An engine roared down an empty highway, bordered on each side by nothing but trees. The black car moved swiftly along the road, the yellow lines passing quickly by the tires. Led Zeppelin blared from the stereo and the driver was singing as if he were the front man, drumming on the steering wheel and banging his head. His passenger was sitting back looking at a small laptop screen, running a hand through his thick hair occasionally and barely paying any attention to the driver. This was a normal evening for the two men. They had been riding together in this car since they were kids and the car bore the markings of that. The brothers traveled together so much that anything either of them did was not surprising to the other. This was just the life of a Winchester. Sam and Dean spent their lives following their father around hunting creatures, saving people, and searching for revenge for the demon that had killed their loved ones. The two of them had lost many people along the way and maybe they even hoped their lives were different at times, but neither of them could imagine anything different these days. The two of them were traveling to a small town in Alabama that not many people had heard of, they were not even really aware of it. It was considered a well kept secret. Meredith was one of those little towns made up of beautiful southern homes surrounding a main square that was mostly small businesses and a farmers market. This was a place where some well-to-do people came to live for the peace and quiet. But, the brothers learned that this was also a place of supernatural significance - there were plenty of non humans living there, or so the rumors said. Someone had given them a tip that there was a vampire living in the town that was threatening the locals, so they set out to discover what was happening. The town wasn't in the news and they didn't advertise much, it was almost as if they were a small private community that outsiders were not welcome to know about. It wasn't even on a map.

Dean noticed the private road they were told about and turned down it - that was one way to hide a town. Most people did not travel up private roads unless they lived on one.

"So, how weird is this?" Dean asked as they drove along the narrow road.

"Some people don't like big cities. But, then again, you never know what we'll find here either." Sam responded, still playing on his laptop. He had tried downloading some information on the town, but he had found very little except the fact that the town was founded in 1850 as a small farming community around a plantation home. Not much else was recorded - not even anyone that lived there had been listed.

The small road opened up to a larger square lined by small shops as well as roads leading out to the homes in this small community. Sam looked out over the square as they passed through, a woman in what looked to be black dress slacks, a white blouse, and a black sun hat was sitting on a bench. She looked up from the book she was reading and tilted her sunglasses down, eyeing the Impala as it passed by. Sam had the odd feeling that something was strange about her and about this town. Dean noticed other people stopping to look at them as well. They obviously didn't get very many newcomers, and when they did it seemed to be a big event.

He pulled the Impala over at a curb and turned off the engine. People went from staring at them to going about their business as usual.

"This place is weird." Dean grumbled as he looked over at Sam, who raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in agreement.

"Do we even know where to start?" Sam asked as he closed his laptop and shoved it into its bag.

"Well, we can start by getting lunch." His brother responded as he noticed a small diner, his mind now set on one thing. Sam and Dean left the Impala and moved across the square to the diner, a bell tinkling softly as they pushed open the door.

"Well, hi there. How can I help you boys?" An old woman from behind the counter asked, a warm smile on her face and a southern drawl pouring like honey from her mouth. She definitely looked like the grandmotherly type.

Dean and Sam sat at the counter, picking up menus as they were placed in front of them.

"I'll have the Porky Plate, coffee, and a slice of that amazing looking pie over there." Dean said giving her a smile as he handed his menu over to her.

"Salad, please, and a water." Sam decided, Dean looking at him obviously offended by the rabbit food his brother was eating.

"Sure thing, sweetie." The old woman said with a small tilt of her head and a smile still. Southern charm at its finest.

After she had gone from earshot, Dean said, "We don't have a long life expectancy, so why are you wasting time eating grass?"

Sam looked at him and laughed.

"I'd like to try to lengthen my life expectancy a little bit. Don't want to die of clogged arteries." He retorted as he shook his head and pulled the laptop from his bag once more. He felt this was a pointless endeavor, but he was trying to find out some more information about the town. Sam searched until their food came.

"Excuse me." He chimed as she laid plates down in front of them.

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me where we are and maybe a bit about it? We've never been to a town like this."

"Well, sweetie, y'all're in Meredith. It's quite an old town founded by some well-to-do folks that wanted to give farmers a chance without havin' to put out too much money for their own property." She said as she wiped down some glasses from behind the counter. "You won't find its history written down anywhere, neither. Ain't much outsiders know. If you really want the juicy details of the town, I would go find Mercy Cole. Her family was one of the first farmin' families here."

"Thank you very much." Sam said with a smile as he began to write down Mercy Cole on a napkin. "Can you tell us where we can find her?"

"There's a small road connected to the square, not the one that y'all came in on." She responded. "It's the only other road in town, everything else is pretty much connected by smaller walkways. Just jaunt up there and it's the house up the hill, Mercy likes to overlook the community. She has a very nice view from way on up there." She had pointed an old, wrinkled finger out the window toward the shaded road. Gnarled oak trees lined the road all the way up to the old home. Dean looked out the window and could see the roof and a portion of the top floor from where he sat.

"She doesn't mind guests, has them all the time." The woman soon added before collecting their empty plates and hobbling off.

Mercy Cole had removed herself from the bench she was perched on when the Impala rolled into town. There weren't many newcomers that happened into town, so she began her way back home to try to prepare for visitors - they would ultimately find their way to her home. She knew this only because she had told the woman working the diner to do that if people came around asking a lot of questions. Mercy had plenty of people visiting her, many of whom felt lost as soon as they entered the town, because of her line of work. Over the years she had developed a very broad knowledge of supernatural artifacts and, because of this, she was able to create a thriving business from appraising the objects that collectors (and hunters) acquired.

Once she was home she removed her hat and the pins from her thick, chestnut colored hair - it fell gracefully over her shoulders and down her back. Looking down at her clothes, she ran her hands down the thighs of her tight black pants to straighten them out and then adjusted her flowing white blouse making sure it was tucked in appropriately.

Some time had passed and twilight was looming over the town before her doorbell rang through the house. The brothers stood on her front porch, which was quite large and wrapped around a portion of the house. There were a few rocking chairs as well as plants hanging in several places around the porch. It was a nice place to have a glass of sweet tea once in awhile.

Sam and Dean's ears perked up at the sound of high heels clicking through the entryway toward the door, they could see a blurry figure through the decorative glass in the dark wooden door just before it slowly opened.

"May I help you?" She questioned, her manicured brows raised just slightly and a small smile on her red lips. Dean eyed her for a moment before his brain finally began responding.
"Yes, we aren't familiar with the town and we were directed to a Mercy Cole." He said, remembering the name that Sam had written down.

"I am she and you were directed to the right place." She said, moving aside from the door and allowing the two brothers to step through. Mercy directed them through to her sunroom, it looked to be an old glass greenhouse that she had converted to a sitting room. It was filled with green plants, some of which were flowering and had a very fragrant smell. Dean looked around, as did Sam, before taking a seat in a cushioned chair near a small coffee table. Mercy had approached a bar which was situated against a wall, crystal glasses and several glass bottles lined the shelves.

"Drink?" She asked, holding out an unlabeled bottle.

"Yes, please." Dean answered as he made himself comfortable.

"So, Ms. Cole, what can you tell us about Meredith?" Sam asked as he watched her pour drinks.

"Please, just call me Mercy." She said with a smile as she walked over with their drinks.

"As far as Meredith, I can tell you everything. Even the juiciest details. What would you like to hear?"

"Everything." Dean said with a charming smile just before sipping at the whiskey she had given him.

"The town was founded in 1850 as a community of farmers and other tradesmen. The family was led by a very stern gentleman by the name of Jansen and his wife Meredith. Their grown children lived with them along with their wives. There were no children to speak of at the time. Meredith was the one that dreamed of helping others and after she passed her husband started the community to honor her memory. Now, he passed and eventually their sons took over the town. It flourished at the time." She took a moment to sip at her own drink.

"Now, about a decade later, some of the townsfolk found out some nasty information regarding their leaders. The head family quickly took an iron fist approach and squashed any mention of misdeeds on their part. Rumor had it that the family had been killing locals and saying they had moved from their community elsewhere. Not many people left, but when they did people noticed and began to try to figure out what happened - especially since most of these moves happened overnight without word to anyone else. The Cole family, my family, remained faithful to the community until one night when the people tried to rise up against the leadership once more later that same year. This led to a lot of bloodshed. Out of my ancestors, only three survived. One was Alexandria Cole, the matriarch; the second, was Mercy Cole - my namesake; and third was Josiah Cole, the eldest of the children who was in the northeast at the time attending law school. The other three children- Deacon, Marston, and Jonah - and the patriarch, Elijah, were all killed in the massacre that occurred in October of 1870. Mercy and her mother had both escaped. Some time later, descendants of those who had escaped Meredith returned to rebuild the community."

Mercy had given them a more limited version of the story of Meredith, there were a lot of details she left out because it might lead to more questions that she didn't want to answer, especially when the ones who were asking were strangers to her. As she looked them over and examined their movements, even their smells, she began to realize they were probably hunters - which disconcerted her somewhat. Why were there hunters in town that she did not know or have business with? Something wasn't right, but she kept these feelings hidden as she sipped at her drink once more.

"That's a pretty bad history. Why did people choose to come back?" Sam asked as he set his empty glass on a small round end table.

"I guess it was all about getting back to their roots, maybe making it better than what it was." She responded with a slight shrug as looked toward them with her amber eyes.

"It looks like it is getting late. There's a bed and breakfast in town if the two of you would like to stick around." She gave them a warm smile and put her empty glass down.

As Mercy walked away, Sam and Dean followed her to the door where they said their goodbyes.

The Winchesters soon arrived at the small bed and breakfast, it was a cozy little white house with a few rooms that were rented out. They had unloaded their things into the two bed room and Dean immediately flopped down onto the soft bed, the thick covers trying to envelope him.

"What did you think of her?" Sam asked.

"She was definitely good looking, that's for sure." He laughed.

"No, that's not what I meant, Dean."

Dean simply laughed at Sam for a moment. He knew what his brother was after.

"Something is off. I feel like someone isn't telling us something." He replied after regaining his composure, his eyes closed as he continued to lay on the bed.

"If there is a vampire here, I haven't seen any signs of one. I mean, don't they usually live in family groups?"

"Yeah. That's what I was just thinking about. Maybe our information was wrong."

Sam nodded his head as he looked out the window in thought, before he knew it Dean was snoring. He fell asleep on the bed, his arms splayed out and his legs hanging off the bed with his feet touching the floor. He hadn't even gotten his boots off. Sam wished he had that easy of a time falling asleep, there was just too much on his mind right now. He laid down in his bed and stared at the ceiling until he finally drifted off to sleep some time later.