Rhiannon sighed, exasperated, as she double-checked the clip in her gun to make sure she had reloaded it. She started to wonder why she had bothered to come to the park in the daylight, and why she had brought a gun. Now that she had found the 6th body she knew the gun was absolutely pointless, it wouldn't do any good against what she was fighting. She wished the UV bullets she had seen in some sci-fi/fantasy movie were real.

"Maybe they are real…" she spaced out lost in thought, standing amongst the trees near the newest body, phone out, about to call the police. "Should have brought a sword…" She snapped out of her daze when she started hearing someone talking. It was 6:30 in the morning, if anyone was in the park they should be jogging, so whom was she hearing?

She holstered her gun under her jacket and slid farther back into the woods. When she saw 2 figures walking towards the fountain, the body laying next to it, she crouched down in the woods and started backing away. This was probably not the best time to get spotted, what if they thought she did it? If the roles were reversed, she'd definitely think they had done it.

"It's just like all the other ones Dean, bone dry. It's got to be vampires, right?" Sam was kneeling down looking over the body.

"But why is it so… clean? I mean vampires don't usually leave their victims in one nice piece," Dean nudged the head of the poor girl with his toe so he could see both sides of her neck, not that it really mattered, the only wounds were small burn marks.

"Maybe these ones are… civilized? I don't know. Maybe it's like that shifter, just pretending to be a vampire?"

"This just doesn't make any sense Sam,"

"Hold up, look at this," Sam turned her left arm over and looked in the crook of her arm, "Is that…"

"Seriously? That looks like a needle mark…" Dean crouched down next to Sam to get a closer look

"So, someone managed to get a needle in this girl's arm and drain her until she was bone dry? I mean, it looks like they got every last drop. That would take… hours…"

"And it doesn't look like she was restrained either, she just laid there and let them?" Dean looked down at her ankles and wrists but didn't see any bruising.

"I'm not sure about that. It looks like she was burned a little, and check these out," Sam was picking up thin chains that were laid over her ankles and wrists. They were just plain necklaces.

Dean took one from Sam and held it up in the light, inspecting the clasp. "Well, I'll be damned, Sammy these are just plain old gold chains. This girl isn't human, right? I mean she can't be."

"Right, so, morgue?"

"Yep."

Once the brothers had gotten back in their car and driven off Rhiannon slunk out of the woods. She pulled black gloves out of her pocket and slid them both on, they had devil's traps stitched in white in the palms and the fingers were removable, but she kept them on. She looked over the marks burned into the dead girl's skin on her wrists and ankles before picking up the one left on her neck. Rhiannon winced at the tearing sound when she pulled the chain off the corpse. She took a little baggie out of her jacket pocket and dropped the necklace in, sealed the baggie up and stuck it back in her pocket.

She inspected the needle mark in the poor girl's inner arm. Yeah, they definitely drew blood there, but Sam was right, that would take hours. She checked the other arm and found another mark, there was one on her chest, and she found one on each foot. Normally she would find it odd that the girl was bare foot, but not this time. Besides, the needle marks she also had some odd burns. They were small, and splattered. It looked almost like someone had splashed hot grease on her, but not very much. There were just a few marks on her face, chest, and upper arms. She finally took a good look at the girl's clothes. They were made out of some, nearly sheer, fabric she had never seen before. Her skirt was a simple green wrap and her shirt was a basic white tunic with green and gold stitching. It looked like some kind of Celtic design, but apparently, whatever it was, was not for protection.

"So you had no idea you were walking into a trap…" she sighed and stroked the girl's face, "Don't worry, I'll figure out who set it, and I'll kill them, I swear."

She wandered to the edge of the woods and tugged a seed off the nearest plant she could find, burying it next to the body of the dead inhuman girl.

"Chlorophyll? What the hell does that even mean Sam?" Dean threw his duffel bag on the bed as he walked back into the motel room, Sam in tow. He had noticed there was no Trans Am in the parking lot.

"It's something that's in plants, it converts-"
"Dude, I know what it is, but the fact that it's been in all of the victim's cells, what does that mean? Are they some kind of freakin' plant people?" Dean pulled out the phone book and flipped through the restaurants/takeout section. A little trip to the morgue never killed his appetite. He cocked his head; someone had just pulled into the parking lot blasting Led Zeppelin.

"Honestly? I don't know Dean; I'm going to call up some of Dad's contacts and look around on the web. Even Bobby didn't have a clue what it means; nobody seems to know what kind of creature is hurt by gold. Dad never used gold on one of his hunts before?" Sam slid his laptop out of his case and booted it up.

"No, not that I ever knew about. And even if he did, we're not hunting the dead guys, not yet anyway, we're working on what's hunting them. Screw this, I'm going to go get some-"

There was a light rap on the door. Dean tossed the phone book aside and peered out the peephole. He grinned and slid the chain off the door and unlocked the dead bolt.

"Hey Rhiann, still in town?" He leaned against the door in what he hoped was a casual manner. Since when could a girl get Dean all worked up?

"Ah, yeah, things got a little complicated. Look, the maid hasn't come by and I don't have anymore clean towels and I could really use a shower,"

"Yeah, I would say so," said Sam, who had made his way next to Dean. He noticed that she had leaves stuck in her hair and mud on her hands, even her clothes were muddy.

"Yeah thanks Agent Smith," her eyes scanned them both over, they were wearing rather nice all black suits. She would never admit they looked good, so she went with a lame Matrix reference. "So do you boys have an extra towel, or what?"

"Probably, hold on," Sam sauntered back in to the bathroom.

"So… I don't suppose you're hungry? I was just about to go get some grub if you want to come,"

"Ah, I don't know maybe after I-"

"Found one, here," Sam handed her a fluffy white towel. "I'm going to go get a Coke, you want anything Dean?"

"Nah, thanks," Dean waited in the open doorway as Sam left for the vending machine. "So, dinner? I was in the mood for pizza."

"Maybe. Thanks for the towel. I'm going to go get all this dirt off me. I'll see you Dean," And with that she turned around and walked away.

As she was rounding the corner to the hallway her room was in, she ran into Sam, literally. He damn near knocked her on her ass; he probably would have if he hadn't caught her at the last second.

"Oh, Rhiann, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention," he said as he righted her, making sure she had her balance.

"Oh no, it's ok. I came running around the corner… I… ah, it's fine, I'm fine,"

'Oh great, awkward silence,' Rhiannon thought as they both just stood there, eyes averted. Sam shoved his hands in his back pockets and cleared his throat. Rhiannon clutched the towel against her chest.
"So ah, you going out for pizza later?" Rhiannon inquired.

"Er what?" Sam's eyes snapped back to her when she spoke.

"Dean, he said he was going to get some pizza later. I was thinking about going too. Are you?"

"Oh yeah, probably. Someone is going to have to keep him in line," Sam looked down at his feet. Why were they both so freaking nervous?

"Cool, well I uh, I'll see you later then?" she picked a piece of lint of the towel, trying very hard not to stare at Sam. She had a habit of staring at people to the point of creeping them out, her head got lost in the clouds frequently.

"Yeah, for sure," Sam walked off, heading after the can of soda that had rolled away when he ran into Rhiannon.

When she returned to her room she slammed and locked the door behind her, leaning up against it for support until the slid down to the floor to sit. Her heart was racing faster than her mind. 'Did I really just get all flustered because of Sam? He's a friggin' WINCHESTER!'

"Oh for Chrissake Rhiann, get a hold of yourself. Just because they are both way cuter than you thought is no reason to forget…" she sighed and stood up. She went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Waiting for the water to get hot she cracked open two mini bottles of Jack Daniel's from the mini bar.

"Why is everything in motels mini?"

'Except Sam.'

"Oh for the love of God!" she felt utterly exasperated. After she downed both bottles of Jack she started tossing her clothes off, strewing them about the room. There was no way she was going to let herself fall for a Winchester. No, every hunter had heard about them and their father. Falling for a Winchester was practically a death sentence, and she had no interest in dying yet. Besides, that wasn't the only reason being around them might get her killed.

She got in the shower and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, and tried not to think about Sam. Which only made her think about Dean. Which made her think about getting killed. Today was a circular kind of day. And how in the hell was she going to catch whoever was killing people in the park? Whoever was doing it knew what they were dealing with, they came prepared: gold, whatever the hell it took to draw blood, and she was willing to bet they had lemon juice too based on the girl's burns.

And it sure as hell seemed like they were tracking their victims, waiting in ambush for them the instant they appeared. But how? Was there a witch involved? Were they scrying? But even that would only tell them where their victims were, not where they would be. It couldn't be an Oracle; she'd never in her life heard of an Oracle with any ill intent.

Her head was starting to throb so she rinsed out the conditioner in her hair and stepped out of the shower, grateful for the fluffy white towel the Winchester boys had given her.

She dressed herself in a knee length flowing white skirt and a black tank top with a small white vine and flower pattern on the bottom of it. She slid her feet into her rainbow flip flops and stood there, unsure of where she was going to go.

She decided, firmly (she told herself), that she was not ever going anywhere with the Winchester boys again. It was an awful, not to mention suicidal, idea. But, there was practically no chance of her catching these… drainers by herself. Frustrated, she growled, snatched up a CD case and her hula-hoop and went outside. Hula hooping always helped her clear her mind and manage her thoughts. She did her best thinking with some Zeppelin blaring while she spun around inside the green, blue, and silver circle.

She headed out to the parking lot and took out the Physical Graffiti CD that was in the player in Trans Am and put in the first disc of Mothership. She started spinning and tossing the hoop in the air.

This, of course, turned out to be completely counterproductive. Nothing drew out a Dean like some Led Zeppelin.

"Dude, seriously, it's been playing for like 20 minutes. I'm going out there," Dean was sitting on his bed, leg twitching, staring at the door.

"It's just someone listening to music," Sam didn't even look up from his computer screen.

Ramble On filtered in through the open window.

"Oh that's it," Dean hopped up and was out the door in a flash. He scoped the parking lot out until he saw her. Rhiannon was all the way at the other end of the lot. Her Trans Am was parked more than five spaces away from anyone else and she was in the grass… hula hooping. Man this girl was something else. Dean walked over to her slowly.

"Hey, havin' a good time out here?" he asked, not getting within in 10 feet over.

She jumped and turned to Dean, looking surprised, "What? Oh hi! Hold on," she put her hoop down and went to her car. She leaned in through the open window, which Dean thoroughly enjoyed, and turned her music down.

"I asked if you were having a good time," Dean shoved his hands in the pockets of his faded, torn jeans.

"Oh yeah, I just uh…needed to clear my head a little bit," she seemed a little out of breath.

"So you want to come out tonight or what?" Dean didn't feel like beating around the bush anymore. She had made him wait; he hated waiting.

"I uh, well… I mean it's just that,"

Sam walked out of their motel room, "Alright dude, I'm officially starving let's go," he hollered from across the parking lot.

Dean turned back to Rhiann, "So are you coming or not? We're leaving now I guess."

Rhiannon felt her heart catch in her throat. She wanted to go, she was hungry, and she did love pizza. But the logical part of her, the predator part of her, the survival instinct told her not to go. Her heart raced. For once, she was at a loss for words.

Sam slid into the passenger seat of the Impala and Dean slowly began to back away from Rhiannon.

"If you're not hungry or whatever, it's cool," Dean tried to help her out, the look on his face made her think he was as confused as she was. Sam was in the Impala, looking at the floor and biting his lip. He looked nervous.

"No, I want to go! I just…" she stopped to think of a reason for her behaviour, "I'm sorry out of money until tomorrow is all," she lied.

"Ah, don't worry about it, but you're on a five drink limit," Dean grinned and headed for the car.

"Cheapskate," she mumbled. It felt like her feet were walking her to their car. She wasn't sure she had any control over her body at the moment. What was she doing, didn't she say she wasn't going with them anymore? She was only a few feet from the car door now. What was she doing? She had been staring at her feet but when she was within arm's reach of the handle, she looked up. Sam caught her eye and she felt stuck. Her breath hitched, her heart stopped, and she was fairly certain she couldn't move.

"Are you okay?" Sam leaned out of the window and started to reach for her.

She pulled away reflexively. "Yeah, just, um," she reached forward and brushed his cheek with her thumb, "You had an eyelash on your face."

"Oh, well do I get to make a wish?" Sam leaned out a little more.

"Ah no, sorry, I lost it already," she pretended to check her thumb for the nonexistent eyelash and quickly got into the back seat of the car.

"You're a strange one, Rhiann," Dean commented and started the car. He headed for Mama Cassie's, a place he had found in the phone book. He had called to make sure they had at least three different kinds of peppers and bacon, God, how he loved bacon on his pizza.

"And you're a strange two. At least I don't try to hide my strangeness," she stared out the windows, barely paying attention to what she was saying.

"Hey," Dean said in mock sternness, "Don't lump me in with him. I'm perfectly comfortable with my strangeness, it's part of my charm."

"I'm not strange! I'm the only normal one here," Sam protested.

"I think, technically, that makes you the strange one Sammy," Rhiannon chuckled.

"Dude, did she just call you Sammy?" Dean shot Sam a look, and then sent another one Rhiannon's way via rearview mirror.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot you hate that Sam. I had a cousin, we called her Sammy, it's a habit," she covered before Dean could get upset.

'Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into?' Every instinct she had was screaming for her to jump out the window of a moving car, a very fast moving car. Not only was she with the Winchester brothers AGAIN, but things were getting…sticky. There was no point in denying that something about Sam got to her. She definitely felt inclined to spend more time with him. Dean was obviously trying, at the very least, to get in her pants. God, they were dumb, especially for a pair of hunters, a practically legendary pair of hunters.

Not nearly soon enough, Dean parked his baby and they embarked on the all-important quest for pizza (with chicken, bacon, and jalapenos). Somehow, they managed to drop the awkwardness from the car. They swapped road trip stories, all of which were edited and vague, over mozzarella sticks. They made up lies about what brought them to town over pizza.

"So, I think," Rhiannon said as she slurped down the rest of her Jack and Coke, "that was drink number five… Does that mean it's time for shots?" After she said it, she realized how dangerously close to using "womanly wiles" that was.

Dean laughed and flagged down their waitress, "Three shots of Jack Daniel's sweetheart. Actually, make those double shots."

"Just two, I'm alright," Sam chimed in.

"Oh, come ON Sam, you need to unwind," Rhiannon giggled and leaned back in her side of the booth. She had to admit; she was feeling kind of tipsy. Her tolerance had been dwindling lately. She hadn't been drinking nearly as much since she'd been on the road.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam almost sounded offended.

"I mean I just met you guys and I can tell you're stressed out all the time. You can relax sometimes you know. The world won't end if you take a night to yourself, have some Jack," she grinned at him for a second. Yeah, the womanly wiles were starting to leak out of her. Things like this were the reason she hated, and loved, Jack.

"I guess one shot won't hurt," Sam caved, and the waitress left to get their shots.

"Atta boy Sammy. I always tell him he needs to relax, maybe get some action, going to give himself a heart attack at this rate," Dean grinned as the waitress brought their shots. Dean and Rhiannon downed theirs quickly, Sam a little more hesitant.

"Hold on boys," Rhiannon's eyes were following someone across the room.

"What?" Sam's eyes locked on to the person she was looking at, "Her? What? Do you know her?"

"No, but I wish I did, don't you? God she's hot," Rhiannon slid out of the booth and walked right across the path of a small, even smaller than Rhiannon, Asian girl with an angelic face and a devilish body. She went to the jukebox and 'Ain't No Sunshine' started playing through out the restaurant.

"Man I wish I knew what they were saying," Dean said, watching Rhiannon approach the girl. His gaze was intent. Whatever she was saying, it was working.

"So… she likes girls?" Sam was still baffled as to what exactly was going on. Rhiannon was running her fingers up and down the girl's arm, saying something right into her ear.

"Yeah Sammy, get with the program. What is she saying? Jesus, she works fast! And I think she's a belly dancer too, she's full of surprises."

Rhiannon was already dancing with the girl. At first they were moving slowly, dancing rather close. But they started getting more into it, and once 'Honky Tonk Women' came on they were in full swing. They parted a little bit and danced their little hearts out.

"Well that explains why she's been brushing you off, Dean," Sam said, his eyes transfixed on the two of them.

A rather surly looking drunk guy, probably Dean's age, came up to the girl Rhiannon and been dancing with and grabbed her by the arm. Dean and Sam both jumped up immediately.

"Hey!" They hollered, simultaneously.

The little Asian girl looked from Rhiannon to Sam and Dean and back to the man that had grabbed her.

"Ah sorry Hitomi! Those are my friends," Rhiannon shouted over the music.

"And this is my boyfriend," Hitomi responded, yanking her arm out of his grip and stalking out the door with him.

Rhiannon returned to the table, looking glum, but did not sit down.

"Sam! Come dance with me! I love this song," she gave him her best puppy dog eyes, which were pretty damn good, even compared to his.

"I ah…I'm not much of a,"

"WAITRESS! Triple shots this time, could you please?" Rhiannon was getting tired of yelling over the music, but she didn't want to turn it off.

"Rhiann, I don't dance, I'm sorry," Sam avoided looking at her. Her cheeks were flushed, Sam didn't know if it was because she was drunk or upset or both. The waitress set their shots down on the table and Rhiannon picked hers up quickly.

"Fine, well here's to hopefully getting lucky with someone else then," she held her shot glass up and the boys clinked theirs against hers and they downed them at the same time.