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Chapter name borrowed from Blue Oyster Cult.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO- NOSFERATU
Dean flipped through a newspaper, eying Castiel warily.
Sam was on his laptop.
Dean folded the paper.
"Well, dude. Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What have you got?"
Sam peered at the screen. "Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived."
"That is not what you seek," Castiel looked at us impassively.
We blinked at him for a second before Sam nodded.
Dean smirked. "Hey, you know we could just keep heading east. New York. Upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah, again, huh?"
My muscles locked down as if for impact.
This was too soon; my memories were slipping through the cracks as it was.
I couldn't go back again.
Sam caught my expression.
"Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. In the meantime we got a lot of work to do, Dean, you know that."
I breathed out in relief, smiling at Sam gratefully.
"Yeah, all right," Dean agreed easily enough. "What else you got?"
"Ahh," Sam glanced at his laptop again. "A man in Colorado named Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home."
"Elkins?" Dean looked up. "I know that name."
"Doesn't ring a bell," Sam looked at Dean curiously.
"Elkins…." Dean muttered under his breath.
"Sounds like the police don't know what to think," Sam continued. "At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now they've found some signs of robbery."
"Mm-hmm," Dean started flicking through John's journal. "There," he stabbed a finger on a page.
"Check it out."
We leaned closer.
He handed the journal to Sam.
"D Elkins 970-555-0158."
"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam's eyebrow rose.
"It's a Colorado area code."
~Supernatural~
Sam picked the lock with ease, sliding in with us behind him.
I gripped the flashlight, staring at the mess.
"Looks like the maid didn't come today," Dean gave a cursory look at the room.
"Hey, there's salt over here," I pointed at the door.
Dean thumbed through Elkins' journal. "You mean 'protection against demon' salt, or 'whoops I spilled the popcorn' salt?"
I stifled my laughter.
Sam looked closer. "It's clearly a ring. Do you think this guy Elkins was a player?"
"Definitely," Dean pointed to the journal.
"That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's," Sam came up behind Dean.
"Yep," Dean nodded. "Except this dates back to the '60's."
We moved into the other room, shining our flashlights around the destruction.
I moved it up to the hole in the roof.
"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one," Sam pursed his mouth thoughtfully.
Dean's eyes narrowed. "Looks like he put up a hell of a fight, too."
"Yeah," I agreed.
We looked around the room.
Dean crouched down to the floor.
"You got something?"
"I dunno," Dean shrugged. "Some scratches on the floor."
"Death throes, maybe?" Sam guessed.
"Yeah, maybe." He grabbed a page from a notebook, placing it over the marks, rubbing a pencil on it.
"Or maybe a message," Dean squinted at the page.
He handed the paper to Sam. "Look familiar?"
"Three letters, six digits," Sam chewed his lip. "The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop."
"Just the way Dad does it."
~Supernatural~
Dean opened the post office box, staring at the letter.
We looked at it in silence in the Impala.
"'J.W.' You think? John Winchester?" Sam glanced at Dean.
"I don't know," Dean grasped it uneasily. "Should we open it?"
Somebody knocked on Dean's window.
He reared back automatically, raising his arm.
We were staring at John Winchester.
Dean blinked in shock, then smiled.
"Dad?"
John got in the backseat, nodding at me briefly.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Sam demanded. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," John settled in. "I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. Saw you three at his place."
"Why didn't you come in, Dad?" Sam asked softly.
"You know why," He sighed. "Because I had to make sure you weren't followed, by anyone or anything. Nice job covering your tracks, by the way."
Dean grinned proudly. "Yeah, well, we learned from the best."
"Wait," Sam frowned. "You came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?"
"Yeah." John nodded. "He was… he was a good man. Taught me a hell of a lot about hunting."
"Well, you never mentioned him to us," Sam crossed his arms.
"We had a….." He paused. "We had a kind of falling out. I hadn't seen him in years."
He gestured to the envelope. "I should look at that."
John read it in silence, until he exclaimed angrily.
"That son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Dean shifted to look at him.
"He had it the whole time," John cursed.
"Dad, what?" Sam turned around.
"When you searched the place, did you see a gun? Old revolver, an antique, did you see it?"
"Um," I spoke up nervously. "There was an old case, but it was empty."
John stared at me for a second. "They have it."
"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean twisted around.
John got out of the car. "We gotta pick up the trail."
"Wait," Sam was surprised. "You want us to come with you?"
"If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun," John grimaced.
"The gun, why?" Sam's eyebrows climbed up his forehead.
"Because it's important, that's why," John answered shortly.
"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet!" Sam's frustration was poorly concealed.
"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best- vampires."
My mouth popped open.
Dean was a little less taken aback. "Vampires? I thought there was no such thing."
"You never even mentioned them, Dad," Sam added.
"I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and the others had wiped them out."
John was grim. "I was wrong."
~Supernatural~
"Most vampire lore is crap," John explained. "A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late."
~Supernatural~
A firm hand shook me awake.
"Odette. Wake up."
I recognized the rough baritone as John's, and was up in a second.
Dean and Sam were already awake.
"I picked up a police call," John shrugged into his jacket.
"What happened?" Sam rubbed his eyes.
"A couple called 911, found a body in the street. By the time the cops got there, everyone was missing. It's the vampires."
Sam rose from the bed. "How do you know?"
"Just follow me, okay?" John left the room.
Dean was still half-asleep.
"Huh, vampires. Gets funnier every time I hear it."
~Supernatural~
Sam was sulky.
"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him."
Dean rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't tell me it's already starting."
"What's starting?"
John finished talking to the cop.
"What have you got?" Dean fidgeted impatiently.
"It was them all right," John clenched his fists. "Looks like they're heading west. We'll have to double back to get around that detour."
Sam crossed his arms. "How can you be so sure?"
"Sam….." Dean's tone was resigned.
"I just wanna know we're going in the right direction," Sam snapped.
"We are," John's voice was dangerously quiet.
"How do you know?"
He handed something to Dean. "I found this."
I peered closer at it.
Dean huffed. "It's a…. a vampire fang."
"Not fangs, teeth," John corrected. "The second set descends when they attack."
He turned to Sam. "Any more questions?"
Sam looked away in silence.
"Alright, let's get out of here, we're losing daylight."
We headed for the Impala.
"Hey, Dean," John called over his shoulder. "Why don't you touch up your car before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it."
Dean looked down at the Impala.
Sam shot him an 'I told you so' look.
Dean grimaced.
~Supernatural~
Sam drove, following John's truck.
Dean read aloud. "'Vampires nest in groups of eight to ten. Smaller packs are sent to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks.'"
I shuddered.
"I wonder if that's what happened to that 911 couple," Dean mused.
Sam's reply was decidedly grumpy. "That's probably what Dad's thinking. 'Course, it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks."
Dean snorted. "So it is starting."
"What?" Sam was irritable.
"Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year," Dean sighed. "Now we're not with him for more than a coupla hours and there's static already?"
Sam huffed. "No. Look, I'm happy he's okay, alright? And I'm happy we're all working together again."
"Well, good." Dean was unconvinced.
Sam was unable to help himself. "It's just the way he treats us, like we're children."
"Oh, God," Dean pushed against the seat, frustrated.
"He barks orders at us, Dean, he expects us to follow 'em without question. He keeps us on some crap need to know deal."
I felt decidedly uncomfortable.
This was private, and I was intruding.
Family business, as Sarah would say.
I tried to ignore the conversation.
"He does what he does for a reason," Dean's voice was strained.
"What reason?" Sam demanded.
"Our job!" Dean threw his hands in the air. "There's no time to argue, there's no margin for error, alright? That's just the way the old man runs things."
"Yeah, well, maybe that worked when we were kids, but not anymore, alright? Not after everything we've been through. I mean, are you cool with just falling into line, letting him run the whole show?"
Dean gave Sam a long look.
"If that's what it takes."
~Supernatural~
Sam drove furiously.
Dean was on the phone. "Yeah, Dad. Alright, got it."
He hung up. "Pull off at the next exit."
"Why?" Sam asked angrily.
"'Cause Dad thinks we've got the vampire's trail."
"How?" Sam's tone was heated.
"I don't know," Dean shrugged. "He didn't say."
Sam gunned the engine.
Dean looked at him as if he'd gone insane.
I had a bad feeling about this.
I turned to look at John's truck as Sam overtook it.
Once he was in front, he slammed the brakes.
The Impala swerved to the side, bringing John's truck to a halt.
Sam stormed out of the car to meet an equally angry John.
"Oh crap," Dean followed, pulling me along. "Here we go. Sam!"
"What the hell was that?" John's voice was ominously calm.
I twitched uneasily.
"We need to talk."
John came face-to-face with Sam.
"About what?"
"About everything. Where are we going, Dad? What's the big deal about this job?"
"Sammy, come on," Dean shifted. "We can Q and A after we kill all the vampires."
"Your brother's right," John doubled up his fists. "We don't have time for this."
"Sam, c'mon," I tugged on his arm.
He shook me off.
"Last time you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now out of the blue you need our help."
Sam started yelling. "Obviously something big is going down and we wanna know what!"
John's face set into a grim line. "Get back in the car."
Sam's tone was stony. "No."
"I said get back in the damn car."
"Yeah," Sam raised his chin. "And I said no."
Dean hovered between them. "Okay, you made your point, tough guy. Look, we're all tired, the kid needs her sleep. We can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it, come on."
Dean grabbed Sam and propelled him towards the car.
"This is why I left in the first place," Sam mumbled.
"What did you say?" John's voice was eerily level.
Sam swung back. "You heard me."
"Yeah." John flexed his jaw. "You left. Your brother and me, we needed you. You walked away."
"Sam…." Dean sounded resigned.
John shouted in Sam's face. "You walked away!"
"Stop it, both of you!" Dean yelled.
They ignored him.
"You're the one who said don't come back, Dad, you closed that door, not me! You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore!"
Dean forced them apart.
"Listen, stop it, stop it. Stop it! That's enough!"
Sam and John glared at each other over Dean's head.
Dean looked at John. "That means you, too."
I caught hold of Sam and pushed him inside the Impala.
Dean stood in the middle, alone.
He looked from one side to the other.
I heard his exasperated growl.
"Terrific."