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Chapter Six

Dean reached toward his brother, in the dream the floor slipped away from him, as he fell back his brother moved from his reach, his father stood above him.

"You failed us, you always fail us"

"No, I haven't , I don't" The panic inside, the knowledge he had failed Sam, failed his father, destroyed his strength and his will, shooting him with thousands of invisible daggers, each and every one making it's way through his body to embed themselves in his heart.

In the dream Dean watched as the abyss opened beneath him, he clawed at the ground, driving the dirt beneath his finger nails, driving shards of grit deep into his palms.

He came awake without the usual snap of his head and quick look around, instead his eyes felt sluggish, resistant, he tried to roll away. Just a few hours more sleep and he'd be ready to get up. Just a few more hours Sammy. Yet he couldn't move, it was then that he realised his arms were tied behind him, he tried to move them but his wrists were bound together behind his back around something sharp. The more he moved the deeper the pain in his wrists. Slowly he opened his eyes, his head was pounding with every beat of his heart and his vision blurred for a few seconds.

Slowly the room came into focus.

It was more like a prison cell. The room was all metal, cold metal. No windows, one door to the side. The floor was damp and the ceiling high. A storage room maybe? He was sat on the cold wet floor, his feet splayed out in front of him, his back against what he could only imagine was a pole. He tried to pull again but whatever his hands were bound to had a sharp edge. He bit back a yelp of pain as he felt the skin tear along the front of his wrist. As Dean took another sweep of the room his eyes fell upon a person across from him, bound in a similar way.

"About time you woke up"

"What?"

"About. Time. You. Woke. Up"

"You're friendly"

"I'm tied to a pole in a room underground being held by what I think, although I can't believe, are vampires. And you want me to greet you welcome"

"Listen, don't panic ok? I'm gonna get us out of here"

"How?"

"What?"

"I said How?"

"I'm working on it"

"And how long are you going to take?"

"Listen will you calm down, I'll save you"

The young woman across from him looked down at herself, she turned her head side to side, moved her legs and swished her hair across her face highlighting the many colours.

"What are doing?"

"Checking for a dress and pigtails seeing as you've deemed me the damsel in distress"

"Oh great, of all the people to be trapped with, I have a bitter, twisted man hating woman to contend with"

"You don't seem shocked that I said vampires"

"I'm not, I've er, come across them before"

"What?"

"It's kinda what I do, hunt these kind of things. So believe me when I say we're gonna get out of here"

"What are you? Bufter the Vampire Slayer or something"

"Noooo, a hunter. I deal with this kind of stuff all the time so just relax and trust me"

"Because you're gonna get us out of here"

"Exactly"

"Even though you're bound and bleeding"

"I'm not bleeding"

"Sorry man, but your face is half covered in blood, so yeah, you're bleeding"

"Shut up"

"Nice"

Dean suppressed the humph that threatened to escape. Just his luck, not only get caught by the vamps, but get caught and locked up with one hell of an annoying chick.

He took another look at her.

Hot though.

Slender arms, broad shoulders, his gaze fell onto her chest and he had to physically berate himself in order to look away and into her dark brown eyes. Her coloured hair fell at odd lengths across her face almost hiding her full red lips, there was a piercing above her right lip, causing him to wonder what else might be as well.

Maybe his luck wasn't all that bad.

"I'm Dean"

The woman stared at him for a second, debating whether or not to continue the conversation. Heck, they were trapped and that made him her ally, although he seemed more annoying than her brother.

"Nicki"

"Nice to meet you"

Nicki rolled her eyes and looked away just as Dean raised his eyebrows and stared at her in disbelief.

She didn't find him cute?

Well that was a first.

"How long have you been here?"

"A few hours I think, it's hard to tell, I was knocked out"

Dean looked around the room again, searching for anything to aide their escape.

He found nothing.

He tried to move his wrists again but only succeeded in cutting further into his skin.

Sighing he slumped forward and allowed his eyes to close.

If it was vampires, and he was sure that's who had him, he just hoped it wasn't 'the' vampires.

Revenge and blood lust didn't sit too well in his five year plan.

"Hey, are you ok?" Nicki tensed, suddenly alarmed that her companion had slumped and was no longer speaking. Annoying as he seemed to be he was her only partner in escape.

When she'd first came awake panic had tore through her veins erupting in sweat across her entire body. She was bound, alone and locked away from help. Her attackers had only checked in on her once. A tall man with shoulder length blonde hair and buck teeth. He'd snarled at her, baring those teeth once again. When he was satisfied that she was aware of the severity of the situation he retracted his teeth and flashed her with a buck tooth grin before disappearing from the room.

Since then she'd been alone, until this guy, Dean , was dragged through the door by blondie and a female with long dark hair and a determined stride. She'd barely looked at Nicki as they bound the man to the pole, hatred poured off the woman in waves, all aimed at this man.

She'd kicked him hard, twice, although his unconscious body had barely even reacted. After regarding his sleeping form for a few seconds the female had left the room, only to return with barbed wire. Nicki watched in disbelief as the wire was wound around the man's wrists.

Guess Dean had a talent for annoying people.

"Hey, Dean? You ok?"

Slowly, and with much effort, Dean raised his head and smiled wearily at Nicki.

"Peachey, thanks for asking"

"Just checking, it's better to have a little company than no company at all"

"Have you seen any of them?"

"The vampires?"

"No, the maids, this place is a mess"

Nicki ignored him but answered anyway.

"Two, one looks like the lead singer of Skid Row and the other looks like Xena but with more attitude"

Dean had to laugh at that, but the second his rib cage expanded with the sound he felt searing pain rip through his left side and succumbed to a coughing fit.

After a few seconds, a few long agonizing seconds, he got control of his breathing. His entire body was coated with a thin sheen of sweat from the effort.

"Guess I should have told you about that huh?"

"What?"

"They kicked you, well, Xena kicked you a couple of times when they brought you in. It was also her that wound the barbwire around your wrists."

"Nice to know"

He attempted to shift positions but only succeeded in confirming he had at least one broken rib. The grinding inside his body almost sending his dinner flying.

He'd never hear the end of it if she had to put up with that smell.

"You ok? You look like you got a knock to the head too"

Nicki smiled, her first genuine smile to Dean since he awoke. Maybe she was giving this guy too hard a time. He just seemed like the typical bad boy who had walked over her in Austin before she decided a break was in order. It was unfair to judge him so harshly.

"Yeah, I kinda crashed my car into a tree trying to get away from them. Killed one though"

Dean looked up suddenly and held her gaze with a look of admiration.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, ran him over with my mustang , three times, didn't see him get up after that"

"Way to go"

"You ever killed one of them?"

"Yeah, a while back, we ran into a nest of them"

"We?"

"My brother and me, and my, err, Dad"

Dean looked down as he said the word. Anytime his father was mentioned pain tore through his heart and reminded him of the break that was still healing.

"Your family are Vampire Hunters?"

"Not quite, we're hunters, yes, but what we hunt isn't usually like this. Tell you the truth that first nest we came up against was the first time I knew vampires were real."

"So what do you normally hunt?"

Dean contemplated his answer, heck, she knew vampires existed, why not go the whole hog?

"The supernatural"

Nicki did a double take and shook her head, convinced the knock she'd received had damaged her hearing.

"Come again?"

"Spirits, Demons, Poltergeists, that kinda thing"

"You're serious"

"Hell you were kidnapped by a vampire, so why is what I do so hard to believe?"

"I'm learning a lot about the world tonight"

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Dean, bound and helpless. For some reason this appeals! Hope i'm not alone !