Disclaimer: I own only the characters you haven't heard of. Nothing truly 'Supernatural'. Unfortunately.

*

Maryla woke the day after, hoping it had all been a very surreal dream. But she knew better. She wandered around her house, not really knowing what to do with herself. She decided on trying on clothes. Something the pre-Death Maryla would have refused to do, so something to make herself feel more normal.

They arrived earlier than she'd expected. She was bouncing around listening to 'Cherry Pie' when she heard her doorbell go, and she went to answer it.

"Um. Whoa." Sam said, staring at her in shock. She glanced down, and realized she was wearing almost the same outfit she'd worn the first time she'd helped John and Dean on a hunt. The cut up Led Zeppelin top, and the super short denim hotpants. The only difference was she was barefoot this time. As opposed to shoes with dangerously spiky heels.

Dean felt his breath catch in his throat. She pulled her hair back off her face, and stepped back to let them in to the house.

"Nice place." Bobby complimented as she led them to the kitchen. Maryla hopped up on the counter before jumping off with a little shriek. She put a tea towel down on it before repeating her earlier move.

The boys sat down at the table. Which was a huge old oak table that had cost almost as much as the house. Dean leaned on it, but felt his elbow dip in to something in a painful way. He glanced down to see an elaborate 'D' carved in to the table top.

"Still carving crap in to fancy tables, huh?" Bobby asked, noticing some carvings around his side of the table.

"I guess. Not so much as before." Maryla smiled slightly, and rubbed at her left wrist, which was wrapped in a drummer's wrist band, "You still got it?"

"What the hell else would I do with it? That table is one of the nicest things I own." Bobby replied. His table had taken her two years to finish. It had every protective symbol under the sun, from ancient times, and before ancient times, carved on to it.

"So. Um. Do you wanna know how Dean got out of Hell?" Sam asked. She looked at him, a look full of meaning that he couldn't understand.

"I'm guessing it was the angels what did it." All three of them stared at her. And not because her accent had wavered back on to the border of being British. She shrugged, ""What? He's the only one that's allowed to get out of Hell because of an angel?"

"The angels pulled you out?" Dean asked, wondering if it would get her to finally look at him.

"Yeah. See?" she held out her uncovered right wrist for their general inspection. There were fingerprints across her wrist, as if someone with bigger hands than her had taken her by the hand. She still didn't look at Dean.

There was an awkward silence.

"So, what are you in town for?" the men all looked at each other before turning back to the inquisitive green eyes of the red haired girl who was holding a whole lot of surprises up her sleeves.

"Vampires." Dean said, running his fingers along the 'D' in the table and hoping she couldn't tell if he was lying any more. She took the chance to observe him for a few moments, and was back to looking at Sam and Bobby before Dean even had a chance to feel her gaze on him.

"Ah. Now, would that be the old coven, or the new lot?" she asked, sliding off the counter and leaning over the sofa to grab her laptop.

"New lot." Sam replied, without thinking. He did a double take, "Wait. There are vampires?" she shrugged a shrug that was almost invisible because of the hair hanging around her shoulders.

"I may have been dead for five years, but it's not like I was at a pool party with Cliff Burton. I was trying to figure out a way out, and I was making sure I didn't forget anything that I'd learned." she crossed herself when she mentioned Cliff Burton, "May he rest in peace."

Dean nodded his agreement. Sam shot a bemused look at the two of them.

"Any hoo. The old ones are not interested in people-like snacks. They're strictly...vegetarian... I dunno what you'd call it. The new ones, they're the newest problem. People have been disappearing like it was the Bermuda Triangle since they got to town." she continued, singing along to 'I Disappear' in her head. She watched her laptop load up.

"OK. So, Sammy, what're we doing?" Dean asked, waiting for the research geek to come out of his brother.

"We need to figure out where their nest is. Get some Dead Man's Blood, and go get 'em?" The last part was a question.

"Um. Boys." Bobby said, and motioned in Maryla's direction. The brothers looked at her to see her holding out her laptop to Sam, all the details needed already catalogued.

"Here." she handed him the laptop, and let herself fall backwards on to her sofa, where she lay for the ten minutes it took Sam to read all her research.

"Dad was right." Sam said when he was done, leaning over her, "You really are good at this."

"Correction. Was. I'm not doing this any more. Yeah, yeah, I know, all the people I could save, whatever. I've had enough. I've been to Hell, I got pulled out and dropped on the edge of the earth, and left to deal. And I've had enough. I don't want to do this crap any more. In three days it should be my 24th birthday. Instead, I have to pretend like I'm turning 20. And if I'm living this life, I at least want to have a life." she sighed, and tied her hair back.

"What, you want us to just leave you here? You need to go see your family, let people know you're here." Bobby began. She whipped round to face him.

"Don't you dare tell my mother I'm alive. Leave her alone. She doesn't need to get me back. She's OK how she is. I'm happy here. I've got my friends, my life, university. All the things I was supposed to get after that year." her green eyes had turned orange as she spoke.

"Mari." Dean began. She acted like he hadn't spoken.

"Now, go, get the vampires, and then get gone." she dropped back on to her sofa and shut her eyes.

They left reluctantly, and sorted the problem.