I don't even remember where we are right now, but I'm on my second cup of coffee since we've been sitting in this diner. With my aviators on, it looks like it's night time when it's early morning.
"You alright, Shel?" I hear Sam ask me from across the table.
"Just great." I answer with heavy sarcasm as I rub my temple to try and will the pain away. Dean takes a bottle of Advil out of his jacket pocket, opens it and hands me two capsules. I pop them in my mouth and take another sip of my coffee to get them down. "Thanks." I say as I start to pick at the order of scrambled eggs I have on the plate in front of me.
"Anything for you, babe." He says as he rubs my back trying to sooth my pain through his touch. He sounds a bit tired, though. Maybe I'm imagining it because of how tired I am. "Let's talk leads." He starts. "We haven't found a decent one in all of Nebraska." Nebraska! That's where we are. What do you got?" He asks Sam, who has his laptop open in front of him.
"Well, I been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota." Sam answers. "Here, a woman in Iowa fell ten thousand feet from an airplane and survived." I scoff at the story.
"Sounds more like 'That's incredible!' then 'the Twilight Zone'". Dean says.
"Yeah." I agree.
"Hey, you know we could just keep heading east." Dean suggests. "New York, upstate. Could stop by and see Sarah again. Huh?" Sam says nothing. "She's a cool chick, man. Smokin'." I clear my throat to let him know I'm still here, and can hear him. "I mean for him, not me."
"Sure." I say sarcastically again. "You two did seem to go well together." I direct my to Sam with as much sincerity as I can muster.
"Even Shel agrees." Dean says gesturing slightly to me. "What do you say?"
"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe someday." Sam answers. "But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do, Dean, and you know that."
"Yeah, you're right." Dean concedes. "What else you got?"
"Uh, man in Colorado. Local man by the name of Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home." The name makes me perk up. I know this man.
"Elkins. I know that name." Dean comments.
"Doesn't ring a bell." Sam says.
"Well you probably wouldn't know, Sammy." I say. "But his name should be in your dad's journal." I tell them. "He's a hunter."
"Sounds like the cops don't know what to think." Sam continues with what he found out about the case as Dean brings out the journal. "At first they said it was some sort of bear attack, and now they found signs of robbery."
"Shit." I say to myself. Neither one of them hears me. I watch as Dean flips through the pages to find 'Elkins' on one of the pages. Once he finds it he passes it over to Sam.
"Here." He says as he points to the name with a phone number.
"You sure this is the same Elkins?" Sam asks.
"One hundred percent." I answer.
"It is a Colorado area code." Dean comments. They just look at each other.
"Check please." I say to our waitress with my hand raised.
"What's the rush?" Dean asks. "The guy's already dead."
"Yes, but obviously he had something worth stealing." I tell them. "What could maul a hunter and go through his things?"
"A lot of things actually." Sam answers. I scoff at his words.
"Whatever he was hunting got the upper hand on the old man, and they were looking for something. I want to know what the fuck they took from him." I stand up and leave them to pay.
"Where are you going?" Dean asks.
"I'll be waiting with Baby." I tell them. "Hurry and pay so we can get outta here." Once I'm outside I call John to see if he's up to speed on Elkins. He doesn't pick up so I leave a message telling him that we'll be going to investigate, and if he ends up there that I can't wait to see him. He's like my second surrogate father. That reminds me. I should go visit Bobby soon.
Soon, the boys meet me at the Impala, and we're on our way to Colorado. We arrive at Elkins' cabin in the dead of night, so I don't need my aviator sunglasses. Dean picks the lock on the cabin door and we cautiously enter, each of us holds a flashlight to see in the darkness.
"Looks like the maid didn't come today." Dean comments as he looks through one of the rooms. Sam crouches down at the doorway as I follow Dean.
"Hey, there's salt over here." Sam calls to us. "Right inside the door."
"You mean like protection-against-demon salt?" Dean asks. "Or 'oops I spilled the popcorn' salt."
"It's clearly a ring." Sam answers.
"Of course." I say. "He's a hunter." I go over to the desk in the room and look through the papers scattered over his desk. "This only confirms it." Sam finally joins us to add a third set of eyes. All of us look to the journal that looked almost identical to John's. The only difference is that it is so much older.
"This dates back to the sixties." Dean states what I was thinking. We then venture upstairs to see if there's anything else we can find to help us figure out what happened here. There's another room with a desk, and we enter it to see that there was a struggle in this room for sure.
"Whatever attacked him, looks like there was more than one." Sam says as he turns his attention to the skylight. I look up and see that the glass is broken.
"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight, too." Dean adds.
"Yeah." I agree. We walk farther into the room. Sam searches the desk, and Dean looks to everything scattered on the floor. He pauses on a box before continuing farther into the room. I look down at the box Dean had looked at and crouch down to take a closer look. Dean does the same thing in the middle of the room.
"Got something?" Sam and I say at the same time.
"I don't know." Dean answers. "Some scratches in the floor."
"Death throes maybe?" Sam guesses.
"Maybe." Dean answers. He looks to the desk and finds paper and a pencil. He sets the paper on the floor then scribbles over it. When he's finished he lifts the paper off the floor to see what it says. "Or maybe a message." I look over his shoulder. "Look familiar?"
"Three letters, six digits." I say.
"The location and combination of a post office box." Sam continues my thought.
"It's a mail drop." I finish.
"That's just the way dad does it." Dean says.
We go to the post office in town and find the mailbox. Dean puts in the combination and inside is an envelope addressed to 'J.W.'. We head back to the car before we start talking about it. Once again, I'm in the back seat.
"'J.W.'-You think?" Sam asks. "John Winchester?"
"It's gotta be." I say.
"I don't know." Dean says. "Should we open it?" Suddenly there's a knock on Dean's window, and we all jump in surprise. The figure leans down so w can see his face, and a smile instantly grows on my face. "Dad?" Dean asks as I open up the door to the back seat so he can join us in the car.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Sam asks. "Are you all right."
"Yeah, I'm okay." John answers. "Slugger left me a message the other day, but by that time I had already read the news about Daniel." He glances at me and nods his appreciation. "I got here as fast as I could." He pauses shifting his gaze between the three of us. "I saw you three up at his place."
"Why didn't you come in, dad?" Sam asks.
"You know why." John answers. "Because I had to make sure you weren't followed...by anyone...or anything." It never escapes me how I feel so grown up one second, then John comes along and I feel like I'm twelve years old again. "Nice job covering your tracks, by the way."
"Yeah, well, we learned from the best." Dean comments.
"Wait, so you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asks.
"Yeah." John answers solemnly. "He was...he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting."
"I know that Shel knows about him because of Bobby, but you never mentioned him to us." Sam points out.
"We had a...we had kind of a falling out." John says. "I hadn't seen him in years." John then turns his attention to the envelope in Dean's hand. "I should look at that." Dean hands him the envelope and John opens it. He begins reading the letter out loud for all of us to hear. "If you're reading this, I'm already dead." Then he stops reading out loud as he reads further on his own.
"That son of a bitch." He says as he passes the letter to me.
"What is it?" Dean asks.
"He had it the whole time?" I ask. Then it hit me why that gun box looked so familiar. I had only seen it once as a picture in one of Bobby's books.
"What?" Sam asks.
"When you searched the place, did you see a gun, an antique, a colt revolver?" John asks. Did you see it?"
"No gun." I answer. "Only the case was left."
"They have it." John says.
"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asks.
"We gotta pick up their trail." John says as he moves to leave the car. He shuts the door behind him as Sam stops him to ask a question.
"Wait. You want us to come with you?"
"If Elkins is telling the truth, we've gotta find this gun." John says.
"The gun? Why?" Another question from Sam. Good old Sammy. Why don't you ever just go with the flow?
"Because it's important, that's why."
"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet." Sam objects.
"They were what Danny Elkins killed best..." John answers, and my eyes go wide in shock.
"Vampires." I finish his thought. Dean and Sam look back at me in shock and confusion.
"Vampires?" Dean asks. "I thought there was no such thing." Now I'm the one who's shocked.
"You never even mentioned them, dad." Sam adds.
"Really, John?" I ask. "Why would you leave out vampires?"
"I thought they were extinct." John answers simply. "I thought Elkins and others had wiped them out."
"Well, you were wrong." I say to myself hoping he didn't hear me.
"Yes, Shelby, I was wrong." He raises his voice slightly and uses my birth name. "Let's go back to the hotel. You get a room yet?"
"We headed straight to the cabin when we got into town." I answer.
"Alright, I'll explain everything when we get there." With that John goes to his truck, and the boys shake of their shock that vampires are real. When we get a room and settle in, John breaks out into a lesson about vampires. "Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late." The rest of the night was spent in awkward silence until the boys went to sleep. John and I stayed up. I sit on the ledge below the window and he sits at the small table in the middle of the room. He holds a radio in his had to keep track of the police movements, keeping track of anything that seems off. "Why don't you get some sleep." John offers. "I got watch." I smile at him.
"I would if I could." I tell him. He looks a bit confused, so I elaborate. "I've been having a lot of nightmares about a certain demon we all know."
"Ah." He sounds in understanding. "They'll pass eventually."
"I don't think they'll stop until that yellow eyed bastard is dead." I hiss out as I look back out the window. There is only static filling the silence until he breaks it.
"How are you and Dean doing?" He asks me.
"He's been good to me through this." I say as I pull my knees up to my chest. "Let's just say this is no fun for either of us." I chuckle. "If you know what I mean." He chuckles too as he nods his head.
"Maybe it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to...you know. It might make you tired enough to get you to sleep through the night."
"What is happening, right now?" I ask as I continue to chuckle. "Are you telling me to have sex with your son so I can sleep?" He joins me in my soft chuckles once again.
"I'm just glad you kids are back together." He says. The static on the radio turns to voices and John motions for me to be quiet so he can listen to them.
"Unit 22, let me confirm. Mile marker 41, abandoned car...you need a work up"
"Copy that."
"Possible 207, better get forensics out here."
John shuts the radio off and nods his head to signal that that was our cue. He grabs his jacket before waking the boys. I get off the window ledge and grab my own jacket.
"Sam, Dean, lets go." John says as he hits the boy's feet to wake them. Dean groans as I get Deans jacket and bring it over to him. "Picked up a police call."
"What happened?" Sam asks.
"A couple called 911. They found a body in the street." John starts. "Cops got there, everyone was missing. It's the vampires." As Dean slowly puts his jacket on, while still sitting on the bed, I run my fingers through his short hair.
"How do you know?" Sam asks. Dean gets his jacket on then stands up. He grabs my face and plants a quick kiss on my lips then my forehead. Anything more and I would feel embarrassed in front of his dad and brother, not that they were paying attention.
"Just follow me, okay?" John says. Sam is the first to follow John outside. I'm the next as I drag Dean behind me and scoffs.
"Vampires." Dean says. "It gets funnier every time I hear it." We all get in our respective cars and head out, following John. We head to the scene of the abandoned car and John goes to talk with the cops who are investigating. He tells us to stay put and that gets on Sam's nerves a bit. I sit on the hood of Baby, with my aviators on, and leaning forward onto Dean's chest. I could probably fall asleep right here. His scent is so comforting as he rubs my back. Sam breaks the silence from my left.
"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him." He says
"Oh, don't tell me it's already starting." Dean replies I reluctantly lean back to sit up straight and look to my right to see John on his way back to us.
"What's starting?" Sam asks.
"What do you got?" I ask John as he gets within earshot.
"It was them alright." John answers. Dean turns around and leans back on the impala between my legs. I hug him around the rest my head on his shoulder as John continues. "It looks like they're heading west. We have to double back to get around that detour."
"How can you be so sure?" Sam asks him.
"Sam." Dean and I try to stop the youngest Winchester from starting something.
"I just wanna know we're going in the right direction."
"We are." John answers simply.
"How do you know?" Sam asks his father. John pulls something out of his pocket and hands it to Dean.
"I found this." John says.
"It's a vampire fang." Dean comments.
"No fangs...teeth." I say in his ear as I look to the tooth in his hand.
"A second set descends when they attack." John adds. He turns back to Sam. "Any more questions?" Sam stays silent. "Alright, let's get outta here. We're losing daylight." He moves to walk back to his truck. "And, Dean, why don't you touch up your car before you get rust?" Dean stands up and I slide off the hood as we walk to the passenger side of the car. "I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were gonna ruin it." Dean seems to be a little upset at his father's words. I rub his back this time to comfort him.
"I have to admit, Baby is looking a little rough." I say softly. "We can spend our next free day working on her together, okay? Ooh, we could go visit Bobby at the junk yard. He has all the tools we'd need."
"That sounds nice actually." Dean smiles at me before planting a quick kiss on my lips. The three of us get in the car and follow John's truck as he speeds off. This is one of the few times that Sam has ended up driving. I hope he doesn't do anything stupid. Dean decides to do some research on vampires. "Vampires nest in groups of eight to ten." Dean reads out loud. "Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest, where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks." He finishes reading and then comments. "I wonder if that's what happened to that 911 couple."
"No doubt." I answer.
"That's probably what dad's thinking." Sam says. "Of course, it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks."
"Sammy, please don't start this." I say. "Don't go down this road. I just got rid of my headache."
"What?" Sam asks.
"Sam, we've been lookin' for dad all year." Dean starts. "Now we're not with him for more than a couple hours and there's static already."
"No." Sam scoffs. "Look, I'm happy he's okay, alright, and I'm happy that we're all working together. Good." Sam starts explaining. "It's just the way he treats us like we're children." Okay, so it's not just me, but I see it as more nostalgic than a bad thing.
"Oh God." Dean says as he roll his eyes.
"He barks orders at us, Dean. He expects us to follow him without question."
"Sam." Dean says, trying to stop Sam's rant.
"He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal."
"He does what he does for a reason." Dean finally is able to say as I feel my headache coming back.
"What reason?" Sam asks.
"Our job!" I yell out. Both boys stop, letting me continue. "There's no time to argue. There's no margin for error. It's just the way he runs things, okay?" I finish as I hold my hand out to Dean. Somehow he knows what I'm asking for and gets me a couple more Advil capsules and hands me a bottle of water. "Thanks."
"No problem, babe." He replies.
"Yeah. well, maybe that worked when we were kids, but not anymore, alright?" Sam continues to argue. "Not after everything the three of us have been through. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line and letting him run the whole show?" He asks.
"If that's what it takes." Dean answers simply. Sam looks to me through the rearview mirror and I nod in agreement with Dean. Silence fills the car before Dean gets a call from John. "Yeah dad...alright, got it." He says before hanging up. "Pull off the next exit."
"Why?" Sam asks.
"'Cause dad thinks we got the vampires' trail." Dean answers.
"How?"
"Oh God." I say to myself.
"I don't know. He didn't say." Dean answers again. With that, Sam revs the engine and speeds up. He passes John's truck and gets in front of him before slamming on the breaks and swerving into the opposite lane so John can't drive past us.
"What the hell, Sam?!" I yell at him as he gets out of the car.
"Oh crap. Here we go." Dean says as he gets out. "You alright?" He asks me as he opens my door.
"I'm fine, thanks." I tell him. "But pretty soon your brother won't be. If John doesn't kill him, I'm sure I'm up for the task."
"Calm down." Dean says. "No one is killing anyone tonight."
"What the hell was that?" John says to Sam as he gets out of his truck.
"We need to talk." Sam tells him.
"About what?" John asks.
"About everything."
"That's real specific Sam." I pipe in.
"Where we going, dad?" Sam asks. "What's the big deal about this gun?"
"Sammy come on. We can Q and A after we kill all the vampires." Dean says.
"Your brother's right. We don't have time for this." John comments.
"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous to be together. Now, out of the blue, you need our help." Sammy does have a point, but he also needs to cool it. "Now, obviously something big is going down and we wanna know what."
"Get back in the car." John tells him.
"No." Sam defies the order.
"I said get back in the damn car." John repeats.
"Yeah, and I said no." Sam also repeats.
"Alright, you made your point, Sammy." I say. "I know for a fact we're all tired, so we can talk about this later." There is a pause before Dean grabs Sam's jacket to push him back to the car.
"Sammy, come on." Dean says. I follow them as Sam makes another comment.
"This is why I left in the first place." He says to himself. I hope to God that John doesn't hear him.
"What'd you say?" John says. My hope did not come true. I let out a sigh of irritation.
"You heard me." Sam snaps back.
"Yeah, you left." John says. "Your brother, Shelby, and me...we needed you." Oh please just make it stop. "You walked away, Sam. You walked away!"
"Stop it, both of you." Dean tries to stop it. Maybe he's able to read my thoughts.
"You're the one who said, 'don't come back', dad!" Sam points out. "You're the one who closed that door, not me! You were just pissed you couldn't control me anymore!" John grabs onto Sam's shirt and jacket in a threatening manner and Dean tries to step in again.
"I said, stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" He's able to separate them. "That's enough!" all of them are breathing heavy from the yelling match before Dean turns to John. "That means you, too." I watch as Sam gets in the impala, then John goes back to his truck, leaving Dean and I standing in the middle of the road between them. "Terrific." We go back to the doors we exited, still open, and get in. We drive the rest of the way with John still leading the way.
We finally make it to where John thinks there is a pack of vampires, as the sun comes up. I put my aviators back on before getting out of the car. We stay as far away as we can so we aren't detected by the pack. We watch as a car drives up to a large barn and the door opens to reveal a man with shoulder length, wavy black hair. A man gets out of the car and heads inside, followed by the man who opened the door.
"Son of a bitch." John says.
"So they're really not afraid of the sun." Dean comments.
"No, direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn." John says.
"The only way to kill 'em is by beheading." I add.
"How do you know all this stuff about vampires?" Dean asks.
"What? I read." I explain as simply as possible.
"And they sleep during the day, but it doesn't mean they won't wake up." John continues.
"So I guess walking right in's not our best option." Dean says.
"Actually, that's the plan." John says. The guys look confused, and I am in the same boat with them. John heads back to his truck, and we follow him. Sam and Dean open the trunk of the impala as I watch John pull up a hidden compartment door and presses a button, causing another compartment to reveal itself. It's a pretty impressive cache of weaponry.
"Wow, that's impressive." I comment as I stare at all the organized weapons. Every one has it's own place to be and I can't help but appreciate how awesome that is. Sure, Baby's armory is impressive too, but come on.
"Yeah, I've made some improvements to it since the last time you saw the bed of this truck." John chuckles.
"Hey dad, I've got an extra machete if you need one." Dean says from the trunk of the impala. John pulls out his own machete.
"I think I'm okay. Thanks." John replies.
"Wow." Dean comments. I giggle at the repeated word I said a few seconds ago. i walk over to the car and dig through my bag in the back seat and pull out my own machete.
"So..." John starts. "You boys really wanna know about this colt?"
"Yes they do." I say as I shut the door to the backseat. "And I'd like to see if you've found out anything else about it, that I haven't read. So spill it."
"As you say, Slugger, It was just a story..." John starts. "A legend really. Well, we thought it was. I never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter. Back in 1835, when Haley's comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo, They say Samuel Colt made a gun...a special gun. He made it for a hunter...a man like us, only on horseback."
"The story goes he made thirteen bullets." I continue. "This hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him." I finish.
"Until somehow, Daniel got his hands on it..." John comments. "They say...they say this gun can kill anything."
"Kill anything, like supernatural anything?" Dean asks.
"Like the demon." Sam figures out.
"Yeah, the demon." John confirms. "Ever since I picked up it's trail, I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun...we may have it." With that explanation out of the way it seems to calm the tension among the four of us.
Soon, we are beginning our plan to get the colt back and maybe kill the blood suckers on our way out. We quietly creep up to the large barn and find a way in through a high window. The boys hoist me up high enough to reach the edge of the open window. John followed me, then Sam and Dean. John goes ahead as Sam, Dean and I wait a bit. Dean closes the window we entered as Sam and I look farther into the barn. I see a large number of hammocks with members of the pack sleeping in them. I look around for where John went, but I can't see where he is. Where did he go?
The three of us carefully walk between the hammocks to not disturb any of them. Out of the corner of my eye I see Dean stop and look at a one of them. I look to see a blonde with cut offs, a low cut top and a woven cowboy hat. I glare at him until his gaze meets mine. I roll my eyes and continue to follow Sam. Seconds go by before I hear Dean accidentally kick a bottle. I look back to see he almost wakes one of them. I watch to make sure he doesn't wake up as dean comes over to me.
"Shel, Dean." We hear Sam whisper, so we go over to where he's crouched in front of a woman tied to one of the posts in the middle of the barn. The boys start to untie her as I keep watch for any movement from the pack. There is some movement in a back room.
"There's more." I whisper to them. Dean stands up and I point him in the direction I heard the noises. He heads towards where I heard noises coming from. I continue to look around the room to make sure we aren't taken by surprise if one wakes up. I hear a metallic noise from where Dean is opening a cage of some sort. The pack only moves around in their sleep a bit, so when they settle down the boys continue what they're doing. I still have no clue where John ran off to, though.
"Hey." I hear Sam whisper. I look down to see that the tied up woman seems to be waking up. "Hey, hey, shh. I'm here to help you." Suddenly the woman lets out a blood chilling scream. I immediately pull out my machete, and Sam stands up next to me and does the same thing.
"Shel! Boys, run!" We hear from one of the back rooms. We bolt towards the large barn door and push through it into the sunlight. We run until we reach the vehicles, but when we get there we realize that John wasn't right behind us.
"Dad!" Dean yells out.
"John!" I yell out as my nerves start to get the better of me. As soon as I saw him break the tree line I let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that." I say as I put my hand on my chest. am and Dean turn to run to the car until John stops them.
"They won't follow." John says. "They'll wait till tonight. Once a vampire gets your scent, it's for life."
"What the hell do we do now?" Dean asks.
"You gotta find the nearest funeral home. That's what." John answers.
"Okay, Dean and I will go." I say.
"No, Slugger." John says. "You and Sam can come back to the hotel with me. You need some rest, and Dean can handle getting what we need on his own." I look to Dean, who only shrugs his shoulders in return.
"What is it you want me to get?" Dean asks.
"Dead man's blood." John answers simply. Dean nods in response and heads to the impala as an involuntary yawn escapes my mouth. "Make sure she gets some shut eye." He calls back to John and Sam.
"Yeah, yeah." I wave them off as I head towards John's truck. Sam joins me as John gets something from the tailgate of his truck. When he get's in the driver's seat he turns his attention to me.
"You still got a headache, Slugger?" He asks me. I nod and he holds a small vial towards me.
"What's that?" I ask.
"It's an herbal remedy for pain." He answers. "I got it when I was passing through Louisiana." I take a deep breath as I take the small vial.
"What the hell?" I shrug as I open the vial and drink up all of the liquid in the vial. I close it and hand it back to John as my face scrunches up. "Oh, that's disgusting." I hear Sam chuckle from the back seat, and John joins in a bit as he starts the truck and starts driving back to the hotel. We stay quiet and my eyelids slowly start to shut as I pull my knees to my chest and lean on the door.
I shut my eyes completely and drift into a deep sleep. There's no dream. Just blackness. It's somewhat calming, and it relieves the anger I feel for John giving me a sleeping tonic. I hope I wake up rested at the very least.
"How'd you get her to sleep?" I faintly hear Dean's voice ask as I begin to smell coffee grinds.
"I know what it feels like to not want to go to sleep." Came John's voice. "I made the tonic for myself, but I figure she needed it more than me. How long has it been since she got a good night's sleep?"
"I don't know. Maybe a couple weeks." Dean answers.
"A month and a half." I answer in a groggy voice.
"What?" Dean asks surprised.
"Hey, John. You got any more of that shit?" I ask.
"I certainly do." He answers. "Though, I would only take it as a last resort. I have no clue what the long term effects will be. And I don't want you getting addicted to the stuff." He jokes. I laugh as I sit up on the hotel bed. I guess someone carried me from the truck.
"And, I know I can wake you up with some coffee." Dean adds.
"So, did you get it?" I ask him.
"Of course I did." Dean seems so proud of himself.
"And we already soaked our weapons, including yours." Sam says. "So we're good to go for the rest of the plan."
"And what is that exactly?" I ask.
Dean and I drive Baby out into the middle of nowhere and 'break down'. We get out and he pops the hood, pretending to figure out what's wrong with it. I lean against the side with my arms crossed to try and keep myself warm.
"Car trouble?" We hear from behind Dean. Both of us turn to see a woman in a denim vest. "Let me give you two a lift..." She says as she looks Dean up and down. "Take you back to my place."
"I think we'll pass." I say as I walk up next to Dean.
"Yeah, we usually draw the line at necrophilia." Dean adds.
"Ooo." She says before backhanding Dean across the face. Before I can do anything a second vampire comes up behind me and restrains me. The woman goes up to Dean and grabs his face. She lifts him up into the air by his jaw.
"I don't normally get this friendly till the second date, but..." Dean says as I feel the one holding me sniff at my hair.
"You know, we could have some fun." She says. "I always like to make new friends." Then she kisses him and I can't help the rage that runs through me. I struggle against my captor until she pulls away from Dean.
"Oh, sorry." Dean says. "I never really stay with a chick that long. In fact, I've been with her the longest, and even that's been on and off." He gestures to me. "Isn't that right, babe?"
"Yeah, totally." I cringe at my answer. Suddenly I hear something fly through the air and hit my captor, causing him to let me go. Then I hear another and it hits the woman, causing her to drop Dean. Sam and John come out of hiding and she starts to talk to them.
"Barely even stings." She tells them. Sam comes over to me and keeps my former captor in his sights.
"Give it time, sweetheart." John says to her. That arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you, isn't it?" The woman faints, but Dean catches her to stop her from falling to the ground. Although, I would love to see her fall flat on her face. "You alright, Slugger?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I answer.
"Load her up." John tells Dean. "I'll take care of that one." He motions to the one by Sam and I. I follow the boys to the truck. Dean loads the woman into the truck, and after he shuts the door I forcefully turn him around and pull his lips to mine. I needed to erase that woman's imprint on his mouth. I finally step back so we can both catch our breath.
"Wow." Dean says. "What was that for?"
"Perhaps it was because that vampire bitch kissed you." I reply.
"Maybe I should kiss vampires more often then." He jokes, but I just glare at him.
"Don't push it." I tell him as I hear John make his way back to us. He sets up a fire before going to his truck to get something.
"Toss this on the fire." He says to Dean as he tosses him something. "Saffron, skunks, cabbage, and trillium," He starts explaining what it is he just gave Dean. "It'll block our scent and hers until we're ready." As Dean gets closer to where I am near the fire I begin to grow nauseated at the scent.
"Stuff stinks." Dean comments.
"I'm guessing that's the point, babe." I comment.
"Point for Slugger." John says. "Dust your clothes with the ashes, and you'll stand a chance of not being detected." I watch as Dean pours out the contents of the bag before just dropping the entire bag on the fire.
"You sure they'll come after her?" Sam asks.
"Yeah." John answers. "Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is gonna wear off soon. So, you don't have a lot of time." Dean and I walk over to join the other two.
"Half-hour ought to do it." Sam tells him.
"And then I want you outta the area as fast as you can." John adds. I snap my head up to look at the father figure standing in front of me.
"John." I say at the same time that Sam and Dean spoke up in protest.
"You can't take care of them all yourself." Dean says.
"I'll have her and the colt." John replies.
"But after, we're gonna meet up, right?" Sam asks. "Use the gun together, right?" There's a pause as we wait for him to answer.
"John!" I shout in irritation. He just avoids making eye contact.
"You're leaving again, aren't you?" Sam points out. I roll my eyes. What the heck? "You still wanna go after the demon alone? You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this."
"Like what?" John asks.
"Like children."
"You are my children. Shelby, too. I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Dad, all due respect, but uh that's a bunch of crap." Dean comments. We all look to him with a bit of surprise. It's rare to hear Dean go against John.
"Excuse me?" John asks.
"You know what the three of us have been huntin'." Dean continues. "Hell, you sent us on a few huntin' trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keepin' us safe."
"It's not the same thing Dean." John says.
"Then what is it?" Dean asks. "Why do you want us outta the big fight."
"This demon..." John starts. "It's a bad son of a bitch."
"So?" I ask.
"I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive." He finishes.
"You mean you can't be as reckless." Dean points out.
"Look..." John says. "I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece." I hear the emotion in his voice and I see his eyes get glassy as he tries to hold back tears. "Your mother's death... it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die, too. I won't."
"What happens if you die?" I ask.
"Yeah, dad, what happens if you die and we coulda done something about it?" Dean adds. I grab onto his hand and interlace our fingers. "You know, I've been thinking. I think maybe Sammy's right about this one. I think we should do this together." I hear the same emotion breaking dean's voice a bit. "We're stronger as a family, dad. We just are. You know it." I nod in agreement.
"We're running outta time." John says. "you do your job, and you get outta the area. That's an order." He says as he looks around at all three of us. Then he walks past us to his truck, leaving the three of us in silence. I clear my throat before talking to the boys.
"Alright, let's go." I drag Dean back to the impala, hands still intertwined, as Sam follows behind us.
We wait for John to distract some of the vampires and lead them away before we move in on the barn. We sneak in and see that there is only one male vampire holding down the fort. He's distracted by a noise by the door, so I took my chance and snuck behind him. I ready my machete as I wait for him to turn around. When he does I smile sweetly at him before raising my machete and attacking him. Dean heads towards the people locked up in the caged area. The captives are released, and once they're all gone it's just the three of us in an empty barn.
"I think that's all that's here." I point out as we search the place for more of the vampire pack.
"They must've all gone and followed their leader." Sam says.
"I think dad's gonna need some help." Dean adds.
"Let's go, then." I smile at the boys. We run back to the impala and go find where John had got to. We finally spot him and the pack of vampires. We exit the car and sneak up behind the vampires. We lay in wait just in case things go south.
It seems to be going fine until the vampires decide to go on the attack. The leader hits John and he flies back into his truck. He lands unconscious on the ground. As the vampire leader stalks towards John, Dean shoots a bolt from the crossbow in his hands. It hits the vampire bitch with the woven cowboy hat, the one he had been looking at the last time we saw them. I smile to myself as we run out of the tree line.
Sam and I charge forward with our machetes and Dean shoots another bolt into one of the blood suckers. I go low first to catch them off guard. I catch their ankle and they fall to the ground. I get on top of the vampire I attacked and it only takes one swing of my machete to cut the fucker's head clean off. I look over at Sam and see that he's struggling. Dean and I try to go help him, but the vampire leader gets Sam in a choke hold and faces us.
"Don't!" He says. "I'll break his neck. Put your blades down." He tells us. I look to Dean and our gazes meet. We look back and his grip on Sam's neck gets tighter. I take a deep breath as I drop my bloody machete to the ground. Dean does the same thing. "You people. Why can't you just leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do."
"I don't think so." I hear John's voice. The vampire holding Sam turns to look and is greeted by a bullet to his forehead. He drops his hold of Sam, and Dean and I grab a hold of him. We all watch as the wound starts to heal, but then it gets worse. His mate calls out to him as he falls to his knees. I can see that he's trying to fight the death that is sure to come to him. Then he drops to the ground fully. I stare in awe at the lifeless body before us.
"Kate, don't." I hear from one of the female vampires. I look to them and see that they're both running to a car and they burn rubber driving away. The four of us just stand in silence. It worked. The colt actually worked.
As we pack up our things to move out John comes back inside.
"So, Slugger, boys..." John starts. The three of us turn to him and meet in the middle of the room.
"Yes, sir." Sam says.
"You ignored a direct order back there." He comments.
"Yes, sir." Sam and I say at the same time.
"But we saved your ass." Dean points out. There is a heavy pause until John breaks the silence.
"You're right." John agrees.
"I am?" Dean asks.
"It scares the hell outta me. You three are all I've got." John says. "But I guess we are stronger as a family. So...we go after this damn thing...together." His words bring a smile to my face.
"Yes, sir." All three of us say. That yellow eyed bastard won't know what hit him. I'm not afraid to see him in my dreams, now. With these three around, I don't have any fear. I know for a fact we are gonna hit this demon as hard as we can, and we will succeed in killing him.