Hello all! Sorry for the long wait, summer school is kicking my butt O.o Okay, so before I start getting flames or mean comments, this chapter is not directed at Twilight fans. It is kinda based on the hysteria though. With all the craze about vampires lately, I wouldn't be surprised if something like this actually happened to a few unknowing fans who happened to wander into this kind of situation. That said, hope you like it! :D

The distant, repetitive beep of a heart monitor is always a frustrating thing to wake up to. Heart monitors usually meant hospitals which meant Dean had broken rule number one of the Winchester hunting manual: never go to the hospital. If he was in the hospital, it could only mean the hunt had taken a turn for the worse. Way worse.

He shifted, his limbs feeling heavy and useless, one of the effects of heavy doses of morphine being pumped into his bloodstream. He'd been pumped full of it enough times to recognize the feeling. There was suddenly a hand on his chest, holding him down against the thin mattress. "Sammy…hey…Sammy, can you hear me…?" The voice sounded far away and muffled, like someone was speaking through a Styrofoam cup.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking first at the heart monitor and then at the worried face hovering over him. Dean. Of course it was Dean…that's why he felt safe…

Sam blinked again, opening his mouth to say something and stopping when he felt something very similar to a bandage pull against his throat. He frowned in confusion, reaching up to touch it but stopped by his brother's hands. "Easy bro…no pulling at the bandages yet. You got a pretty nasty wound under there and I'm sure the doctors wouldn't be too thrilled to patch you up again if you busted a stitch."

Sam frowned, swallowing convulsively beneath the bandages, and struggled to find his voice. "What happened?" He asked, wincing as the words caused the tape to pull against the tender skin around the wound. Morphine or not, it still freakin' hurt.

Dean looked torn, wanting to tell him what had happened and weighing that option in itself. "How much do you remember?" He asked instead, pulling his chair a bit closer to Sam's bed.

The younger man thought for a second, trying to pick through his drug-rattled mind and recall where they had been and what they had been doing. It seemed like years ago but he knew it had probably only been a day or two.

OOOOO

They were in Oregon, he remembered that much, and there had been a string of disappearances involving teenage girls all over the state. The most recent set had happened near Portland, at least two dozen teenagers simply disappearing in a matter of days. They'd been the closest so they took the case, examining the evidence and looking for any kind of clues to the girls' disappearance. There was only one witness, a 15-year-old named Heather Berkley, and she appeared so traumatized by the event that she didn't even make sense when the authorities questioned her. She'd just said the word "teeth" over and over again. She was the first person they went to speak to.

Heather was a pretty girl; long, dirty blond hair held in a messy ponytail and green eyes that were red-rimmed and bloodshot from lack of sleep. She appeared nervous around them, shifting uncomfortably in the plastic chair she was sitting in. Her hands clenched and unclenched on the arms of the chair, her knuckles white and bloodless as they spoke quietly to her, away from her parents and the police and everyone else who was convinced she was crazy.

She told them that she and a bunch of her friends had gone Vampire Hunting, a game that had been developed over the past two years in which the participants go to certain areas that are said to be crawling with vampires. It was more of a game of chicken, see who could go the furthest without getting scared, but some people took it seriously. Sam and Dean knew exactly how serious walking into a coven full of vampires could be.

Heather said she and a group of friends, about four all together, had gone to warehouse located on the other side of cemetery, joking and laughing about the possibility of actually finding a vampire. It had all been a game until one of the girls disappeared into the woods, claiming she'd heard something, and never came back. They went searching for her, finding nothing, and then Heather realized she was all alone. The other girls were gone, taken or hiding, she wasn't sure, but she became frightened and ran back toward the road.

She started crying while she was talking and Sam handed her a box of tissues, waiting patiently for her to continue. It took about five minutes before she could continue her story. She said that on her way back to the road, something had appeared in front of her, faster than she'd ever seen anyone move before, grabbed her. She said the person (and used that term lightly) was pale, with dark eyes that glowed in the moonlight. It had sharp teeth, red and glossy with something that looked like blood, and it tried to bite her. At the very last second, a passing truck happened to catch sight of the girl and honked its horn, startling the creature and dropping her. She ran to the truck, shaken and in shock, and returned to the town.

Dean gave his brother a knowing look and Sam nodded, squeezing the girl's arm comfortingly. They promised they believed her and that they would take care of it but she had to show them exactly where they had been that night. Heather shook her head forcefully, fear in her eyes, and begged them not to make her go back. Dean had stepped in then, assuring her that they wouldn't let anything happen to her and that she could trust them, they were professionals. Dean always was better at convincing women than Sam was and after a few minutes, still unsure of her decision, Heather agreed.

OOOOO

"Vampires…?" Sam asked, looking to his brother for confirmation.

Dean nodded slowly. "Yep, a whole coven of them actually. Apparently, the vampire craze has reached new heights and these girls are willingly putting themselves in danger in order to find them." He looked at the wall grimly.

Sam nodded, thinking back to the night in question once more.

OOOOO

Heather sat in between them in the front seat of the Impala, bouncing her knees nervously as they drove. Sam tried to calm her down by asking about school, her favorite subjects, what kinds of music she listened to, anything that would take her mind off where they were going. Heather answered all of his questions shakily, her voice trembling as she spoke. Where Dean was good with women, Sam was good with kids and he managed to keep Heather from clinging to the door while they rode to the location she described.

The warehouse was falling apart, the roof caving in and the windows broken out from years of abandonment. It was also clearly inhabited by vampires. Maybe not so clear for anyone who wasn't a hunter, but there were definitely signs. Heather had started to cry again by this point, all of the blood draining from her face and her eyes widening suddenly. Something shadowy wisped around the corner of the building and she clamped both hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.

While Sam stayed in the front seat, trying to calm her down, Dean parked the car and walked around the trunk, rummaging around through the duffle bags and picking out a few weapons of choice. Vampires were tricky, crafty, and worst of all, damn hard to kill. There was no turning back once they went in there. He tapped on the window, holding up a weapon for Sam and nodding for him to get out of the car.

Heather gripped his hand like a vice, terrified to be left alone, but he promised her she would be safe, that they would do everything in their power to protect her.

OOOOO

Sam had a sudden sinking feeling in his chest and he looked at Dean grimly. "Heather?" He asked, barely trusting his voice not to crack.

Dean hesitated for a second before answering. "She's okay, Sammy…she was bitten but she'll be okay."

Sam felt like a weight had been lifted off of him and he sank a bit further into the hospital mattress.

OOOOO

He could have probably pin-pointed the exact moment the plan went to Hell. It was somewhere between Dean getting tossed out of a window like a rag doll and one of the vampires rushing past him and ripping open the door to the Impala, grabbing a fist-full of Heather's hair and jerking her out of the car. He remembered the vampire sinking its teeth into her shoulder, blood trailing down her arm as she screamed in fear and pain. Without a second thought, he rushed to her aid, knocking the vampire away from her and shoving Heather back into the car. And then it was on him.

He was the last one, the other vampires in the coven had been killed with very little difficulty, but this one was older, stronger, and he was fast. He had Sam pinned against the hood of the Impala before he really knew what was happening and there was a a moment of mind-numbing agony as the sharp, jagged teeth dug into his throat.

Everything became a blur after that. He vaguely remembered the blood gushing over his shirt and jacket, running down either side of his neck and the way his vision pulsed and hazed over as he began to lose consciousness. Dean was yelling his name, the vampire suddenly ripped off of him and killed before it had a chance to strike back. He remembered sliding off the hood of the car, slipping onto the ground and somehow landing in his brother's arms on the way down. Dean was talking to him, saying his name over and over, and his hands were pressed against his throat. The pressure was so intense he felt like he was choking but that might have also been from the blood loss.

He remembered being pulled into the car, his head resting in Heather's lap as he followed Dean's instructions and pressed the sleeve of his jacket into the wounds in Sam's neck. She was crying again, blood oozing from the wound in her shoulder and combining with Sam's blood on her hands. Everything felt far away, a fading memory, and then it stopped.

OOOOO

"A vampire used me as a chew toy?" Sam asked finally, gingerly touching the bandages at his throat.

"Yeah, tried to at least." Dean nodded, batting his younger brother's hands away and peeling back the bandages to look at the wounds. "They look a lot worse than they are." He said, and Sam was sure who he was trying to reassure. "Lots of blood but the wounds weren't all that deep." He sat back and gave Sam a smirk. "I told them you were attacked by a poodle."

"You what?" Sam asked, looking at his brother incredulously.

Dean laughed a bit. "Nah, I said it was a dog but I didn't say what kind. Anyway, they believed me." He shrugged a bit and leaned back into the chair. "You're bed-bound for the next three days though."

Sam shrugged as well, even lifting his shoulders hurt, and looked up at the ceiling. "Think Heather's going to be okay?"

Dean nodded and looked at the card she'd left for him on the table. "Yeah, she'll be fine. I think she has a crush on you though." He teased, nudging Sam's hand.

Sam just rolled his eyes. "Think we got all of them?"

Dean paused before shaking his head. "No, I think that was just part of the coven. I think there's probably a lot more hiding out around here. But I told Bobby to contact some other hunters and send them this way to help; I'm too ready to see your throat turned into salsa again, kiddo." He said, patting Sam on the chest lightly.

Sam smiled tiredly and closed his eyes for a second, letting the morphine kill some of the pain. "Still don't understand why those girls wanted to go search for vampires though…" He mumbled, drifting a bit as the drugs began to take their toll.

"Don't know, man."

"Real vampires are ugly. They don't even sparkle…"

"Gay, Sam."

Sam chuckled softly before drifting off to sleep.

Hehe, poor Heather...and Sam =p