Chapter two

'Worm on a hook'

Dean slammed his foot down hard on the break causing his brother's sleeping body to jerk forward and his head to make a satisfying 'thunk' on the glove box just as Dean killed the ignition.

They had arrived in down town Greensboro, just as the sun had bleed out over the horizon, like Dean had said he would. The younger Winchester reared his head upwards, rubbing his reddening brow with an indignant and enraged scowl sweeping across his tightly pursed lips.

"You're an asshole y'know that?" Sam cried.

Dean merely smirked "Get out of my car."

Sam's mouth opened and closed in shock "what?"

"Get out, some one has to find those girls and some one has to get a motel, from what it sounds like we're going to be here for awhile and I am not letting you drive this car."

Dean leant over his brother and opened the passenger door, letting in a trickle of warm southern air "out."

Sam cursed heavily under his breath, grabbed his cell phone with unnecessary force and exited the 67 Chevy Impala.

Within moments the car roared back into life and speed of down the main drag, leaving Sam to wonder how it was that he always drew the short straw.

------------------------There was blood pooling on the lap of Bell's denim jeans, not so much that she was alarmed but just enough to ignite a tendril of doubt. She winced every time she had to turn a corner and lean with the car and she dreaded the moment she would actually have to dress her wound which, from what she could tell was all the way down her right side. 'Damn it,' she thought 'Kirsty was right; a vest would've been good right about now.' She grinned at the irony and then widened it as she saw the sign for 'downtown Greensboro' coming into view. Kirsty had since fallen asleep in the back seat, her vest now discarded for the warmth of Bell's long black coat which she had draped over herself like a blanket. Bell couldn't quite see, but from the view she got in the rear mirror what ever wounds her younger cousin had incurred they didn't seem to dangerous. The sky was a pale blue, tinged with grapefruit pinks and subtle gold's which marked the arrival of the sun. She sighed with relief and pulled into the first motel she could find, it didn't seem to shabby and she parked beside a beautiful 67 Chevrolet Impala. Kirsty awoke,stretched, yawned and sat up eyeing the car with admiration "now that is a gorgeous piece of engineering."

Bell sniggered in agreement.

"C'mon let's get a room and clean ourselves up before we meet the famous Winchester's."she said.

----------------------------------------Sam sat in a twenty four hour diner which served the worst latte he had ever tasted and dialed Bell Elkin's mobile number.

"Hello." A strained voice answered.

"Ah is this Bell?"

"Yeh, sorry am I talking to Dean or to Sam?"

"Sam."

"Well, hello there Sam have you arrived in Greensboro?"

Sam couldn't help but notice how the girl on the other end sounded far less irate and impatient then the one he had spoken to hours before. "Yeh, I'm actually in a diner just off the main road, I think it's called, ah, 'Ma Tilly's diner' or something-

"Yeh," Bell chuckled "I know the one; look me and Kirsty are just fixing ourselves up we shouldn't be more then ten minutes."

"Great-

"Sam?-

"Yeh?-

Across the crackle of the line he heard her sharp intake of breath and a hollow exhale "Please tell me you can handle this, please tell me you understand the otherworld and that you've been doing this for so long that it comes as second nature to y'all."

Sam wanted to answer her, but instead found himself at a lose for words, he was finally saved by the dial tone, realising the phone had lost connection he flipped it shut and placed it back in his pocket; silently thankful that he had prolonged answering Bell's nagging question.

---------------------Dean dropped his duffle bag filled with an assortment of sweatshirts, jeans and shirts, onto the floor beside one of the two double beds. He looked ruefully at the plain, sun dulled white duvet and the single lobster coloured pillow that would have supported countless amounts of bodies from every where and every walks of life, and he wondered to himself if he would ever feel the comforts of his own bed, ever again.

The thought, however, left as quickly as it came and he couldn't help but grin at his own sentimental folly, this was his life, and he couldn't imagine it any other way.

The room was above their normal standards apart from the bedding, the walls were white and freshly cleaned, it was quite spacious with its own fridge and counter top and a large wooden table, which would be very handy for when it came time for brainiac to do his research.

Dean flipped through the a copy of the Bible which lay on the draw beside his bed, he eyed it with boredom rather then interest and when he was finished he threw it back in the draw and made his way into the bath room to inspect it.

Then there was a slight rap at the door and a voice.

"Dean?"

Now Dean, in his line of work had always had his fair share of surprises, he'd encountered everything from walking scarecrows to bugs on ancient Indian burial grounds, but this, this voice could easily top all of those events.

He couldn't see her, but he knew she was there, knew exactly where she was standing and exactly what she looked like. "Cassie?" he whispered.

He heard her laugh slightly and it was all he'd ever want to hear again. Cassie stepped into view, she was a women of early middle years, dark almond eyes and a thick corkscrew of dark curls which framed her petite dark face, just how Dean remembered her.

"What,ah, what are you doing here Cass?" he murmered, walking tentatively over to her and taking her hands.

Her face came over all demure for a second and she giggled as if nervous, she lowered her head towards the ground and when she looked back up at him all Dean saw was the heart breakingly horrific sight of fangs bulging out of plum red lips.

"I've come for your heart, baby." she hissed.

-------------The tinkle of the bell, just above the front door of the diner provoked Sam, who had just finished his third cup of latte, to look up.

Two females had just entered, firm expressions on their faces. The first had a tumble of mahogany brown curls and she walked with a slight confident swagger, shoulders square and back perfectly erect, she was saying to anyone who looked that ' I am the alpha female, I am strong and to cross me would be at your own peril'. Sam knew in an instant that she had to be the one that he was talking to on the phone. The second although a good four inches shorter walked with the same aura of confidence and power, her striking black hair and deep coal eyes shone in the rising sun. The shorter girl nodded her head in the direction of the waitress who gave her a big grin and proceeded to shriek with pure delight.

"Girls,Bell, Kirsty oh my, y'all get prettier and bigger everytime I see y'all...come'here let me get a good look at y'all!" The portly waitress of late middle years and peppered hair lifted up the counter top and grabbed the taller girls cheeks.

"Bell, such beautiful blue eyes they get brighter with every year that passes..how have you been?"

Bell shifted uncomfortably and Sam thought he almost sure her wince in pain "I am doing fine ma'am, a few scratches and such but nothing to cry over but we'll talk later with you in private, right now we're looking for a young man, he wouldn't be from around here." Bell's thick southern accent made her sound even more authoritive yet with a hint of charm.

The waitress pointed her coffee jug in the direction of Sam "He might be your man." she said with a dissaproving glare "he did order three latte's for the Lord's sake, where does he think he is, New York?"

Kirsty chuckled and made her way over to Sam's table.

He gave her an apologetic stare "I wasn't in the mood for coffee."

She extended a hand "Sam?"

He rose and took her hand, then sat back down again "Yeh, hey, Kirsty?"

"Yep that's me."

Bell marched through the assortment of chairs and tables, a wide grin splitting her face "Sam, howdy!"

She took a seat beside Kirsty.

"Did you have any trouble getting here?"

Sam shook his head "Nah, Dean drove and he knows this place pretty well, he's just booking us into a motel now."

"Good, well we have alot of very important things to talk about...so lets not beat around the bush." Bell ran a steady hand through her hair, completely unfazed with what ever it was that she was going to tell Sam, and he couldn't work out whether it made him feel calmer or further his nerves.

"Ok, well lay it on me."

Bell took a deep breath,"So ever since my dad died, Kirsty and I have been picking up the slack, majorly. We worked on contacts, making new ones in order to strengthen ourselves with different knowledge and skills and we've been growing stronger and stronger with each battle fought. We haven't really steered far from vampires, it seems to be our strong point and I think that when dad taught us how to fight he always had vampires in mind. But anyway, so about two weeks ago I got a phone call from a very old friend of mine and he told me of a rumour he kept hearing one of which I had heard a few times before also. It spoke of an uprising if at any time the race of vampires were in danger of being extinct. A queen long since fallen dormant would re-awaken to kill those who sought out to extinguish her children-

Sam smiled "Let me guess, we're the ones who are destroying her children?"

Bell and Kirsty nodded "Right, so until last night I thought it was merely a myth.I mean there had been a few signs but nothing that caused a concern but then last night we battled a record number-

Kirsty leant back in her chair and added"Yeh, we'd never seen that many working togther-

"How many are we talking here?" Sam asked.

"Around twenty or so." Kirsty answered.

The answer was unexpected and Sam ignored the feeling of dread settling comfortably on the lining of his belly, "Ok, but I'm sensing there's more to this story-

Bell nodded "Oh yeh. Get this I called around on the days leading up to last night and a few of my friends dug up s'more stuff, then on the way here I got a very important call from a contact, who is an expert when it comes to ancient greek mythology. Apparently there was this old Greek legend made way before it was ever a powerful, civilized empire. It tells the tale of Persephone-

Kirsty continued "Y'know, Persephone, daughter of the Greek God Zeus and Demter, Goddess of the harvest and crops, any who, Zeus promised her to Hades, God of the underworld as his wife. He dragged her down to the Underworld as she was picking flowers, now this is were the usual, secondary school lengend leaves out the minor detail of her rape before Hades took her down to his kingdom. She was then raped a second time once she was down in hell and the double rape produced two children.-

Sam shook his head in confusion "Wait so Persephone became pregnant, with two children, from two different sexual encounters?

Bell nodded seemingly calm now "Sam, c'mon they're Gods normal rules do not apply here. So as Kirsty was saying there were two children growing inside of her but Demeter her mother was so distraught at the lose of her daughter she refused to let the crops grow thus endangering the race of man, Zeus had no choice but to demand Persephone back from Hades-

Kirsty again continued on "But Hades was cunning and he feed Persephone a pomegranate, and once she ate it she was bound forever to the underworld. However Zeus in order to please Demeter made a deal with both Hades and Persephone's mother and it was then agreed although grudgling that for two thirds of the year Persphone would be with Demeter and the crops would grow and for one third of the year she would be with her husband, Hades."

Sam breathed in deeply, his shaggy splat of hair pushed back off his face as he absentmindedly pulled at his fringe "Yeh, but other then the rapes I've known all this since I was like twelve, what makes this different?" he asked.

"I was getting to that, Persephone then gave birth to one of the children down in the Underworld. She was the first of her kind, a Goddess of pure evil and unadulterated beauty, she would become the first vampire," Bell sat up and shifted her seat forward then sat back down again " but here's the thing, it's only a legend after all but I am pretty sure the first half is all true, but this, this could be the only thing that could help us defeat the vampire queen, it is said that Persephone horrified at her first childs cruelty and evil kept her second child safe within herself until she resided back on earth. When she was back with her mother she finally gave birth to her second child, adamant that this child would be the only thing strong enough to defeat her sister she begged her mother to take the new born girl and hide her away and all her of kin until it came time

for the girls daughter or daughters-daughter to uprise and kill Tartarus.-

"Tartarus?" Sam asked, confused.

"That was the Queen's name, basically the greek name for Hell, quite fitting don't you think?" Bell grinned ironiaclly, then carried on "Hades however heard of this plan and although he could not bring himself to kill his other daughter he did make her mortal and prevented her and all her family from there on after from ever being able to bare anymore then one child and never a strong son, always a daughter, thus the line that could kill Tartarus would be one long line of Mother, daughter and easily trackable and disposable if thousands of years past, before Tartarus arose from Hell."

Sam Winchester felt in himself a flicker of hope, one tiny flame which sat deep within himself. "So we have something to work with now, we have a plan."

Kirsty nodded "Yep, we just have to track down the lineage, which won't be as hard as you think, it'll take a good week but our contacts have already picked up a few leads."

"We've told every contact we know, probably nearly everyone you know as well and they've all agreed to drop everything they're hunting in order to aid us. Everyone in this line of work have been hearing whispers and feelings that things are beginning to change, Kirsty and I are not mucking around here, this is the real thing, this could be the end of humanity as we know it."

"Then how are you so calm?" Sam demanded.

Bell shrugged "what more can we do but keep a level head, if we can find out who the ancestor is of Persphone is then we have a fighting chance, we just have to stay focused. From now on Sam it's all about this. We need to begin training, rounding up every one who knows about this-

Sam couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Bell demanded.

Sam shrugged "I'm sorry, but you're making it sound like the season finale of Buffy, all rounding up the slayers and arming ourselves against the end of-" Sam trailed off, at what point, he asked himself, did he stop sounding like himself and begin to start sounding like his good ol' sarcastic brother, the look on both of the girls faces also was a factor in his mouth being firmly closed.

Bell sat forward, shoulders rolled ominously towards him "When, Sam Winchester, will you begin to understand the gravity of this situation, do I need to god damn spell it out to you? IF TARTARUS RISES, NOT ONLY WILL SHE DESTROY US AND THE LINEAGE OF HER SISTER BUT WITH THE NEW FOUND TASTE OF BLOOD SHE AND ALL OF HER KIND WILL DRINK THIS EARTH UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT AND THEN SHE WILL GO BACK DOWN FROM WHENCE SHE CAME. DO YOU UNDERSTAND, WHAT I AM NOW SAYING, THIS IS APOCOLPYSE NOW, SAM, GET USED TO IT!"

After Bell's speech an awkward silence ensued, one of which made Sam feel as if he were back in kindergarten with a room full of disapproving teachers looking down on him.

"Call Dean, we're going to go back to our motel, on Maine street number 67a room 12, I suggest y'all come round tonight."

---------------------It was funny, Dean was thinking to himself,in a life endangering sort of way, how he still loved Cassie even with her hand clamped firmly against his windpipe. Her eyes were still as deep and as beautifully pained as they had been they day he'd left her, the lips still spoke the sound of her syllables which she lulled out with the same soft intensity and he could still smell her perfume decomposing on her dead flesh.

"Oh Dean, why don't you just give in and let me take you where I am?" She whispered.

The question to Dean, if asked by anyone else would seem absurd, but when asked by Cassie, he found himself wanting to comply. He needed so desperatly to be with her, to have her as his again to know that she was alive in any world that he almost found himself nodding.

He felt tears prickle in his eyes, and his vision blur "Baby, Tartarus sends a message to you, give in now or she will turn everyone you've ever loved or ever been in contact with into what I am now."

Her fangs descended downwards again, and he watched mesmerized as she inched closer towards his neck.

Just before she broke his flesh, and took his life, the door to his room imploded inwards and standing in its place was a remarkably tall woman with strikingly dark maroon hair. It took an instant to realize that she was weilding an axe and marching across the room straight for Cassie, and when she swung without a moments hestitation it took Dean a second to register that it was Cassie's blood he was now saturated in and she would never be anything again, but a memory. He remembered distinctly hearing a deep guttural wail of pure agony and he thought it was coming from Cassie it was only until the woman with the red hair encircled her arms around him and the dampness on his face he found was his own tears, that he realized the wail was coming from deep inside of his heart.

"Oh god, Cass, Cassie!" he roared, reaching out for her.

The woman restrained him and waited for him to calm down. Suprisingly it only took him five minutes. Dean Winchester untangled himself from the girl, regained some resembelence of composure and spoke"Thanks, if it weren't for you I would've been as good as Leo in Titanic." Sitting up he wiped hurriedly at his eyes, ashamed now at his complete and utter lack of judgment and his over exposure of emotions.

"No problem, seems to me like you were a worm on a hook just before."

The girl smiled "I'm Bell, you spoke to me on the phone"

Dean breathed in deep and shook her hand "Dean Winchester, worm on a hook."