Dean and Kat were taking a break, leaning against the Impala, sharing a bag of chips while drinking pop out of glass bottles, looking for the world like a date in the 80s.
"Maybe we could take a few days, y'know? Travel a bit?" Dean was saying.
"We travel for a living, Dean," Kat laughed, taking a swig of her root beer.
"You know what I mean," Dean said. "Go somewhere and...be married." Kat crunched a chip as she thought, then looked at her husband and smiled.
"I'd like that," she said, causing Dean to smile as well. "Any ideas?" She saw a familiar glint in Dean's eyes before Sam walked up.
"Think about it later," Sam said, handing them a pile of missing person fliers. "Six girls in seven days, which is more disappearances than this city has seen in over a year. All about the same age."
"And cute," Dean commented, looking at one of the girls. Sam scoffed and Kat playfully slapped him on the arm. "Hey, ice cream comes in lots of flavors, Sam. And you know full well that I look but don't touch," he added to Kat.
"I know," Kat said, looking at another one.
"Right," Sam said, rolling his eyes. "Well, half a dozen girls, late teens, a shower away from greatness. Sounds like a profile. I mean, what else they got in common?"
"Six directions to go here," Kat said, finishing her drink and pitching the trash. "Pick a number." The three of them jumped in the car and headed out to one of the victim's houses, a girl named Kristin. Sam and Dean talked to her father while she looked around the house, pausing to look at family pictures. She followed the progression of Kristin's childhood to now, not surprised to see her gone full goth by what Kat guessed to be high school. Finally, the boys beckoned her upstairs to the girl's room. When they walked in, they saw what could only be described as a vampire romance paradise. The walls were blood red and covered in posters of various teenage actors that had played vampires within the last 10 years, along with a few that were older but no less good looking.
"Oh it is SO much worse than drugs," Dean commented as he looked around. Sam stopped in front of a poster that said "My Summer Blood" and scoffed.
"Vampires?"
"These aren't vampires," Dean replied, shaking his head. "These...these are douchebags."
"Yeah," Sam and Kat agreed simultaneously. Looking around the room more, they found a blood red laptop under one of the pillows.
"A ha!" Dean declared. "All right." He went over to her desk and opened up the laptop, only to be startled by a scream and a fake vampire in the background.
"That's just uncomfortable," Sam commented. He started trying to figure out the password as Kat looked around some more. A paperback book caught her eye, entitled "My Summer Blood", same as the poster on the wall. The cover picture was a sleeping girl in a white nightgown and a pale male vampire looking down at her from a moonlit window. She shuddered.
"How is this not rape-y?" she wondered aloud.
"Gotta concentrate here, Kat," Sam said from the desk. Kat flipped through the pages as Sam tried another password, causing the laptop to scream again.
"'He could hear the blood rushing inside her, almost taste it,'" Kat read aloud. "'He tried desperately to control himself...Romero knew their love was possible.' Romero? Really?"
"Kat, shut up," Sam snapped. Kat frowned at her brother-in-law as Dean took the book from her hands.
"This is a national bestseller!" he cried. "How is that possible?" Another scream from the laptop. "Hey, try...Lautner." Sam began to type it in, then frowned.
"Wait, he's a werewolf. How do you even know who that is?" he asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Dean asked in return. "That kid's everywhere. It's a freakin' nightmare." Another scream. They still didn't have it, and Sam was starting to get frustrated. Dean looked at Kat and mouthed 'wow' at her.
"Hey, how many T's are there in Pattin -" Sam asked suddenly. He typed it in and there was a beep as the laptop accepted the password. "That's it. We're in!" Sam started scrolling through some pages as the other two walked back over to him.
"Well?" Dean asked as they approached.
"Well, her inbox is full, from some guy claiming to be a vampire," Sam began, looking at her email.
"A real vampire?" Kat asked, cocking her eyebrow.
"Well, uh…'I can only meet you at night'...'I don't trust myself with you'...'the call of your blood is too strong'. Vampires fishing for victims?" Sam read.
"Probably just a human mouth breather, right?" Dean scoffed.
"On the other hand, talk about easy prey," Sam pointed out.
"For actual vamps," Dean said.
"I mean, these chicks are just throwing themselves at you. All you gotta do is...write bad poetry," Sam reasoned. Dean laughed. Kat rolled her eyes and looked over Sam's shoulder.
"This guy wanted to meet her at a place called The Black Rose," she said, reading one of the most recent messages.
"Gimme a break," Dean groaned.
"Just reporting the news," Kat said, glaring at him.
"It's probably just your standard-issue perv, right?" Dean asked. Sam and Kat looked at each other and sighed. They weren't so sure.
XXXXX
Sam gave Samuel a call while Kat and Dean got equipment together to hunt the vampires. After an attack on a blood bank van the previous night, they were certain. Kat joked around about dressing up to blend in, but that idea was shot down, albeit a little too aggressively, by Sam and just given a very obvious 'hell no' look by Dean. So, they went as is to scope out the place, and hopefully save the next victim. As they sat at a table and looked around, they realized just how hard this was going to be.
"Well, you wanted Emo chicks, I think we hit Ground Zero," Dean commented. A waitress in a rubber suit walked over and handed them their drinks. "You think she wears that to the beach?" he muttered after thanking her. Sam was still looking around. "When was the last time we had a beer together, anyway?" Dean asked.
"There," Sam said, nodding at a teenaged boy in a black coat and a collar talking to a pretty teenage girl. It didn't pass over Kat how uninterested Sam was in any conversation. She sighed and looked at the couple Sam had nodded at. "Whaddya think? He's hittin' on her hard enough. Real?"
"I dunno," Dean said. "It's hard to tell." He looked around and noticed two other young men talking to girls. "We got multiple choice."
"Great," Sam sighed. "Three of them and two of us." Kat nodded towards one of the couples, and saw one of the young men kissing another man. "Okay, make that two of them."
"On the move," Sam said, looking at the first couple.
"Alright, you go after Efron. We got Bieber," Dean whispered, looking at another man they had been watching leave at the same time. They followed the kid and girl in the alley and found him already going at his supposed victim. Dean jumped him and pulled him off of her, while Kat pulled the girl away. "Open your mouth!" Dean commanded the now very scared boy. He opened his mouth, revealing only two teeth. "Take those out," he commanded again. "Take 'em out!" Sure enough, he did.
"Go, get out of here," Kat told the girl, pushing her towards the main street. "What are you, twelve?" she asked.
"Are you wearing glitter?" Dean asked with disbelief.
"I only do it to get laid, man!" the boy cried.
"Does it work?" Dean asked. Kat looked at him with annoyance, then when he shrugged and nodded. "I'll be damned," he muttered, then shook his head. "All right, mmmbop your way outta here, go!" he commanded. The boy took off running. "And use a condom!" He then caught the annoyed look on his wife's face. "What?" Dean turned around and bumped into a large man.
"You're pretty," he said, grinning at Dean.
"I'm sorry?" Dean chuckled.
"I said, you're pretty," he said again.
"Sorry pal, I don't play for your team," Dean laughed, and went to walk away. The man suddenly grabbed Dean and launched him through the air.
"DEAN!" Kat shouted, and ran at the man, machete drawn. He knocked it out of her hands and grabbed her, slamming her into a dumpster. Kat's vision went hazy. "Dean!" she cried out, weakly. Dean looked up from his spot on the ground, groaning with pain. His eyes suddenly went wide as the vampire bit his wrist, and smeared it all over Kat's mouth.
"NO!" he screamed. Dean tried to get up, but he was too far off to stop it. Kat tried to fight it off, but even as she did, she felt the copper taste of blood in her mouth. In her struggle, she looked to the other end of the alley and swore she could see Sam. She wanted to cry out, but it wouldn't keep any more blood from her mouth. She couldn't see his face clearly, but she was certain it was him. Finally, he came running down the alley, brandishing his machete.
"NO!" he shouted. The man backed off of Kat, waved bye-bye and climbed up the wall to escape. Dean finally made it up and ran over to his wife, who was barely conscious.
"Dean," she managed to get out.
"Kat, stay with me here," Dean cried, his voice cracking with fear and sorrow. He looked up at Sam, then back at his wife. "KAT!" Tears were forming in his eyes as Kat blacked out.
XXXXX
Kat groaned, holding her head as she came to. The sounds around her were deafening.
"God, what is that sound?" she cried, struggling to sit up. When she looked around, Dean was closing curtains.
"What sound, Kat?" Sam asked. Kat got up and stumbled, knocking over a lamp as she did. Everything was like an explosion in her ears. She could even hear the neighbors next door. She went over and pounded on the wall.
"Keep it down, dammit!" she cried. She turned around and winced when she saw the lights in the fixture hanging from the ceiling. "Please shut that off," she whimpered, closing and covering her eyes. Dean got up and shut the light off. Kat's eyes were wrenched shut as she sat down on the bed, cradling her head in her hands. Dean walked over and sat next to her.
"Kat," he whispered. Kat cracked her eyes open and looked at him. His heartbeat was pounding in her ears. She turned away from him and looked at the clock, it's ticking making her head ache.
"Of all the ways I could die, I never thought I'd be going out like this," she hissed, moving over to the clock.
"Kat, nobody is going out," Dean said. With a growl, she ripped the clock's cord out of the wall, causing sparks to fly. She turned and faced the two brothers.
"Samuel is going to kill me when he gets here," she said, shaking her head.
"No, he's not," Sam said.
"Yes he is," Kat insisted. "'He's a hunter, and an old one at that…or he'll let Christian do it. He's been gunning for me since we met."
"Just hold on a second," Sam said, stepping towards her.
"For what, huh?!" Kat shouted. "Look at me!"
"We can figure this out," Dean said, getting up and walking towards her.
"HOW?" Kat cried. Dean looked at her, tears in his eyes. Kat could hear his heartbeat. It was racing. He was genuinely scared, something strange for him. She took a breath to continue, but another heartbeat caught her attention. It was calm, slow, and steady. Kat looked over at Sam and realized it was coming from him. "What, aren't you freaked out?" She asked him. Sam looked at Dean, then back at Kat.
"Of course I am," he said.
"Really? 'Cause I can hear your heartbeat, and it's pretty damned steady," Kat replied, moving towards him.
"That's 'cause…" he stammered. "I'm TRYING to remain calm. Kat, look….Samuel will know what to do." Kat looked at him, staring daggers into his soul, before looking at Dean.
"Guys...I'm a monster," she said. "This is not a problem you spitball. We have to deal with this before I hurt somebody." She locked eyes with Dean, who was tearing up. "Before I hurt you."
"Kat," Dean whispered. Kat grunted in pain again as her senses kept overloading.
"How's it feel?" Sam asked. Kat snapped her head up, glaring at him.
"Now? Now you wanna talk about my feelings?" she growled, literally.
"No, I mean...physically," Sam clarified.
"How do you think it feels?" she snapped. "Not good." Kat got up and headed towards the bathroom.
"Where you goin'?" Sam asked.
"Bathroom, okay? News flash, Mr. Wizard: vampires pee!" Kat shouted and slammed the door. After washing her face, she pulled down her lower lip and gasped when she saw that the fangs had already grown in. "Shit," she muttered. She looked at the door and sighed. The smell of their blood was becoming intoxicating, and much to her dismay, harder to resist. She had to leave, to keep everyone safe. She then turned toward the window and launched herself out of it and ran. She used every last bit of her strength and she ran as hard as she could. When she was about a mile away, she stopped and looked back at the motel. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. Then, she turned and kept running.
Kat ended up in the middle of the woods somewhere. She sat down on a log and just cried. Kat cried until she couldn't cry anymore, and then kept crying for what felt like hours. When she finally calmed down, she became acutely aware of the sounds of the forest. Once that popped out more than anything was the heartbeats of some rabbits nearby. Then, she heard footsteps. Zeroing in, she realized that there were some campers nearby, college age kids just enjoying the evening. Kat started walking towards the site, her breathing becoming shallow. She felt her teeth extending and she zeroed in on her prey. The thought of their blood in her mouth was intoxicating. She hissed slightly as she crouched down waiting for the perfect time to make her move…
When her phone buzzed in her pocket. Kat suddenly returned to herself, looking around and realizing what she was going to do. She growled, moved away from the camp about 50 feet, and picked up her phone. It was Dean.
"Dean?" she rasped, answering his call.
"Kat," Dean said, sounding relieved. "Where the hell did you go?"
"I had to get away from you. Both of you," Kat replied. "I'm a danger to you guys and you know it. Samuel's gonna track me down so he can kill me and that will be the end of it."
"No one is going to kill you, just...just come back so we can talk. Please?" Dean asked, begging. "I'm not losing you for anything." Kat choked back a sob. Then, she heard a noise in the background. "He's there already, isn't he?" she said, her voice low. There was a pause, then Dean sighed. "Yeah." There was a crackle on the line and another voice came through.
"Kat?" Samuel's voice said.
"Lookie what the cat dragged in, Samuel," Kat sneered. "Gonna do it in front of Dean or wait until he's good and gone so you can apologize later?"
"Kat, you have my word that I'm not going to kill you. I can't do that to Dean," Samuel said.
"Oh really? It seems like you've got Sammy pretty good," Kat replied. "What's stopping you from snagging Dean as well?"
"Kat, I swear on their lives and on Mary's grave that I will not kill you. Not unless you want me to," Samuel said. She could hear his heartbeat through the phone. It was a little erratic, but it was steady. He was telling the truth.
"Alright," Kat finally said. "I'm on my way. But understand this: If I get there and I find out that you've turned Dean into whatever Sam is, you will be the first and last meal I ever eat." She hung up the phone and sighed. Mentally preparing herself to be betrayed, she took off.
What felt like minutes later, she was back at the motel.
"You gotta be prepared to do the right thing," Kat heard Samuel say.
"Told you he'd come here to kill me," Kat said from the door. Sam and Samuel drew their machetes, but Dean ran right up to her and hugged her.
"Please don't ever do that to me again," he said quietly, burying his face in her hair. Kat hugged him gently back, turning her face purposefully away from his neck.
"Did you feed?" Samuel asked.
"Nice to see you too, Samuel," Kat sneered when Dean pulled away.
"Answer the question," he said sternly.
"Relax, I didn't drink anyone or anything for that matter. I came close, but I didn't," she continued. She stepped away from Dean and stood in front of the two of them. "Well?"
"If you insist," Samuel said. "Or I could turn you back."
"What?" all three younger hunters asked simultaneously.
"I didn't drive all this way to kill you, Kat," he continued. "I'm here to save you."
Kat agreed to a sit down. She tried to stay away from the three humans, but Dean wasn't having it. He sat right next to her and held her hand the whole time. Samuel opened a journal and slid it to Dean and Kat.
"That's my grandfather's journal," he said. "Cure's an old Campbell recipe, kind of like the soup. No one's tried it since God knows. What I hear...this stuff is a bad trip."
"Awesome," Kat said sarcastically, looking at the recipe.
"Hey, the cure is good," Samuel remarked. "But a lot of this is on you. You drink, you're done. It won't work. I mean one drop of human blood -"
"I got it," Kat said, cutting him off. She could feel a literal weight upon her shoulders, but she knew it was her best bet of not getting beheaded.
"Do you?" Samuel asked. "Because you WILL feed. It's a matter of time." Kat glared at him, barely fighting off the urge to snarl.
"Wait, what about Sara? Can she fix this? Like, purge it out of you or something?" Dean asked.
"Doubt it," Kat replied. "She may not even be able to use me as a vessel if I'm like this. I know being a witch is bad enough, but being a literal monster? Sara can't help us. Neither can Cas." Dean sighed and squeezed her hand. Kat squeezed it back, doing her best to tune out the sound of his heartbeat racing. "What else do we need?"
"Some stuff we go, some we gotta get," Samuel answered. "Trickiest thing on the list: blood of the fang that turned you."
"That guy was huge," Sam said.
"There's nothing in the recipe about 'easy'," Samuel pointed out.
"I can get it," Kat said, getting up.
"You're gonna walk right into the nest?" Samuel asked, a little doubtful.
"Well, I'm one of them, aren't I?" Kat reasoned. "So all I have to do is get in there, get the guy alone, and….shoot him with so much dead man's blood that he'll think he's rushing a fraternity."
"I should come with you," Dean said.
"No, Dean. You REEK. You're a walking hamburger," Kat said, putting her hand on Dean's chest. "I've got to do this alone."
"We haven't been able to find him, yet," Sam pointed out.
"I can smell him," Kat said, looking towards the nest. "Two miles east of town. You guys get everything else and meet me there. Raid my stash if you need it." Kat pulled on her jacket and headed for the door.
"Kat!" Samuel called. She turned and looked at him. He handed her a syringe full of a dark liquid. "Dead man's blood. Now, there's enough there to drop a linebacker and then some." Kat smelled it and backed away slightly at the stench. "Good luck." As she walked outside, Dean followed her.
"Hey!" he called. As Kat turned back to him, he grabbed her face and pulled her into the most passionate kiss he could. Kat returned it, putting her hands over Deans. When they pulled back, Dean didn't let go. "You come back to me," he said through tears. "You come back and you come back clean. If it's the last thing I do on this Earth, I'm gonna see you be human again." The pain in his voice broke Kat's heart. She finally broke down in tears and hugged him.
"I swear it," she whispered. With a final kiss, she ran. Dean's hands froze in the air for a moment where her face was, his eyes closed, trying to burn her face into his mind. Finally, he put his hands down and sighed. He walked back in the room and looked at his brother and grandfather.
"If she doesn't come back clean, no one else kills her but me, you hear?" he ordered. "You two don't touch her. I don't care what you say."
XXXXX
Kat followed the trail to a warehouse. She tailgated behind two other vampires to get in. As she padded quietly down the hall, her path was suddenly blocked by a skinny vampire with black hair.
"S'up?" he asked with a grin.
"Hey," Kat replied, caught off-guard. "I'm…"
"The girl Boris turned outside the bar, right?" he said, looking her up and down. "Said to look out for you."
"Yeah," Kat answered, somewhat lamely.
"Well," he said, raising his fist with a smile. "Glad you made it!" Kat looked at the fist for a second, then gave him the fist bump he was asking for. He took Kat through the hallways of the warehouse. "So, you must be starving."
"Um…"
"Here ya go," the vampire said, opening a fridge and handing Kat a bag of blood from a blood bank. Kat felt the urge grow in her stomach, but she fought with everything she had.
"I'm okay," she said. He gave her an odd look. "I killed SO many people on the way over here...so…"
"Yeah, about that," he said, wincing a little. "Company line is we...we don't just kill people anymore." He leaned in with a grin. "But you gotta tell me what that's like," he added.
"Yeah," Kat replied with a weak chuckle. "First chance I get, I'll...I'll show you."
"Sweet!" the vampire said and took a swig of the bag. The hunger gripped Kat harder this time. She found herself unable to take her eyes off of the blood bag for a full minute before being able to wrench her gaze away. She followed the vampire, named Robert, down a flight of stairs through a crowd. As they walked, the gathered vampires eyed her suspiciously, some even angrily. "Don't worry about them," Robert assured her. "They're jealous. Recruiters get to bang everyone. That sound like fun?"
"Recruiters?" Kat asked, blanching.
"Yeah," Robert replied. "Big man'll explain." He took her to a big main room that looked like the lobby of an old bank. Kristin, the girl they had been looking for and newly-turned vampire, was sitting at a desk typing on a laptop. Boris, the vampire who turned both Kat and Kristin, was leaning over her shoulder, looking at the screen.
"Be with you in a minute," he said when he noticed Robert and Kat. "Your skin is the black velvet of the night," he dictated. "Nice. Stupid bitch'll eat that up. She'll be DYING to meet." He leaned in closer and took a deep sniff of Kristin's hair, making her recoil. Looking away from the scene, Kat suddenly noticed other newly-turned women in cages, practically inhaling blood bags. "Go get yourself some blood, sweetheart," Boris told Kristin. "Then march that little ass right back here, okay?" Kristin got up, looked at Kat, and left the room. He then turned his attention to Kat. "Ah good," he purred. "Thought that hunter chopped of your pretty head."
"I got away," Kat replied.
"Well, you'll learn that they can't be trusted. You'll see...inside and out," he laughed. "You eaten?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"Good," he said. "You'll need your strength."
"For?"
"Robert didn't tell you?" he scoffed, getting in Kat's face. "How old do I look?" Kat looked him up and down for a moment.
"33?" Boris smiled.
"You're off by about...six centuries? And these are the best days in the last six hundred years to be a vampire." He began to walk around Kat. "'Dracula', Anne Rice, PLEASE! These stupid little brats are so horny they've reinvented us as Prince Charming with a volvo!" He walked over to a cage and grabbed a girl by the hair, making her snarl. "They want a promise ring with fangs, so I give it to them. You get to go out and bring them to me. Girls, boys, whatever you're in to."
"What's with the cages?" Kat asked, looking at the girls.
"Oh, that's just...y'know…'till they're compliant. Eventually, these girls will go out and do what you'll be doing, and around and around we go."
"Gotta say," Kat commented with a sigh. "I'm impressed. This whole system...it's all you?"
"No," Boris laughed again. "I just implement. Make sure you all fall in line." He then pointed upwards with a strange reverence. "It's HIS...our father's." Kat followed his finger to a huge stained glass decoration on the ceiling.
"Your father's?" she asked.
"Aren't you the curious one," Boris cooed.
"You don't know the half of it," she replied. He leaned in as close as he could. Kat fought hard to not pull back.
"In due time," he purred. "You want the private tour, don't you?" Kat fought down some bile before replying.
"Thought you'd never ask," she said. Boris made a come-hither motion with his finger, and turned around. Taking her chance, Kat pulled the syringe out, uncapped it, and raised it to plunge into Boris' neck. As she did, a drop came out of the syringe and dropped to the floor. Boris heard it and turned around. Kat tried to make her move, but they started to scuffle. He twisted her arm behind her, forcing her to drop the syringe, then got her in a chokehold.
"You playing games with me, little girl?" he snarled in her ear. Kat tried to struggle, then he suddenly stopped. His eyes went upward and he fell flat on his back. She looked around and saw the other girls suddenly start to collapse, then something came over her and she collapsed as well. As soon as she hit the floor, a series of visions started flashing in her mind.
A man sitting on a bench at night.
A little girl in a frilly dress and a flower in her hair.
A graveyard with wooden crosses.
A cell dividing.
An older African-American man reaching out with long, sharpened fingernails.
A huge ivy-covered house.
The little girl.
The African-American man on the bench.
Blood cells rushing through a vein
The graveyard becoming a classroom with rows of empty desks
The little girl
The African-American man by a pond. It finally clicked that this was the alpha.
A cell dividing
A computer animation of the circulatory system, which dissolved into a roadmap
A red circle on a map around Aurora, Illinois
The alpha by the pond again
The graveyard
Back to the man
The house, where the little girl is having a tea party on the lawn at night. The teacups are filled with blood.
The visions kept flashing one right after the other, constantly going back to the alpha. There was a pair of twins with him at one point. It was all going really fast.
When she finally came to, Boris was already up and releasing the girls from their cages. Kat sprang up and started running. One of the guards tried to grab her, but Kat shoved the syringe into his neck and pushed down, injecting him.
"GO GET HER!" Boris screamed. Kat took off running again, followed by more guards. Robert tried to get in her way, but she beheaded him and kept moving. Eventually, she was met with the group of girls. Taking a breath, Kat raised her machete and swung.
The next few minutes were a blur as Kat hacked her way through the entire nest. By the time she was done, the warehouse was quiet. Almost every vampire in there was dead...but she didn't see Boris. She looked around, trying to spot him.
"You've stopped at nothing, you know that?" his voice echoed around the room. He stepped out of the shadows where he had been standing. "This is much bigger than you and me." Kat growled slightly and raised her machete. Boris grinned and beckoned her.
XXXX
Dean, Sam and Samuel climbed into the upper floor of the building, looking at the carnage Kat had caused. Beheaded vampires were everywhere.
"Man, you know how to pick 'em, Dean," Samuel commented. Dean didn't answer. His eyes were looking for the familiar face of his wife. He had never prayed harder in his life. As they made their way into the main room, they saw Kat sitting at the bottom of a staircase. Her clothes were soaked with blood, but she seemed calm.
"Kat?" Dean called. "You okay?" Kat turned and looked at them, smiling.
"Yeah, I'm good," she replied. The three men looked down and saw Boris' head under her foot.
XXXX
Back at the motel, Samuel added the final ingredient to the jar with the cure in it. By now, Kat was finding it really hard to fight the hunger. The heartbeats all around her were driving her crazy, and her stomach felt like it was eating itself.
"If this works, you know it's not going to be a kiddie ride," Samuel warned her.
"That's great," Kat said sarcastically, gripping her stomach. "Light her up."
"So what'd you see in there?" Sam asked, trying to sound casual.
"What?" Kat said, looking at him with a mixture of pain and disbelief.
"In the nest," Sam repeated. "What'd you see?"
"Sam, I can't hear you," Kat said, the sound of blood rushing in her ears. "Your blood is so frickin' loud, okay? Just back off." Samuel poured the potion into a coffee mug and handed it to Kat, who sniffed it and recoiled a little. She looked at the three men in front of her, locking eyes with Dean, who looked like he was going to cry. "L'chaim." She sloppily chugged the potion, retched a little...and nothing happened. Kat spit a little out and looked around. "I don't think it…" she began, then got cut off as she turned around and projectile vomited into a nearby waste basket. Dean looked on in horror as what came out of her was almost black, like coagulated blood. Sam and Samuel stood by, watching with concern.
"KAT!" Dean cried and tried to go near her, only to be held back by his grandfather and brother.
"Is it working?" Sam asked.
"Either that or she's dying," Samuel said, pulling out his machete. Kat managed to stop vomiting and breathe. She looked up, clutching her stomach and groaned in pain. Her fangs were out and her eyes were bloodshot. In her head, she started seeing the events of the night in reverse. Dean could only watch as she scrunched up her face in pain, fell to the floor, and started seizing. Her breath was shallow and even labored at times. He looked to his grandfather and brother, silently begging them to either help her or let him go. In Kat's mind, she had gotten to the spot where she had been turned. She suddenly had a flash of Sam's face at the end of the alley...he was smirking as she was being turned.
Then, she was still. After a moment, her eyes flew open and she was taking heaving breaths. Sam finally let Dean go and he ran to her side. Kat gave him a smile, showing that the fangs were gone and her eyes were normal. Dean helped her sit up and the two of them hugged. Sam came up to the both of them, squatted down, and rubbed Kat's shoulders. Kat looked at her brother-in-law with a strange look in her eyes.
Sam threw her under the bus.
XXXX
That morning, Kat was cleaning herself up while the others packed up. When she came out, Sam cornered her.
"Hey," he said. "So what'd you see?"
"What?" Kat asked, still wary of him.
"In the nest," Sam said. "What'd you see?" Kat paused for a moment, trying to put her thoughts together.
"I'm still trying to work through it," she admitted. "I'm pretty sure they're not figuring anything out on their own. They're getting their orders from the top...where to go next, everything."
"Top, as in…?"
"The alpha," she said. "At least, that's what I think it is. They've got some sort of psychic thing happening. He sends 'em...messages?"
"Saying what?" Sam pressed her.
"Honestly? Recruitment drive," she said. Dean and Samuel both looked up and paid attention when she said that. "Their alpha is building an army."
"Well, that's comforting," Samuel said.
"That's not the worst," Kat said wryly.
"Then what is?" Dean asked.
"We don't scare them anymore," she said. Everyone was suddenly silent and finished packing. They got outside and loaded up the cars. As Kat finished putting a bag in the Baby's trunk and shut it, she saw Sam standing there.
"Is Dean okay?" he asked.
"Probably not. I'm not really okay either," she replied, watching his reaction carefully. The sympathy that appeared on his face was...forced at best.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"At least you got my back," she said, almost overloading the confidence. "No matter what happens, I can always count on you, right, Sammy?" she asked. Sam looked at her strangely before replying.
"Of course, Kat," he said, and got in the car. Kat didn't say anything to Dean with Sam in the car, but the whole drive, Dean pulled her next to him and didn't move his arm from her at all. That night, they made sure they were alone and Dean gave her the night of her life, practically worshiping her. Multiple times, Kat found herself crying out his name as she climaxed. Finally, both of them were worn out, but right before she drifted off to sleep, she heard Dean whisper in her ear.
"I'll never leave your side."