Chapter 13

Life Disrupted

The family soon settled into a comfortable routine. The boys went to school during the day while John and Kate did work around the house. When they got home they would do their homework, have dinner, and then spend time together in the living room, watching TV or playing games.

Both boys had really adjusted to the change. Sam was flourishing in school and would pick a book and read to John at night. Even Dean was getting used to having a permanent home. He didn't complain about school and was even on better terms with Kate.

John was in amazement. He never thought he would be able to ever live this kind of life again after Mary. To be normal. To have a home. To not feel the need to hunt down every evil thing out there and destroy it. He had decided that maybe this was the way to live. He had talked to the owner of the local garage who said he'd be happy to hire John on. And while they hadn't talked to Sam or Dean yet about where their relationship was going, John had decided it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he moved on with Kate. She loved the boys like they were her own and she loved John. And they were happy together.

He glanced up from his book to look at her from across the room. She was watching TV, but caught his gaze, as if she could sense him looking at her. She gave him a small smile. He smiled back.

Sam and Dean were sitting on the floor playing Battleship, oblivious to what the adults were doing. Outside it was dark and it had started to rain. John stood up and stretched.

"I think I'm going to grab myself a drink. You guys want anything?"

Kate got up with him. "I'll come with you. I need to see what the choices are!"

Sam and Dean both requested soda without looking up. Kate and John followed each other to the kitchen. When they were out of view of the boys John wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss. Kate giggled.

Meanwhile, Sam was working on sinking one of Dean's ships. Dean had already managed to sink two of his.

"This game is hard, Dean!" Sam said, a look of disappointment on his face.

"You'll get it, Sammy. It's mostly luck anyways!"

Sam opened his mouth when there suddenly a loud noise. They both looked up at the window and saw something with long, sharp claws drag them across the window, letting out a long shriek of nails on glass. It disappeared before they could see what it was. They froze.

"Dean…" Sam said fearfully.

Dean scrambled to his feet, dragging Sam up with him. He began backing away from the window, never letting go of Sam's arm. "Dad!"

John and Kate heard the panic in Dean's voice and they ran back in the room.

"Dean! What's wrong?" John asked quickly.

Dean pointed at the window, never looking away from it. "There's something out there, Dad!"

"Daddy! It had big long claws!" Sam whimpered.

John's face paled. Kate ran into her room and quickly returned with two rifles, handing one to John.

"It's a vampire," Kate whispered to him. "Jacob tried to get them all, but he knew it would only slow them down. He knew there was a chance they'd be back!"

John swallowed hard and looked around at the other windows, trying to see if there were more.

"Dean," he said roughly. "Take Sammy upstairs to my room. Get the gun with the silver bullets and you both need to hide. Don't come out until I tell you to! Got it?"

Dean nodded and pulled Sam with him as he bolted up the stairs.

John turned to Kate. "Do you have any silver bullets?"

Kate nodded. "They're already loaded with them."

John began going from window to window and looking out of each one, searching. "How many?"

Kate was on the other side of the room, mimicking John's movements. "Just the one. This group believes in everyone for themselves. They hunt alone."

John's eyes strained to hear some noise from the creature, but there was nothing. Even with his hunter senses on high alert there was no sign of him.

Kate began lowering her weapon. "Maybe he's gone already. Maybe he was just looking-"

Her words were cut off by the loud shattering of glass. A large vampire had leaped through the window that Kate was standing by, sending shards of glass flying through the room. Kate was knocked to the floor and John had to shield himself from the flying glass.

The vampire stood at least 6'4 and was extremely muscular. His eyes were blood red and his fangs were stained with blood from a previous meal. He looked at John and grinned.

"Supper," he hissed.

John aimed and fired, but the vampire quickly dodged out of the way. Kate was lying on the floor and John could see she wasn't moving. He fired again and missed. The vampire grabbed a lamp from off of one of the end tables and threw it, narrowly missing John. As John moved closer he could see a pool of blood beginning to form under Kate's limp form. Suddenly a brass candlestick holder flew across the room and hit John in the head, knocking him out cold. His body fell with a dull thud to the floor.

The vampire grinned and brushed his hands off on his worn jeans. "Excellent," he hissed. He began walking towards John, ready to feed.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud upstairs. The vampire spun around to look. He glanced back at John's limp form and smiled. This could wait a minute.

The vampire slowly began making his way up the stairs.

***

Dean had dragged Sam upstairs to their father's room. Dean flung open the closet and pushed aside the clothes revealing the small arsenal hidden in the back. He grabbed John's pistol and pulled out the clip of silver bullets, loading them into the gun. He grabbed a flask of holy water and tucked it in his waistband. He finally pulled out a wooden stake and tucked it in a loop on his jeans.

Sam stood trembling in the middle of the room. His eyes were large and filled with frightened tears.

"What is it, Dean? Is it going to hurt Dad and Kate?"

Dean took a deep breath and turned around. He forced himself to sound confident.

"Dad will take care of it. But you need to hide. Get under the bed!"

Sam began crawling under the bed, but stopped at looked back at Dean.

"What about you? I don't wanna be alone!"

"I'll be right back! Just be quiet and don't come out!"

Sam disappeared under the bed. Dean left the bedroom, holding the pistol ready in his hands. He reached the loft and looked down over the living room. He saw the vampire leap through the window and Kate fall. His saw John trying to fight, but failing. As soon as Dean saw John collapse after getting hit in the head he turned and ran back to the bedroom. He tripped over an end table, sending it crashing to the floor. When he reached the bedroom he shut the door and dove under the bed with Sam.

"Just stay quiet, Sammy," Dean whispered. "It's OK. I'll keep you safe."

Sam buried his face in his arms and cried softly. Dean's heart thundered in his chest. Waiting.

They both heard the steps coming up the stairs. Slowly. Sam whimpered and curled up into a ball. Even he could recognize that the footsteps didn't belong to John or Kate. Once they reached the top the boys heard them pause. Then they came to the bedroom door.

Sam trembled behind Dean. Dean gripped the gun tighter, his whole body shaking. He tried to ignore the nausea he could feel deep in his gut.

The door swung open.

Dean could see a pair of black boots enter the room. His breath caught in his throat. He heard Sam's breath catch as well. Neither one dared to make a sound.

"Come out come out!" a voice hissed playfully. "I can smell you! I know you're in here!"

Neither boy moved. Dean was positive his heart was going to explode out of his chest any second. He prayed that some miracle would occur that would make this thing go away. Would leave them all alone.

That prayer went unanswered.

Suddenly the bed hiding them lifted off the floor and flew across the room, smashing into pieces. Sam screamed and cowered in the corner behind Dean. Dean scrambled back, shielding Sam with his body. The vampire stood over them, smiling.

"Little children," he hissed. "Tasty little things! It's my lucky night!"

Dean was suddenly filled with rage. This thing was not going to lay a hand on Sammy! It had already hurt Dad and Kate, and Dean knew his job was to protect Sam, no matter what.

Fear was forgotten. Dean glared at the vampire who was moving in towards them. His body remembering automatically everything it had been trained to do, Dean raised the gun, aimed, and fired effortlessly.

The bullet hit its mark, piercing the vampire's heart. Its eyes went wide and it collapsed to the floor. Not missing a beat Dean leaped up, pulling out the wooden stake. With one quick motion his stabbed the vampire through the heart. There was one last gasp and then the body crumbled to dust.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Dean was amazed at what he had done. Sam stared at him with wide eyes.

"You killed him, Dean!" he gasped.

Dean nodded dumbly. Then he remembered what had happened downstairs.

"Come on! Dad and Kate are hurt!" he said running out the door. Sam scampered behind him.