Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Garideth- It was more of a reluctantly received arm on the shoulder, if you know what I mean. :)

XKaterinaNightingale- Yup, he really needed a hug in this episode!

ccgnme-Thank you! She might…. I haven't really thought about it yet…..

Chapter name borrowed from Bloodlust.

CHAPTER FIVE- THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD

The Impala sped down a two-lane, shiny and newly repaired.

Dean was in a good mood, singing along with his music.

I smiled slightly.

It worried me when they were upset.

My smile widened as Castiel's nose wrinkled in distaste at the song.

"Whoo!" Dean grinned.

"Listen to her purr! Have you ever heard anything so sweet?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "You know, if you two want to get a room, just let me know, Dean."

"Oh, don't listen to him, baby," Dean patted the dashboard. "He doesn't understand us."

Sam laughed. "You're in a good mood."

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"No reason," Sam hid his relieved smile.

"Got my car, got a case, things are looking up." Dean stretched back in his seat.

"Wow," Sam said sarcastically. "You hear a couple of severed heads and a pile of dead cows and you're Mr. Sunshine."

"I do not understand your definition of 'things are looking up'," Castiel glanced at Dean perplexedly.

I couldn't control my laugh at that.

Dean ignored him.

"How far to Red Lodge?"

"Uh," I looked at my map. "About three hundred miles."

"Good."

The Impala raced down the road.

~Supernatural~

I sat outside the sheriff's office with Castiel, waiting for Dean and Sam to finish talking with him.

I looked at Castiel curiously, the questions already on the tip of my tongue.

He shifted towards me.

"What do you wish to ask me?"

I blushed, wondering if I was always this transparent.

"This demon," I looked down. "It said I had powers. That I was stronger than Sam, and that it wanted me on it's side."

I finally looked up. "Was it telling the truth?"

Castiel's eyes were cool and detached.

"I don't know, Odette."

~Supernatural~

We entered the morgue, and I shuddered.

Dean and Sam had donned white lab coats.

Dean looked at the intern on duty calculatingly.

"John."

"Jeff," He replied.

"Jeff," Dean nodded. "I know that. Dr. Dworkin needs to see you in his office right away."

Jeff raised his eyebrow. "But Dr. Dworkin's on vacation."

"Well, he's back," Dean didn't miss a beat.

"And he's pissed, and he's screaming for you, man, so if I were you I would…."

Jeff ran off.

Dean looked at Sam.

"Hey, those Satanists in Florida, they marked their victims, didn't they?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed. "Reversed pentacle on the forehead."

Dean tossed us the latex gloves.

Castiel looked at his suspiciously.

I suppressed a chuckle.

Sam opened a compartment and wheeled out a corpse.

He looked at the box between its legs.

I averted my gaze, sliding behind Castiel.

"All right, open it," Dean waited expectantly.

Sam did not move. "You open it."

"Wuss," Dean smirked, carrying the box over to another table, flipping off the lid, grimacing.

Sam approached, and I followed reluctantly, cringing.

"Well, no pentagram," Dean commented, unruffled.

"Wow." Sam winced. "Poor girl."

"Maybe we should, uh," Dean cleared his throat.

"You know, look in her mouth, see if those wackos stuffed anything down her throat. You know, kinda like Moth in Silence of The Lambs."

"Yeah, here, go ahead," Sam pushed the box to Dean.

Dean stepped back. "No, you go ahead."

"What?"

"'Put the lotion in the basket,'" Dean hedged.

Sam huffed. "Right, yeah, I'm the wuss, huh?"

"I do not understand the problem," Castiel, unimpressed by their bickering, took the box and stuck his fingers in the girl's mouth.

I turned away at once, face turning green.

The tips of my ears flushed pink as Dean snickered.

"Look."

Castiel pressed on the gum and a narrow, sharp tooth descended.

"It's a tooth," Sam stated a little unnecessarily.

"It's a fang, Samuel," Castiel straightened. "A vampire fang."

By now, Sam had gotten used to Castiel's ways, so he did not object to his calling him Samuel.

"This changes things."

"Ya think?" Dean asked sarcastically.

~Supernatural~

Dean and Sam headed to the bar, and I waited outside with Castiel.

"You're fond of them."

It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I guess so, Castiel."

I smiled uncertainly.

I didn't add that I cared about him, too.

Castiel opened his mouth, as if to say something more, when Sam and Dean came out of the bar.

"Let's go," We followed Dean down an alleyway.

"Wait."

Castiel turned on his heel, pinning the man I'd seen entering the bar against the wall.

Dean pressed a knife against his throat.

"Smile."

"What?" The man looked in disbelief at Dean.

"Show us those pearly whites."

"Oh for the love of- you want to stick that thing someplace else?" He rolled his eyes.

"I'm not a vampire."

Sam frowned.

"Yeah, that's right. I heard you guys in there."

"What do you know about vampires?" Sam demanded.

"How to kill them, obviously," He sighed.

"Now seriously, bro. That knife's making me itch."

Dean inclined his head.

The man started to pull away, and Sam pinned him harder.

"Whoa. Easy there, chachi," He slowly brought up his hand to his lip, pulling it back to reveal normal gums.

"See? Fangless. Happy?"

Dean let him up.

"Now. Who the hell are you?"

~Supernatural~

"So, um, so those two vampires, they were yours, huh?"

"Yep," The man named Gordon nodded at Sam.

"Been here two weeks."

"Did you check out that Barker farm?"

"It's a bust," Gordon shook his head.

"Just a bunch of hippie freaks. Though they could kill you with that patchouli smell alone."

"Where's the nest, then?" Dean asked impatiently.

"I've got this one covered. Look, don't get me wrong, it's a real pleasure meetin' you fellas. But I've been on this thing over a year. I killed a fang back in Austin, tracked it all the way up here. I'll finish it."

"We could help," Dean offered.

"Thanks, but uh," Gordon hesitated. "I'm kind of a go-it-alone type of guy."

I looked at Gordon uneasily.

He unsettled me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Castiel eying Gordon with ill-concealed suspicion.

"Come on, man." Dean sounded frustrated. "I've been itching for a hunt."

"Sorry," Gordon got into his car.

"But hey, I hear there's a chupacabra two states over. You go ahead and knock yourselves out."

~Supernatural~

After Dean had saved Gordon from nearly being decapitated, he'd warmed up a lot more.

Sam sat back, arms folded.

Dean's reaction had stunned both of us.

"Dean," Gordon laughed. "You gave that big-ass fang one hell of a haircut, my friend."

"Thank you," Dean slurped his beer.

"That was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful."

"Yep," Dean looked over to us. "You all right, Sammy?"

"I'm fine."

He wasn't.

"Well, lighten up a little, Sammy."

I stopped the urge to snap at Gordon.

Sam indicated Dean and me.

"Only they get to call me that."

Color flooded my cheeks in pleasure.

"Okay. No offense meant." Gordon held up his hands.

I twitched uncomfortably in the awkward silence.

"I'd better go," I stood up quickly. "I'll get back to the hotel."

Sam looked as if he very much wanted to join me.

I stepped out of the diner.

"I don't like him."

I squeaked in alarm as Castiel appeared behind me.

"What?"

"I don't like him," He repeated slowly. "His soul. It's empty and dark. Hollow. Stay away from him."

Castiel promptly disappeared.

I walked back the distance to the hotel, dropping the keys on a hook.

I bought a soda from a vending machine, walking back to my room.

I paused as something rustled behind me, cautiously opening the door.

I leant against it, relieved.

A dark figure jumped me from the corner of the room, slamming a heavy telephone into the back of my head.

I fell to the ground.

~Supernatural~

When I came to, I was bound and gagged, a sack over my head.

The bartender I'd seen earlier pulled it off roughly.

He bared his fangs, and I struggled against the rope.

As the vampire advanced, a woman appeared in the doorway.

"Wait! Step back, Eli."

Eli pulled back, retracting his fangs.

The woman walked over, removing my gag.

"My name's Lenore," She took a step forward.

"I'm not going to hurt you. We just need to talk."

"Talk?" I kicked against the chair. "Yeah, okay, but I might have a tough time paying much attention to much besides Eli's teeth!"

Eli hissed at me.

"He won't hurt you either," Lenore promised. "You have my word."

"Your word?" I stared at her in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah, great, thanks. Listen lady, no offense, but you're not the first vampire I've met."

"We're not like the others," Lenore held back a glaring Eli.

"We don't kill humans, and we don't drink their blood. We haven't for a long time."

I laughed. "What is this, some kind of joke?"

"Notice you're still alive," She looked at me pointedly.

"Okay," I blinked.

"Uh, correct me if I'm wrong here, but shouldn't you be starving to death?"

"We've found other ways," Lenore glanced at Eli. "Cattle blood."

My eyes widened.

"You're telling me you're responsible for all the-"

"It's not ideal," She cut me off.

"In fact, it's disgusting. But it allows us to get by."

"Okay, uh, why?"

"Survival," Lenore said flatly.

"No deaths, no missing locals, no reason for people like you to come looking for people like us. We blend in. Our kind is nearly extinct. Turns out we're not as high on the food chain as we imagined."

"Why are we explaining ourselves to this killer?" Eli spat.

"She's a child, Eli," Lenore replied quietly. "She hasn't killed anybody."

Wrong.

Eli ignored her.

"We choke on cow's blood so that none of them suffer," He raged.

"Tonight they murdered Conrad and they celebrated."

"Eli, that's enough," Lenore answered calmly.

"Yeah, Eli, that's enough."

I spoke too soon.

He backhanded me across the face with enough force to make my chair buckle.

I tried not to wince as I felt my lip tear.

"So much for your word," I spat out blood.

"Eli!" Lenore tackled him down to the ground. "She's just a child!"

She looked up at me.

"What's done is done. We're leaving this town tonight."

I glanced warily at Eli.

"Then why did you bring me here? Why are you even talking to me?"

"Believe me," She kept a hand on Eli's shoulder.

"I'd rather not. But you're not like the rest of them. Once they have the scent, they'll keep tracking us, it doesn't matter where we go. Hunters will find us."

I understood at once.

"You're asking us not to follow you."

"We have a right to live," Lenore's eyes burned into mine.

"We're not hurting anyone."

I wanted to believe her.

"Right, so you keep saying, but give me one good reason why I should believe you."

"Fine." She crossed her arms.

"You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to let you go."

I looked at her, startled.

Lenore addressed the other two vampires.

"Take her back. Not another mark on her."

~Supernatural~

I could hear them from the hallway.

"Where the hell is she!"

"I don't know, Dean, the vampires must have taken her, I've looked everywhere."

"We better find her fast."

"No need," I finally entered the room.

They froze for a second, staring at me.

The next minute, Sam hugged me tightly.

I squeezed him back, surprised and pleased.

"Where were you? We've been looking for you for two hours, I've been worried sick!"

He held on a little longer before letting go.

Dean growled when he saw my face, grabbing my chin in his hands.

"Who did this?"

I winced. "A vampire named Eli."

Dean let go.

"Let's go hunt the bastard down, then."

"Wait!"

Dean cocked his head to one side. "How'd you get out, anyway?"

He blinked rapidly. "Did you k-"

"No," I interrupted quickly. "I didn't kill anybody!"

Dean huffed. "Well, they didn't just let you go, Odette."

"That's exactly what they did," I sat down on the bed.

"Maybe we should rethink this hunt," I bit my lip.

"I don't think they're like other vampires, I don't think they're killing people."

Dean sniggered incredulously.

"You're joking. How do they stay alive, then?"

"The cattle mutilations. They said they live off animal blood."

Dean's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"And you believed them?"

I stood up.

"Look at me, Dean. They let me go."

"Dean," Sam sounded uncertain. "Maybe she's right."

"She's not," Dean kicked the table in frustration. "They're all the same, okay? Gordon's been on these vamps for a year, he knows."

"Gordon?" Sam scoffed.

"Yes."

"You're taking his word for it?"

Dean flexed his jaw. "That's right."

"Ellen says he's bad news."

I turned to Sam at that.

"Castiel said we should stay away from him, Dean," I added.

"And we're supposed to listen to them?"

Dean turned his back on us.

Sam got to his feet, evidently having had enough.

"You don't think I can see what this is?"

"What are you talking about?" Dean's voice was dangerously low.

"He's a substitute for Dad, isn't he?" Sam looked at him. "A poor one."

"Shut up, Sam," His tone held a warning.

"He's not even close, Dean," Sam continued. "Not on his best day."

"You know what?" Dean snatched up the keys.

"I'm not even going to talk about this."

Sam stopped him.

"You know, you slap on this big fake smile but I can see right through it," Sam pushed forward. "Because I know how you feel, Dean. Dad's dead. And he left a hole, and it hurts so bad you can't take it, but you can't just fill up that hole with whoever you want to. It's an insult to his memory."

"Okay," Dean punched Sam hard in the face.

I sprang up, pulling Sam away.

"You hit me all you want," Sam didn't rise to the bait.

"It won't change anything."

Dean glared at us.

"I'm going to that nest." He scowled at me. "You don't want to tell me where it is, fine."

"I'll find it myself."

Dean banged the door shut after him.