AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to everyone who followed or favorited this story and for all of your reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying this story. I'm having fun writing it. Once again, this chapter is shorter than what I normally post, but it just feels right for this story. Either that, or I'm just too excited to get what I've written posted. I noticed my haste caused some missed typos in my last chapter that I need to go back and fix. Anyway, I'm going to make the pitch again - if you like what I've written or have any constructive criticism or suggestions, please post a review or send me a private message.

WARNINGS: There is a brief discussion of suicide in this chapter. It also contains sexually explicit song lyrics and a brief spanking. If any of that bothers you, hit the back button now.

EDIT: This chapter has been edited to correct typos and other errors. There may be a few other changes, but nothing that affects the storyline.

CHAPTER 2

It took John and Natalie only a few minutes to reach his truck where it was parked on the shoulder of the county highway that ran through the wooded area surrounding the cave system where the rugaru had been living.

"Get in," John ordered as he pulled open the door.

"If you think I'm going to go anywhere with you, you're crazy," Natalie pulled her arm out of John's grip. She was a little surprised when he actually let her go.

"You don't have much of a choice, young lady," he said in a low voice. He stepped forward to invade her personal space and trap her between the side of the truck and his body. "Either you get in the truck on your own, or I will put you there. I promise you, you won't like it if I have to help you." His manner and voice left no doubt about his meaning.

Natalie couldn't meet John's hard gaze. His response to finding her there was exactly how she would have expected her father to react. In fact, that glare he was giving her was nearly identical to the one Marcus Revkin had given her the last time she'd gotten in serious trouble. A sudden feeling of grief nearly overwhelmed her. "Okay," she said in a quiet voice. She wasn't giving into John's authority, she told herself. She was honoring her father's memory.

"Okay, what?" John demanded. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her sudden acquiescence. It had happened way too easily.

"I'll get in the truck."

John nodded as he stepped away from her, giving her enough space to climb into the cab of the truck. Once she was in, he flipped the child lock on the inside edge of the door. "Wait here while I make a couple of phone calls." He firmly closed the truck door and shifted so he could open the cargo box in the bed of the truck. He shifted a few boxes around until he found what he was looking for. He opened the crate and placed Natalie's knife and handgun into the foam lining before closing the box and securing it back in its proper place.

He turned and studied Natalie's reflection in the side view mirror for a moment. He watched as she wiped tears from her cheeks and laid her head back on the seat. It dawned on him that she was grieving. It wasn't going to stop him from coming down on her like a ton of bricks, but it did help to explain some of her actions.

He sighed as he pulled his phone from his pocket as he walked around to the back of the truck, where he could give Natalie a bit of privacy but still keep an eye on her while he made his calls. He scrolled through the contacts on his phone and tapped his screen when he came to the right one.

"Singer."

"What can you tell me about Marcus Revkin?" John demanded as soon as his call was answered.

"Depends on what you want to know."

"I just found his daughter trying to take on a rugaru with a Bowie knife and a small caliber handgun. She mentioned he's dead, but nobody will give her any information."

"Balls!" Bobby Singer exclaimed. John could almost see the grizzled man running a hand down his face in frustration. "That damned idjit child is going to get herself killed."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," John said in a voice that clearly conveyed he meant business. "Marcus Revkin?" he prompted.

Bobby sighed. He almost felt sorry for the girl, but if she was taking on monsters that unprepared, she deserved whatever punishment John Winchester dished out to her. "Conners contacted me about three months ago. Said he and Revkin were supposed to meet up at a cabin somewhere in Minnesota. When he got there, he found Revkin's corpse along with two dead wolves. Conners said it looked like Revkin had been bitten several times, but the most disturbing part was that it looked like he'd eaten a bullet. The top of his head had been blown off."

John closed his eyes and hung his head at the news. He understood wanting to end your life rather than take the chance of turning into a monster or even ending it early rather than face a lingering, painful death from injuries. He couldn't deny that that same possibility hadn't crossed his own mind a time or two.

He realized Bobby was still talking and turned his attention back to the conversation.

"He went ahead and salted and burned the body."

"Who got in touch with Natalie?" John asked.

"I did," Bobby responded. "It took me a few weeks to track her down. I hadn't been in touch with them in a few years, so I really had to do some digging to find her at some college in Colorado."

"What did you tell her?"

"There wasn't much to tell - just that her daddy had been killed on a hunt and his body had already been cremated."

"How'd she take it?" John asked as he watched the young woman in question scooting across the seat of the truck toward the driver's side. The door on that side was unlocked and could provide a means of escape from the vehicle. He was actually a little surprised that it had taken her that long to try it. He moved around the truck to stand just behind the cab where he could easily grab her when she opened the door,

"About as well as you might expect. She was upset, but she said she'd be okay. I called back to check on her a week or so later and learned from her roommate that she'd dropped out of school and had taken off. I've been looking for her ever since," Bobby stated.

John growled low in his throat when he realized that Natalie wasn't planning to leave the cab of the truck, she was trying to hotwire it. "Thanks, Singer. I'll get back to you." He quickly ended the call and wrenched the truck door open. He pulled her out of the cab and bent her under his arm before she even had her feet under her. Three hard swats landed on her backside and brought tears to her eyes.

Natalie was momentarily stunned, but she began struggling to free herself from John's hold as the sting from the swats began to register in her brain. "Let me go, you asshole!"

"Watch your mouth," John commanded as he delivered another volley of hard swats before setting her back on her feet. "You ever try to steal my vehicle again, and I'll strip the hide off your backside with my belt. Is that understood?"

Natalie tried to take a step back from him, but she found herself trapped against the open door of the truck. She nodded in agreement, not certain she could trust her voice.

"I didn't hear you," John said as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her.

"Yes, sir."

John nodded and relaxed his stance. "Get in," he said, gesturing towards the passenger seat of the truck, "and stay put this time."

Natalie turned to climb into the cab, but paused and turned back to face John. "I need to go to the bathroom," she stated.

John studied her for a minute. Deciding she wasn't trying to deceive him, he pointed toward the nearby tree line. "Don't go any further than just inside the trees, and sing or talk to me the whole time you're in there. I don't hear you, and I'll come looking for you - regardless of what you might be doing. Got me?"

Natalie's need was becoming urgent. "Yes, sir," she said and quickly made her way to where John had indicated. As she went, she racked her brain for something to sing, since that would be a lot less embarrassing than carrying on a conversation with John while she was emptying her bladder.

Once inside the tree line she found a appropriate spot she began singing loudly and slightly off key:

I knew a girl named Nikki

I guess you could say she was a sex fiend

I met her in a hotel lobby

Masturbating with a magazine

She said, "How'd you like to waste some time?"

And I could not resist when I saw little Nikki grind.

She paused while the rhythm break played in her head, then picked up with the next verse:

She took me to her castle

And I just couldn't believe my eyes

She had so many devices

Everything that money could buy

She said, "Sign your name on the dotted line"

The lights went out

And Nikki started to grind

Natalie grinned as she finished her business and left the cover of the tree line. She figured the song would annoy John and picked it for that purpose. She started back toward the truck, and seeing her efforts were paying off, continued singing:

I woke up the next morning

Nikki wasn't there

I looked all over and all I found

Was a phone number on the stairs

It said, "Thank you for a funky time"

"Call me up whenever you wanna grind"

John glared at Natalie as she opened the truck door and climbed into the passenger seat. He didn't know if it was just her or if it was because for all intents and purposes she was still a teenager, but he was going to get whiplash at how quickly her moods shifted.

He slid into the seat beside her and turned to look at her. "Your dad know you listened to music like that enough to have memorized the lyrics?"

Natalie grinned. "Know? He's the one who introduced me to that song. We'd listen to Prince all the time when we were on the road when I was younger. I'm especially found of his earlier work when it was mostly about sex." She paused a minute before continuing. "Anyway, I left the middle part of it out. I could sing that part, too, if you'd like." She was pleased to see John squirming slightly in his seat. She didn't know if he actually knew the lyrics that she'd skipped or if he was imagining how explicit they were given the rest of the song. Either way, she was enjoying his discomfort while she shifted in her seat to try to alleviate some of the lingering sting in her backside.

John just shook his head. "No, that's okay. I've got one more call to make, then we can go get your stuff and head out."

Natalie slumped back in her seat, a little disappointed that her choice of song hadn't earned a bigger reaction from John. "Whatever," she commented.

John eyed her for a moment then pulled his phone back out of his shirt pocket. He pulled up the number he wanted to call and hit send. "Where are you guys?" he asked when the call was answered. He listened to the response before continuing, "finish up and get back to the bunker. There's something we need to discuss." Whatever was said amused him, and he grinned as he asked, "I don't know, have either of you done anything to get in trouble over?" He was still grinning as he disconnected the call. He still had it, he thought, at least where his sons were concerned. The young woman sitting beside him was another matter entirely, but she would soon learn the danger of risking his ire.

"Okay," he said as he shifted in his seat to face her. "Where's your stuff? Let's go get it so we can hit the road."

Natalie sat back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "What makes you think I want to go anywhere with you?"

John sighed. "I'm not going to play games with you, Natalie. I didn't know your father well, but he was a hunter. That makes you a hunter's kid, and we all watch out for each other's families. Like it or not, that means I haul your tail out of here and help you get your head back on straight. You and I have an appointment for a long and serious discussion about what happened here today, and we've got a long drive ahead of us before that can happen." He paused to watch the emotions that played over Natalie's features. He knew the exact moment when she realized the true meaning of his words. "Now, you have two choices. One, you can tell me where your stuff is, and we can go retrieve it before heading to Kansas. Or, two, you can be stubborn and not tell me. We will leave without it, and I will wear your butt out at the first complaint or whine about it - your choice."

He knew he was being overbearing and most likely out of line, but John needed Natalie to understand that revenge wasn't always the best answer - especially when you don't know what you are seeking revenge on. He, more than anyone, understood that. But that understanding wouldn't come if she got herself killed doing something stupid like going after a monster unprepared. So, until her head got straightened out, he was going to be practicing his brand of tough love.

"Well?" He asked a little impatiently.

Natalie sighed. "Let's go get my stuff." She didn't see any way at the moment to get out of her current situation. She'd just have to go get her stuff and see if an opportunity to take off presented itself.

Author's Note: Okay, how many of my readers sang the song in their heads as they read the lyrics? If you aren't familiar with the song, the lyrics quoted in this chapter are from Darling Nikki by Prince and the Revolution off of the Purple Rain soundtrack. The video for it is available on YouTube. A bit of trivia - the lyrics from this song were part of the reason Tipper Gore fought for the parental advisory stickers for music albums with explicit lyrics back in the 1980's.