Author's Note: Dammit. I lost part of the story, which upset me, so I stopped working on it for a while, then I finally sucked it up and rewrote it. Then I got on a ship for 6 months, had a great contract, and didn't barely write at all. I'm still working with a crap computer and a crazy schedule, but I hope some of you have stuck with me.
Disclaimer: You know.
Chapter Nine: Corner Mart Vampires
Sam and Claire checked into a rundown hotel on the edge of town, near where the body of an out-of-town visitor had been found.
"I'm going to the bar, as around, see if anyone's seen or heard anything. You stay here."
"What?" Claire demanded. "Why?"
"Because it's a bar. And you're eighteen."
"I have a fake."
"No."
Claire scowled at Sam, but didn't press the issue.
"I'll see you later, then," said Sam, tucking a machete under his jacket. Stay out of trouble."
Claire nodded grudgingly. "Yeah, yeah, you too."
"Call me if you need anything," they said at the same time.
Sam cracked a smile, which Claire returned. "I left some money for you to order yourself a pizza or something."
"Thanks. Let's hope the delivery guy isn't a vampire," she joked.
"Well, if he is, you can handle him, right?"
Claire snorted.
"No worries, then."
"One large pizza, extra pepperoni, hold the vampires."
Sam shook his head, laughing. "Bye, Claire, enjoy your pizza."
"Bye same, enjoy your bitches-I mean beer," the girl amended with a smirk.
*****Icarus*****
It turned out that the local pizza place was dine in and carry out only (seriously, what kind of pizza place didn't deliver?). But luckily it was within walking distance of the motel, so Claire pulled on her jacket and trudged the few blocks down the street to pick up her order. As she was walking back, her arms full of cardboard pizza box containing a hopefully non cardboard-like pizza, she decided to stop by the convenience store for a couple beers or sodas, depending on whether or not they accepted her fake.
The guy at the counter seemingly couldn't care less, barely glancing at the card before handing it back to her
She turned around, balancing the six-pack on top of the pizza box and came face to face with a vampire.
Claire quickly lowered her head and ducked into the next aisle, her heart pounding. As quickly as she could, without arousing suspicion, she made her way to the exit and then pulled out her cell phone and called Sam.
"Hey Claire, what's up?"
"I found the vampire."
"What? How? Where are you?" Sam demanded Why aren't you at the motel? I told you to stay put."
"You also told me to get pizza," said Claire, "and the pizza place doesn't deliver. I popped into the Corner Mart to pick up some beer and ran into a vampire. Almost literally."
"What happened? Where's the vamp now?" asked Sam
"Inside buying..." Claire peered through the window, "looks like...stain remover. I'm outside the store."
"A vampire is in the Corner Mart buying stain remover" said Sam incredulously.
"Probably for bloodstains," said Claire with a shrug.
"Ok, how many people are injured?" asked Sam.
"No one's injured," said Claire. "Not here anyway."
"So the blood is from a previous victim?"
"What?" said Claire. "What blood?"
"The bloodstains. You just said..."
"I said the stain remover was probably for bloodstains, because, you know, vampire. But there are't bloodstains here right now."
"Wait, the vamp hasn't attacked anyone yet?"
"I mean, yeah, probably, that's why we're here, right? But not right now, no."
"Then, wait, how do you know it's a vampire?"
"Because I recognized him," said Claire. "It's one of Alex's."
"One of Alex's whats?" said Sam in confusion.
"One of Alex's vampires. You know, the ones she used to live with." Why were adults always so slow?
"Are you sure, Claire?" said Sam skeptically. "How do you even know what they look like?"
"I've seen her drawings of them," said Claire. "She's very good. Wait, he's coming out of the store now." Claire retreated into the shadows and the vampire left the Corner Mart and started down the street at a brisk pace."
"Stay where you are," said Sam. "Wait for me."
"No way," said Claire. "I've got to follow him and see where he goes."
"Claire! Wait. Claire! Dammit." Sam glared at the phone in his hand. If Claire really was following the vampire, which he had now doubt that she was, he couldn't risk drawing the vamp's attention
to her by continuing to shout into the phone. Luckily Claire had left the call connected, so with a couple minutes work, he was able to ping Claire's phone on his GPS and use it to track her.
*****Icarus*****
Claire followed the vampire through the streets of the little town, staying just close enough not to lose him without attracting unwanted attention. Namely the vamp's, though it would have been awkward to have some rando notice her trailing him like a creeper. The vamp maintained a brisk pace, but luckily it looked as though he had run his errand on foot, as he headed straight for the edge of town without getting into any of the smattering of of parked vehicles they passed. He led her away from the town proper until the streets disappeared completely and were replaced by a dirt road lined with fields, barns, and farmhouses. It was at one of these that the vampire finally stopped, turned, and entered a building just beyond, which looked to be an out of use storehouse of some kind.
Claire hid herself around the corner from the door of the storehouse and then pulled out her phone and put it to her ear.
"Sam? You still there?"
"Right behind you," said a voice from over her shoulder.
Claire jumped and whirled around to see the younger Winchester materialize from the shadows.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she whispered, her heart still pounding. "How did you get here so fast?"
"I have a car," said Sam, earning him an eye roll and a glare. "And I've been tracking your phone."
"Creeper," said Claire.
Sam ignored her. "Any idea how many we're dealing with?"
"So far I've only seen the one," said Claire. "But that doesn't mean shit."
Sam nodded his head. "Do you have a weapon?"
Claire bent down and pulled a wicked looking knife out of her boot. "You?"
Sam opened his coat and showed Claire the machete.
"Nice. Wish I had my sword, but this'll have to do."
Sam cocked his head and put a finger to his lips; the sound of voices was coming through the storehouse door, which the vampire had left slightly ajar.
"-sure you weren't followed?"
The voice was female. And snappish.
"Who would follow me?" said a second voice. Male. Bored. "No one knows we're here."
"No one knew we were here. After the stunt your little protege pulled, it's only a matter of time before the hunters start poking around here. We have to move."
"We only just got here," complained a third voice. This was also male, but younger; he sounded like a petulant teenager.
"You should have thought of that before you decided to have your little snack the other night."
"I was hungry!"
"He's young, Jill," said the first man, presumably the one Claire had followed. "Cut him some slack."
"I have none to spare," said the woman icily. "We have a job to do, Duncan, we don't have time to be cleaning up after some adolescent's lack of control. I don't know why you had to turn him in the first place."
"Someone has to worry about replenishing the nest," retorted Duncan, "since it seems all you can focus on is revenge."
"It's more than revenge and you know it," said his companion, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. "This is about the nest, and reclaiming what's ours."
Sam and Claire looked at each other, knowing what the other one was thinking without the need for words. Alex.
"And how exactly were you planning on doing that?" asked Duncan. "Knocking on her door and asking nicely? She won't come willingly and you know it. Toby here can do for her what she did for the others."
It seemed as though there were only three vampires in the storehouse, which wasn't bad odds, all things considered. Especially if they had the element of surprise on their side. Sam knew they had to act quickly to maintain this advantage, but the question was, with three vamps and only two of them, which ones to take out first? The female, Jill, seemed likely to pose the biggest threat; if both of them went for her they might be able to take her out first. But that left the other two vampires wide open. On the other hand, the youngster would likely be fairly easy to off, which would make for an even two-on-two battle. Minus the whole human versus vamp unequal speed and strength thing.
"The ones closest to the door," whispered Claire.
"What?"
"We should go for whichever ones are closest to the door first."
"Oh," said Sam, realizing he had once again been over analyzing the situation and making it more complicated than it had to be. "That's uh, a good idea."
Claire smirked and hoisted her weapon, then, with a nod from Sam, burst into the storehouse at the tall hunter's side.
Claire took out the teenage vamp almost instantly, severing his head from his body with one clean stroke of her hunting knife.
The second male was obviously more experienced, and even with the element of surprise, it took Sam several seconds of grappling before he managed to hack the vampire's head from his shoulders. He straightened up to see the female vamp holding Claire's own knife to her throat.
"One more step, hunter, and your baby sister gets it."
Neither Sam nor Claire bothered to correct her.
The vampire narrowed her pale blue eyes at Sam, not relaxing her hold on Claire.
"I know you," she said slowly. "You're one of those damn Winchesters. Where's your brother?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out," said Sam, realizing that he could actually use Dean's absence to his advantage.
The vampire's eyes darted around the room nervously, but she stood her ground. "How do I know you're not bluffing?"
"You don't," said Sam evenly, not letting his voice betray his pounding heart and his worry for Claire. "But is that a chance you're willing to take?"
"She'd be dead before either of you could get to her," the woman retorted.
"Maybe," said Sam. "Although people sometimes have a hard time getting death to stick to us and ours." He jerked his head toward the two decapitated vampires. "You don't seems to have that problem."
"The way I figure it," said the vamp, who was now idly twirling Claire's knife between her fingers as though she were rather enjoying this, "you get your way, I die no matter what. Or were you planning on letting me go if I release the girl?" she added sardonically.
"So you can go after Alex?" scoffed Claire. "In your dreams, Cruella."
"I'd be a little more careful what you say, Blondie," the vampire hissed in Claire's ear, pressing the point of the knife against the back of her neck. "You wouldn't want my hand to slip..."
"And lose your only bargaining chip?" retorted Claire.
"Just what would I be bargaining for? You already said I'd die either way?"
"Then why am I still alive?"
Jill the vampire grinned, showing her fangs. "Because I'm still having fun."
A chill went down Sam's spine as he realized the vampire was right; she had nothing to lose.
Claire, however, had been doing more than just arguing with her captor. Sam realized that while the female vampire's attention had been diverted, Claire had picked her pocket, divesting her of a pocket knife, a wallet, a set of keys, and, most interestingly, a syringe full of what appeared to be dead man's blood. It seemed Jill the vampire hadn't been completely trusting of her companions.
"So targeting teenage girls is your idea of fun?" said Sam, hoping to keep the vamp distracted for long enough to give Claire an opportunity to strike.
"A trait I share with many human men, it seems," said the vampire in a tone of genuine disgust. "All in all, I prefer what I do with them."
"Yes, because murder is so admirable."
"I only kill when I have to," said Julie, as Claire surreptitiously dropped the syringe from her sleeve into her palm. "They're so much more useful when they're alive."
"Like Alex was useful?" said Sam.
"Precisely. It wasn't such a bad life, was it?" she continued, her voice taking on a purring tone that fell somewhere between seductive and soothing. "We kept her safe and fed, gave her a home and a family. She could have ended up with a much worse lot than that. You know she was still a virgin when she left us? How many girls who end up in similar positions can say the same? But no one ever laid a hand on Alex, I made sure of that. I take care of my girls. Can the same be said of you, Winchester?" she added, her expression calculating, her tone almost accusatory. "Where's that redhead you used to keep around?"
"You leave Charlie out of this," Sam growled.
Whatever the vampire might have said in response was cut short by Claire jabbing the syringe of dead man's blood full force into Jill's shoulder. The woman gasped and clutched her shoulder in agony, whipping around with the obvious intention of stabbing the young hunter with her own knife. But the poison has already begun to take its effect and she staggered, dropping the knife on the stone floor with a clatter. Sam didn't waste his opportunity, and easily beheaded the incapacitated vampire with one clean sweep on his machete.
"Ew," said Claire, nudging the vamp's head away with the toe of her sneaker so she could retrieve her knife.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked as the girl rejoined him on the other side of the room.
"Yeah," said Claire, shrugging off his concern, though in truth she appreciated it. "I've had worse." Her stomach chose just that moment to growl loudly. "What I haven't had yet tonight, though, is food."
"You didn't manage to hold onto your pizza while you were hunting vampires?" Sam teased.
"Ha ha, very funny," said Claire sarcastically. "No, that wasn't exactly at the forefront of my mind."
"We can stop somewhere on the way back to the motel," said Sam. "I passed a 24 hour diner on my way here that was advertising bottomless ribs."
"Count me it!" said Claire fervently, as her stomach gave another insistent grumble.
AN: I do already have a few more chapters drafted after this one, and I'm finally getting to a part I've been wanting to get to for ages, so I'm definitely excited about where this story is going, and I hope you are too :)
-SQ