I own nothing except Nina, If I owned Dean I wouldn't have time to write this.

She woke up in cold sweat, struggling against the sheets that were wrapped around her legs, a scream caught in her throat. Breathing heavy she fell back into the pillows, blinking to try and bring reality back faster. Trying to get away from her dream. The clock on the bed side table said 315 am. Same time. Same dream. Same nightmare monster. Same hero. Too bad he never got to her in time. Guess as far as heroes went he wasn't a very good one. He was very handsome though. At least there was one good thing about the dream. What a waste that eye candy only appeared in her nightmares. Perhaps she wouldn't be so grumpy lately if he made a few appearances in a bathing suit or better still, his birthday suit? Or maybe she should just get a life and find a real flesh and blood guy to keep the nightmares at bay? Not that she would have any idea what to do with one should she fine one.

"Maybe I should stop talking to myself?"

She sighed as she rolled out of bed. There was no point in going back to sleep. Silently padding down the hallway to the bathroom she continued mumbling to herself. She was frustrated. This nightmare had been interrupting her sleep for as long as she could remember and she had learned to deal with it. But that was when it was only coming once every few months. Tonight was the fifth time in as many weeks. The last time being only two nights ago. She didn't want to think about how long it would take to drive her crazy when it started coming every night.

Stepping into the shower she began her day.

Three hours and just as many cups of coffee later she looked up from her keyboard to watch the sunrise over the water. Her office was a converted second bedroom in her tiny cottage on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. The water was as still as glass this morning. In the distance she could hear a loon calling. The tourists had all left weeks ago and she was reminded of why she had bought this place. Despite the awful start to the day she smiled as she sipped from her favorite mug. Watching the sunrise made her feel connected. She spent so much of her time alone it was odd to feel connected to anything. She worked out of her house, did most of her shopping online and rarely went into town with the exception of the local dinner to eat occasionally. She was content to spend all of her free time with her crossword puzzles and her pulp fiction heroes.

The phone pulled her from her revelry. She grabbed it on the second ring. It could only be one person.

"Good morning Liz." Her voice was soft but steady.

"Nina, darling. Did you finally take my advice and get caller ID?" Liz spoke with a think New York accent. She sounded much older that the 34 years she claimed.

"No but there is no one else that would be calling me at this hour." Or at all, she though bitterly to herself.

"Perhaps your phone would be ringing more often if you moved out of that one horse town?"

Nina sighed. Not up for the same argument she had heard from her editor a thousand times before. "You know I love it here and besides the lake is my muse."

"Well if that is the case I will not bother you about it again. These new pages you sent are fantastic!" Liz's voice was bordering on shrill with her excitement.

"You don't think it's too out of character for Christine?" She had been genuinely concerned about the path her main character had taken in her latest novel; she chuckled under her breath slightly. Novel was a strong word. She wrote romance paperbacks with a supernatural twist. Vampires, Demons, the works. In this latest novel Christine, her heroine was battling a centuries old evil spirit and her partner in crime was actually a vampire. Of course he was a "good" vampire who had lived a tortured life and needed saving himself. Needless to say despite Christine's natural aversion to him there were sparks flying everywhere, blah blah blah, the rest practically wrote itself.

"Are you kidding me? That's the best part! Christine was getting a little predictable." despite how harsh the words came out that wasn't how Liz intended them and Nina knew that. Liz had been her biggest supporter from the moment she had sent in her first manuscript and now six best sellers later Liz was the reason she hadn't gone to a bigger publishing house. They were a package deal and until random house or Doubleday agreed that Liz would remain her editor she was staying right where she was.

"Thanks Liz. I was starting to think the same thing. I think this might be my last Christine story, I think I've done all I can with her. I'm thinking about doing something a little more down and dirty. Maybe female cop with a dark past?" She wasn't sure how much longer she could ride the wave of supernatural popularity. She really didn't want to be the last one sitting at the party.

"Ohh that sounds juicy. I'd hate to say goodbye to Christine, she feels like family, but you are the author. Not to mention I can just imagine how you would handle guns and hand to hand combat and I'm already excited!"

"Liz you are the best editor ever." She was smiling again. It was so nice to have one person believe in her fully.

"Okay so call me when you have the next chapter done and when you finish I'm coming up to celebrate." Before she could even respond she heard the dial tone. Typical Liz. Of course she wouldn't want to hear all the reasons why she shouldn't bother to come or why it was no big deal. To her it was a done deal. Liz was the only person who had actually been to Nina's house. Well, if you didn't count the numerous delivery men. When she finished each book Liz would arrive looking ridiculously out of place in her Christian Luobiton's and Channel suits. Driving a rental car complaining about the flight, the drive, the fact that there weren't any Starbucks within a 50 mile radius and they would spend the weekend making the last minute changes before sending the final manuscript off to the printer. It wasn't such a bad life all in all. Yes she was alone and yes she could occasionally claim to be lonely no one told her what to do. She was her own boss and in the end that was the best she could hope for. To hope for anything more would just open the door to disappointment, something Nina was all too familiar with.

She settled in at her dinning room table with a blueberry muffin and the paper. Scanning the headlines she frowned. Her sleepy little hamlet had just had its third unnatural death of a local in as many months. Tourist season not withstanding the last major crime had been when local John Sullivan had murdered his wife after catching her with a tourist. He had been gunned down by the sheriff while resisting arrest. That had been almost 15 years ago. Although the town teens liked to talk about how his eyes were as black as night when the police arrived to arrest him the official report was that it was a crime of passion. The paper was sketchy on the details of these new deaths. They hinted towards a bear or mountain lion but nothing definitive. In a remarkable show of journalistic integrity it seemed they were actually trying to keep the population calm. Her curiosity was definitely piqued but she was so busy with her story she didn't have time to get involved.

"Hope they catch them soon."

"Got something." Sam turned the laptop to show Dean the screen then pulled their father's journal out of the bag. Flipping through the pages he stopped when he found what he was looking for. "And here in Dad's Journal. Looks like he was there was back in '94."

"Werewolf, Wendigo, Vampire?" Dean turned the laptop back towards his brother and shoved another piece of pie in his mouth. "mmmm so good."

"yes, please, enjoy your pie. It's not like people are dieing." Sam rolled his eyes.

"People die everyday, but pie this good only comes along once in a great while." Sam continued to glare at him with his arms crossed. "Okay fine grumpy Gus, pay the tab. I'll bring the car around." Dean shoved one last forkful of pie into his mouth, stood and walked out the doors leaving Sam behind grinning in triumph.

AN so that is just a taste. More to come.

Reviews welcome please!