Author's Note: I welcome reviews or criticisms, although I am kind of writing this story to celebrate season 9, not to hone my craft as a writer or anything. And it's also pure wish fulfilment. Well, it'd probably be slash if it was pure wish fulfilment. Maybe I should just keep writing Benny stories until they bring him back, although that's hardly an effective sounding protest...I think it would be cool if all Sam and Dean's pals hung out in the bunker with them. At least once.

Dean looked over at Benny. For some reason it was more jarring for Dean to see him sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala than for him to see Benny topside. He supposed it was because that was where Sam usually sat.

He wasn't sure what to think about Sam's acceptance of his friendship with Benny, or his abrupt exit back to the bunker.

And he was even less sure about driving to the Alpha vampire's lair.

"You alright, brother?" Benny asked.

"Just trying to remember why I agreed to this," Dean said.

"We're still a couple hours out. Not too late to change your mind," Benny said.

Dean took a moment to savour the familiar cadence of Benny's speech—that Southern drawl that seemed to imply that there was no reason to worry, ever. He looked over at Benny, saw his friend's shit-eating grin. "Hey, why not listen to what the guy has to say?" he said finally.

"Well, because he might kill you, I guess," Benny said.

"I ain't worried about that," Dean said. He brushed the issue aside. For some reason he'd never really thought the Alpha was a threat—to them, anyway. Obviously he was a threat to a lot of people. Possibly the human race in general. But he didn't seem to wish Dean and Sam any specific harm. Usually.

"Anything worry you?"

"The thousands of angels who fell to the earth don't exactly fill me with confidence," Dean said.

"How exactly did that happen?" Benny asked.

"You assume that I know?"

"Am I wrong?"

"You ain't wrong," Dean said. "This angel, Metatron, the scribe of God, apparently was all kinds of bitter against the angels so did this ritual thing to kick every angel in heaven out—so they're here, with no wings and limited powers—but I mean, limited powers for an angels is like superpowers, right?"

"What about Cas?"

"Metatron manipulated him and stole his grace for the ritual. Turns out the whole thing turned him human," Dean said.

"That boy is just all kinds of cracked," Benny said.

"You should give Cas a chance. You two might actually get along now that he can't kill you with a flash of light," Dean said.

"I can kill him now, though," Benny said.

"But you wouldn't."

"Of course I wouldn't. But it's a comfort to know that I could, should the need arise."

Dean laughed under his breath. "What is it with you two?"

"Natural enemies, I guess," Benny said.

"Think we can make it to this place tonight?" Dean asked.

"Well, they are vampires. I don't think there's an hour of the night too late to visit. On the other hand, when did you sleep last? No point getting there when you're too tired to handle him," Benny said.

"Handle him?"

"You know what I mean," Benny said.

"You wanna get a motel room? Go see Alpha in the morning when he's tired, instead of us?"

"Whatever you need, brother," Benny said.

Later that night, when they'd both been settled into their beds and the light had been off for a long time, Benny's voice wafted over through the darkness.

"Would you go back and change it all, if you could? I mean, of course you'd want your mother to be alive, but assuming you couldn't change what happened, but only what your father decided to do about it, would you wish for a normal life?" Benny asked.

Dean thought about it seriously. For so long he'd just answered the way his father and Sam assumed he would—that he wanted a family and a normal life—that he hadn't really thought about how he actually felt about it in a long time. "Normal is so far out of my wheelhouse I don't even know how to answer the question. I think of the people whose lives I've saved, and the things that had to happen because angels or demons held the strings, and I can't even contemplate normal. I think I would fight evil no matter what my life looked like. There's always a way to stand up for the people who need to be stood up for. There's always something you can choose to fight against. What Sam and I do, it has the advantage of being pretty black and white most of the time. There are rules, and you follow them, and things that don't follow those rules get ganked," Dean said.

"I'd have said you see the world in shades of gray."

"Life is shades of gray. I can't always go into a situation and know what's right without looking at all the angles. Sometimes the monster's the one who needs saving. But when the line you draw is, is this thing hurting people or not, not is this a supernatural creature, it makes the moral questions a lot easier to answer. What about you? Would you go back and change things? Make it so you died in your bed years ago and never knew the supernatural existed?" Dean asked.

"Before I met Andrea, before I met you...I would have said I'd rather have the normal life. But now...I'm so glad to have experienced real love–and real friendship. And to know that hunters exist. I wonder if I could become a hunter, and protect people. It's probably pretty far-fetched, me saving people with the fangs and all," Benny said.

"There's other ways you could help. You're a lot more educated than I am–maybe you could do research or something. I think the fangs coming out at the smell of blood might worry the people you were saving, but then it's a shame to waste supernatural fighting skills. If you had the right partner, someone who could pull you back if you needed it, it would probably be fine," Dean said.

"The only person I'd ever want to hunt with already has a partner," Benny said.
Dean swallowed against a feeling of warmth for his friend. He knew that he and Benny made great partners–but no one was going to replace Sam. Not for one hunt and certainly not all of them. There was a time last year when Sam had been saying pretty strongly that he wanted to stop hunting and live a normal life. If that really happened when this angel business was sorted out, then maybe Dean could see himself with a new partner. It was hard to visualize–hell, that afternoon it had been difficult for Dean to even have Benny sitting in Sam's seat in the Impala–but maybe he ought to try to get used to the idea.

For Sam's sake.


"So what exactly are we looking for, Sam?" Charlie asked. "I mean, I know you said we were researching vampires, but why? We trying to find some dirt on the alpha?"

"I agree. Your instructions were pretty vague," Kevin said. Sam noticed the way Kevin was looking at Charlie and figured he was going to have to have the 'lesbians don't usually switch teams' talk with him.

"I was talking to Benny and Dean, and Benny said that he used to be a lot more evil than he is now. He was talking about how he changed, and I thought, if a vampire can decide to be good, maybe they can also be cured," Sam said.

"There's no cure. The only one that exists is conditional on never having sampled human blood," Garth said.

"Yeah, and before we knew about that cure, the conventional wisdom was that there was no cure at all. Look, I just...no one ever thought there was a way to cure demons, right? I mean, their souls are bent and twisted by unspeakable torment for the equivalent of thousands of years to become a demon, but there's a ritual that can cleanse them of all that. Cure them. If it can happen with demons, it can probably happen with vampires," Sam said.

"What makes you think Benny even wants to be human?" Cas asked.

"Do you think he'd turn it down?" Sam asked.

Cas reluctantly shook his head. Benny would jump at the chance to be human, and anyone with even a passing acquaintance with him could see it.

"But even if you could change him, redeem him somehow, he'd still be dead. His body is dead and only animated by supernatural forces. Is that the outcome you want?" Garth asked.

"Maybe being dead but saved would be a better outcome than living as a monster for all eternity," Sam said.

"So he goes to heaven, a look of peace on his face like in Dracula?" Charlie asked doubtfully.

"Sam, I think you're overestimating Dean's commitment to saving people from damnation. He once told me that sinning was one of the perks of having fallen from grace. He'd like Benny to be human, but he won't let you kill him to save his soul," Cas said.

"Maybe we don't need to make that choice. Look, if it's possible to redeem or cure a demon like Crowley, who's lived for god knows how many years and done evil for all that time, then it's gotta be possible to cure a vampire who wants to be cured," Sam said.

"But a demon is still inside the dichotomy of good and evil. The language of redemption belongs with considerations of good and evil and god and the devil. Monsters are outside of that–they belong to Eve and Eve alone when they are changed into monsters. She doesn't give up her children that easily," Cas said.

"Maybe the alpha knows a way. He's supposed to be the oldest–the first—and the expert on vampires. If there's a way, wouldn't he know it?" Charlie asked.

"Why would he tell? He wants to keep every vampire he possibly can. They were practically extinct a few years ago, so he's not likely to want to give up a survivor like Benny," Sam said.

"He'd do it because it's a negotiation. Dean has something he wants and he has something Dean probably wants," Kevin said, sounding vaguely like his mother for a moment.

"I still think there's a way in this bunker. There was a way to redeem demons. Vampires have got to be easier to cure than demons," Sam said.

"Maybe you should tell Dean what you're thinking anyway. Maybe he should bring it up with the head cheese vampire. Just to see what he says," Charlie said. "I mean, maybe it's like a cult and if the vampires do something bad they can be cast out in some and devamperized."

"I think if you are a vampire and you piss off other vampires, they cut off your head," Garth said.

"I'll tell Dean what I'm thinking before he talks to the Alpha," Sam said.

They continued researching, but they didn't find anything that night.