Chapter 17


Summer opened the door to her room when she heard a knock and found Sam standing there. Dean and John stood by the cars. "What's going on?"

"We have a lead on the vampires, we have to go.

She nodded and reached for her jacket before grabbing the room key, and closed the door behind her after she stepped outside. She followed Sam to the Impala, and glanced over at John who opened the door to his trunk. She then noticed him stopping short, and turned to face them again.

"I think it will be best if she stayed here," John said to his sons. "It's not safe. Nor is it smart."

"Like I told them, I'm going. I'm not going to sit on the sidelines why you deal with this," Summer spoke up before Sam and Dean had the chance to.

"Have you dealt with things like this before? Have you ever experienced the paranormal? Vampires even?" John asked.

"No, I have not dealt with vampires, and I haven't exactly dealt with this stuff before, but believe me, I believe in all of this. Hell, I have something in common; that demon you are looking for… it killed my mom less than a month ago, and I'm not going to let this thing get away with killing more families, so I'm now part of this. I'm going to fight everything bad from now on. Get used to me fighting with you," Summer said before she opened the door to the Impala and lowered herself inside, and shut the door afterwards.

The three men stared at the door of the car for a moment before looking at each other. John sighed. "We're going to talk about this later," he told the boys as he turned away and climbed inside his car.

Dean glanced at Sam, who at the same time did the same thing. "That's going to be on long ass talk."

"Yeah…"

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The two then got into the car and backed out of the parking lot, following John.

The four of them reached the road where the vampires were last. Summer stood next to Sam and Dean by the Impala while John talked to the police officers down the road a little ways.

"I don't see why we couldn't go over there with him," Sam said watching his father talk to the officer.

Dean looked over at Sam. "Don't tell me it's already starting?"

"What's starting?" Sam asked looking back at him.

Summer just stared at the two, not knowing what they were talking about, so she just kept quiet. She then saw John move toward them.

"What do you got?" Dean asked looking at him.

"It was them. It looks like they're heading west. We're gonna have to double-back to get around that detour."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Sam…"

"I just wanna know we're going in the right direction," Sam said looking at Dean before looking at John again.

"We are."

"How do you know?"

John pulled something out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Dean. The three checked it out, and to their surprise, it was tooth, which looked a lot like a fang.

"It's a… vampire fang," Dean said looking at it closely.

"Not a fang – a tooth. A second set descends when they attack," John corrected him as he glanced at Sam. "Any more questions?" Sam didn't reply, so he started to head to his truck. "Let's get out of here. We're losing daylight. And 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 gonna ruin it."

Both Sam and Summer turned to Dean, who stood by the passenger side seeming a bit unsure what to say. He just opened the door and got inside without saying anything as Sam and Summer did the same thing.

Dean reached for the journal from a bag by his feet and flipped through it before he found what he was looking for. "Vampire nest in groups of 8 to 10. Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest, where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks." I wonder if that's what happened to that 911 couple?"

"Dad probably thinks the same thing. I don't see why he can't tell us what he thinks," Sam said.

"So it is starting?" Dean asked raising his eyes up from the book and looked at Sam.

Summer glanced at the both of them from the back seat, and wondered what was going on, and what could be starting.

"What?"

"Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year, now we're not with him for more than a couple hours and there's static already?"

Sam scoffed a little shaking his head. "No. Look, I'm happy he's okay, alright? And I'm happy that we're all working together again."

"Good."

"It's just the way he treats us like we're children."

"Oh god," Dean sighed peering down at the book again.

"He, he barks orders at us, Dean. He expects us to follow him without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal."

"He does what he does for a reason," Dean told him looking at him.

"What reason?" Sam glanced at him.

"Our job! There's no time to argue. There's no margin for error, alright? It's just the way the old man runs things."

Sam scoffed again glancing back at the road. "Yeah, well maybe that worked when we were kids, but not anymore, alright? Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line and letting him run the whole show?"

"If that's what it takes,"

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Night-time eventually fell and Summer had fallen asleep, leaning her head up against the window.

"Alright, got it," Dean spoke into the phone before hanging up. "Pull off in the next exit."

"Why?"

"Because dad thinks he's got the vampires trail."

"How?"

"I don't know, he didn't say," he felt a sudden shift in the way the car moved a few seconds later, and he glanced over at Sam who had pressed down on the gas pedal more than he should have. Dean looked behind him, and saw that he drove right past John. He then looked back at Sam and a moment later he turned the steering wheel hard, making the car suddenly go sideways causing everyone to hit the side of the car, and Summer waking up with a jolt.

"What the…" she sat up and looked at the two puzzled. She then saw Sam quickly climb out of the car.

"Oh, crap. Here we go. Sam!" Dean climbed out of the car and walked to Sam who was already with John.

"What the hell was that?" John asked heading toward them.

"We need to talk," Sam said.

"About what?"

"About everything. Where are we going, Dad? What's the big deal about this gun?"

Summer climbed out of the car and stood behind Dean watching the two stare at each other.

"Sammy, come on, we can Q & A after we kill all the vampires," Dean spoke up standing a little closer to them.

"Your brother's right. We don't have time for this."

"Last time we saw you said it was too dangerous to be together. Now, out-of- the- blue, you need our help. Something big is going down, and we want to know what!"

"Get in the car."

"No."

"I said get back in the damn car."

"Yeah, and I said no."

"Alright, you made your point, tough guy. Look, we're all tired, we can talk about this later," Dean said putting a hand to Sam's chest and turned him back to the car, and they both began walking toward as Sam spoke half-quietly.

"This is why I left in the first place."

"What did you say?"

Sam faced John again. "You heard me."

"Yeah, you left. Your brother and me – we needed you. You walked away, Sam," he spoke as heshoved him a little. "You walked away!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Dean spoke up.

Summer couldn't believe how the two were beginning to argue in the middle of the night, and in the middle of looking for vampires. She had no idea what the family was like when they were together, and now she was finding out.

"You were the one who said 'Don't come back.', Dad. You are the one who closed that door, not me! You were just pissed off you couldn't control me anymore!" Sam spoke with so much anger that his voice got deeper with each thing he said.

Summer watched as John grabs the front of Sam's shirt, the anger visible on his face, and on Sam's. She saw Dean get in between the two, and pushed them apart.

" I said stop it! Stop it! Stop it! That's enough!" Dean said looking at Sam before looking at John as Sam began heading back to the car. "That means you too."

John then turned away and went back to the truck.

Dean stood there another moment with a sigh. "Terrific," he spoke as he faced Summer and gave her a 'sorry' look before heading back to the car, and she did the same thing.

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Several hours passed, and they finally got rid of the lead vampire and a couple others while two female vampires got away in their car. They went back to the motel, and Summer sat on one of the beds watching as Dean and Sam packed their bags. The motel door opened, and John walked inside a little, but stopped right at the entrance.

"So, boys…"

"Yes, sir," Sam answered first as they faced him.

"You ignored a direct order back there."

"Yes, sir," Sam replied again.

"Yeah, but we saved your ass," Dean said a moment later.

John looked at Dean in surprise before speaking. "You're right."

"I am?"

"It scares the hell out of me. You two are all I got. I guess what you said earlier, Dean, we are stronger as a family. So... we go after this damn thing... together."

"Yes, sir," both Sam and Dean said at the same time.

John then faced Summer. "And since you seem stubborn, you're part of this fight now. Just know it won't be easy, and you will get hurt. Be ready for everything that comes your way."

Summer nodded, and without actually trying to, she said something that surprised all three men. "Yes, sir."

John gave a slight nod toward her as he looked back at his sons. "I still don't exactly approve of having someone helping, but I guess I can't do much about it. We will all need to be careful. This fight has just begun, and it's going to be tough."

Both Sam and Dean nodded without a word.

"Get some sleep," John said as he turned around and headed for the door. He stopped at the entrance and faced them again. "Tomorrow we will discuss everything you will need to know, and also how you three met," and with that, he left.

Summer looked at the two. "So, that was one hell of a show earlier," she said meeting Sam's eyes as she spoke.

"Sorry about that," Sam apologized. "I guess I couldn't exactly help it. I'm usually not like that, I just felt mad at him for a lot of things."

"I understand. Those two vampires, should we worry about them?"

"I don't think so," Dean answered. "If their smart, they will stay away. If they aren't, then we'll deal with them." He then titled his head to the side a little while locking eyes with her. "Where did that whole "Yes, sir" bit come from?"

Summer chuckled. "Honestly, I don't know. It just… happened."

"I think he liked that," Sam said. "People don't say it to him, unless it's us, of course. Neither of us expected you to say it."

"It was unexpected for me too, Sammy," she told him.

Dean smirked. "Now you're calling him Sammy?"

"Oh, great…" Sam sighed. "As much as people love calling me that… I don't need you to do it. So, don't, alright?"

"Sorry," she apologized. "It won't happen again."

"Good, thanks."

"I guess I should get to bed," she spoke as she stood up and made her way to the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sum," Sam said as he smiled and then grabbed more of his clothes to pack.

"Goodnight," Dean said as he watched her open the door and walk out. He faced his bag and stuffed another shirt inside. "Hey, Sam…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it is a good idea to actually let her be part of this whole thing?"

"Why? You having second thoughts about it?" he asked looking at him.

"Yeah, I guess. I just… what dad said about her getting hurt, it kind of…"

"Set off an alert?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Yeah, same here, Dean…"

"I guess we will need to make sure nothing happens to her."

Sam nodded in agreement as he set his bag down on the floor and headed for the bathroom. "I think she'll be alright. She's got all three of us now, nothing bad will happen to her as long as she's with us," he shut the door.

Dean sighed and got ready for bed and deep down, he had a feeling he didn't like. A feeling that worried him, but he wouldn't tell anyone about it. He lied down on his bed and quickly fell asleep.