A/N: A shortie but a goodie (: thanks for all the wonderful comments, I love hearing from you guys!
Disclaimer: yeah you know.
Episode: Dead Mans Blood
Things with Dean and I have been better since New York. Now that his mind is clear from being pissed off at me, he's been pestering me into going back to sharing a room with him and Sam, but I've been fighting like hell to make sure that doesn't happen. I've also had to stop Dean from contacting Chris and putting a bullet through his brain. If it weren't for me, he'd probably have driven across the country by now to finish the deed because surprisingly, Sam was on his side in the whole murder scheme.
"Well dude. Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What have you got?" Dean asks Sam.
The three of us are sitting in a Café in the middle of Ohio trying to search for new hunts to get our mind off of everything that happened in New York.
The day is dark and gloomy just like my head has been for the past year ever since we picked up Sam from Stanford. We haven't had one easy day since. We've been separated from Dad for far too long, Sam's having weird visions and nightmares, demons think I have a weapon they're in dire need of, and then this entire Chris thing really blew up in all of our faces.
"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an areoplane and survived." Sam says, reading off his laptop.
"What else?" I ask.
"Ahh, I man in Colorado, a local man named Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home."
"Elkins? I know that name," Dean says, more to himself than to any of us.
"Doesn't ring a bell," Sam shrugs and I nod, feeling the same way. It's the first time I've heard it.
"Elkins…Elkins…Elkins." Dean mutters to himself and flips through Dad's journal.
"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now they've found some signs of robbery."
"Mmhmm," Dean says absent-mindedly. He comes to a stop with Dad's journal and turns it around for Sam and I to look at. "There, check it out."
There in Dad's journal is Elkin's name circled.
"You think it's the same Elkins?" I ask.
"It's a Colorado area code," Dean says.
I glance between my brothers and down the last sip of my espresso, "Good enough for me. Let's go."
I know we've entered Colorado when snow glitters the sky and paves the landscape. The mountains in the background look beautiful with the white topcoat and I wished we were here for a family vacation going skiing and snowboarding and sitting on a balcony drinking hot chocolate together as a family with Mom. But that's just a dream.
Dean pulls the impala up to Elkin's home, which is a cabin in the mountains. The air is cold and I can see my breath with every exhale.
Luckily I don't have to pick the lock because whoever broke in for this so called robbery was kind enough to leave the door open for us. Aw, how sweet.
Dean walks around with a torch, using it for light to glance around since the electricity is out. Inside the cabin is trashed. Paper litters the ground and his desk is left with empty open cabinets and ripped apart files.
"Looks like the maid didn't come today," Dean says.
"Hey there's salt over here, right beside the door." Sam says in the open area in Elkin's study.
"You mean protection against demon salt, or 'whoops I spilled the popcorn 'salt." Dean asks.
On his desk I notice a book similar to Dad's. I pick it up and flip through the pages and see it's a hunter's journal like Dad's. "Dean look at this."
Dean snatches the journal away from me.
"It's clearly a ring," Sam says, "Do you think this guy Elkins was a player?"
"Definitely," Dean says as he looks through Elkin's journal.
Sam walks over to where Dean and I are standing and glances down at the journal, "That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's."
"Yeah, except this dates back to the '60s." I say as I walk into a different room. Similar to the study, this room is destroyed as well. "Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one." There was no way only two fighters made this mess. I feel little pecks of a wet coldness hit the top of my head. I look up and find a giant hole in the ceiling, opening up the roof. "What the hell…"
Sam and Dean follow me.
"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too," Dean says.
"Yeah," Sam agrees.
Something catches Dean's eyes and he crouches down to the floor, running his finger over the hardwood floors.
"You got something?" I ask.
"I dunno," Dean says. "Some scratches on the floor."
"Death throes, maybe," Sam suggests.
Dean grabs a piece of paper and holds it over the scratches. He runs a pencil over the paper to recreate the mark as a reference.
"Or maybe a message," Dean says. He hands the paper to me and asks, "Look familiar?"
I take the paper and read over it. It looks like a code. "Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop," I look at Dean confused.
Dean nods, "Just the way Dad does it."
Sam and Dean go to look into the post office box while I wait in the car. While they're gone, I feel like I'm being watched. Its that creepy feeling you get when you can sense someone staring at you. Last time I felt that, it was a demon following me. I'm afraid to look around for what I might find, but luckily Sam and Dean come back with a letter in their hand.
Sam and Dean take their seats in the front of the car and stare down at the envelope. I lean over their seats to peer down at it too, and then I finally understand their confused faces. The envelope is addressed to J.W.
"J.W?" I look between my brothers. "You think that means John Winchester?"
"I don't know," Dean shakes his head and looks over at Sammy, "Should we open it?"
Before Sam can answer, the three of us jump out of our seats when someone knocks on Dean's window. Dean raises his fist like a reflex like he's going to punch the glass or something. But to our surprise, it's the man of the hour, John Winchester. Dad smiles to himself in amusement from catching us all off guard and hops into the back seat with me.
"Dad?" Dean says.
"Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?" Sam questions him.
Maybe he was the one staring at me. How long has he been out there?
"Yeah, I'm ok. I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place."
"Why didn't you come in?" I ask him.
Dad turns to look at me, "You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed...by anyone or anything. Nice job covering your tracks by the way."
"Yeah, well, we learned from the best." There was a bit of pride in Dean's voice. If I could roll my eyes without my Dad noticing, I would.
"Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asks Dad.
Dad nods, "Yeah. He was...he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting."
"Well you never mentioned him to us," Sam says.
I bite my lip and look between my dad and Sam. There was a hint of accusation in his voice.
"We had a…we had a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years," Dad explains. It doesn't surprise me that Dad fought with other hunters. Not at all. He gestures to the envelope. "I should look at that." Dean hands him the envelope and Dad reads the note inside it. "'If you're reading this, I'm already dead'…that son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Dean asks.
"He had it the whole time." Dad says to himself.
"Dad what?" I ask, feeling impatient.
"When you searched the place, did you see a gun? An old revolver, an antique, did you see it?" Dad asks almost desperately but he manages to keep his emotions in tact.
I look at Sam and Dean to answer. I didn't see anything.
"Ah, there was an old case but it was empty," Dean answers.
I can practically see the steam coming out of my father's ears. "They have it."
"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" I ask.
Dad opens the door to get out of the car, "We gotta pick up the trail."
"Wait. You want us to come with you?" Sam asks.
"If Elkins was telling the truth we gotta find this gun," Dad looks between all three of us.
"The gun, why?"
"Because it's important that's why," Now Dad is getting impatient.
"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet."
"They were what Daniel Elkins killed best," Dad nods. "Vampires."
My eyes widen at the name. Man, do I wish I had water in my mouth so I could do a spit take.
"Vampires? I thought there was no such thing." Dean says.
"You never even mentioned them Dad." Sam adds.
"I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and others had wiped them out. I was wrong." Dad says. "Most vampire law is crap. 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."
My brothers and I look at each other apprehensively. We have no reason not to believe Dad but the thought of actually tackling vampires sounds insane.
Dad got us one motel room to share altogether, and since neither Dean or I wanted to deal with the repercussions we would surely get from Dad if we told him I've been getting my own room, I shared a bed with Sam.
The second the three of us laid our head against a pillow, we were out like a light. When Dad woke us up by shaking my shoulder lightly and slapping the bottom of Sam and Dean's shoes, I couldn't tell if I gotten hours of sleep or seconds of pointless shut eye.
"Sam, Dean, Allie. Let's go." Dad says, shrugging on his coat and holding onto a radio in his hands.
"Mmhmm," Dean hums immediately like a good little boy.
I keep my eyes clothes and rub my face against the disgusting pillow to try and wake myself up.
"I picked up a police call." Dad says.
"What happened?" I feel the bed dip and Sam sit up on his elbows.
"A couple called 911, found a body in the street. Cops got there everyone was missing. It's the vampires."
"How do you know?" Sam questions him.
Dad huffs, "Just follow me, ok? Allie, get up."
Sam pushes my shoulder to try and get me up as he walks across the room to get his own coat. Two seconds later I feel mine slapped on my back.
"Huh, vampires." Dean chuckles to himself. "Get's funnier every time I hear it."
We follow Dad's truck to the scene of the crime he picked up from this radio that hijacks police interference. A couple in their twenties disappeared, leaving their car on and stranded in the middle of the road. Same M.O.
Dad walks over to us as the three of us waited while he talked to the cops.
"I don't see why we couldn't have gone over with him." Sam says slightly sulky right before Dad walked over.
Dean and I glance at each other, both sensing what's going to end up happening between Dad and Sam. And it's going to blow up in a huge explosion.
"Oh don't tell me it's already starting," Dean sighs.
"What's starting?" Sam asks, having no clue what Dean was talking about.
Before Dad can eavesdrop on the conversation, I cut it off completely by bringing up his presence, "What you got?"
"It was them all right. Looks like they're heading west. We'll have to double back to get around that detour." Dad says.
"How can you be so sure?" Sam asks. I have to physically bite my tongue.
"Sam…" Dean warns.
Sam turns sharply to Dean, "I just wanna know we're going in the right direction."
"We are," Dad says bluntly with no plan of explaining further.
"How do you know?"
"I found this," Dad hands something over to Dean. It's so small I have to step forward to look at the small thing in Dad's hand.
"It's a…"
"Is that a vampire fang?" I cut Dean off. I'm just so surprised to actually see one. It hasn't really hit me yet that we're looking for a pack of freaking vampires.
"Not fangs, teeth," Dad corrects me. "The second set descends when they attack." He looks at Sam with a confident expression, yet no smirk. "Any more questions?" Sam looks away with nothing left to say, thankfully. "All right, let's get out of here, we're losing daylight." Dad starts walking back towards his truck, pointing to Dean's car on the way, "Hey Dean 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."
I look back at Dean who is now staring at his car while Sam shoots him an "I told you so" look and a smirk pulls at my lips. It wasn't too often that Dad put a smile on my face.
Sam drives the impala while Dean does some research in the passenger seat about vampires as we follow behind Dad.
"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," Dean reads from Sam's laptop.
"Maybe that's what happened to that 911 couple." I say.
Sam grumbles, "That's probably what Dad's thinking. Course it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks."
"So it is starting." Dean says.
"Oh, it's definitely starting." I offer my unnecessary commentary.
"What?" Sam says, playing clueless.
"Sam we been looking for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours and there's static already?" Dean explains.
Sam sighs, "Hmph. No. Look, I'm happy he's ok, all right? And I'm happy that we're all working together again."
"Well good," Dean says, although neither one of us is buying it.
Silence falls between the three of us for just a couple of seconds until Sam pops like balloon, "It's just the way he treats us, like we're children."
"Here we go," My head falls back.
"He barks orders at us Allie, he expects us to follow 'em without question. He keeps us on some crap, need to know deal."
"I'm not arguing, Sam, but I am keeping my mouth shut because I know arguing with him doesn't do anyone any good." I sit up straighter.
"He does what he does for a reason," Dean says.
"What reason?" Sam questions.
"Our job! There's no time to argue, there's no margin for error, all right? That's just the way the old man runs things."
"Yeah well maybe that worked when we were kids but not anymore, all right. Not after everything we've through Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line, letting him run the whole show?"
Dean pauses, taking a moment to stare out of the window then looks back at Sam. "If that's what it takes."
That is not the answer Sam was hoping to hear.
Luckily the awkward tension shifts slightly when my phone starts ringing, but I know it's only going to thicken because the caller ID says Dad's name.
"Hey Dad," I answer. Dean's head immediately whips around to obviously eaves drop on my conversation. Dad's short and blunt, quickly telling me to tell Sam to pull off at the next exit because he's got a lead on the vampire trail. "Okay, I'll tell him. Bye." I hang up and tell Sam to pull off at the next exit like Dad.
"Why?" Sam's voice is angry.
"Cause Dad thinks we've got the vampire's trail."
"How?" Sam asks angrier.
"I don't know, he didn't say," I answer, getting myself riled up as well because Sam's distrust in Dad keeps getting under my skin.
Sam slams on the gas pedal and veers the car ahead of Dad's truck, swerving it to the side, forcing Dad's truck to a halt. I grip onto the leather seats, swearing loudly at Sam and cursing myself out too for not wearing my seatbelt. Whoops.
By the time I open my eyes, Dad's already out of his truck, storming towards the impala. And Sam isn't too far behind, making his way over to Dad to meet in the middle.
"Oh crap," Dean gets out of the car fast. "Here we go. Sam!"
"What the hell was that?" John barks at Sam. "You're sister could've gotten hurt!" Guess Dean could have taken care of himself.
"We need to talk." Sam says.
"About what?" Dad gets face to face with Sam. I jog closer to them, standing by Dean as he tries to step between them.
"About everything. Where we going Dad? What's the big deal about this job?"
"Sammy come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires," Dean tries to intervene but it's a loss cause. This fight has been building since Dad showed his face at Elkins.
"Your brother's right, we don't have time for this." Dad says.
"Last time we saw you you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now out of the blue you need our help." Sam raises his voice and shouts. "Obviously something big is going down and we wanna know what."
"Get back in the car." Dad demands.
"No."
"I said get back in the damn car."
"Yeah. And I said no."
"Sam!" I say through clenched teeth. Dad and Sam are way more alike than I realized. They're both stubborn and won't back down when they think they're right.
Dean steps in the middle, "Ok you made your point tough guy. Look we're all tired, we can talk about this later. Sammy I mean it, come on."
Dean grabs Sam by his shirt and pulls him towards the impala. Sam walks, not resisting, but he keeps his gaze on John.
"This is why I left in the first place," Sam mumbles under his breath.
Not only was it a blow to Dad, but it also tugged at my heart too.
"What did you say?" Dad turned around on his heels and we were right back where we started.
"You heard me," Sam swings back around too.
"Yeah. You left. Your brother, sister, and me. We needed you. You walked away."
"Sam…" Dean tries to stop him, but he's wasting his breath.
"You walked away!" Dad yells in Sam's face.
My heart races as I watch my Dad and Sam scream at each other. It brings me back to when I was 18 and Sam was leaving for college. Dad didn't take it lightly. He was angry and felt betrayed by his own son. But more importantly, he was scared that he wouldn't be protected like he was with us. He was afraid he would end up like Mom.
Dean takes one look at my face and instantly pulls Sam away from Dad. Again. "Stop it. Both of you."
"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."
That's what Sam will always think of Dad. A control freak.
"Listen, stop it, stop it." Dean yanks Sam more forcefully. "That's enough!" He points at Dad. "That means you too."
I turn my back to the group of men and walk slowly back to the car. I didn't want to watch or listen to a repeat of what happened 4 years ago. I didn't want another heartbreak like that.
I can feel eyes on the back of my head. Figuring one of the three boys are looking at me, I keep my back turned and try taking deep breaths. That what Dean taught me to do whenever I got stressed out over one of Sam and Dad's fights growing up.
"Allie," Dad's voice calls out to me. His tone is softer this time. "Why don't you ride with me until Sam cools off?" I hear it in Dad's voice. It's not an order. It's a plea.
Sam walks past me towards the impala and locks himself away in the passenger seat, sulking like a teenage girl.
"Okay," I agree.
I walk past Dean who's glancing between Sam and Dad. He mutters to himself. I hear him say "Terrific" and makes his way back to the impala.
What a case this turned out to be!
At first the car ride with Dad was awkward. I know Dad didn't ask me to come along with him because he thought I'd be safer with him than Sam, and it's obviously not because he wanted to have a friendly conversation. I'm Dad's baby girl. Always have been, always will be. The man is rock hard and barely shows any sort of emotion towards anyone, even his kids. Not since Mom died. But I was always different. Just by being around him, I could calm him down. I didn't have to even do anything. I just had to be around him. Maybe it's because I remind him of Mom or maybe it's because I'm his baby. But either way, his breathing always slowed and he visibly became more relaxed. And that's exactly what was happening now.
"I know I told Sam he couldn't come back if he left for Stanford," Dad says quietly, bringing me out of my own head. I was surprised he was talking. "But I didn't mean it. I was just mad." And scared, I wanted to add but I held my tongue.
"I know," I say. I didn't want to say too much for him just to get angry again, but I didn't want to say too little. "He knows that too. It's just…" I pause to look out the window. I really didn't want to piss him off again. "He's frustrated because you're hiding something from us." Dad presses his lips into a thin line. "And I'm not pressing you to tell me. Not right now. But you both are alike in that way. You want to be in control, and since you both have that personality trait…you butt heads a lot. Trust me, I've got the same thing going on with Dean sometimes." I scoff.
Dad doesn't say anything for a minute. At first I thought that maybe I had gone too far even though everything I said was true. I rub my palms together anxiously and stare out the windshield.
"You're more like your mother than you think," Dad actually grins to himself. "She would have said the same thing. Look, Allie, I'm sorry if you feel out of the loop, right now but after we get this taken care of, I will explain everything."
I nod, although I necessarily don't believe him.
Dad pulls up to a hill and we stare down at the bottom where an old barn is. There's a man walking around it. He shades his eyes from the sun but doesn't look to be in any pain. He greets some people that walk out of a Camaro by the door.
The four of us hide behind the trees as we watch the interaction. You would never know they were vampires. They look just like people.
"Son of a bitch. So they're really not afraid of the sun?" Dean says.
"Direct sunlight hurts them like a nasty sunburn. The only way to kill 'em is by beheading. And yeah, they sleep during the day, doesn't mean they won't wake up." Dad explains.
"I guess walking right in is not our best option," Dean grimaces.
"Actually. That's the plan." Dad says, taking us all by surprise.
We walk back to the impala and open the trunk to reveal our weapons. Dad walks back to his truck to get whatever he needs as well.
"Dad I've got an extra machete if you need one." Dean holds one up.
However, Dad holds a cooler looking machete up in the air. It's huge with a serrated edge and a leather holder.
"I think I'm ok. Thanks." Dad says.
"Wow," Dean says, eyeing the machete he now envies.
"So, you boys really wanna know about this colt?" Dad says, glancing at me and thinking of our conversation in the car.
"Yes, sir." Sam says.
I nod to encourage Dad to continue, to let him know that we'll be okay if he tells us.
"It's just a story, legend really. Well I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter... Back in 1835, when Halley's comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo. They say Samuel Colt made a gun. A special gun. He made it for a hunter, a man like us only on horseback. Story goes he made thirteen bullets, and this hunter used the gun half a dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. And somehow Daniel got his hands on it. They say…they say this gun can kill anything."
My brows furrow with confusion. A gun that can kill anything?
"Kill anything like, supernatural anything?" Dean asks.
My head snaps to Sam and Dean. Is this the weapon the demons were threatening me for? But if so, why would they think I had it? Of all people?
"Like the demon," Sam says.
"Yeah, like the demon. Ever since I picked up it's trail I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun, we may have it."
I shuffle on my feet, feeling more nervous now than I did before. "No pressure or anything."
We sneak into the barn through a window and we split into two groups. I go with Dad to find the gun while Sam and Dean look for the couple that was taken yesterday.
Dad constantly keeps looking back at me to make sure I'm still behind him. Each time, I give him assuring nods. We walk past the sleeping vamps who are all nestled up in hovering hammocks. It's silent besides the vampires' snores. The whole thing is just so bizarre for me to comprehend.
Dad finds the room where the pack leader sleeps with his "mate." Behind them in a holster is a gun, and by the look on Dad's face, it's the gun we're looking for.
Dad tells me to stay by the doorway with a hand gesture. He slowly inches his way closer to the gun. Every creak the floor makes under Dad's boots makes my heart speed up. Hell, I even think I'm breathing too loudly. I clutch my machete closer to my stomach.
The male vamp turns over in his sleep as Dad reaches for the holster. My breath hitches and my eyes go wide. Luckily, neither of the vamps wake up.
Just as Dad is about to snatch the gun, a scream erupts from the main room. And it wasn't just any scream. There is no way that sound came from a human being.
My head whips back to Dad and the two now-fully-awake vampires. The male vampire throws Dad against the wall and he falls to the ground with a thump.
"Allie, run!" Dad barks.
I look down at the ground and find a rock. I glance back up at the female vampire slowly approaching me with a snarl and then I see the blacked out window behind her. My heart pounds in my ears as I pick up the rock and chuck it at the window. The glass breaks and the light from outside peeks through. Both of the vampires flinch.
Then I follow Dad's direction and I sprint out of there into an even bigger heard of vampires. There's maybe seven or eight, I didn't have time to count. Sam and Dean are nowhere to be found, which is good for them, but leaves me a little screwed.
One of them manages to knock me over, and the wind is pushed out of my lungs like rocket fire.
I press my machete against the vamp's neck but I'm too weak to make the full cut through. The male vampire cackles at me, not even flinching as his neck bleeds and drips over my chin. Tears spring at my eyes, thinking this was it, but then the vampire above me drops to my side, now headless.
My chest heaves up and down out of relief and out of surprise. Dad grabs me by my arm to pull me up and shoves me in front of him and orders me to start running.
When we reach fresh air, I hear Sam and Dean calling for us at the top of the hill. Dad and I sprint in their direction. I'm out of breath by the time I see their faces.
They look relieved to see us but when they see the crimson red blood on my chin, their worried expressions return.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks. He runs his thumb against my chin and when he feels no abrasions or cuts he relaxes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Close call, that's all." I say.
"They won't follow." Dad says. "Not til tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it's for life."
"Well what the hell do we do now?" Dean asks.
"You gotta find the nearest funeral home, that's what." Dad says.
Our heads snap up, confused. That didn't feel good to hear. But Dad didn't mean we were screwed and should be planning our own funerals. Machetes are good to use against the vampires but a dead man's blood is better. It works like a tranquilizer.
Dad sent Dean and I to get the blood. I didn't know if he thought we were best for the job or because he wanted some one on one time with Sam, but either way Dean and I took the opportunity to make them talk.
"How was the car ride with Dad?" Dean asks as we pull back up to the motel.
"Surprisingly it went well, but I don't know if Dad and Sam will ever see eye to eye even though they both want the same thing. Answers."
We walk into the motel room and find Sam and Dad grinning. I stop in my tracks and stare between the two guys, surprised. I take back my previous statement.
"Whew. Man, some heavy security to protect a bunch of dead guys." Dean holds up the jar of blood. Gross.
"You know what to do." Dad says, going straight back into business mode.
Sam and I position ourselves on a hill with cross bows that have been dipped into the dead man's blood. Dean is in our view, pretending to have car troubles to lure in a vampire who will take us to their leader. Dad stays hidden behind a tree closer to Dean in case anything goes wrong.
Dean talks to the woman who approaches him. They smile at each other, and lean in closer to one another, and somehow Dean finds a way to kiss her. Da fuq? But then he pulls back and he says something that obviously pissed her off because she backhands him and lifts him up in the air by his throat. Classic.
That's our cue to start shooting arrows. Sam shoots at the girl holding Dean by the neck. I shoot the one lurking in the street.
That's when Dad approaches the group and Sam and I make our way down.
"It barely stings," The one I shot shrugs, the same one in bed with other vamp with the gun. The one Sam shot is passed out on the ground with an arrow through her back.
"Give it time sweetheart. That arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you isn't it?"
Her face drops, surprised that we found the secret weapon. Then her eyes slowly roll to the back of her head and she falls to the ground.
"Load her up," Dad says and then points to the other one. "I'll take care of this one."
Dad walks up to the vampire Sam shot and takes his machete with him. He hovers over the vamp, thinking over her for a second. Then he beheads her, as if it was nothing.
We go to an open grass area and make a campfire. Dad hands Dean a small bag from the truck.
"Throw this on the fire. Saffron, skunk's cabbage and trillium. It'll block our scent and hers, until we're ready."
Dean sniffs at it and immediately starts coughing, "Stuff stinks!"
"You sure they'll come after her?" Sam asks.
"Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time."
"A half hour oughta do it."
"And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can." Dad says, and I knew that was going to start a fight.
"But –"
"Dad you can't take care of them all," Dean steps in, taking Sam's side. Whoa.
"I'll have her. And the colt." Dad says.
"But after. We're gonna meet up right? Use the gun together. Right?" I ask, trying to get Dad to reassure Sam and Dean that we are still a team.
But I was wrong. Dad didn't answer. He looked away.
Sam snaps, "You're leaving again aren't you. You still wanna go after the demon alone. You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this."
"Like what?" Dad challenges.
"Like children!"
"You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Dad, all due respect but, that's a bunch of crap." Dean says.
My head snaps in Dean's direction and my mouth falls open. Did Dean just talk back to Dad? Did pigs fly? I glance at Sam who looks just as surprised.
"Excuse me?" Dad narrows his eyes at Dean, his best soldier.
"You know Sammy, Allie and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe."
"Its not the same thing Dean."
"Then what is it?" Dean asks. "Why do you want us out of the big fight?"
Dad shakes his head and looks away, "This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive."
"You mean you can't be as reckless," I add. Dad slowly looks over at me and I can see it in his eyes that I'm right. And I understand it too.
"Look...I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death, it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too, I won't."
"What happens if you die? Dad what happens if you die and we coulda done something about it. You know I been thinking. I ...maybe Sammy's right about this one. We should do this together." Dean says.
Sam and I nod, agreeing with him and sticking together.
"We're stronger as a family, Dad." I say, hopelessly. "We just are. You know it."
Dad sighs and looks down at his shoes. "We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That's an order."
I huff a sigh of defeat and physically stop myself from rolling my eyes. We tried. We always try.
Dad sent Dean, Sam and I to the barn to finish the job of exterminating that group of vamps. I wanted to argue and say that one of us had to be with him as he brings the female vampire to the leader, but we were already on his nerves and I didn't want to waste my breath.
Sam and I hide behind the barn with our backs pressed against the itchy wood while Dean gets the one guarding the doors. Dean sneaks up behind him and slices his head off with the machete. He grins to himself and walks to the door and starts breaking the hinges.
Inside we split up and I just start swinging my machete like a mad man. I was wrong when I thought there were only six to seven vamps. There's about fifteen. Somehow, the three of us conquer all the vamps, and we finish early enough to find Dad, but we stay hidden with our cross bows just in case one of them makes the wrong move.
Dad's holding the woman I shot, who I now suspect to be the leader's girlfriend. In front of him are about four other vampires who look ready to pounce at any second, especially the one in the front – the leader.
Dad says something but we're too far away to hear. The leader of the pack looks pissed as he looks back at his friends for some kind of gesture. He then reaches into his pants, and my hand tightens around the trigger of the cross bow like an instinct. But I stop and I freeze when I see what the vampire pulls out. It's a gun. It's the gun.
He kicks it over to Dad who slowly reaches down to grab it while keeping his grip on the hostage vamp.
"He got it," I whisper.
"Yeah, but does he expect to get out alive?" Dean grumbles next to me.
A second later the female vampire Dad is holding swings around and shoves him against his truck. The gun drops out of his hand. The leader approaches Dad and backhands him, making the glass in Dad's car door window shatter. He falls to the ground with his eyes closed. And that was my cue to fire the first shot.
My arrow pierces through one of the bystanding vampires and the three of us race down the street to protect Dad.
Dean stops to line up his shot on another vampire and I replace my cross bow with a machete. Sam's macho legs get him to the leader faster but the vamp is one step ahead and backhands Sam and holds him against his chest with his arm around Sam's neck.
I skid to a stop and raise my machete to split this guy's head in two.
"Don't! I'll break his neck. Put the blade down." The leader threatens.
My jaw clenches and my grip around the blade tightens. I'm afraid to put it down. I look at Sam's face – how it's scrunched in pain as he struggles for air. The last thing I want to do is put my machete down and surrender, but I'm more afraid of what he'll do to Sam if I don't listen. So I drop the machete.
"You people. Why can't you leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do." The leader yells.
"I don't think so," Dad stands and points the colt at the leader's head.
The vampire turns and Dad shoots him between the eyes. Sam escapes his grasp as the vampire stumbles away, gasping for breath. The bullet hole in his forehead glows with some kind of sigil, then his body lights up like a Christmas tree and he falls to his knees. Dead.
"Luther!" The girl vampire squeals.
Welp, guess his name was Luther.
The girl charges towards Dad and I raise my machete one more time, but the two other vampires still breathing pull her back towards their car. We watch them leave, but more importantly, I watch Dad grin to himself as they disappear. Then I realize it's because he finally got his gun.
Dean drives Sam and I back to the motel room to pack our bags and get the hell out of dodge. As we're doing so, Dad comes by. I glance between my brothers nervously as Dad stands in the middle of us. I prepare for a lecture and some shouting.
"You ignored a direct order back there." Dad says sternly.
"Yes sir," Sam says, nodding his head and looking down.
"Yeah but we saved your ass." Dean says.
My head snaps in his direction and my eyes go wide. I don't know when Dean grew a pair to talk back to Dad, but I liked it. I was also scared for his life.
"You're right." Dad nods, not mad at all.
"I am?"
"He is?" I ask repeat.
I mean, I knew he was right, but for Dad to think Dean was also right…it was like I was living in a whole new world.
"It scares the hell out of me. You three are all I've got. But I guess we are stronger as a family. So...let's go after this damn thing. Together."
"Yes sir," Sam and Dean say at the same time.
"Yes Dad." I grin. I never liked saying 'sir' and I was always the only one who got away with not calling him that.
Finally, we can focus on killing this son of a bitch together, as a family.