Most of the humans ended up in the hospital. Bridget had lost part of her ear, Jun one of his pinky toes. At first Dina thought she was all right, but then the room started spinning, and she blacked out.
When she came to, it turned out she'd gotten a traumatic brain injury. There was no swelling or bleeding but the vertigo wouldn't go away, the doctors couldn't predict when it would, and there was no quick treatment for it aside from physical therapy.
It was June, too late to take the LSAT and apply for the fall semester and few law schools offered a spring start, so Sam stayed with Dina. She got a job as a part-time barista, studied for the LSAT, and took Dina to rehab three times a week. She and Jun and Bridget and Dev and Porsha took turns reading to Dina because she got headaches from watching TV or even listening to audiobooks. As was expected, Uziel did not pay her a visit.
Dina was in no condition to return to hunting and honestly, Sam didn't miss it that much. She definitely didn't miss being a prophet of the Lord.
About six months later, the vertigo started getting better and by a year after the battle, Dina was ready to get hunting again.
NOW
Sam got her letter of acceptance to law school and a full scholarship. Dina was helping her pack her things and then they were going to a small party to see her off. Dina had been hunting for about a month already and didn't take Sam with her.
Just as she was about to put on her nicest t-shirt, her phone buzzed with a message from Bridget. A small nest of vamps had been spottest at the old abandoned farmhouse off the highway, could Dina get the drop on them? Bridget couldn't go because she'd sprained her wrist.
Dina wanted to say no. Tonight was supposed to be Sam's night, but what choice did she really have? She couldn't let people die because she wanted to go to a party. She sighed, texted back that she'd go, and put on her hunting clothes instead.
She emerged from her room, and Sam wasn't dressed to go out, she was also in her hunting clothes.
"What are you doing?" Dina asked.
"I also got Bridget's text. I'm going with you. One last hunt just the two of us."
"No, you're not. You and the gang, go have fun for me and then you'll tell me about it later."
"I don't know why, but I don't think you should go alone tonight," Sam said.
"Is this a prophecy or you being paranoid?" Dina said.
"Paranoid," Sam admitted.
"Fine, tag along. But you're the one who has to tell everyone the party is canceled."
As they drove, Dina said, "You know I could have handled this on my own, right?" Vamps were strong, but the truth was that they weren't very good fighters - they didn't expect their food to put up much of a struggle, and they preferred to avoid Hunters rather than confront them.
"I know," Sam said, biting her lip.
Dina wasn't wrong. They burst into the farmhouse catching the vamps unaware. They made a desultory effort to fight, but they were actually trying to escape so they could live to drink blood another day. Dina and Sam had none of that. In less than half an hour, four heads were separated from four bodies. The vamps had only gotten in a few swipes with their knives and a couple of lucky punches.
Dina was about to tell Sam to help her gather up the bodies so they could take them and burn them before they were accidentally discovered when she looked down at her pants leg and saw that it was soaked with blood. Her own blood.
"Um, Sam?" Dina said and sat down heavily on the floor. Normally the sight of blood didn't bother her but there was more than there should have been if she'd only been nicked.
Sam came over and looked at Dina's leg. "Let me take a look at how badly they got you."
She ripped open the top of Dina's pant leg and a burst of blood shot at her.
"Dina, they got your artery!" Sam said, sounding panicky.
"Oh," Dina said.
"Oh?" Sam said, cut off the pant leg and pressed it to the wound. "You've lost a lot of blood. You're going to need a transfusion and stitches. Can you reach into my pocket and get out my phone? I have to keep the pressure on, the spot's bad for a tourniquet."
"Or you could just leave it," Dina suggested.
"Leave it how? You'll die!"
"Bleeding out is a peaceful way to go."
"Dina, no, what are you saying? I'm not going to let you die!"
Dina smiled. "You might as well. It'll be now or it'll be some other night when I'm alone. At least you're here with me."
Sam blinked a bunch of times but her eyes filled with tears. "Why are you saying this? Do you want to die?"
"We beat the Devil, the yellow-eyed demon is dead, you're off to law school. Hunting will catch up with me eventually, why not today?"
"Because I don't want you to die. And what about Bridget, she'll feel guilty that she sent you here, and Jun will feel guilty that he didn't go with you instead of me."
"Did I ever tell you that before the battle I asked Jun to marry me and he turned me down? In fact, he terminated our friends with benefits relationship entirely."
Sam gasped. "No, you did not tell me that. But so what, there are other guys."
"Maybe I loved him more than I thought I did."
"There are other guys in the world."
"That are Hunters? Is there an app for that?"
"I'm not letting you die because you're depressed over a breakup. In fact, I better call him. I can't call the paramedics, how would I explain these bodies?"
Sam kept one hand pressed on the wound and with the other managed to get her phone. She manipulated it awkwardly and dialed Jun on speakerphone.
When he answered, Sam said, "Dina and I are at the old farmhouse. We killed a vamp nest, but they got Dina. She's bleeding out. We need your help."
"I know a guy. I'll pick him up and be there in twenty minutes," Jun said and then the line went dead.
"Dina, talk to me," Sam said.
Dina closed her eyes. "What's there to say?"
Sam pressed both hands on the wound and didn't know what to say herself. She didn't think Dina would actively try to kill herself, but it was certainly possible that in the future she'd take more risks, go up against better fighters or allow herself to be overwhelmed by a larger group instead of bringing backup.
Sam fought back tears. "If you can ask me to go to law school then I can ask you to live until I pass the bar. That's only fair."
"Look at you, already negotiating like a pro," Dina joked, but she sounded tired.
"Stay with me, please," Sam pleaded.
Dina quirked her lips into a smile but didn't respond.
After a few moments Jun and another man came running into the farmhouse.
"Sam, this is Dan Hodges, he's a paramedic and he's with us."
Dan slung a big bag down on the ground and crouched next to Sam. "Let's see the wound," he said and nearly had to pry Sam's fingers away. She was afraid to let go.
When Dan lifted the blood-soaked material, the artery oozed rather than spurted. That was a very bad sign.
"Dina, I have to cauterize the wound, it'll be the fastest way to get the bleeding to stop. There's no time for a painkiller so it's going to hurt like hell. Jun, come here and hold her down," Dan said.
He got out a small pen-shaped device from his kit bag and turned it on. Jun knelt on Dina's arms and legs and Dan pressed the cauterization tool to her leg. She screamed and bucked but Jun kept her from throwing Dan off.
"Okay, you can let her go," Dan said. "She needs a blood transfusion. Samantha, you two are sisters, do you have the same blood type?"
"Yes, A positive," Sam said.
"Okay, I'm going to hook the two of you up then I'm going to clean and stitch the wound."
He had Sam sit down on a chair so that her arm was higher than Dina's. Dan smoothly stuck needles in her and Dina's arms and then attached them with a tube. He checked his watch.
"It'll take an hour to transfuse two pints. That's all you can afford to give, Samantha," Dan said. "Tomorrow we might have to take her to hospital, but we'll talk about that later."
"Sam," she interrupted. "You can call me Sam."
"Sam," Dan said, nodding.
He cleaned and debrided the wound, smeared on antibiotic cream then a numbing cream. "The stitches shouldn't hurt. And luckily it's a pretty small cut. A larger laceration and you would have bled out where you were standing."
Dina hadn't said anything the whole time.
"Dina, can you hear me?" Dan said.
"Yeah," she said faintly.
"You're lucky to be alive," Dan said.
"Great. Super," Dina said.