Chapter Eleven
On the way back to the hotel room, which was more a hunting lodge than anything else, Dean and Alyson stopped to get food. They hadn't had a real meal in a day. They'd only had chips and such from gas stations.
Dean got him, Sam, and John burgers and fries; he got Alyson chicken tenders and fries, with a large Coke. He'd noticed she wasn't a burger person – she'd ordered maybe one since she'd been with them and that was only because she'd been really hungry.
When they got to their room, Dean noticed Sam and John seemed to have worked things out, which was good even if it wouldn't last long.
They didn't talk much while they ate. He stole one of Alyson's chicken tenders once he knew she wasn't going to eat all of them. She glared at him anyway and he grinned. He loved messing with her.
After eating, they began coming up with a plan to capture the vampires. Basically, what was going to happen was Dean was going to park on the side of the road alone and pretend he was having car trouble. Since the vampires would definitely be looking for them they would find him – they would know him by his scent, which was weird but true.
Alyson and Sam and John would be close by but out of sight.
"Um . . . one tiny flaw," Alyson sad. "Won't they smell us?"
Dean could tell the question was directed at his dad, and he suddenly realized that Alyson would always question anything and everything if she felt the need to. She wasn't scared to tell his dad if he was being stupid or not thinking things through enough. Her question was completely valid.
"Our scents are already on him. They won't be able to differentiate."
"And then what? How do we get the blood in them?"
"Arrows dipped in dead man's blood," Sam explained. "Once the blood is in their system, they'll get weak."
"Then we can stop them and help those people," Dean said.
It wasn't long after that that they put their plan into action.
For the plan to work, Alyson had to ride with Sam and John in John's truck. It wasn't too bad because they didn't argue, but she was smooshed in the middle of the seat.
John was following behind Dean, who had picked the spot out earlier before they'd even left the motel room. They couldn't get too close to the barn because the vampires would know it was a trap.
They eventually pulled off to the side of the road and they all three got out of the truck. They were in a wooded area, trees all around, so they would have no problem finding a place to hide.
John handed the jar of blood to Sam and said, "Get the crossbows out of the back. Start dipping the bolts. I'm gonna hide the truck about a half-a-mile away. I'll be back before sunset."
Sam was tall enough that he didn't have to have the tailgate let down; he just reached over the side of the truck and grabbed two crossbows and the satchel of bolts that went with them. Sam kept one crossbow for himself, but Alyson got the other one. She noticed there were three notches where bolts could be placed. She hoped no more than six vampires showed up. It would take too much time to reload the weapon.
Sam and Alyson walked over to Dean, who was leaning on the hood of his car.
"You okay to shoot that thing?" he asked, gesturing to the crossbow in Alyson's hand.
"Yeah. Archery was an elective at my school. Besides, I kinda think this is the way to prove to John that I'm serious about this."
She still wasn't sure about killing things – even vampires. She knew it had to be done, but she didn't like the thought of killing anything, period. Not to mention, the method by which vampires were killed was horrible.
When it came down to it, she hoped it wouldn't be her who would have to make the final swing.
As promised, John was back by sunset. Sam, Alyson, and Dean were by the Impala. Sam and Alyson both had a crossbow, both already loaded with blood-dipped bolts.
When John tried to take the crossbow from Alyson she refused to let him have it even though it was his weapon.
"I can do it," she said firmly.
"And you won't miss?"
"I won't miss."
"A'right."
The only reason he relented was because Sam also had a crossbow and John knew he wouldn't miss.
John gestured for Sam and Alyson to follow him and they did. Before Alyson moved, however, she warned Dean not to make the vampires too angry.
"Yeah, yeah," Dean said.
It was an interesting dynamic, Dean and Alyson. John had been watching Alyson since she'd defended Dean the day before. At first he'd thought she was just being a smart-mouthed teenager, but then he'd realized she'd actually defended Dean out of loyalty and compassion; she hadn't just wanted the last word.
He'd noticed also that when he'd been arguing with Sam the night before she'd intervened because Dean had been in need of support. She hadn't really said much aside from reminding everyone about the people at the barn, but it had been enough. Sam had listened.
Then there had been the flirting. It hadn't been over-the-top or sexual in any way, but it had been there. Dean would steal a fry of a chicken tender and she would glare or slap his hand or even stick her tongue out at Dean.
It was playful – kid flirting - and it was nice. In fact, it was really nice because Dean's face would light up with a grin whenever Alyson took the bait and played along with his flirtations.
John had no problems with Dean and Alyson flirting, but she was very young. She was also in a vulnerable place right now, he thought. Vulnerable enough to mistake hero worship with feelings of love.
He didn't want Dean hurt any more than he already had been. And Dean would be hurt if Alyson decided she'd only had a crush and moved on from one of the men who had saved her. Dean actually liked this girl.
John knew the symptoms; he'd been in love once himself.
Sam, Alyson, and John had only been hidden for about ten minutes when Alyson felt a sudden chill.
"They're coming," she said to Sam, forgetting that John would have no idea how she would know that. She guessed she would have some explaining to do after this was over.
John seemed to be searching for the vampires since Alyson had said they were coming. He then looked at her suspiciously and she gave a small shrug in response.
"I'll explain later," she said, promise in her voice.
They all looked at Dean then, who had popped the hood and was now leaning over the engine and pretending something was wrong with it. A woman – a vampire – had shown up. She was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt on top of a white long-sleeved shirt. She had a jean jacket vest and blue jeans on.
She looked like a rocker chick; maybe she'd been in a metal band before she'd died.
Dean and the vampire began talking he must've said the wrong thing because he was suddenly being hit. The force knocked him to the ground.
Another vampire, this one male, came up behind the woman, who was now grabbing Dean around the throat with one hand. She actually lifted him off the ground.
Alyson gasped at the display of strength. This woman was extremely strong. It shouldn't have surprised her; the woman was a vampire.
The woman vampire began to molest Dean's mouth and Alyson felt her stomach tighten in disgust. She brought her crossbow up and aimed at the woman. She let loose a bolt and it hit the vampire in her chest.
Dean was dropped to the ground. The two vampires looked annoyed, but they didn't seem hurt at all. Had John gotten something wrong about the blood? She had shot the woman and Sam had shot the male, but they were still standing.
John, who had been holding a machete ever since he'd gotten back from hiding the truck, led Sam and Alyson out of their spot and they began going towards Dean.
The vampires were aware of their presence now and the woman made a comment about the bolt barely even stinging.
"Give it time, sweetheart," John said. "That arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you, isn't it?"
The male was the first to fall down. He was on his knees in front of John. The other one fell backward into Dean, who was on his feet now.
"Load her up," John ordered. "I'll take care of this one."
Dean picked the woman up and carried her to the car, where he placed her in the backseat and then shut the door behind him.
"She's unconscious."
Sam touched Alyson's arm and she looked up at him. He gestured for him to follow him and then looked at his dad. John had his machete raised in the air. Alyson then knew why Sam wanted her away. He didn't want her seeing this vampire getting decapitated.
She didn't want to see that either, so she turned away and they both began walking to the car. She could still hear what happened. She heard the whoosh of the blade slicing through air and the blood splattering on the ground.
She shuddered as they reached Dean, who gave her his are you okay look. She nodded and shrugged at the same time.
"Just glad I didn't see."
A few minutes later John was there alongside them and began cleaning his blade off. Alyson did her best not to see that too.
"We need to get to the truck. I have some stuff that should cover our scents."
John and Sam climbed onto the backseat and Alyson got in the front with Dean. She really didn't mind that arrangement. What if the vampire woke up or something? She wouldn't know what to do, but John and Sam would, and they would be able to take care of it.
"So, who shot the Dracu-babe back there?" Dean asked.
"Me," Alyson said.
"Good shot," he praised.
"Told you I wouldn't miss," she said as she looked back. Dean knew that must've been for his dad.
His dad, however, seemed preoccupied with something else. He had a set look to his face and Dean knew that meant that whatever John was worried about was something they needed to face now.
"How did you know they were coming before they got there?"
Dean was driving so he couldn't help Alyson with this. She must've said something to Sam without thinking about it and his dad had caught on.
"I can sort of sense when something supernatural is around. I have supernatural radar or something."
"Is that why the demon's after you?"
Dean heard the harshness of his dad's voice and could feel the tension coming from Alyson.
"We don't know," Sam said. "All we know is that she's supposed to be inherently good. That would be a good reason for the demon to want someone dead, right?"
"That would be a good reason for a lot of demons to want someone dead." John's voice had lost its edge. "Once word gets around, she'd gonna be in a lot of danger."
"My mom left me a letter," Alyson said and then told John of the priest that had come to see her mother after Alyson had been born. She also told him of the things her mom had written about the crazy things she would be able to do. Her mom had used the word amazing, but Dean guessed crazy worked too.
"I guess sensing supernatural beings is one of them."
"What do you mean sense them?"
"I get the chills and I get shaky sometimes."
Dean pulled behind his dad's truck and they all got out of the car. John tied the vampire to the tree and then gestured for them to gather around the truck. He lowered the tailgate and pulled out a case, which he then began digging through.
John produced a bag from the case and handed the bag to Dean.
"Make a fire and toss this in it."
"What is it?" Alyson asked.
"Saffron, skink cabbage, and trillium. It'll block our scents and hers until we're ready."
Dean opened the bag and sniffed. "This stuff stinks."
He heard Sam chuckled and saw Alyson roll her eyes.
"Um . . . usually if you hear the word 'skunk' in any context, it doesn't lead to smelling good."
Dean chose to ignore Aly's comment and instead began working on building a fire. It wasn't that hard. He just got some wood together and used a very small amount of lighter fluid to get the flames going and waited for the fire to get hot enough before dumping the bags' contents into the fire.
Alyson suddenly covered her nose and mouth with the top of her shirt, and Sam seemed to be holding his breath.
"Dust your clothes with the ashes and you'll stand a chance at not being detected."
"You sure they'll come after her?" Sam asked, gesturing to the vampire.
"Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. The blood sickness is gonna wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time to get those people out."
"Half-hour oughta do it," Sam said.
The contents from the bag had turned to ash, so Dean put the fire out by smothering it and then proceeded to gather up the ashes.
"I'm so gonna need a shower," he muttered and began smudging his clothes.
They were all going to need a shower, or so his nose told him.
Once Sam and Alyson were covered with the ashes, the stinky stuff was passed to John, who didn't cover himself with it.
"I want you out of the area as fast as you can."
Alyson knew then that John had never planned on staying with them or letting them help at all. He was going to take the vampire and lure the others to him.
"Dad, you can't take care of them all yourself," Dean said.
"I'll have her," John said and looked at the vampire, "and the Colt."
"But after . . . We're gonna meet up, right?" Sam asked. "Use this gun together, right?"
John's not answering was answer enough.
"You're leaving again, aren't you? You still wanna go after the demon alone?"
"I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Dad, all due respect, but that's a bunch of crap," Dean said.
Sam and John seemed surprised, but Alyson was mentally applauding Dean. Dean had stood up to John, and maybe Alyson just had Daddy issues due to the lack of having her own dad around when she'd been growing up, but she didn't much like the way John treated his boys. Someone needed to call BS once in a while and it didn't always have to be Sam.
"You know what Sammy and I have been huntin'," Dean said. "You sent us on a few huntin' trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe."
"It's not the same thing, Dean."
"Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?"
"This demon? It's bad. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive." John looked at the ground and spoke again. "Look, I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Mary's death . . . it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too. I won't."
"But what happens if you die? Dad, what happens if you die and we could've done somethin' about it." Dean moved closer to his Dad and continued. "I think maybe Sammy's right about this one. I think we should do this together."
John was silent for a moment, but then he shook his head. "We're running out of time. You do your job and then get out of the area. That's an order."
John walked away from his sons once again. Alyson had a feeling that a lot of Sam's and Dean's memories of John had to do with him walking away.
The last memory Alyson had of her dad was of him walking away as well. She didn't want that for Sam or Dean, so they needed to come up with a plan to save the people at the barn and come back to help John whether he liked it or not.
By the time the people from the barn were saved, another vampire had been killed. That was another two down. Aside from the people being scared half to death, they all seemed okay. They, of course, were suffering from blood loss, but none of them were dying.
Once back at the car Alyson said, "We should go find your dad. We need to make sure he's okay."
Dean's shoulders slumped in relief. He was glad he hadn't had to say it out loud. He wanted to go after his dad, but he didn't want to voice his concern.
Neither Dean nor Sam said anything; they just got in the car with Alyson. Sam had a machete, and Alyson and Dean had the crossbows. She took Dean's from him and loaded both up with blood-tipped bolts.
Dean started the car and began driving. They didn't have to go far; they stopped near the spot John had last been. If John had wanted to draw the vampires to him, he wouldn't have moved much.
He parked the car about a quarter of a mile from where Dean knew his dad would be and they walked the rest of the way. It was easier to sneak up on people without the noise of a car.
By the time they found John, he was on the ground by his truck. Like Dean had thought, he dad hadn't gone anywhere. The window to the truck had been smashed and John was lying in the glass. There were four other vampires besides the one Alyson had shot earlier. There were two girls and two guys. Alyson shot one of the girls; Dean shot one of the guys.
That was how they made their presence known.
Sam raised this blade to take one of them out, but the unwounded guy hit Sam, which knocked him to the ground. Sam dropped his machete and the vampire grabbed him, brought Sam to his feet, and started choking him.
Dean grabbed the blade from the ground, but before he could do any damage the vampire said, "Don't, or I'll break his neck. Put the blade down."
Dean could tell that Sam was desperately trying to get some air in his lungs. Because Dean's instinct was to always protect Sam, he gave in and the machete clattered on the ground.
"You people. Why can't you just leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do."
"Not when you're killing people," Alyson muttered.
Dean saw his dad get up off the ground with the gun in his hands. Some of the weight lifted from Dean's chest. At least his dad was okay. His dad would make everything okay now; he had the gun that could save Sam.
The vampires, however, had their backs to John so they had no clue. The leader seemed to be more interested in suffocating Sam, anyway, or he had been until Alyson had spoken. Now he was interested in her.
"You seem interesting. Once these two are dead, we might keep you."
Dean was about to object when John said, "I don't think so."
The vampire jerked around, dragging Sam with him. John shot the vampire in the middle of his forehead and Sam was able to work himself free. Sam had blood on his cheek from being so close to the vampire when he'd been shot.
Everyone watched as the vampire fell to his knees. There was a flash of light and then he was flat on the ground not moving at all.
The two vampires that were left dragged the dead vampire's mate away even though she was glaring murderously at John. He had killed her mate, so of course she'd be furious.
Sam beheaded the one with the poison in his system, and Dean saw Alyson flinch and look away. Sam was obviously fine, seeing as to how he was decapitating vampires, and Alyson seemed fine even if she was disgusted by the execution method.
Earlier, Sam had protected her from seeing John decapitate someone, but after having been choked he'd probably done it without thinking.
Dean was still caught up on the fact that the gun actually worked. They had a way to kill the demon now. There would always be other things to hunt, other people to help, but with this gun they could put their main demon to rest – they could actually kill the thing.
"Okay, you three head back to the car. The vampires won't go back to the barn, so you don't have to worry about that."
"Meet back at the motel?" Sam asked.
John hesitated but eventually nodded. "I'm gonna hide the bodies somewhere in the woods, but I'll be there in a couple hours."
They just had to take on faith that he was telling the truth.
When John got back to the motel, he saw that the three had already packed up so they could leave in the morning. They all looked at him when he stepped into the room.
He'd done some thinking while he'd been disposing of the bodies of the two vampires. He'd been done for before Sam, Dean, and Alyson had come for him.
"So . . . you ignored a direct order back there."
"But we saved your life," Dean said.
John didn't know where Dean was getting his attitude from, but he figured it might have to do with the smiling girl beside his eldest son. She was looking down, trying to hide her grin, but John could still see her upturned lips.
"You're right," John said, surprising both of his boys. "It scares me. You two are all I've got. But I guess we are stronger as a family, so we go after this thing together."
"Yes, sir," Sam and Dean said in unison.
"And Alyson stays," Dean added.
"Of course she does," John said, smiling slightly.
Alyson could make Dean happy. John wasn't going to take away Dean's chance at happiness.
John knew Dean would never have a normal life even though he wanted that for both Sam and Dean, but that didn't mean they couldn't find love and happiness.
That night Alyson didn't sleep that well. For one, she couldn't get the sight of Sam decapitating the vampire out of her mind. It had been necessary, of course, but it had also been a sight she could've done without.
For two: John was cleaning the machetes and sharpening them. The metallic hiss the blade made was unnerving and made sleep almost impossible. She didn't know how Sam and Dean had fallen asleep so fast.
Maybe they were just so used to noises like that that it didn't bother them anymore.
Alyson sighed and sat up and John looked at her.
"This keepin' you awake?"
"A little," she said and smiled. "Doesn't matter. Can you teach me how to do that?"
"You want me to teach you?"
"Sure."
John was seated at the table, so she went and sat with him. He did not let her sharpen one of the machetes; he gave her a small knife to start with. Things were silent as he taught her how to sharpen the small blade.
Once she was able to do it on her own, without instruction, he began speaking.
"I wasn't always Drill Sergeant Winchester, you know."
"Never said you were, but Dean loves that car and you had no right to tell him he was ruining it."
Alyson didn't say much after that because she wasn't the small talk type. She said what she wanted to say and then left it alone.
She went about sharpening the blade John had given her for a few minutes, but then she messed up.
"Crap," she hissed. She had sliced her finger open; apparently, she hadn't been holding the sharpener right.
She saw blood come out of the top of her pointer finger and she dropped the sharpener to the floor. She put her finger to her mouth and eased the pain with her tongue.
John had reacted immediately; he went to his bag and grabbed a first aid kit. She wondered if he always carried one with him.
"You don't need to do that," she said, after taking her finger out of her mouth. The cut was no longer there.
"We don't want it to get infected," John said. He hadn't even looked at her finger yet.
"It won't." She showed him where the wound had been and when he saw that the skin was clear of any blemish at all he just stared at her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Alyson Daniels. High school graduate. And until about a month ago, I was completely normal."
To avoid having to explain everything to him, Alyson just let him read the letter her mother had left her. She had explained everything she knew earlier, but the letter would explain things better than she ever could.
As John was reading through the letter Alyson had given him he couldn't help but feel amazed. No, he'd never heard of anything good that could do what Alyson did – healing herself within the blink of an eye – but if what he was reading was true, then she would someday be a great asset.
The girl already had guts even if she didn't seem to know it. She'd never have been able to put him in his place if she was spineless. She was pretty good with a crossbow and she hadn't thrown up or anything when she'd seen Sam slice the head off of the vampire earlier.
She hadn't liked it, but . . . she'd dealt with it. She was willing to learn about hunting, probably as a way of honoring her mother, but the point was that she wasn't running scared.
"How old are you? You said you graduated."
"I'm seventeen."
"Hm, what have you been helping the boys with?"
She smiled slightly and blushed. "Research mostly I'm pretty good at that."
"Bet Dean's relieved," John remarked.
"He does seem better at the practical stuff. He's got a great memory, though."
"He's also trying to sleep," Dean's voice mumbled from his spot on the bed.
John watched as Alyson's cheeks turned even redder before she giggled. They had both thought Dean was asleep.
"Sorry," she said. "We won't talk as loud."
"No, you won't," Dean said, pushing himself up into a sitting position. "You should be going to sleep."
"Can't. Still getting over the fact that vampires are real."
"Dean's right. You should sleep. I won't sharpen anything else."
As if on cue, Alyson yawned and Dean grinned.
"I think you'll be okay," he said. "You'll probably be dead to the world in two minutes, tops."
John watched in mild amusement when Alyson hopped up from her chair only to shove Dean back to a laying position. She quickly went to her side of the bed and got under the covers.
John figured he should get some sleep too since he hadn't the night before. If they were going to start looking for that demon, they would all need to gather their strength.
Okay, I don't particularly have a favorite scene in this chapter, but I like bits and pieces of it all. Mostly, I like John's observations about Alyson. I wasn't able to put those in when I wrote it before because it was all in 1st person POV.
Review and let me know what you think!