Chapter One: The Nest
Dean eyed Shae as she expertly dipped a collection of knives in dead man's blood, then laid it out to dry to a crusty brown color against the shiny silver of the knife. Most of her pale blonde hair had been gathered back into a hasty bun at the nape of her neck, but a couple escaped wisps framed her sweaty face.
Dean could easily admit to himself that he was attracted to Shae. Hell, maybe with a little time he'd be able to admit it to her as well. But she was practically Bobby's daughter, and the older man would castrate him if he could see the thoughts Dean had about Shae.
Not to mention, as much as Shae would like to think she could handle the hunter life, Dean knew she would hate it. The way she was living now, staying with Bobby and attending high school, helping out the Winchesters on a few hunts here and there, wasn't the way a hunter would live.
"Are you just gonna sit there and stare at me all day or are you gonna help?" she finally snapped, her soft hazel eyes flashing up towards Dean with a hint of malice in them.
Usually she looked at Dean the way a little kid would look at Superman, even though he was only two years older than her eighteen years. But on hunts she pushed away any thoughts other than killing the sick, supernatural culprit.
Just the way the werewolf killed her parents ten years ago.
Most of Shae's hunger to hunt was revenge-based. She'd been a normal little girl when one night she witnessed a werewolf shred her parents to bits. An older man had broken in the window and killed the werewolf right when she was on the brink of death.
Bobby Singer took little traumatized Shae McMillan home with him and raised her as his own. He'd seen how John Winchester taught his boys to keep the memories and emotions of their mother's death out of hunts and, when Shae told him she wanted to hunt, he tried to do the same with her.
But she never quite let go of the fury towards the supernatural, the revenge she wanted. Quite frankly, it made her reckless on hunts, more of a liability than anything. But she told Bobby he could either take her along or she would go out and find hunts by herself. At least when she hunted with them she had them all to watch her back.
"I'll help," he decided, picking up another blade and sliding the jar of dead man's blood to sit between them on the floor of the porch.
They worked in silence until they had a dozen blades laying out drying, and then Dean screwed the lid back onto the jar and set it aside.
"How's it feel to be a high school graduate?" he asked, laying on his back with his boot-clad feet crossed and his hands behind his head.
He and Shae were pretty good friends, the closest pair of their little hunting crowd besides Dean and Sam. She'd graduated a few weeks ago but he'd been too busy on a hunt to make it. This was his first time back in two months, but the two were good about picking up right where they'd left off.
"Great," she replied with absolutely no enthusiasm in her voice. Resting on her stomach with her face on her arms, facing Dean, she cracked one eye open to sneak a peek before she realized she'd been caught and shut it again immediately. She sighed. "Now Bobby can't keep me away from hunts with the excuse that I have school to worry about."
"So you're not going to college." It wasn't a question, more of a statement. He knew better than to argue with Shae. Her stubbornness rivaled even his.
"No."
"Well I won't let you go off hunting alone."
"What are you saying?" Shae asked with a knowing grin and a little glint in her eyes.
"I want you to come hunt with me and Sam and Dad," Dean sighed. He didn't necessarily want Shae around anything supernatural, but if she was going to go chasing trouble, he wanted to be by her side to keep her safe.
Shae grinned and was getting ready to say something when the screen door slapped open and Bobby, John, and Sam all came out.
"Let's hit the road, kids," Bobby announced.
Sam and Dean rode in the Impala with John, who was filling them in on the strategy, while Shae sat beside Bobby in the truck and listened intently to her part while cleaning the undersides of her fingernails with a knife. She nicked the skin at one point and paused to suck the blood away from the wound. Vampires could smell blood from a mile away, and if she left it she'd be offering herself up like a meal.
The sun was just rising when they parked a little ways away from the warehouse holding the nest of vamps. They'd all be returning to sleep for the day, but it was still just dark enough that the hunters could stay concealed while coming up to the building.
While Shae distributed the knives that she'd dried dead man's blood onto to everybody, Bobby pulled out a baggie full of ashes. Earlier he'd burned saffron, skunk's cabbage, and trillium. The smell hid the scent of humans, so everybody carefully smeared some of the ashes over their clothes.
Shae slid one knife into one of her black combat boots in case of emergency, and tucked her main knife into the back of her jeans. In the process she lifted the back of her shirt, and Dean, unable to tear his eyes away, caught a glimpse of her blue underwear as she tucker the blade away. He stiffened immediately and turned away before Shae would catch him watching her, but Sam shot a knowing grin at his older brother.
Sam was only sixteen, but he wasn't an idiot.
"Get in your places," John ordered, dropping an arm over Sammy's shoulder. "Wait at least five minutes after Bobby is out with the captives to give them a chance to get out."
"Yes, sir," Dean said.
Bobby went in first, and alone. He was the most experienced, not to mention he didn't exactly have the look of a vampire, so the timid and jumpy prisoners would trust him when he went to get them out.
Next, Sam and John would cut through the lower floor, which they'd decided consisted of eight sleeping vampires at the least, and twelve at the most. Once they'd gone upstairs to get the leader, Dean and Shae would take care of the sleepers on the ground floor.
They circled the building to the back. The rusty door was next to a dusty window high enough that only Dean could see through to keep track of when they would make their move, so Shae stood back and got prepared.
Despite the fact that she was wearing jeans and warm leather jacket, she shivered. There was no snow on the ground yet, but the frigid December air bit at her cheeks and made her breath visible in front of her face. She fought her chattering teeth, knowing how sensitive vampire hearing was.
After what felt like hours, Dean backed away from the window, made eye contact with Shae and nodded slightly, and they made their way inside.
Dean was working his way through the dark, twisty hallways to find the nest when Shae's cell buzzed in her pocket. She paused for just a moment, facing the wall to block the light of her phone, and flipped it open to a text from John.
Dean won't answer phone. Emergency. Abort.
Shit. "Dean," she whispered, figuring they didn't have the time to be quiet.
He whirled around to face Shae, and it took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness, but when they did he could make out a towering shadow behind Shae.
"Move!" he hollered, gripping the hilt of his knife. He rocketed forward and Shae moved just in time for him to bury his knife in the vampire's heart. It sputtered before falling back.
A few feet over, Shae had yanked her knife out and was taking on two vamps. She was holding her own for now, but Dean couldn't help her as two were now on him. They were completely ambushed and outnumbered. There was no way this would end well.
Dean was doing fine, almost had another vampire out, when a loud thud and familiar whimper made him spin around.
One vampire was using Shae as a shield between himself and Dean, one arm wrapped around her stomach while another pressed against her shoulders and collarbones so she fell more into him. Her knife had clattered to the floor by her feet.
As much as Dean knew she was trying to be brave, he could see how scared she was. If he tried to make another move against any of the vampires, she would be dead in a heartbeat. Dean was caught between a rock and a hard place, and Shae's grimaces and soft whimpers caused him to tighten his grip on his knife, although he knew there was nothing he could do.
"Don't cry, little girl," the vampire cooed, his lips skimming her ear, eliciting another jerk from her.
"I'm not a little girl," she grunted harshly. A bead of sweat rolled down her spine.
"Go now," the vampire holding her said to Dean, "and we won't kill you."
"Fine." Dean cursed under his breath as he dropped his knife. His jaw was taut as he glared at the bloodsucker holding Shae. "Give her over and we'll go."
"How stupid do you think we are?" the vampire snapped.
Keeping one arm around her, he reached up and harshly yanked Shae's head down so that one side of her neck was exposed. He sensually brushed her hair aside. Dean had to fight to keep his feet planted while the vampire licked up Shae's neck, ignoring her struggles.
"You tried to kill my family," the vampire told Dean. "Consider the girl compensation. I'm being quite generous, actually. I could just kill you all."
"I'm not leaving–"
"Dean, go," Shae managed. She felt dirty as the vampire chuckled and planted a soft kiss against her neck.
"Shae, I'm not–"
"There's nothing you can do. You might not mind dying for me, but they'll go after your family. They'll go after Sammy, too, Dean." Tears gathered in Shae's eyes, but she didn't let them fall. "Go."
"No."
All it took was a nod from the leader and one of the vampires behind Dean slammed his head into the wall. Dean crumpled to the ground, unconscious but alive.
Two hours passed before Dean came to. Three echoed voices called his name, but it wasn't until a beam of light from a flashlight caught his face that he remembered anything.
"Shae," he groaned, pushing himself slowly up with great effort. His head was pounding, but he managed to stumble to his feet with the help of the wall.
"Dean!" It was Sammy who'd found him. He hurried up to his brother, helping support him as he stumbled down the hallway groaning incoherently and holding his head. "Come on, let's get you back to the car."
"No, Shae…"
"What happened?!" Bobby saw the pair next, and the first thing he noticed was the missing third person. He angrily grabbed a still-dizzy Dean by the front of his shirt and slammed him against a well. "What the hell happened?!"
"I lost her." Dean's face crumbled as the realization hit him. "I lost her, Bobby."
So there's that. Hope you enjoyed! Anywho, anybody got any good ideas for a more original title? Review, please! :)
-J
