I shivered slightly as I stalked through the undergrowth. Really should've worn more clothes, I thought. I was wearing my favorite black jeans with a scoop necked tight fitting black top and a short black leather jacket. I also cursed the fact that I had worn black stiletto ankle boots, instead of...oh; I don't know...construction boots?

I pushed my long dark hair out of my face. I was beginning to get pissed off. This demon was pissing me off. I had been following the damn thing through the South for nearly two weeks. My mind drifted back to my earlier encounter with it. It hadn't been pleasant. The damn thing had taken human form, and had attacked me when I was off guard. I'd had to call into a hospital to get stitches on my side where the bitch had slashed me with a knife. That was 10 days ago, and it had slowed me down. Now I had tracked it to this dense forest on the outskirts of a small farming town. What it was doing here, I didn't know. And I didn't want to find out. I just wanted to get rid of the thing so that I could relax.

Suddenly I heard a shout and a series of bangs.

'What the...' I shoved a branch out of my face and saw...lights. And heard voices. Male voices.

'You have got to be kidding me...' I muttered, as I stepped forward. In front of me stood an old dwelling, its windows lit up. I could still hear shouting from inside.

Without waiting to hear more I rushed toward the old house and finding the door locked, stepped back and destroyed it with one kick of my heel. Bursting inside I ran towards the noise.

The scene was havoc.

The demon, which had forsaken its human casing as a pretty blonde and returned to its original form as a snarling, rotting...thing was almost in the corner of the room facing away from me, advancing toward someone I could not see.

There were two other men in the room, one older; wearing a baseball cap and wildly flicking through the pages of a battered notebook (what Hunter doesn't know the Rituale Romanus by heart?) while a younger one with floppy black hair was throwing Holy water at it.

'DEAN!' he shouted as the creature hissed and growled. Apparently the Holy water was just pissing it off.

I stepped forward and without looking at either of the men, plunged my stake into its back, smiling as it disintegrated with a howl before me. I dusted my hands off and slid the stake into my leather belt, and turned to face the intruders that had messed up my hunt.

'Who the hell are you?' the older man asked, staring at me in shock. I looked from him to the younger one and saw him reaching for a vile of Holy water on the table beside him.

'Not thirsty, thanks' I said, smirking. Too late. Before I knew it he had thrown the contents in my direction.

I looked down to see it soaking through my top and leg of my jeans. Now I was really pissed.

'What the hell was that? I love this top! Damnit! You're getting the dry-cleaning bill!'

I looked up to find both of them staring at me in shock. The younger one spoke

'You're...'

'Human?' I interjected 'Yeah. Thanks for that burning observation. The question is - who the hell are you?'

I stared at them defiantly, but before either could speak a voice interrupted from behind me.

'Ahhh...little help here?'

I swung around to find the demons target sitting on the floor leaning against the wooden wall. He was young as well, and I could tell that he was Holy water Boy's brother. Probably older. Except that he had blue eyes, not brown. And short sandy colored hair. He was also handsome. Extremely so. They both were...he knocked me from my thoughts with a muttered

'Who the hell is the chick?'

A flash of anger at the word 'chick' and the next thing I knew I was pinning him to the wall with my heel.

'Don't-call-me-chick' I growled, releasing him when he seemed to choke a little. He stumbled to his feet, rubbing his neck, and joined the other two in staring at me. I rolled my eyes.

'What the hell is this? Haven't any of you ever laid eyes on a female before? Yes. I'm human. And my favorite black top is wet. And I just saved your asses. Well...' I added with another smirk, pointing to 'Dean' '...yours, mainly. Now why are you interfering with my hunt?' I threw my hands up on to my hips and stared at them.

'You're a...Hunter?' Dark Hair asked slowly looking unsure.

'No. I'm Julia Roberts. Yes. I am a Hunter.'

He stepped forward

'This is Bobby Singer...I'm Sam. Sam Winchester. And this is my brother, Dean. We're Hunters.'

I sighed 'Well that was painful. But thank you. The introductions were pleasant, if a little delayed' I shook my head and flipped my hair back again, feeling like a school teacher scolding her students.

'So why exactly did you try - badly, may I add - to kill my demon?'

'Oh, so you own the demons, now?' Dean had spoken and taken a step toward me.' You are just... rude! Have you looked at my neck!' He pulled his T shirt down to expose what looked like a red puncture mark where I had caught him with my heel. I made a face at him.

'Whatever' I muttered 'I'm outta here'.

'Wait!'

I heard the shout as I walked away from the house. I turned to find Sam behind me. He walked toward me slowly with a somewhat forced smile on his face. I raised an eyebrow. What am I, Bambi?

'Maybe we should talk…all of us...I mean, there's not many Hunters out there, especially your kind...'

He seemed flustered. Cute.

'I assume that by 'my kind' you mean of the female persuasion?'

He nodded slowly, as though he had no idea what to make of me.

'Fine. We'll talk. Lead the way'

He looked relieved and walked back into the old house.

'Where's Buffy the freakin' Vampire Slayer...Oh.There you are. I was missing your calming presence'.

Dean clapped his hands in mock joy as I re-entered. Sam raised his hands, stepping in between us as I made towards his brother.

'Whoa, guys. Hold up. We have some talking to do'

I stepped back, eyeing Dean with dislike. Hot as he certainly was, I'd like to break his nose.

Bobby pulled out chairs from the creaky table and we sat down. I shrugged off my leather jacket and lifted my eyes to see all three staring...at my chest. In fairness, though, Sam and Bobby had the decency to look away when they realized they were caught, whereas Dean just kept on staring, a wide grin on his face.

Swiftly I reached into my back pocket, grabbed my small silver dagger, and buried it violently on his chair, in between his spread legs.

'JESUS! He roared, jumping and staring at me indignantly 'You be careful with that! What the hell is wrong with you?'

I pulled the dagger back and sheathed it before turning to stare at the other two. Bobby was staring at me in open mouthed horror while Sam was howling with laughter, pointing at Dean who had gone red.

'Dude!' he stormed 'that wasn't funny! That crazy...girl...just tried to stab me! In the crotch!'

''Bout time' I muttered, innocently picking at my nail. I looked up at Dean who was mouthing wordlessly and stuck my tongue out.

'Did you see-' he was off again, staring back and forth between his brother and I in outrage, but Sam - who had almost recovered from his laughing fit - interrupted

'Ok, guys. Come on.'

He turned to me 'So...want to tell us...about yourself?'

'Sure' I sat back in my chair 'Name's Abbi. I've been a hunter for a year and a half now, specialising in vampires and exorcisms. I've been following that demon for two weeks'

Sam nodded. 'Sorry about that. We just...came across it, things got a bit out of hand'

I bit back a sarcastic comment. I quite liked Sam. Shame his brother was a tool.

Bobby spoke at last.

'Who trained you?'

'I trained myself' I answered quietly, looking at him. He seemed to be an intelligent man. He nodded, understanding that it wasn't something that I was prepared to talk about.

'So can we get out of here now?' asked Dean impatiently, eyeing me like I was a wildcat ready to spring.

'Where are you headed next?' Sam asked

'Wherever .Not much of a planner.'

He nodded 'Would you...like to come with us? I mean-'

'Sam! She just tried to -'

'Shut up, Dean. What I was saying is that there's some pretty serious stuff going on a couple of hours from here. It would be easier with three of us'

I thought about it for a minute. I wasn't much of a team player...I had only ever hunted alone. But hey, I could leave whenever I wanted and I remembered that I had seen an amazing black Impala outside the house.

'Sure. I'll help out'.

'Amazing car. Sure it's his?'

I settled into the comfortably battered leather seats in the back of the Impala. Dean moved to open his mouth, but Sam put his hand up. After we had had another tussle outside the car involving me pinning him by his neck to the bonnet, Sam had separated us and forbidden us to speak to each other.

'Definitely his. Pretty much the only thing he loves' Dean smiled in satisfaction, stroking the steering wheel and giving me a filthy look in the mirror. He's sexy when he's angry, I thought, blowing him a kiss. His eyes opened wide and he stared at me, unable to work out what to do.

I rolled my eyes for about the hundredth time since I had met him and stared out of the window. It had begun to rain, and the drops pounded against the glass.

'So, Abbi...where are you from?' asked Sam, in an effort to be friendly. I looked up with a smile, one of the first since we had met.

'Bit of everywhere, really. I'm Irish by nationality. Grew up there, went to college there...then I moved to New York. And now I'm...a nomad, I guess'

'Do you always travel alone?' The next question startled me. I never really considered myself as being alone. I guess I had become used to it, ever since...I shook myself and looked up to realize Sam was looking back at me from the front seat.

'Are you alright?' he asked, sounding concerned. I nodded.

'Yeah, sure. Fine. Bit tired is all'

He smiled 'Here .Get some sleep'

He threw me back a blanket and I caught it, smiling my thanks. I lay it over myself, and relaxed. Before I knew it sleep had welcomed me into its folds.

Four weeks later...

I groaned as I dropped my bag on the floor of the old motel. My back hurt. My head hurt. My neck hurt. Everything hurt.

I limped toward the bathroom and immediately slipped off my jeans to inspect the damage. It wasn't too bad, but not great. The gash ran from my upper thigh almost to my knee and its edges had a burnt look.

'Stupid cursed blade' I muttered. It had happened that day when we had been dealing with this spirit that had turned out to be exceptionally violent. I hadn't told Dean and Sam about my little injury, knowing they would want to bring me to a hospital.

We had grown quite close over the last few weeks; both seemed to be quite protective of me. Even Dean. We had resolved our difficulties, and truth be told, he wasn't that bad. Sure, he was cocky as hell and sometimes I wanted nothing more than to strangle him, but he was also incredibly brave and reliable in sticky situations. The brothers had a system - Sam was the one who tracked the demons, found the answers, and did the research (Dean hated libraries, sitting beside him in one for six hours straight listening to him complain was not fun) and Dean would be the one to do most of the dirty work, such as fighting, breaking and entering, rescuing...I had to admit that he'd come through for me a few times. He was a good guy, and hanging out with the two of them was a lot of fun. Made a change from being alone all the time.

I stripped off completely and ran myself a hot bath. It helped hugely, the water calming and relaxing my wounds and aches.

When I got out I towel-dried my hair and stood in front of the mirror. My green eyes were half closed in exhaustion, and my normally pale skin looked decidedly pasty. I didn't have the energy to blow-dry my hair, so I pulled on a t-shirt and fell straight into bed.

'You guys want anything?'

Sam hopped out of the car and looked at us. Dean was driving and I was in the back seat, deciphering a Latin inscription we had come across the day before.

'Cheeseburger. And fries. And a coffee.' Dean answered, throwing him some cash. I looked up, and dug in my pocket pulling out some money and handing it to him.

'I'll have the same, thanks'.

Sam moved away toward the café.

'And pie! Get me some pie!'

Dean and I had shouted the words at the same time. Sam looked back and started to laugh, and then pushed his way through the glass doors. I looked at Dean and laughed. It was still funny now, even though it had been strange the first time it had happened. It would appear that we had more that a career choice in common.

'How you holding up back there with the Latin thing?' Dean asked, turning around in his seat. I nodded. 'Good. So far it dosen't say anything particularly strange'

I looked up to find him still staring at me.

'What?'

He shrugged. 'Nothing. You just…seem to know a lot about Latin'

I shrugged. 'Studied it in college.'

He grinned. 'Oh yeah. I forgot that you're a genius'

I laughed, and put the script to one side. Just then Sam came back and handed us our food.

'Guys, we gotta move. Some strange happenings in the next town'.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

That night Dean and I patrolled the graveyard of a small town that seemed to have been experiencing unpleasantries when their dead relatives decided to come back to life.

'Zombies…' muttered Dean, shaking his head.

'What?' I asked, looking up at him.

He shrugged. 'I don't know…just…zombies. Honestly.'

I laughed. 'You're a strange guy, Dean Winchester' I said.

'And you're so normal' he nudged me playfully with his shoulder. There was silence for a while.

'So…what exactly did you say you studied in college? Deciphering haunted Latin texts? The art of Exorcism?'

I looked up at him, surprised. Dean had never asked me about my education or past life before. Sam, sure, but not Dean. Sam had also been to college and studied law, and sometimes we would talk about how our lives had been before…this. But not Dean. He was a drop-out, and from what I heard from Sam, education wasn't high on his list of what he wanted in a woman.

I smiled, remembering days that seemed to have been a different life. 'Ancient History, Art, Mythology, Archaeology and Latin. Good days…'

Dean looked at me with a smile. 'So I take it that you enjoyed college, then?'

I looked up at him and nodded. 'Yeah. It was fantastic. I loved what I studied. And my friends…I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have friends'

'Why'd you move here?'

I breathed in slowly. It looked like I couldn't avoid the past details of my life any longer. I paused.

'My…brother…he got a job here…my parents died when I was younger, so when I graduated, we decided to move. He owned this amazing bar in New York, and I had a job at the National History Museum…that was before…' I paused again, and closed my eyes, trying to block out the images.

'Abbi, what is a girl like you doing Hunting? Alone? You're educated, you had a job that you loved…what happened?' his voice was quiet.

I began to speak quietly, my brain numb.

'My Dad was a Hunter. Europe, mostly. When he died he passed it on to my brother. Jas loved it…he was am amazing Hunter. When I finished college he wanted to make a new start, so we moved. I remember the day he told me the truth about Dad…I thought he was nuts. Jas hunted mainly in New York City, there's quite a few vampires there. And he trained me in just so that I would be safe…he never wanted this for me' I choked back a sob. Dean turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

'Your brother…' he said softly, his usually bright eyes almost dark. I could tell that he was thinking about what he would do if anything ever happened to Sam.

'They broke into our apartment…there were so many of them…Jas…didn't make it'

Tears ran down my cheeks and Dean pulled me close, hugging me tight.

'I'm so sorry, Abbi…' he whispered as he held me. I felt so safe right then in his arms, safer that I had felt in a long time. After a couple of minutes I stepped back, and wiped my eyes.

'It's ok…sorry…I just haven't really talked about it since it happened' I smiled sadly at Dean and he reached over and wiped away my tears with his thumbs. We were so close that our bodies were touching and I felt something that I'd never felt before. We stayed like that for a few moments and then Sam's voice broke in.

That night we dragged ourselves up the stairs of the old motel to our rooms, worse for the wear. We had been ambushed in the grave yard by a couple of the Undead, and had made a close escape. Sam had gotten himself a busted lip, while Dean had a long gash along his jaw. I was covered in bruises and scrapes. After I had showered and changed into a pair of baggy pajama pants and a tank top, I threw on some socks and headed for the boys room. I walked in to see that Sam was in the shower, while Dean was lying on his bed, groaning. I smiled.

'Hey. Lookin' pretty bad there'

He looked up in surprise, not realizing I had come in.

'Hey…you had a shower' he sounded strange and he just looked at me. I suddenly felt self-conscious; usually I was dressed up and made up when I was around him. I pulled my navel-skimming top down a little.

'Are you ok?' I asked, seeing that he hadn't cleaned up the wound.

'Yeah, fine...'

I rolled my eyes. He was such an alpha male, wanted no help from anybody.

'Obviously' I muttered and walked over to the bed, sitting beside him. I reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a couple of tissues.

'Let me look at that' I said simply, moving my hand toward his jaw.

He nodded slowly and sat up. I moved closer to him, and started to clean up the dried blood.

When I was done I smoothed my fingers over the wound feeling stubble under them, suddenly wanting to touch him. To my surprise he didn't move away, but closed his eyes slightly and breathed out slowly. I started inwardly as I realized that I wanted nothing more than to kiss him…I probably would have if Sam hadn't come out of the bathroom, hair still wet from the shower. I gasped slightly and moved away, and Dean's eyes opened suddenly. Sam looked embarrassed.

'Are you guys alright? Am I interrupting anything…?'

I shook my head quickly, realizing that now both brothers had their eyes on me.

'No, I just…came in to see if you guys were ok'

Sam smiled. 'Thanks…feel better now. Shower did me good'

I touched Dean's leg lightly and gave Sam a hug and I went back to my room.

I didn't get any sleep that night.