Chapter 17.

Instinct. It was what made a good hunter. For as long as he could remember, Dean had been relying on his instincts. His dad had told him, "Kid, your gut never leads you wrong. That can't be taught." Trouble was, the instincts of a good hunter can't be switched off. When he had noticed something unusual in the corner of the bar, his attention had shifted to a drama playing out that no-one else could see. And the angel? She was oblivious. They usually were.

"Hey." she said, "Excuse me. Am I on my own?"

He looked at her, wondering why she sounded so irritated, even petulant. "I'm sorry." he said, "My mind wandered."

"Yeah, I noticed. Also your eyes. She's pretty. We established that. You're clearly interested. So go over there, give her the full Dean and make sure at least the two of you have a great night."

"Who are we talking about, again?" he said, genuinely confused. Then he remembered that not everybody thought like a hunter. The girl at the table had ceased to be a pretty woman to him as soon as he had noticed the figure in the shadows, who was paying her far too much attention without ever signalling it to her. "Oh, the girl?" he said.

"Yes, the girl." said Anael, again sounding unduly aggrieved.

"It's not what you think." he said, "Without being obvious, cast an eye over the guy in the corner. Notice anything about him?"

"He looks like you." she said quietly.

"He does not!" said Dean, insulted.

"Not physically. It's the way he stands, the way he's watching everyone around him. Is he a hunter?"

"I'm ninety-nine percent sure he's a vampire, hunting for a victim." he said, barely sounding the words at all, aware of their excellent hearing, although the heartbeats of the customers now filling the bar must be quite a distraction.

The assumed victim left a stack of coins on the table and put her jacket on. As she stood, the prospective vamp straightened up and prepared to follow. "Okay," said Dean, "One hundred percent, vamp or predator. Either way, we need to be ready to move fast." He looked at her, his spare angel who had promised not to use her powers. "Second thoughts, you stay here. Have another drink."

"You need back-up." she said.

"I need angelic back-up and you ain't it." he said, taking hold of his knife but concealing it with his jacket.

"You got another sharp thing?" she said.

"Go grab a machete from the trunk." he said, "Circle round to the side door. That's where he'll go."

"You could pray to Cas." she said.

"For one vamp?" he said.

The victim left. The vamp slipped out the side door and Dean followed him. He didn't notice. He was hungry and the only thing he cared about was the mildly drunk woman he believed would supply his next meal. When she reached her car, he said, "Hey, did you drop this?" waving a credit card.

The woman started to check her pockets and he lunged at her.

"Hey, sucker!" said Dean.

The vamp turned, showing his teeth. His victim was already trying to open the car door. Dean slashed at him with the knife, but he wasn't the only one working on instinct and the vamp threw himself to the ground and rolled clear.

The woman from the bar drove off in haste. The vampire rose to his feet and grinned. The grin didn't have time to fade before his head slid easily off his body and fell to the ground. Blood spurted in Dean's direction, stinking, staining vampire blood.

"Nice!" said Dean, as Anael regarded her bloody blade.

"What now?" she said.

"Body and head in the trunk." he said, "Then we need to go someplace where I can wash this filth off of me. Don't wanna travel too far with this gunk stinking up the car and dripping on the upholstery."

"What kind of place?" she said, carrying the body effortlessly to the Impala.

"Motel." he said.

"We passed one on the way here." she said, "The Ramblin' Motel. It looked a little low-rent."

"Low-rent is good." he said. He vaguely remembered it, little cabins, good for privacy. "You're clean." he said.

"I can't help it." she said, "Angels always remain clean unless we become too weak. Jack said it was okay, using the stuff I can't avoid using."

"I wasn't talking about your deal with Jack." he said, "You look a lot less like you just gutted a hitcher. so when we get there, you're checking us in. Now. you have to check us in for the night, okay? No dangerous honesty that we only came to use the shower."

"I can lie." she said.

"I know you can." he said. Then he wished he hadn't. She almost flinched from the words. Was that guilt, or just a fear that he still blamed her? "Important skill." he said quickly.

She nodded.

"You go ahead." he said, "But be aware of me behind you. I get pulled over, you get away before anyone can connect us. Then you send help, okay?"

"Okay." she said.

They made it to the motel without incident and Dean waited in the Impala while she checked them in. He quickly called Charlie. "Hey," he said, "Something came up."

"You need me to send someone?" she said.

"Nah, just a single vampire, my back-up did a great job, but I'm covered in ... " He remembered he was talking to Charlie and the protective big brother kicked in, "Stuff." he said, "So we're at a motel. Gonna get cleaned up and be back on the road within an hour."

"Okay." said Charlie, "See you later."

When Anael came back out, she looked pleased with herself and that reminded him again of Cas. These beings could play with time, yet little, human things felt like big challenges to them and big achievements.

She bent down to dangle a key in front of the car window. "Cabin on the end." she said. He was impressed. She had thought it through.

"Well done, probationary human." he said.

She smiled broadly at that. "Will it be weird that we have no stuff?" she said.

"We have stuff." he said. He got out of the car and retrieved a small bag with a change of clothes from the trunk. "Stay close." he said, "In case they have cameras. Try to block me from view." He wasn't expecting anyone to be looking for blood-soaked clothes in the dark, but there was no point in taking chances. In any case, they looked more convincing if they seemed to be a couple. Nobody, seeing him in the company of a woman like that would question why he was in such a hurry to get into their room.

Inside, he was pleasantly surprised. It was low-rent to her because she was used to the finer things, but he had been in far worse. There was no smell of mildew, his shoes didn't stick to the floor and the walls were thick enough that the TV lighting up the window of the next cabin wasn't audible in theirs. He put his bag on one of two clean, comfortable queen-sized beds and then closed the blind.

"Okay. I'm gonna hit the shower and you don't need a shower so you can raid the mini bar and watch TV or something."

Anael looked around the room as if it were a tourist attraction. Her eyes lit up when she saw the music system. "They have a cassette tape player." she said, "May I get my music collection from the car?"

"Yeah, go for it." he said, "We need to get you more for it to be an actual collection. Always remember, driver picks the music, shotgun shut's his cakehole." She was listening to him, really listening, like he was saying something profound. He felt a need to make the effort. "And Anael, always be the driver." He raised a finger, "Except in the Impala, obviously."

She nodded, seeming to understand. Then she said something strange. "I like being with you, Dean. I had fun today."

He wasn't sure how to respond. He wanted to point out that angels had a very low bar for fun, but it felt like they were good friends now and he didn't want to mess that up. "Me too." he said, "Today was good. Now, go get your mixtape. I need to get this mess off of me."

She went out and he headed to the bathroom. He peeled off his disgusting clothes and put them in a corner. Most of the blood was on the clothes. but his face and neck were marked in places and there was blood in his hair. the shower was a good one and he watched the water run down the drain, first with streaks of blood, then clean. It felt great. The whole day had been great and he decided to linger a little longer than he had to and make use of the tiny bottles the motel had supplied. They had a fresh smell and the lather felt good on his skin.

Through the open bathroom door, he heard Bonnie Tyler sing Holding Out For a Hero. He grinned. It wasn't so bad, having an angel around who appreciated good music.