Lying, like most things in life, became much easier when you did it a lot.

Nothing in Shadow's life was a coincidence; Dean had been at the hotel because he, she thought, believed the vampire they were chasing (her) would be staying in a hotel.

Like Dean and the hotel, Tommy being in town was nothing to do with business. He had, he explained, come looking for her.

He had done his best to persuade her back to the casino, saying he needed a girl like her; just look how the guys flocked to her!

That was the reason he gave, anyway. She knew the real reason; because someone had managed to split the vampires in half, and one side wanted her blood, metaphorically anyway.

Tim, of course, didn't know any of this. She didn't want to burden the poor lad, who as she spoke to Tommy, was chatting up some girl inside the club. It was another reason she had wanted to spend time with Dean. If she could get him on her side, then maybe she'd have an advantage on the war slowly building up inside the vampire realm.

She pulled Dean with her, as they descended into the club. He went straight to the bar, and she grabbed them a table, leaning back to watch him as he ordered their drinks.

Unless he proved a real threat to her and her brother, she had already decided not to hurt him. She liked him, and true he was pretty cute; and she had seen the way he'd looked at Tommy, seen the expression his face had taken when Tommy had mentioned Poison.

So he was starting to like her. The thought made her smile as Dean turned and walked to the table, drinks in hand.

By the end of the night, Tim had gone home with the girl (telling Shadow he'd be back at the hotel by dawn) and she had finally got Dean to dance with her.

The pair stumbled out of the club around 3, Shadow swiping his bottle and taking a swig from it. His arm was around her waist as they walked along the quiet streets, trying to find the nearest taxi.

When they fell into it, she turned to him and, knowing it was the drink telling him, said, "You know what, I can't remember the last time I was this happy."

"Yeah." He leant forward, kissing her cheek. "I know how you feel."

Both of them were thinking the same thing. This carefree, this happy, this free… but at the end it amounted to the same thing; this drunk, this much in love.

They'd fallen asleep in each other's arms; not even so much as a kiss passing between them. This was how Shadow woke the following morning, as she heard the door creak open and turned her head to see her brother walk in, whistling. He stopped when he saw the pair, the whistle dying on his lips as he froze.

Slowly, she scrambled out of Dean's grip and sat on the bed, looking up at her brother, begging him silently to understand.

She pointed to the bathroom, and slowly, his body feeling numb, Tim walked towards it. She followed, casting a glance at the sleeping form on her bed. She locked the bathroom door, turning to her brother who looked at her, expression unreadable.

In a rare moment, she wishes she could read her brother's thoughts, could break that barrier he had built up in the fairy world. But even if he wanted to, he couldn't let her; the barrier was too strong, unbreakable, and no one would ever know what he was thinking.

"You might want to sort your eyes out before he wakes up."

Swearing under her breath, annoyed at her brother's monotone voice and at the gift Poison gave to her, she gazes in the mirror and searches for the coloured blue contacts she keeps for the moments when she needs her eyes to look the same.

"How was last night for you?" She asks, trying to keep the conversation light, not wanting to touch on the subject of Dean. The Hunter.

He tells her, still keeping that monotone voice that annoys her, that betrays no emotion.

"Jesus." A laugh, forced as she turns and sits on the edge of the bathtub. "Jammy git, losing it before me."

It.

Her little brother stares at her; the boy in there struggling to cope with what he saw when he stepped it.

"So you didn't fuck him then?"

The brutality of his words hits her hard, and she recoils slightly, turning her head away. "No, Tim, I didn't."

Her eyes flicker towards him, and she senses relief, his shoulders slump slightly as he relaxes.

So does she.

"How much do you like him Shadow?"

The relaxation disappears as quickly as it came, and suddenly the bathroom fills with tension again, the air like electricity between the siblings. The fairy boy and half vampire, the hunter in the next room (collectively outcasts) making up this strange situation that neither Tim nor Shadow could ever have predicted.

"God Tim, I don't know."

God…as if there were a god. Or, as Shadow and Poison had concluded that night years ago, if there was a god, he didn't give a shit about the walking dead.

"What about Poison?" Tim's voice raises a little. "You forgotten about him?"

"Of course not." She stands up now, her voice a hushed whisper. "You think I would? You think he could just easily disappear out of my thoughts?"

"Seems that way." He snaps back, stepping towards her. "Find him Shadow! Like you want to. Find him and you can be together again. But don't replace him with that fucker in there."

"…didn't fuck him then?"

Sunlight creeps in, throwing light onto the figure in the bed. Dean keeps his eyes closed, listening to the conversation between the two siblings. He doesn't hear Shadow's hushed reply, but being the subject of the conversation he knows what it would be. He had wanted to, by god he had wanted to, but for some reason, they hadn't. Instead they watched a movie on the TV, and then fell asleep, his arms wrapped around her.

He wanted to protect her, to look after her; to make sure that demons and spirits didn't hurt her. Above all, he wanted to tell her what he did, to tell her that no matter what he'd look after her. But he knew that if he said the words "I hunt demons" she'd properly run a mile, thinking he was crazy.

He can hear whispers, though can't make out what they're saying, until he hears that name again, this time from Tim. Poison.

"What about Poison? You forgotten about him?"

Poison. What a weird name. A stupid name, he thought, for a stupid guy properly. He couldn't help but dislike this Poison, couldn't help jealously rearing it's ugly head at the sound of his name.

Her reply was hushed, and Dean found himself wanting to know what it was, if he had been cast from her thoughts. It was only Tim's voice he could hear, and the last thing he said felt like a dagger, each word twisting it; replace him…is that what he was to her? A replacement?

More importantly, would she go looking for him? Would she leave Dean to get him back?

He shook these thoughts from his head. Leave him. He didn't even know if there was anything there, or if he was perhaps a quick fling. Something to fill the void.

Again, he pushed this from his mind. This wasn't even a fling, not yet. Kisses on the cheek meant nothing. Arms wrapped around each other was nothing.

His phone rang, and he scrambled out of the bed to answer it as Shadow and her brother entered the room.

"Hello?"

"Dean, where the hell are you?"

"I'm with Shadow."

"What? Why? Dean I need you back here."

"Why?"

"Don't tell me you forgot…Jesus Dean! We're meant to be checking out the rooms today."

Shadow walked towards him, sitting down on her brother's desk as Tim leant against the wall, arms folded defensively against his chest. Dean felt very conscience of their eyes on him, as he turned his head away and closed his eyes. "I'll be home later, OK Sam?"

"Alright, whatever Dean."

The brothers hung up, and Dean gazed at his phone before he felt Shadow's hand on his shoulder.

"You OK Dean?"

"Yeah, fine." He put the phone into his pocket, before standing up. "Just my brother being a pain."

"I know what you mean." She sent a meaningful glance towards Tim, who rolled his eyes and returned to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him. "Come on, let's grab some breakfast."

She sipped the coffee in silence, as Dean dug into his full English breakfast. She couldn't help but smile at the contented look on his face. When she'd seen him on the phone to his brother, seen the annoyed pained look on his face, she had wanted to rip the phone off him and tell his brother to fuck off.

"You and your brother close?" She asked, taking another sip of the coffee as he finished his mouthful. The liquid was bitter, bland compared to what she usually drank.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Little Sammy, he's all I got. What about you and your brother?"

"We've grown close." She stared down at her coffee, feeling no need to lie about her relationship with her brother. "I only met him a few years ago."

"Really?" He lifted his head. "How come?"

"He went missing, when he was a baby." She kept her gaze focused on the coffee. "Kidnapped, actually. Found on the streets of Vegas, begging for change."

"Must have been treated well."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, he seems like a good kid, that's all. If he'd been treated badly, it would most likely show."

"You seem to know a lot about it. Anyway, it doesn't matter if he was treated well or bad; he still has nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah, that they're going to find him again."

Dean looked up from his breakfast, watching Shadow's expression. "Who are they Shadow?"

He'd dealt with enough false calls in his life to know the difference between someone running from the supernatural, and someone dealing with normality.

"It doesn't matter." She replied, avoiding his gaze. "You can't help."

He reached across the table, taking her hand in his. "Whatever is chasing him Shadow, I promise you I can help."

She stood up, throwing down a £10 pound note on the table. "Get back to your brother Dean, and focus on what you're chasing."

What sort of creatures' kidnapped children?

More importantly, what sort of creatures would return the child they had taken?

Whilst his brother tried to narrow down the list of 'suspects', trying to decide which hotel room would be best to check first, Dean puzzled over the kidnapped Tim.

He wanted to help Shadow, to stop these nightmares that plagued her brother. Maybe even she didn't know what they were.

"Sammy," Dean glanced at his brother, whose eyes were dark with shadows beneath them. Both of them felt the weight of what they were doing, and neither liked it. "What would kidnap a child?"

"How old?" Sam asked, not bothering to ask where the question came from.

Dean tried to think about what she'd said to him. "A baby."

"Fairies." His brother rubbed his eyes, leaning back to look at Dean. "Why? What've you heard?"

"Fairies?"

"Yeah." Sam nodded, standing up and crossing over to Dean. "They kidnap children as young as six months, replace them with changelings. People don't realise it's happened, which is why we never pick up on these cases."

"OK…you think fairies are real?"

"They're just like demons and spirits Dean."

"How come you know about them?"

"I read up on this sort of stuff. Myths, legends…anything that might give us an edge. You didn't answer my question."

Dean let out a long sigh. "I think Shadow's brother was taken by…alright, fairies. As a kid. Is there anyway he would return?"

"I don't know. Possibly. You have to tickle the changeling, or torture it, to make the fairies swap the two back."

"Would the fairies still chase the human kid?"

"I don't know. You want to help her, don't you?"

"Her brother has nightmares Sammy."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"It does if they're after him."

"This about him or her Dean?"

"Does it matter?"

Sam shook his head, glancing out the window. "Listen, we need to check out that Raven Stanger's room before the vampire strikes again. Can we talk about it later?"

Dean nodded, watching Sam as he walked to the window and leant his head against the frame, staring out at the car park.

Poison,

You told me to write to you at this address if I heard anything about Shadow. Well I managed to track her down, and I think you need to get a hold of her. She was meeting this hunter, and let me tell you, he's bad news.

Dean Winchester and his brother Dam, mainly Demon hunters but they worked with that guy Gordon a while back. Remember him? He almost caught me back in California years back, hell bent on revenge for his sister he's tried to drive us to extinction, and many of my old acquaintances have fallen at his hands.

I have no idea if she knows what she's gotten herself into, and I didn't want to tell her; she's still a kid.

A part from this problem, she seems OK. I know that's what you're most concerned about. She managed to track down her father, and she seems better for it, no longer hell bent on revenge. But I'm worried about her involvement with the Winchester's. It won't be long before he finds out what she is, and you're the only one she'll listen to. You and Blake. You need to get over here as fast as you can Poison; she's in danger.

I've included my address in here, and I'm keeping an eye on her. At least, until you get here. But the Casino can't run itself.

Get over here Poison.

Tommy.