Sequel to What if Bloodlust. Takes place after Crossroad Blues, but before Croatoan

Dean had been on edge ever since the Crossroads case.

"Dean, maybe we should take a little break," Sam said.

"Can't do it, Sam. I found our next case," Dean answered back.

Sam sighed. There would be no talking Dean out of this job. He had been getting more erratic since that stupid crossroads demon had confirmed that Dad had sold his soul for Dean. Sam wished she would show up right now so he could exorcise her. Serve her right. "What is it?" he finally asked.

"Vampires. And these vampires are actually killing people, so would it be OK if we killed them, Sam?" Dean asked.

Sam could see the signs. Dean was about to take all his frustrations out on him. "Yeah, that'd be fine, Dean."

"Good. Because I know how much you love vampires."

Sam was not going to take the bait. "Where can we find these vampires? Do you know?"

"Well, Sam, I obviously don't know exactly where their nest is, but the killings have been happening in Defiance, Ohio."

"Great. Let's go."

SSS

"OK. All the disappearances have taken place around this point," Sam said pointing at the map. "Probably means the nest is somewhere around there."

"Obviously," Dean snapped.

Sam took a deep breath. He was going to let it go, but then changed his mind. "Why are you so pissed at me lately?" he asked.

Dean wasn't going to answer that. Not out loud anyway. It was because the last time Sam saw Dad he tried to pick a fight. Dad knew he was going to die, but even so, the last thing he did was tell Dean to save Sam…or kill him. Dad hadn't sold his soul for him. Not really. He'd sold his soul so that Dean would be around to kill Sam if he couldn't be saved. Because Dad knew that he wouldn't be able to do it and he had dumped all that on Dean. It wasn't fair.

"Let's go kill some vampires," Dean said. Not as snappy this time. He knew it wasn't really Sam's fault. He was just scared by what his dad could have meant. He was mad at his dad for not telling him more. He was mad at his dad for leaving him to deal with this. And yes, a little part of him was mad at Sam for his life always having to be about Sam.

"Fine," Sam said. One of these days he was going to get to the bottom of this.

SSS

"Here's an old warehouse," Dean said pulling over. "This is a possibility."

"Sure," Sam agreed. He was actually kind of getting a creepy feeling about it. Probably definitely meant it was the place. They grabbed their machetes out of the trunk. Dean also grabbed his gun and tucked it in the back of his pants. He never understood why Sam wouldn't carry a gun unless they were specifically hunting something that they could kill with one.

They entered the warehouse. Dean walked a few steps ahead of Sam. No matter how he was feeling, he knew it was his job to protect Sam and he always would. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone here," Sam whispered. He couldn't be sure that nobody was there, but if this was a nest there would be dozens of vampires and some victims in the place. Didn't look like that. But he was still getting a creepy feeling.

"We'll just," Dean started to say and then all of the sudden, walls of metal bars came down. One between them and one on each side of them, going from wall to wall. They were trapped.

Sam and Dean had turned to face each other. "Is someone here or did we trigger a booby trap?" Sam whispered.

"Don't know," Dean whispered back. Either way, this wasn't good. They were probably about to become vampire lunch. Dean pulled his gun out. Just in case it wasn't vampires. Plus, it would be hard to hack off a head from behind the bars.

Sam was trying to figure out if there was a way to get the walls to lift again. Suddenly he heard Dean yell, "Sam!" and aim his gun at a point behind him. Sam quickly turned around.

"Hey guys."

"Gordon," Sam moaned. He had told Dean not to leave him tied up like that. He had said they should get someone to untie him immediately. Not in a few days.

Dean was trying to get a shot, but Gordon kept moving so that Sam was between them. Not hard to do since Dean couldn't really move all that much. Gordon pulled out his own gun and aimed it at Sam. "Why don't you two put the machetes and guns outside of the cages?" Gordon suggested.

Sam leaned over and squeezed his hand through the bars and put the machete down. He realized as well as Dean did that in this situation it was a pretty useless weapon. Gordon kicked it away. When Gordon saw that Dean was still trying to get an angle, he reached in through the bars and grabbed Sam's hair. He pulled his head and banged it against the bars and placed his gun to Sam's head. Sam grunted out when his head hit the bars. "Now, Dean. It wasn't really a suggestion," Gordon said as he cocked the hammer back.

Having no choice, Dean stepped back and placed his weapons outside of his cage.

"Push them away so you can't reach them," Gordon ordered.

Dean sighed. He was hoping he would be able to get to them at an opportune moment.

After Dean had done what he was told, Gordon let go of Sam's hair. "What about you, Sammy? Any guns?"

"It's Sam. And no."

"I took care of the vampires in this area a couple of days ago. But for some reason I thought you two might turn up, so I decided to use the trap the vampires had set up," Gordon explained.

"Great. You caught us. Now what?" Dean asked, looking nervously at the gun which was pointed constantly at his brother.

"I know where Lenore and her friends ended up," Gordon said. "But you know as well as I do that a vampire has your scent for life. I get within a mile of that place, they're all going to bolt."

"And?" Dean asked.

"I want you to go and kill her them for me. Bring back her head. Platter's optional."

"Why would we do that?" Sam asked.

"Not you?" Gordon corrected. "Dean. Because if he doesn't, I'll kill you."

"Dean's not going to kill an innocent person," Sam stated confidently.

"You're probably right, Sammy. But what you seem to keep forgetting is that these animals aren't people. So, Dean, will you do it, or do I kill Sammy right now?" Gordon asked.

Dean closed his eyes. They were both right. He couldn't kill an innocent person. Not even for Sam. But Lenore wasn't a person. Not really. "OK," he agreed.

"Dean, no," Sam protested.

"Gordon's right, Sam. She's not human. I shouldn't have let you talk me out of killing her in the first place," Dean responded. The only reason he hadn't gone after the nest was because he hadn't known where they had gone. Plus, he wasn't all that in to killing things that weren't killing people, but he figured it was just a matter of time.

Sam had been keeping an eye on Gordon, but he turned around to face Dean to try and reason with him. Or see if this was all just a trick so that Gordon would let Dean go and he had a plan. He couldn't tell anything from Dean's eyes. Dean had been so distant the last couple of weeks. The guilt of their father selling his soul for him was really getting to him. At least that's what Sam assumed. Dean didn't actually ever tell him anything.

Sam felt his wrists being grabbed by Gordon and cuffs put on them. He spun around and saw the wall of bars go up. "Now, I made a few improvements to the fangs' trap. The other walls are on a timer and will raise up in half an hour. I'll leave the directions to the nest in the car. Two days ought to be plenty, but I'll give you a little extra. I'll call you in 60 hours with instructions on where to trade Sammy for Lenore's head. Got it?"

Dean nodded. He wanted to tear Gordon apart, watching him hold Sammy's arm tightly. He couldn't lose Sam again so soon. Not after losing their father. He was pretty sure it would kill him. He watched as Gordon roughly shoved Sam in front of him. Then he proudly watch as Sam kicked back and took off running.

"If I don't have a hostage, I don't need Dean," Gordon called after him.