The next time the boys meet vampires…
There's only one boy.
The other's rotting in hell.
Three cases. That's all it took before Sam left Bobby, went AWOL, complete radio silence. Three cases and a dead brother.
The cases were to get their minds off the body they buried.
It didn't really work.
But then they headed back to Bobby's town; Sioux Falls.
The experienced hunter caught wind of a girl in trouble; running from the people she called family. This case was harder than most, because Bobby had to lie like fuck in order to dance around Sheriff Jody. These people didn't know about the supernatural. So the sooner they gank these vampires the better.
And they were doing pretty well so far. They killed off one of the vamps that was put on clean up duty. Rufus agreed to watch over Alex while Sam and Bobby worked. And Jody wasn't suspicious at all! Things were running like a well oiled machine!
Until everything went really south, really fast.
There were too many of them. All of Alex's brothers busted into Rufus's cabin and stole her. They knocked out Rufus in the process.
Sam and Bobby were able to track down the nest to this old house on the edge of town, Sam headed upstairs while Bobby snuck down to the basement. They weren't on their A game. Both still stricken with grief, their minds fuzzy, were blindsided by those vamps in the same way Rufus was.
Before they could say "Balls!", Bobby was lying on the floor and Sam was tied to a chair, his blood being drained out of him.
Neither of them could focus on what Mama, the lead vamp, was saying to Alex. Sam squinted, his vision blurring, as he watched the mother brush Alex's hair behind her ear.
"Things got screwy...but you're back now." Mama whispered, shushing Alex's scared, confused whimpers.
"Why? After everything, I thought that you -" Alex glanced from her mother to her brothers, whom didn't seem nearly as understanding.
Sam blinked over to look at Bobby, who rolled his head, suppressing a groan. The hunter was trying to figure out how he'd be able to get both himself and his foster dad out of the house alive. There were three vamps. And Alex. God, what would he do about Alex?
He couldn't leave her here. Could he?
They are her family. Kinda. Would she even want to leave?
Sam blinked hard as he tried to focus his mind. Every thought was like digging through a thick fog. He couldn't see any logical way he'd be able to get out of this one.
Maybe he'd see Dean sooner than he thought.
"I should've turned you years ago." Mama said. Alex's eyes widened as her brothers stepped closer to her, each grabbing an arm. She struggled, but her human strength was nothing compared to their vampire abilities.
"Wait, Mama, no!" Alex shouted as she watched Mama cut her own arm and hold it up to Alex's lips.
"The things you're feeling. Fear, guilt, pity and suffering. Those are human emotions. Drink up, and they'll all go away." Mama said, pressing her bloody wrist past Alex's lips. One of her brothers held her jaw open as she did so. Alex gasped around the bloody appendage, unable to stop the liquid from dripping down her throat.
"That's my good girl." Mama hummed, "Connor, get her something to wash this down with."
It's a good thing they had a big moose that they were currently draining dry. The vamp stepped up to one of the full canisters of Sam's blood. He picked it up and toasted Sam, thunking the mug unnecessarily against Sam's head.
"To Alex." Connor laughed, turning to hand the drink to his mother.
Mama cooed, holding the blood up to Alex's lips. "This'll make your transformation permanent, Alex. And then we can be together, as a family, forever. We'll eat these hunters and then go back to the way things were."
"D-don't." Sam choked out. "Please, don't!"
Alex's eyes were already yellow, her irises wide; pupils flashing in the dark light. Her fangs would already be growing in. Her senses would be heightened by now. She could hear Sam's panick heartbeat. Groaning, something inside her - something vicious and uncontrollable - made her tip her head back as her mother pour the blood down her throat. Gulping, the need inside her was satisfied, it was done.
She's a full vampire.
Watching her change was the perfect distraction for Bobby to slam needles full of dead man's blood into the two brother. They choked out gasps, crumbling in on themselves as their body rejected the position. Crumpling to their knees, Bobby was able to quickly hack off both their heads.
Alex made a choked-off scream, eyes wide. She turned away from the hunter and her dead brothers. Tears formed in her eyes as she realized that all of this was her fault. All of her brothers were dead and she was a vampire. Because of her. If she had just shut up and stayed with her family. If she didn't run away in the first place. She was such an idiot.
Mama hissed at Bobby, baring her teeth, "That was my family, you dick!"
"My apologies. Would you like to see them again?" Bobby asked, quickly slicing his machete straight through Mama's neck. Her head fell to the floor with a dull thunk.
The room was silent for a full three seconds. Then they could hear Alex's muffled sobs. Sam's head lolled to the side, trying to get a better look at the girl.
Alex sunk to the ground, her knees landed in a puddle of her family's blood. Bobby knelt down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She flinched under his touch.
"Hey, now." Bobby said softly, "Are you okay?"
The girl leaned away from him. She shook her head, but didn't look up. "Do it quick."
"Do what?" Bobby asked.
"Kill me. Now. Quick." Alex said between choked sobs.
Bobby shook his head, "I ain't doin' that."
"It's your job isn't it? To kill things like me?" Alex asked, harshly. "To haunt monster's dreams and murder their families?"
Bobby sighed, taking off his hat to run a hand over his almost-gone hair. "No." The experienced hunter stood up and walked over to Sam. "That's not what we do."
Alex looked up at the sound of her exterminator leaving. Bobby stood next to Sam, kneeling over to untie him. Sam blinked multiple times, feeling lightheaded. He couldn't really tell what was going on anymore. But he knew his dad saved him.
"We stop evil. And as far as I'm concerned, you ain't evil." Bobby grunted, heaving Sam to his feet. The hunter had to lean heavily against Bobby. "Now, can you help me get this lug into the car?"
"What… what's going to happen to me?" Alex asked, still on the floor.
Bobby was already leading Sam out of the room, "If you keep your nose clean, nothin'."
Alex stood up then, panic rising through her, "Are you fucking me? I don't have a high school degree. I don't have any idea how to do anything except pick up guys for my brothers to eat. You're seriously going to throw me out into this shitty world as a vampire with no idea what to do?"
Bobby looked over his shoulder, "I didn't say that. Now, come on. Sam's heavy as balls."
The older hunter drove Sam and Alex back to his house. Sam laid down on the couch and tried not to pass out. Alex stood in the doorway of Bobby's kitchen, watching the hunter try to call Alex's grandmother. After a few long minutes, the old man hung up.
"I'm sorry. She's passed." Bobby said softly.
Alex shrugged, looking down at her feet, "Not like that's anything new today."
Bobby let out a slow breath through his nose, "You have three options."
Alex looked up, eyes flicking away from the hunter almost instantly.
"You can either go out on your own, live a life your own way. You might get in trouble that way. You might not. Choice is all yours. Or you could live with my pal Rufus, the one who was with you earlier? He doesn't hunt around as much anymore. Tends to stay in one place a lot longer than the rest of us."
"Or?" Neither of those options sounded so appealing to Alex.
"Or you can stay here with me. Live in Sioux Falls. We got a good school system. I could hook you up with a job; teach you how to be a functioning member of society." Bobby offered. "I have a guest room upstairs. You can decorate it however you want."
Alex could still smell her family's blood on the man's hands.
"No." She said instantly. "Lucifer, no. Not you. I'd rather be with Roger."
"Rufus."
"Whatever." Alex rolled her eyes, grumbling, "You should've just killed me."
Bobby rolled his eyes right back. Alex isn't the first teenager he's dealt with. "Well, you can stay here until you figure out what you want."
Bobby walked past her to check on Sam. Alex turned and watched him for moment.
"What about the blood?" Alex asked. "No matter what, I'll need blood."
Her fingers were already itching with the need to sink into flesh and tear skin. She could still taste Sam's blood, an interesting, intoxicating concoction of pure and evil clashing against each other on her tastebuds. She licked her lips at the sound of the men's heartbeats.
"Well, you got choices with that, too." Bobby said, "You could eat animal blood; some vamps have been doing that for a while. Works just as good as human blood. Or there's a hospital down the road five miles. We can steal blood from there."
"Or I could just eat humans." Alex said.
"You could. But then I'd have to kill you." Bobby said. "Your choice."
This is the thing that many people don't understand, but Bobby seems to have mastered. The power of choice. It's actually the most powerful force in the universe. It's far greater than anything demons could come up with, or witches could harness, or even I could create. The power of choice is, by far, the most important power one could master.
Every choice has multiple different outcomes, most of which are irreversible. Each choice, no matter how small, has the most evident effect. And because of it, profound things can happen.
Alex had already made up her mind.
She smiled bitterly and said, "I just love this honesty we have."
"Me too." Bobby sweetly smiled.
The sass wasn't lost on either of them.
That night, Sam packed up and left with Bobby asleep in the room upstairs. He had to get out. He had to find a way to save Dean. He had to escape from this place. Bobby had pictures of Dean everywhere. It was starting to make Sam nasious.
So he climbed into the Impala and started driving.
He never looked back.
Until about three hours later, a voice from the backseat spoke up.
"You're not really observant when you're angry." Alex said, from the back seat. Sam swerved the Impala in surprise.
"Wha- Alex?!" Sam asked, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
"Yo." The vampire casually looked out the window at the passing trees. "Where are we going?"
Sam pulled the Impala over to the side of the road. "What are you doing here?"
"I wasn't going to stay with that old bastard." Alex said. "He killed my family."
"Alex, those people weren't family, they were… vampires." Sam said, for lack of a better word.
The teen bared her new fangs at him, "I guess we had something in common, then."
Sam huffed out a breath, sitting back forward, "Well, you can't stay with me."
"Why not?"
"I'm twenty-four!" Sam said. "I don't know how to take care of a teenager!"
"So don't." Alex said. "Just let me hang around and buy food for me. Wifi would be awesome. That's really it."
Sam looked back at her, "Don't you need to go to school?"
Alex raised her eyebrows, "Do you really think you can be around a ton of idiots for eight hours and not eat someone?"
Sam sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
"Look. It won't be long. Just until I find a place to call my own." Alex paused, "Besides, you look like you could use the company. Your heart is really sad to listen to."
The hunter glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. "What's that mean? You can tell how I feel based on my heart?"
Alex nodded. "You know how your heart skips a beat? Or how it feels heavy? Or how it flutters? I can hear all that. Consider it an educated guess."
Sam shifted in his seat. After a few moments, he pulls the car back into the lane and continues driving east. "That's pretty cool, actually. What else can you do?"
Feeling the tension drain from the small car, Alex leaned her back against her window, stretching out her legs.
"I can smell literally everything. So if you fart, I will eat you."
Sam laughed for the first time in a while.
Pain. Unexplainable, horrendous pain.
I never intended for this to happen. They say it was written; it was supposed to be. It really wasn't. I do some pretty crappy things, but I didn't want this. Not for Dean; not for anyone.
Dean grit his teeth in the beginning; kept all his screams in.
But that only lasted a few days.
They were silent for a while after that. Alex sat in the back, staring out the window across from her. Her thoughts were drifting gloomily in between the events from the day before. She was an orphan. A siblingless orphan. A siblingless orphan that was stolen from her human family when she was young. Hunters killed her family. But they also saved her.
God, how was she supposed to react to this?
Stuck between relief and grief, she stared blankly at the world passing by her.
Alex slid down so she was resting on her back and stared at the ceiling of the Impala, thinking to herself. Sam didn't bother her unless he stopped at a gas station, diner, or motel.
"I'm gonna go in and grab a water. Want anything?" Sam asked when he stopped at a Gas and Sip.
"The screams of my enemies would be nice." Alex replied, not moving an inch. At the moment, those enemies would probably be Bobby. And her Mama. Both kinda fucked everything up for her. Maybe she should add herself to that list. She was the one who ran away to begin with.
Sam stared at her for a moment before patting the seat and saying, "I'll see if they have that."
While Sam was inside the gas station, buying healthy little snacks for their never ending road trip, Alex picked up a spare pocket knife that was on the floor. It was red and had the initials D.W. carved into it. Whoever left it here probably didn't care for it. It was jammed under the seat.
Alex twirled it in her hand, flipping it open so the blade was exposed. Staring up at the ceiling, she flicked the blade back and forth above her chest, cutting through the air.
In an act of rebellion - against her family, against Bobby and Sam, against the world, against everything - she reached up and carved a letter into the roof of the Impala. The knife made a satisfying scraping noise as it ripped the material.
She was going to carve more, but she could hear Sam approaching from outside, so she let her hand drop.
Looking up at what she made, a dulled pleased feeling blossomed inside her.
She just marked this vehicle - a hunter's ride - as her own. How many monsters could say they did that?
When she blinked, she could still see the letter behind her eyelids.
Carved in the ceiling, a small, straight "V".
On the first day.
He was torn to shreds. Hellhounds had their fun with him, threw him around like a rag doll, played tug-of-war with his body until it was a string of muscles.
They buried his bones molten lava. They chased down his soul like it was a ball.
The sound of growling and barks would haunt Dean's dreams for years to come.
"So, no screaming enemies, but, there was-" Sam turned the package to read the label, "Scott's Screaming Suckers? ...I guess their sour jawbreakers."
Alex raised an eyebrow at that, "You think you're funny."
Sam ducked his head, smiling. "A bit."
Alex sat up, snatching the candy from him, muttering, "Well, you're right."
Sam grinned, staring up the Impala again. He didn't notice the knife I'm Alex's lap or the carving on the ceiling.
An hour later, Alex glances up to the sound of one of her favorite songs started to play through the Impala's speakers. She smiled to herself, humming along.
The beat was going strong
Playing my favorite song
And I could tell it wouldn't be long till he was with me, yeah me
And I could tell it wouldn't be long till he was with me, yeah me
Sam glanced at her in the rearview mirror, his lips quirking up for a second. Subtly, he turned the music up louder.
Alex could help but sing along quietly to herself, "Singing, I love rock and roll. So put another dime in the jukebox, baby! I love rock and roll. So come and take your time and dance with me."
Sam surprised her by yelling the "OW!" part right along with the music. His voice was high-pitched to match Joan Jett's. Alex grinned, unable to hold back her surprised laughter.
The hunter was laughing, too. He usually did that to Dean, which would either earn him a grin or a glare, depending on his brother's mood.
Alex sang louder now, belting the lyrics out with exaggerated dance moves. Sam sang along, pounding his fingers on the steering wheel and grinning like an idiot.
He said, 'Can I take you home
Where we can be alone?'
And next we were moving on, he was with me, yeah me
Next we were moving on, he was with me, yeah me
Singing, I love rock and roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
I love rock and roll
So come and take your time and dance with me
Time passed quickly after that.
Pain from both sides were pushed behind them so they could just enjoy the time now. Yes, both of them still had dead brothers, yes, it was killing them slowly on the inside. But no, for a moment, just a moment, they weren't going to let it get them down.
The stench was the worst. It bombarded Dean's senses, making the air thick and sickening. He could taste the rotting flesh in the air. It made his stomach churn painfully. He gagged with every inhale.
Singing turned into talking, which turned into joking, which morphed into storytelling.
"He fell flat on his face, straight into the pig pin." Sam said, unable to hold the laughter out of his voice.
"No, shit!" Alex smiled. She was in the front seat now; having moved once Sam stopped for gas and snacks.
"No, there was shit everywhere." Sam replied.
Alex laughed, shaking her head. She has - had - four brothers. She's used to disgusting stories and jokes. A part of her rather enjoys them.
"Dad was furious." Sam said, his smile fading slightly. "He wouldn't let Dean in the car. Made him walk five miles to the motel."
"My brothers would drop me off in the woods. Give me ten minutes and then run out to try to find me. Tried to hide from them. It was a hard-ass game of hide and seek. Cuz they had my scent. I lost every time." Alex smiled fondly at the memory.
"Dad would do the same for me and Dean." Sam commented.
"Yeah? To teach you to hide from hunters?" Alex shifted to look at Sam.
The human huffed in surprise, "Uh, no. From monsters, actually."
Alex smirked, enjoying the discomfort she caused.
Conversation carried on for a while, it didn't take long for Sam to bring up Dean again.
"Is that where we're going? To see your dad and brother?" Alex asked, drawing her knees up onto the seat next to her.
Sam gripped the steering wheel tightly. "I hope so."
Alex quirked and eyebrow but didn't say anything else.
They drove in silence until Alex fell asleep in the sunlight.
On the second day.
He was rebuilt.
Not with careful, specific stitches. But slammed together, his bones grinded into place like puzzle pieces that didn't fit quite right. His muscles were wrapped around his joints like string, tight together in knots. With punctured lungs, Dean gasped in a smoky breath.
For a second, he thought he was saved.
The knife that carved through his newly-stitched chest proved him very, very wrong. Grunting in pain, he was slowly ripped apart again. But this time, instead of animalistic snarls and rabid growls, his satanic soundtrack was hysterical laughter and insults in his brother's voice.
Sam kept driving, always chasing the sun. Leaving Bobby and everything he knew far behind him. Alex made good company, surprisingly. When she was in a good mood, she loved to talk.
"Favorite color?" She asked.
"Yellow." Sam said after a moment.
"Ew, really?"
"What's wrong with yellow?"
"It's such a gross color."
"Well, what's yours?"
"Red."
"What makes red better than yellow?"
"Because I like it."
Sam snorted and said, "Oh, whatever, you brat."
His tone was playful, and Alex found she didn't really mind the name calling. It was far kinder than the tone her brothers would've used. She grinned at him and called out a jesting, "Nerd."
Sam smiled, shifting in his seat slightly.
Alex thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, okay. Uh, biggest fear? Not including anything supernatural or huntery."
"Skip." Sam said, waving one hand in dismissal.
"There's no skipping! What is it? Your grandma's nudes?"
"...Clowns." Sam replied, a bit sheepishly.
Alex laughed, "Clowns? Really? What are you, five?"
Sam made a 'tsk' noise, "See, now that's why I didn't want to tell you."
Alex snickered, shaking her head good-naturedly. "Okay, uh, I'll go with drowning."
"Really?" Sam asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah. I never learned how to swim, so open water is kinda a bitch." Alex looked out the window.
Sam hesitated a moment, but then said, "I could teach you. Or try to. We could find a motel sometime that's got a pool."
Alex looked back at him, eyes thoughtful. "Sure. Might as well."
Sam stopped at a motel that night, after two days on the road. Alex has started to sleep through most of the day and be awake at night. It wasn't a conscious choice. Something inside her made her sleep while others were awake. She tried desperately to ignore it, but like the bloodlust, it was impossible.
Alex tiredly helped Sam carry his junk into the motel room.
"We'll have to get you clothes. A bag. Utilities." Sam was muttering to himself when he noticed that Alex didn't have anything with her. "We could go shopping tomorrow, I guess."
"Sam." Alex mumbled, still in that in between world of sleep and awakeness.
"Yeah?"
"I'm hungry."
Sam shrugged, "Alright. We can order a pizza or something."
"No, I mean I'm hungry." Alex said, feeling a little woozy. "I haven't had blood in, like, three days."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Sam asked.
Alex rolled her eyes, "Yeah, Alex, why didn't you remind the monster killer that you're a monster?"
Sam sighed, "That's not… okay. What do you want? Do you want to try to steal from a hospital? Or hunt down some kind of animal to eat?"
"Hospital would be preferable, but a lot harder." Alex said. "Can I just eat someone?"
"No." Sam shot that down quickly. "No one dies because of you, okay?"
"I don't have to kill them! I could just take a little of their blood!" Alex was close to begging.
Sam shook his head. "Maybe if we went to a pet store?"
"I'm not eating a cat. Or dog. Or whatever." Alex felt sick at the idea of drinking blood to begin with. She always hated how her brothers devoured the living. How she helped with it. Now she was fighting against her urges and she already knew she was losing.
"Okay, what if we caught some squirrels or something?" Sam was grasping at thin air here, trying to come up with a solution on the spot. Sure, there were plans he came up with on the drive here, but those were more long-term. He had no idea what to do on such short notice.
Alex shrugged. "We can try. But I don't know how easy it'll be."
Sam was sore all over. His body hadn't replaced his blood much yet, so he was probably not in any form to start running through the forest to catch dinner for his new vampire friend. But he was willing to try it.
Alex could tell (the sinking sound of his heart, the tiredness in his eyes, how much he fought to stay on his feet) that any physical exertion would not be happening tonight.
If all else fails, Sam looks pretty good right now. And in his weakened state, Alex could probably overpower him. She hadn't had a chance to try out her new super strength yet. Her mouth started to water. She could still taste his blood on her tongue, a craving, a calling. His heartbeat was intoxicating, something she needed to feel under her teeth.
Horror snapped through her when she realized what she was thinking. Was this how her brothers saw her? A fresh meal, standing just out of reach?
The last thing Alex wanted Sam - or anyone - to be was a bloodslave. It was a sickening task; painful and nauseating. Sometimes dangerous. Deadly.
The scars on her neck itched.
"Alright." She said, quickly; her voice struggling to stay steady as she pushed away her own thoughts. "Let's go to the pet store. We'll get those mice that they feed to snakes."
"You sure?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, you'd probably scare off all the squirrels anyway with your big feet." Alex muttered, "We don't need to, like, adopt those mice do we? They're literally just for feeding snakes, right?"
Sam shrugged, "I have no idea. I've never had a pet before."
"Me neither." Alex said. "I had a turtle, once. But my brother's killed it the day I got it."
Getting the mice was easier than expected, and soon Sam was lying face down on one motel bed, fighting to stay awake.
"Oh my god, they're kinda cute. I don't wanna eat them…" Alex muttered to herself, sitting cross-legged on the other bed. In one cupped hand was a small, white mouse. The other two were still in the small box the pet store gave them for transport.
"If you can wait, we can go to the hospital tomorrow." Sam offered from his bed.
Alex shook her head, looking down at the mice.
Something almost profound hit her at that moment. She knew, in a sense, these mice would be her first kill as an actual vampire. While it's true that she's killed hundreds of men - inadvertently - by leading them into her brother's bloody claws, she's never actually touched a single one of them. These mice, like those men, were innocent. They had no idea about how dark the world is. They had no idea what was about to happen.
Realistically, she knew that her fate was sealed when her mother poured Sam's blood down her throat. But right now, she felt like she was signing a contract. By staining these mice's fur pink, she'd be agreeing to this life.
But she had no choice. The hunger was too great. It made her pupils dilate and her grip on the little mouse tighten.
Sam looked away when Alex took a deep, deciding breath.
Her fangs lowered themselves over her human teeth.
By the third day, Dean had given up completely on holding back his screams of pain.
His soul had been shredded to bits time and time again. Parts of it were left out when the demons put him back together. There were gaping holes in him - literally - where they left their mark. Holes he wouldn't be able to fill; it would would be impossible to fix him again.
They must've made it to their destination, Alex decided. Because her and Sam never left that motel. Sam, true to his mutterings, took her shopping the next day.
"Okay, um, what do teenage girls wear?" Sam asked, glancing around the mall.
"Better question, how are you going to pay for this? Do you know how much a good pair of jeans costs?" Alex asked, leading the man towards a promising-looking store.
Sam lowered his voice, glancing at a young couple walking by, "I got money, don't worry about it."
Alex fake gagged, "Gross, I just thought of you as my sugardaddy."
The hunter gave Alex a strange look, "Do I want to know what that means?"
"No." Alex said quickly. "Don't google it, either."
The teen then proceeded to pile pairs upon pairs of jeans into Sam's arms. She inspected each pair thoroughly before either putting it back or placing it on top of Sam's quickly growing pile.
"Wait, this pair looks exactly like the last pair you picked up." Sam said, nodding towards the jeans.
"Yeah, but that one has pockets."
"They all have pockets?"
Alex snorted, "Oh, honey. I wish. These three pairs have fake pockets. They're sewn shut."
Sam blinked at her, then at the jeans, "But… Why?"
"I have no idea. But it's a monstrosity. And you should hunt it down and fix it." Alex set another pair of jeans onto Sam's pile. She smiled in satisfaction. "Okay, now. Shirts, socks, jackets, pajamas, bras and underwear."
The blood drained from Sam's face at the last two.
By the fourth day, he had passed out. And they just kept carving; only stopping to sloppily repair him so they could carve again.
The fifth day, they offered him a deal.
"Come on, Winchester." One of them cooed. Curling his bony fingers around a thick knife. "You know you want to."
"I don't make deals with demons." Dean grunted.
The demon's eyes flicked black. He smirked as he slowly slid the knife he was holding into Dean's heart. "Don't forget, a demon deal is what landed you here."
Dean screaming in pain, his chest thrashing uncontrollably against the invasive metal. His heart kept pounding, grating itself against the knife.
"He'll come around." Yellow eyes flashed in the dark smoke. "Just wait."
Alex glanced up as Sam came into the motel room late at night. It was their fourth day in this little podunk town somewhere in Indiana. The vampire couldn't help but notice how Sam was acting a little shifty around her suddenly.
"You look guilty." She commented idly, flipping through a thick, leather book she found.
"You look guiltier." Sam said, glancing down at the book in her hands. "Where'd you get that?"
Alex flipped another page lazily, "Your bag."
Sam huffed, muttering about how this felt eerily similar to living with Dean. "Please don't go through my bag."
The vampire hummed, "What is this anyway?"
"My dad's hunting journal." Sam replied after a moment. "It has everything he's learned while hunting."
"Who's this 'X' person?" Alex asked, pointing at the numerous times they were mentioned on the page. Sam shrugged, throwing on a jacket.
"He never told us." The hunter grabbed his keys and headed towards the door, "I'll be, uh, out. for a while."
Alex raised an eyebrow, glancing at the clock. "It's almost eleven."
"Yeah." Sam grunted, shifting awkwardly.
For a professional liar, he sucks at lying.
"Just don't come back drunk." Alex muttered.
Sam nodded and quickly left. The vampire resumed to flipping through the journal, eyes scanning over words like 'salt' and 'burn'. She turned the page again to be greeted to a crude drawing of a face with sharp teeth.
The word "Vampire" was scribbled across the top of the page.
Alex ran her fingers down the page, brushing over every "X", "Daniel Elkins" and "Fangs" she could find.
When she got to the bottom to find the word "Extinct" she snorted.
Not extinct. But getting there.
Something had changed when she was turned.
Okay, well, a lot of things had changed. But something inside her head changed, drastically. Maybe she just suddenly got Schizophrenia, but she could now hear voices in her mind.
Two voices; one male and one female.
The female voice was distant; staticy. She didn't speak often, but when she did, it was something Alex felt the need to pay attention to.
Her family never mentioned this. The voices.
Maybe they didn't have it? Maybe she was just psychotic?
Welcome to the family, child. The male voice whispered.
On the tenth day, he would barely talk anymore. His vocal chords had been strung too tight; ripped too many times; abused far too often.
Dean's back had red warts and scars up and down it. His shoulders ached from constantly being strung above his head.
CRACK!
Another whip against his back. Dean grunted, trying to shift away from the demon behind him, but it was impossible to move.
CRACK!
He screamed in pain, but nothing came out. Dead air puffed from his throat in a weak attempt of mimicking a cry.
CRACK!
"This can stop, Winchester." The demon said. "All you have to do is pick up the knife."
Dean shook his head weakly.
No, God, no. He'd never.
CRACK!
"Oh, I can see your spine…" The demon laughed, snapping the whip against the exposed bone over and over.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Sam came back early in the morning, hair disheveled and clothes wrinkled.
"You smell weird." Alex said, causing the man to jump.
He wasn't expecting her to be awake. Stupidly. The sun wasn't yet done rising. She still had a few hours to be awake.
"Hey. Uh, how do you feel?" He asked, deflecting.
"Fine. I read all of that journal. No offense, but your dad's a dick." Alex said.
Sam made a face at her. Part of him agreed, but family's family. And she doesn't yet have the right to insult them.
"Well, you'll never have to meet him. So it doesn't matter."
On the thirteenth day, Dean rolled his head back and spit in the demon's face.
The demon growled, tossing Dean into the burning dirt. "You piece of shit."
Dean grunted as the demon's dug the heel of its boot into his damaged back. Dean hissed, feeling the blood run down his bare back. They didn't give him any clothes; when they smashed him back together on the second day, the demons didn't bother to give him any sense of security.
Nakedness made it easier to carve into the hunter's skin.
It also made it easier for the demon's next move.
Dean gasped when he felt a heavy weight pressing against his lower back. The human weakly pushed himself up against the ground. The demon slammed a knife into Dean's shoulder blades. The human screamed out in pain, his arms shaking, eventually dropping his chest back into the dirt.
The demon tsk'd annoyedly. "Stay down or grab the knife. Those are your only options."
Dean shook his head, gasping out, "N-no."
Footsteps crunched against the broken bones of the long forgotten. "Azazel. Help me with this one."
The human turned his head to see the boots of another demon. The higher ranked monster leaned down to speak to Dean.
"Now, Deanie. Are you being troublesome?" The demon asked, his eyes flashing a murky yellow. "We can't have that."
Azazel pulled a knife out from his jacket. "Hold still for me, now."
Dean screamed in pain as the knife clawed against his shoulder. It dug through skin and muscle like it was air. Dean thrashed on the floor, unable to hold himself still as his arm was sawed off.
"Try to move again and we'll take the other one, too." Azazel said, dropping the limp, bloody arm on the ground next to Dean's face.
Dean hissed, writhing against the body above him.
"I love when they squirm." The demon above him smirked, still holding Dean down my the knife in his back.
Tears rolled down Dean's face in an endless march. Breathing was impossible, good thing you don't need to breathe when you're dead.
Fingernails dug into the swollen meat of Dean's ass.
"No!" Dean grunted, trying and failing to get away from all of this. "Please!"
"Vocal now, aren't you?" Azazel smirked. "When they're done, I'm going to have my fun with you. And then Eligos. Then Morax. Then Chax, and Vepar, and every twisted soul in this godforsaken place. Good thing this is the home of rapists. Everyone can get their fix with you."
Dean cried out louder, desperately straining his body to say, "No, no, stop! Please!"
He could feel the demon squirming in anticipation on top of him.
"Then pick up the knife, Dean. Pick up the knife and all this goes away." Azazel hummed, digging out the dirt from under his nails.
But Dean couldn't do that. He couldn't. He just could not do the things that demons did to him to another human being. He refused. If he stooped so low as to torture, then he wouldn't be human anymore.
"No!" Dean refused.
"Dammit, Dean. I'm trying to help you. It'll all be better if you just embrace the fact that you're a bloodthirsty psycho murderer."
Dean shook his head, biting his lip to keep back his sobs.
Azazel spits on Dean's back, muttering, "Fuck him until he bleeds."
The demon didn't hesitate to slam himself into Dean's unprepared hole.
The hunter's screams echoed throughout the flames. They could be heard for days.
After a few nights of Sam leaving late and coming back early, Alex finally figured out the smell that Sam always came back reeking of. It was always in the back of her mind. Something she recognized, but couldn't name.
Something from long ago.
"Hey," Sam greeted, coming into the room.
Alex inhaled deeply through her nose. It finally clicked.
"Demon!" She said, almost excitedly.
She could literally hear Sam's heart stop in fear.
"W-what?" Sam asked, quietly.
Alex climbed off the bed, standing up. "That's what you smell of when you come back. Blood and sex and demon."
Sam took a step away from her, his face screaming Guiltyguiltyguiltyguilty!
"I- uh, it's not," He stammered, trying to figure out a way to explain himself or lie or something.
The vampire snorted, "Dude, chill. I don't care. I was just trying to figure out why you always smelled great. It's the demon."
"What?" Sam asked, his back against the door, standing as far away from Alex as possible.
"Yeah. I had a demon boyfriend for about a day before my family ate him. After that they wanted me to specifically target demons for their meals, which was all kinds of dangerous and hard. But it's because demon blood is addictive. That's what I kept smelling." Alex smiled to herself, having figured out her little mystery.
"Alex, I'm sorry, it's just-" Sam started, but the vampire cut him off.
"You don't have to explain yourself. You're either going to kill it or keep fucking it. Either way, it's not my problem." Alex said, sitting back down on the bed, pulling Sam's laptop onto her lap. "The only thing I don't get is the blood part."
Sam froze up again, eyes averting away from Alex. He didn't say anything as the teen kept talking.
"At first I just thought you were into some really kinky stuff. But it's, I don't know, weird. The bloody smell is surrounding you. It's kind of annoying actually, please go shower." Alex glanced up at him, eyes calculating. "You almost smell like a vampire."
His heart skipped a beat painfully. His entire body language told Alex she hit the bullseye. But instead of saying anything more about the subject, she just smirked and said, "How do you feel about Chinese? I'm craving egg rolls."
The hunter nodded and quickly took his escape to the bathroom.
Sam had no idea how to react. Anyone else he knew would be chewing him out right now. But this girl is completely fine with it? Was it because she was basically a stranger, and didn't care what happened to Sam? Or was it because she was a vampire and didn't think sucking blood was all that strange? Was it because she was a teenager, and therefore didn't care as much about consequences? Or because she didn't know the full situation? Did she just trust Sam's judgement?
The hunter had the vague want to slam his head against the shower wall repeatedly, this was so confusing. It would be so much easier if she just yelled at him for his stupid, immoral acts.
By day twenty, the demons got smart. Dean's been tortured before. He's been beaten and starved. He'd been used and abused. He knows how to hold off. They weren't going to win by breaking him physically.
So they went mental.
They strung him up, chained spread eagle in the darkest part of hell. With a hook in his shoulder holding him up in the stormy air, they left him alone.
At first, Dean welcomed the change. He was still in pain, there was a hook in his shoulder, of course he was in pain.
But he no longer had the stench of demon hanging around him. Their dirty hands that scratched at his skin greedily were nowhere to be found. Their disgusting breaths weren't around to call him nasty names. They gave him a break.
Thank God.
"Her name's Ruby, yeah?" Alex asked, the next day. Sam choked on the drink he was sipping on.
Alex casually tossed him a napkin, waiting for his response.
"Uh, yeah." Sam muttered, wiping his face with the napkin. "How do you know?"
"She was texting you yesterday. I just looked at the screen for a second, to make sure it wasn't Bobby." Alex stuck a straw into an IV bag Sam managed to steal. Type B-. "It was Bobby, but Ruby's messages were there, too. Don't worry, I didn't read them."
Sam shook his head. "Alright, privacy is a thing, you know. You can't just look through my phone and take things from my bag."
Alex nodded, "Yeah, I know. But you leave me alone for ten hours at a time. What do you expect me to do?"
"I let you use my laptop." Sam said.
"Yeah, but who just stays on the internet all night?" Alex rolled her eyes. "I'm getting tired of staring at the water spots on the ceiling."
Sam blinked, "You can go outside, you know. Without me."
The vampire frowned, staring at Sam like he grew a second head. "Really?"
"Yeah, of course." Sam said. "You're sixteen, almost an adult. You should know what you can and can't do. Just be careful and text me if you get in trouble. I'll be there right away."
Alex sat there, still as a stone. She didn't know how to respond. Mama would've never allowed this, not in a million years. Alex was basically always being trailed by one of her brothers, unless she was playing bait for dinner.
"Oh." She said, glancing down at the bag of blood in her hands. Sam was so accommodating. How could all that good be smooshed into one person? Maybe that's why he was so big; to make room for the kindness. "Thanks."
"Sure, thing."
Two weeks of silence and Dean couldn't stand it. If the screaming was bad, then the silence was even worse. The silence let Dean think. And thinking was a dangerous pastime in hell.
His thoughts morphed around him like the toxic gas in the air.
They started out simple enough.
Shit. Fuck.
Then they grew in complexity.
Sam's upstairs. Safe. Everything's on fire.
Which transformed into memories.
Don't go back inside, Sammy. Mom's on the ceiling. The smell of ash fills the air. Sam in my arms. Dad by my side. The family business.
Which progressed into newer, somehow more painful memories.
I'm completely alone.
Flashbacks to those empty four years hang in Dean's heart. Loneliness curls around Dean's broken, naked body, leaving him feeling numb.
Miss me? It hissed in Dean's ear.
The more Loneliness hung around, the more and more Dean broke down.
God, he'd do anything, anything to hear a voice. Even if it was a demon's. He just needed to hear something that wasn't his own mind.
The next time Sam came home, Alex was sitting in the corner of the room. Soft, choked off sobs could be heard over the constant hum of the AC.
"Alex?" Sam asked, dropping his bag and walking up to her. He crouched down to her level, "Hey, are you alright? What's wrong?"
Alex looked up, surprised to see him. "S-Sam?"
"Yeah, it's me. You're okay." Sam spoke softly, his volume matching Alex' quiet tone. Sam hesitantly reached out, putting a hand on her shoulder. He asked again, "What's wrong? Are you hungry? There's more blood in the fridge."
Alex shook her head, whimpering, "I think… it all just caught up to me."
Sam's expression softened in understanding. His heart ached for the poor girl. She was dealing with so much at such a young age and Sam made the mistake of assuming her brave face was genuine.
"Hey, shh." Sam whispered, "It'll be alright. I won't leave you; we'll get through this together. I know it hurts, but we'll be okay."
Alex nodded, trying to bite back her whimpers, "I miss them. God, why do I miss them? They were such disgusting, horrible people."
"Sometimes you love people who don't deserve it." Sam mumbled quietly. "It's part of what makes love so dangerous."
The vampire hesitated, but when one powerful sob pushed past her lips, Sam made the decision for her. The hunter pulled the girl into his arms and helped to hold her together.
Sam hummed in her ears, the soft melody of the Beatles.
Hey, Jude...
Occasionally, Dean got his wish. The demon's would return and beat the shit out of him. Use him inhumane ways and then hang him back up on the hook to let him stew in silence. He grew to wish for those beatings, because at least during then, Dean could feel - for a split second - like he possibly wasn't in hell. That he was upstairs, it was a hot, summer night and Dean did something wrong, so the monster of the week caught him. And yeah, he was dying right now, but soon his father would run in, shoot the place up, and save him.
John never runs in.
And Dean can no longer pretend like things could ever be okay again.
"You can't get a scratch on her." Sam warned. "If you do, my brother will kill you."
"From what I've read in John's book, he'll kill me either way." Alex muttered.
Sam tossed the keys to the teen as he walked to the passenger seat. "How much do you know?"
Alex clicked her tongue, "If you can chose between a person and a tree, hit the tree because the tree can't sue."
Sam laughed. "Good enough."
They were in an empty parking lot. It was a bright, sunny day. Fluffy white clouds lazily floated in the air, breaking up the endless blue. The air was warm with just a slight breeze and the smell of pollen drifted past them.
The Impala was spotless and ready to teach a new driver the ways of the road.
"Okay," Sam said, buckling in. "The key goes in there, yeah. Turn it until you hear the engine ignite. There you go."
Alex gripped the wheel tightly. Why was this so terrifying? She mentioned offhandedly that she didn't' know how to drive and Sam immediately suggested they go practice. The radio was low and the windows were cracked.
"Now, you know what all those letters mean?" Sam asked, gesturing to the gears on the dash.
"Probably Runs Nastily Downhill." Alex replied.
Sam shook his head, grinning, "Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive."
Alex looked over at him, a sly smile breaking through her serious expression. "That's what I said."
"Sure." Sam hummed, "So, I always have my foot on the break before I shift gears." The engine revved as Alex put her foot down. Sam commented easily, "Wrong petal."
"Shit." Alex muttered, switching feet.
"Only use one foot." Sam said, "Probably your right one."
Alex did, and then shifted gears to "Downhill".
"Good, start out slow, pull out of this parking spot and then we'll go around the lot and come back here." Sam said, gesturing around them. "Don't hit the light poles."
"You're bossy." Alex muttered, pushing on the gas. The car zipped forward. Alex almost bit her tongue in shock.
Sam laid a hand on the dashboard. "Woah, easy now, Baby, play nice."
Alex glanced at him from the corner of her eye as she steadied the car. "You two wanna get a room?"
The hunter grinned, enjoying the moment for a split second. But then darkness sank into his heart, dragging it down as he remembered that his brother was in hell. His smile fell off his face. Looking back at the dashboard of the car, he couldn't help but flashback to when he was learning how to drive, and Dean sat in the same spot he was sitting now.
Alex didn't comment on the now deep, painful sounds of Sam's heart. She slowly turned the corner to circle around the lot. The rest of their lesson was a fairly quiet one; Sam only talking to give her instructions.
Dean hates many, many things about himself.
Sidenote: This is the one and only thing I hate about humans. Demons? Hundreds of things I'd change. Monsters? Thousands. Angels? A thousand more. But humans. There's only one thing I wish I did differently.
I wish I made it so they always loved themselves. Because if you aren't there for yourself… who will be?
Anyway, Dean hates many, many things about himself. But the one thing he will never admit to anyone, not even if his life depended on it, was that when he gave up and said Yes…
It wasn't when he was being torn apart by hellhounds.
It wasn't when he was being carved into by an angry demon.
It wasn't even when he was being patented in the most intimate of ways.
He gave up during the days he hung in the fog by himself.
The rock in his chest was eventually too much. With silent tears and a broken soul, Dean cried out until his voice was gone.
"YES!" He shouted, hanging limply in the air. "I'LL DO IT, ALRIGHT?! GIVE ME THE KNIFE! I'Ll… I'll do it…"
Yellow eyes blinked to life through the thickness of the fog. "I'm glad you could come to your senses, Dean."
"Sam?" Alex asked. Something was different when he came into the motel room early that morning. He didn't smell of blood or sex or even demon. He just reeked of something that made Alex's stomach churn.
Alcohol.
The guy was completely smashed, he stumbled into the room, giggling like an idiot. Alex crawled backwards to the far side of her bed. Hoping that maybe Sam won't see her.
He hiccuped, lifting a foot to take off his shoe. He stumbled, laughing as he almost ran into the wall.
At least he was a happy drunk.
For now.
Alex has had …. bad experiences with drunks. Times when her brothers didn't show up on time. Or at all. Times when she couldn't run away; when they overpowered her.
She kept her eyes trained on Sam. It's not that she didn't trust him. She had finally trusted him enough to take a shower during the hours where he's in the motel room with her. Before that, she waited until he left to go suck Ruby's blood.
But this wasn't Sam anymore. Not to her at least. This was a huge, bumbling idiot that might decide he might want to have a little fun with the only other person in the room.
Sam suddenly looked up, eyes wide. "Dracula!"
Alex flinched.
Fuck.
Sam twisted around, looking for his vampire friend. He smiled when he saw her. Her knees were pulled up against her chest, her arms wrapped around her. She looked like a little bloodthirsty ball! "You're so little."
Sam uncoordinatedly crawled across his bed. Alex shook her head, raising a hand in a weak defense.
"Stop. Don't come near me." Her voice shook with fear and emotion.
Sam slid off his bed, stumbling - almost crashing into Alex's bed. He climbed onto her bed, smiling. His smile fell when he looked at her, though.
"Hey." He frowned. "Why'r'ya cryin'?"
He reached forward, clumsily rubbing his thumb against her cheek, wiping off a tear. Alex suck in a breath, trying to push herself further against the wall. Shit. Who even puts a bed right against the wall anyway?
"Is y'ur mom havin' a baby?" Sam asked, eyes wide.
Alex blinked at him, confused and afraid and very willing to punch the adult.
"My mom had a baby once." Sam smiled fondly. He frowned again, thinking, "But… then she died. The baby burned her." He started laugh hysterically. "It's all the baby's fault! The baby is completely alone and it's all his fault!"
Tears started to fall from Sam's eyes, but he was still laughing. He shakily ran a hand through his hair, his smile now a painful grimace. "It's all his fault. ...All my fault. I-I'm the baby... I killed everyone."
Alex stared at him, her fear ebbing away. "...Sam?"
"They're all dead. All'a'em." Sam sat back on his knees, both his hands in his hair now. His laughs are battling against his choked sobs. "Mom an' Dad. Jess. Dean. Pro'lly you, too. Y'u're dead. You're a v'mpire."
"Hey, I'm not your fault." Alex said, harshly. "I'm the only reason why I'm like this."
Sam wasn't listening to her, though. He stared down at the blanket before him, mumbling, "Stupid baby, stupid fucking baby. Shudda ne'er been born."
Alex reached out, touching Sam's arm. She knew about their history. It was all in John's journal.
'November 16, 1983
Nothing makes sense anymore … My wife is gone, my sons are without their mother…'
She read about it in the same detached way you'd read a text book. She never actually thought… Never really realized, this was someone's life.
"Oh, Sam…" She whispered, murmuring the same words Sam said to her a few nights ago. "It'll be alright…. I won't leave you... We'll get through this together. I.. I know it hurts, but we'll be okay..."
Sam nodded, then shook his head. He laughed again, but it broke off into a hiccup. He smiled the most pain-filled smile Alex had ever seen.
"My brother's in hell." He whispered. "My dad, too, probably."
Alex glanced from one foggy eye to the other, "But you said we were going to visit your brother and father."
Sam swallowed, twice and then winced, "I know."
The girl's eyes grew dark, her face stony. "Sam." She said seriously. "If your thinking about killing yourself-"
"No, no." Sam said, quickly. But then he stared off into space, his drunken mind contemplating it. He shook his head, almost falling sideways in the process, "N-no. I'm, um, I'm gon' break 'em out."
Alex blinked at him. "Right."
"Save th' day." Sam said. "An' may'ye he'll forgive th' baby…"
Alex crawled off the bed and stood up, she grabbed Sam's big arms and said, "Let's get you to bed."
"I's my fault." Sam laughed, as Alex gently pushed him down onto his bed. "I did this to him."
Alex shook her head, pursing her lips, taking off Sam's shoes for him. "Go to sleep, Sam."
Sam layed out on the bed, his eyes falling slowly, "I din't mean to. I was jus' a kid."
"I know, Sam." Alex said, pulling up the covers for him.
"D'ya think he knows?" Sam asked, staring up at the ceiling with heavy eyes. "That I'm sorry?"
"He knows, Sam." Alex grabbed a small, plastic cup and filled it up with motel tap water. "He knows." She set it on the table between the beds. The vampire then turned to Sam's bag and started rifling through it to try to find some pain killers or something.
She grinned in victory when she found them. Placing only two on the table next to the water, she turned the lights off.
Sam blinked in the darkness. His skin felt a little itchy where his tears ran down them. But his arms felt too heavy to actually reach up and itch them. He sniffed. His blinks got slower; longer.
"Go to sleep, Sammy." A voice said. It was soft, quiet. It didn't sound like Dean. But the phrase was one that Sam heard from Dean often. So maybe Dean was just being a girl today? That could probably happen. One time someone thought Sam was a girl. Dean laughed.
Sam giggled at the memory and mumbled a quiet, "Night, jerk."
"Goodnight, nerd."
Dean's torn knuckles curl around a knife. The soul that stands below him was an old, tortured one. That made things a bit easier, Dean reasoned. They would've been used to anything Dean could throw at them.
With a shaky hand and a thick knot in his throat, Dean raised the knife high into the air.
"Oh, so you're Ruby!" Alex cheered delightfully.
The woman glanced from her to Sam and back again. Her expression one of clear shock. "Uh, yeah. Sam, who's this?"
"I'm Alex." The vamp said. They were at a diner, having lunch. Ruby, apparently, didn't know Alex would be there. "As long as you don't hurt Sam, you don't have to worry about me."
Ruby's eyes flashed black, "Charming."
Alex bared her fangs, "I tend to be."
"Girls, come on." Sam said, holding up his hands. "We're around civilians."
Neither of the women looked very concerned.
Ruby sat down next to Sam, glaring at the teen across from them. Turning to Sam, she asked in a low voice, "When's the last time you had blood?"
Sam shifted awkwardly, avoiding Alex's gaze. "Uh, not since last time we saw each other."
Ruby frowned, "Sam, that was days ago. Don't you want to get stronger?"
"Of course, I just-"
"Stronger for what?" Alex asked.
Ruby's glare turned back to Alex. She forced a pleasant smile and said, "Sam's going to save the world."
Alex raised her eyebrows, "By yourself?"
"No, I'm helping him." Ruby replied quickly.
"Sure." Alex deadpanned, still looking at Sam.
She could hear the guilt in his heart. And the annoyance in Ruby's. She didn't trust Ruby, but she trusted Sam. So if Sam believed whatever he was doing was right; then she believed it too. Mostly.
Sam just looked out the window and said, "Please don't tell Bobby."
Alex snorted, "Like I'd voluntarily talk to him."
The demon leaned across the table, "Why? What'd Bobby do?"
"Killed my entire family. Right in front of me." Alex said, leaning closer, talking in a low voice. "Their heads landed at my feet."
"What a dick!" Ruby said, eyes wide. "One time a hunter stabbed my best friend while I was tied up, watching."
"Oh my God." Alex hissed. "The nerve of them!"
"Right?"
"One time, when I was little-"
Sam cleared his throat, interrupting the girl's little bonding moment. "Can, can we not talk about hunters like their murderers?"
The hunter was met by a legendary double bitch face.
The demons cheered with every cut Dean made. The human focused on their positivity. He zoned out and just kept carving; trying his damnedest to ignore the cries of agony from his victim.
They patted his back as they drug the destroyed soul away. A new one was placed down in front of him.
Someone squeezed Dean's shoulder in encouragement. Dean took a deep breath and started slicing through the new victim's flesh.
Person after person, older, younger, man, woman, battered, barely scratched, they set them all in front of Dean.
And Dean tortured every single one.
Scraping a chunk of flesh off his knife, Dean turned to his newest victim.
He stopped in his tracks when she looked up at Dean.
Kneeling before Dean, with her hands tied behind her back, was a little girl. She had light blue eyes and curly blonde hair. Her skin was not yet scorched from this world's flames; not yet sewn back together with uncaring hands.
She was young. Couldn't be more than eight.
Dean shook his head. This was the first child he's seen in all of hell. Stumbling backwards, he looked at Azazel.
"Why's she down here?" That was Dean's first question. He couldn't fathom it. A little girl in hell? What could she've done to deserve this?
"Because it's God's will." Azazel sneered, rolling his eyes. "It doesn't matter what she did. She's here, she has to pay."
"What's your name?" Dean asked the child.
She flinched, blinking through tear-filled eyes, "G-Grace."
"Grace?" Dean asked. She nodded and the human turned away, rubbing his temples. "Son of a bitch."
"What's the matter, Winchester?" A demon asked, grinning coldly.
"What's the matter? She's a child! She doesn't belong her and she definitely doesn't deserve to be tortured!" Dean yelled.
"That's not for you to decide." Another demon said smugly. "Now be a good boy or we'll hang you again and leave you there for a century."
"No, I don't care. I'm not going to stick a knife in this girl." Dean growled.
Azazel shrugged, "Dean, if you don't, someone more brutal will. Introduce her to her eternity of damnation nice and slow."
Dean shook his head, cussed loudly, then kicked the smoldering dirt below him.
Azazel was right. If not Dean, then someone else. Someone who has no problems ripping out a little girl's heart and soul.
Dean swallowed, stepping closer to the young girl.
Grace sniffed pathetically and closed her eyes.
Dean took a deep breath and did the same.
"Hey, old man." A sing-song voice snapped Bobby out of his daze.
The hunter had a gun pointed towards the intruder in three seconds flat.
Bobby lowered the gun in confusion when he saw who it was. "Alex?"
"Yeah. Tell me, what's the date?" Alex asked, setting down grocery bags onto Bobby's table. The hunter blinked at her, watching her every move.
"Uh, September 8th, 2008." Bobby frowned, "Girl, where've you been?"
Alex didn't answer, just nodding and unpacking her bags. "So, I got you some stuff to eat. I know you've been drowning yourself in booze. It's all already made up, so you just gotta put it in the oven. The directions are written on the tin foil."
She opened the fridge and scowled at him when she saw all the bottles of liquor. Shoving them aside, she started to place her pre-made dinners into the fridge for him.
"What? I've been looking everywhere for you!" Bobby said.
"Don't." Alex shrugged, "I'm with Sam."
Bobby sat up, looking around, "Sam's here?"
"No. He's in the midwest." Alex replied, picking up some empty beer bottles and placing them in the empty plastic bags. "And don't worry, I didn't make the food. Marius did. So, it's actually edible."
"Marius?" Bobby stared at her, confusion written all over his face.
"Yeah, so, see you in about two weeks." Alex pressed a kiss to the top of Bobby's head. She turned and walked out of the room, calling over her shoulder, "Don't worry, Sam's fine. And actually eat some of that, you need it. Bye!"
Bobby stared at the closing door. He had half a mind to go after her and make her explain herself, but by the time he got to the door, she had completely vanished.
The hunter pulled out his phone and dialed Sam's number.
Someone answered on the third ring, "Sam's phone, who's this?"
"Alex?" Bobby said in confusion.
"Oh. Bobby." The voice on the other end said. "Do you need something? Maybe a new vamp to murder?"
Bobby shook his head, looking out at where Alex just disappeared. "I… were you just here?"
"No. I'm long gone, old man. God, you're losing it, aren't you?" Alex muttered.
If he hadn't felt those lips press against his head, if there wasn't suddenly a week's worth of food in his fridge, he'd agree with her.
"Alex, are you with Sam?" Bobby asked.
"I'm gonna hang up now." Alex replied.
"No, wait!"
Dial tone.
Bobby stared at the phone, then at the food in his kitchen. What the fuck just happened?
"Balls!"
Something shifted when it was over. Dean was rushed out of the room and hastily hung on his perch again. The demons scampered off excitedly whispering about a Righteous Man and The First Seal.
Dean didn't know the specifics and he really didn't care. He was alone, hanging in the green smoky thunderstorm, listening to the screams of those he'd tortured. He shuddered painfully when he noticed a younger, high-pitched scream was added to the cacophony.
Alex found herself reading John's book again. The words meant a lot more to her now.
She couldn't help but scowl at the way John treated Sam when he was little. She smiled at how Dean taught Sam how to walk. And talk. And read. And drive. And shoot. And hunt.
John made Dean seem like a hunter. A bloodthirsty killer that followed orders and never thought twice about who's life he was ruining.
But Sam made Dean sound like Mother Teresa. The hand Sam reached out for, the light in the dark, the sense of calm in a world of chaos.
The vamp had to read between the lines of the book to try to figure out who this person actually was.
When John said, "Dean disobeyed."
Sam said, "Dean saved us."
It was two complete opposite sides of two very different coins. Alex decided she'd just smoosh them together and assume Dean was a kind murderer. Like Sam.
But Sam hasn't actually hunted anything in front of Alex. In fact, he's helped keeping two supernatural creatures stay alive.
So Sam was just kind.
And Dean was a kind murderer.
John was a dickish murderer.
And Bobby was just a murderer.
The demons never returned for Dean.
Not even to torture him.
"Have you thought about enrolling into this school?" Sam asked when they drove past the local high school.
Alex shrugged, "I dunno. How long are we going to stay here?"
Sam cocked his head, thinking, "As long as it takes, I guess."
"And after your little mission?" Alex asked. "What are you gonna do?"
"Maybe it's not too late to go back to college."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not?" Sam shrugged, "Everyone deserves their shot at normal."
He shot Alex a significant look.
Alex nodded, "Yeah... We could be normal together? Do you think?"
Sam was genuinely surprised by the question. "You want to stay with me?"
"I don't know anyone else who'd steal blood for me."
"Fair point." Sam smiled. "I have no idea how I'll pay for both our college tuitions, though."
Alex grinned, "Is credit card scams not enough?"
Sam giggled, "Probably not. Do you know how expensive college is?"
"We can just sell all your hair. They'll be able to make a hundred wigs out of all of it."
Sam made a horrified face, "Never!"
"Nerd." Alex giggled.
"Brat."
The worst part…
Was that there was no end.
There was no sun and moon; night and day. There were no holidays or vacations. There was no sleeping, no rest. Everything that happened to Dean just felt like one long, never-ending day.
"Oh, woah." Alex gasped as she opened the Impala's trunk for the first time.
Sam looked up from his phone, presumably texting Ruby and ignoring Bobby.
"Don't open that." Sam said, but he was too late, Alex had already unlocked and opened the weapon's safe.
The vamp's fingers brushed over one of the blades. Whistling, she glanced up at him. "And you haven't used these in months?"
Sam licked his lips. "I just, uh, those are Dean's, really."
Alex nodded. Her eyes widened when she saw a machete. She swallowed and closed the lid. She turned to Sam and watched him for a moment, thinking.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Teach me how to fight." Alex said.
Sam blinked at her. "No?"
"I want to be prepared. If I ever run into someone with one of these-" She knocks her knuckles against the weapons case, "I want to be able to not die."
Sam looked her up and down, weighing the pros and cons. "...Alright."
Alex nodded. She's glad Sam was there when Bobby killed her family. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here right now.
Sam's taught her so much. A bit about hunting, how to drive, some calculus, and, eventually, how to swim. If it was any other hunter, they would've either thrown her out on the streets, or killed her on the spot.
Somehow, in this crappy world, she found something pure and good. She was going to stay with it for as long as she could.
The screaming on the one hundred and twenty-first day, the screaming was different.
Yes. There was the never ending shouting of those being tortured and burned. Yes. There was the whispers of Dean's own mind, confusing the hunter with what was real and what wasn't.
But there was also a blinding flash of light and the sound of metal clashing against metal.
There was a high-pitched screeching that made Dean's head hurt.
There was panicked shouts from the demons that picked him apart piece by piece.
Dean didn't know what to expect. A part of him believed the Devil himself had strolled by to take a whack at torturing the wicked.
Before he could muse about it much longer, there was a blinding flash of light.
And then darkness.
Tell me what you think!