-14-

Castiel had pointed them in the right direction before disappearing to attend to other matters. For once, Dean had offered to busy himself with researching the towns supernatural past. Sam suspected it was for the best, since tempers were promising to spark if he was around Dean for much longer. What was he trying to play at with the comment in the living room anyway? Was he trying to tell Sam to be the good guy, or apologising or just being a dick like Dean had a tendency to do?

Sam huffed, loudly, and wasn't surprised when Caroline turned and raised a brow. Instantly Sam's head flooded with more questions. Assessing and over-analysing the blonde girl in front of him, as he did with everything. It wasn't hard to see why Dean had fallen for her. In fact, she looked sort of familiar, but he couldn't place the face. But there was surely something more to her, or Dean wouldn't have defended her. He's not that bad after all.

"Is everything okay Sam?" She asked after a pause. He nodded, his ever reassuring nod and broke his gaze off of her.

"Sure. Just got a lot on my mind right now, getting this Colt back and all. I can't stress how important this gun is. So we really need to pull this off."

It took a while of them walking together, exchanging polite conversation usually prompted by an apparently bored, yet curious, Caroline, before they emerged on the outskirts of a quiet, yet not abandoned storage area. Rows of private garages sprawled out for a short distance in front of them, with one or two trucks strewn about the place where their owners were obviously busy.

"Careful." He said as they approached. Sam instinctively reached his arm out to his left, across Caroline's front while reaching inside his jacket for Ruby's knife. Curling his fingers around the handle gave him a boost of confidence, but it took a second for him to remember his outstretched arm. Caroline tapped it with her hand gently before slipping past it.

"Sorry" Sam attempted an apologetic expression. "Force of habit."

She responded with her beaming smile and wandered forward a few paces before turning back to face him. "What're we looking for?"

"Well, erm, a gun. Like an old revolver type. There won't be a lot of them about, so that'll stick out. But in this place…" he looked at the lanes of metal sheeting and brick walls. "Look for strange scribbles of graffiti. They're the symbols which keep Angels out."

She nodded, though she gave Sam the impression she thought he was mad. As he began walking into the complex, she vanished in a blur and immediately Sam became wary. Had she sold him out? Nobody was suddenly charging him, the weather wasn't changing, the temperature didn't suddenly chill. He hadn't been pushed by an invisible hand, nor clubbed in the back of the head…so why did he feel so uneasy?

His spare hand went to the holster at his side, where he brushed his fingers against the cold metal of his pistol. When he finally figured nothing was going to happen, he proceeded in the manner he'd planned before he was abandoned, looking around each individual garage for marks or signals they'd been anointed in Enochian. A hand brushed against his shoulder as he walked, causing him to spin instinctively, knife in hand. Caroline leapt back with astonishing reflexes, before giving him a sour glare.

"Would you be careful? Jesus. I'd really prefer to go home with my face intact, thank you very much." She huffed at him, a mix of jest and annoyance, before continuing. "I think I found it."

She walked in front of him, tossing a smile at a gruff passer-by before suddenly quickening and Sam, following her lead, kept pace with surprising ease by extending his strides. When they turned a corner within the maze of garages and lockups, he pulled her to one side with a hint of alarm.

"What was that all about? One minute you're giving them a friendly smile, then we're hurrying away…?"

"He was a hybrid. I smelt it. They smell of doggy. He smelt of doggy."

Sam gave her an incredulous look. "And it's not possible the Great Dane sitting in his backseat has anything to do with that?"

He hated being sceptical, since she was only trying to help. And surely, since she actually knew what these Hybrid types were, he should trust her? On the other hand, nothing would come from jumping the guy apart from perhaps a visit from the local police force…which was the last thing they needed.

Caroline stifled a response and gave him a stern eye. "Fine. This way."

She walked with purpose, guiding Sam to a relatively untouched lot, with familiar symbols strewn across the wall. Not only Angel warding, but Demon variants too. Whoever was hiding this wanted it to stay hidden. He went to the door and with a shoulder barged at it, but it made no signal of budging. Caroline watched him for a minute, before erupting into laughter and pushing him aside. Taking a step back she sized the door up before kicking a foot once at the thick padlock and when that fell to the floor, a second at the handle, flinging the door open.

With a smile of his own he was forced to concede that Caroline definitely was of some use. "Careful" he reminded her as she went to step inside, though she barely seemed to pay attention. The inside of the lot had more decoration than that of outside. More Angel sigils accompanied by Demon traps as well as a few other marks, some of which Sam struggled to place.

"I don't like it in here Sam. Can we just find your little gun and get out of here?"

Sam found himself thinking the same thing. Something didn't feel right. He had an uneasy sensation dwelling in his stomach as he started to rummage through boxes and crates.

"Caroline, scratch away at some of the white marks on the walls. You only need to break the sigil a little for it to lose its effect. So do enough that it's no longer complete, but try and keep it so the naked eye won't notice a difference." She nodded, happy to be finally set to purpose while Sam busied himself with his search for the Colt.

How on earth it had ended up in this place Sam would never know. When he thought about it, the last time he'd seen the colt was when Lucifer had brought back the final horseman…and he knew all too well how that ended.

His hands delved into yet another box, filled with too much stuff he didn't want to find. It all seemed a little overkill for all the sigils and magic warding the place possessed, only to hide a few books and trinkets.

And suddenly his hand brushed against something that wasn't a worn leather cover or aged pages. The handle of the gun slipped into his hand and he pulled his arm free. Almost in disbelief he stared at it, yet it had all the tells of being authentic, especially since he knew where to look. It was the colt all right. He turned back to an anxious looking Caroline, who'd managed to do as he'd suggested to a good portion of the runes on the walls. Waving the Colt in his hand he nodded towards the door, and silently she made an exit. He caught up with her outside, yet she'd adopted a quick walk as they traversed the length of the complex. "That was easy" she said quietly, after a few seconds. "Almost-"

"-too easy?" interjected a refined accent. "You two are very good, Caroline especially. I suppose I'll need a new lock for that door, and while I'm at it I expect I'll have to do a little interior design."

Sam turned in sync with Caroline to face a small group of men, one of which they'd passed earlier, fronted by a man with a young face, smartly dressed in black, and wearing a sinister smile. His eyes though, they were vicious almost; a characteristic not normally associated with eyes. The way his gaze burned into Sam would have disturbed Sam a great deal if he hadn't been so seasoned with the hunter's life. He held the Colt in his right hand, passing Ruby's knife to his left and looked over to Caroline for an explanation.

"Come on sweetheart. Don't tell me you haven't introduced us yet? Sam mate – I got that right didn't I? I go by a few names, but you can call me Klaus, your friendly neighbourhood antique collector and connoisseur of fine wine amongst many other things. How about you hand back what's rightfully mine, and I'll forget this whole fiasco ever occurred?"

Caroline mouthed "Hybrid" to Sam when he looked at her again, so at least she knew what the hell was going on.

"I'm afraid I can't do that…Klaus. If you want it, you'll have to come and get it."

Sam hoped the confidence in his voice would somehow end up filling him with purpose, but if truth be told, he felt rather helpless. The only chance of a silver lining here was that he might have a chance to test the Colt…that is, if it happened to be loaded.

"Very well" replied Klaus in a dismissive tone. "Go and fetch me my bloody gun and make sure to kill them. Both."

They moved much faster than Sam was used to, bursting from Klaus' side at a sprint, to which Caroline responded by racing to meet them, and swiftly disposed of one with a brutal display of strength he still struggled to associate with her. He guessed it would come in time, or when she showed a continued ability to decapitate grown men. Muttering a silent prayer of urgent assistance from Cas, which he doubted would do him any good due to his inability to summon Cas…ever, he snapped back to the current situation in just enough time to duck a very heavy punch before pushing into the gruff fellow from earlier, and burying the knife into his stomach. The Demon knife had no effect, other than hurting them, it seemed. Throwing the man to the floor, he lined the gun up with his head and pulled the trigger.

"Gun still works" he said to himself as the body spluttered a blue hue before ceasing to move. Before he had a moment to rest, he felt a fist crush into his ribs. Thrown backwards on impact, his brain rattled in his skull as he hit the floor and barely able to gain his focus, he managed a meek defence of slashing the knife upwards when the balled fist came down again.

That brought a scream of pain down on him instead. Piercingly loud, but at least it didn't hurt like his ribs did. With the man reeling in agony, he slashed again with a more deliberate blow, cutting through his neck, which silenced him accordingly. When he looked up, Caroline was straddled over the chest of someone who'd attached their hands to her throat, while she pinned her fingers into the sockets of his eyes. Sam watched on, and gradually winced as a groan of torment rang out. When she finally rose, a slow round of applause followed.

"Bloody good show. Made for interesting watching, I'll give you that. But come on. I'm still standing, and you two look spent. There's an easy way to resolve this Sam. Take a moment to think about it perhaps?"

"Why would I do that, when I could just do…this?" Sam raised the gun, pointing it in the direction of the last remaining hybrid, with a slight smile.

"Sam don't!" Caroline cried suddenly. "You can't…you can't do that."

Klaus smiled that same sinister grin he introduced himself with. "Caroline doesn't want you to shoot me because if I die, then she dies. As does everyone else in my vampire bloodline. Didn't expect that one, did you? Now you might see her as collateral, but big brother Dean would never forgive you would he? He trusted you. And if you kill his precious little Caroline, he'd never forgive you.

Sam pulled the trigger regardless. And felt a sharp shock of dread when the hammer clicked back into place without any result.

"Shit."

-14-