Chapter 1

"Is now a good time to say I told you so? Because I most certainly told you so," Alison deadpanned at the dim-witted hunter tied up across the room. She tested the rope tied around her wrists. It was no use. Their captors certainly knew how to tie a knot.

"Shut up kid. You weren't even supposed to be here. I specifically remember asking you to stay in the damn car!" was the reply of said dim-witted hunter. Figures, she thought, Dean Winchester would sooner give up pie than admit that his plan was stupid. Nope, scratch that. Dude had an unhealthy obsession with his pie.

"And I specifically remember asking you not to call me kid. Looks like we're both bad at adhering to simple requests," she quipped back immediately.

"Well kid, the difference between those scenarios is that mine wasn't a request. It was an order. You wanna hunt so bad? First learn to follow the chain of command." Dean clearly wasn't in the mood for quips if his clenched jaw was anything to go by. Alison was almost glad that he was tied up because she was certain he would have throttled her if he wasn't.

"I met you three days ago Winchester. This was my hunt. I go by my rules." She desperately tried to save face even though she knew she was wrong. If she hadn't followed Dean from the car, he probably wouldn't have been so distracted and they wouldn't have got caught. To be fair, she had told the stupid ass hunters that they were dealing with a pack of shifters, and not vampires like they believed. 'Shifters don't hunt in packs Alison' 'The bodies were ripped apart; they were clearly dealing with newly turned vamps'. Alison scoffed thinking about their condescending looks and shared exasperated glances. Joke's on them. She was right. It was a bloody family of shifters who behaved like your average human serial killers. New, but not the most outlandish idea. And because stupid Dean with his stupid machete (he lost that 2 minutes in by the way! –which was probably her fault cause she distracted him) had charged in without any silver, they got captured and were probably going to die at the hands of the deranged serial killer shifters.

"Okay first of all, you're barely out of high school. You shouldn't be hunting in the first place. Yes, you were right about the shifters and we should have considered that option. That's on us, but you disobeyed a direct order and put not only yourself but me and Sammy in danger. A little reality check kid, this isn't a game. You make a wrong choice and people can die. You wanna be reckless and put yourself in danger, be my guest. But when you're with experienced hunters who know what the hell they're doing, try listening instead of being a pain in the ass – maybe you'll end up learning something. You didn't disobey me because you thought I was in danger, you did it out of spite. There's no excuse for that. So, shut up and let me think."

She looked away guiltily. He was right and she had ended up proving that they were right about her. They thought she was just a kid in way over her head and she had just cemented that image into their heads. They would never respect her now. He was also wrong but she knew better than to say that when he was already so angry about her little lapse in judgement. Yes, she was young. She doubted they knew her actual age or they would never have let her come with them in the first place. So, maybe she was young but she knew hunting wasn't a game. Her mother had been a hunter. From what she knew her father had been a hunter. It was in her damn blood. She had trained since she was barely able to hold a gun. Her first hunt was a werewolf that had ended up ripping her mother apart in front of her when she was only 11. She knew it wasn't a damn game. She knew telling Dean Winchester all this was futile though. She had already lost her chance to be taken seriously.

"I'm sorry," was what she said instead. "You're right and I apologise for making you lose focus in the middle of a hunt. It won't happen again."

Dean looked mildly surprised and entirely too sceptical for her taste. She rolled her eyes. O ye of little faith.

"I can admit when I'm wrong, you know. I mean I was right too but you made a good point and I took it under consideration. So, I'm sorry for screwing up the hunt. At least Sam got away so there's a pretty good chance we'll have to listen to him gloating about saving our asses for the rest of the night."

Finally, there was a look of reluctant respect in Dean's eyes. He knew that hunters usually had big egos and admitting mistakes was not their strong suit. Some of the animosity faded from the room and Alison breathed a subtle sigh of relief. That was all she wanted. To be accepted and respected by the great Winchester brothers. Every hunter worth their salt knew about the Winchesters. Not all of them had great things to say about them, but Alison tended to look past the hunter gossip. She never really believed that they were as bad as the hunting world made them out to be. Sure, hunters reluctantly respected them and even feared them, but they weren't exactly liked in the community. After spending the past three days with them, she was more convinced than ever that hunters were idiots and these guys were legends for a reason. She thought they were heroes, although she would never tell Dean that lest she be subjected to his annoying self-satisfied smirk.

"Sammy doesn't gloat. He preens," was all he said. She burst out laughing at that and even Dean let out a small grin at the sound. There was a loud bang and then suddenly Sam was bitch-facing over them.

"Glad to see you two enjoying yourself while I've been taking care of our monsters. They were going at it when I finally found them, it was an awkward moment. I was almost reluctant to kill them in that state."

The Bitchface was still in place and it took all of Alison's self-control to not laugh at the thought of him killing the shifters mid sex. Dean didn't share her empathy and promptly proceeded to laugh at his brother's despair. Sam made quick work of getting both of them out of restraints. He looked at Alison and she could see that he was gearing up towards a lecture. She internally winced. She could handle Dean's anger but she dreaded Sam's disapproval. Disappointing Sam was like kicking a puppy. He gave a whole new meaning to the whole 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed thing' charade.

Apparently, Dean knew his brother well and knew how to read him. He stepped in before Sam could start in on her. "I already yelled at her about it. Even took a page from your book and told her what she did wrong. She apologised, it's all good. So, you can stow away the angry puppy eyes."

Sam considered for a moment before letting it go. He gave her a small smile and shared one of the non-verbal conversations with his brother confirming they were both good. Dean's eyes also gave Sam a onceover, taking particular note of the gash on his arm and possible bruised ribs evident from the way he seemed to favour his left side. He took a second to assess any lasting damage, finding none he finally looked away from Sam to focus on Alison who was now rubbing her wrists to sooth the rope burns.

"You get the other two as well? I'm assuming it was mommy and daddy screwing that you killed," he asked Sam, making him wince at the disturbing memory.

"Yeah I got 'em. They were guarding the warehouse waiting for the horn dogs to return. What did you think the bang was?"

"You kicking down a door like a badass?"

Sam rolled his eyes and started walking towards the door.

"Buzzkill," Dean mumbled under his breath, "Let's get you fixed up and then we'll go out to celebrate the fact that despite Alison's inability to make good choices, we still survived a pack of shifters."

"Hardy har, har," She said dryly.

"We survived? Dude, you were too busy being the damsel in distress for a change, I did all the heavy lifting," Sam scoffed.

"I called it! Gloating it is. You owe me a beer Winchester," Alison chuckled.

"Okay, one, don't even think about it, you're too damn young to drink, and B, we never made a bet sweetheart. Now shut up and let's get out of here."