July 10th - July 12th, 2006
We had been running around on random hunts for the last couple of weeks. There hadn't been anything too severe, basically just a couple of spirits that needed help moving on. So, we had stopped at a diner to figure out where we were headed to next.
Dean flipped through a newspaper. "Well, dude. Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What've you got?"
Sam clicked around on his laptop. "Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived."
"Sounds more like 'that's incredible' than, uh, 'Twilight Zone,'" Dean said.
Sam nodded. "Yeah."
Dean smirked. "Hey, ya know, we could just keep heading east. New York. Upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah again. Huh? Cool chick man, smokin'." He whistled. "You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?"
"Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do, Dean, and you know that," Sam said.
"Yeah, all right. What else you got?" Dean asked.
"Uh, man in Colorado, local man named Daniel Elkins, was found mauled in his home," Sam said, peering up from his laptop.
Dean looked curiously at Sam. "Elkins? I know that name."
Sam shook his head. "Doesn't ring a bell."
"Elkins... Elkins... Elkins..." Dean repeated under his breath.
"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 said.
Dean leaned down and pulled out Dad's journal. "Mm-hmm." He flicked through the journal until he found what he was looking for. "There, check it out."
Dean flipped the journal around to show Sam and pointed to a name, D Elkins 970-555-0158.
"You think it's the same, Elkins?" Sam asked.
Dean nodded. "It's a Colorado area code."
We set off for Colorado, and fortunately, we were able to make it by dark. When we arrived at Elkins's cabin, Dean picked the lock, and we walked in with our flashlights out. The cabin was a complete disaster.
"Looks like the maid didn't come today," Dean said, looking around.
Sam walked over to a back door and knelt. "Hey, there's salt over here. Right beside the door."
Dean flicked through papers on the desk. "You mean protection against demon salt, or 'oops I spilled the popcorn' salt."
"It's clearly a ring. You think this guy Elkins was a player?" Sam asked.
Dean nodded. "Definitely."
Sam walked up to Dean as he was flipping through a journal on the desk. "That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's."
Dean nodded. "Yup, except this dates back to the '60s." He tucked the journal into his jacket.
We moved to another part of the house, which was in an even worse condition, the skylights in the ceiling were shattered, and there was glass all over the floor.
Sam shined his flashlight at the ceiling. "Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one."
Dean nodded. "Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too."
Sam sighed. "Yeah."
Dean crouched down and touched the floor.
"You got something?" Sam asked.
"I dunno. Some scratches on the floor," Dean said.
"Death throes, maybe?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, maybe," Dean agreed. He ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook and grabbed a pencil off of the desk, then he put the paper over the scratches and rubbed the pencil over it. "Or maybe a message." He pulled the paper up, which now had writing on it. "Look familiar?"
Sam nodded. "Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop."
"Just the way Dad does it," Dean said.
We found the post office and box. Within it, there was a letter, but when Dean pulled it out, we were all stunned. We made our way back to the Impala and were silent for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on.
"'J.W.' You think? John Winchester?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Should we open it?"
Knock! Knock!
We all jumped and looked up to see Dad standing next to the Impala, staring at us, and then smiled.
"Dad?" Dean asked.
Dad opened the back door and slid into the back seat next to me.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place." Dad looked over at me and pulled me into a hug, kissing the top of my head.
"Why didn't you come in, Dad?" Sam asked softly.
"You know why... because I had to make sure you weren't followed... by anyone or anything. Nice job of covering your tracks, by the way." Dad smiled.
"Yeah, well, we learned from the best." Dean smiled back proudly.
"Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asked.
Dad nodded. "Yeah. He was— He was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting."
"Well, you never mentioned him to us," Sam said.
"We had a— We had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years," Dad said and then gestured to the envelope. "I should look at that." He reached forward and grabbed the envelope, opening it and reading the letter inside. "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead'..." He continued reading silently. "That son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"He had it the whole time." Dad shook his head, irritated.
"Dad, what?" Sam asked.
"When you searched the place, did you, did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?" Dad asked.
Dean looked confused. "Uh, there was, there was an old case, but it was empty."
Dad sighed. "They have it."
"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asked.
Dad stepped out of the car and leaned into the driver's side window. "We gotta pick up the trail."
"Wait. You want us to come with you?" Sam asked.
"If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun," Dad said.
"The gun... why?" Sam asked.
"Because it's important, that's why," Dad said.
"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet," Sam said.
"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best... vampires," Dad said.
Out of everything we hunted and knew existed out there, we were always under the impression that vampires didn't actually exist.
"Vampires?" Dean shook his head. "I thought there was no such thing."
"You never even mentioned them, Dad," Sam said.
"I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and— and others had wiped them out. I was wrong," Dad said, "Most vampire lore is crap. A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late," he explained, "All right, let's find a motel. We can talk more there." Then he started walking back to his truck.
"Uh, what just happened?" I asked, stunned by this situation.
Sam and Dean both shook their heads, not really knowing what to say.
Then Dad popped his head back in. "I almost forgot." He handed me a small bowie knife in a sheath, it had M.R.W. etched into its handle. "Happy Birthday."
I smiled up at him. "Thanks, Dad."
Dad nodded. "I figured it was time you had your own." He smiled one last time and then walked away again.
We found a motel and quickly got some rest for the next morning until I woke up to Dad waking Sam and Dean up.
"Sam, Dean, let's go," Dad commanded.
"Mm-hmm." Dean sat up quickly but sleepily.
I sat up and stretched.
"I picked up a police call," Dad said, putting his jacket on.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"A couple called 9-1-1... found a body in the street. Cops got there everyone was missing. It's the vampires," Dad explained.
Sam stood up. "How do you know?"
"Just follow me, okay?" Dad asked and opened the door.
"Can I come?" I asked my Dad with puppy dog eyes.
Dad sighed and looked down for a moment, thinking. "All right, but you have to stay in the car." Then he walked out.
Sam walked across the room and put his jacket on.
"Huh, vampires. Gets funnier every time I hear it." Dean laughed, still sleepy.
We arrived at the crime scene and parked our cars down a small side road. Dad went down to talk to the police but wouldn't allow Sam or Dean to go with him. So, the three of us stood outside of the Impala and waited for him to return.
"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him." Sam sulked.
I groaned, knowing that Sam and Dad could only be around each other for a short time without fighting.
Dean shook his head. "Oh, don't tell me it's already starting."
"What's starting?" Sam snapped.
Dean turned his attention to Dad as he walked up. "What have you got?"
"It was them all right. Looks like they're heading west. We'll have to double back to get around that detour," Dad said.
"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked with an attitude.
"Sam..." Dean warned.
"I just wanna know we're going in the right direction," Sam said, sharply.
Dad nodded. "We are."
"How do you know?" Sam asked.
Dad handed something to Dean. "I found this."
It was a small sharp tooth.
"It's a— a vampire fang," Dean said as he analyzed it.
Dad shook his head. "Not fangs, teeth. The second set descends when they attack." He turned his attention to Sam. "Any more questions?"
Sam looked away and stayed silent.
"All right let's get out of here, we're losing daylight," Dad said, walking past us to his truck. "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."
"Hey, that's what I told him." I smirked at Dean.
"Well, at least one of you listens to me," Dad said as he climbed into his truck.
Dean snapped a look at me. "Really?"
I winked and smirked. "You know I love you," I said as I got into the car.
Sam drove the Impala, following Dad in his truck as Dean read Elkin's journal. "'Vampires nest in groups of eight to ten. Smaller packs are sent to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks.'" He sighed. "I wonder if that's what happened to that 9-1-1 couple."
"That's probably what Dad's thinking. Course it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks," Sam grumbled.
Dean shook his head. "So, it is starting."
"What?" Sam snapped.
"Ya know, that thing you do when you're around Dad for more than ten minutes?" I asked sarcastically.
Sam looked at me in the rear-view mirror, irritated.
Dean shook his head. "Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours, and there's static already?"
"No. Look, I'm happy he's okay, all right? And I'm happy that we're all working together again," Sam said.
Dean nodded. "Well, good."
"It's just the way he treats us like we're children," Sam said, not able to control himself.
I groaned and shook my head, putting my head in my hands.
Dean put his head back. "Oh, god."
"He barks orders at us, he expects us to follow 'em without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal," Sam said.
"He does what he does for a reason," Dean said.
"What reason?" Sam snapped.
"Our job!" Dean yelled. "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. Not after everything we've been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line, and letting him run the whole show?" Sam looked over at Dean as if he was challenging him.
"If that's what it takes," Dean said.
Sam shook his head and tightened his jaw.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Dean answered his phone, "Yeah, Dad? (...) "All right, got it." Then he hung up. "Pull off at the next exit."
"Why?" Sam snarled.
"'Cause Dad thinks we've got the vampire's trail," Dean said.
"How," Sam said, becoming angrier.
Dean shrugged. "I don't know; he didn't say."
Sam suddenly gunned it and sped around Dad's truck. He slammed on his breaks causing the Impala to swerve sideways in front of the truck. Both Sam and Dad stopped their cars and got out.
"Oh, crap. Here we go." Dean quickly got out. "Sam!"
Sam and Dad were now in each other's faces, staring at each other angrily, I decided to just watch from the back seat of the Impala.
"Sam!" Dean yelled as he ran around the car.
"What the hell was that," Dad said, angrily.
"We need to talk," Sam snapped.
"About what?" Dad asked.
"About everything. Where are we going, Dad? What's the big deal about this gun?" Sam put his arms out.
"Sammy, come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires." Dean tried to ease the tension.
"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this," Dad said.
"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 raised his voice, "Now obviously something big is going down, and we wanna know what!"
"Get back in the car." Dad pointed to the Impala.
"No," Sam said firmly.
"I said get back in the damn car!" Dad raised his voice.
"Yeah. And I said no," Sam said.
Dean took a step closer. "Okay, you made your point tough guy. Look we're all tired, we can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it, come on." He put his hand on Sam's shoulder and pushed him back to the car. Dad turned back to his truck.
"This is why I left in the first place," Sam grumbled.
Dad swung back around. "What'd you say?"
"You heard me!" Sam yelled.
"Yeah. You left. Your brother, your sister, and me, we needed you. You walked away, Sam," Dad said.
Dean sighed anxiously. "Sam—"
"You walked away!" Dad yelled in Sam's face.
"You're the one who said don't come back, Dad. You closed that door, not me. You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore!" Sam yelled.
Sam and Dad took a step forward, grabbing each other's shirts.
"Stop it, both of you!" Dean stepped forward. "Listen, stop it, stop it. Stop it! That's enough!" Dean pulled them apart.
Dad stepped back and stared over Dean's head at Sam.
Dean looked at Dad. "That means you too."
Sam got back into the Impala, and Dad turned back to his truck.
Dean stood there for a moment. "Terrific." Then he walked back to the car.
I made eye contact with Sam in the rear-view mirror and looked away, rolling my eyes.
"What?" Sam snapped.
I sat forward, looking Sam in the eyes. "You aren't starting it with me, Sam. I don't get you sometimes. We're with Dad for less than a day, and you can't get over yourself? What is that?"
"You don't get it." Sam shook his head, angrily.
"No! You're right, I don't. I love you, but oh my god, you are so annoying when it comes to Dad. You say you don't want him to treat you like a child? Well, then stop acting like one!" I yelled and then sat back.
Sam stared at me, stunned, and I stared back at him angrily.
Dean sighed. "Are you two done?"
"I am," I said with an attitude.
"Good." Dean gestured to Sam. "Let's go."
We pulled off to the side of a dirt road, Sam and Dean got out and talked to Dad. They pointed down the hill at an old barn. They talked for a while and then walked back to the cars, getting their bags and weapons ready.
"So, you boys really wanna know about this Colt?" Dad asked.
"Yes, sir." Sam nodded.
"It's just a story, a legend, really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter..." Dad explained, "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 a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. And somehow, Daniel got his hands on it." He sighed. "They say— They say this gun can kill anything."
"Kill anything? Like supernatural anything?" Dean asked.
"Like the demon," Sam said.
Dad nodded. "Yeah, the demon. Ever since I picked up its trail, I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun... we may have it." Then he turned his attention to me. "Stay here, they won't come out here unless they have to. As long as we do our jobs right, they should stay asleep."
I nodded. "Yes, sir."
Dad smiled at me and then turned to Sam and Dean. "Let's go."
Dad and the boys set off for the vampire nest, and I sat back and read my new book for about twenty minutes before Sam and Dean came running back to the Impala, but Dad was nowhere in sight.
Dean turned back around. "Dad?"
He was still nowhere to be found, I sat forward, my heart pounding.
"Dad!" Dean yelled.
After another moment, Dad came running out of the woods, as soon as he did, Sam and Dean turned to get into the Impala.
"They won't follow. They'll wait 'til tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it's for life," Dad said.
Dean turned around. "Well, what the hell do we do now?"
"You gotta find the nearest funeral home, that's what," Dad said.
We went back to the motel and then Dean, and I left for the funeral home, I didn't want to be left alone with Sam and Dad, so I asked Dean to convince Dad to let me go with him, which he reluctantly did. Dean apparently had to sneak in and steal blood from one of the corpses. He was able to sneak in and then rushed back out with the blood, and we quickly drove away.
"So..." Dean said.
I looked over at him. "Yeah?"
Dean sighed. "Uh, just promise me whatever happens between Sam and Dad, you're not gonna get involved."
I sighed. "I know, I'm sorry. It just makes me so mad when Sam acts like that. Dad only does what he does to protect us, and it's like Sam can't see it."
Dean nodded. "You and I know that, but Sam is just blind to it. You know why?"
I shook my head. "Why?"
"'Cause him, and Dad are too similar, and neither of them can see it," Dean said.
I frowned, not totally buying it.
"Ya know, like how Sam says that about us," Dean said.
I shrugged. "We don't fight like that."
Dean laughed. "No, but we have gotten into it before, we just get over it faster."
I smiled at Dean. "Yeah, 'cause we're awesome like that."
Dean laughed and held his fist out. "That's right, baby sis."
I laughed and bumped his fist with mine.
When we arrived back at the motel, Sam and Dad were actually sitting and talking calmly.
"Whew. Man, some heavy security to protect a bunch of dead guys," Dean said.
"Get it?" Dad asked.
Dean pulled a bottle of blood out of his pocket and handed it to Dad.
Dad nodded. "You know what to do."
Dad and the boys covered arrows in the blood and then set off for the vampire's nest once it was dark out. I was instructed to stay inside and not answer the door to anyone but them. It was late, so I got dressed and settled into one of the beds for the night.
I woke up to the door being broken in, I rolled off the bed and grabbed my knife off of the nightstand. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough, and I wasn't able to see my attacker before getting knocked out.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was now inside of an old barn. My jaw hurt, I could feel that my lip was swollen, and I could taste blood. I tried to pull the ropes that were tied around my hands and my back, but it was no use because I was also attached to a wooden pole. I looked around and saw a man sitting in the dark staring at me.
"What do you want?" I asked.
The man stood up and walked over to me. "Your family has my family, so we're just paying them the same respect."
"They're gonna find me and kill you," I said, angrily.
The man laughed. "Well, the finding you part is what we're betting on, but we're gonna be the ones doing the killing."
I felt relief as I noticed Dean sneaking up behind him. "Nah, I really don't think so."
The man just laughed evilly at me.
"I'd take her word for it," Dean said.
The man swung around to see Dean standing there with a machete in hand.
"Boo," Dean said and then swung the machete, slicing the man's head clean off and splattering blood everywhere.
I groaned. "You got blood all over me."
Dean walked behind me and started untying the ropes. "Well, sorry. I was pretty busy saving you," he said sarcastically. "What happened anyway?" he asked, now concerned.
"I don't know. I was asleep. Someone broke in. I tried to fight back, but I was too slow, and then I woke up here," I explained.
Dean finished untying me, and I stood up.
Dean grabbed my face and examined the damage. "Jeez, he got you pretty good."
I pushed his hands away. "I'm fine."
"Dad's not gonna be happy. If he wasn't already in the process of killing these jokers, I'd say that he was gonna kill them," Dean said.
Sam appeared in the doorway. "What happened?" he asked, running up to me.
"They brought me here to get to you guys." I looked around. "Where's Dad?"
Sam and Dean looked at each other and then started sprinting, I chased after them. We ran through the woods and could see lights shining from the road.
Once we got closer to the road, Dean lightly pushed down on my shoulder. "Stay hidden."
I hid behind a bush and watched Sam and Dean prepare their crossbows and then shoot at the vampires as they ran out of the woods. One of the vampires backhanded Sam and sent him to the ground. Dean dove for a machete, but when he stood up, the vampire had Sam in a headlock. Dean put his hands up and slowly laid the machete back on the ground.
Suddenly, a gunshot went off, and the vampire let Sam go. The vampire dropped to his knees, and a brief flash of light lit up his skeleton, and then he fell down, dead.
"Luther!" a woman screamed.
Two female vampires jumped in a car and sped off, squealing their wheels as they left. As soon as they left, I ran out of the woods.
Dad squinted his eyes at me. "Maddison?"
"Yeah, it's me," I said as I approached.
"What the h—" Dad stopped when he noticed my face. "Oh god, what happened to you?"
"They broke in and took me. They thought they would be able to draw you guys out and kill you," I explained.
Dad pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry, peanut. This is all my fault."
I pulled away from him. "Dad, I'm fine. You couldn't have known."
Dad put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me with a sad expression. "I don't know what I would do if I lost one of you kids." He looked up at Sam and Dean.
Back at the motel room, we packed up our things.
"So, boys," Dad said.
"Yes, sir," Sam said.
"You ignored a direct order back there," Dad said.
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Yeah, but we saved your ass," Dean said, straight-faced, and a flash of fear went through him.
Dad nodded and smirked. "You're right."
"I am?" Dean asked.
"It scares the hell out of me." Dad reached over and pulled me into his side. "You three are all I've got. But I guess we are stronger as a family. So... we go after this damn thing. Together."
"Yes sir," we said in unison.
