A/N – Just so you all know, I'm writing and posting these at work for the most part. I'm going to work on chapter two, to get it posted right away and then update with a new chapter once or twice a week from there so I can make some forward progress and plan things a little more clearly.

"You aren't getting yourself in to anything." I still hadn't wrestled Mr. Annoying's real name from him. Then again, I couldn't really remember if I provided him with my name at any point. It didn't bother me any. Being mysterious was a nice change of pace.

"Pretty sure I'm in whether I want to be or not. You can't unsee what I've seen in the last few weeks." The pie was steaming as I brought it out and set it in front of Mr. Annoying. I held the fork out to him. He reached for it, and I pulled it back, tsking. "Now. I don't feed pie to strangers, Mr. Annoying. What's your name?"

He looked at the pie like he was trying to decide if it was worth eating with his fingers before finally exhaling and looking up at me. Like HE had the right to be annoyed by ME. Pfft.

"My name is Dean Winchester. This is my brother Sam. Now, I'm not cuddliest of guys under normal circumstances, but you are holding pie hostage and we are in the middle of what you could call a 'rough night.' I'd hate to have to hold your dog for pie ransom." I raised an eyebrow as Ninja licked all the way up one side of Dean's face. He looked horrified, and based on Sam's expression, his taller brother was just as tickled by this as I was.

"Awe. Ninja like's you. I don't think he'd mind too much if you stuck close to him. He earned his name, you know. I'd check that old muscle car of yours to make sure he's not snuck in to the backseat before you head out."

Now, I'm not much of a reader of body language, but I'd say Dean looked pretty appalled at this point. I laughed even harder, tipping back the bottle of whiskey and takin a couple of gulps. I was just about to lay off, when I couldn't help but sputter and choke a bit, spitting just a TINY little bit of whiskey in Dean's direction as Ninja ran off with his pie, gingerly licking at the filling that was probably too hot for him. I took Ninja's spot on the couch, because at this point, we'd made a pretty big dent in the bottle and I wasn't exactly feeling inhibited, and passed the bottle over Dean. "There's more pie." I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and smiled.

"If those sirens don't go away, you're going to have to invest in a bakery if you want to keep Dean happy. I hope you are stocked up on cholesterol."

Dean looked at his brother. "And rabbit food for Bugs."

I hiccupped, giggling a bit. "I still have some veggies from my aunt's garden left. No pesticides. And I have plenty of flour, sugar and lard to keep myself well stocked in relatively edible homemade pies."

Dean made that surprised, pleased face again, only this time, maybe because of the whiskey, I blushed. The sirens had calmed down so I peeked out the windows. Lights still flashed from cops trawling the area, but things seemed to be cooling down. "Although that probably won't be needed. We can probably be out of here by morning."

For the first time, Dean intentionally met my eyes. "We?"

Sam looked panicked. "You can't come with us."

"Why?" I asked, realizing what I'd said a little too late to stop from looking like a fool. I decided to just commit. After all, it's not like I was liable to run in to too terribly many vampire hunters around these parts, and I needed to bone up on my skills. 'Poor choice of words for an inner monologue,' I chided myself, turning back to the window to hide my blush.

"What we do is no kind of life. It's dangerous." Dean's voice was deadly serious. I turned to face him.

"Since I found out about vampires I've killed two without any help. Maybe I could be of some use with your little Vampire hunting operation. I'm not a puppy. I'm not asking you to keep me. Just, you know, teach me some sick machete skills." In for a penny, in for a pound. I was definitely committed at this point.

Sam looked bemused and Dean looked angry. He rushed on. "You think this is like some video game? That you can do a few jobs and BOOM, level up? Monsters are REAL, and you only get one life. You ain't coming with us, sweatheart."

"Yeah, Vampires are real. And I probably need to leave here anyways. Like you said, that probably wasn't the whole nest and I'm pretty much a sitting duck."

"It's not just vampires." Sam finally spoke up. "It's all real. Think of every scary story you've ever heard. You start out hunting vampires, and pretty soon a lead has you going after a nest, and it turns out there is a Djinn, or a demon, or a chupacabra."

"Chupa- Jesus…"

"Let me finish. You are still just a kid. You have seen a few vampires and yeah, finding out this crap is real is a bit of a shocker, but you just touched the surface. You could continue to live a normal life, have a family, just, move on." Sam sounded so earnest. It was almost enough to keep me from getting angry. Almost.

"Alright. Are you finished?" He nodded. I continued. "Well, then, here is the deal as I see it. I don't have much family left. The only thing keeping me here now are some old memories and a masochistic streak about a mile wide. Until this last couple of weeks, until this last loss, I was adrift. I was pointless. Now, I see something I can do to help that not everyone can do, because it's obvious that most people don't know about this stuff. You can refuse to take me with you if you want. That's fine. I'll do things the hard way, because I'm stubborn as hell and apparently not very smart." I took the bottle of whiskey out of Dean's hands and took a couple of gulps. "Pie's in the fridge. I'm going to bed, and in the morning, I'm going to do my damnedest to clean out that nest, or die trying, and short of tying me to my bed, there is nothing you could do to stop it." I downed a good portion of the bottle, slamming it on the coffee table before stalking to my bedroom. As I slammed the door, I felt a small thrill of victory when I saw how taken aback the boys in my living room were. They sure as hell weren't expecting THAT.