Typical Disclaimer: This story has the typical violence you'll see in the show along with all the angst. I try not to get too off character or too violent, but I'm giving it a mature rating just to be on the safe side.
I of course own nothing and get nothing but the satisfaction of writing the story and hopefully making it enjoyable for others as well. Comments are always welcome, good or bad. Thank you to everyone and I hope you have been enjoying it.
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"A vampire?" John blinked in surprise.
Sam nodded to his dad, "yeah, a vampire. She still hunts just like we do. I was in a basement that looked like it was in good repair, so she's living somewhere nice I guess. I heard children laughing as we pulled out, before she turned the music up too loud, so I think she lives in a neighborhood."
"We need to move," John said as he started walking quickly back to their room, "Well, she's going to look completely human until she's feeding, so the people around her may never know what she really is until it's too late. There's no telling how many of those people she's killed over the years…"
"We need to move?" Sam questioned as they entered the room, cutting off his father's musing.
"Of course we need to move. She knows where we are and she's probably going back to the nest to get her buddies." John snapped as he began packing his clothes and notes.
"Dad, I didn't see anyone else and she didn't hurt me really while I was there. She only took me because she thought we were here to kill her."
"We are now." John snapped again.
"What? No." Sam refused to pack his things and just stood staring his father down.
John studied his youngest and knew that look all too well. They were about to start butting heads, but at the same time he felt like Sam was probably right. Why else would she have not hurt him and brought him back to the motel? "If she's at the nest, she's dead. If I find any evidence that she's killed a human, she's dead."
Sam shrugged, "I don't know. She said she drinks human blood too, but I didn't ask where she gets it. She did say that she doesn't kill humans though."
John's brow wrinkled in thought, and then he turned to his oldest, "Dean, start checking records of blood donation centers. See if there's anything about thefts at the centers or hospitals.
"Dad? What are you going to do?" Sam asked nervously as he watched Dean head for the laptop and his dad finish packing before checking over his weapons.
John looked at him only a second before turning his attention back to the weapons, "We are going to find and kill the vampires, Sam. That's why we're here and that's what we're going to do."
"And her?"
"We'll see when the time comes," was John's only reply.
---
The three Winchesters settled themselves into the new hotel room and John watched out the window intensely. They had drive randomly through neighborhoods and business districts while he watched to see if they were being followed. He'd mixed up powders and burned them so they could apply the ashes and hide their scent. Even so, he sat by the window and wouldn't let Dean or Sam leave for any reason.
"Ok," John began as the boys sat bored on the beds, "tomorrow we'll split up and search a few of the farms around Colmesneil that might be used as a nest. There's a huge number of possible farms, houses, and abandoned structures that might be possible hide-outs for them so it's going to take some time."
"You sure you want us to split up? Seems like we should stick together and watch each others' backs." Sam frowned up at his dad, but John just shook his head.
"We need to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time and this is the best way. We only check places during the day; everyone is to be back at this motel before the sun sets. If you find the nest or think you've found the nest, you leave and call us all back together. Then we'll go and check the place out together." John look pointedly at Dean, "no entering or taking on anything alone. If you can get a look inside without entering fine, but do not go into any buildings without backup. I don't want a repeat of the close call in Colorado."
Sam and Dean just nodded, "yes sir."
John pulled out a map and began sectioning off the locations for each of the boys to search. Sam frowned and looked up, "uh, dad?"
"Yeah Sammy?"
"We don't have three cars though?"
John just smiled, "don't worry about that, I'll take care of it."
---
Sam looked at the black Ford Explorer his father had rented in Houston and smiled. It brought back a memory of a black Tahoe, only this vehicle was smaller. However, it was nice and his long legs wouldn't be constantly bent or cramping after a long ride. And he could play whatever music he wanted to.
Dean smirked as he headed for the Impala with his copy of the map and area marked that he was to check.
"Remember boys, back here before the sun sets. No altercations if you can avoid them, and I do mean that you better avoid them. Keep watch to make sure you're not being followed. If you think you are, you call and we'll all meet."
They each nodded their agreement and silent good byes before getting into their vehicles and parting ways for the day.
---
The morning of the third day found them all a little grumpy but the search area was shrinking steadily and no incidents of being followed had happened. No incidents of strange deaths had appeared either.
"They're going to need to find fresh victims soon. Since they typically don't keep anyone around and bleed them for more than a week or so. It's been a while since we've seen reports of missing persons or strange corpses showing up, so I'm sure they'll be looking." John grumbled as they prepared to depart again.
"I've almost completed the search of my map section," Sam said, "I'll probably get done long before the sun sets today."
John nodded, "when you get done, if you still haven't found anything, call your brother and help him. I should probably be done with my area today as well."
"What if we don't find anything, dad?" Dean questioned with a hint of frustration.
"Then we missed something and we'll start again. If they're here, they're comfortable and they wont be moving so we have time, I just don't want to take too long and have someone else fall victim to their hunger. We need to find them."
The boys nodded and once more they all headed away from the motel to their respective map locations.
---
John noted the dirt road coming up to the small asphalt road he was traveling on and looked down at his map. There wasn't anything noted there. He slowed the truck to a stop and put it in reverse, backing up until he was at the dirt road. Climbing out, he checked the tire tracks in the dirt. They were only a day or so old.
There was no marking to indicate a residence. He looked to the sky, the sun would be setting soon. He needed to get back to the motel, but this road needed to be looked at too. He got back into the truck and drove down the asphalt road until he found a spot where he could pull off and hide the truck in the trees a little. He parked, checked his phone to make sure it was on silent, and went to the back for his weapons.
Looking over his arsenal he decided to take his short sword and a large knife. He coated both with dead man's blood before heading into the woods. It was getting dark and he knew this was a bad time, but he wanted to check it out before heading back. He just had a feeling that this might be it.
---
She watched him approach. It was the father, she could tell by his scent and his movements. While he was still very quiet, she could hear his steps on the ground and they were stronger, heavier, and surer than the younger hunters. This one was definitely an experienced hunter. There was another scent that she found on him as he got closer and moved past her just a few feet away. She saw the thick scarlet liquid on the long razor sharp blade … dead man's blood. There were no other sounds in the forest around her. He'd come alone. How foolish of him. If he was as experienced as she'd thought, then that experience had made him too bold and too confident.
She made no move and no sound. Her position in front of the bush and beside the tree covered her well and she stayed in the shadow as she had since before the sun had set. The burning from the sun during her trip into position had faded and the cool night air was a relief. The black leather outfit she always wore during the day did its job well, but couldn't completely protect her. She wanted to ask him why he'd been so foolish to come here as night set. Perhaps he just wanted to stake out the location and make sure he'd found the right spot. She'd found it a few nights ago and watched the movements of the nest, counted their number, and determined their strengths and weaknesses. She had planned on making an introductory move tonight. If the ones they were hunting had come down here trying to escape, perhaps she could get inside with the same ploy. Blame these hunters for the destruction of her nonexistent nest.
She frowned to herself and stayed in her place watching the older hunter crouch in the woods and take up a watchful position where he could see their movements. She had to smirk a little bit. For all his prowess, she was sitting behind him just 15 feet at most. She could have taken him out just a moment before when he snuck by her only a couple of feet away. She could wait until tomorrow perhaps to make her move. As long as he didn't screw anything up.
Movement from the barn attracted her attention and she watched a group of three vampires get into an old rusty pickup truck. Guess they were looking for some fresh food tonight. That left five in the barn. Not necessarily a group she wanted to take on yet, she didn't have enough inside information. She thought about following the truck and taking out the three but she didn't want to give away her position yet by moving.
To her surprise, the hunter moved first. Only he moved towards the bar instead of away from it. She watched curiously as he stayed to the shadows as best as he could while he moved to the side of the barn. She glanced over to the normal spot, but the look-out that the nest usually kept wasn't there and hadn't been there at all tonight. It was strange that they had a look-out, but it was even stranger that there wasn't one. Just as the thought occurred to her, she noticed the movement coming from the back of the barn.
---
John moved through the woods and sat watching the barn. When he saw the group leave he knew he'd finally found the right spot. But he wanted to make sure. The truck rumbled to life and sped off into the distance until he couldn't hear it any more. He needed to make sure; he needed to see inside the barn to make sure this was it before he called the boys. If he called the boys. Better to take out the nest himself if possible than risk the lives of his sons though.
Lights appeared inside as lanterns or candles were lit. There were a few places that he might be able to get a view of them if he was careful. He watched a little while longer then moved towards the side of the barn.
He watched the breaks and holes in the wood for any movement against the light inside, but none appeared. For the short distance between the woods and bar, he was in the open, but there was no sound or movement that indicated he'd been seen or heard as he reached the back of the barn. When he looked inside he could see a couple sitting on old broken down lounge chairs and one standing nearby talking softly to them. He recognized the two sitting; it was Kate and the other vampire that had run from Colorado. The man talking to them was large and muscular with extremely dark skin.
As he watched, he heard a snap and looked up in time to see the two vampires approaching him quickly from the back of the barn. He readied the sword and took a stance to fight; there was no way he could get away from them and to his truck. He needed to at least get them down and injured before he tried to make a break for it.
They were quick, but the first one made the mistake of not looking at the sword before attacking. As the dead man's blood entered his system he looked wide-eyed at John, his knees buckling as he dropped to the ground. The second learned from his companion's mistake. John started to advance, to take the advantage that he'd gained.
"D!" the vampire yelled as he jumped back to avoid the sweeping sword.
John lunged at him again trying to just get the poison in his system so he could make a run for it. He heard a door somewhere, most likely in the front, open roughly. The others were coming. He pressed harder against the vampire, causing it to stumble slightly while trying to back up. One last swing back and the blade barely made contact against its arm. That was enough though. As the vampire stumbled from the poison he turned and started running for the woods.
He never saw what hit him, but an intense pain shot out from the back of his scull and white light blurred his vision before everything went dark.
---
She watched the events unfold from her shadowed position in the woods, amused at the hunter's attempt to fight and flee. She had to raise her eyebrows in admiration as the leader of the nest grabbed something from the side of the barn, perhaps a rock or small log; it was hard to tell from this distance in the dark, even with her excellent night vision. His throw was perfect, striking the hunter in the back of the head, dropping him quickly. She shook her head lightly and watched as he was picked up like a sack of potatoes and flung over the leader's shoulders as if he weighed nothing at all before being hauled into the barn. The other two left poisoned at the side, but the two females close to the leader's heels.
