Hailee was passing, almost soundlessly, down an aisle in a large warehouse. She had one hand running along the cement wall to her left, and had her silver blade poised in the other. She knew that it had been a stupid move to separate herself from Dean, whom she had been forced to shadow for the past few days. But she was aware that she had to gain their trust and respect in her abilities as a hunter. This was all she had ever known, and there was a defiance that lay within her that was not going to let the Winchesters forget it.

Everything was silent as she continued to move, but there was a feeling creeping up her spine that someone or something was watching her every move. Her internal radars were burning red; the creature they were hunting was close.

Hailee almost felt the breeze from the swift movement before the thing was upon her. She had a split second to raise her left arm to shield her throat and thrust the knife in front of her. In the muted light, it was hard to see particulars, but she could feel the spit flying against her skin as the vampire gnashed his fangs at her, attempting to drag her closer.
Her knee flew up, skilfully angled, and he doubled over. She jumped behind him and viciously stabbed her foot towards him, which resulted in him lying spreadeagled on the floor. Before she saw him move, he had a hold on her ankle, effectively whipping her feet out from underneath her. She landed sharply on her back, fighting for air, her arms above her head. There he suddenly appeared, lying on top of her, grinning maliciously as his fangs glinted in the subdued moonlight.

The two of them struggled for a few minutes, each pushing and punching the other, rolling around as the upper hand changed.

With a feat of strength, Hailee grabbed a hold of the shoulders of the vampire's jacket and whipped them around so that she was straddling his waist. As they landed, she heard one of his shoulders snap out of place, and though not a serious injury for him, it gave her a few seconds upper hand.

With the knife pushed so violently against his throat that she saw blood begin to seep, she reached into an inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a syringe. The vampire's eyes flashed with rage and he began to struggle much more fervently than before, but she took the opportunity and stabbed the needle into his injured shoulder. She smiled, satisfied with herself, watching the vampire's features slacken, as the dead man's blood took over.

Standing, she felt a warmth trickle a thin path down her chin, and wiped the blood away with her sleeve. A bust lip was not so bad.

"Dean! Sam!" She yelled. Their footsteps started pounding towards her almost immediately. She watched as they met at the head of her aisle and started towards her.

...

It wasn't that she was expecting to be treated like some kind of hero, but Hailee certainly wasn't expecting Dean to grab her by the arm, with a grip like a vice, and frogmarch her out towards the Impala.

He threw her away from him the second they reached the front bumper.

"What the fuck were you thinking? You could have been seriously hurt. You could have died!'

Hailee made as though to answer him, but he thrust a finger towards her, much like her father had when she was younger.

"I let you come with us on this raid because you swore that you would stay with me the whole time. We got inside and the next thing I know, you've vanished. Do you know how worried I was in there? If you'd been hurt, it would have been on my watch! On my conscience!"

"I'm not a child! I can look after myself! I've been doing this my whole life, don't you think that I've picked up some survival tips?"

"You are a child. And while you're with us, you're under my watch. You're on lockdown for the foreseeable future. Am I making myself clear?"

Hailee made an indignant snort. "You're not my dad!" She yelled.

You're not my dad... My dad...

And before she knew it, her knees had crumpled beneath her, and she was kneeling on the ground with her palms pressed against the gravel.

All of the repressed emotion, all of the sadness and pain, everything that she had pushed to the back of her mind over the last two months; it all came tumbling down on top of her, leaving her senses completely numb to the outside world.

She vaguely felt Dean pull her to her feet, shouting in her ear, shaking her.

"You're not my dad."

...

Hailee watched from her allocated corner as Sam and Dean lashed the vampire to a metal chair in the middle of the room, roping thick chains around his body and padlocking the ends to a series of rings in the floor.

She hadn't had much of a chance to get a good look at the creature when he had jumped her in the warehouse, and Dean had insisted that Sam had ridden in the backseat with him on the way back to the Headquarters. Examining his unconscious face, she was surprised to find that she wasn't immediately repulsed by his appearance. Had she not been present when the brothers brought him in, she wasn't sure that she would have recognised him as the vicious monster. He had a handsome face, with smooth features and high cheekbones, that was framed by dark auburn curls. She reckoned he had been in his early twenties when he had been turned.

Not long after the chains had been secured, the vampire's eyelids began to flutter as the effects of the dead man's blood wore off. He had large, piercingly blue eyes that Hailee guessed had once been completely riveting, but there was a malicious sparkle to them now that reassured her in the knowledge that he was indeed the monster of less than an hour ago.

Sam was the first one to move. He stepped forward, demanding the attention of the vampire, whose gaze had been locked on Hailee's face. Before he looked away, the vampire flashed a fang-filled grin at her, revelling in the shiver that visibly ran up her spine.

"We need answers," Sam started. His features had hardened considerably in the moments between entering the chamber that they were currently in and starting his interrogation technique. "And I can assure you that we will get the information that we want out of you. It's up to you on how it goes down. We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way."

The vampire bared his fangs, sending a malevolent hissing chuckle through them. "You're not going to get anything out of me."

"I guess that means we're going the hard way then," growled Dean. He reached into the canvas bag at his feet and withdrew a handful of wooden stakes. He stalked his way into the centre of the room, and thrust one through the man's injured shoulder.

The howl that burst forth was deafening. The vampire squirmed in agony as a sharp hissing sound exhumed from the puncture wound.

"Soaked in dead man's blood," Dean revealed, twirling a second stake like a baton. "Just for your enjoyment." He chuckled a little to himself, as he observed the vampire's eyes carefully tracking the stake as it spun and twirled tauntingly through the air. "Now. About those answers."

Dean suddenly flung himself forward so that his face was threateningly close to the man's. "Where is the Alpha?"

The vampire gave no response. Dean thrust the second stake through the man's chest, perilously close to his heart. he then merely grinned at the writhes that ensued.

Sam appeared at Haley's side, reaching for her hand. "Come on," he said, jerking his head towards the door. "This isn't real pretty to watch."

...

Two or so hours passed before Dean reappeared in the library. He sunk into a chair across the table from Sam, and grimaced wearily. Sam looked up from the pages that he was scouring, and took in the defeated light in Dean's eyes.

"Nothing?" He asked, all last minute hope dissipating from his chest.

"Squat." Dean replied, rubbing his hands over his eyes and down his face. He sighed heavily, biting down on his lower lip, before slapping his thighs and standing. "Right. Food."

"From what I heard, it looks like Hailee's cooking up something." Sam raised his eyes to Dean's slightly taken aback expression. "I know. When was the last time we had a home cooked meal?"

Dean raised his eyebrows, pulling the corners of his mouth down a little. "Well, I reheated pie a few weeks ago, Sammy. Let's not forget that."

"Yeah, Dean," Sam said, a wide grin splitting his face. "That's exactly the same thing."

The boys walked through to the kitchen where they found Hailee wiping down the surfaces, all trace if any creative mess long gone. She looked up as the entered, taking in their light, bantering expressions.

"Good news?" She asked hopefully, a small smile beginning to play in her lips.

Dean shook his head, "Sorry to disappoint."

She shook off the momentary wave of defeat that ran over her, shrugging, "There's always the next time."

Lowering her gaze to the countertop, she continued to scrub at a particularly stubborn spot of grease, raising her eyes again only after it had given in. "Dinner's in the oven. It should be about fifteen minutes."

The boys both nodded gratefully and turned to make their separate ways out of the kitchen. But Hailee caught a hold of Dean's hand before he got too far.

"Can we talk?"

He turned to face her, as Sam left the doorway to return to his beloved research. "Sure."

She let go of his fingers, crushing what little spark had jumped in her chest at the contact. Busying her hands by running them distractedly through her hair, she took a moment to form the words in her mind first. "Look, I just wanted to apologise for earlier. You know, the whole splitting up thing. It was really stupid and, thinking about it now, it could have put you and Sam in some serious danger." She licked her lips, struggling to keep her eyes away from his face. "I just wanted to say that you were right to berate me afterwards, and I know that my reaction wasn't exactly... I don't know, it's just that the last person to tell me off was my dad, and it made me miss him in a really weird way..."

Dean grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. She relaxed against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist, breathing in his intoxicating scent.

"Believe me, Sam and I understand grief. And I know that you were trying to prove that you're stronger than you think we're giving you credit for, but sometimes throwing yourself into the job to bury emotions isn't good for you. I was trying to give you space to work everything out. Mainly because if you lose it in a hunt, all three of us are screwed. But I know that you're capable. You wouldn't have survived the motel if you weren't."

She pulled back a little to look up at him. "So does that mean that if I assure you that I'm fine, you'll let me have a round with this vamp?"

Dean chuckled, "Yeah. That's not going to happen."

And with that, he walked out of the room, back to where Sam was pouring over books.

...

Later that night, long after Sam and Dean had headed to bed, Hailee quietly made her way to the chamber where the vamp was being held.

The rusted metal door screeched as she began to open it. She froze, not even daring to breathe until she was sure that there was no movement from within the Headquarters. Slipping through the small gap that she had already made, she entered the room, turning to light a number of lanterns that forced the shadows to recede.

The vampire was sitting silently in his chains, showing no movement other than the flicker of his eyes as he followed her journeys around the room. She wasn't perturbed by the feeling of his eyes tracing her, revelling in the knowledge that he was going to respond exactly as she had planned.

Once the room was reasonably lit, she moved closer to the figure in the middle of room. Unlike the two hunters before her, she did not approach him in a violent manner; it was more of a sultry look she was giving him, rather than a threateningly clenched jaw. This change in tactic threw the vampire a little, and he stayed completely still, unsure of how to respond.

Hailee stopped directly in front of the man, enjoying the confusion that haunted his eyes. She moved closer and slowly lowered herself so that she was sat on his knee. She gave him a smile.

"Hey," she said softly, lifting her hand to allow her fingers to follow a gash that trailed from his temple to his chin. "I'm sorry about my colleagues. They tend to get a bit carried away."

The vampire grunted quietly.

"But I promise that I'm not like them. I'm not going to hurt you." She lowered her hand back onto her lap, and smiled sweetly at him. "So what's your name?"

"You tell me yours first." He responded guardedly.

"I'm Hailee."

"Hailee?" He asked. "That's pretty."

She smiled inwardly. This was just as easy as picking up a guy in a bar: pull the innocent girl card out, and they melt in your hands like butter.

"I'm Theodore."

She giggled a little, pushing the act as far as it would go. "My, that's an old fashioned name."

He nodded. "I guess it is. I was born in a time when a man knew how to treat a lady properly. I came over on the Mayflower with my parents when I was four years old."

"How long before you were turned?"

"Twenty one years. I was twenty-five and had decided that I would move away from my family, in the hope of meeting the girl of my dreams and settling down. A few months later, I found a beautiful young lady lost in the woods. Naturally, I offered to help her find her way back to the road. Once we got there, I asked if she would mind seeing me again, and from then on we were inseparable. Within a matter of weeks we were engaged, and on the night before our wedding she told me what she was. I suppose I had always been open to the idea of the supernatural. My grandmother used to tell me bedtime stories of witches and werewolves, angels and demons. I begged Isabelle to turn me too, so that we could spend the rest of eternity together." Theodore paused. "A hunter killed her three months ago."

"Did you ever meet others?"

"Other vampires? Yes. In fact, I worked for the Father if our race for many years. I followed in his shadow, up until he settled in the Black Hills, South Dakota." Suddenly, an internal wall closed down behind his eyes. "You were merely trying to get information out of me. How dare you play games with me! " he snarled.

Hailee hopped off his lap, blew a kiss in his direction and sauntered out of the room, closing the door on his bellowed snarls.

She ran to Dean's room, knocking on the door before bursting through.

He lay blinking at her in the light, his legs tangled in the sheets that lay across him. "What?" He groaned, letting his head fall back on to his pillow.

"I know where the Alpha is."

His head snapped back up. "Where?"