CHAPTER ONE

Our Father who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy Kingdom come

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation.

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

The power and the glory

For ever and ever.

Amen

-The Lord's Prayer

November 7th, 2005

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona was a dusty city in the fall, and Ritka Anderson was down to a flannel overshirt and a tank top from the dry heat. Her iced coffee was her only solace, and the smug victory she was oozing was what kept her outside. The streets were empty, and a bored cashier inside the Starbucks was humming something under her breath, the tune unfamiliar.

The chupacabra had been a bitch and a half to take down. She'd thought she was dealing with a vampire at first, but people weren't going missing, they were sucked dry in their beds. Considering the region, she branched out into the Aztec myths, only to be confronted with the fucker the next night. To southern-based hunters they were little more than pests, but once they got a taste for human blood, they got mean. It lunged, Ritka got her arm up just in time, and shot the little bitch while it chomped down. She salt 'n' burned the corpse, and dumped holy water on the bite before disinfecting it and bandaging it.

Ritka rather thought she'd deserved the coffee.

The heat ratcheted up as it approached noon, and Ritka wished she could take off the flannel without getting weird looks from her bandaged arm and the scars. Though, if it got any hotter, she'd take it off anyway. It was that, or hosing herself down.

She snickered at the thought, taking a long swallow of her coffee when her phone started to buzz. She choked on the beverage when she saw the caller ID.

She spat the coffee back into the cup and answered the phone with a cautious "Anderson."

"Hey Ritka." Dean Winchester said. He sounded awkward. "Uh, how've you been?"

Fanfuckingtastic you son-of-a-bitch. Ritka already regretted picking up the phone. "Fine." Ritka said, instead of a stream of expletives, a death threat and tossing the phone into a lake. "What do you want, Dean?"

"I don't even get a hello?" Dean asks, "Ritika, my dad- he's missing."

"Lemme guess," Ritka said, as there was no love lost between her and John Winchester, "So are ninety nine bottles of beer."

"No," Dean said shortly, and Ritka sighed, "We separated for a bit- I went to Oro Valley for a 'chapra and he went to Jericho for a haunting. I went with Sam last week, he wasn't there, ghost wasn't dusted and Sam's girlfriend- she's dead from the yellow-eyed bastard."

Ritka slumped back into her seat. She knew what he was going to ask. "Lemme guess," she said, "You want me to help you look."

"Please?" Dean asked. "I got a bag of halloween candy."

Ritka drained her coffee. She had a feeling that she'd need the caffeine. "I can't believe you're attempting to bribe me with candy."

"I'd bribe you with something else, but I have a feeling you wouldn't appreciate that." Dean said. "But I really do have a bag of halloween candy that I'll give you if you'll help me."

The thing was, Ritka was going to say yes even if he didn't have the candy. She'd go if he'd only texted her coordinates. "Are you still in California?"

"No, we're cutting through Tucson to Blackwater Ridge." Dean said.

Ritka groaned and rattled off where she was. "Could you meet me here?"

There was a long pause. "Yeah, sure. Are you going to need a ride?"

Ritka looked at the piece of shit car that she was currently driving, and had serious doubts that it would last to the interstate, much less the borders of Colorado. "If you'd be so kind. I don't think the car I'm driving would make it. How long till you get here?"

"Twenty minutes," Dean said, and she could hear Sam asking something in the background, "depending on traffic."

That would give her enough time to get her stuff from the car and another overly expensive coffee. "Perfect," she said. "Hope you won't mind me sleeping in the car." She hung up before he could say anything.

The teenager working the counter gave her a knowing look as Ritka walked in, and said "Boyfriend trouble?"

"No," Ritka fairly snarled, "I want one of those pumpkin spice things."

The teenager- her tag read Mia- just nodded knowingly and bustled off to make the coffee. Ritka checked her watch, and looked out the window. Dean's mammoth of a car wasn't in the lot. Ritka absently handed over the correct amount of money for the drink. She then stuffed a five dollar bill in the empty tip jar, well remembering her days as a waitress.

"You should kiss and make up," Mia said sagely. Ritka glared at her. Mia's eyes were a rich honey-brown, and seemed far more amused than she should be.

"Kid," Ritka said, swirling the coffee around, "Sometimes, that's impossible."

The impala pulled into the lot. Ritka walked out of the shop and towards the opening impala's door, as Dean stepped out. "Lemme guess," He said as a greeting, "Your car is the blue one." Sam was sleeping in the front.

The aforementioned blue car had more dents than it had body, and looked as frail as a card house. It couldn't go twenty miles without needing to be topped up, and had an oil leak that no shop could fix. The interior was sparkingly clean, and had no items or trash in it. It was, as Dean had pegged, Ritka's current car. Ritka shrugged, and popped the trunk. There were two duffel bags, which contained everything of hers, and she grabbed one while Dean snagged the other. After looking around, Dean popped the impala's trunk, and slung the duffels on top of the weapons.

"We have to make a drop at Phoenix." Dean said.

Ritka was exhausted and not in the mood to argue. "Fine." She said. She slipped into the back seat, coffee clutched tightly in one hand. "We'll have to stop somewhere to change my bandages." She told him, taking a long swallow of her coffee.

"Can I try some?" Dean asked, gesturing towards the coffee. "And where's your ouchie?"

Ritka passed him the coffee and pulled up the flannel sleeve. "Chupacabra." She said. "Must be breeding season or something."

Sam had woken up, and was watching her drowsily. "Hey Ritka," he slurred.

"Hi Sam," Ritka said, and watched with no small amount of amusement as Sam went back to sleep.

Dean sipped at the coffee and made a surprised face. "It got the jump on you?" He said, disbelieving. He took a bigger sip of the drink. "Can I have this?"

"Go ahead," Ritka said, tugging the flannel down to cover the bite. "And it did, so can we get going? I'm tired, Dean, and I don't want to put up with your shit."

Dean started the car. Ritka could see the teenager watching with avid interest from the window. She buckled up as Dean roared out of the parking lot, and fell asleep on the window.

Mia, once the impala had vanished from her sightline, snapped her fingers. Ritka's car disappeared. She then vanished, leaving the cafe empty as an employee who had previously been on break walked back in. The employee spotted a candy wrapper and trashed it, smiling at the customer that walked in.