Disclaimer, We do not own Supernatural, We do not own Supernatural, We ... I guess that's enough!
Summary, Riley started hunting because she couldn't shut out the supernatural world that had marked her. Will started hunting because she needed closure, but it never came and now her and Riley are fighting against the Apocalypse. Collab with LinkkinParkk.

Prologue: Forging New Beginnings

Outskirts of Riverside, Washington
November 23rd 2005, 03:42 AM

If anything, Riley Dante blamed herself for the situation she was in. She never normally allowed herself to be caught unawares, but somehow she had managed to arrive at this party with the wrong outfit. But it wasn't entirely her fault; rumors and misinformation had forced their way into her circuit of information. Guess she'd been too optimistic and trusted that the group at the Roadhouse had got their facts straight. She was cursing herself now, figuring she shoulda gone straight to Bobby Singer.

She groaned as she was thrown into yet another tree, the forest looking more and more blurry as her head cracked off the bark one more time. She slid down to the ground, crumpling as her trembling body attempted to recover from more damage. She rolled onto her side, trying to lift herself up with her arms. Her vision still wouldn't stay in focus as she blinked her eyes again and again, aware that every second she was down, her attacker was heading her way. She winced as she became aware of a hot, stickiness that was spreading across the back of her head, her mind slipping as she looked up at the vampire standing over her.

"Dear me hunter, having problems are we?" he cooed in a condescending tone as he lifted Riley by her hair. She didn't have the strength to struggle, blood trickling down her chin from the insides of her mouth. Instead, she focused her energies on getting her breathing right as the demonic eyes flashed before her. "Seems you underestimated my little coven," he beckoned forward two young girls, both brunettes, both newly changed. Riley had been looking for them hours ago, two missing girls with worried families.

"Maybe," Riley choked out, her hand aimlessly reaching out to stop the tightening grip the vampire had on her hair. The vampire moved, letting her hand fall back down. "You underestimated me," she swung out her leg and caught the vampire, but the move didn't nothing to improve her situation. He only laughed bitterly, pushing her against the tree, his weight restraining her movements.

"Perhaps," the vampire switched holds on Riley, bringing her arms above her head. "I won't make a meal out of you. Perhaps," he whispered softly, his lips brushing Riley's ear. "I'll make you a part of my little family. You are just my type, you little brunette." His lips moved down to Riley's neck and she froze, suddenly afraid. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the crushing realization that she might just become one of the monsters that she hunted. She twisted desperately, trying to get away from the creature who held her.

"Jerk," she spat, trying to kick out again, but he caught her leg easily again, twisting it so that it was near to breaking. Riley's face drained off what little color had remained, her eyes fluttering as her body attempted to shut down and recuperate. "I ... won't ... let ... "

"What let me what? Do this," he dropped her onto the ground and pinned her down with his knees, not that it was necessary. Riley could hardly move, her chest heaving in sharp bursts as she desperately tried to get enough air. The vampire smiled, before leaning forward and dragging her arm towards himself. He brought his nail to her vein, getting ready to cut her and bleed into her. Riley couldn't move, couldn't speak, but she could see, and her eyes widened as something silver flashed in the moonlight. Something sharp, and heading straight in their direction.

The vampire didn't have time to react to the threat that had snuck up on him and killed his latest trinkets, too focused on Riley to have paid attention to his surroundings. Instead, he snarled, twisting around just as the machete cut into the soft flesh of his neck. His snarl turned into a gurgling choke as blood began to flow into his mouth, out of his wound, and down onto Riley who was watching with a mixture of horror and relief. Her saviour held the vampire's neck back, cutting through the tendons, finally letting the head roll to one side.

Riley turned onto her side the moment she saw that the other hunter, friend or foe she wasn't sure, was almost done with her attacker. She wasn't planning on sticking around long enough to know why the person had saved her ass, nor was she planning on leaving herself open for anymore attacks. She crawled forward, wincing as her bones seemingly ground together and her open wounds met hard stones.

She didn't get far before falling forward and succumbing to the wave of pain that washed over her. She felt her vision start to go, the edges tinged with darkness as her mind made a mental note of all her injuries. Broken ribs, maybe; concussion, most likely; sprained ankle, yup. She held her nausea down as she moved her wrist, trying to find if it was broken at the same time as trying to find a weapon she could fight with. Neither did her any good and she closed her eyes.

"Are you alright?" came from behind, a soft female voice she noted. She felt hands gently probe her chest, and shuddered violently from the sudden sickening pain that clenched around her throat. Bile rose and she turned away in time to throw up what pathetic little she'd eaten earlier. "That bad huh?" Riley tried to ignore the concern that was in the woman's voice, knowing that if she was aware how bad her situation was, she'd probably shut down completely. She knew she needed to stay awake, stay with it. And she still didn't trust the other "hunter", whoever it was.

"Just call 911 and leave. I don't need you here to look after me," Riley managed to snipe, her hand finally finding a suitable weapon: her discarded dagger that had fallen from her back pocket when she had been thrown the first time. She swung around in a feeble attempt at self-defence and almost screamed when a hand stopped her, closing around her wrist as softly as possible, but with enough grip behind it to let Riley know she wouldn't get much further if she tried to attack again. "Dammit, why won't you leave?" she groaned.

"You're hurt," was the simple, blunt reply. One that Riley wasn't expecting. "If I call 911 and leave, you'll die. Therefore, you need me to drive you to ER in the car I stole half an hour ago. See the sacrifices I'm making for you?" Riley hated how reasonable the woman sounded. She was feeling immature and childish and didn't want someone to point out all the flaws in her concussed reasoning. She pouted unconsciously as hands began to move her onto her feet, the movement stopping every second or so to give her time to catch her breath or whimper. "Right, my car ain't far but there's only one of me, so you're gonna have to limp. Brace yourself kiddo," she added.

The first scream was the loudest, and caused the other hunter to flinch as it went straight in her right ear and left her head ringing for moments afterwards. After that first scream, Riley managed to quieten down to a choked mess of cuss words, mostly "sonovabitch" blurred into one hiss that seemed to work as an acceptable pain killer, at least until Riley could find some damn pills and down them with something stronger. She hated the way the other hunter laughed at all the cuss words that tumbled from Riley's mouth, but at the same time it was comforting to hear and know that someone else stood close by, watching.

"Please don't bleed on this car, I need to take it back after I've finished up with you," Riley was lain down carefully on the back bench of the car. Riley narrowed her eyes up at the woman, whose blond hair was the only thing that Riley could make out.

"Sure, I won't bleed on the leather seats. Lemme just stop the blood flow 'round my dying body. You idijit," she added with venom.

The other woman grinned, and muttered something quietly. Riley heard and immediately relaxed slightly, but was too weak and tired to respond.

"Man you sounded like Bobby just then," she said, with a quiet chuckle, before she turned and shoved her foot onto the gas pedal, but Riley didn't make a sound. She was already unconscious, her heart rate slow and uneven as her hand fell limply onto the floor.

Riverside, Washington
November 28th 2005, 4:57PM

"I w't m' c... lemme 'av m' c... "

"Shuddup, unless you want to damage yourself even further."

Riley blinked, before trying to swallow, only to find a breathing tube was in her mouth. She choked, crying out, as her hands desperately tried to get rid of it. Cool hands pressed against her hot ones and stopped her from doing serious damage to herself as she tried to breathe for herself. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, her chest as if an iron cage had been wrapped around it. She stopped moving, letting her heart return to a reasonable beat, her eyes squinting against the blinding white light that glared down at her.

"Wh' mm I?" she tried to ask, her mouth not able to move around the tube. She felt a different set of hands start to remove it.

"In hospital," the voice sounded familiar, but Riley was sure that she hadn't heard it on friendly terms before. Then her memories surfaced, crashing down on her already aching head. She remembered the hunt that had gone wrong, the hunter who had saved her, the injuries, the walk to the car and then nothing. The nurse stepped back and Riley turned to her left to stare into a pair of bright blue eyes. "You've been here for five days sis," she added as the nurse smiled on condescendingly.

"Sis?" Riley raised an eyebrow as best she could, looking at the women she had tried to kill a few days earlier. The nurse missed the sarcastic questioning in Riley's voice and nodded to the woman who had brought her in, before leaving quietly. "Well." Riley looked at the hunter. "I guess I owe you an apology and a thank you. But first, let me get the things outta the way that would destroy both. Why the Hell are you still here?"

"I, uh, I erm, I was worried about you. You were in a pretty bad state," the blond said quickly, in a rushed voice. Her cheeks started to tinge a little pink and Riley felt a rush of affection towards the girl. "If you want me to leave." She started to rise.

"No, I wanna know your name." Riley reached out and cringed when she saw her badly scraped hand. "I wanna know why you saved a random, dangerous hunter's life when you coulda just left. Most other hunters I've met woulda left. Why didn't you?"

"I'm in this to save people's lives, regardless of if their hunters or not, and what would I have really gained if I had left you to die? Nothin' but a whole lotta guilt, and to be honest, it's not something you want when you need to always be focused. And my name is Will. Will Taylor," she added, a slightly defensive glint in her eyes. Whoops, Riley thought, she's thrown up her barriers against me now. Guess I shouldn't have been so brass.

"Will?" she asked with a genuine curiosity. "What's that short for? Or did you change your name when you became a hunter?" She sat up a little, wincing from a dull ache that managed to peak around the base of her spine. She saw Will's eyes widen a little in worry but Riley let that slide.

"It's short for Willow. Willow Elizabeth Taylor is my full name. And why would I change my name to become a hunter? I was raised into this," Willow replied.

"Wow." Riley leant forward in awe. "I've heard about hunters who were born and raised into this as children but I've never met one before. How'd you get into hunting then Willy?"

"Willy? Really?" Will's eyes narrowed in pure annoyance at Riley and she grinned cheekily.

"What's wrong? Embarrassed? Don't like to be associated with willies?" she said childishly, glad to have a chance to exercise her tongue on someone. It had been a long time since she'd had a conversation with anyone and she had missed the company another person could bring.

"No," Will replied defensively. "It's just childish and immature, is all," she shrugged, her messy ponytail flicking back in an equally nonchalant movement. Riley grinned wider.

"Willy, willy, willy, willy," she sung in an off-key tone, jiggling a little in her bed in time to the beat she had created. Willow leant forward to punch Riley in the arm, who stopped to wince.

"Stop exaggerating. Anyway, you haven't told me your name yet," Willow said, leaning back in her seat to stop Riley from retaliating. Riley wasn't stupid, she knew full well that Will was avoiding the subject of how she came into hunting, but just this time she kept her mouth shut and let it drop. Instead, she covered the sudden awkwardness with her witty humour.

"You making a move on me sweetheart, cos for sure I don't bat for that team," Riley winked provocatively. "My name is Riley Dante, I'm twenty-one and I've been hunting since I was nineteen. It's a long story but I was not raised into it like you. And, I wanna know when I can check out of here and get back to my job."

"Not likely Miss Dante," Willow answered. "You need to stay in for obs. You were pretty mashed up back there. Three broken ribs, sprained wrist, deep cuts, concussion, the works. You need to rest and recover."

"R & R can wait, I need to check on my baby." Riley looked towards the window, suddenly worried.

"What baby? Do you have a baby? Why are you hunting if you have a baby? Or do you mean boyfriend? Does he hunt with you?" Will asked in one long breath, not pausing or hesitating.

"Wow, do you ever shut up? And no, no, no and no to all of the above. I mean my bike. I wanna know that my bike is alright," Riley said.

"You ride?"

"No, I just carry it around with me in my backpack whilst I hitchhike everywhere. Course I ride it," Riley snorted.

"Whatever. So you hunt alone?" Will suddenly looked interested in the floor, her boyish defences dropping onto the table. Riley cocked her head to one side, wondering why the sudden change in temperament.

"Yeah, I wish I didn't, but none of the other hunters are interested in pairing up, 'specially not with a girl. And there's no way in Hell that I'd drag anyone else into this life. Whadda 'bout you? Hunt with your parents. Mom? Dad?"

"My Dad's out there somewhere, hunting. We split, because we had different reasons for hunting. We're still on good terms, just not as close as we once were, when we were a family. Hunting does that to you. It changes you and breaks what you once had so you can't ever go back. Nothing in the world could fix us. We're marked." Willow seemed wistful and distant and Riley felt a pang of sorrow for her.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I know that I can't go back, but it's better that way. At least I know my family is intact. Even if I'm not a part of that. It always makes me feel better, knowing that my Mom and Dad and brother are together, even if they think I'm dead. I guess we're both kinda like shadow fighters," she whispered.

"Shadow what?"

"Fighters, I guess. There was this book I read once, I can't really remember the title, but it said that once you've been touched by Death or evil, you become Shadow Kissed. I mean, it was a fictional book and all, but it made sense. Because once you're Shadow Kissed, you can't escape. It's like a beacon, pointing out what you've seen, and you see it everywhere. How can you not act, knowing that other people are in danger of becoming what you are, or becoming hurt?"

"Good ol' Vampire Academy," Will stated and flashed a grin at the surprised look that appeared on Riley's face. "What? You don't think I enjoy reading in between hunts?"

Riley looked back down at the bed and began drawing patterns lazily on the blanket. Willow watched the young woman in front of her and the way her eyes darkened and saddened. She watched as she clenched her hands closed tightly, her veins sticking out against her pale white skin. She felt the same, and she knew that she couldn't carry on alone.

"I'm sorry for whatever happened to you Riley," Will murmured. "I guess we've both been kissed by the shadows."

Authors' Notes

LP: So, here is my first attempt at a multi-chaptered Supernatural fanfic, complete with plot, and it is a collab with the talented Kerryyuy! My bestest bud. Anyway, there aren't enough decent hunters in the SPN world and this is our ploy to redeem that, by creating two kick-ass hunters, who I hope you'll fall in love with. Stick around and be rewarded with Winchesters!

KY: Hey! Yup, ANOTHER Supernatural story, but this time I am writing with someone else and I have the greatest honour in working with: LinkkinParkk. Not only is she an amazing writer, she is also my best friend, and I cannot wait to see how our 'unique' minds come together for this - all I can say is chaos is likely to follow!