SUMMARY: Natalie Revkin was the daughter of a hunter, but she wanted nothing to do with that life. That is, until her father was killed by a supernatural creature. She's angry and wants revenge against the supernatural, and doesn't particularly care if she dies in the process. However, her life is turned on end when she has a run in with John Winchester. WARNING: will contain disciplinary spanking of a young adult.

Author's Note: I must be a glutton for punishment, that's all I can say. I barely have time to write my other Supernatural story, And Krissy Makes Three, and here I am starting another one. I've had a thing lately for John Winchester stories, and this one popped into my head. It refused to leave, so I didn't have any choice but to put it in writing.

This is an AU story. John didn't have to make a deal with Azazel to trade his life and the colt for Dean's life. Rather, he and his sons managed to kill the yellow-eyed demon just before Azarel could put that plan into action. A few years have passed, and they have continued to hunt - John largely hunts solo, while Dean and Sam hunt as a team - while using the bunker as a home base for research and a place to crash between hunts.

I don't know how far I'm going to go with this, and the chapters will probably be shorter than in my other story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please leave a review or send me a PM. I always love hearing from my readers.

Edit: I have edited this chapter to correct typos and other errors. I did make some minor additions, but nothing that changes the story.

CHAPTER 1

John Winchester heard the commotion well before he approached the location of the cave where he expected to find the rugaru he'd been tracking. He made his way swiftly but carefully through the woods, taking care that he made as little noise as possible to prevent alerting whoever or whatever was involved in the fighting of his presence.

He didn't know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't what he saw when he reached the edge of the small clearing in front of the cave. The rugaru was there, and it had been the creature's angry roars that John had heard as he'd approached the clearing. What surprised him, though, was the woman who appeared to be trying to fight the creature - with "trying" being the operative word.

She appeared to be average size and had a strawberry blonde braid that ended between her shoulders. Her back was to him, so he couldn't see her face or estimate her age. She was moving around the clearing, evading the rugaru's angry swipes with what John could only describe as a dancer's grace. He quickly ran through his mental list of hunters and didn't come up with any who fit her description.

John's anger started to rise as he realized the woman, whoever she was, no had no idea what she was doing. He watched as she swiped out with the knife she held in her hand. She missed the creature completely and had to duck as it swung it's clawed hand at her head. Whoever that woman was, he thought, was a damned idiot who had no business being in that fight. He'd have a word or two to say to her about it if she survived.

His frown deepened when she took a few stumbling steps backward and dropped the knife. She didn't make a move to try to reclaim her knife, but reached around to the small of her back and pulled out a small handgun. Even from where he stood, John could see her hands trembling as she raised the gun toward the advancing rugaru. Her first shot went wild, hitting a tree several yards to the creature's left. The second one caught the rugaru in ithe shoulder. It only served to anger the beast.

The rugaru roared in pain and began advancing on the woman. She retreated backward until her heel hit an exposed root, causing her to lose her balance. She fell backward, landing on her backside. The handgun fell out of her hand, and a shot rang out as it landed a few feet away. Luckily, the bullet slammed into a nearby tree instead of ricocheting around or hitting someone .

John had seen enough. The woman was now unarmed and vulnerable. If he hadn't been there, her life expectancy would have been less than ten minutes. He couldn't help but wonder if she realized that as he pulled out the flare gun he'd tucked into his jacket pocket and eased around the edge of the clearing until he had a clear shot. He didn't hesitate and quickly fireda flare into the rugaru's chest. A second one quickly followed into its head.

"Cover your eyes," John yelled at the woman as the flares exploded, producing a blinding flash of light and flame that immediately began consuming the beast. He ignored its dying screams as he rushed toward the woman, stopping only to grab her knife from the ground where she'd dropped it. He tucked it into his belt, then moved to grab her by the upper arm and pulled her to her feet. He gave her a second to grab her gun from the ground before he practically dragged her to the side of the clearing where he'd entered.

Things happened so quickly that the woman didn't have time to react to John's presence or his actions until they came to a stop at the edge of the clearing. "Let go of me!" she demanded as she tried to pull her arm out of his grasp when he paused to watch the now dead rugaru going up in flames. The fire from the two flares had burned so hot and fast that the creature was now little more than a pile of ash.

John tightened his grasp on her arm and, for the first time, looked at her face. He was momentarily stunned to see that she was young - no older than twenty, if she was even that old. Then, he was struck with a feeling that he had met the young woman before. He just didn't know where.

She gasped at the tightening hold on her arm and pulled against him again "I said, let me go!" she repeated. There was a note of fear in her voice, and that hint of vulnerability made her angry - as much at the man in front of her as at herself. She suddenly remembered the handgun she still held in her other hand. She raised it in the short space between herself and the man who still held her captive. "Let me go, or I'll shoot."

John growled in a combination of anger and frustration. In a move that was too fast for her to follow he snatched the gun out of her grasp. His angry gaze met hers as he took a step forward into her personal space. He glanced down at the gun in his hand and flipped the safety on before tucking it into his waistband at the small of his back. "Next time you pull a gun on me, young lady, you'd better be prepared to pull the trigger. Otherwise, you'll be damned lucky if all I do is blister your ass. You got me?"

"Yeah, whatever," she responded, refusing to back down, despite the fact that her knees were shaking. She didn't know if he recognized her or even remembered meeting her, after all it had been around ten years since they had last seen each other - and she had changed a lot in that time. She did remember him, though. Her dad had described John Winchester as one of the best hunters in the business. She hadn't cared very much about that. He was just another hunter who'd appeared and disappeared out of her young life.

John narrowed his eyes. He wasn't happy with the disrespect in her response. But, more than that, it triggered a memory of a feisty nine year old girl who had wanted to be anywhere but at that hunter's cabin in the middle of nowhere. John and Dean were working with her father on a werewolf infestation. She and Sam had had more in common than they'd cared to admit - neither of them particularly wanted to be part of the hunting life, but they were both upset at being left behind. Sam, especially, had been resentful that he was being asked to babysit Natalie instead of being allowed to join in on the hunt. Natalie had insisted that she hadn't needed a babysitter. Both kids had ended up sporting sore backsides before the night was over.

"Natalie Revkin," he stated. The widening of her eyes and her shocked face was all the confirmation he needed that he'd pegged her identity correctly. He released his grip on her arm as he crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a stern look. "Just what do you think your father would have to say about you being here? Does he even know that you're hunting solo and unprepared?"

Natalie shrugged and shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "I doubt he'd have much to say, considering he's dead."

John closed his eyes and hung his head for a moment in silent mourning for the loss of yet another hunter. "When?"

"About three months ago." She waited a moment for John to meet her eyes again. "Nobody will tell me how, but I know it had something to do with a hunt."

"So you're out here trying to get yourself killed, too?" John's voice once again took on a hard edge. "Because that's exactly what's going to happen if you keep this up." He paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in. "Don't think I didn't notice that you haven't answered my question, Natalie. What would your father do if he'd been the one to find you instead of me?"

When she refused to answer him, John nodded once and gave her a look that would have put the fear of God into his sons. "Unfortunately for you, I know exactly what he would do. Well, young lady, you can guarantee that I'm more than ready and able to step in and do it for him."

Natalie took a step back. She knew exactly what John was alluding to, and she didn't want any part of it. "You can't. You don't have any right to do that."

John glanced over at the fire and saw that it was down to a few smoldering embers that seemed to shrink even as he watched them. Nothing had burned except the rugaru, and he was comfortable with the idea that those few remaining embers would finish burning themselves out on their own without presenting any danger to their surroundings.

"You sure about that?"

Natalie's eyes widened as he grabbed her upper arm again and began dragging her behind him in the direction where his truck was parked.

TBC