Chapter 4

"So what's the plan then, Princess?" Dean was downright venomous. You'd think this was our fault somehow, judging by the look on his face.

"We find the vamp before she finds reinforcements," Gabby replied nonchalantly. I could feel the spike in his blood pressure from all the way over here.

"No shit?" he asked condescendingly.

"No shit," Gabby flashed him a cheeky smile. We should honestly be finding a more discreet place to discuss this. There are two corpses on the ground, and my hands were covered in quickly drying blood. Talk about sketchy.

"Well, I could have told you that. Would you care to elaborate? I don't have time to dick around with a couple of babies with machetes." Dean was raising his voice now.

"I'm sorry, I don't have a fucking contingency plan for an asshole swooping in and letting the vamp get away!" Gabby finally snapped, and I can't say I blame her. This guy was pushing every single one of her buttons.

"Could we turn this down a notch?" Sam stepped between the two of them as a rather giant physical barrier. "Or five?" He was looking at Dean.

"…really have to be diplomatic right now? Wasting our time…Jesus Christ…" Dean was fuming internally. Sam gave him a rather pointed look, and Dean tried taking some deep breaths. I could feel Gabrielle trying to unwind too as I looked up at the sky.

"It's going to rain soon. We're going to lose the trail if we don't hurry," I thought as I chewed the inside of my cheek. All of this fighting wasn't going to get us anywhere any faster.

"If we stand here bickering much longer we won't be able to track her," Gabby said once she had regained her composure, "Abby, how well do you think you'll be able to find her with what we've got?"

The verbalized question startled me out of my reverie. Everyone's eyes were on me now. I opened and closed my mouth a few times before I managed to spit out a response. "I'm going to need something more to go off of besides this arrow and the general direction. Call Bobby and see if he knows anything about where she might be headed," I mumbled, and Gabby was dialing his number before I had even finished my sentence.

"Bobby Singer?" Dean asked with raised eyebrows. "You two know him?"

"Who doesn't?" Gabby quipped with a roll of her eyes. If looks could kill, Dean would be guilty of first degree murder right now.

"Hey, Bobby, how's it going...Really? All by himself? That's awesome...Yeah you're right, it's not just a social call. Someone was hunting the same vamp we were, and in the confusion she ended up getting away. Do you have any idea where she might be headed …? Right, okay, thanks a million. I'll let you know."

"That was quick." Sam sounded impressed.

"He's been helping us hunt down this specific bunch of vampires for a while so he's on top of it," Gabby shrugged it off. "Alright, he said that there weren't any nests nearby that could help her out, but there have been rumors about one in Nebraska. That's close enough to north for me."

"We've driven farther on less," I answered simply. She just nodded her agreement.

"We're going to clean this mess up and then meet you back in town. Where are you staying?" Gabby asked Sam.

"We're staying at the motel on Washington Street, room six. Are you sure you don't need help?" He eyed the bodies skeptically.

"Yes," Gabby answered curtly as she pulled some tarps out of the trunk. Dean was lucky she couldn't see him mocking her.

"…mature…really mature, Dean. You're supposed to be the older one." Sam's thoughts were so loud that I couldn't help but hear. He was shaking his head at Dean before he turned and started walking back in to town after his Dad.

"What?" Dean asked incredulously as he followed him.

"I don't even know if I want their help if it means I've got to put up with that douche," Gabby muttered while I helped her roll the bodies into the tarp.

"Don't say that. We could always use back up. God knows how many friends she'll round up before we get to her," I thought back.

"You're probably right," she conceded.

"Back the car up to the tarp so we don't have to carry it a million feet," I suggested. Gabby nodded as I handed her the keys and followed my advice.

After some haggling and a lot of heavy lifting, the vamps were in the trunk and we were on our way. Gabby was cruising through town, probably trying to get to a more wooded area to burn the bodies, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was staring at the blood on my hands and following a very deep and confusing train of thought.

There was only one more vamp left. There was only one more murderer out there who hadn't received our swift and personal brand of justice. We had been so close to finishing this. I wasn't really sure how to feel at the moment. I had spent a long time clinging to the hope that revenge would ease the ache in my chest. Now it was time to face the music. Once her head rolls off of her shoulders, it will all be over, but that isn't going to bring my family back. It isn't going to fill the hole in my life that they left either, but hopefully it would make the world a better place.

The streetlights and pine trees were blurring together in my peripheral vision, and they held about as many answers as I did.

"Are you ok?" The sound of Gabby's voice brought me back to the surface of reality. I looked up from my hands and nodded. Wait, when had we stopped?

"About twenty seconds ago. You didn't miss much," she smiled at me before her face got serious. "How are you feeling?"

It took me a minute to think about it, and I couldn't really come up with anything. I wasn't sad or angry or happy or anxious. There wasn't really a proper way to say it, so I just opened up my mind to her for her perusal. I could feel her picking around before she let out a sigh.

"I know. I don't know if killing these vamps will make it any better either, but at least we can say that we did something about it. Everything afterwards, we'll figure out. I promise." She grabbed one of my hands and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"C'mon, we've got shit to do." Gabby gave me a little shove, and we both got out of the car.

A few hours later, Gabby was groggy enough to let me drive us back into Manning's main street. I pulled into the parking lot of the Winchesters' motel just short of two in the morning. I knew I was in the right place because I spied their car in the far corner. It was too distinctive to be practical, but I could definitely see the appeal.

"I don't think I'm equipped to deal with the short one right now," Gabby thought ruefully.

"You'll live," was all I had to offer to console her. She grunted and groaned as we got out of the car and headed into the motel.

"I hope they're still awake," Gabby grumbled as she knocked on the door. A very sleepy Sam opened the door after a few seconds, quickly surveyed the hallway behind us, and then let us in. Their room wasn't anything spectacular. There were two beds, a bathroom, a table, and a dinky little coffee maker.

"Nice place," Gabby commented unnecessarily.

"Don't." John said when Dean opened his mouth to retaliate. He didn't even look up from the map he was currently analyzing.

"What a jerk…Dean deserves better than that…swooping in here and treating him like he's four…" I could feel Sam tense up, but Dean's emotions were strangely muted. Man, this family has some serious issues.

"So, what's the plan then?" John asked once he was done looking at his mystery map.

"Bobby said there are signs of a nest in Norfolk, Nebraska. That's where we're headed next. You can help if you want to, but it's really not all that necessary," Gabby shrugged. John didn't seem perturbed or surprised that we knew Bobby.

"This is the last one, right?" John asked as he leaned back in his chair, hands linked across his stomach. We both nodded. I took a peek inside his mind, just a little one. The expression on his face wasn't easily readable.

"…help them with this they might help us find this damn demon…running out of time…" I managed to catch the hind end of all of the thoughts racing around in his head.

"Dean let this vamp get away, and we're going to make sure you find her again and kill her this time," John finally said out loud. Dean rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"Don't say anything about us helping them yet. I don't want to go making promises or playing any cards we don't have to just yet," Gabby thought to me as she nodded. "Thanks. We really appreciate it. There's no telling how much back up she's going to be able to round up before we get to her," she said and breathed out a sigh of relief. I was honestly hoping that John would change his mind. I wasn't interested in any awkward family road trips.

"Do you guys really think she's headed to Nebraska? I'd hate for us all to be on a wild goose chase," Sam asked from his seat on the bed. Gabby paused to think before answering.

"We know there are vamps up there, and we know that ours is heading north as we speak. Either that's where she's headed, or they're going to tell us where we can find her. Abigail's going to do a more thorough check of the street before we turn in. Maybe there's something there that she missed."

Sam seemed somewhat appeased, but John was giving me an appraising look.

"I didn't know that tracking was one of your party tricks," he said finally. I shrugged noncommittally. "You're about as talkative as I remember."

"We don't really like to advertise what kinds of stuff we can do. Mostly because it's hard to explain, and partly because it could get us killed," Gabby offered.

"I'm sure it's useful as hell though," John commented. He took a rather large swig of something that looked like whiskey.

"…I know he's up to something…I don't like that look…" Sam was frowning at John. He glanced over at Dean, eyebrows raised, but Dean just shrugged.

"I highly doubt she's reached Nebraska yet, and no one is going to be any good hunting half-asleep. Two of you exchange numbers or something. We're going to meet here tomorrow- ready to leave- at seven tomorrow morning," John ordered and finished his drink.

Dean rolled his eyes and heaved himself up from the bed. "Give me your phone, Freckles." He raised his hands to catch it as I tossed it to him

"Abigail." I corrected him.

"Sure," he said as he finished putting in his number and tossed it back. He smiled at me, but I just frowned back at him. I didn't think it was very cute.

"…so frigid...sorry you can't take a joke…" he was thinking as he shook his head.

"Alright! Well, we'll see you in the morning then," Gabby announced after a few seconds of awkward silence. She gave a short wave to everyone and no one, and then followed me out of the room.

"That was awkward," she commented once we got to the car.

"Agreed."

The next morning was ultimately uneventful. Dean laughed hysterically at the tissue shoved up Gabby's nose for a good two minutes before she threatened to castrate him-or something to that effect. I was too tired to really be paying attention.

"It's called altitude sickness, you asshole." She tried so hard to sound indignant, but it just came out nasally. Dean was in practically in stitches again, and the rest of us were cracking up this time too. Gabby huffed in disgust and got in the car, muttering something about us being children. I followed her into the car quickly, and the rest of the drive went off without a hitch.

Gabby was in charge of our little procession with John following behind us and Sam and Dean behind him. I'm not sure when I feel asleep, but I came to around one o'clock in the afternoon.

Gabby was humming along with some nonsense pop song while the endless cornfields blended together outside of my window. We must be getting close.

"Definitely close. I just passed the Nebraska state line." Gabby answered my question before I could even ask it properly. I nodded and reached around for a water bottle. I ended up settling for an almost empty bottle of Gatorade Gabby had bought a couple days ago. My throat was too dry and thick with sleep to ignore.

"Bobby called. He said that some girl was found just outside of Norfolk with her throat ripped out sometime this morning. We're definitely headed in the right direction." Gabby continued once I had woken up a little, "He also said to be careful."

I nodded and did a once over of all the cornfields. How do people live here? Gabby chortled a little at the thought. She was all smiles and confidence, but her knuckles were white from gripping the wheel. We were easily doing twenty over the speed limit too.

I leaned back in my seat and admired the 'scenery'. I opened myself up to her mind and tried to swallow Gabby's agitation in the calmness of my own. We spent ten or fifteen minutes mingling thoughts and emotions before the stillness of my mind won out. I found myself staring blankly out of the window, taking slow, easy breaths, and listening to the soft whistle of the wind and the rumble of the engines. It felt like nothing else existed right now except Gabby and I and some farmland. All fear and anxiousness had been extinguished, if only for a moment.

During one of our pit stops, we had decided that we shouldn't drive into town as a procession; it would draw too much attention. John had pulled into town first, followed by Gabby and me, and then Sam and Dean were supposed to be last. There wasn't any point in getting a motel room, so we all just met up in the back parking lot of some diner just inside town.

"So, what's the plan, ladies?" Dean asked immediately after he got out of his car.

"Abby thinks we should split up. I disagree. We thought we might as well ask your opinions," Gabby said, turning her fiery gaze from me to the three of them. Her lips were in a thin line and her hands on her hips. I tried to and failed to suppress a smile at her subtle tantrum.

"It's not funny," she snapped at me. Dean jumped a little from the abruptness of it.

"I guess it's my turn to disagree," I mumbled. She gave me one of her looks, her I-swear-to-God-I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-we-don't-die look, and turned back to the boys expectantly.

"We're pressed for time and resources. Splitting up is probably a good idea," John stated. Dean nodded his agreement, not looking Gabby in the eye. He nudged Sam with his elbow, and Sam begrudgingly huffed and nodded too.

"Fine. I guess we're splitting up," Gabby snipped.

"For the love of God, don't put Sam and John in the same group. We don't have time to break up World War III right now," I thought to her.

"Fair enough," she conceded. "Abigail is ten times the tracker I am so I don't think she'll need as much help as I do. You two boys can come with me, and John can go with Abby."

"Why do we get stuck with you?" Dean groaned. Sam looked at him with a mixture of disdain and disbelief.

"At least we don't get stuck with Dad," he thought bitterly. My eyes widened just a bit. What the hell was up with this family?

"Excuse me?" Gabby asked incredulously.

"Don't pretend you didn't hear me. Why can't we go with Freckles?"

"Abigail." I hissed.

"You'll live," he brushed me off.

"Dean, that's enough," John warned. Dean shut his mouth tight, jaw clenching.

"What Dean meant to say was: our dad is better at tracking vamps than either of us, so if you need the help then you should probably go with him," Sam proposed. He had his hands shoved in his jean pockets, and he was still giving Dean one of his looks.

"Fine, you guys go with Abigail then. If he gives you any lip," Gabby said, gesturing towards Dean. "Kick his ass."

"Sure, ok. I just have to grow five inches and gain thirty pounds first," I thought wryly. Dean's expression seemed to match my sentiment.

"We'll take the north side of town. You three take the south. Keep in touch, and don't get into any trouble," John rumbled and turned to walk back to his truck. Gabby squeezed my shoulder and smiled before she followed suit.

"So," Sam started, "How do you wanna do this?"

"Well, I usually just walk around and…touch stuff?" Really smooth, Abigail. I am clearly not equipped to deal with social interaction today.

"Walk around and touch stuff?" Dean asked. He let out an exasperated laugh.

"…we're going to die…can't believe this," were the general thoughts swirling around in his mind.

"It's not an exact science," I admitted.

"You don't say? Let's get going. The sooner you touch stuff, the sooner we can find this bitch and leave," Dean said and started getting his supplies together.

"Sorry about him. He's just anxious to deal with our own issues," Sam apologized. I just shrugged in what I hope was a forgiving manner. He gave me a tight-lipped smile and left it alone. Thank God.

There's no time like the present, so I walked over to the nearest wall and ran my left hand over it. The first thing I registered was the coarseness of the bricks, and then the memories came flooding in. I saw the bus boy taking the trash out, two teens smoking cigarettes they stole from one of their parents, a small black cat sifting through the garbage, and a waitress on her smoke break, but nothing violent or suspicious.

Once Dean decided he was ready, I set out with the two of them down the street. I didn't have any destination in mind. I just knew I was going south. I tried to continuously have a hand or a shoulder brushing up against walls and pipes and dumpsters or anything else that could help. The only things I was finding were flashes of everyday life. I picked up a fist fight over a poker debt three blocks ago and a mugging down on King Street, but that it was it. It was almost too peaceful here.

Despite my constant efforts to shush him, Dean was full of questions about what I was doing and how it worked and if I was done yet. "Maybe we aren't looking in the right place," was his latest remark.

"Dean, would you leave her alone. Nothing is going to get done if you keep bothering her," Sam groaned.

"I'm tired, Sammy. Tired and bored."

"You're always tired and bored," Sam sounded rather defeated. I had the world's worst migraine and sweat was trickling down my back in the middle of June, and he wants to complain about boredom. It was hard to ignore the urge to roll my eyes.

"I don't think Freckles likes me very much," Dean purposefully tried to provoke me for the tenth time today. I decided to ignore the obnoxious nickname and stay focused.

"I don't like you very much either," Sam grunted.

Not ten seconds later, I spotted the big ugly stain on the concrete. This blood was pretty fresh; there was still police tape fluttering desolately in the wind. I almost lost my lunch when I reached down to read the cement.

The girl walking down the street couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen. She didn't seem anxious or paranoid, but she lives in a small town, so what is there to be afraid of? She hears a whimper when she passes by the alleyway and does a double take. Another whimper echoes in the small space.

"Hello?" She calls out, "Is somebody there?" There was no answer.

"Is somebody hurt?" Apprehension had started to set in. She was torn between being on time for work and helping whoever was in trouble.

She took a few steps into the alley, peering around the dumpsters, and that's when they got her. A blonde vampire launches at her from behind a pile of trash. The girl fights back, but even though the vamp is weak, she can still overpower her victim. One of her hands is forcing her head up and back, and the other is in a death grip around her waist.

"P-please! Please, you can take my money- take anything, just please don't hurt me!" The girl cried out, struggling against her attacker. The vampire showed no mercy. She ripped into the teen's throat desperately. She gulped down her blood and ignored the frantic gurgling coming from her meal. The poor girl's legs kicked out for the last time, hands dropping uselessly to her sides, but her blood was still gushing. It smeared over the blonde's face and painted the walls.

It only took a minute or two for the vamp to drink her fill, and when she was done, she tossed her victim's body unceremoniously in the pile of trash she had been hiding behind.

"This is definitely the vampire we're looking for." I announced once the flashback was over. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead with my jacket sleeve and straightened up.

"You need a break?" Sam asked after he took in my appearance. I shook my head and continued down the alley. There are little tell-tale drops of blood here and there that have dried over since the morning. I followed them to the end of the narrow space and lay my hands on the fence that closes it off. I can see her vaulting over the top, and I can feel blood crusting and flaking underneath my palms. Without a second thought, I backed up and hauled myself over the fence too. Sam and Dean were quick to follow. The pace I was setting after I breached the fence was feverish and erratic, but they kept up just fine.

The trail was obvious for a few more blocks before it suddenly disappeared. Trying to read the ground was difficult at best, but I had to try something. I ended up on my hands and knees sifting through every footstep consequential enough to leave an imprint before I found her. She had spotted the members of the nest she came to find. The vamp haggled with them for a few minutes before getting into their car and driving away.

"Dammit!" I cried out and slammed my fist into the ground, which I regretted instantly.

"What is it? What did you find?" Dean demanded. I took a few moments to catch my breath before I answered.

"She found the nest. They got into a little green Honda Civic and drove off in that direction. That's all I've got," I said once I had gotten back on my feet. My breathing was still coming in quick, shallow bursts. My head was pounding.

"Can't you just track the car to the nest?"

"No, cars move too fast for me to track them. They don't usually stay in one place long enough to leave any kind impression."

"…real useful…what do we do now..." he thought wryly.

"Now," I said. "We regroup."

A few strained phone calls later found our little group of three sitting in some local fast food joint waiting for John and Gabby to show up. They had a few ideas where the nest could be, and there wasn't much else I could pull from the streets. I was starving and overexerted, so I had my own motives for wanting to wait in a restaurant. I tried my best not to inhale my food, but I still managed to finish it in a little more than five minutes.

"Are you still going through puberty, or is that a psychic thing?" Dean asked, nose crinkling while finished off my last few fries.

"Psychic thing," I answered once I was done sucking the salt off of my fingers.

"How does it make you hungry though? Is there a specific physiological reason?" Sam wondered. I just shrugged and crumpled up all of my trash and threw it away. After I sat down again, we spent a few minutes in uncomfortable silence. Sam was pretending to be busy on his phone, and Dean was scratching something on to the table with one of his knives.

"So…your friend… is she always like that, or does she just need to get laid?" Dean asked once he couldn't take it anymore.

"Like what?" I turned my gaze from the window back to him.

"Bitchy."

"Oh, it's just you," I responded.

He snorted,"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She doesn't like you."

He shook his head and went back to carving up the table. Sam grinned at me over his phone before going back to whatever it was he was doing. I was watching out the window again for a few minutes before Gabby and John showed up. They came in quietly and sat down at the table with us.

"Alright, so we found a place in the northern part of town where they might be hiding," Gabby said in a hushed tone once she made sure no one was around to here.

"Thank God," Dean exclaimed. "Where is it?"

"It's an old shucking mill on the outskirts of town. We spotted a little green Civic behind the bushes, and Gabby definitely sensed people in there," John replied.

"Yeah, and the vibes coming off of them were way too strong to be squatters," Gabby added.

"So, what's our strategy?" Sam asked. It was amazing how much John's presence affected his demeanor. Twenty seconds ago he was perfectly amiable, and now he was grouchy and defiant.

"It's getting too late to attack now. They'll all be awake soon and ready to fight. We'll take shifts watching the factory tonight to make sure that they don't try to make a run for it. Once the sun is nice and high tomorrow, we'll sneak in and take 'em out," John said. Sam nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"…didn't take as long as I thought…can't wait for this to be over," Dean was thinking as he listened to John's plan.

"We'll take first watch. There's no way I'm getting to sleep anytime soon anyway," Gabby announced. I couldn't help but cringe inwardly. She might not be getting any sleep, but I was dead tired. I could also go for some more food.

"You got it. We'll come to take over at about two tomorrow morning. Meet us back at the mill at nine," John said curtly. Gabby nodded and motioned for me to follow her. Without another word, we were out the door and on our way.

Gabby didn't stop to book a room or anything; we just went straight to the mill. I needed a shower and more food, but she was too on edge for me to justify complaining. I could read the frustration and anticipation written in every line of her face.

"Wake me up in three hours,"I silently requested. She nodded, but her eyes were trained on the mill. There really wasn't any point trying to fight off the sleep or trying to make small talk, so napping made sense to me. I put my seat back a little bit and let go of the tension in my shoulders. It took me about five minutes to pass out.

It wasn't very restful sleep. I kept tossing and turning, and I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't get that girl from the alley out of my mind. She had been so young. She had her whole life left to live, but it was ripped away from her violently and painfully. I could still hear the gurgle of her blood in her throat when I started to wake. Gabby had my arm over her shoulder trying to pull me out of the car.

"What are you doing?" I mumbled. What did I miss while I was asleep?

"Our half of the watch is over. You seemed tired, so I let you sleep. Come on, your bed awaits, Abigail," Gabby grunted as she pulled me out of the passenger's seat

"You shouldn't have done that," I muttered as I stumbled into the motel. My mind was still foggy with sleep, but I managed to stay up long enough to make sure Gabby finally got to sleep. Once her mind had lapsed into her all-too-familiar sleeping pattern, I let myself drift back into unconsciousness.

It seemed like I had only just closed my eyes when I felt the sunlight blaring through my eyelids. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," Gabby called from the bathroom. It sounded like she was brushing her teeth. I groaned and rolled over, away from the light.

"I'm serious. We're not going to be late," her tone was stern. I might've been afraid if I wasn't so tired. I heard her spit and turn on the faucet briefly, so I knew she was done. I wasn't prepared for her to rip the blankets right off of me.

"You slept for like 10 hours. Get up," she ordered. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and tried to blink away the harshness of the sun. I flinched as I felt a towel hit me in the chest. I didn't need more prompting than that. It only took me about thirty seconds to get out of my old clothes and into the warm shower. Once I was thoroughly clean I walked out of the bathroom to find coffee and clean clothes waiting for me.

"You're a fucking saint, you know that?" I said thickly after a rather large gulp of coffee.

"Yeah, yeah," she brushed it off. She was doing a last minute check of our inventory. I pulled on my clothes and chugged the rest of my coffee. I was determined to be helpful at least a little bit before we left to go to the mill.

"Don't worry about it. You worked really hard yesterday. You deserved some rest," Gabrielle said softly as she tossed the last knife into the bag.

"You better watch it. You're enabling me right now," I jibed. Making light of the situation was my forte.

"Trust me; you don't need any help with that. Let's get all of this stuff to the car and get this over with." She had an edge to her voice that I couldn't quite place. It only took one trip to get all of our stuff to the car. After that Gabby checked out, and we were on our way.

We were pulling up behind the guys' car in ten minutes time. There was a part of me that wanted this over and done with and another part that wished we had more time to prepare, more time to put this off. The first part of me ended up winning, so I gritted my teeth and slid out of the car.

"Did anything interesting happen while we were gone?" Gabby asked once we had all convened outside of our cars.

"Nothing to report," John replied. "Everything's been quiet. They're all probably out cold by now. Dean and Sam are going to man the exits and make sure none of these vamps escape while the three of us are in there taking out as many as we can." Gabby nodded her approval, but the boys didn't look so happy.

"…he always makes us sit out…not 16 anymore…" Sam was brooding. He should really not take it so personally; bitchy wasn't a good look for him. Also, I really don't think John notices, and if he does then he definitely doesn't care.

"How good are you with a bow and arrow?" John asked, addressing both me and Gabby.

"Neither of us is extremely proficient…" Gabby replied noncommittally.

"Alright, then I'll be the one shooting them down before you two attack. We'll try to pump as much Dead Man's Blood into them as possible before all hell breaks loose." John sounded pretty confident. Probably about ten times more confident than I felt at the moment. This was really happening right now. He already had a quiver of arrows soaked in the blood hanging off of his shoulder, and Sam, Dean, and Gabby had their machetes out already. I quickly pulled out my own before someone wondered what was wrong.

I took a few breaths before steeling myself for what we were about to do. There isn't anything different about how we were going to execute this hunt. There is just more sentimental weight to it. I needed to stay objective and level-headed. I reached out to touch Gabby's psyche, but it was silent and withdrawn. Whatever she was feeling on the subject she wanted to keep to herself.

The five of us approached the warehouse slowly. John was leading with Gabby and me behind him and Sam and Dean behind us. The large, metal door swung upon with a surprisingly small amount of creaking. Gabby and I headed in first to get in to position before we heard the whistle of arrows coming from John. Each and every one of them landed with a sickening thunk in their intended targets.

Gabby had lobbed off the head of her first vamp before he had even properly woken up. I turned in time to see a female stumbling towards me. I ducked her outstretched arms and popped up to slice through her neck, quick and easy. That was all it took for me to get in the zone. This wasn't a particularly large nest, so finishing them off would be quick.

The whole room was a cacophony of screams and moans and the sound of bodily dismemberment for what felt like an eternity. My head was on a swivel the whole time trying to seek out the vamp we were looking for, but to no avail. One of my desperate attempts to find her ended with a pair of vampire teeth embedded deeply into my shoulder. I elbowed whoever it was in the ribs, hard, but the bite barely faltered. I tried not to panic as I worked on getting this son of a bitch off of me. The vamp was weak from the dead man's blood so I had a chance of fighting him off. I spotted the nearest pillar and hurled myself backwards into it. It was enough to get him to loosen up so I could yank my shoulder out of his death grip. The sting of his teeth being violently ripped out of my shoulder was dulled by my overwhelming instinct to survive, but it still hurt like hell.

I was scrambling to grab my blade from where it had fallen when he lunged for me again. I stumbled backwards and hit the ground as John materialized out of nowhere. One swing and the vampire's head slid right off of his shoulders and into my lap. I cringed and threw it as far away from me as possible. John looked like he was chuckling. I couldn't hear him either way.

"Thanks," I choked out. He nodded and grabbed the elbow of my good arm and hauled me up.

"We caught your vamp. We've got her subdued until we can finish up the rest of the nest," he spoke right into my ear. I nodded to let him know I heard what he said, and we both went our separate ways again.

I killed two or three more vamps before everything was said and done. The nest was decimated, and we all looked a little worse for wear. Gabby was the worst of all of us. She was covered head to foot in blood spatters. Her machete was dripping thick, red blood, and the look on her face was scathing as she stared down the vamp we had been looking for.

"I guess the jig is up," the vamp laughed right in Gabby's face. She was met with silence and glares. "Someone's a little moody. This seems like the appropriate time to beg for mercy, but I figured it would be a moot point since I pretty much ate your sister alive."

"Do it, Gabby. I want this to be over. Right here and right now," I silently commanded her.

"You sure you want me to do it?" she was hesitant as she looked at me. I just nodded once to let her know it was okay. Her grip tightened on the machete a few times before she took the final swing. The vamp's eyes closed before Gabby's blow landed on her neck. Her head rolled off of her shoulders, and Gabby was now trying to get her blade unstuck from the wall. I couldn't help but think that this was all anti-climactic as Gabby pried her blade out of the wood.

She didn't even bother to slip it back into its holster before she wrapped her arms around my neck. I hissed slightly from the pain in my shoulder so she snaked her arms around my waist instead. I hugged her back with everything I had because this was finally, finally over.

"Let's get out of here," she suggested from somewhere over my shoulder. We all murmured our agreement and high-tailed it out of there.

About an hour later, we were all sitting in the Winchesters' room having a few celebratory drinks while tall, dark, and has-absolutely-no-fucking-finesse-with-medical-instruments was working on my shoulder. My unorthodox method of shaking off my attacker had left more than half a dozen teeth festering in my shoulder, and getting them out was more painful than having them put in. I was currently fighting every instinct I had not to rip my arm out of Sam's hands.

"Sorry!" Sam apologized for the millionth time as he hit some sort of nerve or something in my shoulder again. My fist curled into a ball on reflex, and I slammed into the arm of the chair because I thought it would make me feel better. I was wrong.

"…poor kid…this one's really deep in there…should've gone to the hospital…" Sam was thinking. I tried to focus on the thoughts of everybody in the room. Anything to get my mind off of the excruciating pain I was feeling at the moment.

Gabby was trying to figure out whether or not we should take some time off and visit Bobby, John was scheming ways to bring up his proposition to us, and Dean was thinking about…oh, God, I don't ever want to see anything like that again.

There were tears slowly falling down my face as Sam was rooting around for the last tooth in my shoulder. I let out a yelp when he finally got a hold of it and yanked it out. I gritted my teeth while he poured some alcohol on the wound, and then bandaged it up.

"I'm finished. There isn't much else you can do for bites except keep them clean to prevent infection really," Sam said as he stood up. John handed me a half-empty bottle of cheap whiskey.

"That ought to help take the edge off for now," he said. I opened the bottle and took a few swigs. It tasted awful, and I ended up hacking up a lung. I just shook my head and handed it back to him. I honestly don't see how anybody can drink that stuff for fun, but he wasn't lying. It took about a minute for my body to relax and the warmth of the whiskey to settle in my stomach.

"Thanks," I mumbled to both him and Sam.

"No problem, Abigail," Sam replied. John just nodded.

"I sure hope he's going to ask us for help soon because I don't feel like bumming around here with our thumbs up our asses for much longer," I thought as my head fell against the back of the chair.

"And I sure hope you aren't this much of a lightweight when you've got all six quarts of blood in your body," Gabby sighed outwardly.

"I'm serious. What are we going to do?"

"I've been poking around, and from what I can tell he wants you to help him track the thing he's after. He's good, but he needs to find it faster." She was certain that was what he wanted, but she seemed reluctant. I could feel the wariness laced into her thoughts.

"What's wrong with that?" I wondered.

"The thing they're hunting…it's a demon. That's a pretty big fish just by itself, and the one they're after is nasty, Abby. It's up to you whether or not you want to get involved with this thing. You're the better tracker."

"I'm in if you're in. We haven't got anything else on our plate right now."

"You're hurt. You look like you were mauled by a bear for Christ's sake."

"'Tis but a flesh wound," I thought as I tried to suppress a laugh.

"That wasn't funny," Gabby's mental voice was stern, but there was a grin on her face too.

"Do you guys use that psychic bit to communicate then?" Dean asked rather out of the blue.

"You can tell?" Gabby asked, sounding a little nonplussed.

"It was just a hunch. I'm guessing it's more effective than a walkie-talkie," he said simply.

"You've got that right," Gabby replied. It was amazing that they were having a civilized conversation right now. I give it about two seconds before something sets them off again. I decided that it was my turn to ruin the moment of peace. I opened my eyes and looked levelly at John.

"We know this wasn't just out of the goodness of your hearts, you know. We're not that naïve," I said quietly. He had his poker face on as he sized me up, but I could sense amusement underneath the surface.

"Well, spit it out," I goaded him. His grin finally breached the surface.

"I was hoping you would let us utilize those tracking skills of yours," he finally said. I motioned for him to elaborate. "We're looking for something. It's a demon, to be specific. It's one elusive bastard, and it's always one step ahead of us. If you two helped us, we might be able to get the edge we need."

"What's the catch?" Gabby asked.

"I don't need your help fighting it, but I do need your help finding it. It'll still be dangerous, and I can't guarantee your safety. It's killed a lot of people for a lot less," he replied cautiously, looking from me to Gabby.

"Your call, Abigail," Gabby conceded. She hung her head in defeat as the Winchesters all turned to look at me.

"Count us in."