When Dean felt himself slowly waking up, he forced himself not to reach up and rub the blood from his eyes. Playing dead was harder with burning eyes. Hanging limply from what he assumed was a pipe or the ceiling, he recalled what he could remember last. He silently cursed as it came back to him. They'd been careless. What was with them with this case?! It was a miracle Maddy survived and now it would be a miracle if they survived and Cas would have to -

Stop, Dean thought.

Being preoccupied was what got them into this mess to start with. He had told the same to Sam but hadn't followed his own advice. Bobby's voice came back to him as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

Idjit!

Got it, Bobby, Dean thought back grimly.

He strained his ears for any sound of Sam, but knowing how similar they were, even if he was conscious, he would be playing dead just like him. It was up to him to make the first move.

Groaning as if he was just rousing, Dean blinked blearily at the dark room. He rubbed his eyes on his arm, which was bound up to a - yup, pipe. Original.

Eyes clear, Dean scoured the room for Sam. He found him on the other side of the room, which looked like an old wine cellar. The shelves were empty except for a few jars holding red liquid that he knew wasn't wine.

"Sam," Dean hissed.

Sam was bound like him, with his hands tied up to a hook hanging from the ceiling. His long hair had fallen over his face, blood matting the brown strands on his brow. Dean felt a flash of anger. No matter how many times he saw Sam beaten up - so, so, so many times - he never got used to it.

"Sammy," he tried again, lurching forwards against the rope uselessly. "C'mon, man."

Sam's head jerked at the sound of his name. He inhaled deeply, then rose his head stiffly.

"Dean?"

His voice cracked with lack of use.

"Hey. You good?"

"That depends on your definition," Sam said as he looked around to gather his bearings. "Yeah, I'm alright. Got a plan?"

"Seriously, Sam? Plans are your territory. You're supposed to be the brains."

Sam sent him a bitch-face.

"Give me a minute, I've only been awake ten seconds."

"It's a good job I've got a plan then, isn't it?" Dean said.

"Really?"

"We smooth talk 'em."

Sam let out a humourless laugh.

"Great."

Before Dean could defend his genius plan, the door to the cellar cracked open.

"Ah, fellas!" a deep, unfamiliar voice cried. "We're up! Fantastic."

A tall man looking in his late forties came down swaggering down the steps. He skipped the bottom two and landed with a bright smile on his pale face.

"I've been waiting for you!"

"It takes time to look this good," Dean grinned.

Sam shook his head at his brother, while the strange vampire just looked amused.

"So I assume you're the maker around here?" he went on.

"Oh, how rude of me. Ambrose Whittaker," he held out his hand for Dean to shake, then looked up at his chained hands and winced, shrugging. "Sorry. I forgot about that."

"No problem," Dean smiled sarcastically.

The vamp pushed back his long blonde hair, his smile not faltering for a second. He was obviously having the time of his long life.

"Sam and Dean Winchester. Wow," he said, folding his arms and leaning against the shelving. "How are you, Sam? You're quiet."

Sam sent him a glare. The cellar door opened again, and three more vamps filtered in, staying behind Whittaker and staring hungrily at the brothers.

"You know, I got wind of you two coming down here. They told me I was a fool for not running. They said," he laughed a little at the memory. "They said I wouldn't stand a chance. That you've take down monsters a million times stronger than I am."

He lifted his hand and allowed his followers to advance towards them.

Whittaker kept a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he said,

"Look at you now."

Dean repressed a cry as a knife embedded itself in his left forearm, thrown by the vamp closest to Sam. Sam struggled against his ties. His eyes widened a little as he felt the rope give just a tiny bit. He stopped moving, not wanting to draw attention to his loosening bonds. Instead, he maintained a fierce stare with Dean, silently communicating the situation. When Dean's eyes flickered up to Sam's tied hands, he knew his brother understood.

"This is worth it," Whittaker said, oblivious. "The few of us you managed to kill. To see you like this, it's worth all of it."

Sam and Dean rolled their eyes, unaffected by his taunts. They were not unlike anything else a monster had tried to get a reaction out of them with.

"Oh!" Whittaker said. "And then there's the girl you were with the night you disposed of several of my children, in that bar. I went there. The stench of her blood was overwhelming. Smell like that, I could track down her entire bloodline if I wanted to!" he grinned maliciously, lowering his voice to a predatory growl. "How about this? How about I leave you two to stew down here while I go get her, huh? I would take great pleasure in tearing her apart right here in front of you."

"You - " Dean began.

"And then," Whittaker interrupted. "When I've torn at every part of her I can, with her last breath, I'll change her. And then you can kill her yourselves before I kill you. Sound like a playdate?"

"Son of a bitch," Dean spat. "I swear, if you touch her."

"She has nothing to do with anything," Sam said, a touch of desperation in his voice. "We don't know her. She's hasn't even finished high school!"

Whittaker shrugged, "She doesn't have to mean anything. You'll feel guilty either way, won't you?"

He shook his head at them, with an expression of almost fascination.

"Your weakness, it's just so accessible. Empathy," he said, twisting his face. "It's a dangerous thing, boys. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date. It's rude to keep a girl waiting. And then I might check out the local kindergarten if things get boring later."

With a mocking bow, Whittaker turned to head up the steps to the door. At the top step, he held out his hand to summon his clan.

"Heinrich. You stay. I'll give you the pleasure of the foreplay."

"Whittaker! This is you chance for us to go easy on you!" Dean yelled. "You take this outside the three of us and we won't hold back."

Whittaker glanced back, looking between them.

"Oh, I'd hope not. See you soon."


Sam hunched over with a gasp as Heinrich aimed another punch at his stomach. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as the panic he felt at the thought of Whittaker dragging Maddy there to her death, because of them. Another person they would have gotten killed, and she hadn't even gotten to college.

Still, he kept up the pretence of the pain affecting him more than it was. There was no reason for Heinrich to up his game and jeopardise their escape. His recoils from the punches allowed him for a cover to wrangle his hands further out of the ropes without attracting any attention. So when Dean shouted that it was his turn, Sam sent him a glare.

Dean didn't care. He was sick of seeing Sam being pummelled the way he was with no chance of fighting back.

Heinrich acquiesced and placed a cutting jab to his chin. Dean's tooth pierced his bottom lip, bursting it with a spray of blood. He smiled, showing his bloodstained teeth.

"Dramatic, huh?" Dean said.

Pain blossomed across his chest as Heinrich seemed to be doing his best to break his ribs.

After the fifth consecutive blow, the pressure and pain told him that one more of those and he would be hearing a crack, and if he was extra lucky, he would feel blood pooling into his lungs.

But that blow didn't come. Heinrich's arm stretched backwards - he was a terrible telegrapher of his punches, as Dean had pointed out - but it didn't land on the purpling skin of his chest. Instead, the vampire was spun to face Sam, now free and sporting his best pissed off face.

Sam, having no issues with telegraphing, shot his fist out to Heinrich's face before he could even think to react. He flopped back. Sam grabbed him, bringing his knee up to his face and breaking his nose. Not giving him time to recover, Sam dragged him over to where his rope hung. In a matter of seconds, the rope was around Heinrich's neck, suspending him off the floor, his legs dangling feebly in midair.

"The jars," Dean said.

Sam nodded and reached for one, hurling it to the ground. It smashed. He bent, picking up the biggest piece and walking back to Heinrich, who had begun realise what was happening. He kicked out with his feet. Sam angled himself behind him and began hacking away at his neck.

Dean tapped his foot impatiently.

"Finally!" he exclaimed when Heinrich's head dropped to the floor.

"Oh sorry, I'll save your ass quicker next time," Sam scowled as he used the glass to cut away Dean's ropes.

The fibres separated, letting Dean's arms drop. He rubbed them together to try and get the feeling flowing through them again.

"We need to get Maddy," Dean said.

"He has a head start," Sam pointed out.

"But we have something he doesn't."

"Which is?"

Dean reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Her number."

Seeing Dean's slightly swollen fingers, Sam snatched the phone from his brother's hands and called Maddy's number. He put it to his ear as Dean led the way up the steps, armed with more shards of glass.

"Hi, this is Maddy. I assume you know that. Anyway, if you have a message, feel free to leave it after the tone. If this is Jack, kindly fuck off. Thanks!"

"Voicemail."

"Try again," Dean said, cracking the door open and ushering Sam through.

"Yeah, on it."

"Hi, this is Maddy. I assume you - "

"Same. Damn it."

Dean held out his hand as they rounded a corner, motioning for Sam to stop. They paused, suspended in silence, before Dean gave the all clear and they jogged up a long corridor, past rooms with broken down doors and boarded up windows.

Another two corridors and, suspiciously, no vampires, they reached the door. It was an old hotel, they realised as they quietly crept around the front door and stepped out into the darkness of night.

"We've been out longer than we thought," Sam muttered.

"Yeah, no kidding. This isn't good."

Night was when vampires were at their strongest. And Sam and Dean, armed with little more than a broken jar each and covered in the scent of their blood, were far from at their best.

"How did we manage to screw this one up so bad?" Dean hissed through his teeth.

He wasn't even surprised when he heard the scuttle down the side of the hotel, among the rubble left behind as it fell into ruin. Sam stood behind him, their backs touching as they brandished the glass. Slowly three vamps rose from their hiding spots, stalking towards them.

"He said you'd be slippery," a female said indulgently. "I'll get the rugged one."

"I assume you mean me," Dean said.

"Of course."

"Not the time Dean," Sam said, holding up his arm to block a strike by another female vamp.

She grabbed his arm, tugging him away from Dean, twisting it behind his back. Sam groaned in pain, trying to kick away from her but her super strength was proving to be tougher than he was capable of matching in his concussed state.

"Sa - " Dean was cut off, intent on slashing one with the glass, but only managing to nick their neck.

He held tight to the glass even though he could feel it cutting into his skin.

A hand wrapped around his own neck, lifting him up off his feet and slamming him against the brick wall. The hand squeezed, stemming his air until he could feel his face turning fuzzy and black spots splash across his vision.

"Dean!" he could hear Sam cry but from too far away, though he couldn't have been more than a few feet.

The black spots grew bigger and bigger as the hand got tighter and tighter and -

Screeching?

A person? Sam? Or… tires?

Dean felt his feet touch the floor again, his body following soon after. He was gasping, sucking air into his now clear throat. Where had the vamp gone? His vision still swam, a haze of light and dark.

He jumped as a hand touched his. It was cold and slipped something even colder into his palm, closing his fingers around it. He tried to grab at them but they were gone, running away from him and towards…

Dean blinked hard. By the time he could see, a familiar hand was in his, pulling him to his feet.

"S'm?"

Sam clapped him on the shoulder, "It's me. You good?"

Dean gave his head a shake, his vision now fully back. His breathing was still a little fast but he was otherwise unharmed. He looked down at the ground, which was scattered with three bodies, their heads beside them.

"How the hell did you do that with a broken jar?" Dean asked, shocked.

Sam held up a machete and then pointed to his brother's hand. Dean looked down and found another there.

"How did you - how did I get this?" Dean asked, taking a closer look the machete. "These are ours."

Sam motioned with his head to a rusty green car a little further up the road. Leaning on the hood, picking at her stitches, was Maddy.

"Maddy?" Dean frowned, making his way over to her. "You okay? What the hell?"

"I'm fine," she answered, pushing her yellow hat from her eyes to scrutinise them both. "You two aren't."

"We'll be peachy," Dean brushed off. "What are you doing here?"

"Just be glad I am."

Dean pursed his lips but decided to pick his battles. "Listen, you're in danger. There's a vamp after you."

"Why?" she asked, but her attention was on his bleeding arm.

"Because," you were with us. "You peaked his interest. It doesn't matter why, he isn't gonna get you. But you need to get the hell out of here until we can track him down and kill him, okay?"

He expected a tantrum about missing school and her friends, or what her parents would say, or where she would go, but she simply gave a shrug.

"Okay."

Dean did a double-take, "'Okay'?"

"Yeah, okay," she said, pushing off from the bonnet. "Get in, I'll give you a lift to your car."

Exchanging a bewildered look with Sam, Dean climbed in the front while Sam got in the back. Maddy turned the key and pulled away from the hotel, sending a lasting look at the bodies of the vampires in the mirror before turning her attention back to the road.

"How did you know where we were?" Sam asked.

"I had a friend track your phone. I saw you kept ringing me while I was on the way here but I couldn't risk losing the GPS connection by accepting the call. I'm not good with technology. Anyway, on the way here I saw your car. I mean, how many people drive 67' Chevy Impalas? I saw the machetes on the ground and took them. I followed your signal to the freaking Overlook back there and… here I am."

"Not that I don't appreciate you saving me from asphyxiation, but that was a pretty dumb move," Dean said.

"I'm good at them."

"Maddy," Sam said. "I know you said your parents were in New York and your brother away at college but Whittaker said he'd be able to smell out your bloodline. He's probably bluffing but we've learnt by now that it just isn't worth taking a chance. Do you have any more family around here?"

"No."

"Okay, well your parents should be safe in New York but how far is your brother's - "

"You don't need to worry about them," she said.

Sam frowned, "They could be in danger."

"They're not."

Sam leaned forward onto the space between the passenger and driver's seat, trying to gauge her expression. It was of casual indifference.

"Look, no matter how close or not you are with them, you'll never forgive yourself if they get hurt," Dean said.

"It's not that," Maddy's hands tightened infinitesimally around the steering wheel. "They're not my biological family. I'm adopted."

"Oh… Do you know where your biological family is?"

"Dead."

Sam looked up at her sadly at that while Dean glanced out of the window.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sam said.

"Yeah," Maddy murmured. She took a breath and cleared her throat. "It's one less problem to deal with, anyway."

"You don't have any siblings?"

"Nope," she said. "Your car's up here."

She turned into the open space they had parked up what seemed like only an hour ago but was actually a day. Dean's eyes lit up at the sight of the Impala and he dashed out to it. Sam and Maddy followed, Maddy handing Sam the keys.

"See how long it takes till he notices," Sam said.

Dean spent a few more seconds caressing the car before he tried the door. As it refused to give, he turned back to them with horror on his face. Sam's face split into a smile as he threw him the keys. Maddy laughed.

"He really likes that car, huh?"

"You have no idea. He calls it Baby."

"N'aww. That's cute," Maddy said, her demeanour more light-hearted than she had been in the car. She patted her car's hood. "This is Keith."

"He's… very green."

"I did it myself," Maddy said sheepishly. "That's why it's a bit patchy. An artist, I am not. I was thinking of adding some yellow this weekend."

"Very you."

"Thanks. I think."

Satisfied that Baby was unharmed, Dean made his way back over to them.

"Can I have your phone?" he said.

She handed it to him.

"I'm gonna give you a friend's number. He's called Bobby, another hunter. You can hit him up if we're not answering and you're in danger. Not that you will be," he added.

"Thanks."

"Where are you gonna go?" Sam asked.

"I know a place," she said.

"Cryptic."

"Jackie and Michael have a holiday house in every state. I have keys and permission."

"And they just let you wander?" Dean asked, disapproval clear in his voice.

"We have a different relationship to the norm, but it works," she replied a little defensively.

"We're sure it does," Sam intervened. "We'll drop you a line when it's safe for you to come back. It shouldn't be long."

"Mm-hmm. Like I said before, I have online stuff set up for school so it won't be a problem. Take as long as you need," she gave them a grimace and turned to her car.

She opened the driver's door and hesitated.

"I only have one key to the house," she said. "And even if I had more I wouldn't go giving them out to strangers. But, uh, there's a window behind the compost bin into my basement room. It's a little loose. Just, y'know, if you happen to be passing by and wanna… fix it."

Sam and Dean smiled.

"We might just do that," Dean said. "Take care of yourself."

"You too."

With a final smile, Maddy ducked into the seat and started up Keith, watching as the men who had saved her life, and who she'd saved in return, disappeared from view.

"Well," she said to Keith, as she found herself often doing. "Thank God we'll never see them again."

Keith gave a lurch, stalling for a moment. Maddy frowned and restarted the engine. It purred to life in it's usual fashion and carried on.

"What was that about buddy?" she asked, patting the dash.

Later, she would check the fuel pressure, rule out an EGR leak, and fiddle with the carburettor. All would be completely normal.

She considered the possibility that he was simply disagreeing with her, then filed that notion away as ridiculous.

Of course then, Maddy had no idea how ridiculous her life was about to become.


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Until the next time, lovelies.