"Rise and shine, Sammy!"
Dean's deep voice boomed through his younger brother's ears, causing him to jolt slightly as his eyes popped open.
"What's going on?"
"Just got a call from one of dad's old contacts, Isaiah Hale. He's a hunter from Hillsboro that he used to work cases with. His wife was pretty much shredded by one hell of a demon a few months ago, now they swear it's back and want our help hunting the son of a bitch down."
"They?" Sam asked, pushing his hair back.
"Yeah. His daughter is a hunter too, and so is her boyfriend. They don't think this is one they can handle alone, though, and given the graphic stories he was telling about deaths in the area I'm pretty inclined to believe them."
"Did you get online and research any of it yet to make sure this isn't just a trap?"
"Come on, Sammy, that's your job."
Dean grinned as he left his brother's room, earning a head shake and involuntary smile from him.
"Well, the stories are definitely real." Sam said, motioning his brother to come to the computer as he continued. "Josephine Hale, murdered 3 months ago during what cops have called a serial killing spree in Hillsboro, Texas, survived by her husband Isaiah and their daughter. Four others were killed during that time, and it went quiet after that, but there have been two more of the murders there this week. This thing just came back out of nowhere."
"Question is, what'd it come back for?"
Sam closed his laptop and stood up. "Let's hit the road and find out."
It was an excruciating 10 hour drive from their bunker to the north Texas town, including small breaks, but the brothers each drove half of the way and got to the Hale's home just as the sun was going down.
Dean looked the house up and down, an odd feeling of familiarity washing over him. It was a one storey home, constructed with a mixture of white-painted wood and bricks, and a covered wrap-around porch. He didn't quite understand why it felt so familiar at the time, but as soon as the door opened it registered quickly.
"Dean!"
The young woman who answered pulled him in for a hug. She was fair skinned, with short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, and stood about nose-high to him.
"Alice?" He asked incredulously, returning the hug. Now he remembered what had been so familiar. His dad used to bring him and his brother here to be watched when he was out on hunts with Isaiah. "Alessandra Hale?"
"The last time I saw you, Dean Winchester, we were six years old and you kept trying to kiss me."
He smirked sheepishly, and she removed her arms from his neck. Her focus then turned to Sam, staring up and down with mild shock.
"I know this can't be little Sammy!" She stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around the not-so-little brother's neck. "The last time I saw you, you were barely knee high on us all! I would say you've grown up, but that's an understatement."
Sam had no memory of the young woman at all, as he was only a toddler the last time their father had brought them to this place, but he returned the hug and smiles effortlessly.
"Come on in, boys." She said, moving out of the doorway to allow them entrance. "Daddy, the Winchesters are here!"
They followed Alessandra through the kitchen and into the dining room, where Isaiah was sitting in front of a delicious spread of food. "Hello, boys! Come on over here, you're just in time to sit down with us for dinner! We sat out a couple of extra plates in case you got in tonight."
They saw another younger man, about their age, sitting beside Mr. Hale, who they figured it safe to assume was the boyfriend they'd been told of.
"Don't mind if we do!" Dean said, sitting across the circular dining table from Alessandra.
"Look at that, I've forgotten my manners!" He stretched his arm over to her boyfriend, who had ignored their presence up until then, smiling almost too politely. "I'm Dean Winchester, and this is my little brother, Sam."
The man looked up from his plate and shook Dean's hand. "Skyler Bradford. Nice to meet y'all."
Dean fought down the urge to laugh at the stereotypically thick southern accent dripping from the words, taking back his hand to fix himself a plate. He ate quickly and without joining the rest of the table's conversations, only having piped in to compliment the young woman on her cooking before he excused himself. It had been a long day, he wanted nothing more than to lie back and relax.
Relaxation was never that simple for him, though. There were always thoughts to keep him awake, and whenever the thoughts did give way to sleep they sometimes manifested into nightmares.
It had been this way ever since his mother died. Those memories started the battle for sleep, and as time went on more reasons just added themselves to the impossibly long list of ammunition his mind played against him. The things they'd seen never went away. Mutilated human remains, creatures that most people were blind enough to believe were only the stuff of scary stories told around a fire. It was enough to break some men. Sometimes he wasn't sure that it wasn't going to be enough to break him, one day.
After a few hours he gave up. His body settled back up into a seated position in the dark sitting room, and in the darkness he could make out his younger brother asleep on the other, longer couch.
Sam had taken a shower after finishing dinner, and assumed Dean asleep. Had he known he was just pretending to avoid talking about his emotions he wouldn't have gone to bed himself. That was exactly why Dean did his best to keep him in the dark, anyways. Always protecting his little brother from something.
He was blindly shuffling down the hallway, on his way to grab a late night snack from the kitchen. They'd insisted that the brothers make themselves at home, and a slice of the apple pie that had been served with dinner sounded as good as home gets to him.
As he sat at the table, prepared to dig in to the sweet treat, a familiar tune perked his curiosity. He abandoned his plate and headed towards the sound, which he discovered was coming from the daughter's room.
Her door was half open, so Dean looked inside.
Alessandra was sat Indian style on her bed, her fingers dancing nimbly over the neck and strings of an acoustic guitar. She was playing Carry On My Wayward Son, oblivious to the fact that Dean was standing in the doorway watching.
"Impressive." He said with a grin as the song came to a close.
She jumped a bit, caught off guard by his presence.
"Thanks. I'm sorry if I woke you or anything. When I can't sleep I play."
"Nah, I wasn't asleep. I was raiding the kitchen for leftover pie, actually. When I can't sleep I eat."
"Not a bad strategy!"
"Neither is yours."
They both laughed, and Dean took a step forward. "Mind if I come in?"
"Of course not. It's not like I'm doing anything important, anyways. Just trying to distract myself."
"Yeah, I understand. Look, I haven't really had a chance to say anything about it but, I'm sorry about your mom."
"Yeah," Her smile faded out to a blank expression, "So am I. I just hope we can get this thing, and soon."
"We'll get the bastard, don't worry about it."
Dean sat across from her on the bed, and they talked for what seemed like forever, about all kinds of things. Hunts they'd been on over the years, the music they liked, and even their failings in the love department.
"Well at least you've got a good thing now, with this Skyler guy of yours." Dean said, passing a hand through his messy hair.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do."
"Ridiculous accent, though."
They both laughed, Alessandra managing to chime a response through her chuckles. "Oh, it's horrible!"
"Seriously. His voice is exactly what the rest of the world imagines when they think of Texas."
"It is the thickest accent I've ever heard in my life! Sometimes when we're arguing I just want to tape his mouth shut so I don't have to hear it."
Dean laughed lightly again. "At least you've got somebody that loves you, though. Someone you don't have to lie to about this life."
"Yeah, it's nice." She exhaled audibly, her expression changing from a broad smile to a smirk as she continued. "Truth be told that's what keeps us together. We've been through too much of this together, you know? Too much we could never even talk about to normal people. That's all we have in common, really. If it weren't for hunting and loss, who knows if we'd have ever even dated in the first place."
Dean swallowed a lump in his throat, eyes locked on Alessandra's. Her heart started racing, threatening to beat out of her chest if she continued staring into those bright green orbs of his. She just couldn't drop her gaze.
They were both subconsciously leaning into one another, as if a mysterious gravity was pulling them together. The eye contact stayed strong, both hearts were now pounding, breath catching in their chests as each seemed to dare the other to make the next move.
Suddenly Dean's lips crashed against hers likes waves, and she had no desire to fight the tide. He reached behind her with his right hand and cupped the nape of her neck, using this leverage to pull her deeper into the kiss. He lightly touched her lips with the tip of his tongue, and without hesitation she surrendered herself to the intense passion. Their tongues danced together fluidly, causing a whirlwind of heat to ripple throught them.
Without breaking the kiss, Dean moved his body so that he was straddling Alessandra's hips with her lying underneath him. She had never felt such desire, and there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she wanted more. Her fingers blindly moved to tug at his forest green over shirt, pulling one sleeve off before quickly starting at the other. He broke their lips apart for only a moment, to quickly remove the navy T-shirt she had begun to pull on. It joined his button down in being tossed to the floor.
Alessandra's hands moved all over his chest and stomach, eagerly greeting the rippling muscles she felt there as the kiss continued.
"What the fuck!"
They broke apart instantly, both recognizing the thick accent coming from the direction of the door. He was already crossing the room by the time they looked up, angry eyes locked on Dean.
"Skyler!" Alessandra yelled.
He tackled him off of his girlfriend's bed, rolling onto the floor while throwing punches at his stomach.
"Skyler, stop it!" The young woman yelled again, yanking at the neck of his shirt to try and pull him off of the eldest Winchester. It wasn't of any use. He just pulled back against her, still landing punches on a pinned Dean.
"Let go!" Skyler shouted, pushing her backwards before scoring a hit to Dean's jaw.
Filled with anger she wrapped an arm tightly around his neck, applying enough pressure to make him fight for breath. Once he stopped swinging at Dean to pull on her arm she let go, pushing him over to the side.
He stared at her for just a moment while he caught his breath, and she knew if looks could kill she'd have dropped dead.
"Skyler, I-"
He shook his head to cut her off, eyes watering up as he stood and stormed out of the room.
Dean rested his forehead in his hand, sighing heavily as Alessandra sprang from the bed to go after him.
"Skyler, please!"
The commotion had woken Sam, who was coming down the hall as she slipped through her doorway in pursuit. She brushed right past him without even a glance. He would have asked her what was wrong, if he hadn't glanced into her room first.
His eyes were met by his older brother, shirtless with a bloody lip, sitting in the floor looking guilty.
"Oh come on, Dean!"
"Sammy, shut up."