Disclaimer: I do not - in any way - own any of the characters from any TV shows mentioned in my work. I only own my original characters and plotlines. Any similarities to real life people whether living or dead is purely coincidental.


"What the hell do you mean, 'you know where Sam is'?" Dean demanded, leaning in closer, "Sam's dead. He's dead."

Caroline knew that was hard for him to day, saw the way his jaw tightened and how he tried to mask the pain that flared up in his eyes as he said his brother's name. He was close enough that Caroline could count the numerous freckles covering his face, and in any other circumstances she'd be appreciating his looks and close proximity, but at that moment all she could focus on was convincing the hurting man in front of her that his brother was not, in fact, dead.

"He's not, he's alive." she said, meeting his gaze with wary eyes.

"You're lying," Dean hissed, his grip on the knife tightening. "What kind of sick joke is this? Sammy's gone."

Caroline shook her head, "No, he's not. Lucifer said he was holding Sam captive."

"How do you know about Lucifer?"

Caroline exhaled sharply, "You know, I'd be a lot better at explaining if you didn't have a freakin' blade pressed to my throat." When Dean didn't make any movement to remove the knife, she continued. "Or you could just kill me now and save us all the pleasantries beforehand."

Dean frowned at her sarcasm, assuming by pleasantries she meant the questioning and obvious stalling. Part of him wanted nothing more than to press the knife in harder, to kill the monster masquerading as a girl. But he found no malice in her eyes, and as much as he'd tried to convince himself otherwise with some false closure, he was still grasping, clinging to the slight hope that Sam was alive. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he released the pressure on the knife and stepped back, giving Caroline some space.

"Okay then," he said, "Explain."

Caroline nodded, a hand reaching up to massage where the knife had been just moments before. She eyed Dean warily, unsure of whether he was going to attack her again. Once she decided that he wouldn't for now, she began to explain.

"Well, you know I said I came from Mystic Falls, and that I was travelling with friends before we were separated?" Dean nodded. "We were just outside of St. Louis when we were stopped by these weird looking people. Obviously we tried to escape - vamp speed and all, but they were stronger, and we were surrounded..."

The sun lay low in the sky, a bleeding sphere that bathed everything in a sickly red. Burnt-out cars littered the street, the stench of sulphur hanging in the air, creeping around the abandoned buildings like a snake waiting to attack. Aside from this, the area was completely deserted. Four figures wandered in the middle of the street, two males, two females. They'd been travelling for days, only stopping for rest and sustenance. They were weak, as though they hadn't eaten properly in days. The brunette female was leaning on one of the males, a tall man with short, chestnut hair and broad shoulders. Ahead of them, a raven haired man and a blonde woman walked slowly but surely forwards, surveying their surroundings.

It was eery, Caroline decided. There should be men mowing the lawn, children playing, wives sharing stories over garden fences as they hung out their laundry. Now, it was like walking through a ghost town. Literally.

Caroline's eyes grazed over the houses lining the street. Most of the windows were smashed, doors broken in, and what used to be perfect white picket fences were now spotted with red, the gates hanging off their hinges. Every town they had passed through had been the same. They'd originally took to the highways to travel, but after a close run in with some of the infected they'd decided that the suburbs were a much safer option.

"Well this is just charming. Real 'homeowner of the year'."

Caroline tilted her head to look at the man beside her, "Damon, have some respect."

He didn't reply. Instead, he turned to Stefan and Elena, who were stood staring at an empty garden, children's toys strewn about haphazardly, forgotten. He nudged his brother's shoulder, gesturing for them to keep going. They couldn't do anything here. It was too late.

The four carried on moving quietly, not wanting to take a proper look around again. It would only remind them of how much they had lost, how much had to be left behind.

"What's that?" Stefan asked, breaking the silence.

Caroline squinted; there were three figures in the distance, standing in formation. From what she could make out, it was two males and a female.

"Hey, guys?" she called out over her shoulder, "Think we should turn back?"

"Ah... I think it's a bit late for that." she heard Damon reply from behind. She turned to see what he meant. More dark figures stood at the entrance of the street. Caroline kept turning, seeing people emerge form the shadows in between the houses, black eyes glinting warningly. They were surrounded.

"Wha- what do we do?" Elena gasped, circling around in panic. As a young vampire, she was still adjusting to the newness of it all, and sometimes forgot about her heightened invulnerability.

Suddenly, Stefan dropped in a defensive stance in front of Elena, his lip curled up in a snarl, fangs bared.

"Now, now... is that any way to behave?" a voice echoed out, chuckling. "You vampires, you're all the same. Uncivilised. Primal. Monsters."

The group spun around to face the new voice. Two men and a woman stood before them, in the middle of the road. Clearly, these people moved faster than they'd expected. Moved faster than them.

Caroline took a closer look at them; one of the men was tall, with short, sandy hair and intense eyes. There were wounds on his face, almost as if he was slowly melting. The man next to him was the complete opposite, with hair as inky as night and dark, flat eyes that sparked with only one emotion. Greed. He stared at the group of friends, sizing them up with a leer. The redhead opposite him was small, a lithe body clad in lace and leather like a slutty biker (or perhaps Caroline was biased because she was a potential enemy, who knows?). She fixed them with a gaze, looking at Stefan and Damon in particular with a seductive smirk.

" Who are you?" Caroline asked, false-confidence in her voice.

The woman laughed, a high-pitched peal that felt like nails scratching against a chalkboard. "It's always the same with all of you, isn't it? 'Who are you? What do you want? What are you doing here?' Such nosy, prying creatures."

"Hush," The tall, sandy haired man held up a hand, "We don't have time for this. Come with us."

It took Caroline a moment to realise the last part was directed at them, and by then Damon was already speaking.

"Why should we go anywhere with you, dick?"

The man smirked, "Such insolence." And then Damon was on the ground, hands clutching his head in pain. Stefan and Elena jumped to catch him, but found themselves caught in the grasp of the black-eyed people surrounding them. Caroline knew they weren't human. No human had those eyes.

"So what..." Damon ground out, looking up at the trio, "You're witches?"

"Oh, we're much more than witches, boy." The man glared down at the vampire, as though it was an insult to be even associated with witchcraft. The other two began to move, circling Caroline and the others like predators with their prey.

Caroline moved closer to her friends instinctively, trying to avoid tall, dark and creepy touching her. The dark haired man sidled past her, his gaze travelling up and down her body. She wanted to scrub her body clean from just that. He moved closer, an arm snaking around her, pinning her arms against her sides. He leant in close, inhaling into her hair before groaning in appreciation.

"Get off me!" Caroline cried, trying to pull away from him to no avail.

"Mmm," he murmured, "This one's feisty. Can I keep her, Lucifer? She'll be a nice addition to my collection."

The other man – Lucifer, Caroline assumed (and Lucifer, really? As in the Devil? Come on) – sighed. "Behave, Mammon." He chastised, "Don't get ahead of yourself. You know they come willingly, or we use force."

"We won't come with you." Caroline said, determination in her voice. She looked at Lucifer, her eyes trying to emphasise her point.

Lucifer sighed, "Why must you insist on being so rebellious? Come with us."

"No."

"You're just like Sam and his brother running that infernal camp of his."

The camp, it was real? There really was a safe place out there. Caroline felt herself sag slightly with relief. At least there was refuge if they ever got out of this damn situation with these freaks.

"Why do you want us?" Elena yelled suddenly, the demon holding her tightening it's grip.

Lucifer turned to her, smiling as though she was a child, "Because you're different. All of you."

He continued to speak, but Caroline couldn't concentrate. His voice was just a quiet buzz in the background. She couldn't focus on any words, not when Mammon had his arm around her. She felt his grip loosen, and saw a chance to escape.

As soon as she was sure almost everyone was distracted, she jammed her heel on Mammon's toes. He let go, not expecting her to try and escape. She slammed her elbow into his face, hearing his nose crunch satisfyingly. Before he could grab her again, Caroline was out of his reach. She looked at her friends, hesitating.

"Run, Caroline!" Stefan screamed, "Run!"

In the corner of her eyes she saw Mammon rushing towards her with an angry screech.

"Run!" Stefan repeated.

And so she did.

"I carried on alone after that. I haven't seen my friends since then. God, I don't know if they're even alive. How could I just leave them like that?"

Dean didn't have a response to that. Nothing he could say would make her hurt less. He hadn't known her friends, hell, he was sure if he'd met Caroline or her friends under different circumstances he'd have killed them without a second thought, just because they were vampires. Although, now that he thought about it, Caroline wasn't like any vampire he'd ever met. Even so, it didn't mean he'd be trusting her any time soon.

"You say you heard the camp was a safe place?" he asked, changing the subject.

Caroline nodded, "Yeah. We – we heard it over a radio. Military frequency or something. All they ever talked about was a refuge camp in Kansas City."

Dean hummed in response. He didn't know what he'd have done if they'd all turned up at his door. He didn't know what to do with one vampire, let alone four. He figured he'd use Caroline to find his brother, and then either let her go her own way or kill her. He didn't trust her, and besides finding Sam, he didn't need her. But for now, she needed to be around.

"So, you're thinking of staying?" Dean asked, leaning against his desk, all of his anger dissipated.

"If that's okay with you." Caroline replied meekly. She tucked a fallen strand of hair behind her ear, looking at Dean almost shyly. He could see the silent pleading in her eyes, willing him to let her stay.

"I..." Dean wasn't completely certain that this was a good idea, but he did need her right now, "I'm sure it'll be fine." For a while, he added silently.

"Thank you!" Caroline grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't mention it."

Caroline almost wanted to hug him for letting her stay, but thought better of it. He'd probably change his mind and kill her if she did that. She knew she had a long way to go before he trusted her, and she would do everything she could to convince him that she was different. That she wasn't the monster he thought she was.


A/N: Wow, I'm sorry this took so long for me to update. I was on holiday last week so I wrote this chapter then, but I'm sorry I didn't let you all know beforehand. Anyway... the plot thickens! I've introduced some 'technically' OC characters- well, they're not 100% OC because they're actually from theology. I'm just taking them and adding more personality, fleshing them out a bit. You'll find out more about them in later chapters, but right now it's all about Dean not trusting Caroline and how she tries to earn his trust. Let me know what you think of this chapter! :3