A month later, it was all building up.
We had gone on a few hunts in that time. Nothing so big, beside the Provenance case. Or maybe we had, and I was so edge that I hadn't noticed.
I took one step into this cafe when it hit me.
The hunt we would do next. Cause I had no idea I would even recognize it, not until I was standing in it.
Dead Man's Blood.
I hated vampires.
More than I hated any other monsters- including spiders. At least for spiders, it was an instinct thing. For vampires? That was all choice. In this world, it was proven that they could live off non-human blood. Did that stop them? No. Do I hate the vegan-vampires any less? ...get back to me on that.
Point was: vampires were monsters.
(Except Benny. He's cool.)
Monsters, that needed to be put down.
I was proud of Millie Winchester. Watching her memories of poisoning a vampire nest? That was inspired. She had a hard life, one I could never understand. Growing up, my house hadn't been abusive- especially not to a scale that high. If anything, the Spencer's were more distant towards me than typical parents. Millie? She had been straight up abused.
My sister and I would've taken them out on that clause alone.
But vampires too?
They were living on borrowed time.
(I mean, technically they already were, being undead and all)
All of that being said, I was looking forward to roasting the bats again.
The rest of the week? Yeah not so much.
I sat at a table with the boys. My hands holding a warm cup of cocoa, which I still enjoyed despite it being July. My thumb was toying with the seam of the cup.
"Well dudes. Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What have you got?" Dean prompted.
I sat up, called to attention. "Uh- nothing to the South. There was a ghost, but it looks like someone else got it."
Dean nodded. He turned to Sam.
"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota." Sam reported. He paused. "Here. A woman in Iowa fell ten thousand feet from an airplane and survived."
"Sounds more like 'that's incredible!' than 'Twilight Zone'." Dean stated.
"Yeah." Sam hummed. He went back to searching.
I looked down at the newspaper again.
"Hey, you know, we could just keep heading east?" Dean suggested. Though I had wanted to smirk, the looming thought of vampires kept me from it. "New York, upstate. Could stop by and see Sarah again, huh? She's a cool chick, man. Smokin'."
"Do people still say that?" I asked, curious. That and I was trying to get Sam out of the bind.
He sent me a grin for it.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Smokin', do people still say that?"
"I don't know."
"I just think it sounds weird. Like come on, when was the last time you heard someone say that about something that wasn't a steak?"
"I don't- just forget it."
"I can't. It's stuck in my head now."
Dean huffed. He seemed to have forgotten his original point for the moment.
I had a sip of my drink. My stomach was rolling too much for anything heavier. Over the cup, I winked at Sam. He smiled at me, before going back to his research. "What else ya got?" I
"Ahh, a man in Colorado, a local man named Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home." Sam supplied.
Dean perked up. "Elkins? I know that name."
Sam shook his head. "Doesn't ring a bell."
"Yeah...gettin' nothin' over here."
"Elkins...Elkins...Elkins." Dean mumbled, trying to remember the name. He pulled out John's journal.
"Think it's in there?" I asked.
"Yeah...could be." He looked back to Sam. "Keep going." He prompted, turning through the pages.
"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now they've found some signs of robbery." Sam summarized.
"Mm-hmm." Dean hummed. He paused on a page. "There, check it out."
He turned the book so we could see it. Written on it was a meeting planned between John and Elkins, along with a phone number.
"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam asked.
"It's a Colorado area code." Dean supplied.
"Let's get going." I stated, gathering up our stuff from the table.
==DG==
By nightfall, we were at Elkins' cabin. It had been an easy find with the right research. Sam picked the lock, while Dean and I held up lights along with guns.
Dean was the first to step inside. He shined his light around. "Looks like the maid didn't come today."
There was a lot of mess. From signs of a fight, to the papers that Elkins had littering his walls that had fallen without him to catch them. Dean started shifting through one of Elkins' journals.
"Hey there's salt over here, right beside the door." Sam reported.
"'Oops I spilled it' salt or 'death con ghost' salt?" I asked.
"It's clearly a ring." Sam replied. "Do you two think this guy Elkins was a player?"
"Definitely." Dean answered.
"He better be, or he's got weird hobbies." I pointed the flashlight at some of the drawings, clearly renderings of the monsters he had fought. Ghosts, wolves, vamps, that sort of thing. There were also a lot of hunts that the man was studying.
Sam came over. He looked at the papers I was pointing at, before turning to Dean with the journal. "That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's."
"Yep, except this dates back to the '60s." Dean explained.
"That far back?" I asked.
We searched more of the house. Before long, we found the room Elkins had died in. The room was torn apart, everything not nailed down had been thrown. There was blood splatter on a lot of the books and furniture. There wasn't a way to tell what was Elkins, and what was vampire. But hopefully, Elkins took a few of the bastards with him.
"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one." Sam noted. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling, bringing up the cold breeze from outside.
I was pointedly avoiding looking at it.
It was dark outside.
Vampires were around.
All in all, not a good time for me.
They could come back.
They could be out there- right now- watching and hunting for their next snack.
"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too." Dean praised.
"Yeah." Sam agreed.
"There's a lot of blood- maybe he took out a few." I supplied. "So at least whatever they are, they can die. The ones that were left must've taken the bodies."
The boys nodded. We kept on with the search of the room. Dean paused, kneeling to the ground.
"What?" I asked him.
"You got something?" Sam asked too.
"I dunno. Some scratches on the floor." Dean pointed to the deep scratches on the floor.
"Death throes maybe?" Sam
"Yeah, maybe." Dean plucked up a sheet of paper and a pencil. He rubbed the pencil over the scratches, before showing us. "Or maybe a message. Look familiar?"
"Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box." Sam reasoned.
"It's a mail drop." He and I realized.
"Just the way Dad does it." Dean confirmed.
Sam gave the paper an uneasy look.
I gave a small moment of silence to the man. He may not have wiped them out, but he gave it his best. For that I would be grateful.
==DG==
The PO box had one single letter inside it.
The three of us were staring at it in the Impala. The letter hadn't been opened yet, we just stared at the recipient on the front.
JW
"'J.W.' You think? John Winchester?" Sam prompted.
"It makes the most sense, wouldn't it?" I suggested, leaning over the seats to get a look.
"I don't know. Should we open it?" Dean wondered.
Before either of us could answer, someone knocked on Dean's window. Dean reared back for a punch- stopping when he realized it was his father knocking.
I glowered. The boys gawked.
"Dad?" Dean asked.
John opened the backdoor. I moved over, sitting directly behind Sam. John moved in, taking the spot behind Dean.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you alright?"
John had on a serious expression. No joy at seeing his children again, as the last time we'd seen each other he had been bleeding. "Yeah, I'm ok. I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place."
"Why didn't you come in Dad?" Sam asked, voice small and confused.
"You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed...by anyone or anything." John supplied. Another other day, I could've hidden my scoff. Today though? It was dark outside, and we were still in a town with a recent vampire kill. Still, not a good time for me. "Nice job covering your tracks by the way."
He preened at the praise. "Yeah, well, we learned from the best." Dean praised.
"Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah. He was...he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting." John explained.
"Your style of notekeepings looked the same." I noted, thinking back to Sam's comment about the journals. "Though the only mention of him in your's was an appointment. Dean couldn't remember the name until he saw it."
"Yeah. You never mentioned him to us." Sam pointed out.
"We had a...we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years." John motioned to the envelope. Dean handed it over. "I should look at that." John opened the letter. I fought the childish urge to snatch it from his hands. "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead'...that son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"He had it the whole time." John mumbled.
"Dad what?" Sam asked.
"Are you gonna be cryptic, or are you gonna talk?" I prompted.
"When you searched the place, did you see a gun. An old revolver, an antique, did you see it?" John questioned us.
"That's not an answer."
"Ah, there was an old case but it was empty." Dean answered.
"They have it." John realized, shifting in his seat in horror.
"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asked.
John reached for the car door. "We gotta pick up the trail." He climbed out.
"Wait. You want us to come with you?" Sam offered.
"If Elkins was telling the truth we gotta find this gun." John explained, leaning into Dean's window again.
"The gun, why?" Sam asked.
"Because it's important that's why." John evaded the questions.
"How about telling us what killed him, huh? The trail we're supposed to be on?" I insisted.
"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best." John paused. "Vampires."
Dark voices echoed in my head.
Voices of things that were long dead- that deserved to be long dead- came back. Even now, I could feel their claws on my skin and teeth at my neck. Whether this was one of Millie's memories or my own was hard to say.
"No." I denied, shaking my head. "No you can't- no."
"Vampires? I thought there was no such thing." Dean replied.
I wished.
I wished and wished so hard.
But it's too late now.
There's no way of getting those rose colored lenses back.
Now they're a different kind of red.
"You never even mentioned them, Dad." Sam pointed out.
"Nonononono-" I reached for the car doors, locking them. It was pointless, I knew. Vampires could just smash the window. Or they could rip off the doors with their pinkies. Locks were just a pathetic child's attempt at protection. What, was I gonna bring out a baby blanket next?
"I thought they were extinct." John explained, tuning out my panicked state. Sam turned back, watching my hands shake in front of me. "I thought Elkins and others had wiped them out. I was wrong."
"I could've told you that." I snapped, clutching my arms around my all the Winchesters were looking at me. Wasn't that just swell? All of them confused, unsure of why the last woman in the family was on the verge of a panic attack. "The demon that took me dropped me off at a vampire nest." I spat out, ignoring the way my body shuddered They raised me until I was twelve, when I wiped out the whole nest."
John stared at me in surprise. He wasn't used someone talking down to him. Maybe he wasn't open to the idea that his flesh and blood was taking none of his shit. Dean gawked at me, not believing in vampires any more than he had before. Sam watched me in sympathy.
"It was so bad- that damn house-" I panted, twitching and jumping at the shadows that moved. "Vampire law is a load. Crosses don't work, neither does sunlight or a stake to the heart." I ranted at them. "The bloodlust is the only thing that's true. They need it fresh, and they need it human. What's worse is they were people. Parents, siblings, cousins or neighbors. You never learn they made a new 'member of the family' until it's fangs are in your throat over and over again the entire time we were growing up, always running in half the blood we needed. Chopping off the head is a good way to kill them but I was young and weak so that was a no go. Only one thing worked: blood of a dead man."
All the while, the brothers watched me with increased disgust and heartbreak. John seemed to be internalizing all of it.
==DG==
They had the gall to suggest I sleep.
Sleep? Me?
In vampire territory?
How stupid do they think I am?
Besides that- any sleep I would have would've been filled with dreams of vampires. I dreamt when monsters killed these things, regardless of my wants and entirely at the behest of Chuck. So I would watch that pack kill the couple.
I wanted so badly to go wipe out. Just rush out after them, lay out a honey trap. But I had no deadman blood. The splatters still Elkins' house were too small and too mixed with vampire blood to use properly.
The boys fell asleep. Good for them, at least.
John and I were the only ones up. John had a tight of a police radio. My hands were itching for a machete, or something that could blow off a vampire head. Was there a gun that strong? There should be one, somewhere. I could make a laser gun of it if I had the resources-
At a certain point in the night, John tried to strike up conversation. "So...so you said you took on a vampire nest? Alone?"
"I had help." 'Millie had help.'
"Yeah?"
"And a sister." Who is a vampire. In this world. Which means a copy of my sister is running around Purgatory, probably gonna be queen by the time Dean and Cas go there.
"Huh. And was it her idea? The dead man's blood?" John asked.
"No. That was me." I glared out the window, keeping the rest of the story to myself.
"How...how old were you when you got away?" John asked.
I said nothing.
Got away? Got away? I can never get away!
Every world I go there are reminders. Memories of my dark past being rubbed in my face, time and time again. It was looming. It was inevitable. It was like a circular destiny that I could never avoid.
It disgusted me.
"You really hate me, don't you?" John asked. "Before, you were still angry at me, and I thought it was just, a thing. But this is hate. You really hate me."
I snorted. "I hate vampires more than I hate you."
"But you still hate me." John pointed out.
"Who wouldn't?" I replied.
"I'm your father, Raven. I know I wasn't there for you, but I am now. And right now you need to listen to me." John insisted- just barely raising his voice in a way that would wake the boys. He spoke in the military tone. 'Do as I say, no questions' tone
I glowered at him, giving him just a taste of the animal beneath my skin. Of the monster who wanted their claws out. Someone with more power than any person could fathom, ready for use at a moment's notice. Of something old and dark that had no sign of the light. A guardian who had lost too much of their flock, seeing someone who didn't protect his own. A protector who had failed their mission, seeing someone that had failed worse. I showed John Winchester what Morgan Spencer thought of him.
The room was too dark for him to get a good look. Still, he must be feeling it. He shifted in his seat.
I don't even know why I'm talking to you.
You'll be dead in five days.
There's nothing I can do for you- if I wanted to do anything at all.
You lost your wife, and I can understand you lost yourself to grief.
Yet every hunter the boys ever meet, says they kept their distance because of you.
A whole community of people.
Hunters who understood what they were going through.
A whole support system, out their in the wings.
You kept them from that.
You kept their field of knowledge down to a narrow field. Tried crafting them into perfect soldiers so they would always do as asked, never asking questions or searching for more. Did you not want them chasing after Azazel too? Did you not want them out from under your thumb? Huh? What was it, John Winchester?
You raised them exactly in the way their mother hated. The last thing she wanted her boys to be, they became.
You stole so much from Sam and Dean.
And I can never forgive you for it.
He was spared any cutting words by the radio flaring up with sound. It was the report about the dead couple- it hurt to hear it. To know that I could've stopped it, that I should have, consequences be damned. These vampires didn't care at all about people, about innocent lives, so they had to be put down.
"Unit 22 let me confirm. Mile marker 41, abandoned car. You need a workup?"
"Copy that. Possible 207. Better get forensics out here."
He put the radio down on the table, hopping up to his feet. I turned away from him, trying to shake off the age from behind my eyes. Once I let it out, it was hard to put back. Like a folding a fitted sheet.
"Sam, Dean, let's go." John called out.
"Mm-hmm." Dean mumbled.
The boys sat up in their beds. I grabbed my Bag. Opening it, I searched for any sort of weapon that I could use here.
"I picked up a police call." John told them.
"What happened?" Sam asked, blearily.
"A couple called 911, found a body in the street. Cops got there everyone was missing." John explained. "It's the vampires."
"How do you know?" Sam asked.
"Just follow me, ok?" John insisted, he walked out of the room.
"Some like their food spicy, some liked it full of fear." I explained to a disgruntled Sam. "No bodies to be found? They took them to their nest. We gotta go."
Sam nodded. He went to put on his jacket.
"Huh, vampires." Dean spoke, still half asleep. "Get's funnier every time I hear it."
I stiffened.
"Dean." Sam scolded.
He looked over at me. I was glaring at him. "Raven, you know I didn't mean it like that." His brother mumbled.
"Sure." I shrugged, only feeling angrier at the half-assed apology.
"Come on, it just slipped out." Dean apologized.
"Like my sister's blood slipped out of her neck when our 'mother' would drink from her. I get it." I turned away from him. "You didn't mean it. That's what Mama always said. She'd stop if we got her proper food to eat. She didn't want to hurt us, she just wished we weren't such failures at gathering for the nest."
Dean winced.
"I'm giving you a hard time. I know you don't mean it." I assured him. "Oh, but say it again and I'll kill you."
==DG==
Sam, me, and Dean were sitting by the Impala. John had gone ahead to talk to the police stationed here. The sun had come up over the horizon now, casting the sky in a pale gray-blue light.
"Did you dream about this?" Dean asked. "See anything? Anything at all?"
"That would imply I slept." I told him.
"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him." Sam complained.
Dean huffed. "Oh don't tell me it's already starting."
"What's starting?" Sam questioned, innocent to his own issues with his dad.
Dean had no chance to answer. John had walked back by then. "What have you got?" Dean asked.
"It was them all right. Looks like they're heading west. We'll have to double back to get around that detour." John answered.
"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked.
"Sam." Dean chided.
"I just wanna know we're going in the right direction." Sam told Dean.
"It's a fair question. How can you be sure that's the way?" I questioned John.
"We are." John insisted.
"How do you know?" Sam pressed.
John eyed his son for a long moment. Eyed me too, with I gave right back with a much practiced Mom-glare. John pulled out a vampire tooth. "I found this."
I couldn't help it- I flinched from it.
Dean accepted the tooth. "Its a...a vampire fang."
"No- they don't have those." I shook my head. My neck ached in reflex. My hand went up to it, rubbing the neck area above the collarbones. "It's a second set of descending teeth. Used only for...for hunting." I supplied.
John gave me an appraising look. "Yeah." He turned back to Sam. "Any more questions?"
'Can you just die now?' I thought. 'The blood would be appreciated.'
Sam said nothing.
"All right, let's get out of here, we're losing daylight." John noted. He walked off to his own car.
'The sun just got up. There's plenty of daylight left, asshole.' I snarked, keeping it in my head for Dean's sake.
"Hey Dean, why don't you touch up your car before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it." John scolded, walking over to his truck.
That was when I decided that John could burn in hell. No one insults Baby, especially in front of Dean. Not in front of Dean and me.
Dean said nothing about it.
Not even when Sam and I turned to him, giving him questioning looks. Well, Sam's was more bragging. Mine was more 'you gonna stand for that?!'
But nothing.
I had seen Dean kill in concern of this car.
And yet, to his own father, Dean would say nothing about Baby.
Maybe I do hate you, John Winchester.
==DG==
Dean was reading the journal, letting Sam drive. "Raven, anything else about vamps?" Dean asked me.
I leaned back in my seat, running my hands up and down my legs. "They hunt in packs of eight, sometimes it was more. Like I said, they would hunt for food and then bring it back to the nest. They'd feed off them for a long time, until the blood stopped coming."
"Raven. I don't mean to sound rude here, or not grateful, but-" Sam hesitated.
"Why did they keep me alive?" I finished.
"Yeah." Sam replied, weakly.
"It's cool. Sometimes, I don't get it either." I admitted. "I think- I know- that people would always stop to help a kid in need."
The two brothers said nothing. Each coming slowly to the same conclusion.
"They used you? For that?" Dean asked.
I nodded, digging my hands deeper across the legs. "Yeah...tried and true method."
"And your sister?" Dean asked. "They use her too?"
From what my memories say, you've got no idea.
"They took out her family. Figured two kids? Twice the haul." My foot started twitching and acting all kinds of jittery. "They weren't wrong."
"What happened?" Dean asked.
"They weren't good people, Dean." I told him, silently begging him not to ask me again. "They had to be put down."
He didn't ask. "So...the 911 couple, you think they're at the nest?"
"Without a doubt."
"That's probably what Dad's thinking." Sam mused, not even hiding his annoyance. "Course it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks. He didn't even say it, it was Raven that told us."
"So it is starting." Dean huffed.
Sam tilted his head. "What?"
"Sam, we been looking for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a coupla hours and there's static already?" Dean explained. "It's bad enough when Raven argues with him."
"I don't take orders well." I told him.
"Hmph. No. Look, I'm happy he's ok, all right? And I'm happy that we're all working together at last." Sam explained.
"Well good." Dean nodded.
"It's just the way he treats us, like we're children." Sam rambled on.
Dean sighed. "Oh God."
"Yes! Exactly that!"
"He barks orders at us, Dean, he expects us to follow 'em without question." Sam explained. "He keeps us on some crap, need-to-know deal."
"He does what he does for a reason." Dean stated.
"What reason." Sam wondered.
"Our job!" Dean snapped. "There's no time to argue, there's no margin for error, all right? That's just the way the old man runs things."
"Yeah well maybe that worked when we were kids but not anymore, all right." Sam countered. "Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line, letting him run the whole show?"
Dean waited a long moment before answering. "If that's what it takes."
==DG==
The sun had set a long while ago. Dean was on the phone with John.
"Yeah dad. Alright, got it." He clapped their phone shut. "Pull off at the next exit."
Sam's hands tensed on the wheel. "Why."
"Cause Dad thinks we've got the vampire's trail." Dean answered, keeping it short.
"How." Sam replied, just as short.
"I don't know. He didn't say." Dean replied.
Sam gunned the engine.
"Sam." I began, trying to warn him.
Dean gawked as Sam drove around John's truck.
"Sam." I tried again.
Sam slammed on the brakes. Behind us, John had to do the same.
"Alright." I huffed.
Sam stormed out the car. I climbed out after him.
"Oh crap. Here we go." Dean climbed out too. "Sam! Raven!"
John slammed the door of his truck. "What the hell was that." He snapped.
"We need to talk." Sam demanded.
He and his dad walked until they were face to face. Literally, one well timed head-bang would send Sam spralling to the ground. Dean and I watched from the sidelines, watching in horror.
"About what?" John replied, snapping.
"About everything. Where we going, Dad. What's the big deal about this job?" Sam questioned.
"Sammy come on, we can Q&A after we kill all the vampires." Dean insisted.
"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this." John commanded.
"As the one who's been a victim of those things, I think I can wait." I argued on Sam's behalf.
"Last time we saw you you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now out of the blue you need our help." Sam yelled. "Obviously something big is going down and we wanna know what."
"Get back in the car." John ordered.
"No." Sam and I snapped.
"I said get back in the damn car." John ordered.
"Yeah. And I said no." Sam snapped.
"Why don't you make us then, Dad?" I snapped.
"Ok you made your point, tough guys." Dean butted in. I glared at him. "Look we're all tired, we can talk about this later." Dean grabbed Sam and I by the arm. "Sammy, Raven, I mean it, come on."
He dragged us back towards the car.
This wasn't fair- really it wasn't. It shouldn't have to be Dean's job to play peacekeeper. That's not fair. To us, but especially to Dean.
"This is why I left in the first place." Sam mumbled.
"I would join." I mumbled.
"What did you say?" John snapped.
"You heard me." Sam snapped, raising his voice.
"Yeah. You left. Your brother and me, we needed you." John argued. "You walked away."
Shut. Up.
"Sam..." Dean cautioned.
"You walked away!" John yelled.
Step off him, old man.
Or you'll meet the devil tonight.
"Stop it, both of you." Dean warned.
"You're the one who said don't come back Dad, you closed that door not me." Sam argued. "You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore!"
John grabbed Sam's arm.
BASTARD!
"Listen, stop it, stop it. Stop it!" Dean pushed between them, shoving John off Sam. "That's enough!" My fists balled at my side. "Raven stop-"
I punched John in the face. He went sprawling back on the ground.
"Never do that again." I warned him. "I mean it. I lost one sibling to a guy like you. You don't get to take another one."
Dean grabbed my shoulders. I whirled back, nearly punching him. He grabbed my fist before I could.
"I'm sorry." I told Dean. "That- that was on me. I'm sorry. I just- I'm sorry."
The man said nothing. He shook his head, full of disbelief. He patted me on the back. "I know, it got tense." He glanced down at his dad. "How about you go inside?"
After a moment, I went off into the car. Sam watched me with a hesitant expression. John watched like he had no idea who I was.
Climbing in the car, I pretended not to hear Darcy's words of praise echoing in my mind. If I happened to be crying, who gave a shit?
She would've been so proud of me.
I miss her so fucking much.
==DG==
The sun came back up by the time we found their nest. We hid in nearby bushes, just far enough that they hopefully wouldn't catch our scent.
A car pulled up to the barn. A vampire walked out from the car, slamming the door shut. The vampire leader, Luther, walked out from the barn. He led his best mate back inside.
"Son of a bitch. So they're really not afraid of the sun?" Dean asked me.
"Hurts like a sunburn, if they stand in it for too long." I supplied. "But direct contact? No dice."
"The only way to kill 'em is by beheading." John added in. He was sporting an impressive black eye, and bruised cheek. I don't pull my punches. "And yeah, they sleep during the day, doesn't mean they won't wake up."
I pointedly ignored him.
"I guess walking right in's not our best option." Dean mentioned.
"Actually. That's the plan." John stated.
The lot of us went back to the cars. Sam and Dean looked inside Baby's trunk. John activated the automatic hidden compartment in his truck.
I found a machete in my Bag. That's right, it had been Darcy's a long time ago. It was a gift from 'Krampus'.
Santa gave gifts to good kids, right? All the bad kids got was coal. But I told Darcy about the anti-Santa, Krampus, who kidnapped naughty children in a sack then beat them. But Darcy? She was killing the bad people, an extreme case for Krampus, so she got gifts. Murderer gifts. Like machetes.
She really loved when Christmas came around.
I think she'd like it, if her machete was used to kill off vampires. My thumb traced a scratched on 'DEA' at the side. I had told her not to do that, in case in got lost. She said it would never get lost, and I guess at this point she was right.
"Dad, I've got an extra machete if you need one." Dean offered.
John held up his own machete- much longer and newer than our machetes. "I think I'm ok. Thanks."
Dean was staring at it, like Darcy had stared at the machete in my hand. "Wow."
"So, you kids really wanna know about this colt?" John asked after a long pause.
"Yes sir." Sam replied, as polite as he could given their argument the night before.
"It's just a story, legend really. Well I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter." John admitted. "Back in 1835, when Halley'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. Story goes he made thirteen bullets, and this hunter used the gun half a dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. And somehow Daniel got his hands on it. They say...they say this gun can kill anything."
"Kill anything like, supernatural anything?" Dean reasoned.
"Like the demon." Sam realized.
Both of their expressions were lit up in hope. Suppose mine was as well, considering the gun actually did kill Azazel.
"Yeah, like the demon." John conformed. "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."
I stood up, twirling the machete in my hand. "Then let's go get it."
John nodded at me.
==DG==
Sneaking into the barn, I wondered for the millionth time why we hadn't stolen some dead man's blood along the way.
The vampires were all sleeping, rocking in hammocks. I couldn't spot any sign of the 911 couple. The man was already dead, if his body was around that would be great.
"Dean, Raven." Sam whispered.
Dean and I turned towards him.
He was kneeling in front of the 911 woman. He reached for the ropes tying her to a support column for the barn.
There was a sleeping groan from nearby. Dean turned, spotting the cage. "There's more." He told us. He searched for something to unlock the gate.
I stood behind Sam. "Sam, wait." I whispered.
Sam turned to me. He froze, in case of vampires. "What?"
"I'm just- doesn't it seem too easy?" I whispered. "Why leave her out here, and not in there?" I asked.
Sam shrugged, still untying her. "Easier to feed?"
"While they're sleeping?" I pointed out.
"What are you saying?"
Dean opened a part of the door. All three of us froze. The vampires only mumbled, a few turning over. None woke up.
"I'm saying, maybe we wait for her." I explained. "It just- something about this doesn't seem right."
Sam hesitated.
"Please?" I requested.
Sam looked to the woman, to the blood splashed on her clothes and exposed skin. My hand held up my machete, watching the hammocks while another vampire turned over. "Are you sure?"
I nodded.
Sam pulled away from her.
I let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you." Came my whisper reply.
Sam gave a curt nod. His hand reached up, giving my arm a comforting squeeze.
Dean got to work on the second latch. We all waited on baited breath in case the other vampires woke up.
One did.
The woman shifted in her spot.
Sam went to comfort her.
I held up my machete.
"Hey. Hey hey, I'm here to help you." Sam whispered.
The woman? Disagreed.
She shrieked. A scream no human could make. The kind only the vampires here did.
As she screamed, I chopped off her head. The screams silenced. Weird that it was deeply satisfying.
The shouting started, though. The vampires woke from their hammocks.
"Sam! Raven!" Dean shouted.
The vampires hissed, climbing out from their hammocks. There was a lot of commotion from another area of the barn. Luther and Kate's room, suppose.
"KIDS RUN!" John's voice came from deeper inside the barn.
Sam and Dean set off. They shouted for John the whole way. The vampires gave chase. I ran at the back of our trio, watching the vampires with a warning eye. One got close, so I lashed out to take off his head. It fell to the ground.
We cleared out from the barn doors. I was able to take down another vampire at the door, too slow to have stopped with the nest. As he fell I ran out after the boys to the Impala and truck.
Once there, the boys started calling out for John again. Just when they started worrying about becoming orphans, John ran out from the woods. The Colt nowhere in sight.
"They won't follow. Not til tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it's for life." John warned.
"I took out three so...I think they really hate me." I admitted, not hiding the proud grin that showed up on my face.
"Three?" John asked.
I nodded.
John said nothing for praise, just nodded again.
"Well what the hell do we do now?" Dean asked.
"You gotta find the nearest funeral home, that's what." John stated.
"Finally. Why didn't we do that before?" I huffed.
John gave me a not happy look. I gave him a level stare right back.
==DG==
"You think he'll get enough?" I asked Sam.
We were in a motel room, one closer to the barn. Dean had gone off an hour ago to collect the blood. As I watched out from our motel room window, I finished cleaning off the vampire blood from Darcy's machete. Proper knife maintenance was key, nobody wanted any disease from old blood.
Darcy had been so meticulous with her care. It was one of the few things she did by the book. She had a whole system for cleaning her knives and weapons, one that filled me with mournful nostalgia as I repeated it for her machete. It had taken the whole hour to do properly. Not a drop of blood, nothing to connect Darcy to any crime ever.
"With how much you asked for, Dean'll have to take a whole corpse." Sam noted.
"I really want it to be effective. There were a lot of vampires left over." I excused. Sam gave me a look. "I'm just saying."
Sam went back to pacing. John was at a desk, working on notes from his new journal. "It shouldn't be taking this long. We should go help." Sam stated.
Though Dean had been gone awhile, I had asked for a lot of blood. Why he had gone alone, without taking either of us, was a fool's guess.
"Dean's got it." John dismissed. Sam kept pacing. At my vantage point at the window, my leg started twitching rapidly. Fuck what was I, Thumper? "Sammy, Millie."
I bristled at the name. It wasn't mine. It was somebody else's. Raven, that was the name I'd picked. Millie was a child who'd had a terrible life, who had lost too much. Raven, that was the name of a hunter.
"Yeah." Sam replied, apparently allowing the nickname now.
"I don't think I ever told you this but...and I know you don't know...the day the two of you were born you know what I did?" John began.
Sam paused in his pacing, turning to his father. "No."
My leg twitching slowed as I listened.
"I put $100 into savings accounts for you." John admitted. "I did the same thing for your brother. It was a college fund. And every month I'd put in another $200 until." He dragged off, Mary's ghost haunting his eyes. "Anyway my point is, Sam, Millie, that, this is never the life that I wanted for you."
That was never in argument.
What matters is that when given the choice, this was the life you made for them.
"Then why'd you get so mad when I left?" Sam asked. "And why'd you never even look for her?"
"You gotta understand something. After your mother passed, when I thought you had too, all I saw was evil, everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive." John explained. "I wanted you...prepared. Ready."
Not that it mattered.
Not that it changed how they were now.
Not that it just wiped away the past.
"Except somewhere along the line I...uh...I stopped being your father and I...I became your drill sergeant."
At least he realized the truth, before he died.
"So when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about, my only thought was, that you were gonna be alone. Vulnerable." John admitted. "Sammy, it just...it never occurred to me what you wanted, just like it never occurred to me that Millie could still be alive." He turned to me. I looked him in the eyes, daring him to weasel pity out of me. "You suffered so much because I couldn't see past my own grief. I abandoned you, and there's no excuse for that."
I gave him a curt nod.
"I just couldn't accept the fact that you could've been out there, still alive. They way it all happened so fast- I couldn't get you out. And you were left with monsters. That was on me." John stated, apologizing still. "And Sam I- I couldn't take that you and me were just different."
Sam chuckled, dryly.
"What?" John asked.
"We're not different. Not anymore." Sam countered. He sat down across from his father, meeting on his level. "With what happened to Mom and Jess...well we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone."
"I guess you're right, son." John noted, smiling bittersweetly. Nobody really wanted to connect with their son about being a widower. "Millie?"
"I don't like your choices. I never will." Was my immediate reply. "As to why you made them...I can understand. You just wanted the kids safe."
John just accepted that answer.
"Hey Dad? Whatever happened to that college fund?" Sam asked after a long pause.
John chuckled. "I spent it on ammo." That set Sam off too.
As they laughed, Dean walked back in. "Whew. Man, some heavy security to protect a bunch of dead guys."
"Get it?" John prompted.
Dean pulled out a bottle full of blood. He pulled out a second, handing it to me.
"Oh yeah." I clinked my nails on it.
"You know what to do." John handed the bottle back to Dean.
==DG==
The plan worked without a hitch. We had lured Kate in with a trap, shooting her and another vampire with dead man's blood tipped arrows. Her friend was killed, shame. Well Kate was still fighting. We hadn't given her enough to kill, only to slow down. She had fed recently enough that it was working the blood out from her system.
They weren't letting me kill her.
A whole new level of betrayal from the Winchesters.
John handed a small cloth bag to Dean. "Toss this on the fire. Saffron, skunk's cabbage and trillium. It'll block our scent and hers, until we're ready."
Dean smelled it, gagging. "Stuff stinks!"
"That's the idea. Dust your clothes with the ashes and you stand a chance of not being detected." John explained.
"Yeah?" I asked. John nodded. "Huh...didn't know that."
"You sure they'll come after her?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Vampires mate for life." John supplied. "She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time."
"Or-"
"We can't kill her yet." John told me. I scoffed.
"A half hour oughta do it." Sam nodded.
"And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can." John advised us.
Sam paused. "But..."
"Dad, you can't take care of them all." Dean warned.
"I'll have her. And the Colt." John excused.
"She doesn't count as a person." I dismissed. Kate glared tiredly. "And you're not seriously going after the demon alone, are you?"
Silence.
"You're leaving again aren't you." Sam realized. "You still wanna go after the demon alone." Sam scoffed. "You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this."
"Like what?" John asked.
"Like children." Sam stated.
"You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe." John explained.
"Like soldiers, then." I stated.
"Dad, all due respect but, that's a bunch of crap." Dean stated.
Sam and John looked at Dean in shock. I looked at him with hopeful pride.
"...excuse me?"
"You know what Sammy, Raven, and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe." Dean clarified.
"It's not the same thing, Dean." John denied.
"Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?" Dean prompted.
"This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive." John explained.
"You mean you can't be as reckless." Dean corrected.
"Look...I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death, Millie's loss, it almost killed me. After I just got her back- I can't watch my children die too, I won't." John shook his head.
"What happens if you die?" Dean countered. John said nothing. "Dad, what happens if you die and we coulda done something about it. You know I been thinking. I ...maybe Sammy and Raven are right about this one. We should do this together."
Sam and I nodded in agreement.
"We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it." Dean finished.
John stared at his son for a long moment.
"We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area." John instructed in a stern monotone. "That's an order."
He walked off to his truck. Sam, myself, and Dean exchanged looks.
==DG==
As John went off with Kate, the three of us went back to the barn.
Only one vampire had stayed in sight, keeping watch of the cage. The vampire seemed to hear us for a moment, writing it off. Until he turned to see Dean behind him. The vampire jumped back
"Boo." Dean swung at him.
The head bounced on the ground. I kicked it with my foot.
He went on to free the caged people.
Sam grimaced as I kicked the head again. "You can stop anytime you know."
"But it's cathartic, Sam." I excused. "They stole my childhood, Sam. I was tortured by them, Sam, tortured."
"I know you were- you've said it- but it sounds less serious when you say it like that." Sam explained.
"That's because I'm kicking his head, Sam." I kicked it once more to good measure. "
Dean swings his machete, then makes his way back to the locked container of people. "I told you I'd come back." He begins breaking the hinges.
==DG==
We watched the trade off between John and the vampires. I held up Darcy's machete, coated in dead man's blood. I was excited. I was buzzing.
The trade off didn't go so well. John was thrown back at his truck, his body shattering the glass. He fell back to the floor.
Dean fired an arrow. It hit one of the vampires. The three of us rushed out at the vampires. I cut down another vampire, scratching another with the blade. It fell back, clutching the infected wound. Dean hit another vampire with an arrow. Sam went head-to-head with Luther.
By then, all the rest had been taken down. Luther grabbed Sam by the throat.
Dean and I rushed at him. Dean grabbed Sam's fallen machete. It hadn't done anything.
"Don't! I'll break his neck. Put the blades down." Luther warned.
Dean and I hesitated. I looked into Sam's eyes. He gave a small nod of his head.
Luther tightened his hold. Sam gagged.
I won't lose anyone else.
Darcy's machete fell from my hand. It clattered on the road. Dean's followed a second later.
"You people. Why can't you leave us alone. We have as much right to live as you do." Luther argued. Behind him, John snuck up.
"I don't think so." John raised the Colt.
Luther rushed around. The bullet hit him in the middle of his forehead.
His body light up beneath his skin- flashing and flaring with the power of the Colt.
Sam was released as Luther fell to his knees.
"Luther!" Kate cried out.
Luther flashed once more before collapsing. Dead.
Kate snarled.
Quickly, I grabbed my machete and did a spinning jump to chop off her head.
In the silence that followed, John gave us all thoughtful looks. I walked up to Sam, pulling him for a hug. Sam hugged me back. I didn't even mind the vampire blood on my cheek.
He was fine.
It was all good.
==DG==
I was cleaning off the machete again. Some blood had gotten into the space between the blade and the handle, which was a hassle to clean out. Still it was better.
Besides that, I had gotten my best night of sleep in a long time.
When morning came, Sam and Dean were cleaning up the shop. The survivors made it to the police, safe and sound if not shaken. Moreover, we'd taken out a whole vampire nest! That- that was amazing. That was the best thing I'd ever done in this reality so far.
John walked into the motel room. "So kids."
The boys halted their packing, turning to their father. I put the machete down on the table, giving it a moment to dry. Together, we stood as a line in front of John.
"Yes sir." Sam replied.
"You ignored a direct order back there." John stated.
"Yes sir." Sam confirmed.
"Yeah but we saved your ass." Dean excused. Once again Sam was confused at Dean's defiance.
I grinned at the remark.
John nodded. "You're right."
Dean hesitated, not having expected that answer. "I am?"
"It scares the hell out of me. You three are all I've got." John admitted. "But I guess we are stronger as a family. So...let's go after this damn thing. Together." He offered.
Without hesitation, we answered him with "Yes sir."
==DG==
AN: I legit think this is my favorite chapter. Like, there's so much to love. And I won't take criticism. This story has just two chapters left so...suffer.
Thanks to Slytherclaw Queen16 for favoriting and following