Disclaimer: Sam and Dean Winchester are not my characters.

A/N: Whew. It's been a while. I have valid excuses, none of which anyone cares about. Whatever. More shenanigans to come.

I drove as long as I could before Mika crashed. She still wasn't at a hundred percent, and I couldn't blame her. Being nearly drained of blood meant her body had to slowly bring itself back up to normal, and that took sleep and replenishment of nutrients.

I rented us a motel room, under no illusions that it would even be safe. That, I think, was the most terrifying part of this all. There were vampires after us, and I knew how to fight them. I knew how to kill them, how to keep us safe—for the most part. I knew all that. Yet I was human and therefore held back by all the physical needs of one. The need to eat. The need to sleep.

I knew how to protect myself against vampires, yet it would be so easy for them to snap my neck while I was passed out. And knowing that just made sleeping all the harder. I was exhausted, but I also knew that if I closed my eyes, I might never open them again.

So I slept, but never for very long. Increments of twenty minutes were all I could mentally stomach before the thought of being brutally slaughtered in my sleep was too much to handle. That being said, my night progressed about as well as could be expected.

Twenty minutes of sleep. String razor wire across the front of the room.

Twenty more minutes of sleep. Sit in the chair, machete and gun in hand.

Sleep twenty minutes. Clean my weapons.

Twenty more minutes of sleep. Wake Mika up from a nightmare.

Eventually, the stress of it all ate holes in my peace of mind, and I stopped sleeping altogether.

Around seven, I got up and went out to the car with Mika to survey the meager groceries and other supplies we had stashed in the backseat. Gathering it all up, we went back to our room, and I fixed us some sandwiches while laying out our options. She dug into hers, but I found myself unable to stomach food at the moment. So I set it down and looked at her, letting the seriousness of the matter show on my face.

"I don't think they're going to be as easily tricked the next time they come after us. And I don't think they're going to split up any more," I said quietly. She hesitated, chewing slowly as she worked through my reasoning. I could see her questing for my eventual conclusion, so I asked the big question. "Do you trust me?"

Turns out, she did.

The vampires showed up a couple hours after it got dark. We didn't make it that hard to find us, and when they came, they were wary. They were right to be. Four of their nest had fallen to us, under shrouded circumstances no less. That was enough to make anyone cautious.

Strangely enough, only four vampires had come. The one both Jemma and I had pegged as the leader was missing. I didn't know what to make of that, but at the moment, I didn't really care. My stomach twisted in apprehension as I watched the four survey our chosen location. So many things could go wrong with this plan, yet we really had no other choice.

Then, as one group, they entered.

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing the screen fatigue out of my eyes as I switched to watching a new screen on the monitors. The vampires walked down one hallway, disappearing around the corner, and I moved to a new screen, watching as they walked up the steps. The miracle that was CCTV cameras-I had to get me one of these fancy setups.

Number Five stopped on screen, craning his neck up the stairs as if he heard something. I surely hoped he did. He said something, and all four of them picked up the pace. Across the hall from me, Mika was doing her best to make natural noises. Sighs, a cough here and there, rustles of clothing-it was pretty convincing, and the vampires had no trouble tracking her down. They reached our floor in less than two minutes.

I didn't even hear them come in. They just ghosted through the doorways on camera, letting me know they were here. A few keystrokes later, and the screens all went blank, save for white static. Then I took the hard copy of the security footage, a CD, and snapped it in half. I rolled my neck to the right and then the left, reaching for a button on the keyboard in front of me. Taking one last glance at the snowy camera displays, I pushed the button.

As soon as my finger touched the play button, the chorus of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" blasted out of through the speakers distributed throughout the entire floor. It was raucous and screechy and way louder than the local noise ordinance permitted. I swept my machete out of its sheath and slipped out the door, ready to get started.

We were in a massive dance studio. It was quite apropos really. If I were a vampire, mercilessly hunting down a fourteen-year-old girl, then I would definitely deserve to have a pitchy, quasi-love song assault my eardrums right before getting my head chopped off. Not to mention the scent of Tahitian Sunset insidiously seeping into the deepest tissues of my nostrils.

Having effectively negated the scent and sound portion of the vampires' predatory advantages, Mika and I employed one last round of trickery: mirrors.

The studio was full of them. Big mirrors, small mirrors, lines of rolling mirrors, two-way mirrors, and ceiling-to-floor mirrors, which made up the actual walls of the studio. It was glorious. The vampires never knew what hit them.

Mika stood at the far end of the room, tiny and alone, and only half visible through the reflections bounced around the room. When the vampires entered the main dance floor, they came to a stop, catching sight of her immediate. They saw her, but they didn't quite know where she was yet. Mika stared at them, her face full of terror. Her fists were clenched tightly at her side. In a dozen different mirrors, she slowly lifted one hand straight out from her body. Then her fingers opened slightly, and five scarlet droplets fell to the floor one after the other.

Four sets of eyes followed the blood, since the vampires seemed biologically unable to help themselves, and that was when I made my move.

Miley belted out her emotional pain, but my body sang a song of a different kind. "I came in like a wrecking ball," she cried out in regret. I came in like a wrecking ball, too, only I didn't regret it. I reveled in it.

I kicked open the door in a line of two-way mirrors with my foot, lunging forward. The vampires swiveled, unsure of which direction I was coming from, because the vast array of mirrors cast my reflection on every side of them. I brought the machete forward, slicing off one head in a spray of hot blood. Then I was gone, dancing and swirling away in the mirrors before the body even hit the ground.

Mika and I had practiced that move extensively, positioning and re-positioning dozens upon dozens of mirrors into a maze of epic proportions. I knew the rough layout, and we had mapped my path across the floor like a simple choreography piece. I moved in time with the song, letting the synthetic squalling cover the sounds of my retreat.

The remaining three vampires battled their way through the mirrors, unable to find a visible path, yet roughly seeing the end destination. Mika remained still, waiting for them to reach her, and I picked up the pace, unwilling for that to happen. It was a dance, really, and the music gave it a fast, heavy beat of desperation.

Mirrors shattered, thrown aside by pissed off vampires. I hoped it brought bad luck to those of them that would survived this. Number Seven blurred, and I could only track him by the path of violently exploding mirrors swathing towards Mika. I sprinted forward, hopping and dancing in avoidance of mirrors, and when I judged the timing to be right, I swung to my right, throwing up the best forearm clothesline I could manage.

Number Seven hit with terrific force, and my arm went instantly numb. He slid to a stop on his back, making it three feet away with momentum alone. Transferring my machete over to my remaining working hand, I crossed the space with very little fanfare and brought the blade down. It wasn't a clean stroke like with the others, so I tried again, and then a third time.

The head rolled away, and I scrambled up, crashing to my knees once in the pool of blood before taking off like a bat out of hell. I ran for Mika, knowing two dead vampires was as good as we were going to get. There was a rage-filled bellow behind me, probably one of the other vampires realizing what I'd done, and I rocketed past Mika, snagging her arm and pulling her along with me.

We hit the stairwell hard, pounding down the steps faster than was necessarily safe. But we were beyond trying to be safe. We were just trying not to be dead. Well, I was trying not to be dead. The vampires wanted Mika back. Or maybe they just wanted her dead, too. I wasn't really interested in finding out which one it was.

My right arm slowly regained feeling as we ran. So when a blur came out of nowhere and slammed me into the stairwell wall, I hit hard but managed to snag the railing. My weak, three-fingered grip was probably the only thing that kept me from tumbling down the remaining stairs and breaking my neck.

As it was, the vampire was on just as rocky footing as us. I struggled to suck air into my lungs and slashed at him with the machete, which he easily dodged. Except that we were on the stairs and his dodge brought him within easy range of Mika. Without hesitation, she slammed him in the shoulder with dead man's blood.

He went down instantly, and I wanted so badly to kill him. But I could barely breathe, and we had no time, so Mika and I left him in favor of escaping. We burst out of the door and piled into the car. I twisted the key, and we peeled out of there, wild and hurting and elated and terrified. The whole thing had taken less than three minutes as evidenced by Miley still blasting above us, but it honestly felt like it had taken forever. I was gripping the wheel in cold anger, and Mika was shaking from the ordeal. It didn't feel like three minutes. It felt like a lifetime, which was cliche but ultimately true.

"Six down," I told Mika. She didn't look relieved, like I hoped she would be. She just looked sick.

"Three more to go," she whispered, staring at the tiny slice on her palm. She twisted in her seat, pale and scared. "How many more before our luck runs out? Before one of us gets killed?"

I shook my head, feeling the slow drag of fading adrenaline. "Three," I said simply. "And even if one of us dies, it won't be you. Besides, I don't believe in luck."

She gaped at me. "How can you be so casual talking about your own death? Are you insane?"

I flashed her a crooked grin. "Jury is still out on that one." Then I sobered. "I'm in denial. If I don't think about it, then it doesn't affect me."

"You've been fighting and running away from vampires for a week!" she shrieked, borderline hysterical as she threw her hands up. "How can you not?"

"Because I've been thinking about other things," I snapped heatedly. "Like how my boyfriend was in a coma, or how I'm supposed to keep you alive. Or where we're going to stay. Or how we're going to survive the next wave of vamps. Or how fucking messed up Jemma is for dumping this on me."

Mika recoiled at the last one, like I'd just slapped her. Then tears welled up in her eyes. I pinched the bridge of my nose then punched the steering wheel repeatedly. I stopped when the coldness had faded from my chest. "I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I didn't mean it that way. I'm just tired, so I have no filter." Mika stared out the window silently, but her hand inched over towards me. I reached out and squeezed it. It was hard to remember she was just a kid.

"We'll be okay," I told her, lying. I was exhausted, and I couldn't eat. Mika was doing remarkably well for a girl who had been taken prisoner and been systematically fed on by monsters. Still, screaming night terrors held promise that a real breakdown wasn't too far around the bend. We weren't in great shape. So yes, I was might have been totally lying when I said that we'd be fine. But I think it needed to be said before both of us fell apart.

Neither of us spoke as I drove. We didn't go far. I was too tired, and Mika was too young to drive. We couldn't afford to get pulled over by the cops, so when I couldn't keep myself going anymore, we found the nicest hotel in the city, and rented a room. The desk attendant looked a little confused when we asked for something on the busiest floor, but she fixed us up anyway. Apparently we got our money's worth, because we could barely get past throngs of loud, chattering tourists to get to our room.

I hoped that the sheer amount of foot traffic would discourage any attempts to break into our room, and as I sat on the edge of the bed, Mika was stringing razor wire in front of the small, obligatory hotel room window.

Once the wire was up, she went to shower. I kept watch, laying on my stomach on the bed. I wanted to call Finn, wanted to tell him how my day went, wanted to ask him how his had been. But at the same time, I didn't even know how to go about it. I felt soiled, dirty. My heart felt black, just like it did whenever I killed something, and I didn't want to talk to Finn like that. Or maybe I did. Talking to Finn would make things better. Or maybe I was just crazy and pinning exaggerated emotional baggage on a simple phone call that may or may not even happen.

Kicking my legs up behind me, I stared down at my phone as if daring it to ring yet totally unsure whether I really wanted to talk to Finn or anyone else.

Mika walked out of the bathroom, toweling her hair off. "Whatcha doing?" she asked slowly and warily. My gaze remained locked on the phone. To Finn or not to Finn, that is the question, I thought at it contemplatively. The screen remained dark. Mika sighed. "Will you just call him already?"

"Can't," I said abruptly. "I have to focus on other stuff. Like keeping us alive."

She walked out of my peripheral, and started changing into what I guessed were the clothes we'd picked up for her. "Ri, you're staring at your phone. You were staring at it before I went to take a shower, and you're still staring at it now that I'm out. That's not focusing on vampires. That's obsessing over Finn. Just call him."

I broke eye contact with the infernal device and rolled onto my back. "I can't. I don't even know what I'd say." And I shouldn't need relationship advice from the fourteen-year-old sister of the guy I liked. That was just sad. Oh, how far the mighty have fallen.

Mika looked incredulous. "Are you kidding me? You once talked about Finn for five hours straight. I would know, 'cause I was locked in the car with you and forced to listen. You are constantly, 'Finn this' or 'Finn that.' Can you really not think of anything to say to him?"

I stared up at the ceiling, mind going blank. Finn was my boyfriend now, and I couldn't even figure out if I wanted to talk to him at this point. "Nope," I confirmed with a pop of my lips.

Mika made a disgusted noise, shaking her head. "You're hopeless. Fine, do what you want." She finished dressing and toweling her hair dry, heading back into the bathroom.

"I always do," I called loudly at her retreating form. Then I settled back down on the bed, screwing up my face. I wanted to hear Finn's voice, but I honestly didn't know what to say. The fact that he hadn't called again meant that he probably felt the same way or that his Nazi of a mother wouldn't let him for fear I would somehow corrupt her one remaining child.

After Mika came out of the bathroom, she passed out on the bed. I was still too wired to sleep though, so I just sat there on the other half of the bed. I was still in my blood-soaked jeans. They were black, so no one could really tell, but I knew, and that was all that mattered.

My stomach ached sharply, reminding me that it had been over a day since I last ate. I didn't care. I felt to ill-at-heart to really eat. Instead, I pulled my knees up and rested my chin on them.

Three more vampires to go.

I had no idea where I was going to muster the brainpower, much less the energy, to kill three more vampires. Staring at the wall for a couple of hours did nothing to move my plans along. I was too exhausted to think rationally or logically or whatever kind of mindset it took to get shit done.

My phone rang, and I answered it without looking who was calling. "This is Riley," I announced drolly. "Speak now while I'm still alive."

There was silence on the other end. Then, "Bobby called. Said you were in our area, taking on some vampires. Wanted us to make sure you're still alive and kicking." Winchester Short. Just the sound of his voice calmed me down a little. But then I remembered that I was kind of mad at him for the whole Finn thing.

"I'm not talking to you," I informed him dutifully.

"Grow up," he scoffed, not kindly. I hung up the phone, feeling like I did that a lot these days. But hey, what worked...worked.

My phone rang again, not two seconds later. I glanced at the screen. It was Sam calling. Or maybe just Dean using Sam's phone. At this point, that was too confusing to think about, so I just elected to accept it was Sam calling. "Winchester Tall," I greeted, suddenly pleased at the prospect of talking to someone that wasn't Dean or Mika or Finn or Jemma.

"Riley," Sam replied solemnly. His voice calmed me down, too. It made me feel like maybe things weren't all that bad.

Except they were.

"I'm being hunted by a nest of psychotic vampires," I told him, trying to keep the words from coming out of my mouth. I didn't want to tell him that, didn't want to tell him how bad I was doing, but my hand came up too late to stop the words from spilling out. Yeesh, the lag time on both my mental and physical filters was killing me.

"Where are you?" he asked casually.

I looked around. "I'm in a hotel room. They gave us free shampoo and everything." I smiled. I liked the little bottles the shampoo and conditioner came in. Never mind that Mika had mostly used them up in one shower session.

Another pause. Uh-oh. Sam was going to hit me with the big gun. I tried to put up mental shields, but I was already too late. "Are you okay?" Bam. There it was. The brotherly concern. I was a sucker for brotherly concern.

Yes, I am okay.

Yes, I am fine.

I'm great. Thanks for asking.

Those were all appropriate responses.

"I'm covered in blood," I said, quite seriously. "I killed six vampires." Gosh dang it, I was out of control. Control. As if I'd ever been in control since this whole thing started. A little giggle slipped out of my mouth at that thought.

"Tell me where you are." He sounded urgent, this time. That didn't seem right to me, but I couldn't think of why. Oh. He wanted to come rescue me. Nope. Not this time. I was doing this one solo. I didn't need to be rescued. Not by them, not again.

"I shan't," I told him glibly.

"What's wrong with you?" He didn't sound accusatory, just curious.

I felt like I should yawn, because I was so tired, yet at the same time, my brain was too active. I wasn't sleepy. Exhausted, yes. Sleepy, no. "'Member the time when I was on drugs?" I asked congenially, fielding a yawn after all. "This is a lot like that."

"What?" he asked. Then I hung up, not knowing what else to do. It took me a second before I remembered that I was supposed to say goodbye first.

"Goodbye," I said into the phone.

A while later, Mika woke up. I tried to tell her that we needed to get ready to go, but then I tipped over onto my side, and my brain shorted out. Sleep, so inconvenient.

Mika, of course, decided to let me sleep. It was six o'clock in the morning when I woke up, which meant that I had snoozed for at least a couple of hours. The turd, to her credit, was camped out on the chair, alert and holding our last syringe of dead man's blood. Figuring she'd be okay for ten more minutes, I slumped into the bathroom and took a shower.

The shower was nice. The bruises on my ribs and arm were not. They were grotesque, and I was resolved to wear a hoodie cover up the solid sheath of purple and puke colored hues on my forearm. I came out of the bathroom in a sports bra and sweats, because that's what kind of day it was. Mika gagged when she saw my arm and then immediately tried to poke it. I scowled at her and scrounged up a shirt and hoodie.

We got back on the road around seven, having stopped to get breakfast. I ordered and ate, like, nine pieces of bacon, not even sweating the calories. It was also that kind of day.

Not twenty minutes into the drive, my phone rang. I made sure to check who it was, now that I was back in my right mind. It was Finn. I glanced between it and the road before handing it off to Mika. "Finn," I warned her, not wanting her to be blindsided like last time.

"Hello?" she asked casually, sounding as if she had no idea who could even be on the other end. I loved her.

Finn said something, soft and low in her ear. I couldn't hear what he said, but just the sound of his voice was enough to make my heart beat faster. "This is Mika," she said after a minute, which was probably in response to Finn demanding to know who was answering my phone. "Riley can't talk right now. She's driving." I wanted to hug her.

I didn't want to talk to Finn right now. To anyone, really. "We're on the freeway, so we can't pull over," Mika rationalized when he said something else. Finn yelled something across the phone. "That's very rude," she said affably and hung up. So we had that in common, then. We stared at each other for a beat, and then we burst out laughing. I felt better, not so dark and moody, and Mika turned on the radio.

I didn't sing along, because there were still vampires to kill, but I definitely didn't feel like crying or writing some kind of death poetry. Actually, I couldn't have written poetry if I tried—regardless of my emotional state.

"Your phone kept going off while you slept, by the way," Mika said, a few minutes later. "Somebody named Sam." She looked over, clearly wanting an explanation. I shrugged. "Can you at least tell me where we're going?" she begged.

"Converse," I told her, having picked the name off a sign on the freeway. She looked down at my shoes, which were stained a hideous rust brown. That's what happens when teal Converse get doused with blood, apparently. "Converse, Indiana," I clarified.

She looked at me, a tiny smile growing on her face. I didn't know why, because it didn't seem that funny, but I guess it was to her. "This is where it ends," she said in a slightly dreamy voice.

I peeked at her from my peripheral, weirded out. "Sure," I said, long and drawn out. Then I stared out the windshield, because only moments before, I had been contemplating Converse as our last stop. Our final stand, as it were. I was too tired to keep running, and there were only three vampires left. Mika confirming it, just made things more set in stone.

Converse was going to be where things ended. One way or another.