Over the next hour or so all of them but Sarah trickled in; Teresa, Susan, Mark, Ruth, Star and Sean all passed the test with flying colors. We held off launching into explanations stating that we didn't want to have to go through the same story eight more times. They mumbled, grumbled and griped about it until Gerald spoke up and told them that what we had to show them no one would want to see more than once. That shut them up. Rick rolled in, I didn't know him all that well. He'd been hunting for a few years according to Sam but I'd never met him. Sam vouched for him though, said he was solid even if he spent a little too many hours at in casinos around the country. Sam had heard rumors that Rick had a wife and a couple of kids. He seemed to win a lot, which was good for him. Who the hell were we to judge how a hunter got his money. If running the casino circuit helped him feed his family, then that's all that matters to me. Maybe his kids weren't growing up in motel rooms and stealing food if Dad came back late from a hunt.

He was driving a beat up old Toyota Celica, not exactly a car I would choose but it's nondescript enough. He parked, got out and started walking towards us. He was gangly, his arms seemed almost too long for his height, which I was guessing was around 5'6", his hair was black and cut in a military high and tight cut and he was one of those people who you don't remember seeing five seconds after they walk by you. Nothing about him was interesting, nothing stood out. Perfect for a hunter. He had on beat up jeans, sneakers of all things and an Iron Maiden shirt. I had to give him props on music choices. Iron Maiden may not be the best rock band, but they did have some kick ass songs.

As he drew closer, his eyes took all of us in. We'd propped the door open so we were in plain sight but inside the building itself. "Howdy all. Quite a gatherin' we got here. Gerald, Sherm, Susan. Nice to see ya." They nodded a brief greeting. "Sam," he said as he reached out to shake Sam's hand. They shook hands and he turned towards me, "You must be Dean."

Coyote was standing across from me, I looked at her, not expecting anything, but she stiffened, shook her head and reached for a blade. Shit.

I took hold of his hand, gripped it hard and put my silver tipped blade against his skin. His eyes went wide with pain as his flesh bubbled, he jerked out of my grip and bolted. Seven guns were drawn just as he got hit with something and a net deployed, seemingly out of thin air, tangling him up and making him fall face first into the dirt.

"Wait!" Sam ordered, just as the air erupted with bullets. Fortunately he'd fallen so fast that most of the bullets missed.

"What the fuck!" Gerald shouted, the rest of them started moving to surround Rick and finish the job.

I had to head this off fast, so I ran, pulled my gun and pointed it at him. Sam got between the other hunters and I and held his hands up. "Wait! We need information first."

"He's not human," Mark spat, "What the hell else do we need to know?"

Sam faced them down, they stopped moving and waited for him to talk, "We brought you all here because the monsters are organizing against hunters. Gerald, Sherm, Dean and I saw evidence of vamps and werewolves working together. Something is up. We got the video Coyote is going to show you this morning, watch it, then we'll talk. Rick's not going anywhere."

Rick had what I assumed were silver bullets in his leg and shoulder, he was already starting to sweat as his system reacted. "Please, please...don't kill me," he begged, "I haven't eaten people. Please. I have to take care of my kids."

"Talk fast, I can't keep them at bay forever," I said. "What are you?"

He nodded, "Werewolf. I was bit two years ago."

"Two goddamn years!" Ruth hissed. "No one knew? How?" Ruth is blonde and blunt. She's pretty black and white about things.

"Really?" Gerald asked. I wasn't looking at him but there was a healthy amount of surprise in his voice. "We hang out all the damn time."

"Eat animal hearts," Rick panted, "Full moon, make sure I'm home. Built a safe room, Maddie, my wife, chains me up with silver, so can't escape." His skin was losing color, the silver wouldn't kill him since it wasn't a hit to the heart but it would hurt like hell and make him sick. "Rest of the month I'm fine. Werewolf senses help me win in the casinos. Can tell when people are bluffing."

"Wait," Susan said, "You can what, smell when people are nervous?"

"Yeah. Could tell something was up here, but with everything going on.." he trailed off, closed his eyes and grimaced. "Son of a bitch. Look, I don't talk to other werewolves or monsters. I still hunt, you all know that."

Star stepped closer, "How can you? You're one of them."

He whimpered, "No, not a monster, don't eat people. Hunt ghosts, witches, vamps. They hurt people. Not me."

All this was hitting way too close to home for me and probably Sam too.

"Do you know anything about what the monsters are up to?" Sam asked.

He shook his head fast, "No" His eyes opened up again. I realized they were brown and there wasn't a hint of a lie in them. Just desperation and fear. "Please, my son's a special needs kid, we have to pay for special teachers and things. Maddie can't pay for it with a regular job if I die. Casino's the only way I can help him."

I looked over at Gerald. "That true?"

Gerald sighed and looked away, "Yeah, met his whole family. Ate dinner with them. His daughter graduates in a few years, wants to go to college. His son's autistic, way on the end of the spectrum. They pay for a lot of help."

I heard shifting feet behind me, I turned my head and saw a whole lot of uncomfortable hunters. Sam had picked hunters that were at least willing to think before blowing people away, which was damn smart of him. Teresa and Susan holstered their guns and took a few steps back, so did Gerald. Sherm was still considering his options. I could tell Star really, really wanted to take him out but her gun was wavering.

Ruth and Sean were staring at me. I didn't know Sean all that well, we'd only met once. He was as Irish as you can get, even had the accent. "Are we to be protecting monsters now Dean?" His voice was soft but there wasn't any give in it.

"Tell you what Sean, I'll keep an eye on Rick, you guys all watch that video. You decide which monster is more worth our time."

He gave me a cold, calculating look. I wasn't sure why Sam picked him for this. "Aye, I'll watch it but, even if we let Rick go now, he won't be safe any longer. I made no promise to keep secrets like this from other hunters."

If he wanted cold, I'd give him cold. "Sean, every damn hunter on the planet has secrets. Way I see it, he's been doing good, not killing people. You going to take a fellow hunter out? Human or not, how many lives has he saved over the last two years? Think about it. Coyote? Show them the vid."

She nodded and they changed position to get closer to the laptop. I looked left, which was the direction I thought the arrow had come from and saw a bush move ever so slightly and a flash of blonde hair. Oliver. Thankfully the hunters had been too preoccupied by a werewolf in their midst to ask how a net had magically appeared out of thin air and trapped Rick, but I knew that was going to come up. Joy, more secrets.

I looked back down at Rick, "Sorry we blew your cover, really am. If Gerald didn't even know you'd been turned you must have been staying clear of killing people."

He'd curled up into the fetal position, his muscles were tight as hell. Silver really kicks a werewolf's ass. "Bound to happen sooner or later," He whispered. "Pushing my luck already. Have money put away, hope it's enough. They'll come for me now. Someone will. Maddie, Jane, Steven..."

Those must be his kids. I snuck a quick look over my shoulder, everyone was caught up in watching the vid but I leaned closer to him just in case. "If it comes to that, I know someone who will help Maddie with the kids and don't worry about the money. It'll be taken care of. I'll give you a number to give to Maddie."

He slowly turned his head to look up at me, there was way too much gratitude in his eyes. Made me kind of uncomfortable. I was just trying to help someone out. "You'd do that?"

"Yeah, I get it, so does Sam. Trust me. Shit happens, you did the best you could to keep doing the right thing. I can't keep them from talking or coming for you but I can do this. Just keep your trap shut about it."

That got a quick nod, "Thank you..."

We heard Shayna's screams. That took his attention off his pain for a second, "What was that?"

"The reason we're here. A monster that actually needs killing."

"Who was it?"

"Shayna, getting beheaded, slowly."

I saw the wolf start to take hold. He snarled, "Irish Shayna?"

"Yes."

His fingers started to shift into claws, "I knew her. She watched the kids. Take these bullets out, I'll help."

"Settle down! They see claws they'll want to take you out now."

"Right, sorry." The claws faded away.

"Sam," Sean's voice drifted up from behind me. You know all the stories about Irish people loving to fight, how they go beserk in battle. The layers of impending violence I heard made me start believing it. "Where is this bloody sick, sociopathic bastard ?" Then it dawned on me Irish Sean might know Irish Shayna.

"We think Oklahoma," Sam answered, "Have some people checking it out."

Next thing I knew Sean was standing next to me, staring down at Rick. "Did your fucking demon gifted, twisted werewolf senses hear her? Did they?"

Sean was definitely not a grey area type guy.

"Yes. Already told Dean, take the bullets out, I'll help. Shayna was my friend too."

Sean struggled with it. I knew that internal battle all too well so I knew to keep my mouth shut.

"Sean," Gerald said, "We could use him. He can sniff them out, maybe get close enough to find out who's running this. That fucker in the vid, he said there were others. We'll need all the help we can get. I've been at his house the day after the full moon, no reports anywhere of people with their hearts ripped out. He's on the level."

I could hear Sean's teeth grinding together, "Working with monsters, it's like working with the fuckin' IRA." Another minute passed, "I won't kill you today Rick, or tomorrow. I won't be takin' an oath on not killin' ya next week or next month. You're a monster, you just happen to be one that has a use right now." He slammed his foot into Rick's back, Rick barely moved. He probably was in enough pain that the kick didn't register. "Sam, I'll help enough to get this fucker. After that, I'm done with you, with this whole group. I heard enough to know he's got it out for you and us because of something personal between you three. I hunt, I don't clean up others' messes and I'm not about to be sacrificing myself to protect something unnatural. Any monsters that come for me won't last long enough to report back to anyone else. Call me when you know where he is. Anything else, I don't bloody well care."

He stormed off, got back into his car and kicked up enough gravel to hit Sherm and Gerald's car on the way out. Bastard! I'd have to paint those now.

I put my gun away and turned around. Rick wasn't a threat and Sam was going to need help with the rest of them. "Where do you all stand? Sarah should be here soon. To make sure everyone is all on the same page, vamps caught up to her and Tom, tied them up, turned him, made her watch then left her to kill him. Said the same thing as Gordon, the guy in the vid did, things are just starting. We need people to help us track whoever's in charge down and take them out. I'm figuring we don't have to show Sarah the vid, she's been through enough." I hoped she wasn't a vamp now too, but would cross that bridge when I had to.

"I got tagged too," Gerald added, "Got away on pure luck. Think they followed me from the last gig. Did you get any information from the vamps you took?"

"Yeah," Sam answered, "At least four groups of monsters being trained on how to hunt hunters, how to hide, lay false trails all that. We have some leads but nothing concrete yet. We also have a way to kill vamps at a distance now too. It works. I tested it out. It's a purifying brew basically, turns out once you get past the skin, vamps are sensitive to holy water and garlic. We dumped some nails into it, loaded the nails into shotgun shells and now we have vamp bullets."

Sherm smiled at that, "Nice. Always love new toys. What about that net thing?"

"Yeah, we brought in some outsiders that no monster or hunter knows." I explained. "They have better toys and we need some way to surprise the monsters. These guys don't act like hunters but they're good and they have better ideas on strategies on how to deal with groups of things coming after us." They weren't too happy with that, "Look, the monsters seem to be changing the rules here. If we want to win this, we have to think outside the box."

Gerald was staying neutral - ish, we were starting to make Sherm nervous, Ruth and Star weren't all that keen and Teresa and Susan seemed interested. Sean was out, Rick was in. The sound of a crunching gravel broke up the silence, had to be Sarah. She parked and as soon as I saw her I knew her story wasn't a story. She was completely devastated, her movements stiff like she was trying to hold on and not break down, rage, pain and hate fought for dominance on her face. Her long brown hair was barely pulled back in a pony tail. She usually wore makeup and was dressed well for a hunter, not now. Red plaid shirt untucked, old sweats, not jeans and not a hint of color on her face. It was more than obvious that she was in mourning and wanted to make something bleed.

Coyote met her halfway, "Sarah, Dean and I are so sorry. We loved him too." Coyote knew better than to offer any sort of embrace, not right now, but Sarah gripped her hand tight for a second then let go.

"Thanks." Then Sarah looked over Coyote's shoulder at us, her sorrow and pain hit all of us like a freight train. She was holding herself together just enough to say what she'd come to say. "Whatever Dean and Sam say, do it. The vamps that turned Tom, they talked about how they were going to wipe us all out, how they weren't going to run and hide anymore, that they were going to take their rightful place on top of the food chain. They aren't scared of us anymore, they want to take us all out. One of them mentioned how with the Alpha in charge nothing would stop them."

Yeah, that was the last think I wanted to hear. "Alpha vamp?"

"Not sure, they just said Alpha."

"What's an Alpha?" Gerald asked.

"The first vampire, or first of any monster." Sam replied, completely lost in thought, "They all have an Alpha, they all came from an original, before all of them was Eve. She's their mother. We killed her."

"Yeah, we killed a lot of things that seem to keep coming back around. Fuck."

Star spoke up, "You guys seem to know a hell of a lot about monsters. Why? Why does that vamp hate you so much?"

Sarah had walked closer and she looked at the laptop screen, which was paused on Gordon's face, "Is that Gordon?"

Oh hell. "Yeah."

She froze, her eyes went wide, then she looked at Sam, then me and I could see her putting some things together. "Play it."

"Sarah, it's bloody." Sam warned.

Sarah may as well have been hurling daggers at Sam with the way she looked at him, "Play. It. Now."

Sam did as she asked. She took control of the laptop and paused it before he started sawing at Shayna's neck. "Is it true?" She asked. "What he said about you years ago?"

Sam's hands dropped to his side, I moved closer to him as he squared his shoulders, "If you're referring to the Apocalypse and Lucifer yes. I was destined to be Lucifer's vessel. Dean was Michael's. We disagreed with the concept of being used to bring about the end of the world so came up with a different plan. I accepted Lucifer, took control and dove headfirst, with him inside me, back into his Cage where he spent years torturing my soul. So yes, Dean and I started it, but we ended it too and billions of people didn't die. If you have an issue with that, I really don't give a shit. I was in my twenties with the weight of the entire planet on my damn shoulders, I made mistakes, so did Dean. We pulled through and the planet's still in one piece so keep your opinions to yourselves."

I wasn't sure who was more taken off guard, them because of his confirmation of all the various rumors over the years, or me because he'd hadn't tried to soften it, justify it or talk around it. He just laid it out there, which had never been his style. Mine? Sure. Not his. I couldn't find a single thing wrong with what he'd said. Maybe he'd finally gotten over the guilt, maybe we both had.