tightened on his hunting knife. If something looked too good to be true, it probably was. And she wouldn't be the first creepy crawly to pick a pretty skin suit.

She walked forward with grace that would put any dancer to shame, and crouched down before him, still having yet to say a word. Those big sea goddess eyes stared straight at him, and it seemed like power hummed in the air around her like electricity. Uneasy with the way he felt drawn to her, quick as lightning Dean pulled his blade and laid it against her throat with a hand that was rock steady.

She didn't even blink. Full lips tilted up at the corners in an amused smile. "A silver blade?" she asked her voice sultry as a summer's night.

Dean didn't answer, but instead demanded "Who are you? What do you want? Haven't you black eyed bitches stolen enough from me?" he snarled. She cocked her head at him, making her hair sway.

"Do you really think I'm a demon, Dean?" she asked. Dean's eyes narrowed. "Look at where you're sitting. Bobby protected this room from everything that goes bump in night, demons included."

"Then what are you?" Dean growled. "Some other creature here to kick me when I'm down?" She smiled more fully this time, though her eyes were sad.

"So little faith Dean..." she murmured, her hand coming up to cup his cheek gently. Dean shuddered in involuntary pleasure at the warmth of her skin.

"In what?"

"In light." she answered simply. She leaned forward, uncaring that Dean's knife was still pressed to her throat, and looked at him more fully. "But that's okay. I've got faith enough for the both of us." she said.

"What do you want?" Dean asked, wary still, but for a different reason. He didn't trust that anything good could come of this, despite what she claimed.

"To help." She stood then, pushing Dean's arm and knife away from her. He let her, and stayed where he was. After all, what could she possibly do to him now? But instead of whatever horror Dean expected her to deal to him; she turned away and faced his brother.

"Leave him alone! For god's sake he's already dead; just leave him alone!" Dean shouted, preparing to stand. Her gaze snapped to his, and Dean found himself unable to move.

"So little faith." she repeated, shaking her head lightly. She faced Sam again. She placed one hand over his heart, and used the other to smooth his hair back from his forehead, as a mother would a small child. "It's time for you to come home, Sam." she murmured. She bent down, her hair surrounding her face as she did so, and kissed Sam lightly on the mouth. She sighed, and the room seemed to echo with the sound. She leaned back, and her eyes opened. "Wake up."

Sam's eyes flew open, and he gasped; his body bowing off the wood table where he'd been lying motionless for over an hour. Dean's eyes widened, and he swore his heart stopped. Sam's body relaxed, and his eyes drifted shut, but his chest rose and fell with the motion of his steady breathing.

The woman turned back to face Dean. "He needs rest now. But he'll be fine." she said. Dean's heart pounded, joy at having his brother back flooded him, but fear at what price weighed on his mind.

"What do you want in return?" Dean asked. "I have nothing left to give. My soul's already damned." he said. She walked forward and kneeled before him.

"I don't want anything from you, Dean. As you've said, you've nothing left to give me, though even if you did I wouldn't ask for it. You've lost so much already, been through so much pain... you deserve this, Dean. Free of charge, price, or consequence. You're already going to hell... you deserve to have it be for a reason."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe that." Dean said, laughing weakly. "I don't believe in free rides." She smiled.

"I know. And nor do you have any reason to. But that's okay. Time will show you that I meant what I said. Sam is back, in one piece, just the same as he was before. And you too are unchanged, as with Bobby." Dean's look questioned that last one. "I know he means a lot to you too, so I figured I'd reassure you on his welfare as well." she said, shrugging.

"How do you know all this?" Dean asked, exhausted, and weary of the woman who'd just brought his brother back from the dead. She gripped his shoulder lightly in her hand, and smiled. She leaned forward, tilting her head and putting her lips against his ear.

"Angels are watching over you, Dean." She whispered. Dean's heart stopped. Those were the last words his mother had ever spoken to him. But how could she know? That was the last rational thought in his mind, before she put her mouth on his.

She tasted like heaven, and her mouth felt like freedom. Her lips moved over his gently, coaxingly, but the reaction she stirred in him was anything but. Fire exploded in his veins, his muscles trembled, and his hands came up to fist in the softness of her hair. He nipped at her lips, unable to satisfy the craving he had for more, and made her gasp. She pulled back suddenly, and met his gaze. His eyes were wide with surprise at his reaction to her, and she seemed shaken herself. She stared at him, demanding an answer to the silent question in her eyes. He didn't have one. She closed her eyes briefly, and then sighed. And then she was gone, leaving nothing but the smell of rain behind her.

Dean found that now that she was gone he could move again... and breathe without trembling. There was something about her, a power, an energy, that overwhelmed, seduced, and frightened all in one. That one kiss had done more to him than even actually having sex had ever done. The realization unnerved him, He decided immediately that he didn't like her, and prayed he'd seen the last of her and her terrifyingly tempting mouth. Dean scrambled up from his spot on the floor and rushed to Sam's side. He slept on, relaxed and alive. Color had returned to his skin, and when Dean gripped his hand it was warm with evidence of life. Dean let out a shaky laugh, and could only hope that everything that the woman had said was true.

Dean turned and dashed up the stairs into the house, calling out for Bobby. "Bobby! Bobby get your ass in here!" he shouted.

"What? What is it, you ijit?" he griped.

"Sam's alive." Dean panted, grinning. Bobby's jaw went slack.,

"What?" he breathed.

"Sam... He's alive! Come on!" They both bolted down the stairs again, and into the panic room. Sam was just the same, sleeping peacefully on the wood table, his long legs hanging off the edge a little bit.

Bobby checked all his vitals, confirming for himself that Sam was back. "What the hell happened? He was stone cold dead not ten minutes ago... and it's not as if you've got a soul left to barter with." Bobby said.

"I know. I'm just as confused as you." Dean said. He told Bobby about the strange woman who'd done the impossible and brought Sam back from the dead.

"Jesus, Dean, I don't know. I don't trust for a second that what she did was free." Bobby said, frowning.

"Neither do I to be honest. She said I needed to have faith." Dean said, scrubbing his hands over his face.

"In what?" Dean smiled a bit, because that had been his response as well.

"She said, in the light. I assume she meant in good... good things I guess." He said, frowning. Bobby shook his head.

"Not much good to have faith in these days."

"I know, I know. But honestly, right now I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. For now I'm just going to be thankful that Sammy's back. I can worry about the rest later." Dean said, looking at his brother with unmistakable relief.

"I guess..." Bobby said uncertainly. "Still, I'd like to hit the books later. See what's out there that's got the juice to bring somebody back from the death without a deal of some kind. You didn't make a deal, right?" Bobby asked.

"No, Bobby." Dean said, rolling his eyes. "I already told you, I got nothing to trade."

"Alright, don't get your panties in a twist. I was just checking. A lot of times some creatures can't use their powers without getting something in return, so I had to be sure." Bobby said, raising his hands in surrender. Dean nodded absently, and settled into a chair beside the table to wait for Sam to wake.

It was noon the next day before he did.

Dean had been lightly dozing in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest when the sound of his name being called woke him. "Dean?" Dean jerked awake, and saw Sam sitting up on his elbows on the table.

"Sammy?" Dean jerked up from the chair and stood next to him. "Hey, how're you feeling?" Dean asked nervously.

"Uh... fine I guess. Confused, a little light headed... hungry." He added as an afterthought. Dean laughed weakly.

"Thank god..." he muttered.

"Dean, what the hell happened?" Sam asked. Dean debated what the best course of action was... tell Sam the truth, or make something up. The last time Sam had died Dean had tried to lie, and it hadn't worked. So Dean decided on truth. Besides, Dean hadn't done anything wrong... nothing that would make Sam pissed at him anyway.

"Well... you died." Dean said. "Again."

"What?!"

"You died. We went in to get the vamp and stumbled head first into a nest. It all happened so fast... you were dead in seconds, Sammy. I barely got out of there myself. Sam I'm so sorry. It was my fault. I didn't know that it was a nest." Dean hung his head, still blaming himself for what had happened.

"Dean... if I died, how the hell am I alive right now?" Sam asked. "Did you make another deal?" he asked, his eyes narrowing angrily. Dean rolled his eyes.

"No. I don't have a soul to bargain with anymore, remember?" Same frowned.

"Then how...?" Dean gave Sam the same explanation that he'd given Bobby. "So, some really hot chick walked in here, kissed me, and I got brought back to life?" Sam asked incredulously. Dean thought for a moment, and then laughed.

"Yeah. Looks like you're a real life sleeping beauty, Sasquatch." Dean said, grinning.

"Shut up." Sam muttered. He pushed himself all the way up off the table and stood, only somewhat unsteadily. Dean immediately enveloped his younger brother in a bone crushing hug, which Sam returned.

"I thought I'd lost you again." Dean said roughly.

"I know."

"I thought everything... might have been for nothing." Dean said.

"I know, Dean, I know. But you understand that that's why I have to keep fighting for you, right? I'm still going to try and find a way to break your deal." Sam said. "I don't want to go through what you just did." Sam said. Dean understood maybe for the first time why Sam wouldn't give up... because Dean would have done the same. They were brothers, and they would fight for each other until the very end, no matter the costs. Dean sighed.

"Yeah, I know. I think... I think you're right." Dean muttered. Sam raised his eyebrows.

"How do those words taste coming out?" he asked.

"Shut up." Dean said, glaring. He was silent a moment. "I… I don't want to go to hell, Sammy." he admitted. He felt weak, admitting he wanted to welch on the deal he'd made to save his brother, but he truly didn't want to go to hell... It was hell. It didn't really sound like his kind of party.

"Alright. No more fighting me on this, alright?" Sam asked. Dean nodded.

"Alright. No more dragging my feet." Sam smiled, then frowned.

"The chick does bother me though. We need to find out who she is, and what exactly it is she wants."

"I couldn't agree more, bro."

The days went on, and turned into weeks, and the brothers did what they did best – saving people, hunting things – their family business. And as a month, then two passed, they began to wonder if the strange woman had been telling the truth. They began to wonder if they would ever see her again. And after all they had bigger and badder things to worry about. But they should have known better. Eve had not forgotten the brothers she'd saved. She watched from a distance, as they sat in yet another broke down diner and ate while researching yet another creature of the night they would kill.

She had to admit, she had a soft spot for the two of them. She had 100 million people in her charge, but out of all of them, Sam and Dean were her favorites. Dean in particular. He was so determined to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders; so determined to carry all the blame. He seemed convinced that he had to save the world, and that any life lost was a personal sin. And the deep love and concern that he felt for his brother astounded her. Even with her own brothers, or even sisters – who she was closer with – she hadn't felt that bond. She loved them of course, but being what she was, they didn't have that close, familiar, bond. She envied that, and pitied the suffering that they'd had to endure all their lives. Even now, Dean was still going to go to hell, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It had taken a lot of pleading and reasoning to convince her mother to save Sam. Saving Dean was another story. It had been forbidden, though Eve couldn't understand why. But it wasn't her place to question her mother. It was her job to stand guard, never to interfere, unless absolutely necessary.

She was a Guardian, she kept the world in perfect balance between dark and light. So she would not go to them; could not give them the answers that sat heavy on her tongue, and heavy in their minds. She could not keep them safe, could not offer them comfort. And no matter how often her mind kept straying down that path, she absolutely could not wonder what it would be like to have just one more taste of Dean's mouth…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the shift in the wind that meant she was not alone. She didn't have to turn to know which sister had joined her. "Hello Anastasia." Eve sighed. Ana was a slip of a thing, a few inches shorter, much more petite, with thick glossy honey brown hair, and big doe eyes. She was the more naïve of her sisters, sort of airy, with a mind that tended to dream.

"Hello Eve. Watching again?" she asked. Eve didn't answer. "What is it about them?" she asked curiously. Ana, like Eve, had watched over millions of humans and others of a sort of human nature for thousands of years, and couldn't understand what it was about these two that could hold her interest.

"I'm not sure. There's so much good in them…. So much light." Eve murmured.

"But darkness as well." Ana said, tilting her head as she watched the boys grin at some inside joke.

"Yes. I think maybe that is what fascinates me. They have darkness in them, and could choose at any moment to give into it – have more than enough cause to, with what they've seen over the years. And yet every day they choose the light over the dark. It takes a great deal of strength to do that."

Ana watched them with Eve for a few moments longer. "The one brother holds particular sway over you." She said suddenly. Eve's eyes snapped to meet her sister's dreamy ones.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"The shorter one. I notice that you seem to watch him especially closely. He is quite attractive… for a mortal." She said thoughtfully. Eve fought the very human urge to blush.

"I hadn't noticed…" she muttered.

"Mother would be quite upset if she knew you had… feelings for the human."

"Who said I did?" Eve demanded. Ana just stared at her, and Eve huffed out a breath. "I don't." she said firmly.

"Why else would fight so hard to save his brother?" Ana asked.

"Because they're different…. They're important. I don't know why, but I feel it… deep inside myself. They matter. They need to be protected." Eve said, her eyes smoldering darkly with power.

"You know the law. To disobey –" Ana said, her eyes wide and lips parted in shock.

"I know the rules." Eve snapped. "I have no intention of putting myself through that. I will toe the line, Anastasia. But I cannot do nothing… I just can't." Ana stared at her for a moment.

"Ever since you stared watching over them, you've been different… it's almost as if they… they seem to make you human, Eve." Eve said nothing for a moment.

"Is that such a bad thing?" she murmured.

While Eve and her sister discussed the Winchesters, they unknowingly did the same. "I'm telling you, it's just weird. Even for us, it's completely bizarre." Sam said.

"I know, I know. But I'm just saying, is it good weird, or bad weird." Dean said. "Do we have to beat this to death?" He wanted more than anything to believe that Sam was alive and well, scot free.

"Come on, Dean. You can't believe that this really doesn't have any consequences." Sam said. Dean sighed, and scrubbed his hands over his face.

"I want to…"

"That's not the same." Sam said dryly.

"Yeah, I know. I just wish that something good could finally come our way without waiting for the other shoe to drop." He said angrily.

"Look, Bobby's searched every single book in his collection, and he's found nothing. He's called every friend in his book, and he's gotten nothing. That either means that she lied about what she is, or she's something that we and no one else has come across before. And frankly, I'm not sure which option worries me more." Sam said. Dean grunted in agreement, lost in his own thoughts… thoughts of a stunning brunette with eyes as sharp and silver as his blade.

Dean didn't refocus on the conversation until Sam said the word kiss. "What?" Dean's head snapped up.

"I said, I don't understand why she kissed me. It's a bit weird, right?" Sam asked, frowning. Dean cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Yeah well, maybe it was necessary… for the spell, or whatever it was she did." Sam just gave him a look, and Dean knew what it meant. Demons sealed deals with a kiss… "Or maybe not… Maybe it was just sort of a… a friendly gesture." Dean said hopefully. Sam raised a brow.

"A friendly gesture?" Sam asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. It seemed almost like she knew us." Dean said absently.

"How do you mean?"

"I don't know, it was just the way she talked to me. And then the way she interacted with you, I don't know how to explain it. Do you know when you've got an old family friend, someone you knew when you were little, and you don't remember them, but they remember you? And you're grown up, and they see you and they get, like, sentimental and crap?"

"Dean, that's never happened to us."

"I was thinking of a T.V show." Dean admitted.

"Oh. Then yes, I know what you're talking about."

"That's what it reminded me of. Like she knew us, but we didn't know it." Dean said, looking uneasy. "And…"

"What?"

"She said something to me. Something she shouldn't know." Dean said.

"What was it."

"She said angels were watching over me." He said after a long pause. Sam frowned.

"I don't understand."

"It was the last thing mom said to me before she died. She said it to me every night before tucking me in. It's what she said that night." Dean said, looking away from Sam to hide the emotion in his eyes. Sam was silent for a long moment.

"How could she know that?" he asked. "And why bring it up?"

"I don't know. Maybe she thought it would convince me she was on our side." He said, shrugging.

Dean wavered for a moment, debating whether or not to tell Sam the rest of it. He hadn't before, but it was taking up so much space in his brain, he thought to hell with it. "She said it right before she kissed me." He said, looking up at Sam. Sam's mouth dropped open.

"She kissed you? How? The same way she did me?" Dean shifted uncomfortably.

"Not exactly."

"Well you said she was being friendly, before. Is that what it felt like?" he asked. Dean squirmed.

"Not really."

"Then how did it feel?"

"Hot." Dean blurted honestly. Sam looked at him dryly.

"That's it? Hot?" Dean shook his head.

"I don't know how to explain Sam, but… honestly it was the most intense moment of my life." Sam raised a brow.

"The most?" He asked. Dean nodded vigorously.

"It was…. so…" Dean shuddered.

"Wow."

"Yeah. I had a raging hard on for two hours afterwards."

"Jesus Dean! Too much information!" Sam exclaimed, pulling a face. He paused. "Two hours?" he asked in reluctant awe.

"Yeah. It wasn't pleasant." Dean said, making a face of his own. "I practically attacked her then second her mouth was on me. Frankly, if she'd let me, I'd have laid her down on the floor and –"

"Dean, still too much information." Sam said, wincing. He sighed. "So what are we going to do?" Sam asked. "About…. Everything."

"I haven't a clue, Sammy. I guess just take things as they come. Without knowing what we're dealing with, that's really all we can do." Sam nodded his agreement, and went back to eating his chef salad. Dean repressed a sneer at the sissy meal, and reached for his double bacon cheeseburger.

Before taking a bite, something pulled his eyes to the window. Dean squinted, then his eyes widened. There, across the street, standing just outside the woods that lined the road, were two women. One with medium length light brown hair, the other with madly curling hair the color of midnight. His heart thudded in his chest. He blinked once, and the one with the brown hair vanished. He blinked twice, and then she was gone too. The woman who'd saved his brother. Dean wondered if he'd just been imagining it, especially since they'd just been talking about her. Then he wondered if perhaps she'd known… known they were talking about him.

Dean shook his head. He was either paranoid, or going crazy… or both. He went back to enjoying his burger, but he had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind… a sense that… that she'd been checking on him and Sam. As if she was watching over him…

Ending Note: So are you interested in seeing more? If you are, leave me a review or PM! Much appreciated! 3 And remember, I have 100 pages written already, so you'd be getting a whole lot more of the story super fast if you ask me to publish the rest. :)