Chapter 1

The '69 Mustang cruised down the highway, the raven haired woman behind the wheel anything but a pageant queen. Stevie Hilliard's life had taken a course no one could have expected.

She had grown up in the deep South of Savannah, Georgia where many a tourist dollar was spent on ghost tours and the like, though she'd never paid much thought to the supernatural, something that quickly changed after her eighteenth birthday.

It was then that she lost her parents, her boyfriend, and her aunt and uncle, her entire life destroyed in an instant. The only surviving member of her family, her younger sister, Maria, who had the good fortune of being invited to a slumber party at the last minute. Perhaps some would say it wasn't good fortune though, Stevie had demanded and was awarded custody of the thirteen-year-old sister, ultimately changing her life as well.

From there they had travelled around without real purpose. It had started small, just research trying to understand what she had seen that night, trying to make sense of the disjointed memories. It was a couple of years later that she finally realized that there was more to her experience than she could have imagined.

Her family wasn't the first to destroyed by a man with solid black eyes, demons were real. And demons weren't the only one, vampires, witches and werewolves were all among what seemed to be an unending list of real life monsters. The most exciting discovery had been the most recent, there were people, hunters, who served the unsuspecting world by ridding it of as many of these horrible creatures as possible.

It was the day of her twentieth birthday that Stevie began training to be like them, to be a hunter, for a life that no one deserved. She didn't regret it once, it was for the greater good, to protect anyone else from suffering through what she has, from the things that go bump in the night. It was a hard life, but it was the life she chose.

Slowly she began to train her sister as well, though reluctant at first, as she didn't want Maria to have this life. In the beginning the girl was always left with neighbors while Stevie was on hunts, making up lame excuses to account for her injuries. However, as time wore on, with no end in sight for the sadistic creatures, and an Apocalypse looming, Stevie felt she had no choice.

For Maria's sixteenth birthday Stevie bought her a crossbow, a la the Arrow style, and taught her how to use it. Maria loved it, and just like the hooded hero, she had taken it much further over the years, crafting specialty arrows designed to stop just about any creature they'd came up against. Stevie couldn't have been prouder, even if she'd tried so hard to prevent her sister from falling into the trap of hunting. Ultimately, it had been Maria's choice, and together they'd saved hundreds of people.

Together, Stevie and Maria had traveled to every single state in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. They'd even done a few jobs in Canada and Mexico as well, though there was enough work in the continental United States to keep them busy. Luckily for them, their parents had made sure that they would be well taken care of should anything ever happen to them, and the girls ended up on their own. The family house had been fully paid off and due to the investments their father had made, the sisters weren't lacking in cash. It was something that had made life on the road much easier than the average hunter.

They'd learned a lot over the years they'd lived this life, and on more than one occasion, had found themselves compared to another sibling hunting duo, Sam and Dean Winchester. Now, after eight years in the business, Stevie and Maria were about to work their first case with the infamous brothers.

The Winchesters were legendary in their line of work, and if the rumors were true, the pair was a force to be reckoned with. However, as chance would have it they'd never once managed to cross paths with them, despite having run through the same circle of hunters for years. Bobby Singer, a man that Stevie had long admired, was said to be a surrogate father to the boys, and had given his life on more than one occasion to help the brothers.

Castiel, the Angel, because where there were demons, there must be Angels, had helped them out once or twice, and it was widely known that he was the angel on the Winchester's shoulders. Despite meeting several others, not once in eight years had they met face to face. However, in just a few hours, that would change. Stevie was both excited and nervous, meeting a legend either went one of two ways, they either lived up to the hype, or they let you down. Hopefully they fell into the former.

This was one of the times she wished that Maria hadn't gotten her own car, and that they still rode together. They'd learned a little while back that not all mysteries fell into the supernatural domain, and instead just the depravity that could be humankind. When Maria had originally suggested that they could cover more ground by splitting up to check out the details, Stevie had balked at the idea. Truth be told she still wasn't fond of it, but Maria had a mind of her own and wasn't afraid to use it. They very rarely fought with each other, always managing to come together when it mattered to take out whatever being needed destroyed. Today they were each coming from a different town and would meet each other in Lebanon, Kansas. It was a destination that Stevie would arrive at a couple of hours earlier than her sister, however she had no plans of walking into that bunker alone.

Even before she hit the city limits, the signs started, declaring Lebanon the geographical center of the contiguous United States. Something that seemed to be attracting significantly less attention than the world's largest ball of twine that could be seen only 30 or so miles further up the road. A small smirk creased her lips as she thought of how much more exciting it would be for them to realize exactly what lurked in their backyard. But most people didn't want to believe that demons and evil could possibly be real, even if they had no problems looking to the gods and their angels in times of need. Yet, it was the Winchesters and Hilliards of the world that fought the unseen battles, the battles that really mattered, even if there wasn't anybody to thank them for it, it did make it easier for them to sleep at night.

It was a blink and you'd miss it sort of town, there wasn't much to look at, it housed a single gas station and one small family restaurant squeezed in between a county sheriff's office and the local post office. Having driven more miles without stopping than she would have liked, Stevie found her way into the Family House and took a seat in one of the two narrow booths along the wall. She found herself more than a little surprised when the waitress came over to hand her not only a menu, but a glass of water and a place mat. She would have thought she'd been taken back in time, that is if the calendar behind the cash register wasn't proudly displaying the current year.

What the restaurant lacked in size, it made up for spirit. The décor featured pictures of families that seemed to go back at least 50 years or so on the wall, with several faces popping up often. Through the pictures it was easy to see that Coke had been the drink of choice, while overalls appeared to be the choice item of clothing across the decades.

Looking over the menu, a laminated two sided sheet of paper with clip art for pictures, it didn't take long to narrow down the few choices and Stevie decided to settle for the 'World Famous Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe', a staple of any respectable small town diner. When the waitress, who she was quite sure was also the owner brought her plate over, piled high with fries and a burger the size of a Frisbee, she offered up a thanks.

"You're not from around here, are you?" The waitress asked, though Stevie was quite sure that was evident by her accent alone.

"No, ma'am," She replied.

The waitress took a seat on the bench opposite of her in the booth. "I'm Barbara Ann Peterson, but folks around here just call me Bobbie."

Slightly amused, Stevie reached her hand across the table, "Stevie Hilliard."

This garnered a laugh from Bobbie, "Well, I'll be. It's not every day you find two ladies going by a boy's name, now is it?"

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, and unsure if she should try to eat with Bobbie was sitting with her, Stevie shrugged slightly. "I don't know, today just about anything is possible."

She eyed her burger and looked back up at Bobbie, who told her to go ahead and eat, to not mind her, then followed it up by asking her what she was doing in town.

"I'm meeting up with my sister," She stated after taking the first bite, the juice from the burger hitting her chin causing her to reach for a napkin, "We're just passing through really."

She took another bite of the burger, and a wave of endorphins flooded her body, it possibly one of the best bacon cheeseburgers she'd ever eaten. Having not noticed anyone else had come through the door, she was surprised to find herself in the shadow of a giant, and one who apparently knew Bobbie quite well.

"Hey, Bobbie, think you could get me one of those bacon cheeseburgers to go? And a grilled chicken salad while you're at it?" The man asked, his voice as smooth as silk.

Stevie almost choked when Bobbie replied, "Sure thing, Sam. I'll even throw in an extra piece of pecan pie for your brother." There was an adorable dimpled smile that could probable melt the heart of an iceberg and Stevie could only look at him with dumbfounded surprise. She'd obviously never thought she'd run into one of the Winchesters in the local eatery, though thinking about it she imagined they had to eat too.

"Why don't you keep Stevie here company while I get that for you? She's waiting on her sister," Bobbie explained in that typical small town fashion where everyone seemed to know everything as she bustled towards the kitchen.

Sam turned to face the woman, a little intrigued and amused at the expression on her face. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Stevie. I've heard some pretty great things about you."

Despite not being one to stumble over a man, she found being in his presence a little unsettling. "You're nothing like I pictured."

Sam gave a hearty laugh at that, his shaggy brown hair fell across into his eyes before he shook it back, his grin was infectious. "I could say the same thing about you. Pretty girl with a boy's name? Not exactly what you would expect." He eyed her burger and pile of fries, again amused by the bucking of stereotyping.

She wiped at her chin again and arched a brow. "What," She asked, "Never seen a woman eat before?" Stevie studied him again and nearly snorted, "No, the salad is for you and you're coveting my fries." She pushed the plate toward him slightly, "Go ahead, I'm all about sharing."

Sam reached over and snagged a fry off her plate popping it into his mouth, mirroring the smirk that she wore. "For the record, I happen to like salad sometimes, and it does help with my boyish figure," He teased playfully, grinning at the eruption of laughter from the girl opposite him.

He watched her grab a bottle of ketchup, squirting it out on her plate as an invitation for him to continue eating her fries, so he did. "Where is your sister?" He questioned, his eyes moving over her and trying to associate the woman in front of him with the girl he'd heard so much about.

Stevie caught wind of his gaze and smirked, "If you say you thought I'd be taller, I will hurt you."

It wasn't long before Bobbie had brought the package of food over to Sam, he stood up and paid hastily. He made a quick offer to escort Stevie to the bunker with him and have Maria meet them there, but she declined. She did still have half a burger to eat, and there was no way she was going into that bunker without Maria.

By no means was Stevie scared of the brothers, but she knew she worked best with Maria at her side and now was no exception. Even if Dean Winchester was only half as handsome as his brother Sam, she was sure they would both be familiar with getting their way with the fairer gender. Of course, they hadn't met the Hilliards, not yet anyway. This joint venture they were about to undertake would call for all hands on deck, and considering the legends that surrounded the brothers, Stevie had no doubt that they were about to see just how much they could gain from teaming up with a couple of southern girls.