Sam jangled in his seat as the Impala bumped and rumbled down a steep dirt path that led to a dirty-looking, ramshackle house that stood slightly to the left.

Dean looked around. It looked like they were in a wood. Thick bunches of trees stood around the house and further up the hill, blocking most of the sunlight from the windows. There was a fell breeze in the air, making Sam shiver as he wound up his window.

John parked the car on a verge opposite the house, and they all sat in silence for a few seconds.

'...are we getting out?' dean asked after a while, moving to open his door and go explore the creepy old house.

'Dean! Wait...' John moved fast, grabbing his oldest son's shoulder and guiding him back into his seat.

Dean looked at his dad, who sighed and turned to his seat so he could look at Sam too.

'Boys- these hunters aren't like me and you...their hard core hunters, old fashioned type. Their old and experienced, they know what they want.' He started, but Dean cut in.

'So?'

'So... I don't think that they will like much to see two young men like you trying to throw your weight around the place' John looked pointedly at Dean, who pointed at himself in a 'who, me?' type gesture.

'Far as I know, the oldest guy here is about twenty eight, twenty nine, so don't give any of them a reason to start picking fights.' He warned, looking at each of his son's in turn.

'Come on dad, us? Picking fights? Nuh uh!' said Dean, shaking his head strongly before chuckling and getting out the car.

John sighed and climbed out the car next.

'Should've known he wouldn't have taken this seriously' he muttered as he went.

Sam smiled to himself and got out the car too, looking up at the moss covered house in front of them.

It was about three stories high, and there was definitely space at the top for an attic.

He followed his dad and Dean as they walked up to the red front door.

John rapped on it with his knuckles, and they waited for a response.

After a couple of seconds they heard footsteps on the other side of the door, and it was pulled open. A man of about thirty stood on the threshold, squinting at the men on the other side.

He had jet black hair and was quite skinny, his face weathered.

He frowned and Sam and Dean, but his face cleared and broke into a smile when his eyes found John.

'John! Long times no see man!' he spoke with an Irish accent, his face lighting up and his eyes sparkling with recognition.

John smiled to, patting the man on the shoulder.

'Freddy! Great to see you, I didn't know you were here too!'

'Oh yeah, I got down here this morning- couldn't resist a troublesome shapeshifter!' he smiled, moving aside to let the three men pass.

'And who have we got here then?' he smiled at Sam and Dean as they passed.

'I'll introduce you all when we get in!' called John from the hallway.

The brothers walked down the green painted hallway, looking at the pictures on the wall.

Most of them were of cut flowers, pressed to make a picture, but one or two of them held bullet shells and casings.

They walked through the hall and found themselves in a huge room, with a log fire at one end, surrounded by green armchairs and sofas. The other end was a dining area with a long wooden table spanning the length of the room.

Dean whistled, smiling slightly as the echo met his ears. John cleared his throat and glared at his oldest son. Dean bowed his head and looked at Sam, who smiled back at him.

They walked towards the armchairs, looking at the people already seated around the lit log fire.

A man was sitting in a rather grand looking armchair, and he stood up as the Winchesters came to a halt next to them.

'John! So glad you could make it!' His English accent made him sound like a proper country gent, and he certainly looked the part, thought Sam, all tweeds and browns.

It was obvious he owned the grand house, so both Sam and Dean made identical mental notes not to piss him off.

'Max, I told you I'd come fast, didn't I!' smiled John, nodding at his friend.

'Quite. Now who have you brought with you? Some friends?'

John cleared his throat and motioned his son's to step forwards.

'No, actually, these are my son's- introduce yourselves boys...' he said.

Dean gave a small wave. 'Hi, my names Dean' he said, looking around the group of people watching him.

They all seemed nice enough.

'Uh, and I'm Sam' Sam said next, nodding his head at the whole room.

The group nodded, some muttering 'hi' and some putting their heads together to have a talk about the new arrivals.

'And how old are your son's John?' came a brash young sounding voice from one of the sofas.

A young looking man with brown hair looked intently at John as he waited for him to answer.

'Well, Dean is twenty six years old, and Sammy is twenty two' he said, frowning at the man.

'What does their ages matter Jack?' he said.

The man shrugged his shoulders, 'No reason. No reason at all' he said.

'How old are you then Jack?' asked Dean, raising his eyebrows at the other man.

'I'm gonna be thirty tomorrow' he said smugly.

'Oh, well then happy birthday for tomorrow! Listen, stop having a dig at our ages, you've gotta be worried about yours! Middle age spread and all, that's gotta do something to your fitness of something.' Dean smiled.

'You can just shut your mouth!' said Jack, looking nervously across the other, very much older men seated next to him. 'My fitness won't be affected at all...' he muttered as he relaxed again.

Dean was about to beg to differ, but Sam nudged him in the ribs as a warning.

'Don't...' he muttered.

Dean nodded and backed off, still glaring at Jack.

'Well...my name's Jeb' said a man with a small brown moustache said, smiling at Sam and Dean.

They both waved, looking across at the next man as he introduced himself.

'I'm Gary' said a portly man with blue eyes.

'My name's Barry, but you can call me boozer' said another man with sunken cheeks and a pale complexion.

'I'm Trent' said a man with thinning blond hair.

'And my name is Liam' said a man with glasses and a kind expression on his face.

'Well...hi everyone!' said Dean, feeling more awkward by the second. 'Can we sit down yet?' he muttered to Sam, who gave a small shrug.

'So, tell us about this shapeshifter problem you have?' asked John.

Max gave a chuckle and shook his head. 'Oh come now, that can wait till the morning, surely? No, tonight we drink and reminisce; it has been a long time since we all had a get together like this.' He said, slightly sadly, Sam thought.

'We've been busy' John said quietly.

The brothers knew what he meant. Hunting down the Demon that killed their mother was a full time obsession, and it took up a lot of their social time too.

'Oh I do not doubt that! Beer?' he motioned to the three men.

'Sure' Dean said.

'Are you sure you're mature enough to drink it?' Jack's snide voice punctuated the air again.

Dean turned and started to answer back.

'Come on Dean...' muttered Sam, prodding his brother in the back and guiding him to sit on Max's other side, away from Jack.

'If he keeps on like this I'm gonna nail him' he warned as he sat down. Sam shrugged and sat next to him, thanking Max as he accepted his beer bottle.

The night passed quickly.

The older men and john just seemed to fit, so most of the time they were all going back to the 'glory days' of hunting.

A couple of the guys seemed to have worked in the marine corp. with John, so they had lots to talk about.

Sam and dean, however, had not seen the 'glory days' of hunting, and they had certainly not been in the marines, so they had to just sit and look around, mostly ignored by the other hunter's around them.

'I'm getting bored' dean muttered to Sam, who smiled.

'Yeah, me too'

'What's the time Sammy?' asked Dean, swivelling in his seat to try and locate a wall clock, but finding his search fruitless.

Sam checked his wristwatch.

'Uh, nearly half past eleven'

'PM?'

'Yes Dean-PM'

'Oh man, I'm getting tired'

Max seemed to have read his thoughts.

'Everyone, I think we better take a nightcap...lot's of work tomorrow, and I need you all alert.' He instructed.

He turned to the boys.

'Sam, Dean, let me show you two your quarters' he said, motioning them to follow him.

Dean mouthed 'Quarters!' as Sam as they stood and got ready to leave.

The boys looked across at their dad, who smiled and made 'go on' gestures with both his hands.

'Night then dad' said Dean, turning to follow Sam out the door.

'Yeah, night boys, see you in the morning' he smiled, watching his son's walk out the door.

'Looks like you've trained them well John' said Gary.

'Only time will tell' muttered Jack loudly. John let the comment slide and turned back to his friends. He didn't want to admit it to the little bastard, but he did feel like Jack was onto something.

Only time will tell...

Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter!

I know it's a bit slow going, but I felt I needed to put more description into the chapter, and this has made it more drawn out, but I hope you understand the characters better because of the description!

I promise there will be lots of action, fights and plenty of hurt Sam and Dean. You will not be disappointed!

Thanks for reading, and please please review!