Bloodlust
Part Two

We ended up going to some bar; or, well, Sam and Dean had. I'd stayed in the car because I was getting a headache, it was cold and raining, and the guys had said they wouldn't be in there long.

It hadn't been a lie; they'd only been gone for about five minutes and I could see them heading back now. They had someone with them; a black guy. He was a little shorter than Dean, but he was stockier, though.

When they got to the car, Dean opened the back door and stuck his head in. "Hey," he said. "This guy says he's a hunter. He said his car's not too far away, so we were gonna follow him, make sure he's tellin' the truth." He looked at me. "Did you wanna come?"

"Um…sure." I had a jacket on, but I was still gonna freeze; my jacket was kinda thin. "What's his name?"

"Gordon Walker. He knows who we are."

"Hm." I got out of the car, zipping my jacket when I stood up. Sam and Gordon were standing a few feet away, waiting for me and Dean. Gordon started walking and we followed.

"So, Sam and Dean Winchester. I can't believe it. Ya know, I met your old man once. Hell of a guy, great hunter." He paused. "I heard he passed. I'm sorry." He sounded sincere. "It's big shoes, but, from what I hear, you guys fill 'em-great trackers, good in a tight spot."

We reached an old red car. I didn't know what type it was. Gordon opened the door and pulled out an arsenal that was between the seats. There were a few guns, a few knives, and something that looked like a scythe.

"You seem to know a lot about our family," Dean said suspiciously.

"Well, word travels fast. You know how hunters talk."

"No, we don't, actually," Dean replied, looking at Sam.

"I guess there's a lot your dad never told you, huh?"

I looked up at Dean. That comment seemed to confuse him.

"So, uh," Sam began, "so, those two vampires…they were yours, right?"

"Yup," Gordon answered. "Been here two weeks."

"Did you check out that Barker farm?" Dean asked. Hm. That must have been something they'd learned in the bar.

"It's a bust. Just a bunch of hippie freaks. Though they could kill you with that patchouli smell alone."

"Where's the nest then?" I asked. "I mean, they usually hole up together somewhere, and only two have been killed. There's gotta be more."

Gordon smiled, sliding the arsenal back in the car. "I think I've got this one covered, Alyson."

I froze and Dean tensed up beside me. "I'm sorry, I don't remember telling you my name."

He chuckled. "Relax. I told you, hunters talk. I heard that you were travelin' with these guys."

I wondered what else he'd heard. "Okay, well, are you sure you don't want us to come along?"

"Yeah," Dean said. "We could help."

"Thanks, but I'm kind of a go-it-alone type of guy. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a real pleasure meetin' you three. But I've been on this thing for over a year. I killed a fang back in Austin, tracked the nest all the way up here. I'll finish it."

"Come on, man, I've been itchin' for a hunt."

"Sorry," Gordon said. "Buy, hey, I hear there's a chupacabra two states over. Go ahead and knock yourselves out." He got in his car. "It was real good meetin' you, though. I'll buy you a drink on the flipside." He drove away.

The three of us stood there, a little confused. I had mixed feelings about this Gordon character. He seemed over-confident to me, which would probably lead to him getting himself killed. And Dean had been right. He had known about us and I didn't like it at all.

"Does anybody else feel like we should follow him?" Sam asked suddenly.

"Oh yeah," Dean said.

It started raining harder, so we raced back to the car. By the time we got there, my hair was soaked, falling in ringlets around my shoulders, and I was freezing.

I was shivering, I was so cold. If it hadn't been raining, I think I would've been okay because I think it was like forty or something outside, but I was all wet…

Dean must have noticed how cold I was because he shrugged his leather jacket off and handed it to me. I gratefully took it. I took my jacket off, replacing it with his. The outside was wet, but the inside was dry and warm.

We got into the car and took off in the direction Gordon had gone. There were only so many places he could go in this town, so I was sure we'd find him eventually.

------------- -

We'd tracked Gordon to an old mill just outside of town. When we'd gotten there he was getting thrown to the ground by a vampire, which I had sensed and seen. The vampire had put Gordon under a chopping machine and was pulling down the lever. Gordon was about to be beheaded.

So we'd pulled him out from under it. Dean attacked the vampire and stabbed him with a metal rod, pinning him under the machine. He pulled the lever down.

I knew what was gonna happen next, so I closed my eyes. I really didn't want to see Dean beheading someone, even if that someone was a vampire.

When I opened my eyes I saw that Dean had blood on his face-I hoped he hadn't gotten any in his mouth. The fact that he'd killed a vampire in cold blood didn't seem to faze him, which it probably hadn't. He'd killed a vampire before.

I looked at Sam, who looked concerned, probably for Dean's mental health. I had to admit, he had a point there. Then I looked at Gordon, who looked happy, but stunned.

"So, uh…I guess I gotta buy you that drink."

So now we were back in the bar that Sam and Dean had found Gordon in. We were seated at a table; I was across from Sam, Dean was across from Gordon.

Gordon and Dean were having shots, chasing them with beer. Sam was just having beer. Well, he had a beer, but he wasn't drinking it. I wasn't having anything. My headache was getting so bad I thought I might puke if I ate or drank anything…even if it wasn't alcoholic.

"So, another one bites the dust," Gordon said, raising his shot glass. "You gave that big-ass fang one hell of a haircut, my friend."

"Thank you," Dean said, draining his shot.

"That was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful."

I looked at Sam, who looked upset, concerned, and angry at the same time. I scooted down in my chair a little bit and reached my leg out, kicking his foot lightly. He looked at me. "Are you okay, Sam?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." That was a lie.

"Well lighten up a little, Sammy," Gordon said.

"He's the only one that gets to call me that," Sam said, nodding at Dean.

"Okay," Gordon said easily. "No offense meant. We're just celebrating a little, job well done."

"Yeah," I said. "Ya know, decapitations aren't our idea of a good time, I guess." I looked at Dean. "Or they used to not be."

"Oh, come on," Gordon said looking at me. "It's not like it was human." He looked between me and Sam. "You two have to learn to have a little more fun with your job."

"Um…correct me if I'm wrong," I started, "but you were having fun earlier and we had to save you."

"Yeah, I messed up," Gordon agreed. "Almost got myself killed." He looked at me again. "Look, I'm not sayin' you shouldn't take your job seriously, but you're a hunter…you should enjoy killin' those things. They aren't human."

I shrugged. I doubted I would ever enjoy killing anything whether it was human or not. I mean, killing something evil to save someone was one thing. Enjoying it was another.

"Hm, you could learn a thing or two from this guy," Dean said.

Sam looked between Dean and Gordon. "Yeah, I bet I could. Look I'm not gonna bring you guys down. I'm just gonna go back to the motel."

Dean sighed. "You sure?"

Sam stood up. "Yeah." He looked at me. "You gonna come with me?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm-I'm good."

"Okay." Sam began walking away.

"Hey, Sammy," Dean called out, making him turn back around. "Remind me to beat that buzz kill outta you later, all right?" He took the car keys out of his jeans pocket and tossed them to Sam, who caught them and started walking again.

Gordon stared after him. "Somethin' I said?"

"No," Dean said, "he just gets that way sometimes."

Gordon asked Dean and me about how we'd come into hunting and I wanted to tell him it was none of his business, that he didn't know me well enough to ask that, but I didn't. I just told him that a demon had killed my mom and had attacked me, and I left it at that.

"How'd you get started?" Dean asked.

"First time I saw a vampire, I was barely eighteen," Gordon said. "Home alone with my sister, I hear the window break in her room. I grab my dad's shotgun, run in, try to get it off her. But it was too late." He had a far away look in his eyes, kinda like he was reliving it as he was talking about it. "So, I shoot the damn thing, which, of course, is about as useful as snappin' it with a rubber band. It rushes me, picks me up, flings me across the room, knocks me out cold. When I wake up, the vampire's gone…my sister's gone."

"And then?" Dean asked.

"And then…try explaining that one to your family. So I left home. And then bummed around lookin' for information-how you track 'em, how you kill 'em. And I found that fang. It was my first kill."

I hadn't seen that coming. But then again, every hunter had to start somewhere and it usually began with someone you cared about getting hurt or killed.

"I'm sorry about your sister," I said sincerely.

"Yeah." A waitress put two more shot glasses down on the table before walking away. "She was beautiful. I can still see her, ya know, the way she was." He downed the shot. "But, hey, that was a long time ago. I mean, your dad," he was looking at Dean, "it's gotta be tough."

"Yeah. Yeah, ya know, he was just one of those guys." It surprised me that Dean was talking to Gordon about John. It was probably because he had a few beers and a couple shots in him. "He took some terrible beatings and just kept coming. So, you're always saying to yourself, he's indestructible. He'll always be around. Nothin' can kill my dad. And just like that…" he snapped his fingers, "he's gone." He looked at me and then back at Gordon. "I can't talk about this to Sammy. I gotta keep my game face on. But, uh…truth is, I'm not handling it very well. I feel like I have this…" he trailed off.

"Hole inside you?" Gordon put in. "And it just gets bigger and bigger and darker and darker?" Dean nodded. "Good. You can use it. It keeps you hungry. Trust me, there's plenty out there needs killin' and this will help you do it. Dean, it's not a crime to need your job."

I looked at Dean, who seemed like he was taking in every word, memorizing it, like some kind of personal motto or something. It's not a crime to need your job.

"But that doesn't sound too healthy to me," I said pointedly to Dean.

Gordon chuckled. "Yeah, well, maybe not everyone is as well-adjusted as you are."

I was gonna ask him exactly what he meant by that, but my phone vibrated in my pocket, so I pulled it out. I had a test message from Sam telling me to call him as soon as I got it.

I stood up, saying, "I'll be right back."

"Where're you going?" Dean asked.

"Um, to make a phone call. It's kinda noisy in here, so I'm gonna take it outside."

"Be careful," he said.

I grinned. "I think I can handle it." I walked to the exit of the bar and dialed Sam's number. A blast of cold air hit me in the face, but, thankfully, it wasn't raining anymore. It wasn't too bad, though, because I still had Dean's jacket on. He hadn't asked for it back.

"Hello," Sam answered.

"Hey, what's up?" I paused. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good. Um, I called Ellen to see if she'd ever heard of Gordon."

"Okay. And?" He wouldn't have called if everything was okay.

"Well, she said he's a great hunter, but that he's dangerous to everyone and everything around him. We shouldn't work with him."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Try and get Dean out of there."

Oh, great. "Um, small problem. Dean seems to be eating out of the palm of his hand."

"Crap," Sam said. "Okay, well, uh, just try and think of somethin', and I'll see you when ya get here."

"Yeah. Bye." I hung up and took a deep breath before going back into the bar. I went to our table and sat down again.

"Who were you talkin' to?" Dean asked.

"Sam." They had another round of shots in front of them. "You shouldn't drink too much," I said.

"Hey, I can hold my liquor," he stated.

"Uh-huh, but you won't be able to hunt these things if you're hung-over." I took it a step further. "And we can't track them if we stay here in this bar all night."

"Ya know, she's got a point," Gordon said.

"Yeah, I know she does. Damn it," he joked.

I grinned a little as he stood up, but stopped when he invited Gordon to come to the motel with us. I groaned inwardly. Oh, well. Sam could deal with it now.

------------- -

Gordon had been sober enough to drive safely; we got to the motel in one piece. The Impala was parked outside, but Sam wasn't in the room. That scared Dean a little.

"Probably went for a walk. He seems like the take-a-walk type," Gordon suggested.

"Yeah, he is, but…" Dean trailed off.

"I'm sure he's fine, Dean," I said. I sat on the bed, cell phone in hand. I was gonna text him to make sure. I mean, he had said he'd see us when we got back. I shrugged out of Dean's jacket; it was kinda toasty in here. But I kept it on my lap because it smelt like him. I mean, he was in the room with me, but still…

Dean and Gordon were seated at the table, a map in front of them. "This is the best pattern I can establish," Gordon said, touching the map. "It's sketchy, at best." He paused. "Problem is, there's thirty-five, forty farms out there. I've searched about half of 'em already, but nothing yet. They're coverin' their tracks real good."

Farms? Cattle mutilations. "Those farms…is that where they found the dead cows?"

"Yup," Gordon said.

"Anyway, I guess we'll just have to search the other half," Dean said, grinning.

A few minutes later, Sam walked in. "Where were you?" I said, pulling the jacket off my lap and getting up off the bed. "I texted you and you never answered.." I realized I sounded like a mother hen, so I shut up.

"Can I talk to you guys alone?"

I looked at Dean, who looked at Gordon. "You mind chillin' out for a couple minutes?" Gordon shook his head. Dean and I followed Sam outside.

"Maybe we ought to rethink this hunt," Sam said.

"What are you talkin' about? Where were you?"

Sam hesitated before answering. "In the nest."

"You found it?" I asked. "By yourself? You could've gotten hurt."

"No, Alyson, they found me."

"Well, how'd you get out? How many did you kill?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged. "None."

"Well, Sam, they didn't just let you go."

"That's exactly what they did."

"All right, well, where is it?"

"I was blindfolded, I don't know." Sam didn't want Dean doing anything stupid and reckless.

"We'll you've gotta know somethin'."

"We went over that bridge outside of town, but Dean, listen, maybe we shouldn't go after them."

"Why not?"

"I don't think they're like other vampires. I don't think they're killing people."

"You're joking," Dean said skeptically. Sam just looked at him. "Then how do they stay alive. Or undead, or whatever the hell they are?"

"They said they live off of animal blood."

Something clicked in my mind. "The cattle mutilations. Dean, they said the blood was drained."

"And you believe these vampires did it?"

"Look at me, Dean," Sam said. "They let me go without a scratch."

"Wait, so you're sayin'…" He seemed to be having a problem wrapping his head around the concept of good vampires. "No. No way. I don't know why they let you go, I don't really care. We find em' and we waste 'em."

"Why?" I said.

"What part of vampires don't you understand? If it's supernatural, we kill it. End of story, that's our job." Dean began walking away.

Okay, that hurt. I could be considered supernatural; I was far from normal. And Sam had visions. He could be considered supernatural, too, if you thought about things that way.

"No, Dean, that is not our job. Our job is hunting evil. And it these things aren't killing people, they're not evil."

"Of course they're killing people! That's what they do. They're all the same, Sam. They're not human, okay? We have to exterminate every last one of them."

"Is that you talking or is it Gordon?" I asked.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just you seem to be taking his word for a bunch of stuff lately. And Ellen says he's bad news."

"You called Ellen?" he asked, slightly confused.

"No, I did," Sam said.

"We barely know her, Sam. No thanks, I'll go with Gordon."

Sam scoffed. "Right, 'cause Gordon's such an old friend. You don't think I can see what this is?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's a substitute for Dad, isn't he? A poor one."

"Shut up, Sam." He turned away from Sam.

"He's not even close, Dean. Not on his best day." Dean turned back around. "You know what, you slap on this big, fake smile, but I can see right through it. 'Cause I know how you feel, Dean. Dad's dead…and he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it, but you can't just fill up that hole with whoever you want to! It's an insult to his memory."

Dean didn't say anything. He just turned to walk away, but then turned back around quickly, punching Sam.

Sam grunted in what sounded like pain and surprise mixed.

"Dean." I was shocked. I'd never seen either of them hit the other.

"Ya know, you can hit me all you want. It won't change anything." Sam seemed stunned…and hurt.

"I'm going to that next. You don't wanna tell me where it is? Fine. I'll find it myself." He walked away, heading back to the motel room.

For once, I didn't follow. I looked at Sam; a bruise was already forming where Dean had hit him. "You should've hit him back."

Sam shrugged. "It wouldn't have solved anything." He followed after Dean and I followed after him.

Gordon wasn't in the room. "You think he went after them?" I asked.

"Probably," Dean answered.

"Dean, we have to stop him," Sam said.

"Really, Sam? 'Cause I say we lend a hand."

"Just give me the benefit of the doubt, would you? You owe me that."

"Yeah, we'll see," Dean replied. "Give me the keys, I'll drive."

Sam went towards the TV set, stopping suddenly. "They're not here. Gordon snaked the keys."

Dean sighed. "I can't believe this."

So I grabbed Dean's jacket off the bed, putting it on, and headed to the door. "He probably heard everything we just said, so we have to hurry."

We made our way back outside and to the car, which Dean had to hotwire to get started. "I just fixed her up, too." He looked at Sam. "So, the bridge…is that all you got?"

"The bridge was four-and-a-half minutes from their farm."

"How do you know?" Dean asked.

"I counted." Dean seemed surprised. "We took a left out of the farm, then turned right on a dirt road, followed that for two minutes slightly uphill, then took another quick right, and we hit the bridge."

"You're good," Dean said. "You're a monster pain in the ass…but you're good."

Sam didn't smile. He was still upset that Dean had hit him, which was understandable. I still kinda thought Sam should've hit him back, but he was right. It wouldn't have solved anything.

------------- -

The car ride was filled with awkward tension and uncomfortable silence. Sam and Dean were glancing at each other every so often, but never at the same time. I knew it was because Dean regretted hitting Sam and that Sam wanted to tell Dean it was okay; he was forgiven.

"Oh, just apologize and get it over with," I said, leaning up towards the front seat, sticking my head between the two of them.

We were riding over the bridge now. "Hurry up," I said, "my clothes are goin' out of style." I was referring to the fact that they were taking forever to say the things they really wanted to say. "Or you can just sit there. Whichever." I leaned back in the seat.

Dean sighed. "All right, all right. I shouldn't have hit you, and I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Sam said, smiling a little. "Next time you hit me, I'm hittin' back." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

That seemed to be the end of that conversation, so I cleared my throat, wanting to be apologized to, also.

"What?" Dean asked.

"If it's supernatural, you kill it?" I started, hinting at what I wanted. "You didn't kill me."

"You're not supernatural…or not to me, anyway."

"Yeah, well, I'm not normal," I said.

"Well, I didn't mean you," Dean said sincerely. "I'd never kill you." He looked at Sam. "Either of you. I mean, yeah, you're different, but you're still human and, uh, not evil."

That pretty much appeased me, which was a good thing, because we were pulling into the road that led to the farm where the vampires had been staying. Gordon's red car was there along with a truck I assumed belonged to one of the vampires.

We got out of the car and I could already sense that there was a vampire inside the house. So, it wasn't dead; I wouldn't have been able to sense it if it had been.

We walked up the front steps, Dean pulling out a gun as he went. We opened the door and stepped in. The first thing I noticed was that there was a bookshelf in the room we were standing in. And there was a grandfather clock pushed against the wall. There was a coffee table in the middle of the room.

I heard someone breathing hard, raspy, and began walking forward. I went down a little hallway, turning into what looked like a kitchen. It didn't look like it had been used as a kitchen, which it probably hadn't. Vampires didn't have to eat like humans did. It looked more like a get-together room. There was a table in this room, too. And another shelf.

We continued onto the next room, which had a semi-big table in the room, a female vampire tied to a chair at the far end. She had cuts on her face, on her neck and arms. At first I didn't understand why she was bleeding, but then I saw Gordon with a knife in his hands, a jar of blood on the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Just poisoning Lenore here with some dead man's blood."

"Why?"

"She's gonna tell us where all her little friends are," he turned to Lenore, "aren't you?" He looked at Dean now. "wanna help? Grab a knife. I was just about to start in on the fingers." He brought the knife to her forearm and started cutting. Lenore whimpered, but she didn't talk.

"Whoa, whoa, hey, let's all just chill out, huh?" Dean said.

"Oh, I'm completely chill," Gordon responded. And he was. How, I didn't know. I mean, he was torturing this poor girl-vampire-and she didn't deserve it.

"Gordon, put the knife down," Sam said, stepping forward, but Dean stopped him.

"It sounds like it's Sammy who needs to chill."

"Just step away from her, all right?"

Gordon looked at Lenore and then back at us. "You're right." He put the knife on the table. "I'm wasting my time here. This bitch will never talk. Might as well put her out of her misery." He went to a bag that was on the table and pulled out a much bigger knife. Not machete big, but big enough. "I just sharpened it, so it's completely humane."

"Gordon, I'm letting her go," Sam said, starting to walk over to Lenore.

Gordon pointed the knife at Sam's chest. "You're not doin' a damn thing."

"Hey, hey, Gordon, let's talk about this," Dean said placatingly.

"What's there to talk about? She's not human. There are not shades of gray."

"Yeah, I hear you. And I know how you feel."

"Do you?" Gordon asked skeptically.

"Look, the vampire that killed your sister deserved to die," I said, trying to explain our side so he'd point the knife somewhere other than Sam. "But this one is different."

Gordon laughed. "Killed my sister? That filthy fang didn't kill my sister. It turned her. It made her into one of them. So I hunted her down and I killed her myself."

"You did what?" Dean asked, incredulous.

"It wasn't my sister anymore. It wasn't human. I didn't blink…and neither would you," he said, pointing to Dean.

"So you knew all along then. You knew about the vampires, you knew they weren't killing anyone. You knew about the cattle," Sam said, the pieces falling into place.

I scoffed. "You just didn't care." There was disgust lacing my voice, but I was okay with that. Disgust is what I felt for this man.

He looked at me. "Care about what? A nest of vampires suddenly acting nice? Takin' a little time out from sucking innocent people? And we're supposed to buy that? Trust me. It doesn't change what they are. And I can prove it." He grabbed Sam and cut his arm and then held the knife to his throat.

"Let him go," Dean said, raising his gun and taking the safety off. "Now."

"Relax. If I wanted to kill him, he'd already be on the floor. Just makin' a little point." Gordon took Sam over to Lenore, holding his arm over her head, squeezing it to make blood come out. Some dripped onto Lenore's face, making her fangs come out. "You still think she's different? Still wanna save her? Look at her. They're all the same-evil, bloodthirsty."

Lenore turned her face away and her teeth went back to normal.

"No," she said over and over again.

"You hear her, Gordon? She said no," I said.

Gordon looked down at Lenore, seeming a little confused.

Sam pushed the knife away from his throat. "We're done here." He bent down, untying Lenore. He picked her up and began carrying her away. Gordon tried to go after them.

"Uh-uh," Dean said, training his gun on him. "I think you and I got some things to talk about."

"Get out of my way," Gordon said.

Dean shook his head. "Sorry."

"You're not serious?"

"I'm having a hard time believing it, too, but I know what I saw. You want those vampires, you're gotta go through me."

Gordon sighed, stabbing the knife into the table. "Fine."

Dean smirked, taking the ammo out of his gun. "Oh, come on," I said. "You're not actually gonna duke it out with this guy."

Dean shrugged. "Looks like."

Gordon three the first punch. Dean punched back, making Gordon stumble a few steps back. He grabbed the knife from the table swinging it at Dean several times, missing each time. Dean grabbed his arm, swinging him into the wall, making the knife fall to the floor.

"You're doin' this for a fang?" Gordon asked. "Come on, Dean, we're on the same side here!"

"I don't think so, you sadistic bastard." Gordon pushed himself away from the wall, turned the two of them around and kicked Dean crashing into the other room onto a table.

Okay, someone really needed to put a stop to this. His back was to me, so I sent a kick to the back of his knee, sending him to the floor.

"Pocket," Dean said, getting up from the floor. "Gun!"

Oh right. I'd forgotten Dean carried a gun in his jacket, which I had on. I found the gun and wondered whether I should take the safety off or not. I mean, I didn't wanna kill the guy, even if I didn't like him.

Gordon turned his body around, looking at me and the gun. He smirked. "What are you gonna do? Kill me?" He got up on his knees. "You don't have the nerve."

I walked a little closer and saw Dean coming up behind him. "All right, so you know me." I shrugged, then brought my arm up, cold-cocking him with the butt of the gun. He was out like a light.

I handed the gun to Dean. "I did the right thing, right? Not killing him?"

"Yeah," Dean reassured me. "Deciding who lives and dies isn't part of our job description."

"If he'd gone after you again," I began, "I would've shot him…without thinking twice."

"Right, well, uh, we should tie him up," Dean said, avoiding the fact that I would've shot someone for him. To protect him.

Dean and I bent down and lifted Gordon up, placing him upright in a chair. We tied him up with the same rope he'd tied Lenore up with. Ironic.

"Hey, uh, you don't think I'm like that? Do you?" Dean asked.

"Like?"

"Like Gordon."

Oh. "No," I said firmly. "I just think you're hurting and maybe a little confused and you don't know how to let the pain go, so it turns into anger." I stepped closer to him. "But you're not like him. If you were, you wouldn't have helped us save Lenore. You wouldn't have cared whether she was good or not."

I was finally right up close to him and now I got a good look at his face. His lip was split on the right side on the bottom. He had a bruise on his cheek and a cut about his eye. "I should've hit him harder," I said, raising my hand to his eyebrow.

"What?" He followed where my hand went with his eyes and then looked down at me again.

"He kinda mangled your face," I whispered. I ran my thumb lightly over the cut above his eye. I felt his blood coat my finger. I then ran the back of my hand over his bruised cheek, making my way down to his busted lip. There was blood there, too. "Does it hurt?"

Dean swallowed, my eyes traveling down to his throat and then back to his eyes. "It's suddenly painless," he said softly. And okay, that was a little corny, but it was sweet, nonetheless.

I smiled, placing my hand on the side of his neck, pulling him gently down. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach his mouth. I kissed the left side of his mouth, not wanted to hurt him. It was more of a chaste kiss, a permission kiss. I was letting him know that whenever he wanted to kiss me, I was ready. We'd been together five days; most guys wouldn't have waited that long. But it seemed that Dean really was going by my pace here. That, more than anything else, calmed my nerves and insecurities.

------------- -

Gordon had eventually woken up. He'd seemed surprised that he was tied up, and that we were still here. And then he got mad.

Dean was sitting on the edge of the table and I was leaning up against him, my head on his arm. I was so comfy, I probably would've gone to sleep if Gordon hadn't been there.

I heard the sound of a car outside and I knew it was Sam with the Impala. It was funny how familiar and comforting that sound was to me.

Sam came into the room, looked at Gordon and then at Dean, taking in their disheveled states. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nah, not much," Dean answered, standing up. I wanted to protest, because he'd jostled me in the process, but I didn't.

Instead, I looked at Sam. "Lenore get out okay?"

"Yeah," he was looking at Gordon, who looked royally ticked off, "all of them did."

Dean and I went to stand by Sam. "Well, then I guess our work here is done."

I smiled. I was proud of him.

Dean looked at Gordon. "How, you doin', Gordy? Gotta tinkle yet?" He didn't give Gordon time to answer. "All right…well, get real comfy. We'll call someone in two or three days, have 'em come out, untie you."

I grabbed his arm gently. "Ready to go, Dean?"

"Not yet." The tone of his voice implied he was planning something. I let go of his arm and he looked at Gordon again. "I guess this is good-bye. Well, it's been real." Dean punched Gordon, making him and the chair fall backwards.

I let out a loud laugh, but then covered my mouth with my had, because, really, that shouldn't have been funny. But then I looked at Sam, who was grinning, and I didn't feel so bad.

Dean turned back to me. "Okay. I'm good now, we can go." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me out of the room.

When we got outside I saw that Sam was still grinning, but he was looking at Dean and me. He caught by eye and his grin widened. I blushed, turning my face to hide it against Dean's shoulder.

"So," Sam began, "you two are together now, huh?"

We stopped walking as we got to the car and Dean pulled me tighter to him, almost possessively. I didn't mind that he thought I was his. Truth was…I was.

"Yeah,' Dean said, watching as Sam walked over to the passenger side door. "Are you okay with that?" Dean sounded like he really wanted to know.

"Yeah." Sam smiled and then looked at me. "Would it have mattered?"

Dean kissed the side of my head. "No," he said, sounding like he meant it.

The three of us got in the car and Dean started it. The sun was starting to come up and I could see the bruise on his cheek more clearly now. And, yup, I definitely should have hit Gordon harder.

"What are we gonna do now?" I asked. "Are we gonna go back to Bobby's or…what?"

"I don't know. We might. If we can't find another job soon," Dean said. "We're gonna check out of that motel, though."

"We didn't even get to sleep," I protested.

"We can stop somewhere in a few hours. I just want this place in my rearview mirror." Dean was silent as he started driving, but then he spoke. "You know, I wish we never took this job, it jacked everything up."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well, think about all the hunts we went on…our whole lives."

"Okay…" Sam sounded like he didn't know where this was going. I did. Dean was wondering whether he'd ever killed anything that wasn't evil.

"What if we killed things that didn't deserve killing? Ya know, I mean, the way Dad raised us. It…" he trailed off. I scooted closer to the front seat to squeeze his shoulder.

"Dean," Sam began, "after what happened to Mom…Dad did the best he could."

"Yeah, I know he did. But the man wasn't perfect. And the way he raised us to hate those things, and man, I hate 'em. I do. When I killed that vampire at the mill, I didn't even think about it. Hell, I even enjoyed it."

"Dean…you didn't kill Lenore," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her, I was gonna kill 'em all."

"Yeah, Dean, but you didn't," Sam said firmly. "And that's what matters."

Dean seemed convinced. "Yeah, because you're a pain in the ass."

I laughed. Sam hadn't taken offense, so it amused me.

"Guess I might have to stick around and be a pain in the ass then," Sam said.

"Thanks," Dean said, and meant it.

Sam grinned. "Don't mention it."

We made it back to the motel and Sam went to check us out, while Dean and I got our stuff together. I was zipping my bag when Dean started talking.

"So, um, back at the farm…you kinda laid one on me there."

I turned to look at him. "Yeah. Should I not have?"

"No, it's not that," he said, stepping closer to me. "I just wanted to make sure that…well, you were sure. I mean, it's a big first step."

I smiled. "Dean, the fact that you would stop and make sure that I wanted you to kiss me before you actually did it…makes me sure that I want to."

He was right in front of me, looking at me, from my lips to my eyes. And…oh…he wanted to kiss me now. But he wasn't moving towards me anymore. Hm…maybe he wanted me to do it.

I'd been right. He'd waited until after I rose on my tiptoes to bring his face towards mine. My eyes closed as our lips touched, his hands coming up to rest on my neck.

I felt his tongue flick at my bottom lip, asking, begging, for entrance, and I gasped, my mouth opening slightly. His tongue invaded my mouth gently and I couldn't keep from moaning, which would have been embarrassing if I had been anywhere close to caring at that point. But, ha, I wasn't.

It felt good, he felt good. He tasted good. I didn't have a name for the things he tasted like, but it didn't matter anyway, so whatever,

Dean slid his hands from my neck down to my arms and started rubbing them gently, soothingly. And for the first time I realized I was tense. I was kissing him back but I was tense, so I tried to relax.

He was kissing me slowly, cautiously, like he was scared I was gonna run away. Well, we couldn't have that, couldn't have him thinking that.

I let my mind rest, let it stop thinking, and just let myself feel. Our tongues were dancing to a slow, gentle rhythm. Neither of us fought for dominance. That wasn't what this was about.

Oxygen was quickly becoming an issue for me, so I softly broke away, breathing heavily. Oh, he'd wreaked havoc on my system.

I hugged him to me, wrapping my arms around him gently. I'd remembered he'd landed on his back when he'd crashed through the table and I didn't wanna hurt him.

He wrapped his arms around me, in turn, and began playing with my hair.

I grinned, resting my head against his chest. That felt good, too. But what made me happiest was that he wasn't running away from me, so that was a start.


Hey, where are my reviews, people? LOL. Anyway, um...yeah, let me know how you're liking the whole relationship between Dean and Alyson, because I'm really self-conscious about my romance writing skills. And the kissing scene at the end, was it okay, because...well I've never written romance before, so if it came over awkward or something, that's probably why.
Anyway, thanks in advance to those who review this chapter.